If you have been watching the Olympics, you cannot help but be awed by the strength, speed, and skill of Olympic athletes. Take Michael Phelps, the phenomenal American swimmer who took gold in event after event. Or Dara Torres, a 41-year-old American swimmer who bested much younger athletes, winning a silver medal.
These men and women […]

Note: The following commentary contains information that may not be suitable for children.
CBS is nostalgic this summer for the good old days that never existed. The network’s summer series Swingtown examines the lives of three suburban couples in 1976 and their experiences with drugs and “swinging”-or, what was called then, “wife swapping.”
Before I go on, […]

The faculty of Harvard University admired Alexandr Solzhenitsyn for his literary achievements, so they were thrilled that he agreed to deliver the university’s 1978 commencement address. But almost as soon as he began to speak, the professors changed their minds: too late. As I wrote this month in Christianity Today, they realized that Solzhenitsyn was […]

As she sat in her boyfriend’s car, a young Texas woman named Dee Dee Washington was shot and killed-an innocent bystander of a drug deal gone bad. For 14 years, the man who fired the shot, Ron Flowers, never admitted to killing her-not until, that is, Ron was admitted to the InnerChange Freedom Initiative® (IFI), […]

Thirty-three years ago, after serving seven months for my role in the Watergate scandal, I walked out of prison a free man. Not entirely free however, because I just could not get out of my mind the men I had met in prison-the hundreds of thousands like them in prisons across the country.
So, in 1977, […]

According to the Washington Post, President Bush “does not see the Olympics as a good opportunity to make political points . . .” He “has repeatedly made clear . . . that he is going to China as a sports fan.”
With all due respect, the president of the United States cannot be just another “sports […]

You have probably heard a sick or dying person say, “What I wouldn’t give for one more day. . . .” Regardless of the setting, the meaning is the same: Life is priceless, something worth fighting for.
It turns out that “priceless” and “worth fighting for” may have their limits, at least measured in dollars and […]

Presidents can say the strangest things in front of an open microphone, especially if he thinks the mic is not on. Take President Reagan’s famous quip back in 1984, when he said shortly before his weekly radio address, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia […]

It was the most infamous Super Bowl halftime show in history: In 2004, pop stars Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson, bumping and grinding their way through a racy routine, had a raunchy finale planned, which they rehearsed two days before. In front of 90 million viewers, including many children, Timberlake yanked off a section of […]

The news is filled lately with stories about the promise of adult stem-cell therapy. Last fall, for example, researchers reported they successfully produced stem cells from adult skin cells, bypassing the need for embryonic stem cells. The Los Angeles Times reported recently that treatment using umbilical and marrow cells healed a boy of a fatal […]

Spain’s 1-to-nothing victory over Germany in the finals of the European Soccer Championship marked her first major title in 44 years. Well, now Spain has gotten the proverbial monkey off her back-just in time to make the monkey a Spanish citizen or the next best thing to it.
The same week that Spaniards were busy watching […]

In Michigan, a homosexual man is suing two Christian publishers-Zondervan and Tyndale House-for $70 million dollars. Bradley Fowler claims they violated his constitutional rights and caused him “emotional distress” by publishing versions of the Bible that call homosexuality a sin. In my view, Fowler is suing the wrong party, but perhaps he realizes he is […]

How is this for irony? Recent actions by Canadian human rights groups have observers alarmed for the state of human rights in Canada. That is because the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal do not give a fig about protecting human rights. Their mission is suppressing free speech.
Maclean’s magazine was […]

The recent “Group of Eight,” or G8, summit of the world’s leading economies produced a pledge to cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. G8 leaders also “called for an increase in oil production and refining capacities . . . .”
As a newspaper editorial-from, ironically enough, the Middle East-noted, there was a seeming […]

Less than a month from now, the 2008 Olympic Games will take place in Beijing. The Olympics have been front-page news this time around-and not because people are more interested than ever before in swimming, gymnastics, or pole-vaulting. From the moment Beijing was awarded the games, angry protests have come from all over the world.
The […]

According to a recent Reuters report, a leading Senate Democrat “would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.”
Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the majority whip, said that, subject to certain conditions, he-and possibly even Majority Leader Reid-are “open to drilling and responsible production.” Until now, they have been adamantly opposed.
Reuters is […]

