Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Everyone agrees that we need government to regulate various parts of our society. In fact, the Constitution sets forth some of the vital functions for the government. But I also think that most of us believe there are too many government regulations. Peter Roff, writing in U.S. News and World Report, put it this way. “Existing regulations are sometimes unnecessary, frequently in conflict, and are enforced by bureaucracies that have lost sight of their original mission. Instead they…

In past Viewpoints when I have talked about poverty, I usually point to the importance of marriage and family. In some of my Viewpoints, I even quote from William Galston, who served in the Clinton administration. He talks about how important it is for young people to graduate from high school and to wait to have children until they get married. In a recent op-ed he put it this way: “Want to know the best poverty cure? Get married. Single…

Penna Dexter The U.S. Congress and the Trump Administration have taken three significant actions to prevent American taxpayer dollars from being used to fund or promote abortion. All three are reversals of Obama Administration policies. One involves domestic policy. Some states prefer to direct Title X funds toward health clinics that provide family planning services to poor women, but not abortions. The Department of Health and Human Services, wanting to keep the money flowing to Planned Parenthood clinics, issued regulations…

Kerby Anderson Today is Good Friday. On this day, believers around the world commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We all understand that. What most of us don’t understand is why this dark day in which Jesus suffered and died is called “Good Friday.” Why isn’t it called Bad Friday or Dark Friday? Over the years, people have put forward various theories. Some argue that it is called Good Friday because something good came about because of the death, burial,…

1. White House Accuses Russia of Cover-Up In Syria Chemical Attack “A four-page report drawn up by the National Security Council contains declassified United States intelligence on the attack and a rebuttal of Moscow’s claim that insurgents unleashed the gas to frame the Syrian government. Instead, the White House asserted that Damascus and Moscow had released “false narratives” to mislead the world. “The release of the dossier at a White House briefing on Tuesday marked a striking shift by President…

Kerby Anderson What makes a society successful? With all the talk this last year about trying to Make America Great Again, the focus has been on individual political and economic policies. As important as those are, we need to step back and ask the bigger question about what makes for successful societies. Harvard historian Niall Ferguson has an answer to that fundamental question. His book, Civilization: The West and the Rest, puts so much in historical context: “For 500 years…

Kerby Anderson When President Trump published his proposed budget cuts, many media outlets focused on cuts to public broadcasting. Writers for USA Today newspaper wondered if the proposed budget would kill Big Bird. Others wondered if this might be the end of programs like Sesame Street. Frankly, I don’t think members of Congress will actually cut funds to public broadcasting. So I want to talk about a more important issue: media manipulation. For the last two years, Sesame Street has…

Kerby Anderson President Trump wants Congress to tackle tax reform. He and they are likely to encounter some significant obstacles in order to get this passed by both houses. Tax reform is long overdue so its likelihood of passing may be fairly good. Trump’s plan would condense the current seven tax brackets into just three brackets. That will certainly make it simpler. The income threshold for single taxpayers will be exactly half of the threshold for married joint filers. That…

Kerby Anderson When members of Congress once again decide to tackle the difficult issue of health care, they need to look at the reasons health care costs are rising. John Stossel reminds us in a recent column that 7 in 8 health care dollars are paid by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance companies. There is no really free market in health care. That is why costs rose 467 percent over the last three decades. Health insurance costs will continue to…

Penna Dexter The Associated Press announced updates to its Stylebook, providing journalists with direction for referring to transgender and gender fluid people. The 2017 AP Stylebook approves the use of “they,” “them,” and “their” to refer to individual transgender people and also to people who do not identify with either gender. Paula Foke, lead editor of the AP Stylebook elaborated, saying, “We offer new advice for two reasons; recognition that the spoken language uses ‘they’ as singular and we also…

Kerby Anderson Khaldoun Sweis admits that reaching your secular friends with the gospel is difficult, but there are things we can do to be more effective. He and I have worked together at the International Society of Christian Apologetics, so I was excited to see many commentators like Ed Stetzer and Eric Metaxas quoting him. Khaldoun says we make a mistake “when we ignore the trends and zeitgeist of the times, and we make grave mistakes when we try to…