The modern crisis stems from a great divorce—a divorce between those who have the Truth and those who do not. In Philosophies at War, Sheen addresses the American people on the themes of government and politics not only as a bishop but also as a conscious citizen. He writes of war and revolution, the need of an absolute (God) and the roots of democracy, patriotism, and peace. He shows that the culture war is not merely political and economic but also theological.

Sheen warns that dangerous political currents are reactions against the excesses and defects of the secularist and materialist culture at large, the result of society turning into nothing but a crisscross of individual egotism. He brilliantly summarizes the false claims of recent totalitarian ideologies such as Marxist socialism, Nazism, fascism, and more. Of these dangers, Sheen explains what they have in common: they "demand power over the total man—the whole man, body and soul, and aim at control over the most intimate regions of the spirit."

Sheen is further critical of certain aspects of the Industrial Revolution and Liberalism which have isolated man from all responsibility to the common good. He laments, "Such is the essence of our secularist culture: the supremacy of the individual man. In this way man is severed from his roots in God, his roots in law and his roots in the brotherhood of man, which can naturally lead to anarchy and the oppression of the weak and the unfortunate." For anyone seeking to understand the current ideologies that seek to destroy our world, Philosophies at War will be your guide.