Culture
Ten (Nearly Universal) Conservative Principles Perfect For Holiday Conversations
In the midst of the holiday season, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve been thinking about the nature of our traditions and the challenges we often face when engaging friends and family members during the holidays. Most of us, regardless of theistic or atheistic worldview, seek to conserve a number of…
Enjoy This Distinctly Christian Holiday We Call Thanksgiving
The pilgrims who came over from England in 1620 were, in many ways, ordinary men and women. Some of them were members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect of Christianity). These Separatists originally fled England and sailed to Holland to escape the religious intolerance and oppression of their…
The Rights of Children Ought to Come Before the Desires of Adults
It’s not unusual for police officers to be called to domestic violence scenes. I’ve responded to many such calls, both as a patrol officer and a detective. My first concern on arrival is the safety of everyone at the scene. Who, if anyone, is hurt? Does anyone need medical attention?…
The Road to the Future We Want, Passes Through the Past We’ve Forgotten
Imagine a world with fewer bullies, less violent crime, less poverty, fewer teenage pregnancies, greater academic excellence, higher self-esteem and less narcotic use. Most of us would welcome such a world (regardless of political persuasion, philosophical or theological worldview), even though we may disagree on how to achieve it. While…
Does Belief In God Encourage Criminal Behavior?
As an atheist police officer, I was often amazed at the number of people I arrested who claimed to be Christians. In fact, I typically mocked these “phony believers” in the presence of other non-believing officers; I laughed at the hypocrisy of the “Christians” we took to jail for robberies,…
One Important Reason the Church Will Continue to Compromise
Have you noticed the slow but growing compromise within the Church? It’s harder and harder to get two Christians to agree on anything related to sexuality, the exclusivity of salvation through Christ alone or even the historicity of Adam. We are a divided family, even though we share the same…
What Makes a Church “Relevant”?
Since writing Cold-Case Christianity, I’ve had the great privilege of speaking in local churches across the country, teaching principles of cold-case investigations and making a case for the reliability of the New Testament. I’ve been involved in hundreds of conversations about the nature of church in America. Last week, while…
When the Essential Value of Law Enforcement Is Obvious
We’ve just endured a difficult season here in Los Angeles County as the manhunt for Christopher Dorner has finally come to an end. Along the way, we lost several members of the law enforcement family. As Dorner committed murders, stole cars, attempted to hijack a boat and kidnapped a number…
