I am traveling this week, and grateful to Nick Pitts for writing the Cultural Commentary in my absence. Nick is Director of Cultural Engagement for the Denison Forum. He has been writing daily for our website across the last year, and is the author of The Daily Briefing, a survey of each day’s news in biblical perspective. Nick is a Ph.D. candidate at Dallas Baptist University, finishing his dissertation. I encourage you to subscribe to the Daily Briefing, and know you will profit from his wisdom and insight in the Cultural Commentary this week.

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Over 350 Chick-fil-A restaurants are now offering a “family challenge”: If you’ll lock your phone up in a “Cell Phone Coop” for the entire meal, you win a free ice cream cone. This coop, a cardboard box at the center of your table, holds your phone while your family keeps your attention. The average American spends four hours a day on the phone. But Chick-fil-A is hoping to entice their customers to reduce that time and increase their calorie count.

Research shows that dinnertime conversation boosts the vocabulary of young children more than being read aloud to does. Regular family meals have been shown to lower the risk of teenage smoking, binge drinking, marijuana use, eating disorders, and sexual activity. However, it does increase their chances of attaining a higher grade point average and better self-esteem.

Continue reading Denison Forum – FREE CHICK-FIL-A? SAVING MONEY AND FAMILIES →

Manfred Fritz Bajorat was a fifty-nine-year-old German sailor. His body was recently discovered in a yacht floating in the Pacific Ocean. Authorities have no idea how long he has been dead. The dry ocean winds and salty air helped mummify his body, which was found slumped over a desk in what seems to be a radio room.

His death was certainly unique, but so was his life. So is yours.

NASA estimates that there are more than one billion “Earth-like” planets in our galaxy. These are rocky planets approximately the size of Earth that orbit sunshine stars in the “habitable zone” where water could be liquid at the surface. This estimate doesn’t include the number of such planets in other galaxies.

And yet, despite all these options, we have yet to discover life on any planet but our own.

Closer to home, scientists have now discovered the specific gene that can lead to gray hair. It is known as IRF4 and relates to the cellular process that produces melanin, the pigment that determines hair color. This gene variant does not guarantee that its owner will have gray hair, but it makes graying more likely.

Continue reading Denison Forum – SAILOR’S MUMMIFIED BODY DISCOVERED IN YACHT →

Super Tuesday results are in. What have we learned?

Hillary Clinton now has a commanding lead in the Democratic race. Marco Rubio won Minnesota; Ted Cruz won Oklahoma, Alaska, and his home state of Texas; and Donald Trump won the rest of the states. Both Rubio and John Kasich can win their home states in two weeks. If that happens, as one pundit said, “it’s going to go on and on and on.”

Here’s something else we learned: Whether you like the results or not, the system works.

America is a nation where anyone who is a natural born citizen, fourteen years a resident, and thirty-five years of age can be president (U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1). As a result, Clinton is likely to become the first female major party presidential candidate. Trump, a businessman in his first political campaign, is the clear frontrunner for his party’s nomination. And there is increasing interest in a third party candidacy as well.

Continue reading Denison Forum – SUPER TUESDAY AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA →

The 88th Academy Awards are still making news today. Two themes resonated last Sunday night that mirror the moral and spiritual condition of our culture today.

One: Whatever hurts others is wrong for us.

Spotlight won for Best Picture. The movie focuses on the Catholic church’s clergy abuse scandal. Leonardo DiCaprio won for Best Actor and used his speech to warn against the dangers of climate change. (For more, see Nick Pitts’s Leo Wins Oscar: Is Climate Change the Most Urgent Threat?) Lady Gaga delivered the most-discussed musical element of the night, focusing on the horror of sexual abuse. And host Chris Rock commented all night long about the lack of diversity among the nominees.

Two: Whatever you do personally is right for you.

Alicia Vikander won Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, portraying the wife of a man who undergoes surgery to become a woman. Eddie Redmayne was nominated for Best Actor in the same film. Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress, portraying a housewife who is threatened with losing custody of her daughter because she has a sexual relationship with another woman.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE ACADEMY AWARDS: 2 THEMES AND 2 RESPONSES →

Actor Johnny Depp has agreed to speak at the Reason Rally. This is an event sponsored by atheist, humanist, and other secularist organizations scheduled for June 4 at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial.

If you were invited to address the crowd that day, would you?

Last Friday we explored the priority of sharing Jesus with those who need salvation. How does this subject make you feel? If you’re like most of us, there’s a nagging fear in the back of your soul: What if you fail? What if you’re rejected? What if you hurt more than you help?

It’s better to leave ministry to the “ministers,” it seems.

What is behind our fear? We’re not afraid to tell people about our children (or grandchildren!) or the last movie we saw. But souls are eternal and we are fallen. We don’t want to make things worse. The medical oath, “First, do no harm,” seems to apply here. If another person’s eternity is up to us, they’re in trouble.

Continue reading Denison Forum – JOHNNY DEPP TO SPEAK AT ATHEISTS’ CONVENTION →

“There’s something about Mr. Trump that makes it hard for people who love him, and people who hate him, to love each other.” So states The Wall Street Journal, reporting on marital rifts being created by Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.

