Since the pandemic, American adults are behaving badly. "Bad behavior of all kinds—everything from rudeness and carelessness to physical violence—has increased," Olga Khazan recently wrote at The Atlantic . "Americans are driving more recklessly, crashing their cars and killing pedestrians at higher rates. Early 2021 saw the highest number of 'unruly passenger' incidents ever, according to the FAA." Plenty of viral videos, especially but not exclusively of passengers on airplanes and in airports...
Jun 08, 2022•6 min
Why are pro-abortion activists so committed? Because of lies built upon centuries of bad ideas... If we wondered just how committed some Americans are to abortion, the last couple of weeks have been a helpful demonstration. After a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court on the Dobbs cased suggested the court might overturn Roe v. Wade , pro-abortion activists erupted. Protests were organized outside the private homes of six Supreme Court justices, vile demonstrations were held on the steps ...
Jun 07, 2022•5 min
Recently, The Economist wrote among those intrigued with "the idea of living forever" are "a motley crew of fringe scientists, cultish groups and tech billionaires." The article is a review of The Price of Immortality, a book by journalist Peter Ward. In it, he highlights a quirky, quasi-religious group called " The Church of Perpetual Life, " based out of Pompano Beach, Florida. Its adherents mainly talk food supplements and cryonics, while espousing the hope that science will one day grant ete...
Jun 06, 2022•1 min•Ep. 30
A couple weeks ago, a Title IX investigation was opened for three middle school boys from Wisconsin who used the pronoun she for a biologically female student who wished to go by they . Under the Biden administration , refusing to use misaligned pronouns is considered sex discrimination. Even style guides today encourage the use of they if it is the chosen pronoun of an individual. One rationale given is that someone really is , whatever gender they claim, and to not recognize that with pronouns...
Jun 06, 2022•6 min
John and Maria reflect on recent claims that Judaism supports a pro-abortion agenda. The pair reflect on a Breakpoint commentary with Glenn Sunshine that dispels this myth, and explains why the falsehood has picked up steam in culture. Then Maria asks John to explain more of the culture breakdown as we are seeing a rise in gun violence across the country. John helps explain that gun violence is one of many examples of how our culture is in a crisis of meaning. He explains how we've gotten here a...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min
The latest Dr. Strange movie is making waves, partly because of its dark, violent, and even occultist overtones. Heroes are brutally murdered, seances are had, and undead souls go shrieking in and out of books of demonic curses. As one critic put it, I worry that younger kids who are excited to see the typical Marvel movie may get frightened by the very, very dark tone …. but hey, everyone needs that movie from their childhood that gave them nightmares, right? Mine was Poltergeist ; maybe for so...
Jun 03, 2022•1 min
During the "Preparing for a Post-Roe World" event at the annual Wilberforce Weekend conference, Stephanie Gray Connors responded to various slogans that are used in our cultural moment to promote abortion. Here's her response to the slogan, "Abortion is healthcare." Abortion is healthcare. Instead of using five minutes to reply, it's really tempting to just use five words. "What? That is ridiculous." To respond to that, what we want to do is ask a question, two in particular. We want to ask, "Wh...
Jun 03, 2022•6 min
John answers what Christians can do in the wake of a series of mass shootings that reveal we're not right as a culture. Before answering that question, John responds to a listener who asks if incrementalism is the best strategy for prolifers to honor God.
Jun 02, 2022•38 min
Technology is a gift, but there are real problems with certain forms of prenatal screening. When used to help parents prepare to care for an infant with anticipated genetic conditions, it's an amazing asset. Instead, it is too often used to decide whether or not a child should live. Recently Daniel Navon, in an article written for Scientific American, raised his own concerns . "Prenatal screening is big business," he writes. "The annual market for [noninvasive prenatal screening technology] is a...
Jun 02, 2022•1 min
A year ago, Biden administration officials standardized a radically new interpretation of the word gender . In a memo from the Department of Health and Human Services, officials mandated all employers must cover the cost of so-called "transgender medicine" in their health insurance plans. In response, the Christian Employers Alliance sued HHS on behalf of a coalition of Christian-owned businesses. A few weeks ago, a federal district court ruled for CEA and halted the Biden mandate. Many media ou...
