Vanna White has been turning letters on Wheel of Fortune for more than three decades. As the show prepares to celebrate its thirty-fifth season this September, she gave an interview to Fox News that is making news today.

Here are some interesting facts she disclosed:

• She has worn more than 6,500 dresses on the show.
• She calls Pat Sajak her “work spouse,” but they tape only four days a month, so it’s an unusual friendship.
• She realized she “made it” when she saw herself on the cover of Newsweek while standing in line at a grocery store.
• She began supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital after she became a mother.
• She is now sixty years old but intends to keep working as long as she can.

The reporter asked if she regrets posing for Playboy years ago. She explained: “When I first moved to Hollywood, I was too embarrassed to ask my dad for rent money. I was young and I wanted to do it on my own. So, I did these lingerie shots and from the moment I said I would do them, I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m not going to ask my dad for money, so I’m just going to do it!’ Once I got ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and some fame, Hugh Hefner then bought those pictures. He’s the one who put me on the cover of the magazine. I didn’t do it for Playboy. I didn’t want them on there, but it happened.”

Vanna White made some money she spent many years ago, but she will regret her decision for the rest of her life. Her experience illustrates perfectly the paradox of temptation and integrity. Temptation seems to benefit more than it costs at first, but its disastrous consequences always outweigh their reward. Integrity usually costs more than it benefits at first, but its positive consequences always outweigh their cost.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What does Vanna White regret? →

I woke up this morning to news that a bus carrying fourteen senior adults from First Baptist Church of New Braunfels collided with a pickup yesterday afternoon. Thirteen bus passengers were killed. One passenger was hospitalized in critical condition; the pickup driver was hospitalized in stable condition.

The senior adults were returning from a three-day retreat at a Baptist encampment.

So far this morning, authorities have not determined the cause of the crash. No matter who or what caused the crash, the passengers were not at fault. Yet all but one were killed.

Tragedies like this bring us to the most difficult challenge Christians face theologically. We believe that God is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. No other religion affirms these tenets about a personal God as fully as we do.

Since God is omniscient and not bound by time, he knew that the crash would happen before it did (Psalm 139:4; 1 John 3:20). Since he is love (1 John 4:8), he would seemingly not want such a tragedy to come to his children. Since he is omnipotent (Matthew 19:26), he could have prevented the crash from occurring. The Lord who stilled the storms and raised the dead could have stopped a bus and a pickup truck from colliding.

Yet he did not.

Today there are families grieving the sudden loss of their parents and grandparents. A pastor is trying to help his congregation come to terms with a tragedy their church will obviously never forget. The rest of us will watch with sorrow for those who are suffering.

Continue reading Denison Forum – 13 killed in Texas church bus crash →

Disunity is making headlines this morning. Democrats are threatening to block Judge Neil Gorsuch’s path to the Supreme Court; Republicans are threatening to change Senate rules to allow a simple majority to confirm his nomination. The UK has formally begun its departure from the European Union while Scotland is taking steps toward independence.

Meanwhile, good news on unity comes from a source you might not have considered: trailer parks.

Let’s say you’re planning to retire to Florida so you can play golf, go to the beach, and generally enjoy life. But you don’t have the money for an expensive retirement village. According to today’s Time magazine, more and more people are moving into mobile homes located in senior adult trailer parks. For instance, one section of one Florida county features 150 trailer parks for seniors.

Their allure is not the mobile home but the community that surrounds it. Here, seniors go shopping and play games and look out for one another. They are safer and happier together than they are apart. They know intuitively what the Bible says explicitly: we are broken people in need of unity.

Do you feel a need for inner cohesion, a sense of centeredness in a conflicted and fragmented culture? I feel the same way. I’ve been meditating lately on this brief prayer by King David: “Unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). “Unite” translates the Hebrew yahed, meaning “to concentrate” or “to be joined exclusively to.” The “heart” in Jewish psychology is the center of our emotions and will. David prays that his life would be focused, centered, holistic, indivisible. He seeks to be one person in every dimension and circumstance of his life.