One couple has set its rules: When Mr. Trump appears on the evening news, one or the other must leave the room, or they must flip to the National Geographic channel. And they never discuss him in the bedroom.

Politics are getting more divisive by the day, it seems. In last night’s Republican presidential debate, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz repeatedly attacked Mr. Trump, who responded in kind. And Bernie Sanders is sharpening his criticisms of Hillary Clinton on the eve of the South Carolina Democratic primary.

Michael Scherer notes in Time that America’s presidential contests “are designed to be brutal passion plays, the best alternative to the bloody wars of succession humanity used in centuries past.”

And so it has been across our history.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS AFFECTING MARRIAGES →

Ben Higgins is the most famous software salesman in America. The six-foot-five graduate of Indiana University loves children and the Chicago Cubs. He also stars on this season’s The Bachelor. And he is a strong evangelical Christian.

You wouldn’t know the last fact from watching the show, however.

According to Slate’s Ruth Graham, Higgins makes his faith clear—he blogs about Jesus, quotes Christians on his Instagram, and wears a tattoo of Proverbs 16:3. But the show’s producers blur or minimize his commitment to Christ, so viewers get only a glimpse of generic religion as they follow his story. And they don’t know that Ben plans to abstain from sex until he is married.

Why is his faith so secret on the show? I could not find any information about the personal faith of Mike Fleiss, the show’s producer. But his goal for The Bachelor is clear: to attract as many viewers as possible. Fleiss says the average Bachelor sleeps with three women each season. This is clearly part of the show’s allure.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE BACHELOR IS A STRONG CHRISTIAN—WHY NOT ON THE SHOW? →

On February 24, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area surrounding Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. On February 24, 2016, standing before a portrait of Mr. Roosevelt, President Obama announced plans to close the military prison there.

I watched the president’s speech and the debate that ensued. Both sides center on national security. Mr. Obama claims that the prison hardens international resentment against the U.S. and makes Americans less safe. Opponents dispute this claim and counter that the president’s plan does not account for the most dangerous current detainees or future terrorists. (For more on the Guantánamo Bay debate, see Nick Pitts’s How does Guantanamo undermine our values?.)

Do you worry about national security? If so, you’re not alone. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, only eighteen percent of Americans think we are winning the war on terrorism. That’s the lowest percentage, by far, in ten years. The number of Americans who believe terrorists are winning has doubled in the same time span. According to surveys, national security and terrorism now ranks as the top priority for the federal government.

Continue reading Denison Forum – OBAMA WANTS TO CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO BAY: HOW DO YOU FEEL? →

For seven hours last Saturday night, Jason Brian Dalton drove from one target to the next across Kalamazoo County in southwest Michigan. His shooting rampage killed six and injured two others. In between the shootings, he apparently picked up passengers for Uber. According to CNN, “One question looms above all else: Why did the gunman do this?”

Here’s my question: Why do we care?

Of course I don’t mean that we should not care about the victims of this horrific tragedy. Jesus weeps for them, as should we. Or that we shouldn’t try to understand the shooter’s motives, since they are related directly to his prosecution.

But I’m focusing on a different question this morning: Why do we want to know why the gunman did what he did? Here’s my answer: Because senseless violence is the most frightening violence of all. If I don’t understand why it happened to you, I worry that it could happen to me.

Earthquakes in California are a different story where earthquakes strike than where they don’t. The tropical cyclone in Fiji is a different story for people who live on islands than for people who live inland. If what happened to you could happen to me, it matters more to me.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE MICHIGAN SHOOTING: WHAT WE DON’T KNOW →

Donald Trump won the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, while Bernie Sanders narrowly lost to Hillary Clinton in Nevada after being behind by twenty-five points just a few weeks ago. A recent Fox News poll put Sanders in the lead nationally. Jeb Bush withdrew from the race, an outcome no one would have predicted a few months ago.

This year’s presidential nominating process has been nothing like anything we’ve seen in decades. Why?

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan believes that “we’re in the midst of a rebellion.” She cites “the general decline of America’s faith in its institutions” and notes that “we feel less respect for almost all of them—the church the professions, the presidency, the Supreme Court.”

According to Noonan, those who support Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders are thinking, “Let’s take a chance. Washington is incapable of reform or progress; it’s time to reach outside.” They think Washington “will moderate Bernie, take the edges off Trump” and therefore “don’t see their choices as so radical.”

There is strong evidence to support Noonan’s view.

Continue reading Denison Forum – IS AMERICA ‘IN THE MIDST OF A REBELLION’? →

If zombies take over the world, Amazon is ready. The company has written software that will run heart-lung machines and autonomous vehicles if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control declares a zombie apocalypse. The provision is buried within the Terms and Conditions of Amazon’s newly-released video-game development software. As a result, people are talking about a software service most would have ignored.

