Recent Viewpoints

By Kerby Anderson In the first quarter this year, the nation’s gross domestic product grew by just one-half of a percent. Let me say to people who are younger and have grown up with this slow growth that this is terrible. From 1950 to 2000, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent. In fact, President Obama may be the only president in modern times to have presided over an economy that never even reached 3 percent…

You may have noticed that some politicians and judges are no longer talking about the freedom of religion. They now promote a lower standard they call the freedom of worship. The difference is significant. Freedom of religion implies the freedom to express your religious values in the marketplace. Freedom of worship implies you only have that freedom inside your church. The case of Dr. Eric Walsh suggests that even that weaker “freedom of worship” standard is under attack. He holds…

Two weeks ago, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces heard an historic case involving religious freedom in the military. This court is essentially the Supreme Court of the military and will have a far-reaching impact on people who serve in the military and other areas of governmental service. Marine Monifa Sterling was court-martialed because she posted a Bible verse in her workplace. The Lance Corporal was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Her supervisor ordered her to remove…

By Kerby Anderson Much has been written about Target’s policy for restrooms and fitting rooms. I think Glenn Stanton’s recent column was the most insightful. It would hard to accuse him of being anti-gay since his latest book has the title, “Loving My LGBT Neighbor.” His critique goes on for five pages, but here is a brief summary of it. First, single-sex bathrooms weren’t discriminatory yesterday. Earlier this year, Target received a glowing 100 percent rating from the Human Rights…

I’m not much of a boycotter. It’s hard to break entrenched shopping habits and I’m never sure how much it really accomplishes. But once in awhile a targeted (no pun intended) boycott is called for. The boycott of Target stores is such a case. Target recently announced that, in their stores, transgender individuals can use the bathroom of the gender they identify with. Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder says the policy has been in place for several years. But Target’s proud…

By Kerby Anderson The next time you see a story about alleged discrimination, you might stop and consider whether the story is true. There seems to be an increase in the number of hoaxes being promoted by social justice advocates. The latest was the claim by a homosexual pastor in Austin that someone at Whole Foods put a gay slur on his cake. Whole Foods claims it did not happen, has video to back up their claim, and are taking…

By Kerby Anderson While politicians and critics debate the merits of so-called “bathroom bills,” it might be worth considering what medical experts are saying about gender and sexuality. The American College of Pediatricians issued a temporary statement in March and will follow up with a full statement this summer. You can’t say they were guilty of burying their lead. The title of their statement was: “Gender Ideology Harms Children.” Here are some of the eight points they make in their…

By Penna Dexter Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee really did her homework in preparing for hearings before the committee she chairs: the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives. This committee is looking into revelations that Planned Parenthood is likely profiting from the sale of the body parts of aborted babies, in violation of federal law. The Committee is also inquiring into whether the companies procuring the parts from abortion centers — including many Planned Parenthood clinics — and selling…

Debate about climate change has moved into a new and dangerous phase. Earlier this month, seventeen state Attorneys General and Al Gore got together to plan how they will use the prosecutorial power of their state offices to investigate groups that question the claims of climate change. This should concern all of us. The editors of National Review said that aggressively using these prosecutorial powers “should raise an entire May Day parade’s worth of red flags: Prosecutors are in the…

by Kerby Anderson Yesterday I talked about corporate bullies that have been threatening boycotts in order to get states like Georgia, North Carolina, and Mississippi to veto legislation they believe is discriminatory. Anyone who would take the time to read some of the laws would see that is not the case. Rarely is any part of the bill cited. Often when it is, that section of the bill is taken out of context. So why are these corporations taking time…

Kerby Anderson I believe that corporations should stay out of the culture wars. Unfortunately,companies like Apple and PayPal just can’t help themselves. In doing so they leave themselves open to three different forms of hypocrisy and double standards. First, they focus on states in America but turn a blind eye to what is happening overseas. PayPal canceled its plan to build a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the other hand, PayPal built a global operations center in Malaysia. The country’s…