Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best-known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years, it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remains as he wrote it more than two centuries ago. It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” The hymn reminds us why…

Kerby Anderson The carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is an English translation of a Latin hymn that is sung during Advent and Christmas. The text goes back to at least the 18th century (and perhaps much earlier) while the music put to it goes back to the 15th century. “O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”…

Kerby Anderson Many of the Democratic presidential candidates have been critical of charter schools, and you might wonder why. After all, they are public schools and have a relatively good track record. David Osborne, writing in the Wall Street Journal, documents some of the charges made against charter schools. Senator Elizabeth Warren argues that these schools “strain the resources of school districts.” Senator Bernie Sanders also says that the growth of charter schools “has drained funding from the public-school system.”…

Penna Dexter People looking to shop this year for the gender confused have options. Online fashion collections and even retail shops feature what’s being called gender-free clothing. Gender-free clothing has been out there, on runways and in fashion magazines, for years. I received an ad from a clothing company called Primary that gives kids a chance to choose from a rainbow of colors. The photo shows a kid in a blue dress. It’s labeled “the-boys-long-sleeve-dress. In cobalt.” More recently, some…

Kerby Anderson The news from the last few weeks of impeachment inquiry and the Inspector General’s report both raise an important question. Who will guard the guardians? That was a question first asked by a Roman poet, and it is relevant today. James Madison makes a similar statement in Federalist Paper #51. “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the…

Kerby Anderson Here is one of the great contradictions in our world today. Our economy is healthy and growing. Our social fabric is weak and tearing apart. Rich Lowry in his column suggested two ways to measure our social vitality: births and deaths. Both the fertility rate and life expectancy are declining. That is a certain sign that Americans feel less secure and have little hope. Our society is “characterized by less procreation and more self-destruction.” Let’s first look at…

Kerby Anderson We live in a world where context and perspective seem to be missing. In sports, we hear that a particular player is the GOAT (greatest of all time). Dismal futurists predict the end of the world as we know it. People have been losing perspective for some time, so it’s not surprising that it surfaced in many of the impeachment hearings. Representative Ken Buck tried to put some of the testimony in perspective when he asked law professor…

Kerby Anderson A little over a week ago the Washington Post published a lengthy story with the title, “The Confession.” It told the rest of the story to anti-homosexual slurs that were sprayed on the walls of a church in Indiana. These were posted shortly after Donald Trump’s election and got national attention. Late-night host Stephen Colbert showed an image of one of the church walls in his opening monologue. As you might imagine from the title, a police investigation…

Penna Dexter Psychoanalyst Erica Komisar is a therapist to families and especially children in private practice in New York City. Her periodic columns for the Wall Street Journal on childrearing are treasures. I first noticed the one on why moms should prioritize being home with their babies for their first three years. This practical wisdom almost goes without saying. Some of her points might shock or seem retro if they weren’t timeless and backed up with stats and tons of…

Kerby Anderson Lately politicians on both the left and the right have been criticizing capitalism. Senator Elizabeth Warren calls for “accountable capitalism.” Senator Marco Rubio proposes what could be called “common-good capitalism.” Senator Bernie Sanders proposes “democratic socialism as an alternative to unfettered capitalism.” By the way, they aren’t the only ones using the term. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argues in his book, A Bit of Everything, for a new social contract. He says we need to get rid…

Kerby Anderson The common refrain from Democratic presidential candidates proposing massive spending programs is that only the rich will be heavily taxed. They insist we could afford a European-style welfare state if only we taxed the rich like they do in Europe. The editors at the Wall Street Journal have an answer to that: “Europe’s beleaguered middle class knows better.” First, let’s admit that most European nations do have larger welfare and entitlement programs than in America. Part of the…