Three facts follow:

One: We are not who we need to be.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Trailer parks: the new retirement trend →

Some bad news stories are easier to take than others. For instance, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft says that Tom Brady is willing to play for six or seven more years. Fans of the thirty-one other NFL teams are not happy about this news.

Meanwhile, a “supermassive” black hole that can devour anything in its path is hurtling through space at five million miles an hour. However, it is currently eight billion light-years from Earth, so we’re safe for the moment. And my least favorite vegetable is in the news: scientists have converted a spinach leaf into a tiny, beating human heart muscle.

Other bad news is beyond terrible. The families of those who were killed by Khalid Masood last week in London are continuing to grieve their senseless and tragic loss. Those injured in the attack are trying to recover.

Two victims I hadn’t considered are Masood’s wife and mother. His wife issued a statement this morning: “I am saddened and shocked by what Khalid has done. I totally condemn his actions. I express my condolences to the families of the victims that have died, and wish a speedy recovery to all the injured.” And his mother is telling reporters that she has “shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrendous incident.” Today they are grieving Masood’s death and all the deaths he caused. I cannot imagine such pain.

Where is the Christian faith when we face life’s darkest days?

Continue reading Denison Forum – Tom Brady and other bad news →

Some of the weekend news was unexpected: South Carolina and Gonzaga will play in this year’s NCAA men’s basketball Final Four for the first time in their history. Oregon will join them for the first time since winning the inaugural tournament in 1939. (North Carolina also made the Final Four, but that’s no surprise at all.)

Other weekend news has become all too familiar. A shooting at a Cincinnati nightclub left one dead and fifteen wounded; police are still searching for suspects this morning. Authorities today can find “no apparent reason” for a shooting on the Las Vegas strip that killed one person and injured another. Two missing girls were found stabbed to death in North Carolina; their father has been arrested on murder charges.

Were you shocked by the London terror attack last week? Were you surprised by news of more violence here at home? One of the most dangerous temptations of our day is to view such tragedies as the “new normal.”

Becoming callous to calamity is an understandable defense mechanism. We don’t have the emotional bandwidth to treat each new violent act as new. So, in this day of twenty-four-hour news coverage, as we are bombarded all through the day with bad news from anywhere in the world, it’s easier to tune it out, to shrug our shoulders and withdraw emotionally from the culture.

Here’s where our biblical worldview sets us apart from the world.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What happened for the first time since 1939? →

House Republicans are set to vote this morning on legislation that would replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They hoped to vote on their bill yesterday, but too many conservatives and moderates opposed it. Even if they prevail, their legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

Why is this issue so complicated and divisive?

As one medical ethicist explains, we insist on four values that are difficult to reconcile: high quality of care, freedom of choice, affordability, and a system in which everyone shares both costs and benefits.

Contrast our social values with those of other countries. Nearly all the world’s highly industrialized nations—including Canada, Japan, Australia, and western European countries—have health care systems that provide universal access at significantly less cost than in the US. However, to pay for their health care, these societies typically limit insurance options. The UK also restricts the adoption of high-cost medical innovations. And these nations generally impose limits on fees providers can charge and on pharmaceutical prices.

For many Americans, the system prior to the ACA worked well. It offered a wide range of medical options and excellent care at a price they considered affordable. However, this system was too expensive for many others. As costs escalated, the gap between those with coverage and those without health care continued to grow.

The ACA sought to balance our four priorities, ostensibly providing choice and care while driving down costs and expanding coverage. However, opponents claim that it restricted choice, limited care options, and expanded coverage by imposing a financial model that was unfair and untenable. Now critics of Republicans’ attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare are making similar allegations against their legislation.
Continue reading Denison Forum – The health care controversy: 3 biblical priorities →

The world has witnessed what British Prime Minister Theresa May is calling “a sick and depraved terrorist attack.” CNN reports this morning that authorities have now arrested seven people in connection with the deadliest terror attack in central London in twelve years.

