Recent Viewpoints

Generosity is good for the soul. Now, you might merely think that is a spiritual lesson. But there is growing evidence that actually people who donate to charity are happier and healthier. That’s the conclusion of Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute. I have quoted from him and his book, Who Really Cares? He wrote that many years ago when he was a professor at Syracuse University. He has continued to follow giving patterns and discovered even more…

In our modern world we take for granted that people should have compassion for one another. But that was not always the case. Compassion from the Christians in the Roman Empire demonstrated the love of Christ and also set the standard for our modern view of compassion. James 2 encourages us to meet the physical needs of a brother or sister who is “ill-clad and in lack of daily food.” We are not to say to them to “go in…

One action Eric Holder took as he was leaving the office of attorney general was to issue an official memorandum that creates special employment status for “transgendered” persons under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Meanwhile other state officials and legislatures have also extended similar rights to men and women who have changed or are changing their gender identity. If you wonder what the implications are to such actions, you need only see what happened in a…

There’s a debate going on in America about decriminalization and legalization of marijuana use.    Federal law bans all sale and possession of marijuana, but enforcement varies widely at the state level. Colorado and Washington now allow recreational pot. Young people ought to be our top consideration in this discussion. A recent Australian study followed the drug use of more than 3700 teenagers. After controlling for dozens of factors, researchers found that teens who regularly smoked marijuana were 60 percent less…

Over the last few decades, we have heard more and more people in business talking about multitasking. We even have a whole generation dedicated to multitasking. That means they have a dozen tabs open on their laptop, while updating their Facebook page, listening to Taylor Swift, while they are supposed to be doing their homework. Unfortunately, more and more studies show that multitasking is a bad idea. It can hurt your brain, your career, and change your personality. Travis Bradberry…

David Brooks recently wrote in the New York Times about “The Cost of Relativism.” Although he didn’t intend it, his op-ed makes a convincing case for why we need Christian values in society. He was talking about a new book by Robert Putnam that describes the growing chasm between those who live in college-educated America and those who live in high-school educated America. He then tells some sad stories of children in broken homes and people living in violent neighborhoods….

There is no shortage of people with an opinion about the treaty that the United States would like to finalize with Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set forth his concerns in a speech before the joint session of Congress. Senator Tom Cotton and 46 others U.S. Senators sent a letter to the Iranian leaders explaining that the Senate would have to approve any deal the president makes with them. Every pundit has an opinion about a treaty that hasn’t even…

Each year at the CPAC (which is the Conservative Political Action Conference) you get speeches from pundits, politicians, and various other speakers. When the organizers invited Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family franchise, they should have expected a speech that would be different from anything you normally hear at a CPAC conference. I first heard about the speech when I tuned into a talk show and heard the host criticize the speech and the CPAC organizers for…

The release of the Justice Department report on the Ferguson Police Department has renewed the national discussion about race relations and the police. A voice that needs to be heard in this discussion is Jason Riley. He is a senior editorial page writer at the Wall Street Journal and has been on my radio program. Earlier this year, he gave a speech at Hillsdale College on “Race Relations and Law Enforcement” that has been reprinted in Imprimis. He acknowledges that…

Recently a pioneer in the pro-life movement died: Jack Wilke, M.D. He and his wife Barbara, who passed on a little over a year before him, were pioneers in the pro-life movement. Years before the Roe vs. Wade decision brought us legal abortion nationwide, Jack and Barbara Wilke began talking about it in packed halls at universities and other venues around the nation and overseas. They taught audiences what abortion really is, who was performing and getting abortions, how professionals…

How important is it that we define our terrorist enemies? Some believe that accurately defining our enemy isn’t worth the effort. One network commentator even ridiculed the idea. Lieutenant Colonel Allen West (also a former member of Congress) says he finds this attitude disconcerting. As a young officer, one of the books on the mandatory reading list was The Art of War by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. This is what he says about defining the enemy. “If you know…