Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens stirred up a discussion about the Second Amendment when he published an op-ed in The New York Times that called for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Most of the reaction centered on the fact that it would be nearly impossible. The amendment process set forth in the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a convention of states called for by…

Kerby Anderson Do we see a pattern in these school shootings? Emilie Kao recently wrote about “The Crisis of Fatherless Shooters.” She says there is a sobering theme found in the biographies of school shooters: fatherlessness. “Of the 25 most-cited school shooters since Columbine, 75 percent were reared in broken homes. Psychologist Dr. Peter Langman, a pre-eminent expert on school shooters, found that most came from incredibly broken homes of not just divorce and separation, but also infidelity, substance abuse,…

Kerby Anderson You may have noticed that sometimes people who talk about the need to practice civility need to take their own advice. In the past, this has often been a problem for progressives. They talk about civility, but often engage in name-calling and vilifying others. Their dialogue is anything but civil. Even the previous president was sometimes guilty of saying one thing and doing another. But lately, it has been conservatives who have been guilty of violating their proposed…

Penna Dexter On the campaign trail, Candidate Trump unveiled a childcare proposal that included six weeks of guaranteed paid maternity leave. Back then no one expected anything close to this to get through the GOP House. But, as Washington Post columnist George Will points out, “limited government conservatism has become a persuasion without a party.” The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act adds a new tax credit for employers that provide paid family and medical leave benefits to employees….

Kerby Anderson Dennis Prager stirred up some controversy by saying something progressives would never let you say. As a Jew, he says that American Jews are the luckiest Jews in Jewish history. He also says that about many other ethnic groups. As I mentioned in a previous commentary, his father wrote his senior thesis on anti-Semitism in America. Nevertheless, he taught his two sons that they were the luckiest Jews in Jewish history. Dennis Prager still believes that, even though…

Kerby Anderson During this election season, we will once again see how divided we are as a nation. We see a map of red and blue states and even have maps showing red and blue congressional districts. But there is growing evidence that we aren’t just a divided country. We are essentially two countries living within the same border. Bill Bishop made this case many years ago in his book, The Big Sort. Americans have sorted themselves into various enclaves…

Kerby Anderson Imagine you were in the midst of a discussion about nuclear arms policy. And in the midst of your debate, the other person says something like this: “I don’t think it’s fair that only the United States and Russia have nuclear weapons.” You pause, and then explain that many other countries (like China, France, England, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) also have nuclear weapons. And at that point, you might want to suggest that person learn a…

Kerby Anderson Some commentators are starting to call Generation-Z the “screenagers.” Let’s first define some terms. The Generation-Z (also known as Gen-Z) are those young people who were born after the year 2000. They are the generation following the millennial generation. Dr. Stephen Phinney says that “Gen-Z is compelled to create personal branding that is riddled with obsessive ‘manicuring’ regarding their online presence. This compelling act is driven by a fleshly self-life insecurity called, people pleasing.” He has found that…

Kerby Anderson The ongoing debate about how to stem the problem of gun violence in America has often been fueled by inaccurate statistics and faulty conclusions. If we are to craft effective public policies concerning gun violence, we should insist that accurate facts and figures be available to citizens and legislators. First, let’s at least acknowledge that violent crime has been dropping for decades. Lots of recent media attention makes it seem like violence is on the upswing. It is…

Penna Dexter There’s a sense in which we get surprised by Easter. There’s such a long ramp-up to Christmas every year. And then it’s over and the new year starts, and we’re all busy, and all of a sudden there’s Palm Sunday, and then Easter is here. Perhaps your church emphasizes the 40 days of Lent and you prepared for Easter this year. Perhaps not. Our society has lost some of that. The central celebration of Christianity doesn’t even have…

Kerby Anderson In a recent essay, Ravi Zacharias devoted a few paragraphs to the importance of moral reasoning and an ethical foundation. He reminded us of the insight that can be found in the book, The Roads to Modernity. Gertrude Himmelfarb makes a very powerful statement in the book. She argues that the difference between the European Enlightenment and the English and American Enlightenment was really one word. For the French philosophers, reasoning was supreme. For the English and American…