Just before 2:45 PM GMT yesterday, while the House of Commons was debating a proposal regarding Scottish independence, a silver Hyundai 4×4 veered from the roadway of Westminster Bridge. The narrow sidewalk where the Thames flows under the “Big Ben” clock tower was crowded with tourists and office workers. The terrorist drove into the crowd; witnesses reported that the impact threw two bodies into the Thames.

The driver then smashed into the iron railings near the base of the clock tower and got out of the vehicle carrying a large knife. He repeatedly stabbed police officer Keith Palmer, killing him. An armed policeman then shot and killed the attacker.

A woman from Spain and a man in his mid-fifties were killed. Twenty-nine people were hospitalized; seven are in critical condition. Among the injured was a group of French schoolchildren.

The attack came on the one-year anniversary of the Brussels bombings that killed thirty-two people. Police say they know the assailant but have not released information about him as of this morning. They believe, however, that he was “inspired by international terrorism.”

We can now add London to the recent list of vehicular attacks, along with Nice, France; Berlin, Germany; Ohio State University; and Jerusalem. ISIS and al Qaeda have called on their followers to use trucks and weapons to “mow down the enemies of Allah.”

Why do jihadists see tourists on a London sidewalk as their enemies?
Continue reading Denison Forum – Seven arrested in London terrorist attack →

Today’s headlines are dominated by Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination hearings and the ongoing debate over health care. Meanwhile, an unusual high school wrestler interests me so much that I’d like to focus on his story this morning.

“He’s been very vocal about his goals: wrestling in a national championship, becoming an NCAA champ, not just a state champ.” That’s how Kobey Pritchard’s wrestling coach describes his protégé’s motivation in the Iowa state wrestling tournament. What makes Pritchard different from his competitors? He wrestles without a left leg.

Kobey was five years old when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in his left femur. Doctors removed the leg when he was six. Now he’s ranked number four in the state in his weight class. His drive and determination are inspiring his teammates and his fellow competitors.

In other news, Norway has taken over the top spot in the World Happiness Report. This despite the fact that oil, a key part of its economy, has plummeted. What accounts for Norway’s happiness? The report’s lead author explains: “It’s the human things that matter. If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationship between people, is it worth it? The material can stand in the way of the human.”

Martin E. P. Seligman is a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the bestseller, Authentic Happiness. Dr. Seligman describes three kinds of “work orientation”: a job, a career, and a calling.

A job earns you a paycheck and nothing more. A career entails a deeper personal investment in your work. But a calling is a passionate commitment to work for its own sake. According to Dr. Seligman, finding your “calling” is the key to authentic happiness.

Continue reading Denison Forum – One-legged wrestler seeks state title →

Judge Neil Gorsuch began his confirmation hearings yesterday as he and the Senate Judiciary Committee members made their opening statements. The committee will begin questioning the nominee today.

Whether Judge Gorsuch deserves to be confirmed is not the question for Republicans and many Democrats. As I noted when President Trump nominated him, he seems imminently qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. The larger question has little to do with the judge and everything to do with the state of our culture.

Many Democrats are still furious that Republicans refused to act on President Obama’s earlier nominee; in their view, this was a seat their party should have filled. Others are mindful that Judge Gorsuch would replace Antonin Scalia, preserving the present ideological balance of the Court. Since three of the current justices are in their eighties, Democrats may wait to contest future Trump nominations. And several Democratic senators serve states that voted for Mr. Trump in the election; their political futures may be in jeopardy if they oppose Judge Gorsuch.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans need eight Democrats to side with their fifty-two-seat majority to reach the sixty-vote threshold required to confirm the nominee. If not enough Democrats support Judge Gorsuch, or if the Democrats threaten to filibuster the proceedings, the Republicans can waive the sixty-vote minimum and confirm the nominee by a simple majority. But this so-called “nuclear option” could damage any hopes of bipartisan cooperation on other issues.

