By Tom Klocek

It is the morning after the 2026 midterm elections. The proponents of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have taken a big hit. The culture of death seems to be taking charge. The dignity of every human being as being unique, precious, and made in the image and likeness of God is once again being assaulted.

Over the last 40-plus years, since my return to the Catholic Church, I have come to appreciate Scripture and the workings of the Holy Spirit to a degree I never would have thought in my younger days. This morning, after opening my emails with trepidation and seeing that the darkness has taken a big hold on our nation, I opened my Bible at random (I was looking for something else for another essay) and it opened to Isaiah 30:

“‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ says the Lord, ‘who carry out a plan but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. ... For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the instructions of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘See not’; and to the prophets, ‘Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path.’”

How did we get here? The corollary to the actions (and inactions) of ancient Israel — its turning away from the Lord and the failure of its leaders (see Ezekiel 34 on “bad shepherds”) — is repeating and happening in our own time. Our faith leaders have turned away from God and become more and more secular in their thinking and their actions.

For example, since the calamitous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, faith leaders have failed to rebuke the politicians who joined in the culture of death, even going so far as to conflate the intrinsic evil of abortion, which denies the right to life, with quality-of-life decisions and actions in the political (and economic) arena.

The culture of death is a culture of hate, beginning with the hatred of God and his gift of life. It is un-American.

You reap what you sow (2 Corinthians 9:6). The next two years especially will tell us how far we have turned from the Lord. However, if we truly believe in God (and most people claim that they do), the Bible again tells us what is in store.

“Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness to light, and light into darkness, who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter! Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes, prudent in their own view! ... Their root shall rot and their blossom scatter like dust; For they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of hosts, and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 5:20–24).

What’s the impact of this turning away from life and reinforcing the culture of death? “A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope” (Pope St. John Paul II). We have already seen the signs of hopelessness as violence and division have increased as well as the incidences of suicide and attempted suicide.

When I was growing up, we were often reminded that “where there’s life, there’s hope.” Our world has turned more and more to hopelessness, despite the advances in medicine that have prolonged life while maintaining a good quality of life.

Our world is becoming more and more loveless every day, and this election is a perfect example. The culture of death is not a culture of love. Those who profess the “goodness” of abortion do not love. Face it: If a woman cannot love the child in her womb, whose creation she was actively engaged in (rape being a rare exception), then what is her capacity for love?

So, what do we do on this morning after, with darkness stretching from Europe into the “New World”? This should be a wake-up call for our religious leaders to become the shepherds they are supposed to be, to “tend the flock of God that is your charge” (1 Peter 5:2). It is not a time to withdraw but a time to speak out more fervently, to take charge, to be bold, to be strong, to be the Church Militant.

It is a time for rebuke of those politicians who have distorted the Word of God and joined in the culture of death. Not only are they headed down a path of destruction on their own, but they are leading many of the rest of us down that same path.

It’s time to take things in hand and turn our nation back to the Lord.