In late June an angry crowd, estimated at 10,000 people, set fire to a government building and police cars in southwestern China. More than 150 people were injured, and it took 1,500 paramilitary and riot police to restore a semblance of order.
The crowd was protesting the “alleged cover-up of a teenage girl’s rape and murder” […]

[Last week on] Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued guidelines, urging its members to “aggressively screen and medicate for high cholesterol in children.”If the prospect of commercials featuring child actors hawking cholesterol-reducing drugs seems outlandish, it should not come as a surprise-not in a culture that looks to pills as saviors.
Citing “growing evidence […]

You are probably familiar with the expression “like moths to a flame.” It refers to the way people are attracted to those things that can harm them. As Shakespeare put it in The Merchant of Venice: “Thus hath the candle singed the moth.”
What’s true of people as individuals is equally true of them collectively. Take, […]

He has been called “demonic,” “barbaric,” and has been compared to Nazi doctors. And when you read about his work, it is easy to see why Americans are so outraged. Dr. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Not long ago, he opened a clinic for what he terms “transgendered” children. Incredibly, […]

A few years ago, a good friend of mine decided to buy an old country campground, enlarge it, restore it, and invite inner-city children to use it. It was, for him, the beginning of a nightmare that would last for years.
In order to proceed with the camp, numerous permits, clearances, and approvals were required by […]

It is easy to grow weary over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As for me, a former Marine, I ache for the families of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price. But I also know why our military personnel are doing what they are doing. They enlisted, as I did many […]

It is all about equal rights, the gay “marriage” lobby keeps telling us. We just want the right to marry, like everyone else.
That is what they are telling us. But that is not what they mean. If same-sex “marriage” becomes the law of the land, we can expect massive persecution of the Church.
As my friend […]

This week, America celebrates another birthday. Americans are hoisting their flags, marching in parades, and setting off fireworks. I get a thrill every time I hear the band strike up “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” And I get a lump in my throat whenever I join in singing “America, America, God shed His grace on […]

It was one of the more awkward moments in the presidential campaign. Senator John McCain was appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and she was asking why McCain did not support same-sex “marriage.” A well-prepared DeGeneres made the usual arguments about inclusiveness, and compared those who reject same-sex “marriage” to those who once refused to […]

Alice Walker, best known as the author of the novel The Color Purple, is one of the most renowned feminist authors and activists of her generation. She is also a mother, and that fact brought her public and private lives into direct conflict.
That is because Alice Walker’s brand of feminism was the kind that taught […]

“Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance” was the headline of a New York Times article about the Pew Forum’s survey of America’s religious landscape. It found that Americans have a “non-dogmatic approach to faith.” In fact, 70 percent of Americans who claim affiliation to a religious body-including Christians-agreed that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” […]

The past few months have been a rude reminder of just how dependent our way of life is on foreign oil. The skyrocketing price of crude oil has affected more than our driving habits and vacation plans-no doubt you know this if you have looked at your last grocery bill!
What is almost as bad as […]

In early June, the German television network ARD aired a film called “God and the World: The Persecuted Children of God.” The “children” referred to are Iraq’s largest Christian community: the Assyrians. While any attention to the plight of Iraqi Christians is welcome, I only wish that the film could have aired in the country […]

Children learn many useful things from television shows and cartoon characters. They learn letters and numbers from the characters on Sesame Street; Dora the Explorer helps them hone their reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Now, a cartoon character is telling them when they should die.
He’s a dog in a lab coat named “Professor Schpinkee.” He is a […]

With all the hype over the presidential election, it is easy to think that that the nation’s future hangs in the balance. Sure, the election is important, and your vote is important; but the battle for our culture is really fought by what 18th century English statesman Edmund Burke called the “little platoons”-private, voluntary groups […]

The housing report could hardly have been grimmer: “U.S. Home Sales Fall off a Cliff,” reported CBS News.
Great, just what we need-more bad housing news on top of skyrocketing gas and food prices. The economy hovers near recession, and polls tell us that the majority of Americans think we are on the wrong track. Citizens […]

Here is a little secret I have discovered over the years: Government does its best when it lets faith-based groups do what they do best. But, usually, this does not happen until government admits that it cannot do everything on its own.
Hurricane Katrina showed the State of Alabama that churches and faith-based groups know their […]

Thirty-five years ago, I sat in a car and wept after my friend Tom Phillips read me a chapter from C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. If you have read my book Born Again, you know the story. Lewis’s incisive words about the “spiritual cancer” of pride forced me to evaluate my own life in a […]

