Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson You have probably been hearing about the phenomenon of grade inflation for many years. It’s much worse than you might imagine. A recent report tells is all: “Everyone gets an A? College grade inflation spiking.” To make the point, I posted the graph of college grade distributions nationwide on my Facebook page and on Pinterest. The comments from people who saw the graph are very interesting. From the 1960s, you notice that the percentage of A grades increase…

Kerby Anderson You may have noticed that often during a conversation about Islam, someone points out that radical Muslims are but a small percentage of the whole Muslim population. That is true, but there is another percentage that rarely gets mentioned: the percentage of Muslims who want to make Sharia law the official law of a country. A number of years ago, Pew Research interviewed nearly 40,000 Muslims in 39 countries concerning sharia law. Let’s start with the two countries…

Kerby Anderson Dementia is typically a disease that affects the elderly. But doctors are starting to talk about a new type of cognitive condition affecting younger individuals. They call it “digital dementia.” It results, they say, from the overuse of digital technology, such as smart phones and computers. Brain function deteriorates because of digital overuse. The left side of the brain is generally associated with rational thought (numbers, and facts). The right side is responsible for creative skills and emotional…

Kerby Anderson Brian Thomas points out that the eastern two-thirds of the country have little federally owned land. By contrast, the federal government owns most of the land in the western states. Henry Lamb asks why the federal government owns 65 percent of the land west of Denver and only 2 percent of the land east of Denver. These questions are beginning to be asked by various commentators especially as citizens in western areas of America would like to develop…

Penna Dexter When the abortion industry gathers, there’s bound to be shock value in abortionists’ remarks when they think they’re speaking just among their peers. The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) sent investigators undercover to the National Abortion Federation (NAF) conventions held in 2014 and 2015. The NAF is a trade group of abortion providers. We are only now getting to see this footage because a preliminary injunction preventing its release has been in effect. It was obtained after Planned…

Kerby Anderson Christians are surrounded by a supermarket of worldviews, so it is not surprising that many have uncritically accepted many of these false views of reality. The Barna Group in association with Summit Ministries conducted a survey of practicing Christians to determine how they were influenced by these worldviews. They found that younger Christians (millennials and generation X) were much more likely to accept unbiblical worldviews than previous generations. They also found that males were more susceptible than females…

Kerby Anderson Last month I talked about the economic woes of ESPN, when the network laid off 100 people. There are economic reasons, but the more important are the political reasons. ESPN executives and on-air talent came to the wrong conclusion about bringing political discussions into the network. It didn’t improve ESPN’s ratings. It made them worse. Clay Travis explained that, “Middle America wants to pop a beer and listen to sports talk, they don’t want to be lectured about…

Kerby Anderson Andrew McCarthy begins his commentary with these words: “During the Obama years, the National Security Agency intentionally and routinely intercepted and reviewed communications of American citizens in violation of the Constitution and of court-ordered guidelines implemented pursuant to federal law.” This claim is backed up with a FISA-court opinion and investigative research that have been done over the last few months. There are two problems. The first is the incidental collection of data from Americans that occurs when…

Kerby Anderson The special election in Montana illustrated the problems with early voting. Greg Gianforte may have won his election to Congress simply because so many people voted before he body slammed Guardian staff writer Ben Jacobs. Although we have the audiotape of what took place, there is still some question about what may have precipitated the angry outburst and violent act. That can be a conversation for another day. I want to focus on the problems with early voting….

Kerby Anderson A recent Gallup poll found that three fourths (77%) of Americans believe we are a divided nation. But we may not be as divided on as many issues as we think. Dirk Philipsen believes that Americans actually agree on a lot. He says one reason we seem to disagree is due to “tribalism.” He lives in the North Carolina Research Triangle, home of the UNC-Duke basketball rivalry. His favorite teams are ‘Duke and anyone playing the University of…

Penna Dexter Small talk can seem scary or trivial, but it’s also good for you. There’s a growing body of research showing that small talk yields tangible benefits and contributes to our well-being. Psychologists characterize our daily family and good-friend connections as “strong ties” while the connection with someone like the barista at our regular coffee shop would be described as a “weak tie.” In a series of studies, published in 2014 in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers…