Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson As last year was ending and this year was beginning, we have seen tumult in Tehran. While Iranians have been protesting in the streets, there is another important story that is being missed. Mark Howard, writing in the Gospel Coalition, says the story can be summarized in two sentences. “Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the church in Iran has become the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ.”…

Penna Dexter A survey recently released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that, over the past decade, the number of high-school-age teens who are engaging in sex has dropped dramatically with especially pronounced declines in the past two years. The report’s authors are particularly encouraged by the steep fall in the rate of sexual activity among ninth and tenth graders and also among black and Hispanic teens. In 2015, 41.2 percent of high school students surveyed…

Kerby Anderson The media elite and political elite in this country are disconnected in many ways from the average American citizen. One illustration of this occurred as the final vote was taken in December on the tax reform bill. Many of these elites were scoffing at the fact that the tax cut to middle class Americans might only be $1000 per year. Moreover, they mocked that it amounted to only $18-19 per week. They don’t understand how an additional $1000…

Kerby Anderson One of the ways politicians get some attention in our current media climate is to make outlandish claims or use controversial phrases. So when various Democratic leaders referred to the recent tax reform bill as a grand “heist” it was not too surprising. But I am beginning to see that the use of the term was more than rhetorical flourish. It may indeed be a campaign theme of the 2018 elections. Take a look at the twitter accounts…

Kerby Anderson David French says in a recent column that one of the most under-appreciated and under-reported stories of last year was “that a post-Christian America is a more vicious America” that has rendered “America more polarized, not less.” His thesis is simple. “Remove from the public square biblical admonitions such as ‘love your enemies’ and the hatred has more room to grow.” When the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace and patience) are gone, the culture is becoming…

Kerby Anderson Many presidential candidates campaign on the promise to roll back regulations that stifle innovation and stymie business growth. Once those candidates get into office, very little regulatory reform takes place. That is why what has happened in the Trump administration last year is so significant. The Wall Street Journal editors estimated that his presidency had been “reining in and rolling back the regulatory state at a pace faster than even Ronald Reagan.” They also remind us that regulator…

Kerby Anderson The World Health Organization has just added an unusual disorder to its list of mental health conditions. People who play an excessive amount of video games could be diagnosed with a “gaming disorder.” Of course, they aren’t saying that anyone who lives to play video games has this mental disorder. But they do set out some criteria to identify people with a gaming disorder. First, they show impaired control over gaming. This includes such things as frequency, intensity,…

Penna Dexter Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger says there are two Trump presidencies that “exist in parallel universes.” One presidency, he writes, is “inhabited by Trump of Twitter.” He continues, “Much of the American population is appalled by Trump of Twitter who lives in a dark and deeply personal pool of feuds and fulminations.” This made for a chaotic atmosphere in the early months and distracted from the real work that needed to be done. Mr. Henninger then describes…

Kerby Anderson Someone who tuned into Point of View for the first time left a comment on the Facebook page criticizing what one of my guests said and concluded by instructing us that Christians should embrace socialism. It’s the type of comment I usually ignore, but I thought it might deserve a response since I have heard it so often. Over the last few months, I have been teaching through the book of Acts. When you get to Acts 4,…

Kerby Anderson Although the concept of a free enterprise system developed primarily in Europe, it has become the most successful in the United States. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has a possible explanation. The founders promoted a free market where Americans were able to truly live their liberty. Thomas Jefferson famously said this in his first inaugural address: “A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to…

Kerby Anderson When President Trump set forth his national security strategy, he omitted global climate change as a threat. Two years earlier, President Obama elevated climate change to the top “strategic risk” in his strategy. The ongoing debate about the significance of climate change will continue for years to come. I contend that the debate is really about percentages. Consider people who are often labeled “climate change deniers.” Actually, even these people believe the climate changed in the past (we’ve…