Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson What is the effect of social media on the brain? Nicholas Carr made this observation fourteen years ago in an article in Atlantic. “Over the past few years, I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.” In a book he later wrote, he blamed the internet and social media. We now have studies that seem to confirm what most of us suspected. Neuroscientists at…

Penna Dexter New numbers from China’s National Bureau of Statistics show that the ruling Communist Party has gotten too much of what it wished for. In the late 1970s, in order to slow the country’s rapid population growth, the Chinese state began limiting how many children families could have. This became China’s one-child-per-family policy, which was sometimes administered via community policing, draconian fines, and forced abortion and sterilization. Chinese parents, anxious for sons, engaged in sex-selective abortion which accounts for…

Kerby Anderson Two decades ago, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead was on my radio program. At the time, she was one of the co-authors of a study done by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University that came to this conclusion: “Cohabitation is replacing marriage as the first living together experience for young men and women.” What was true then is true today, but there is even more evidence of changing attitudes as well as additional social research on cohabitation. A survey…

Kerby Anderson The Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation announced that the Pool of Siloam will soon be opened to the public. This is the first time in 2,000 years that anything, but a small section has been visible. The pool is significant to both Jews and Christians. This is where Jewish pilgrims cleansed themselves prior to entering the Second Temple. And this is also the site where Jesus healed the blind man as recorded in John…

Kerby Anderson One phrase I frequently use on my radio program is this, “Each year researchers spend millions of dollars to discover what most moms already know.” This comment certainly applies to a study reported a few weeks ago in Fortune. Here’s the headline: “Women are more empathetic than men, study of hundreds of thousands of people finds.” Women are more empathetic than men. Who knew? Just about everyone with a little common sense. But we live in a world…

Kerby Anderson A Pew survey from last year found that a significant number of Americans believe that socialism “gives all people an equal opportunity to be successful.” A quarter (23%) agree with this statement with another quarter (29%) agreeing with it somewhat. Vance Ginn, writing in the Washington Examiner, is alarmed “that most people who favor socialism don’t understand it or its negative consequences.” They may be motivated by emotional appeals to fairness and equality but are unaware of the…

Kerby Anderson The final report for 2022 from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics was positive for the country and for the Biden administration. They estimated that 159 million Americans were employed in December, which was an increase of 717,000 from the previous month. When we were talking about these good numbers on radio, I also added that the low unemployment numbers don’t include the millions of workers who have dropped out of the labor force. When I say…

Penna Dexter About a year ago, the Biden Administration announced a policy change, stating it will allow pharmacies to fill prescriptions for abortion pills. Last week the FDA began implementation by formalizing a process so that retail pharmacies can become certified to stock mifepristone, the first drug in the 2-drug chemical abortion regimen. Mifepristone cuts off progesterone, which is required to sustain a pregnancy. The nation’s two largest pharmacy chains, CVS and Walgreens, announced they will take advantage of this…

Kerby Anderson One of the most influential figures in the development of the American government was the English philosopher, John Locke. Thomas Jefferson explained that many of the ideas he drafted into the Declaration of Independence came from Locke. Joe Locante, who has been a guest on my radio program, has written an insightful essay on “The Gospel According to Locke.” As you might gather from the title, he spends much of his essay showing the connections between Locke’s philosophy…

Kerby Anderson Before Senator Ben Sasse left Congress, he penned an op-ed describing the division in America. He isn’t the first person to talk about our divided country, and he certainly won’t be the last. But he brings a keen understanding to the discussion as a historian and as a member of the US Senate. He believes the “most important divide in American politics isn’t red versus blue. It’s civic pluralists versus political zealots. This is the truth no one…

Kerby Anderson When the year 2022 was coming to an end, and when a new Congress convened in 2023, there were a few articles talking about saving America. I thought I would add my thoughts to this growing list of what needs to be fixed in this country. Soon I will be traveling to various radio stations and will speak at listener events. One question I often get is whether it is even possible to save America. As a Christian,…