Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson The Internal Revenue Code allows ministers and other religious leaders to take a housing allowance exemption, but that has now been threatened by a ruling by a federal district court judge. Her decision is currently on hold and has been appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Alliance Defending Freedom brief argues that the housing allowance provided to ministers “does not transfer public monies to ministers or houses of worship, nor does it result in any…

Kerby Anderson How accurate are fact checkers? Many fact-checking sites are tied to newspapers, and others are independent operations. Often they provide a valuable service. Sometimes though, the fact checkers need to be fact-checked. Such was the case with Snopes, which is one of the best-known fact-checking sites. Snopes did an analysis of one of the criticisms of California Assembly Bill 2943, which has been making its way through the legislature. The bill would prohibit the sale and distribution of…

Kerby Anderson Sometimes the most important principles of a news story are the ones rarely mentioned. When we compare the death of Alfie Evans to Charlie Gard, we see the loss of parental control. And when we contrast his situation to the royal prince (Louis Arthur Charles) we see the danger of socialized medicine. Over a week ago, the news dutifully reported that young Alfie Evans died because his parents were denied the opportunity to obtain treatment in Italy. Last…

Kerby Anderson The Bible gives us a story of the world told from God’s perspective. That is why the Christian worldview provides the best explanation of the world. It answers questions like, “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose in life?” Greg Koukl provides a big-picture introduction to the story of the Bible in his new book, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important That Happens in Between. He was on…

Kerby Anderson The crime rate is up in many cities, so maybe it’s time to consider a solution rarely suggested. Let’s see what faith-based organizations and people of faith can do. The evidence is that they can reduce the crime rate and the recidivism rate in our prisons. This is the argument Baylor University criminologist Byron Johnson makes in his book, More God, Less Crime. Sadly, most social scientists and even criminologists seem reluctant to make the connection between faith…

Penna Dexter GQ — once Gentleman’s Quarterly — was launched in 1931 as a magazine of fashion, style, and culture. Men look to it for advice on grooming, gadgets, and apparel. The current version delves into current events and culture. But the magazine has, perhaps, overstepped its mission statement in the April issue with an opinion article from the publication’s editors titled “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.”  Number 12 on the list is the Holy Bible.  GQ’s editors have…

Kerby Anderson Economist Thomas Sowell filed his last column a while back. At the age of 87, he certainly has earned his retirement. We will miss his insight, but benefit from the books and columns he has written over the years. One of his last few columns had the engaging title “Football and Fallacies.” As is so often the case, he takes on one of the fallacies of the liberal left. He talks about the reaction from the players in…

Kerby Anderson Graeme Wood gives us a chilling picture of what Islamic jihadists are really like. His book, The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State, is the result of years of interviewing ISIS members. It is amazing that he was allowed to interview them and that they didn’t consider killing him or holding him for ransom. Those who he interviewed were called “The Strangers.” When he asked them why they called themselves that, they said it was…

Kerby Anderson Throughout the years, John Stossel has been trying to find ways to simplify economics and illustrate the benefits of free markets. He has found that Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” is often invisible to his viewers. Friedrich Hayek’s “spontaneous order” is clearer but still hard to show. That is why he began to use some of the ideas found in the article, “Rinkonomics: A Window on Spontaneous Order.” It inspired him to rent a skating rink in order to…

Kerby Anderson A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finds that teenage virgins are healthier than other students who are sexually active. At first, you might think that is merely an obvious conclusion since virgins are not likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD). But the conclusions are based on many other factors as well. Students who are virgins actually rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than their sexually active…

Kerby Anderson When Chick-fil-A opened its fourth location in New York City, not everyone was pleased. The New Yorker magazine described the spread of the chicken restaurant as “an infiltration” because of “its pervasive Christian traditionalism.” I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised since the New York mayor proposed a boycott when the first stand-alone location opened three years ago. The newest store probably bothers New Yorkers even more because it is a huge, 12,000 square foot restaurant. In case you…