Last Saturday, the country was left grappling with another reminder of human depravity. An 18-year-old gunman entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 and injuring three more. The victims, who were predominantly black, included Heyward Patterson, a local church deacon; Pearl Young, a retired school teacher; and Aaron Salter, a retired…

“Religion, not gender,” the Economist reports, “is the best predictor of views on abortion.” The editors write: Shocked by a draft Supreme Court opinion that would allow states to ban abortion…. some [activists] hope that women enraged by the loss of Roe v Wade will vote en masse for Democrats in November. But, they argue, that hope is misplaced. W…

According to the U.S. Department of Education, since the start of the pandemic, more than 1.5 million students have left traditional public schooling. Many parents are realizing, some for the first time, that students aren’t learning what their parents thought they were learning. As one former college professor noted, if you haven’t been in educati…

According to Wired magazine, “Eighteen months of using front-facing cameras has distorted our self-image.” It’s what health experts are calling “Zoom Dysmorphia.” We’re spending so much time looking at ourselves through cameras, it’s crushing our self-esteem. Doctors have seen this effect for a long time. Feelings of distress and self-focus rise wh…

Recently, Chinese authorities announced that minors can only play video games for three hours a week, and not on school days. Of course, this kind of thing would never happen in the West, for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is our worship of individual autonomy. We can’t even pass real restrictions on known dangers like violent pornography…

While some studies conclude that “students made little or no progress while learning from home,” the effects of school shutdowns vary depending on additional factors: socio-economic status, the type of distance learning, and especially the involvement of parents. Though it’s mostly bad news, there is a marked silver lining. For example, one teenage…

According to Dr. Eric Voth in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “There exists clear medical evidence of increased psychiatric difficulties with marijuana use, including violence, psychosis, schizophrenia, manic episodes, worsening depression and suicide.” These effects are particularly harmful for youth. Of course, when it comes to publi…

The world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, is reportedly spending a lot of money on immortality. According to MIT’s Technology Review, the Amazon founder has invested heavily in experimental genetic research to reverse the process of aging. It’s just a new twist on an old story. Sixteenth-century conquistadors sought the fountain of youth. For Indiana…

For years, urban innovators have dreamt of “15-minute neighborhoods,” where people have everything they need within a short walk. The pandemic is making the employment side of that possible for many. In Britain, for example, 24 percent of workers say they want to work from home permanently. One of the things that makes the 15-minute neighborhood co…

Philipp Dettmer has an amazing YouTube video about the immune system, one of the most complex systems in the human body. The key to how this vast network of specialized cells survives infections is found in the antibodies: the proteins this system creates after the body has been attacked. In other words, immunity comes through challenge. That’s why…

When NASA astronaut Mike Massimino first looked at Earth from outer space, he asked, “How can something so beautiful be tolerated by human eyes?" We’ve been sending people past Earth’s atmosphere for just over 60 years now. Every single time, the reaction has been awe. Astronauts call this sensation the “overview effect.” Something within the human…

Pediatricians in multiple countries are reporting skyrocketing numbers of young girls over the past year with facial or verbal tics similar to Tourette’s Syndrome. These patients have one thing in common: they spend a lot of time on social media. Neurologists in Canada have concluded these girls aren’t suffering from actual tics, but from “function…

The new heartbeat law in Texas forbids abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat is detectable. Opponents denounce the law as extreme and arbitrary, pointing out that some women don’t even know they’re pregnant by six weeks. But as Marvin Olasky writes at WORLD, the six-week boundary, while not protecting life from conception, d…

According to a recent article in the Atlantic, a growing number of parents wish they’d never had kids. Citing surveys of parents from America, Germany, and Poland, the article points to various reasons for the regret, but Polish researcher Konrad Piotrowski says that the overriding cause is feelings of inadequacy. Or, as a researcher from Belgium p…

When reading headlines about evolution, look for actual evidence, not just the interpretation of that evidence. Case-in-point: a recent BBC story proclaimed a discovery in Egypt of a so-called “whale with legs,” dated 43 million years old. Phiomicetus anubis is hailed as Africa’s first “legged whale,” and is similar to other so-called “legged whale…

Researchers in Japan have discovered that humans can develop a “sixth sense.” Hooked to specialized audio receivers, blindfolded people were able to reliably determine whether objects were moving or stationary, even in a completely dark environment. How? By echolocation. You know, like bats. When deprived of input, the human brain adapts to interpr…

