Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Numerous charges and revelations about sexual harassment are now bringing out people trying to affix blame. In the past, we blamed the perpetrator. Unfortunately that has changed. Charlie Rose exposed himself to women who worked for him. When he issued an apology, it ended up being more of a non-apology. The most important line was this: “All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past,…

Penna Dexter I was delighted recently by an interview the Wall Street Journal published with the husband-wife team behind the long-loved Babar the Elephant children’s books. Laurent de Brunhoff is 92 and says Babar’s Guide to Paris, published this year, is his last. As a kid, I loved the Babar books. Babar’s character was created by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931. In the first book, the young elephant saw his mother shot by a hunter and fled the jungle to…

Kerby Anderson Before this year ends, it is worth mentioning the anniversary of a terrible Supreme Court decision that occurred 90 years ago. Eric Metaxas mentioned it in a recent Breakpoint commentary, and I wanted to add some important background to the infamous case known as Buck v. Bell. The high court upheld a Virginia law that allowed them to sterilize Carrie Buck because they felt she was “unfit” to reproduce. To understand how we got to the court’s decision,…

Kerby Anderson In a booklet I wrote recently on the politicized culture, I quoted from some relevant comments by Ben Shapiro. He reminds us that when we politicize a sacred space in our culture it is a serious problem. He believes it is serious “because no culture can exist without certain cultural capital—trust—and that trust exists only when there are certain spaces in which we can assume agreement without having to ask.” When there is shared agreement, there is communication…

Kerby Anderson Should private businesses be allowed to decide what products and services they sell? The question seems absurd. Of course, they should be free to decide what products and services they sell to the general public. Tim Cook, (Apple’s CEO) has been in the news over the last few months. He received the prestigious Free Expression award from the Newseum in Washington, D.C. In accepting the award, he talked about the values of Apple and the need for corporations…

Kerby Anderson I think we all know that you don’t want to rely solely on an article in Wikipedia for truthful information. It may be a good place to start, but you should certainly check whatever you find with other sources. That was my conclusion in a commentary I did eight years ago. That advice is even more relevant today because there are Internet trolls that alter and delete information in Wikipedia they don’t like. In a column that appeared…

Kerby Anderson The tax reform bill making its way through Congress may be a slight improvement over the existing tax code, but just barely. Columnist George Will reminds us that the best solution would be to “repeal and replace the tax code.” There is a bill in Congress that would actually do that but it won’t ever get an up-or-down vote. The “Tax Code Termination Act” would delete the 4-million-word code as of December 31, 2021 and require that Congress…

Penna Dexter The Left is attempting to force California pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion services they don’t offer and find immoral. These centers exist to help women facing unplanned pregnancies understand they have life-affirming alternatives to abortion. Crisis pregnancy centers help young women who are often afraid and sometimes facing outside pressure to abort. Most of these centers are operated by Christians who are motivated by their faith to affirm and protect the sanctity of human life. Abortion activists…

Kerby Anderson Is America suffering from Affluenza? Actually, that is the title of a book published a number of years ago to define the problems of materialism in general and consumerism in particular. The authors say that the virus of Affluenza “is not confined to the upper classes but has found its ways throughout our society. Its symptoms affect the poor as well as the rich . . ..  Affluenza infects all of us, though in different ways.”  The authors…

Kerby Anderson Each year, we take time from our busy lives to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Though many holidays have become secular celebrations, this holiday still retains much of its historic religious overtones. A day of Thanksgiving was set aside by the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony. Life was hard in the New World.  Half of the Pilgrims died in the first terrible winter. After the first harvest was completed, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and…

Kerby Anderson Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I suspect that you are doing lots of things to get ready for this special day. Let me suggest you add one more item to your to-do list. You may download a copy of my Thanksgiving Quiz. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to gather as a family, but I also believe it can be a great time to teach our children and grandchildren about America’s godly heritage. I created this short quiz to be…