Chick-fil-A didn’t ask to become a culture war symbol. But it became one. The company endured years of hateful slurs from the LGBT left for the stance of its founders in support of biblical marriage and for the company foundation’s generosity toward Christian charities.

Evangelicals and deplorables across the nation loved this Christian aura around Chick-fil-A and provided the momentum that has catapulted the company to its status as the third most profitable fast food chain in America, even though it’s closed on Sundays.

Now Chick-fil-A announces it will drop its longstanding, generous support of Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The company’s COO explained, “as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are “

Many Christians are demoralized, seeing this as capitulation to LGBT demands. Others call it a routine giving decision. But the company broadcasted it. Family Research Council points out that Chick-fil-A “made a conscious choice to draw attention to this very public divorce from two Bible-believing charities.”

The Salvation Army is a massive target of progressive wrath because it’s Christian and because it because it has, over the years, refused to bow to LGBT demands in its human resources policies. Chick-fil-A let the Salvation Army down, not only financially — by dropping their donation — but also by validating the Left’s critique.

Chick-fil-A announced it will now concentrate on education, hunger, and homelessness. Hmm. Salvation Army is the nation’s largest non-profit fighting homelessness. Reacting to this news, the Army stated, “We believe that we are the largest provider of poverty relief to the LGBTQ population.”

Chick-fil-A has chosen to instead fund Covenant House International, an LGBT-affirming organization that deals with youth homelessness, emphasizing, young people who “find themselves without a home after coming out to their parents or caregiver.”

The strong affirmation Covenant House provides for the LGBT lifestyle says a lot about Chick-fil-A’s new priorities. Will this appease the progressive Left?

Liberal, progressive ideas have invaded nearly every academic discipline. But I assumed that such nonsense would never be applied to mathematics. I was wrong. A “Math Ethnic Studies” program was introduced this year in the Seattle public schools. Let’s hope that what happens in Seattle, stays in Seattle.

A few commentators have been writing about this latest attempt at “woke mathematics” so I thought it was worth talking about. One writer said it is “chock full of social justice jargon that sounds smart but is actually vapid.” There is talk about power and oppression brought about, one would assume from the curriculum guidelines, due to white supremacy.

Students are supposed to identify “how math has been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color.” They must learn how “Western mathematics” has been used as a mean of power and oppression.

Jarrett Stepman, writing in the Daily Signal, concludes that this “curriculum will leave students with little actual knowledge or understanding of how to do math.” It seems designed to merely “radicalize young people with tales of oppression and groom them to be future social justice warriors.” The guidelines suggest that teachers “explain how math dictates economic oppression” and begin to “identify economic movements that have led to liberation.”

Columnist Rod Dreher concludes: “The young people who are going to learn real math are those whose parents can afford to put them in private schools. The public school kids of all races are going to get dumber and dumber.” He also wonders if there is anyone “with the courage to stand up to this?”

All of this nonsense reminds me of the famous quote in George Orwell’s book 1984 that true “freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.”

Each year, we take time from our busy lives to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Though many holidays have become secular celebrations, this holiday still retains much of its historic religious overtones.

A day of Thanksgiving was set aside by the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony. Life was hard in the New World. Half of the Pilgrims died in the first terrible winter. After the first harvest was completed, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and prayer. By 1623, a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of Thanksgiving because the rain came during their prayers. The custom prevailed in New England and eventually became a national holiday.

Religious freedom is one of the lessons of Thanksgiving. In 1606 William Brewster led a group of Separatists to Leiden (in the Netherlands) to escape religious persecution in England. After living in Leiden for more than ten years, some members of the group voted to emigrate to America. Having been blown off course from their intended landing in Virginia by a terrible storm, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod on November 1620. While still on the ship, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact provides the second lesson of Thanksgiving: the importance of political freedom. On November 11, 1620, Governor William Bradford and the leaders on the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact before setting foot on land. They wanted to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in their lives and their need to obey Him.

During this Thanksgiving season, let’s return to the wisdom of the Pilgrims. They valued their freedom and were willing to endure hardship in order to come to this country and freely worship. Let us thank God for these freedoms and be willing to defend them against all who would seek to take them away.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I suspect that you are doing lots of things to get ready for this special day. Let me suggest you add one more item to your to do list. Visit our website and download a copy of my Thanksgiving Quiz.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to gather as a family, but I also believe it can be a great time to teach our children and grandchildren about America’s godly heritage. I created this short quiz to be a conversation-starter around the Thanksgiving table.

We used to go around the table before the meal and ask our children to tell what they were thankful for. After a few years of hearing about how they were thankful for their cat, their doll, their video games, I knew we needed to do something else.

The Thanksgiving Quiz was born out of that frustration. It has nineteen questions and answers on the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact as well as some questions and answers about the Christian heritage of America.

Who were the Pilgrims and why did they leave Europe for America? Why did they celebrate Thanksgiving? What is the Mayflower Compact, and why is it significant? What lessons did the Pilgrims learn about work and even free enterprise? How did the Christian faith influence America? These are just a few of the sorts of questions that you can ask around the table and give short answers.

Perhaps it is time to recapture the importance of Thanksgiving. On the bicentennial celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Daniel Webster on December 22, 1820, declared the following: “Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.”