Last week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted a picture of him and his partner lying in a hospital bed holding two newborns. “We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August to our family,” he wrote. The picture is a metaphor. After all, neither of these men carried a child or went through labor and delivery. A woman did. T…

Last week, Richard Hanania, president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and contributor for Newsweek tweeted this: “If red states ban abortion we could see a world where they have five times as many children with Down Syndrome. [They] could be outliers in the whole developed world. There are already negative stereotypes of Am…

I trust you’re having a good day off with friends and family. But before you fire up the grill one last time for the summer, please reflect with me on how Chuck Colson described the dignity of work. Years ago on BreakPoint, Chuck said that “Christians have a special reason to celebrate Labor Day, which honors the fundamental dignity of workers, bec…

The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team has made it to the gold medal match in the past three Paralympics, winning their first-ever gold in 2016. In a recent interview with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, many members of Team USA pointed to Christ being at the center of their success. For example, Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, a setter for the team…

In a feat of international coordination, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) evacuated two Paralympic athletes from Afghanistan last week to compete in the Games. One of these Paralympians, Zakia Khudadadi is competing in Taekwondo in this year’s Paralympics. The 23-year-old Paralympian grew up in a different Afghanistan. Now, Paralympian …

According to a friend, the first day of her son’s 8th grade class began with teachers asking students to stand up and declare their pronouns. This was in Ohio, but I’d be willing to bet it happened in most state schools this year. Set aside for a moment the questionable wisdom of asking hormone-riddled middle-schoolers during the most awkward times…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. King’s speech was only to be four minutes, but gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted for King to “share the dream,” and he did. For 17 minutes, he shared the dream. Dr. King shared a dream of America living its founding creed:…

Abortion advocates tell us that killing unborn babies is an essential part of “family planning.” For instance, Planned Parenthood’s website says that “Deciding to have an abortion doesn’t mean you don’t want or love children. In fact, 6 out of 10 people who get abortions already have kids—and many of them decide to end their pregnancies so they can…

The House votes on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution later this week. That’s a lot of money, which will fund a lot of programs… and every one of them reflects our national values. Despite bi-partisan requests, the appropriations committee sent this budget bill to the Senate floor without the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds being used …

Headlines and newsfeeds are full of images and descriptions of overcrowded hospitals, because of a spike in Covid infections.Some states have issued new lockdown and mask mandates to ensure that doctors and nurses aren’t overwhelmed by a new influx of the sick. From the beginning of the pandemic, some medical procedures were postponed to prioritize…

As more and more haunting images emerge from the airport in Kabul. Parents are passing children through lines of strangers in hopes they will be able to escape the Taliban, Young girls are gripping fences, crying out “The Taliban is coming!”, and we hear more and more reports from the ground that our worst fears about the Taliban are indeed coming …

The Taliban has promised that this time, they’ll be different. This time, there will be more freedoms and less oppression of women and religious minorities. Clearly, Afghan citizens do not believe these promises… they are at the point of desperation, clinging to the wheels of departing American aircraft, some even falling from the sky to their deat…

Earlier this month, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame. Polamalu was known for his speed, his power, and his hair. And throughout his impressive football career, Polamalu was outspoken about his Christian faith, which he demonstrated by remaining humble, level-headed and team-oriented — which is…

As a father, I often think about what a Christian heritage will mean for my children. I want it to be the source of their peace and strength in times of trouble. But what if I knew it would be the source of their persecution as well? On the Breakpoint Podcast this week, I spoke with Mindy Belz about the new dangers for Christians in Afghanistan. A …

Haitians desperately need our prayers. The death toll of last week’s earthquake has now topped 1,300 people and continues to rise. Thousands of homes have been leveled. And now the country faces severe tropical weather, with victims still trapped in the rubble. These follow a presidential assassination, ongoing food insecurity, and increasing gang …

Archaeologists recently discovered that the ancient Mayans of Tikal, in what is modern-day Guatemala, had uncovered an incredibly advanced water filtration system. Soil samples show they filled their reservoirs with zeolites: pieces of volcanic material that could filter out big bits of debris and invisible microbes which could cause disease. One r…

LiveAction has produced a beautiful video that pulls back the curtain on the glories within the womb. In its short three minutes, we’re treated to a portrayal of the first nine months of a human life. According to LiveAction, 12 percent of pro-choice people changed their minds after watching, and 37 percent of those already pro-life became “more pr…

