Five years ago, Rod Dreher released his book Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, which has re-entered the conservative social commentary sphere with a documentary of the same name, released this past April.
And in no small way either—US Vice President JD Vance gave the opening speech at the screening, addressing issues of free speech and democracy in the EU.
Freedom of speech has been of great concern for many conservatives in recent years and for good reason. Live Not by Lies is grounded on the painful experiences of Christian survivors of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century and highlights tenets of “soft totalitarianism” Dreher argues have now permeated the West.
According to Dreher, every one of these survivors believes that America is heading toward a similar totalitarian state.
In the West today, it’s evident that censorship has infiltrated government, private institutions, corporations, academia, and media. Dreher points out how expressing conservative beliefs can result in losing your job, being expelled from university, being “cancelled,” or, in some cases, even being arrested.
To combat this, Dreher advocates for Christians to form small groups and tight-knit communities, just as they did under communism in Eastern Europe. Through these communities, we can preserve our values by holding onto tradition and collective memory—and we can hold onto hope.
He writes: “We have to tell our stories—in literature, film, theatre, and other media – but we must also manifest cultural memory in communal deeds—in mourning and in celebrating, in solemn remembrance of festal joy.”
“Less academically, we can celebrate festivals, make pilgrimages, observe holy-day practices, pray litanies, perform concerts, hold dances, learn and teach traditional cooking —any kind of collective deed that connects the community with its shared sacred are secular history in a loving way is an act of resistance to an ethos that says the past doesn’t matter”
Dreher’s dual emphasis on intellectual engagement and tangible participation in traditional, community-centred activities is an ideal all Christians should embrace. We are far better equipped to stare persecution in the face when our values are cultivated over time through practice and education.
This cultivation also sharpens our ability to discern when those values are under attack. By fostering cultural memory, upholding strong family units, remaining steadfast in our faith, and nurturing communities rooted in shared convictions, we can learn not only to endure hardship, but to suffer well, says Dreher.
But in his own book he seems unable to follow some of his own advice on pushing back against the tyranny of anti-Christian diktats.
“They [anti-communist Christians in the Eastern Bloc] had every right to be permanently angry over what had been done to them, to their families, their churches and their countries. If they were, it didn’t show,” he writes.
“This is the core what religion brings to anti-totalitarian resistance: a reason to die—which is to say, a reason to live with whatever suffering regime throws at you, and not only to live, but to thrive.”
This is inspiring, but Dreher himself is clearly stewing in anger. The first half of the book dives into a highly detailed—and often emotional—critique of the West. At times, it comes across like a Facebook rant from a disillusioned Boomer.
That said, Dreher has been in the social commentary space for a long time, and his pessimism is both understandable and, for many, relatable.
It’s also important to remember that the book was published in 2020, arguably the peak ‘”woke” era i.e. Black Lives Matter, Covid etc. Perhaps his talking points would have had a stronger resonance when the text was first published. However, in 2025 this line of social commentary is repetitive and dated, and I think many Christians are fatigued with these lamentations.
Late last year, when Donald Trump was re-elected, there was a collective sigh of relief among conservatives, not just in America but also more broadly in the Western world.
Phrases like “the tides are turning” and “things are looking up” were common. However, in recent months, we’ve seen significant infighting among conservatives, especially among social and political commentators. Now that they are no longer unified in opposition to a common enemy, internal clashes are becoming more intense, and frequent.
Live Not by Lives presents some beautiful and heroic real-life experiences and aspirations. But for all the things Dreher gets right, the course of his own (publicly self-examined) life demonstrates the complexity of living out one’s ideals, and that shades of grey are inevitable and call for delicate navigation.
For example, while Dreher emphasises the importance of family and unity in his book, I think it is worth noting that he has recently gone through a divorce. He emphasises the value of community—yet he has chosen self-exile in Hungary.
He underscores the need to maintain hope and be a physical manifestation of that hope and yet his book is so deeply steeped in a despair that I would find it hard to recommend it anyone not already very familiar with conservative discourse, and emotionally resilient enough to handle its tone.
Dreher may well agree it is one thing to sit back and offer up social critique, it is another to live out the virtues we hold so dear.