In thinking about the partisan divisiveness on display this week, I was drawn to the prescient observations of John Adams, our second president. He wrote in 1789, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”

The fact that we have a “democracy” (“power of the people”) does not exempt us from political dysfunction. Mr. Adams: “It is vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. . . . Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.”

What is the solution?

Continue reading Denison Forum – John Adams on Neil Gorsuch hearings →

A hamburger has sold for $10,000 in Dubai. According to CNN, “The giant burger contained seven beef patties—one for each of the emirates in the United Arab Emirates—aged cheddar cheese and veal bacon strips in a saffron brioche bun.” But its contents don’t explain its price. It was sold at an auction; its preparer explains that “all proceeds will go to breast cancer awareness and free detection at an earlier stage.”

When we know why people spend their money as they do, we learn something significant about their values and their culture.

Consider popular movies. I go to a lot of films because I believe that successful movies are a window into the soul of our society. We see movies because we want to. Going to the theater is not like going to work or even going to church, activities that are required or can become habitual. When we examine why a movie is popular, we learn something about our culture.

The last two movies I’ve seen are The Shack and Beauty and the Beast. Both have been enormously successful. According to a Forbes reviewer, The Shack “got off to a pretty terrific start” when it opened earlier in the month; so far, the movie has made more than $43 million worldwide. And Beauty and the Beast has passed Batman v Superman as the highest debut for a March movie in history.

Both have been in the news for nontheatrical reasons: The Shack because of its portrayal of God as a woman and other nontraditional theological elements, and Beauty and the Beast because it includes a gay character (actually two, if you count the dance scene at the end). My purpose this morning is not to review either film. Rather, it is to see what their popularity tells us about ourselves.

Continue reading Denison Forum – What a $10,000 hamburger and ‘The Shack’ tell us →

“Somewhere along the line, Disney went off course. No longer did it see itself as a defender of children’s innocence. Instead, it saw itself as a conduit to social change. Walt Disney became Harvey Milk.”

This is how a gay attorney views Disney’s decision to include a gay scene in Beauty and the Beast. In an Orlando Sentinel op-ed, Joseph R. Murray II calls himself “a proud member of the LGBT community.” But he disagrees with Disney’s decision to promote LGBT issues with children.

Murray’s assessment is insightful: “The vision for Walt’s world was clear: Entertain children. Disney characters were about hope, optimism, and above all else, making sure children were able to enjoy their innocence for as long as the outside world would permit.” Now Disney is promoting the “outside world” in unprecedented ways.

Why has the company departed from its founder’s vision? I would hazard two guesses. One: Some at Disney believe that LGBT youth need reaffirmation. But Murray responds: “I was gay and grew up without gay Disney and made it just fine.” Two: Disney executives view LGBT rights as civil rights and believe they should be taught to all of society, children included.

For those who liken LGBT rights to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the logic is simple. When America legally abolished racial discrimination, we wanted to spread the message of racial inclusion across our culture, beginning with our children. Now LGBT advocates want to do the same, beginning with our children. And Disney is apparently a willing colleague in this strategy of normalizing homosexuality.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Gay lawyer criticizes Disney for gay scene →

“It’s time to build new religions around what we really believe in, technology.” So states the founder of the Hack Temple, a building that was a 104-year-old church in San Francisco.

The cathedral, built in 1912, served as a place of worship for nearly eighty years. It then became an English school for Chinese-speaking children. Last November, Pavel Cherkashin, a former Adobe and Microsoft executive, spent $7 million to buy it. He is now renovating it into an event center for technology innovators.

Hack Temple hosted its first TEDx event last month. It held a dance party earlier this month. It provides communal workspaces for meetings with mentors or small groups. The organ now displays a neon sign that reads, “hello world.”

Cherkashin is right: technology qualifies as a religion for millions of people around the world. The Oxford English Dictionary includes in its definition of “religion” these descriptions:

•    “The condition of belonging to a religious order.”
•    “A particular religious order or denomination.”
•    “People devoted to a religious life.”
•    “A system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement.”

