Sinister Men

Whittaker Chambers wrote: “If God exists man cannot be a communist, which begins with a rejection of God. But if God does not exist, it follows that Communism, or some suitable variation of it, is right.”

But why must this be so? Radio and cable TV talkers rarely mention God, yet profess a profound hatred of communists. But they have too narrow a view of what communism is. Communism is the belief that man can set the world right. And anyone who thinks that everything would be fine if only we could triumph over our political enemies is a communist.

J. Douglas Johnson is the executive editor of Touchstone and the executive director of the Fellowship of St. James.

A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door with Full Online Access

  • Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
  • Contributors from across the Christian traditions
  • Six print issues per year
  • Full digital archive access
Subscribe (Print + Online)

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95.

Subscribe (Online Only)

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more on Christianity from the online archives

30.2—March/April 2017

The Cross of Least Resistance

Our Path to Holiness Runs Straight Through Calvary by Robin Phillips

33.3—May/June 2020

Deliberation, Inc.

Human & Divine Societies Require Careful Thought & Discourse by Anthony Esolen

33.4—July/August 2020

The Joy of God

by S. M. Hutchens


more from the online archives

25.4—July/August 2012

All the Lonely People

The Corrosive & Far-Reaching Fallout of the Sexual Revolution by Anthony Esolen

23.1—January/February 2010

The Audacity of the State

It’s Bent on Bringing Down the House on the Family & the Church by Douglas Farrow

32.4—July/August 2019

Sojourner Knight

on Single-Mindedness in Durer's Ritter, Tod, und Teufel by Anthony Costello

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00