William F. Buckley Jr.

[Anglian]

I was hoping someone else here would mark the passing of this great Christian Conservative, but as that has not yet happened, I wonder if others would join with me in commemorating his life and memory here.

May he rest in peace, his work well done.

In peace,

Anglian

[edb19]

I don't remember him talking about his faith - but that could just well be my memory.

I remember watching Firing Line when I was growing up - my dad often had it on t.v. Couple of things come to mine - even if he didn't agree with them, WFB was always gracious to his guests (something some of the current conservative radio/talk show hosts could learn). He also kept me on my toes as far as vocabulary was concerned - on occasion I'd have to look a word up (which was good for me). I appreciate that - too often we dumb things down - Buckley never did.

Aside from his political commentary - he wrote some darn good spy novels - if you get the chance to read any of his Blackford Oakes novels give them a read.

[Anglian]

WFB's Faith was the foundation of his conservatism. His earliest book was God and Man at Yale and whilst, wisely, he kept his faith out of politics, one cannot understand the latter without the former.

Many of his modern successors could learn much from his example. He was a great Christian gentleman and a great loss.

In peace,

Anglian

[edb19]

WFB's Faith was the foundation of his conservatism. His earliest book was God and Man at Yale and whilst, wisely, he kept his faith out of politics, one cannot understand the latter without the former.

Many of his modern successors could learn much from his example. He was a great Christian gentleman and a great loss.

In peace,

Anglian

I used to read the National Review. I've read his novels.

Will look for the book you referenced - thanks for the recommendation:thumbsup:

edie

[MrJim]

I've heard great things about him, heard him referenced over the years, seen him on some talking head shows, but never really new much about him other than he was a key player in the modern conservative movement.

[Simon_Templar]

I had not heard that he died.


May he come to that glorious country and with all thy saints enter into rest and may light perpetual shine upon him.
:crossrc:

[ReadingForOrders]

WFB's Faith was the foundation of his conservatism. His earliest book was God and Man at Yale and whilst, wisely, he kept his faith out of politics, one cannot understand the latter without the former.

Many of his modern successors could learn much from his example. He was a great Christian gentleman and a great loss.

In peace,

Anglian



He was a fine example of a mans political views being shaped by his Faith not the opposite which seems to be a very bad trend lately. I can't tell you how many people I have met who have commented that they just couldn't go to this Church or that Church because they do/don't believe in abortion or want to/ don't want to legalize marijuana etc. There are too many people picking and choosing their Church based upon their political views.

OK off my soapbox, I pray I didn't offend.

Tom

[ladyt28]

It's a great loss - he was a fine example for this polarized world we're now in

[Simon_Templar]

He was a fine example of a mans political views being shaped by his Faith not the opposite which seems to be a very bad trend lately. I can't tell you how many people I have met who have commented that they just couldn't go to this Church or that Church because they do/don't believe in abortion or want to/ don't want to legalize marijuana etc. There are too many people picking and choosing their Church based upon their political views.

OK off my soapbox, I pray I didn't offend.

Tom
abortion is not a "political view" its is a fundamental moral issue.

[ReadingForOrders]

abortion is not a "political view" its is a fundamental moral issue.
To some, not all.

[Simon_Templar]

To some, not all.
If anything in life is a moral issue, this is.

[ReadingForOrders]

I agree it should be, I just don't recognize that for all it is.

[Izdaari]

I really miss WFB. Aside from the great libertarian SF writers (Heinlein, Anderson, et al), he was the biggest influence in forming my political views. Not only that, but he improved my vocabulary. RIP, Bill.

[CoyoteUgly]

William F buckely was not only a fine example of someone definining what conservativism was, but more importantly, what it wasn't.

William F Buckely defined a movement that repudiated the paranoid excesses of McCarthyism and the John Birch Society. His was not a conservatism based on the bogeyman or Satanic forces taking control of the US government or some other secret cabal hell-bent on our destruction.

Instead his was a conservatism based on the postive values bequeathed to the world by Western culture, and dare we say it, our Judeo-Christian tradition.

His was a conservatism of rational discourse, intelligence, and discovering the truth through vigorous debate. It was a conservatism that recognized values, and was not ashamed to assert the values that America and the West in general posess in great abundance.

It was a conservatism that could also change its mind with the better argument, as was the case when Buckely himself changed his mind on the race issue.
For his was a conservatism not just of ideals, and believing inthe civilizing influence of the culture of the West, but it was a conservatism that understood that even great ideals could not politically survive were they to become entwined with some of the bigotry coming from other right wing forces on the race issue.

His was a conservatism that inspired presidents.

Because of William F Buckely Jr, conservatism is a living force in America to an exponentially greater scale than it is in any other western country on earth. In a world afloat in an endless, anchorless sea of liberalism, William Buckely is an anchor, a foundational link to a harbor of the great ideals and great cultural inheritance that will be the source of America's wealth in the future.