A few years ago, a film called A Day without a Mexican took an amusing look at our dependence on Mexican labor.
While they disagree about everything else, both sides of the immigration debate share one assumption: There is a virtually endless supply of people from Mexico-and the rest of Latin America-who are ready to come […]

If you follow the financial news, you have probably heard the phrase, “Stocks were up (or down) on news that . . .” The “news” that is referred to is always something having to do with some government economic report, or the market’s reaction to an interest-rate cut.
This makes sense-buying stocks is essentially betting on […]

For nearly 1,000 years, the people of Latvia have maintained a distinct identity, despite being dominated by their neighbors. Nearly one-third of Latvia’s population was killed by the Nazis and the Soviets between 1940 and 1954. Yet Latvia survived.
But, today, Latvia’s existence is threatened; only now, the threat is home-grown.
Latvia’s population has shrunk from 2.7 […]

Three months ago, I told you about a new law in Montgomery County, Maryland, that demands co-ed locker rooms and restrooms in all public accommodations. The law was intended to accommodate “transgendered people”-that is, men who say they perceive themselves to be women, and women who claim they consider themselves men. I said, at the […]

Some years ago, in a Firing Line interview with Bill Buckley, I argued for criminal justice reform. The moderator, Mort Kondracke-who then considered himself a liberal-was astonished. He stammered, “You want prison reform? But you’re a conservative!”
I almost laughed out loud. Kondracke was parroting the ideological stereotypes about liberals and conservatives. And, today, the same […]

According to a study conducted by the Barna Group called “Teens and the Supernatural,” three out of every 10 teenagers have played the Ouija board, had their palms read, and eight out of 10 have read horoscopes.
Maybe these numbers do not shock you. But while these activities may seem innocuous, below the surface there lurks […]

Food shortages are ravaging Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. One [eighth] of Haitian children die before their fifth birthday; and life expectancy in the country is only 50 years. Last month, riots over food prices had to be put down with tear gas, as people demanded their president’s withdrawal. In turn, Haitian […]

This week on “BreakPoint,” we have been talking about teens and the particular challenges facing them. But did you know that the word teenager did not even exist until the twentieth century? That’s what teenage authors Alex and Brett Harris share in their new book called Do Hard Things, which they wrote for their fellow […]

From the double-edged sword of new technologies to the omnipresent media, today’s teens are facing unique challenges. And they often face those challenges alone-without input and guidance from adults.
Today, teenagers can go through days, if not weeks, without ever spending meaningful time with adults. The typical teenager wakes up, goes to school, and then to […]

The University of Minnesota School of Health recently published a study documenting how teenagers who have a television in their bedroom are more likely to have unhealthy lifestyles: from poor eating habits, to bad grades, to less time spent with the family.
The results of the study are by no means surprising.
Increasingly we live in an […]

Where is God amidst the horrors of war? How do soldiers keep their faith in God’s goodness amidst the suffering and slaughter of battle?
American soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines have asked questions like these ever since the War for Independence. The questions occupy their thoughts and find their way from faraway battlefields into letters […]

Susan LeFevre was just 19 years old when she was arrested for selling heroin to an undercover cop. She pled guilty to the first-time offense, thinking the judge would be lenient. Instead, he gave her the maximum: 10 to 20 years in prison.
Unable to cope with prison life, Susan escaped over the fence. She changed […]

In a recent issue of the New York Times, respected columnist David Brooks described how what he calls a “revolution in neuroscience” is shaping “how people see the world.” I agree with him-up to a point.
What Brooks calls the “revolution in neuroscience” is the rapidly growing body of research into phenomena such as religious experience […]

A decision by the California Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional any ban on gay “marriage” is sending shock waves across the nation. The 4-3 decision announced Thursday not only legalizes gay “marriage” in the largest state in America, but it also overturns both the referendum of the people and the representatives of the people.
The only […]

With each passing day, the news from Myanmar-that is, Burma-gets worse: As of Sunday, May 11, nearly 300,000 people were reported as dead or missing. The United Nations estimated “that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm . . .”
As appalling as these numbers are, what […]

Many of us can hardly wait for the release of the second film in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Prince Caspian will arrive in theaters this Friday.
If you have read the book, or if you [read] Mark Earley yesterday…, you know the storyline: the return of the four Pevensie children to a Narnia under the […]