Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Should Christians engage in a “strategic withdrawal” from society? That is the question Rod Dreher asks in his new book, The Benedict Option. He was on my radio program last month to talk about his vision for Christians. I have waited a few weeks to think about his book and to consider whether to write a commentary about it. You may not have heard about the book, but you likely have heard the conversations that Christians have been…

Kerby Anderson I think most of us understand that if you want to prevent some human action, the most effective way to accomplish that is through deterrence. We can put up signs designating the speed limit, but we know that people are much more likely to stay within the speed limit if they have some expectation of being pulled over by law enforcement. We can post signs at our border telling potential immigrants that they must come into this country…

Kerby Anderson Yesterday I talked about entitlement addiction. Today I want to focus on how hard it is to wean Americans off other government programs. Joe Messina begins a column by citing some of the recommendations given by pediatricians about when to wean a young child off of breast milk. For example, “a 2-year-old toddler may be more attached and less flexible about giving up breastfeeding than a 12-month-old baby.” Joe than asks, “Sound familiar? Government programs work like this.”…

Kerby Anderson Addiction is hard to escape. Whether we are talking about drugs and alcohol or gambling or a variety of other addictions. Dennis Prager says one of the hardest addictions to escape is the addiction of getting something for nothing. The addiction he is talking about is the entitlement addiction. He reminds us that we have lots of examples of people voluntarily giving up drugs, alcohol, or gambling. We don’t have many examples of people giving up their addiction…

Penna Dexter As the Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings for Judge Neil Gorsuch, columnist Dahlia Lithwick wrote a piece in SLATE complaining about the judge’s deference toward religious liberty in his rulings. Ms. Lithwick, an attorney by training, wrote that, “His record reflects a pattern of systematically privileging the rights of religious believers over those of religious minorities and nonbelievers.” She cited his opinion in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th…

Kerby Anderson America is turning more into a secular society. But this post-Christian nation has not turned into a kinder, more tolerant place to live. Peter Beinart, writing in The Atlantic, reminds us that a vast majority of Americans still believe in God, but they are fleeing organized religion in increasing numbers. The percentage of people with no religious affiliation jumped from 6 percent in 1992 to 22 percent in 2014. Among Millennials, the figure is 35 percent. Many secular…

Kerby Anderson Political correctness and the demand for tolerance can actually be harmful to many people, especially to women. Jennifer Hartline laments that female-only public places are vanishing as the promotion of “gender identity” and “transgenderism” are being promoted in our society. She recounts a story from a self-described progressive mother who wrote about a man who walked into a crowded women’s restroom at Disneyland. “He just stood off to the side and leaned against the wall.” Many of the…

Kerby Anderson Are we winning or losing the war with ISIS? That is a question Joel Rosenberg asks in a Fox News op-ed. He was on my radio program recently to talk about his latest fiction book, Without Warning. The previous president always seemed to minimize the threat of ISIS. He assured us early on that it was merely a “JV squad.” Even as he left office, he insisted that the tide had turned and that the U.S. was winning…

Kerby Anderson Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. It is also facing the real possibility that it will lose it annual taxpayer funding of a half of billion dollars each year. Students for Life have come up with a creative campaign to focus attention on the destruction that Planned Parenthood leaves in its wake. They want to collect 329,999 baby socks to illustrate the number of abortions Planned Parenthood performed in 2015. Recently I had Kristan Hawkins on…

Kerby Anderson The popularity of the latest Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, has once again caused Christians to reconsider whether they want to watch and support the cinematic features of the Walt Disney Company. Even critics acknowledge there are positive elements in every one of the Disney films, but many of them have one or more scenes that are troubling. Some have called for a boycott of the latest Disney film. Others have asked, “Is it Time to Kiss…

Penna Dexter When President Trump rescinded his predecessor’s school shower and bathroom edict, the matter landed right where it belongs, in the laps of the states. And my home state of Texas is leading on the issue. On February 22, President Trump reversed Obama guidelines issued last May that specified that transgender students have the right to use public school restrooms that match their gender identity. That Obama directive meant biological boys would be allowed into intimate spaces meant for…