Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson The carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is an English translation of a Latin hymn that is sung during Advent and Christmas. The text goes back to at least the 18th century (and perhaps much earlier) while the music put to it goes back to the 15th century. “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”…

Kerby Anderson It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best-known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remain as he wrote it more than two centuries ago. It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” The hymn reminds us why…

Kerby Anderson This is Christmas week, and I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a moment to reflect on the words to the hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” It was written in 1867 by Phillips Brooks (an Episcopal pastor from Philadelphia). He had been in Israel two years earlier and had celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem. He wrote this song to reflect on what the night of the birth of Jesus might have been like. O little town of…

Penna Dexter It’s December: time for another UN climate confab. Global socialists who see a climate emergency in every heat wave are meeting in Dubai for the 28th annual Conference of the Parties. Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot says, “COP 28 is shaping up to be a doubling down on the green agenda despite the massive failure on a grand global scale.”   These conferences have no effect on climate. They have sparked little significant change in energy consumption. People…

Kerby Anderson The attacks on Western civilization have been coming from liberals on university campuses for decades. Therefore, it was encouraging to see a liberal atheist remind us of the value of our civilization. On his TV program, Bill Maher complained about “progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western civilization, like it’s a bad thing.” He then added: “Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every liberal precept that liberals are supposed to…

Kerby Anderson Many historians have written about the descent into barbarism. Novelist Mark Lewis reminds us that the “descent into barbarism is easy and fast; you only need to let yourself go.” How does it happen? He suggests, “When it becomes socially acceptable to be a barbarian, as is increasingly the case in America, there will be more and more barbaric activity.” And he adds that it is often to the advantage of leaders to allow it to happen or…

Kerby Anderson Karol Markowicz calls it “America’s Great Rip-off.” What she is talking about is the rising tide of shoplifting in this country. Although it may be easy to dismiss shoplifting as insignificant, she reminds us that it hurts everyone. We pay for it economically with increased prices, and we pay for it culturally with a further decline and degradation in society’s standards. How bad is the problem? Anyone with a little bit of discernment should question the latest statistics….

Kerby Anderson For more than a decade, my radio program has had a millennial roundtable discussion to help the next generation learn to navigate the culture. One resource I recommend is the book, A Practical Guide to Culture, written by John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle. The rowboat on the cover illustrates that the younger generations will have to navigate through choppy waters. John has been on my radio program many times to talk about culture and share his experiences from…

Kerby Anderson The media tells us we are facing an epidemic of loneliness. Everyone is writing about loneliness, and I have done so as well. But we must reject one of the reasons sometimes given for loneliness in America. John Stossel quotes from articles and magazines that argue that capitalism is what makes us lonely. In his new video interview with Johan Norberg, the historian explains, “There is no empirical data that actually shows that we feel lonelier now than…

Penna Dexter An article in the online publication — FLI Insider — sent me searching through several years of radio commentaries to find my stories covering the “Christmas Wars.” I found quite a few. Here’s one from 12 years ago:  Mayor Tony Court of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania received a threatening letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation about a nativity scene that had been displayed in his town for the previous fifty Christmas seasons. The letter insisted the nativity…

Kerby Anderson Thaddeus McCotter has a suggestion for you. Go to a search engine and ask it for the reasons for an impending climate apocalypse. It will list such things as the use of fossil fuels, agricultural practices, and much more. He says that is misleading because the seminal cause for this is YOU. “Well, okay, maybe not you, specifically, but certainly enough people to make the world less burdened by the blight upon Mother Nature that is humanity. Fewer…