Jun 02, 2022•5 min
A new poll, commissioned by Summit Ministries with national survey firm McLaughlin & Associates, suggests that there is a gap between what people believe and what they're willing to say. Some 64% of those polled believe that "transgenderism is not a healthy human condition." However, while 30% indicated they are willing to speak out on the issue, another 34% say they stay silent on the issue so as "to not offend others." Measuring public opinion is notoriously tricky. At the same time, it's ...
Jun 01, 2022•1 min
Recently, U.S. House Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez huffed on Twitter , "For people who say, 'I believe it's a life,' some people don't. Our Jewish brothers and sisters, they are able to have an abortion according to their faith!" The central point AOC is trying to make in the video is one that is on repeat these days, as America awaits the Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health case. Not all religions agree on when life begins, so therefore, the pro-life movement in...
Jun 01, 2022•6 min
A trend that has troubled researchers for years is the rising "deaths of despair," particularly among blue-collar Americans. Opioids, for example, continue to ravage rural towns across America . According to data drawn from the U.S. Census , "The occupation with the highest suicide rate is Construction and Extraction … nearly 40% higher than the occupation with the second highest suicide rate." In addition to reflecting dangerous work conditions, tough economic prospects , and injury, a deeper p...
May 31, 2022•1 min
The news has been relentless for a while now, but especially these past two weeks. After multiple mass shootings, the nation is grieving. People are angry that nothing seems to change. According to the FBI, there's been a 50% uptick in "active shooting incidents" since last year , and that's not counting the shooting that left 21 dead in Uvalde, Texas. "The two attacks (in Buffalo and Uvalde) are not outliers," announced National Public Radio. "Mass shootings happen in the U.S. with depressing r...
May 31, 2022•6 min
Os Guinness discusses the civilizational moment for America, where our nation is faced with a choice to turn to renewal or go down the path to decline. This presentation was a part of the Wilberforce Weekend even in May. To register for the digital recordings from this event, visit www.wilberforceweekend.org
May 30, 2022•23 min
"There's already a revolution in abortions happening," wrote Christina Cauterucci in Slate magazine recently, "and the Supreme Court can't touch it." She's referring to so-called "medical" abortions, when pills are used to terminate a child's life at home. As of 2020, this kind of abortion was already the most common, and with the Supreme Court preparing to dismantle Roe v. Wade , it will only become more common. One impact of this will be to drive abortion even farther into the shadows, away fr...
May 30, 2022•1 min•Ep. 30
Today, Memorial Day, I want to share a commentary on Memorial Day from Chuck Colson. Here's Chuck: This Memorial Day, reflect with me on how we should respond to the enormous sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Memorial Day is when we honor the men and women of our armed services who have made "the supreme sacrifice," who gave their lives for their country. Especially these days, when Memorial Day seems nothing more than a time for cookouts and swim parties, we cannot be reminded often e...
May 30, 2022•4 min
John and Maria discuss the Uvalde shooting, working to understand the role of culture to respond to faltering character. Maria asks John about gun rights, and the pair discuss if freedoms become license and harm people what do we focus on: the conscience or the constable. Then Maria asks John to comment to the recent Southern Baptist Convention's independent investigation by Guidepost on abuse allegations. The report exposes horrible actions and responses in local churches and the leadership of ...
May 27, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Yesterday, when our writing team gathered to discuss the horrific events at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, we struggled to know how to even process what had happened, much less what to say: Yet, another evil attack on vulnerable children; evil so shocking, it's impossible to fathom; and, at the same time, a story horrifyingly familiar. On Tuesday morning, an 18-year-old young man, after shooting his own grandmother, drove to his former elementary school, rammed through the security gate ...
May 27, 2022•5 min
A couple of weeks ago, an article by National Public Radio's Sarah McCammon's made the rounds on various public media outlets with this headline: "When Does Life Begin? Religions Don't Agree." Clearly, it was an attempt to warn pro-lifers against stubborn certainty on abortion. The central claim of the article is that not every religion holds that human life begins at conception. Of course they don't, but why would they? Religions don't agree on all kinds of essential matters, such as if there's...