Substitute “technological” for “religious” in these phrases and you describe many of the people you know. They belong to a “technological order,” a subset of society that focuses especially on technology and innovation. They subscribe to a “particular technological order” such as Apple or Android devices and preferred social media platforms.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Church makes technology its religion →

It sounds like the start of a bad sitcom: a Democrat and a Republican rent a car and spend twenty-four hours driving through a snowstorm to Washington. Except it really happened.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke and Republican Will Hurd, both US congressmen from Texas, couldn’t fly back to the capital for today’s votes because the winter storm gripping the Northeast canceled their flights. So they decided yesterday morning to rent a car and spend the next day roadtripping to DC.

The two livestreamed what they called the “Bipartisan Roadtrip.” They took questions along the way. Their trip garnered national attention, not least because it’s the first time in recent memory that a Democrat and a Republican cooperated on anything.

The political divide in our country seems to be growing. Of America’s 3,113 counties (or county equivalents), only 303 were decided by single-digit percentage points in the last presidential election. By contrast, 1,096 counties were that close in the 1992 election. During the same period, the number of “landslide” counties (votes decided by margins exceeding 50 percentage points) exploded from 93 to 1,196.

Now there’s division even within the parties. According to The Hill, twelve House Republicans are opposed to the Republican plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Assuming all Democrats vote against the plan, if nine more Republicans reject the legislation it will not pass the House, much less the Senate.

We should not be surprised by such divisiveness. The Pew Research Center reports that in 1994, only 16 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Republicans viewed the other party as a “threat to the nation’s well-being.” In the years since, this percentage has more than doubled for Democrats and nearly tripled for Republicans. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who express consistently conservative or liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Texas congressmen driving to DC go viral →

While the East Coast braces for what USA Today calls a “historic storm,” an op-ed in this morning’s New York Times warns that our nuclear weapons are vulnerable to cyberwarfare. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that synagogues across America are ramping up security in the face of continued bomb threats.

Some sins are so public that they generate headlines. Others, less so.

I was walking in our neighborhood early yesterday morning and watched a driver pull up to a four-way stop sign, slow down slightly to see that there were no other cars or people in the way, then speed through the intersection. For the rest of my walk, I considered the theological implications of what I had just witnessed.

Here’s why: my neighbor’s decision represents precisely the kind of temptation that most plagues people who read an article such as this one.

We know that public sin dishonors God, ruins our witness, and harms everyone it affects. My neighbor would no doubt have come to a legal stop if there had been other drivers or people in the intersection.

But private sins known to no one but God, choices for which we cannot see significant negative consequences, are another matter. Judgmental thoughts not verbalized, greed or lust or jealousy or anger not acted upon—these are temptations we think we can indulge. Only God knows, and we can confess them to him and be forgiven without cost. Or so we think.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A ‘historic storm’ and the state of our souls →

Are you feeling less productive this morning? A little more stressed? You might blame March Madness, the annual college basketball tournament whose participants were announced yesterday. (Villanova, last year’s champion, is this year’s top seed.) Americans will waste at least 84.8 million hours of work fixating on the games, costing us $2.2 billion in lost productivity.

Or you could turn to a medical explanation. The hour’s sleep we lost Saturday night because of Daylight Savings Time has been linked to reduced worker productivity and an increase in heart attacks, strokes, and car accidents.

From the mundane to the esoteric: perhaps the problem is tiny visitors from outer space. Micrometeorites barely the width of a human hair rain down on our planet continuously, covering our planet with ten tons of cosmic dust every day. According to one scientist, “We inhale this stuff. We eat it every time we eat lettuce.” That’s a stressful thought.

Or maybe the problem is that aliens are bombarding us with fast radio bursts (FRBs). These strange radio waves have perplexed scientists since they were discovered ten years ago. Now a Harvard professor is suggesting that they might be leakage from planet-sized transmitters that are powering interstellar probes in distant galaxies. Whatever is generating the FRBs is powerful enough to push around something weighing a million tons, twenty times heavier than the biggest cruise ships ever built.

