PBS has a new documentary on the late William F. Buckley Jr., “The Incomparable Mr. Buckley,” airing on stations across the country. From 1966 to 1999, his show, “Firing Line,” which debated the great issues of the time, was a staple on PBS stations nationwide.
As the documentary highlights, one of the most important things that made “Bill,” as he was known to his friends, so incomparable, was his strong and unwavering faith. It was that faith that enabled him to speak boldly, unapologetically, and ultimately prophetically, about the issues of his time.
In 1997, he would tell Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, “I like to think that Christianity is universally informative. Whatever you do, there is always something there that consoles, guides, or inhibits.” For Bill, his faith was his guiding star, which influenced his worldview and his relationships — treating those with whom he disagreed with dignity and respect. As a result, he was able to build bridges with others rather than burn them.
It was also that faith that led him to write his seminal work God and Man at Yale in 1951. In it, he first warned about the abandonment of the Judeo-Christian heritage in academia and how it would lead to the present national morass in which we find ourselves.
Bill was a devoted Catholic who believed faith was the foundation of higher education at Yale and in our nation. He saw it coming under increasing attack and felt strongly that he had to sound the alarm about
