Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson The news these few months is full of violence with both shootings and stabbings. It’s worth taking a moment to evaluate and challenge some of the phrases being used by pundits and politicians. One of the most prevalent is to decry political violence “on both sides.” Let’s start with an obvious perspective. Political violence is wrong whether committed by black or white, or whether committed by liberal or conservative. In the past, I have quoted the commonsense wisdom…

Penna Dexter It only takes a few minutes. Just watch an interaction between Charlie Kirk and a college student. You’ll learn some good arguments on an important cultural issue. And you’ll get a lesson in civil discourse done with excellence, mercy and grace.   Commentator, Rod Dreher wrote of the late Charlie Kirk: “True, he could throw some rhetorical punches, but he always did so in the spirit of engaging his opponents, not seeking to humiliate or ‘destroy’ them.” He…

Kerby Anderson Lots of myths surround the millennial generation. We even spend some time on the radio during our millennial roundtable debunking many of them. Perhaps the most significant prevailing myth is that millennials are broke. Sociologist Jean Twenge takes on “The Myth of the Broke Millennial” in her extensive article in The Atlantic. This isn’t just a myth that others have about this generation. It is a myth they have about themselves. One author complains about their plight in…

Kerby Anderson Depression in the U.S. has reached record levels. According to the latest Gallup poll, “The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached 29%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015.” This is a troubling statistic, especially at a time when the country is enjoying a level of prosperity. Treatment for depression has also increased. “The percentage of Americans who currently have or are being treated…

Kerby Anderson Wokeness can be found in just about every academic discipline including the recent revelations of woke science. If there is anything more dangerous, it is “woke medicine.” The attack on meritocracy is well documented in Heather Mac Donald’s book, When Race Trumps Merit. As important as the book is, the danger is driven home by Ann Coulter’s column, “No Biggie, Just the End of Civilization.” Many institutions have dropped their standards, but she decided to focus on the…

Kerby Anderson Until recently, reading articles in Scientific American was an important way for those of us who love science to keep up with research trends. That isn’t the case anymore. Last year at this time, an article in Scientific American argued against banning gender-reassignment surgery because it ignores the health benefits to trans people. This month, Scientific American published an essay by a Princeton professor with the provocative title, “Here’s Why Human Sex Is Not Binary.” He starts with…

Kerby Anderson What does the word “Christian” mean these days? It doesn’t seem to mean very much. The last few reports from George Barna’s Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University reveal that a very small percentage of American Christians have a Christian worldview. Nearly seven in ten (69%) of Americans self-identify as Christian. Yet only about 4 percent of Americans have a Christian worldview. George Barna explains, “Christian has become somewhat of a generic term rather than a name…

Penna Dexter The Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce engagement has some people wondering: Will marriage by the world’s most famous millennial feminist accelerate the recent, modest reversal of the decline in marriage rates? The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman wrote recently of a marriage “comeback.” He cites data that “suggests that the decades-long decline in the proportion of Americans who are married may have reached its low point.” Having hit that nadir during the pandemic, the 2023 marriage rate “was higher than…

Kerby Anderson Tanita Maddox is the national director for generational impact for Young Life and author of the book, What Gen Z Really Wants to Know About God. She was on my radio program recently to share her research and insights. Her investigation began when she began to ask if she was being effective in ministry anymore. She saw panic attacks at events, students filled with anxiety, and open hostility to faith she had never seen. Ministry she had done…

Kerby Anderson Now that students are back in school, there is something missing in the classroom. What is missing are cell phones. Last month, the public schools in the District of Columbia banned cell phone use during school hours, joining many other school districts who have done the same. The reason for these new rules should be obvious but are worth mentioning. More than 95 percent of teenagers have access to a cell phone and would be inclined to use…

Kerby Anderson Matt Taibbi worked for many years as a contributing editor for Rolling Stones and now is the publisher of Racket News. After the horrible news of the school shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, he made an insightful comment about the way the media covers such issues. “You don’t know who’s crazier, the shooter or some of the people who are talking about the shooter.” His comment seemed to sum up all the media commentary that occurs after…