Continue reading Denison Forum – March Madness and the anxiety of our age →

This Time magazine headline caught my eye: “How Descendants of a Slave and a Supreme Court Justice Righted a 160-Year-Old Wrong.” Here’s the story.

Dred Scott was born into slavery in 1795. His owner, Peter Blow, took him to Alabama and then to St. Louis. After Blow’s death, Scott was sold to army surgeon John Emerson. Emerson took Scott to Illinois and later to the Wisconsin territory, both of which were “free” (regions that prohibited slavery). While in Wisconsin, Scott met and married another slave, Harriet Robinson. Emerson eventually moved to St. Louis, where Scott and his wife joined them. After Emerson died, his widow’s brother, John Sanford, claimed ownership of the Scotts.

Scott sued Sanford for his freedom, claiming that since he had been transported to a “free” state and territory, he should no longer be considered a slave. Thus originated the Dred Scott v. Sanford case that became one of the most infamous Supreme Court decisions of all time.

Roger B. Taney was the US Supreme Court chief justice who authored the Dred Scott decision. On March 6, 1857, he ruled that Congress could not regulate slavery and that blacks could not be considered US citizens. This ruling galvanized the abolition movement and spurred Abraham Lincoln to speak out against slavery. The eventual result was Lincoln’s election as president and the ensuing Civil War.

This week, a great-great-great nephew of Justice Taney met with the great-great granddaughter of Mr. Scott. Charles Taney III stood in front of a crowd outside the Maryland State House and apologized to Lynne Jackson. She leads the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about the Supreme Court case.

Taney said, “Apologizing to the Scotts for the Dred Scott decision is like bringing a Band-Aid to an amputation. It’s right and necessary to apologize, but what’s important now is what actions we can all take.” He’s right. Racial discrimination is not just illegal, it’s sinful.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How 2 families righted a 160-year-old wrong →

Meet Vinny Ohh. This twenty-two-year-old California make-up artist believes that he is neither male nor female. He has had over 110 medical procedures to transition into a “genderless” extraterrestrial. Among them: twelve cheek fillers, two brow fillers, fifteen lip fillers, five Botox sessions, five nose procedures, and twenty cryo facial freezings.

He is set to appear on The Plastics of Hollywood, a television show that will house real-life plastic surgery addicts together. The show’s producer says, “In 15 years, hundreds of people will want to look like him. We’re in an era where there’s people who want to look like lizards, those who implant horns into their skulls and people with full-face tattoos . . . We want to be the first agency who will treat these human dolls, alien dolls and cartoons as a normal part of the society that we’re living in now.”

When there’s no such thing as “normal,” the term applies to everyone.

In his dissent after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts noted: “It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.” In other words, the decision to redefine marriage need not end with same-sex marriage. Polygamists are already hard at work using the ruling to advance their agenda. Once the moral train leaves the station, it’s difficult to say where it will stop.

In We Cannot Be Silent, Albert Mohler asserts that “we are facing nothing less than a comprehensive redefinition of life, love, liberty, and the very meaning of right and wrong.” He cites British theologian Theo Hobson, who argues that the moral revolution of our day is unprecedented in Christian history. Hobson notes two factors behind the challenges we face.

First, the “new morality” is either-or. Either churches will affirm the legitimacy of same-sex marriage and other unbiblical behavior or they will not. There is no middle ground.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Meet a ‘genderless’ extraterrestrial →

According to this morning’s Washington Post, some women will refuse to smile today. Some schools will be closed in Washington, DC, and Alexandria, Virginia. Some restaurants are shrinking their menus as women go on strike. Rallies will be held around the country.

Today has been designated “A Day Without a Woman.” Organizers are encouraging women to take the day off work, shop exclusively at “small, women- and minority-owned businesses,” and wear red “in solidarity.” The emphasis is timed to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The day is meant to recognize “the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socioeconomic system—while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment and job insecurity.” It is organized by the same people who created the Women’s March on Washington last January in support of abortion and other women’s “rights.”

