Recent Viewpoints

The more we are learn about the Zika virus, the greater the concern. There is no cure for the virus, so containment is the best solution. But the Rio Olympics are less than six months away. Nearly a half million people will travel to Brazil to participate in or watch the Olympics. Then they will return to their countries, and some of them will no doubt be infected with the virus. Two years ago we saw how unprepared the world…

Now that the U.S. Senate is back in session we are going to hear even more noise about the urgent need for senators to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Senator Chuck Schumer has been on talk shows accusing the Senate leadership of obstructionism. He even predicted that “this kind of obstructionism isn’t going to last.” Some critics have pointed to the hypocrisy of his statements. After all, back in July 2007 Senator Schumer…

What would the crucifixion and resurrection look like through the eyes of an unbeliever? That is the question answered in the new movie, Risen. Last week I was able to interview Rich Peluso, who is the Senior Vice President of AFFIRM Films (a division of Sony Pictures). That night I was able to attend an advance screening of the film. The movie takes a familiar story to all of us who are Christians and helps us see it through the…

I never thought I’d hear conservatives vying to show who is most supportive of registering young women for the draft. But it happened in a recent GOP presidential debate. The question was relevant because, recently, all restrictions against allowing women to be assigned to combat positions were lifted. Certain military leaders are talking about requiring women to sign up for selective service just as men do. It’s the logical next step because a 1981 court decision prohibiting drafting women was…

If you fly with any regularity, you probably have at least one or two “horror” stories about your experience with the TSA. For nearly all of us, it is a minor inconvenience. Sometimes it could be quite a bit more serious. Months ago, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security wrote that the vetting process used in hiring TSA workers is faulty. The inspector general found that the TSA did not identify 73 individuals with terrorism-related category codes….

When Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary last week, one of the commentators talked about how the senator believes there is a conspiracy afoot. He argues that the reason we have so much income inequality is due to the fact that the billionaire class has “rigged” the economy. He makes it sound like this is a uniquely American problem. It is not. You can find similar gains by the “one percent” in places like Canada, the U.K., and some…

What do we want from a president? Actually voters seem to want everything but will have to settle for something far less. Evangelical Christians would like a president who has faith and is religious in a way they support. Fortunately, Professor Thomas Kidd has put together five qualities of what he calls “the perfect religious president.” First, he says that the perfect religious president should have an active faith that is detached from his or her role as a candidate…

When candidates say they will work for the common person, voters are often skeptical. This is especially true when the politicians have close connections with Wall Street. This is the current problem for Hillary Clinton. In one of the Democratic Presidential debates, she tried to explain to the moderator and audience why she was paid $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. It did not go well. Most Americans believe that when a company pays you that amount of money…

Earlier this month when President Obama visited a mosque, he gave a message of “religious tolerance and unity.” He talked about how “Islam has always been part of America.” He even pointed out that: “Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Virginia statute for religious freedom that the Mohammedan should have his faith protected in the United States.” While that is true, there is another part of the Thomas Jefferson story that most Americans do not know. Our third president actually declared…

One thing that makes Israel such a wonderful destination for the Christian is that things the believer knows to be true are affirmed there and illustrated in sharp relief. You expect that to happen when you walk where Jesus walked and when you view with your own eyes the places described in both the Old and New Testaments. But Israel is also a land of the unexpected. On a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my second within 15 months,…

Over the last few weeks, Nebraska senator Ben Sasse has been using Twitter to ask presidential candidate Donald Trump some pointed questions. After about a week of these, Trump decided to answer with a short insult rather than address some of the important constitutional questions. This led to an interview Chuck Todd on MSNBC did with Ben Sasse in which he asked him to define conservatism. The Senator’s short answer has gone viral because it is succinct and profound. He…