Recent Viewpoints

August 7, 2019
Earth is better

Kerby Anderson Steven Pinker (Harvard University) says that the left and the right at least agree on one major point: “The world is getting worse.” His new book goes into some detail to show that simply is not true. In a recent op-ed, he reminds us that, “Such gloominess is decidedly un-American.” Unfortunately, we fool ourselves by comparing rose-tinted images of the past with the scary headlines of today. Here are just a few statistics worth considering. The homicide rate…

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August 6, 2019
No Borders, No Bosses, No Binaries

Kerby Anderson Lots of young people say they believe in socialism but when asked to define it they don’t often give an accurate answer. But what do people who are socialists believe and what do they want to implement in this country? Jarrett Stepman went to a socialism conference and came back with a number of observations. The Socialism 2019 conference had the tag line, “No Borders, No Bosses, No Binaries.” That should give you a good idea of the…

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August 5, 2019
warning assumptions ahead

Kerby Anderson Over the last few years, I have talked about how many times both sides of the political debate make wrong assumptions about each other. This misperception is certain to increase as we enter into this political season. Arthur Brooks provides further academic documentation for this reality. A study that appeared in the Journal of Politics revealed that the average Democrat believes that more than 40 percent of Republicans earn more than $250,000. That is a number that is completely…

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August 2, 2019
Debbie Terry Headshot

Penna Dexter Often, our most satisfying friendships are with like-minded people alongside whom we work for causes we care about. When the cause is love of and concern for our nation and when the laborers are Christ-followers, certain people rise up as treasured friends. They encourage you, lead you, teach you, and make you better and more effective. At the same time, they love you. And you love them. Debbie Terry was such a friend for me. She passed from this earth last month….

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August 2, 2019
man merge w computer screen

Kerby Anderson For the last few decades, politicians and high-tech companies have been talking about the digital divide. They wanted to make sure that poor and underprivileged students had access to the same digital devices as wealthier ones. I have always felt there was a bigger issue that fewer people were talking about. Fortunately, Naomi Schaefer Riley addresses this in her New York Times op-ed on “America’s Real Digital Divide.” She warns that, “If you think middle-class children are being harmed…

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August 1, 2019
X Y Chromosomes

Kerby Anderson The debate and discussion about transgender issues will continue because of a transgender ideology that has developed that is actually harmful to kids. That is one of the conclusions of the book by Ryan Anderson with the creative title: When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. The transgender ideology promotes the opportunity for children to change their gender with surgery and drugs. And parents “are told that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones may be the only…

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July 31, 2019
love thy body - book

Kerby Anderson The contemporary issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, transgenderism, and the hookup culture seem very different. But they all illustrate in different ways a secular hostility to the human body. That is the premise of the new book by Nancy Pearcey with the title, Love Thy Body. She was on my radio program recently to explain how each of these issues goes back to a flawed perspective of our bodies. Supporters of abortion say that the fetus is not…

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July 30, 2019
NONES cross w gold splatters

Kerby Anderson The fastest growing religious group of our time is the group of young people who check “none” or “none of the above” on religious survey questions. Social scientists, therefore, refer to them as “the nones.” A few years ago, I did some commentaries about the “nones” but wanted to revisit this topic because we now have more survey statistics that illustrate their growth. From the 1930s to the 1990s, the percentage of “nones” in America was less than…

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July 29, 2019
Moral therapeutic deism

Kerby Anderson Over the last two decades, Christian Smith has helped us understand what is in the heads and hearts of young people. He is the co-author of such books at Soul Searching, Souls in Transition, and Lost in Transition. In his books, he coined the now famous term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” The term came up in a discussion on my radio program with Kara Powell about her book, Growing Young. She and her co-authors have identified a number of strategies…

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July 26, 2019
human organ transplant

Penna Dexter Last month Maine became the eighth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Daily Signal called this an “ominous trend” stating: “Once physician-assisted suicide is on the table, doctors, families, and insurers encounter perverse incentives to end the lives of the most vulnerable — the sick, the disabled, the very young, or very old.” One perverse incentive that’s cropping up is organ donation. In Canada, where assisted suicide has been legal for three years, the Canadian Medical Association has…

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July 26, 2019
Jefferson - freedom of the press

Kerby Anderson With all this talk about fake news, you might think this is a recent phenomenon. Jarrett Stepman provides a history of fake news in the US and the attempts government and other entities have used to try to stop it. He reminds us that the Founding Fathers were well aware of the power of the press. Many of them (such as Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine) were newspapermen and pamphleteers. That is why they were all…

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