May 26, 2022•1 min
During the "Preparing for a Post-Roe World" event at the recent Wilberforce Weekend, Jim Daly described how the Focus on the Family team displayed the truth about preborn babies right in the middle of Times Square. The event not only made a powerful case against abortion, it showed how courage is contagious, and how Christians can be emboldened to speak the truth in love even in difficult situations. Here's Jim Daly, explaining what happened in Times Square before the pandemic: What the Lord put...
May 26, 2022•5 min
John answers how a listener can respond and think well about the issue of replacement theory, something that has become a popular topic due to the recent shooting in Buffalo, New York. John also gives perspective to how abortion became not only illegal, but also unthinkable. He answers which came first and how the abortion movement can replicate the trajectory of slavery becoming unthinkable in society. To close, John answers a listener's question related to social movements inside the business ...
May 25, 2022•33 min
According to the BBC , the Chinese government has arrested Joseph Zen, a 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal and outspoken critic of the Beijing regime. He is now in chains for his role in the 2019 human rights protests . On the same day this arrest was reported, the Daily Mail announced that ISIS forces had slaughtered 20 Nigerian Christians, guilty only of being Christians, which was enough to seal their martyrdom. While the last few years have presented incredible challenges to the Western ch...
May 25, 2022•1 min
This past Sunday, a devastating report was released about America's largest Protestant denomination. According to the Guidepost Solutions' Report of the Independent Investigation on the Southern Baptist Convention, not only has sexual abuse been a scourge within the denomination, but leading members actively obstructed efforts to expose the guilty, hindered attempts by victims to report the crimes, and worked to maintain the public image of the Convention at the expense of the truth. What the vi...
May 25, 2022•5 min
On Friday, according to the Catholic News Agency, "San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone instructed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to present herself for Holy Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion." On Monday, Whoopi Goldberg told the archbishop via her audience on The View , "This is not your job, dude. That is not up to you to make that decision." It is, of course, the archbishop's job to oversee the proper administration of the sacraments in that geographic ...
May 24, 2022•1 min
On the YouTube channel "Lutheran Satire," there's a video entitled, " A Christian and a Feminist Almost Agree on Stuff ." In it, two sock puppets discuss the cultural breakdown of sexuality and marriage and how pornography plagues both. "Pornography harms women," says the feminist sock puppet. "Totally agree," says the Christian puppet. "Pornography demeans women, and it also corrupts men by making them think of women as nothing but sexual objects." "Therefore," interrupts the feminist sock pupp...
May 24, 2022•5 min
Kristan Hawkins, founder and president of the Student for Life. Kirsten spoke at the recent "Preparing for a Post-Roe World" event at the recent Wilberforce Weekend.
May 23, 2022•19 min
The day after a mass shooting in a New York supermarket left 10 people dead, a 68-year-old opened fire on parishioners at a Taiwanese Presbyterian church in southern California. He killed one and injured five before parishioners subdued and tied him up. The man killed in the attack authorities are calling "hate-filled" was 52-year-old Dr. John Cheng, who charged the shooter in an attempt to save fellow church members. Orange County officials called Cheng's actions "heroism" and "a meeting of goo...
May 23, 2022•1 min
Last Saturday, the country was left grappling with another reminder of human depravity. An 18-year-old gunman entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York , killing 10 and injuring three more. The victims , who were predominantly black, included Heyward Patterson, a local church deacon; Pearl Young, a retired school teacher; and Aaron Salter, a retired police officer. Mass shootings are too familiar, but no less overwhelming: friends and family in agony, communities left to pick up the pieces, col...
May 23, 2022•6 min
John and Maria unpack the web of the recent shootings in Buffalo, New York and California. Rather than rest on the narratives, John provides a helpful way to consider the landscape and the underlying ideas that many are glossing over. Then, Maria asks John for perspective on some social media traffic around the recent Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Maria provides additional context to help us consider our culture's issue with objectifying women and how the church can provide a better way i...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min
