Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Most Americans say we face serious problems and yet there is growing evidence that we aren’t really serious about serious problems. Ned Ryan wrote a commentary about “An Unserious Movement for an Unserious People.” Although many of his criticisms are focused on the Republican party, most of his comments apply to both parties and most political leaders today. He says we need to acknowledge that we “in many ways have become an unserious people. No serious civilization and…

Kerby Anderson James Meigs, writing in City Journal, talks about what he calls “the chump effect.” He is not the first to use the phrase. Andrew Ferguson coined the phrase years ago to deal with a different issue. But James Meigs uses it to illustrate how many of us feel like “chumps” when we follow the rules and see others succeed when they break the rules. You know the feeling that he describes. You are inching forward in the freeway…

Penna Dexter The facet of the gender transition craze I have found most shocking is how easy it is for young people to get gender transition hormones and radical surgeries at clinics often operated out of mainstream medical facilities. There were places in the U.S. to get these treatments — even for children. A shameful practice — unregulated — and done fairly quietly. Then came the gender craze, fueled by woke school curricula, and online. Between 2017 and 2021 there was a massive uptick…

Kerby Anderson Yesterday I talked about the need to have some discernment when reading about energy usage figures cited in news articles. It is also important to put the estimates about carbon dioxide emissions into perspective. In the past, I have quoted figures from the book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster written by Bill Gates. Some critics have asked why I would quote from him. I do so because he believes we need to focus worldwide attention on climate…

Kerby Anderson American media is paying more attention to how we use energy, but sometimes there is value in putting some of the estimates into perspective. First, a confession. I am the person in our household who is always going around turning off lights and TVs when nobody is in the room. I am all about saving energy. It is a sad fact that we as a nation and we as a planet waste more energy than we use. Just…

Kerby Anderson Sean McDowell observes that “In a culture that glamorizes sex, chases fame, and shames those who don’t fall in line, it takes a rebel to be a Christian.” That is why the title of his new book is, A Rebel’s Manifesto. His book for young Christians focuses on the challenges of the culture, relationships, sexuality, ethics, and cultural engagement. He published much of this in a previous book Ethix: Being Bold in a Whatever World. When I did…

Kerby Anderson More than three decades ago, I wrote and recorded a week of radio programs on “The Decline of a Nation.” One of the days I focused on the decline of the family and quoted J.D. Unwin. I was encouraged to see that in a recent Breakpoint commentary John Stonestreet quoted from this Oxford sociologist who published a book in the 1930s summarizing his research. In it, he described 80 tribes and six historical civilizations over the course of…

Kerby Anderson Everything you know about income inequality, poverty, and other measures of economic well-being in America is wrong. Former senator Phil Gramm was on my program to make that case recently. He is the co-author of the book, The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate. I might mention that his co-authors hold very different political views than he does, but they do agree that we need to get the facts right before we have a policy…

Penna Dexter A couple of weeks ago, Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill restricting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. This action drew mixed reactions from pro-lifers. In an op-ed for Politico, Rich Lowry began by declaring: “Boy, did Lindsey Graham step in it.” Mr. Lowry titled his piece: “In Defense of Lindsey Graham.”  In it, he explains why the senator was right to propose what amounts to “a consensus GOP position” on abortion. The House has effectively…

Kerby Anderson In a recent commentary about being a champion of truth, Jonah Goldberg made a passing comment that deserves more attention. He noted that “Marian Wright Edelmen named her outfit the Children’s Defense Fund in part because it made it easier to say opponents of her preferred policies were ‘anti-child.’” He went on to argue that “the whole anti-racism racket depends on the same rhetorical sleight of hand.” He explains that “it’s not good enough to say you’re opposed…

Kerby Anderson The crisis of men and boys is well known and well documented. My radio interviews with Dr. Warren Farrell about his book, The Boy Crisis is but one example. Jordan Peterson has been speaking and writing about his concerns for many years. The latest warning comes from a David Brooks op-ed in the New York Times and the publication of a new book by Richard Reeves, Of Boys and Men. For example, boys are struggling in the classroom….