The question raised inside the White House that could define America's future - opinion

A White House Faith Office briefing prompts a columnist to reflect on whether a constitutional republic can endure without a sustaining moral culture. The author argues that America's deepest challenges are moral, not merely political, and that liberty depends on virtuous citizens. She critiques progressive movements for displacing traditional character-forming institutions and warns of gradual erosion of freedom.

Last week, columnist Linda Argalgi Sadacka joined about two dozen faith leaders, writers, activists, and policy advocates at a White House Faith Office briefing in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The event featured addresses from senior administration officials, including Jennifer Korn, Deputy Assistant to the President and Faith Director; Pastor Paula White-Cain, Senior Advisor; Border Czar Tom Homan; Dr. Sebastian Gorka; and others. Over nearly six and a half hours, speakers repeatedly invoked God, prayer, and moral responsibility, emphasizing that America's future depends on the moral and spiritual character of its people. The author reflects that the briefing's core message is that government can protect liberty but cannot manufacture virtue. She connects this to the Founding Fathers, quoting John Adams that the Constitution was made 'only for a moral and religious people.' She warns that progressive movements are gradually replacing traditional character-forming institutions with identity politics and expressive individualism. For American Jews, she notes the normalization of antisemitism and asks what moral vocabulary remains to condemn it. She cites Tocqueville and Hayek on the gradual erosion of liberty. The author concludes that the most important question is whether America still believes virtue, faith, and moral responsibility are indispensable to the survival of a constitutional republic.