Practical Advice On A Spiritual Weekend
Hugh Hewitt > Blog
Saturday, April 4, 2026
Here we sit, between Good Friday and Easter. The world is dark, very dark, but hope is just around the corner. But before we examine the Christian narrative of this weekend in a new modern light, just a note on the war. The host is wall-to-wall war coverage and I am happy to leave it to him. That said, there is currently much discussion of ground troops. Other than the media and Democrat desire to play political “gotcha,” this one is an easy call. The point of this war is to eradicate an evil from the face of this planet. The tenaciousness of the Islamic regime in Iran in the face of utter destruction is evidence of just how evil they truly are. Even Hitler had the common sense to kill himself by this point. If ground troops are needed to eradicate this evil, then so be it. This is not hard. What is hard is living with the reality of Easter.
There were two very excellent articles this week. One from Arthur Brook, who the host interviewed earlier this week. The interview was on Brook’s new book. The article is on why conspiracy theories are more prevalent in the information age since it would seem information would squelch them. What he concludes is that conspiracy theories are, essentially, an effort to make sense of a non-sensical world – rooted in modern lack of trust in institutions, as churches are enveloped in scandal, science becomes a political tool and universities move from truth-seeking to indoctrination, people have no place to turn.
The second article is a psychotherapeutic view of Tiger Woods recent problems:
Tiger has become one of the clearest public symbols of a broader American habit: using explanation to delay accountability. Every new incident gets folded into the same familiar comeback mythology, where the setback itself matters less than the promise of return. The facts become secondary to the narrative built around them. At some point, the comeback story stops being hopeful and starts functioning as protection….
This is bigger than Tiger. He simply makes the cultural pattern unusually visible. America increasingly prefers explanations that preserve emotional comfort over truths that demand moral clarity. What used to be called a bad decision now gets re-framed as a struggle. What once registered as a repeated mistake becomes part of a healing journey. The language sounds humane, and sometimes it is. But it also creates a cultural blind spot where blunt judgment starts to feel almost impolite.
This weekend on the church calendar paints a different picture – one of sin/death/resurrection/redemption. The church does not see things in terms of mistakes, illness and recovery. The church sees things plainly in terms of moral failing – a failing reflective of our spiritual situation – a situation that can only be rectified through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
Or does the church really see things that way?
I have to think that the loss of trust in institutions Brooks discusses is in no small part due to the fact that so many churches have lost touch with the true narrative of the weekend. A narrative that sees Christ’s sacrifice as an expression of love, but ignores the fact that it is a blood sacrifice for our sin. A narrative that brings forgiveness, but demands no confession.
Also this week, the host interviewed Bishop Robert Barron. In the interview the Bishop commented that at times the church more closely resembles just another charitable institution, than an instrument of God’s salvation.
I think that this Easter, the church has a lot of thinking and praying to do.
In the pile of news:
I am not a Catholic, so I withhold comment, but I have lots of questions.
One more place only Christ can fix.
In California a Republican governor with a Democrat legislature can only produce stalemate. And with the administrative state there firmly Democrat, a lot of breakdown of function. The irony of the jungle primary is delicious, but I fear empty calories.