“Imagine” has become a kind of secular national anthem, but it seems like a strange choice. Last year, a bunch of celebrities tried to make us feel better about a global pandemic by singing “Imagine there’s no heaven.” Really? Facing death, let’s offer a materialistic worldview, with no future after we die and no present source of meaning? And, the…

Last month, the American Medical Association announced it will advocate removing sex designation from public birth certificates. Marking gender on the official document, says the AMA, could lead to discrimination for those who identify as transgender later in life. “There is no clear standard for defining sex designation,” AMA authors wrote, statin…

Nightbirde sings in dark times. For the Colson Center, I’m John Stonestreet with The Point. Jane Marczewski was the front-runner on this year’s season of America’s Got Talent. She was forced to leave the competition last week to focus on fighting cancer. This is the third bout of cancer for the woman who goes by the stage name Nightbirde. She was d…

Many feared that the isolation and unemployment from Covid lockdowns would lead to an increase in “deaths from despair.” Those predictions were tragically spot on. According to new numbers from the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. skyrocketed by nearly 30 percent in 2020, the greatest increase in decades. According to The Wall Street Journal m…

A few weeks ago, a self-described “heretic” tweeted out a message befitting that title, saying, “Jesus was Christ. Buddha was Christ. Muhammad was Christ. Christ is a word for the Universe seeing itself. You are Christ. We are the body of Christ.” To this, someone else retorted, “If you can’t say something Nicaean, then don’t say it at all.” The jo…

Normally when an Olympian wins the gold, we see happy tears. We see families back home cheering. We see the pride in carrying the national flag around the field. It’s such a pure moment. It never gets old. So, when the Fiji men’s rugby team recently won the gold over New Zealand, there was something about this that was even more pure and enjoyable.…

In 2015, then-Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier assured reporters that legalizing marijuana would not have an effect on crime. “They just want to get a bag of chips and to relax,” she said. “Alcohol is a much bigger problem.” Six years later and DC is dealing with more than the munchies. Current Police Chief Robert Contee recently declared,…

In 2016, sixteen-year-old American runner Sydney McLaughlin stepped onto the track at Rio De Janeiro as the youngest Olympic track competitor in decades. But after failing to qualify for the 400 meter hurdle finals in Rio, she stepped back from a seven-figure salary as a pro to strap on a bookbag at the University of Kentucky. After some focused tr…

Minnesota State senator Julia Coleman faced a dilemma. Informed by her doctors that severe complications threatened her unborn twin sons, she had to decide whether to end the life of one child to save the life of the other. For most people, it would only make sense to “remove” the unhealthy son to preserve the other. But as deeply pro-life Christia…

Recently, Anthony Bradley shared a conversation he had with a man who decided to be homeless, not because he took a vow of poverty or had some cataclysmic tragedy. This man was healthy, owned a house, and had recently won the lottery. So, why was he choosing to live on the streets in San Francisco? Because “you can live there, get a job, and never …

Wycliffe Bible Translators just announced that the Bible has now been translated into 700 languages. According to Executive Director James Poole, “5.7 billion people who speak 700 languages now have the Bible in the language that speaks to them best.” It’s not clear which language was exactly number 700, since several translations went into circula…

There’s a tree on the first and last pages of the Bible. Every major character in the Bible is associated with a tree. Trees are the most-mentioned living things in Scripture other than God and people. And a tree was not only the only thing Jesus ever harmed, but the only thing that could harm Him. Former emergency room doctor Matthew Sleeth chroni…

The Washington Post recently reported that some stuck-at-home teenagers are finding relief during this coronavirus chaos, from the news cycle, by stepping outside without their phones. “…spaced a careful six feet apart, high school students are discovering a pastime typically enjoyed by older generations.” They’re taking walks. One California teen …

Earlier this year, California’s insurance commissioner declared that health insurers must pay for mastectomies for girls and women with gender dysphoria. Maybe this doesn’t seem shocking. California’s gonna do its California thing after all. Sure, some adults are abusing hormones or hurting their bodies in service to transgender ideology. What’s th…

Recently, the world learned that researchers at the University of Pittsburgh were grafting the scalps of aborted infants onto the flesh of rodents. And now, prolife group Live Action has uncovered that researchers at a California university has been trading in various body parts of aborted children, specifically genitalia, bladders, and kidneys. Pe…

My daughters loved the “Little House on the Prairie” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Part of what makes these stories so captivating is what it took for pioneer families to survive the brutal elements as they headed west in the late 1800s. In fact, in 1900 the infant mortality in the U.S. was at about 10 percent. For every 1,000 babies born, over 10…