While I disagree with the organizers on a host of moral issues, I agree with them that the value of women in our culture cannot be overstated.

If women stopped working, 53 percent of the American workforce would disappear. More than three-quarters of our public school teachers would not be in the classroom. Eighty-five percent of our nation’s obstetricians, 75 percent of our pediatricians, 57 percent of our psychiatrists, and 58 percent of our family doctors would no longer see patients. Thirty-six million volunteers would no longer volunteer.

Continue reading Denison Forum – My response to ‘A Day Without a Woman’ →

“Obamacare has failed the American people. Over the past seven years, we’ve seen premiums skyrocket, choices dwindle, and government take more control over our health care. Left unchecked, the damage wrought by Obamacare would continue to spin out of control.”

With these words, House Speaker Paul Ryan has introduced the American Health Care Act, the long-awaited bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. According to the Speaker and other media sources, here is what the measure contains:

•  The bill maintains coverage for people with preexisting conditions.
  •    It allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of twenty-six. It also requires all insurers to offer ten essential benefits, including maternity care and preventive services. And it bars insurers from setting a limit on how much they must pay to cover a person.
  •    The “Patient and State Stability Fund” allows states to allocate resources in ways that will best care for their most vulnerable populations.
  •    The bill enhances Health Savings Accounts, creating choice and competition among insurers.
  •    The measure continues Medicaid expansion for low-income Americans until 2020, then provides an advanceable, refundable tax credit to create an open market for insurance coverage. The credit is capped to prevent wealthier Americans from claiming it.
  •    The bill repeals fines on people who don’t carry insurance. However, it levies a 30 percent penalty for lapses in coverage.
  •    A provision bars Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds. President Trump reportedly offered to preserve Planned Parenthood’s funding if the organization would promise to stop providing abortions. The organization quickly rejected the president’s offer.
  •    Analysts have not yet had time to assess how the bill would affect federal spending or the number of people covered by insurance.

House committees plan to begin voting on the 123-page legislation this morning, launching “what could be the year’s defining battle in Congress,” according to the Associated Press. The bill’s passage in the House is not assured, and opposition is mounting in the Senate because of concerns that poor people could lose insurance.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Republicans release ‘American Health Care Act’ →

So headlines a New York Times column that has gone viral. Amy Krouse Rosenthal is dying of ovarian cancer. She has been married to “the most extraordinary man for 26 years” and planned on at least another twenty-six with him. Instead, she wrote a deeply moving essay about her husband in hopes that “the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.”

Reading her tribute, I wanted to be as caring as Jason. If I were a wife, I would want to be as courageous as Amy.

We need more models of courageous caring today. What does it say about us that Logan, the bloody final installment in the “Wolverine” series, topped the weekend box office? Or that nudity at a Paris fashion show is making headlines? Or that Facebook is testing artificial intelligence tools as it tries to help curb the suicide epidemic?

In days like these, our culture can use the best models we can find. But the answer to our challenges isn’t so simple.

Stanford professor Albert Bandura is widely considered America’s greatest living psychologist. The recipient of sixteen honorary degrees, he is best known for pioneering “social cognitive theory.” In essence, Bandura believes that students learn by observing models and replicating their behavior. If imitation enables students to accomplish their goals, such success encourages them to perform similar behaviors. Over time, the successful student becomes a model for others and the process multiplies.

Prof. Bandura would agree that Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s article has been popular in large part because it inspires us to follow the example she and her husband have set. Imitating success is a popular self-improvement method in our secular culture. But I’m convinced that it’s not enough to take us where we need to go, for three reasons.

First, if we merely imitate our models without truly understanding their behavior, we will struggle to apply their example to different circumstances. What works in starting a church may not work in leading an established congregation. Unique challenges sometimes call for unique approaches. Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘You May Want to Marry My Husband’ →