Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson New York has decided to embark on an economic experiment. It has become the first state to offer free college tuition for its residents. Not everyone is excited about this idea. Brandon Muir, executive director of Reclaim New York, said, “Governor Cuomo’s taxpayer-backed college tuition plan is so reckless, no other state has been dumb enough to try it.” San Francisco has offered free community college tuition to its residents. Rhode Island is considering a similar measure, and…

Kerby Anderson Every president leaves the next president with unfinished business. But it appears that President Obama has left a number of time bombs to President Trump. A few come to mind. The inevitable collapse of Obamacare is one. Chemical weapons in Syria is another. Perhaps the most significant is what the editors of the Wall Street Journal rightly call the “debt interest bomb.” Rising interest payments for the national debt will be a major obstacle for President Trump and…

1. Trump and Congress eye shutdown showdown over border wall “The face-off comes as lawmakers return to Washington following a two-week Easter recess. Government funding expires Friday, leaving Congress little time to strike a deal. A White House push for progress on repealing Obamacare will also consume energy on Capitol Hill, even as a vote on legislation this week appears unlikely. “In the meantime, both sides are puffing up their chests, refusing to budge from their hard-line positions on one…

Kerby Anderson The Supreme Court has ruled that public schools can teach about religion but they cannot indoctrinate students into a religion. So many schools simply avoid the possible controversy altogether by not teaching about religion at all. That is why the latest controversy is hard to imagine. The Christian Action Network says that the U.S. Department of Education is funding an Islamic education program in the public schools that crosses the line from academics to indoctrination. I had Martin…

Kerby Anderson When is identification necessary in our society? At least one U.S. district judge believes it is unnecessary when we vote. Earlier this month she struck down the Texas requirement that voters have a photo ID in order to vote. Any one of seven forms of identification could be used at the polling place. And if people did not have a driver’s license or other appropriate ID, they could sign an affidavit declaring that they have an impediment to…

Penna Dexter My husband had back surgery and he’s been rehabbing with a physical therapist who is a Coptic Christian. Her parents migrated to the US from Egypt. When we mentioned the Palm Sunday bombings of churches in Tanta — 60 miles from Cairo — and Alexandria, she acted as if she’s resigned to it. She said, “Our churches have been bombed for 200 years.” The Copts are no strangers to persecution — or martyrdom. Coptic believers make up one…

1. Georgia college says sharing the gospel is “fighting words” “In the latest, Georgia Gwinnett College is trying to have a lawsuit dismissed claiming the student plaintiff had spoken “fighting words” on campus and had no first amendment protections. The fighting words? The student, Chike Uzuegbunam, went to a free speech zone on campus and shared the gospel. “Georgia Gwinnett College has now filed a motion to dismiss claiming sharing the gospel is akin to fighting words and has no…

Kerby Anderson The Bible describes many miracles, but we also have other literature and even modern claims of miracles. Is there any way to evaluate these claims in a rational way? Dr. Timothy McGrew (Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University) was recently on my radio program. He has developed a six-part test that uses the acrostic DOUBTS. The resurrection of Jesus Christ passes the filter while many other miracle claims quickly fail. D is for distant…

Kerby Anderson Whenever there is a mass shooting we read headlines or hear commentators describe it as a random shooting. While it is true that many times the victims are chosen at random, the locations for their carnage are rarely random. When Dr. John Lott was on my radio program I asked him about this. I had heard that the shooter at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater bypassed many other theaters and venues because those locations had security. John Lott…

Kerby Anderson Professor Mike Van Biezen begins his article on global warming with these three words: “It made sense.” He is talking about the original charts most of us saw years ago. The amount of CO2 was increasing and so was global temperature. When I was in graduate school, I looked at those graphs and made the natural assumption that CO2 was causing the earth’s temperature to rise. The correlation seemed too obvious to ignore. Only years later did it…

1. Infants show racial bias toward members of own ethnicity, against those of others (Science Daily) “In the first study, “Older but not younger infants associate own-race faces with happy music and other-race faces with sad music,” published in Developmental Science, results showed that after six months of age, infants begin to associate own-race faces with happy music and other-race faces with sad music. “In the second study, “Infants rely more on gaze cues from own-race than other-race adults for…