Recent Viewpoints

Although I have written and spoken about Israel many times over the last few decades, I had never been to the country until last month. My experience there and the recent killing in Israel were a reminder that a two-state solution in Israel will not work. You don’t have to take my word for it, Israel’s minister of the economy, Naftali Bennett, makes a convincing case in his op-ed “For Israel, Two-State Is No Solution.” He reminds us of what…

Now that Republicans will control the U.S. Senate, some senators have been debating whether to restore the 60-vote filibuster rule for confirming judicial appointments. I think that would be a very bad decision, for many reasons. Historically the filibuster was not used to stop presidential appointments. A majority is all that is needed to pass legislation, but the Senate filibuster has been used to prevent a vote on key appointments and legislation. I have never understood why 41 members of…

Federal welfare programs have contributed to the decline in marriage in America. Most of us have known that, but it was helpful to see the research by Robert Rector at the Heritage Foundation to explain this in detail. How the War on Poverty Has Hurt American Marriage Rates was the title of his article. He explains that it is no accident that the decline in marriage began with President Johnson’s War on Poverty fifty years ago. When the War on…

President Obama has been promoting the idea of net neutrality and has been pushing the idea that the Internet should be managed like a public utility. The term “net neutrality” refers to the idea that broadband networks should treat all communications on their networks in the same way. In previous commentaries, I explained that the idea for net neutrality came from what is called the dotCommunist Manifesto. It talks about the struggle to “wrest from the bourgeoisie” the “patrimony of…

We live in a day when courts are reconsidering whether marriage should only be between a man and a woman. And we see legislatures considering whether to legalize same-sex marriage or civil unions. So maybe it is time to stop and consider the benefits of traditional marriage. I do this in my book, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality. After all, traditional marriage is the foundation of civilization. Most of us have never stopped to think about the many…

America is in the midst of redefining marriage. Some of these redefinitions are talking place in the legislatures and courtrooms. But today I would like to talk about another place where marriage is being redefined. This is happening through cohabitation. Some individuals merely started out postponing marriage. But over time they ended up postponing marriage indefinitely. An increasing proportion of the population has adopted this “marriage is optional” perspective and never married. They may have had a number of live-in…

On my recent trip to the Holy Land we did something very special. We visited a church at Cana in Galilee, the site where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water to wine at a wedding. We had a ceremony there in which the married couples in our group renewed our wedding vows. It was good to do this — to ponder the meaning of the vows spoken. And it got me thinking about the weddings in which couples write…

A recent article in USA Today warned: “Technology can push our crazy buttons [and] rewire our brains.” Staying connected with digital media can be both a blessing and a curse. For many people, checking in with their devices is getting out of hand. Howard Rheingold, author of  Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, recommends a “mindful use of digital media.” That means we should be aware of what is attracting our attention. He says you should be making decisions instead…

Church pastors and Christian leaders significantly underestimate the influences on the next generation. That is the conclusion of David Kinnaman of the Barna Group. They have conducted more than 5,000 interviews with youth and young adults. He believes we underestimate three aspects of discipleship. First, he says, we underestimate the profound impact of social changes on the millennial generation. This generation is “more conversant with technology, less likely to come from married families, and more financially indebted than any previous…

Most of us have noticed the moral decline in America and have heard how many commentators have described it. Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason has coined a term that I think does a great job of explaining what is happening. He says that our culture is becoming velocitized. He first heard the term in a driver’s training class in high school. “When a driver accelerates from, say, 30 to 60 miles per hour and settles in, he gets acclimated…

Over the last few months there has been talk of repealing one of the most onerous parts of the Affordable Care Act: the medical device tax. Of all of the various elements of Obamacare, why has so much attention been focused on this part of the law? Scott Atlas writing in the Wall Street Journal last month reminded us that the “overwhelming majority of the world’s health-case innovation occurs in the U.S. This includes ground-breaking drug treatment, surgical procedures, medical…