Faith is not optional for democracy – Ronald Reagan knew why

President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan is remembered for many great speeches — from A Time for Choosing to his address at the Berlin Wall. In those moments, he spoke to the defining crisis of the generation: the struggle between American democracy and liberty and the Soviet Union’s “Evil Empire.”

Yet a lesser-known speech Reagan delivered at the centennial celebration of the Knights of Columbus (KofC) — the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization — on Aug. 3, 1982, in Hartford, Conn....