Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson One song we often sing during the Christmas season is “What Child Is This?” William Chatterton Dix wrote the lyrics in 1865 when he was an insurance company manager and had been struck by a severe illness. After a spiritual renewal in his life, he wrote a number of hymns. This one was set to the tune of the traditional English folk song, “Greensleeves.” “What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom…

Kerby Anderson With all the claims and counterclaims about global warming, it is often hard to figure out what to believe. One thing I do know is that two of the loudest claims about a climate catastrophe on the horizon are based on erroneous assumptions. When I was in graduate school working on computer models, I learned that the assumptions about the data often determined the effectiveness of the models to predict future environmental events. The British scientific journal Nature published…

Kerby Anderson Life expectancy for Americans continues to decline. The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the bad news in perspective. The researchers say that this is the “longest sustained decline in expected life span at birth in a century.” At the turn of the last century, American men were fighting in World War I and back home other Americans were confronting the worst flu epidemic in modern history. Last year there were more deaths…

Penna Dexter As America honors President George H.W. Bush, elected a mere thirty years ago, there’s a sense that we are much further removed than that from his time in office. He famously dashed off thousands of thoughtful communications to world leaders and ordinary citizens, not electronically, but via the handwritten note. It was a different century — really a different era. Ted Cruz pointed out in his tribute to the former president that he “was the last of the…

Kerby Anderson Today is December 7 – a day that President Roosevelt said would be “a date which will live in infamy.” On that fateful morning of December 7, 1941, America was attacked without warning. More than 2,400 Americans died and 1,100 were wounded. Our country was changed forever. This attack led us into war, and the citizens of America responded with courage and resolve. So it may be well to reflect on what took place and how we today…

Kerby Anderson When Congress reconvenes, we will be hearing more about a new initiative called the “Green New Deal.” Proponents want to overhaul government spending in order to combat climate change. Some of the new Democrat members of Congress want the majority to establish a committee that will be tasked with increasing the size of government and decreasing carbon emissions. In a recent column, Timothy Meads quotes from an article that appeared in Politico. “The Green New Deal resolution calls…

Kerby Anderson We have seen lots of examples of incivility toward political leaders and public figures. Senator Ted Cruz and his wife were confronted in a Washington, D.C. restaurant and had to leave. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife were accosted while leaving a dinner at Georgetown University. Senator Rand Paul was physically attacked. Tucker Carlson had a leftist group show up at his house and even damaged his front door while his wife cowered in a closet….

Kerby Anderson The pay gap between men and women has been the source of economic discussion and political debate for decades. Progressives claim that the gender pay gap is due to sexism and requires government intervention. But others argue that the difference has more to do with the priorities of women in the workforce and the choices they make. The Wall Street Journal recently summarized a study done by Harvard economists of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It provided a perfect…

Kerby Anderson Do tax cuts lead to lower tax revenues? That’s what liberals proclaim any time conservative politicians attempt to cut taxes. Last year, that’s what Democratic leaders predicted would happen when President Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress pushed through tax cut legislation. The Republican argument was that the tax cuts (along with reduced government regulations) would ignite a stagnant economy. Although the tax cuts would lower the tax rate for businesses and individuals, a booming economy would…

Penna Dexter The midterms brought an interesting lesson in racial politics. Columnist and black conservative activist Star Parker says voting data reveals what she describes as “a fateful anomaly in racial voting in the governor’s race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, now Florida’s governor-elect.” Mr. Gillum is the former mayor of Tallahassee and was running to become the first black governor of Florida. Star Parker points out that the black enthusiasm we might have expected for him didn’t exactly…

Kerby Anderson Does plagiarism matter to Christians? That is a question Dr. Warren Throckmorton asks in a recent column. I had him and Mary DeMuth on the Point of View radio talk show to discuss some of the problems that have surfaced in Christian publishing. In the secular world, plagiarism is a big deal. In his article, he documents cases where people have lost their jobs or received severe sanctions both in the newsroom and in the academy. And if a…