Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson The other day I came across a shocking statistic. Lee Burdette Williams says, “About three million first-time college students will soon be arriving on campus—most of them coming directly from high school. About one million of them won’t make it through their first year or return as sophomores.” She concludes that “this attrition is financially and emotionally devastating for families” and it is also “destabilizing for colleges.” Why is this happening? Many of these departures are financial. Higher education…

Kerby Anderson As we look through the corridors of history, we see the rise and fall of nations. The symptoms of societal decline are well known. Governments spend too much and debase their currency. Leaders get decadent and patriotism declines. Families fracture, and eventually the society falls apart. A nation in decline fails to protect its citizens. One of the important functions of a society is to protect the weak from those who intend them harm. Not only is crime…

Kerby Anderson When I talk about the polarization in this country, I am often asked why is there so much hostility against Christians? We are often the greatest source of ministry and encouragement in the community. In his book, Christians in a Cancel Culture, Joe Dallas devotes a chapter to this question about hostility toward Christians. You can summarize his excellent discussion with three words that begin with the letter “C.” The first is convenience. Whenever truth is told, someone…

Kerby Anderson Yesterday I talked about the book, The Sovereign Individual which decades ago predicted the death of the nation state. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the demise of the nation state are greatly exaggerated. Governments may still exist and exercise their power, but we can see how the power and influence of some governments are in decline. There are many reasons for this trend. First, is geography. The information revolution has made it possible for many people…

Kerby Anderson The authors of their book, The Sovereign Individual, explain that we are entering into the fourth stage of human society. First, there were the hunting and gathering societies. Then came the agricultural societies. More recently we had the industrial societies. Now, we live within informational societies. Although the book was written in the 1990s, there are sections of the book that are quoted even now in the second decade of the 21st century. The authors predicted we would…

Penna Dexter The New York Times recently reported on an “emerging truth” among Christians. Correspondent Ruth Graham writes, “For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.” This dynamic applies only to Christians who are part of Generation Z. (Gen Z currently encompasses ages 12-27.) A survey of over 5000 Americans done last year by the Survey Center…

Kerby Anderson You are probably aware that Americans distrust science and science magazines more than in the past. But you may not know how much has evaporated. Back in 1975 (when I was finishing a graduate degree in science), Gallup documented that most Americans trusted science. In fact, Republicans trusted science more than Democrats did, 72 percent to 67 percent. Republican confidence in science dropped to 45 percent by 2021. Christian Schneider argues “Politicized science may make us sicker.” He…

Kerby Anderson Since the Hamas attack last year on Israel, the government and IDF have been fighting in Gaza. But now Israel has also had to deal with Hezbollah to the north which has fired more than 8,000 rockets at this small country. These indiscriminate attacks have forced thousands of Israelis to flee from the northern part of Israel. Once again, world leaders are cautioning Israel to avoid escalating this conflict. But Rich Lowry argues that “the Jewish state is…

Kerby Anderson A recent story from CBN News reports that there has been a fourth major collegiate revival in the last month. According to the story, “thousands of students gathered at the University of Arkansas on Thursday night to seek Jesus Christ and find salvation in His name. Unite US reports that 10,000 students from 67 different universities gathered in Bud Walton Arena.” One young man shared his powerful testimony right before getting baptized at the event, saying, “I spent…

Kerby Anderson Tariffs are in the news and are being debated between candidates. In the past, tariffs have been used to protect domestic industries and provide an additional source of revenue. The downside of tariffs is that they increase costs for consumers and can lead to retaliation from other countries. Dominic Pino posted the number 4,392. That is the number of pages in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Before you even get to the first section, there…

Kerby Anderson Imagine being in the Army and watching a presentation about extremism. Up pops a slide with the title “Terrorist Groups” and under it are labels that identify the National Right to Life and anyone with a “Choose Life” license plate as an extremist. Mind you, this slide just followed a slide of the terrorist group ISIS. This is not the first time we have seen such Army training slides. During the Obama administration, we discussed on my radio…