Current Events

The Journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) recently released a study demonstrating that religious people live longer. The study observed that “self-reported religious service attendance has been linked with longevity,” and confirmed this by examining obituaries from 43 U.S. cities. Researchers found that religiously affiliated people lived between 5.64 …

Recently, the Association for Library Service to Children renamed the award it gives authors or illustrators whose books “have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.” This award used to be called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, but the association’s board decided …

The number of self-proclaimed Christians is shrinking in America. I’ve been collecting data on this trend for over ten years, and the surveys reveal an important truth: Fewer people claim a Christian affiliation than ever before, and those who claim no religious affiliation are the fastest growing group in America. …

Devastating storms, killer earthquakes, record-setting fires and horrific acts of evil dominate recent news headlines. Why would an all-loving, all-powerful God allow these things to happen? Is God just unable to stop this kind of evil? If so, why call Him all-powerful? Is God unwilling to stop this kind of …

The recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have renewed a national conversation about suicide and it’s causes. As a homicide detective, I saw an increase in our local suicide rate first-hand over a fifteen year period, and a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

In the days following a recent school shooting (this one in Santa Fe, Texas), family members, friends and investigators found themselves searching for illusive answers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott summarized the effort: “Unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs. The red-flag warnings were either nonexistent …

Every Spring, millions of people graduate from colleges and universities across America, and most of them are under the age of 25. This year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, institutions of higher education are expected to award 1.0 million associate’s degrees, 1.9 million bachelor’s degrees, 790,000 master’s …

Hurricanes every hurricane season. Massive earthquakes in Mexico and elsewhere. Volcanoes in several locations around the globe. Record-setting fires across the country. How could an all-loving, all-powerful God allow natural disasters such as these to destroy the lives of His children? John Stonestreet, my colleague at the Colson Center for Christian …

The first Thursday of May each year is the National Day of Prayer; an appropriate American celebration, given how many Americans pray regularly. A recent Pew Research Religious Landscape Study found that most of us – 55% – pray every day, and more than three quarters of us (75%) pray …

I’ve been tracking the decline of Christianity in America ever since serving as a youth pastor in the early 2000’s. Even back then I couldn’t help but notice the astonishing rate at which young Christians were leaving the Church. The polls have been consistent about this, and the latest Pew …