Stoic advice: do I have to be political?

V. writes: I am new to Stoicism and I feel it is something I want to know more about. However, can I take just what I need from it, or is it a practice where one has to go full steam? The Daily Stoic kind of confused me with its political bent on how we can’t remain silent during the current strife. I have no intention of protesting or fighting with anyone on Facebook, so I am not getting too involved. Also I am a Catholic, can I still practice my religion? I ask because I assume Stoics have neither a political nor religious view.

Complex and delicate questions. Let’s start with the last one, about whether you can practice both Christianity and Stoicism. It depends. I have argued in How to Be a Stoic that Stoicism is a broad (though not infinitely broad!) tent, both in political and religious terms. However, C. Kavin Rowe in his One True Life: the Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions, argues that Stoicism is incompatible with Christianity. If you are interested, I wrote a four-part commentary on his book.

Also, during the Renaissance there was a movement aiming at a Christian revival of Stoicism, known as Neo-Stoicism. Some of the most prominent people involved in it include Justus Lipsius (the founder of the movement), Michel de Montaigne, Peter Paul Rubens (the painter), Montesquieu, and Francis Bacon. So at least those people thought…