Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Lots of myths surround the millennial generation. We even spend some time on the radio during our millennial roundtable debunking many of them. Perhaps the most significant prevailing myth is that millennials are broke. Sociologist Jean Twenge takes on “The Myth of the Broke Millennial” in her extensive article in The Atlantic. This isn’t just a myth that others have about this generation. It is a myth they have about themselves. One author complains about their plight in…

Kerby Anderson Depression in the U.S. has reached record levels. According to the latest Gallup poll, “The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached 29%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015.” This is a troubling statistic, especially at a time when the country is enjoying a level of prosperity. Treatment for depression has also increased. “The percentage of Americans who currently have or are being treated…

Kerby Anderson Wokeness can be found in just about every academic discipline including the recent revelations of woke science. If there is anything more dangerous, it is “woke medicine.” The attack on meritocracy is well documented in Heather Mac Donald’s book, When Race Trumps Merit. As important as the book is, the danger is driven home by Ann Coulter’s column, “No Biggie, Just the End of Civilization.” Many institutions have dropped their standards, but she decided to focus on the…

Kerby Anderson Until recently, reading articles in Scientific American was an important way for those of us who love science to keep up with research trends. That isn’t the case anymore. Last year at this time, an article in Scientific American argued against banning gender-reassignment surgery because it ignores the health benefits to trans people. This month, Scientific American published an essay by a Princeton professor with the provocative title, “Here’s Why Human Sex Is Not Binary.” He starts with…

Kerby Anderson What does the word “Christian” mean these days? It doesn’t seem to mean very much. The last few reports from George Barna’s Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University reveal that a very small percentage of American Christians have a Christian worldview. Nearly seven in ten (69%) of Americans self-identify as Christian. Yet only about 4 percent of Americans have a Christian worldview. George Barna explains, “Christian has become somewhat of a generic term rather than a name…

Penna Dexter The Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce engagement has some people wondering: Will marriage by the world’s most famous millennial feminist accelerate the recent, modest reversal of the decline in marriage rates? The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman wrote recently of a marriage “comeback.” He cites data that “suggests that the decades-long decline in the proportion of Americans who are married may have reached its low point.” Having hit that nadir during the pandemic, the 2023 marriage rate “was higher than…

Kerby Anderson Tanita Maddox is the national director for generational impact for Young Life and author of the book, What Gen Z Really Wants to Know About God. She was on my radio program recently to share her research and insights. Her investigation began when she began to ask if she was being effective in ministry anymore. She saw panic attacks at events, students filled with anxiety, and open hostility to faith she had never seen. Ministry she had done…

Kerby Anderson Now that students are back in school, there is something missing in the classroom. What is missing are cell phones. Last month, the public schools in the District of Columbia banned cell phone use during school hours, joining many other school districts who have done the same. The reason for these new rules should be obvious but are worth mentioning. More than 95 percent of teenagers have access to a cell phone and would be inclined to use…

Kerby Anderson Matt Taibbi worked for many years as a contributing editor for Rolling Stones and now is the publisher of Racket News. After the horrible news of the school shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, he made an insightful comment about the way the media covers such issues. “You don’t know who’s crazier, the shooter or some of the people who are talking about the shooter.” His comment seemed to sum up all the media commentary that occurs after…

Kerby Anderson I have two neighbors that illustrate what is happening and will continue to happen in the housing market. One neighbor just sold their house for a much lower price than anyone in the neighborhood would have expected. The other neighbor bought two homes and used them as rental properties. They now live in one of the homes. People living in the other rental home haven’t paid their rent in four months, and they had to go to court…

Kerby Anderson The National Assessment of Educational Progress is often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card. For most of the states, this hasn’t been a report card you would want to show anyone. But four southern states stand out because they have shown improvement. Alabama and Louisiana had math and reading scores higher than they were in 2019, before Covid. Mississippi fourth graders topped the country in math and reading. If you look at recovery statistics, Alabama was first…