This isn’t the first time a company has used zombies for publicity. In 2011, the CDC issued preparations for natural disasters and diseases, but their announcements weren’t getting traction. So they released “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” and that got our attention. Now zombies have taken over Jane Austen’s acclaimed work; for more, see Nick Pitts’s review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Zombies are one of the few problems we don’t face these days. Zika-linked birth defects are now known to cause significant brain abnormalities. Boko Haram suicide bombers recently killed fifty-eight at a Nigerian camp. Los Angeles will spend $1.9 billion to tackle the escalating homelessness crisis in the city.

Continue reading Denison Forum – AMAZON IS PREPARING FOR ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE →

Forty percent of American’s teenagers are using an app called Kik. Why does this matter?

Kik allows users to text anonymously. All they need is a user name which they can make up. As a result, it is difficult for parents and law enforcement to trace conversations. And that makes Kik popular with predators.

Nicole Madison Lovell was a thirteen-year-old liver transplant and cancer survivor. Two Virginia Tech freshmen communicated with her via Kik and are now charged with her murder. Several other cases involving child abuse are linked to the app. The company does its best to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. However, it does not retain the information sent on its app, so its help is limited.

One expert on child abuse cautions us against “technophobia.” He says the problem has to do with character traits, not technology. Those who are depressed, socially isolated, dealing with parental conflicts, or bullied at school are at higher risk.

Continue reading Denison Forum – AN APP YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT →

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won last night’s New Hampshire primaries. What do their victories mean for the rest of us?

The winner of New Hampshire’s primary doesn’t always wins the nomination. Since 1952, primary voters have elected the eventual Democratic Party nominee only five out of ten times (excluding incumbents). New Hampshire voters have elected the eventual Republican nominee seven out of ten times (excluding incumbents).

The New Hampshire primary has often been more significant for those who lose than those who win. After President Truman lost New Hampshire in 1952, he dropped out of the race. When President Johnson barely won the primary in 1968, he withdrew as well.

Last night’s results are important politically, but I think they’re even more important culturally.

Continue reading Denison Forum – THE NEW HAMPSHIRE RESULTS: WHY THEY MATTER →

Last night the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50. Here are some facts about the teams and the game that you might not know:

• Peyton Manning became the oldest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.
• He is also the first quarterback to reach the game with two different teams.
• For the first time, two quarterbacks who were number-one picks in the NFL draft competed against each other in a Super Bowl.
• The age gap between Manning (39) and Carolina quarterback Cam Newton (26) was the largest in Super Bowl history.
• John Elway, Denver’s general manager, became the first to win a championship as a player and as a GM.
• Over the last fifteen championship games, the favorites won only three times.
• A thirty-second Super Bowl ad cost at least $5 million.
• Around 170 million people worldwide watched the game from 180 different countries.
• People eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except for Thanksgiving. Around 4,000 tons of guacamole were consumed yesterday, with the assistance of 13,500 tons of chips. Around 90 million pounds of chicken wings were eaten yesterday as well.

I admire the way Peyton Manning prepared for the game and handled victory afterwards. In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, he consistently deferred attention from himself and focused on his team. After last night’s win, he refused to answer questions about his possible retirement, lest his story overshadow his team’s victory.

Continue reading Denison Forum – BRONCOS WIN SUPER BOWL 50: WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW →

Most of us remember Michael Oher as the subject of The Blind Side. The inspirational movie told the story of his childhood poverty, adoption by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, and eventual career as an offensive tackle in the NFL. Now Michael Oher is playing in the Super Bowl for the Carolina Panthers, protecting quarterback Cam Newton from Denver’s defense, the best in the NFL.

But only because Newton asked him to. Here’s their remarkable story.

Oher played several years for the Baltimore Ravens, then was signed by his home state Tennessee Titans. His season there was disastrous—he allowed six sacks and twenty-six quarterback hurries in eleven games during a 2–14 season. The Titans later cut him. What he didn’t tell anyone was that he was playing with a torn bicep and an injured toe.

Cam Newton’s brother had played with Oher in Baltimore and thought Michael could help protect the Carolina quarterback. So he notified Newton, who texted Oher to say he needed his help. The Panthers then signed Oher to a two-year contract that was widely criticized. But Oher had an outstanding season for the team that is widely favored to win the NFL championship.

Continue reading Denison Forum -‘THE BLIND SIDE’ PLAYER’S SURPRISING ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL →

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: “A televangelist and a Catholic Sunday school teacher were talking one day . . .” But Tuesday night it really happened: Pastor Joel Osteen appeared on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show to discuss Osteen’s latest book, The Power of I Am.

Colbert, one of the most biblically literate Hollywood celebrities, noted God’s description of himself as the “I Am” (Exodus 3:14). It turned out, the book is about something else entirely.

Osteen explained to Colbert that he wrote about what follows the words “I am” in a person’s mind. He illustrated: Sometimes we say “I am slow” or “I am unlucky” or “I am not attractive.” Instead, he wants us to say “I am blessed” or “I am strong” or “I am talented.” According to Osteen, “We don’t realize how many times we speak negative things about ourselves.” To which Colbert responded with his typical wit: “I do that all the time. I’m so stupid.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – JOEL OSTEEN ON STEPHEN COLBERT’S ‘THE LATE SHOW’ →