It is my hope this quiz will help your family see the importance of Thanksgiving.

Once again it is time to revisit the topic of tax cuts and the deficit. Heated rhetoric and misleading claims are increasing because of threats of a government shutdown are occurring while we head into another election year. Fortunately, Guy Benson tries to provide a reality check to so much misinformation.

He begins by talking about something that has bothered me for decades. When Democrats are in office they talk very little about deficits and the national debt. But deficits become a major concern if Republicans control Congress or the White House. The opposite is also true. Republicans turn in their “fiscal hawk cards” if their party is in control. But loudly complain about deficits if they are out of power.

But the falsehood being spread these days (especially on the campaign trail) is that tax cuts for “the rich” have been blowing giant holes in the budget. First, let’s remember that the 2017 legislation provides tax cuts for every income group.

Second, the tax cuts actually result in increased tax revenue. Guy Benson provides a latest updated data to shows that tax revenue went up for 2019, but spending increased by over $200 billion. The largest increases came from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The rest of the increase came from additional spending on interest payment on the national debt and a smaller increase in defense spending.

Here’s another way to look at this. In 2019, federal tax revenues increased by four percent reaching the highest level in American history. The tax cuts of two years ago grew the economy, lowered unemployment to its lowest levels, and increased federal tax revenues to its highest level.

If you look at these numbers you would have to conclude that we run deficits not because we tax people too little. It is because government spends too much.

Since we live in such a polarized political environment, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the positive impact some TV personalities have had in our world. Specifically, I am thinking of Mr. Rogers. The movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is now in the theaters and serves as a visual reminder of his impact not only children but on all of us.

Baylor professor Brooke Blevins has put together six lessons we can learn from Mr. Rogers about being a good neighbor. First, each person is worthy to be loved and heard. While we may disagree with each other about various issues, Christians should always remember that that other person we want to debate is created in God’s image.

Second, Mr. Rogers teaches us to use our platform for good. He didn’t take his role on TV lightly. He saw that as an opportunity to help young people make sense of their world around them. He even said that he felt the space between the TV and the viewers was holy ground.

Third, his lessons weren’t just for children. They were also for adults. Parents were also watching his programs. He was helping to create civil discourse and reasoned judgment. He wanted us to develop empathy and understanding for others.

Fourth, he told us to “slow down.” His slow pace was intentional and used to develop a relationship with his viewers. Fifth, he was willing to discuss tough issues, even with children. As an ordained minister and gifted musician, he utilized his gifts to create a space where difficult social issues could be discussed.

Finally, he taught all of us how to be a good neighbor. That meant showing love and caring about the people around you. It is amazing to me how influential this soft-spoken, slow-moving TV personality became. I think we all could learn some lessons from Mr. Rogers and the people in his neighborhood.

The annual “winter crisis” at Britain’s National Health Service is starting early this year. Data released last week showed English emergency room wait times are the worst in 15 years. More and more patients are forced to wait in hospital corridors on temporary beds called ‘trollies’.

The goal is to treat 95 percent of patients within 4 hours. In the last year the NHS managed to treat only 83.6 percent within that time, 6 percent less than the year before. In Britain, as in most developed nations, the population is aging and the supply of doctors, nurses, hospital beds, etc. is simply not keeping up.

The NHS is also well behind meeting the government’s target for 93 percent of patients with suspected cancer to be seen within 2 weeks of referral by their family doctor. Cancers are being diagnosed earlier, but survival rates lag far behind those in other European countries with more market-oriented health care systems.

The Wall Street Journal points out that when you have government-run health care, as Britain does, this becomes a political issue, much more-so than here in the US where candidates are debating going this route.

Call me skeptical when Candidate Elizabeth Warren claims that Medicare-for-all would save money. But to the Brits, that’s a bad thing. In the U.S. we spent 17 percent of GDP on health care in 2018. The UK government keeps their spending to 9.8 percent of GDP. According to the Journal’s Joseph Sternberg, “Voters don’t view this as a virtue.” They constantly pressure politicians of all parties to boost spending on the NHS.

Citizens complain the care is never good enough and politicians are constantly being asked to fix it. Mr. Sternberg writes, “to be the leader of a government that manages health care is to be personally responsible for every sick patient in the country. “

Why would any of our current crop of candidates want that?

After the government announced the death of the ISIS leader, many wondered what might be the next step. ISIS has been defeated on the battlefield and their leader is gone. But there is still more to do.

In his book, The State of Our Nation, Jim Denison described four steps that were necessary to defeat ISIS. These were: (1) take away its caliphate, (2) apprehend or kill its leader, (3) defeat its ideology, and (4) advance spiritual awakening.

The first step has been accomplished on the battlefield. Our troops have defeated ISIS forces that were defending their caliphate. They no longer hold any significant territory.

The second step has also been achieved. Every day that al-Baghdadi was alive he was able to rally ISIS troops to fight Western forces. He could claim protection from Allah. His death (and the death of other ISIS leaders) has been a significant blow to ISIS.

The third step is to defeat their ideology. In order to be effective we need to fight this intellectual battle. We need to do this individually as well as a nation. And that leads to the fourth and final step. We must commit ourselves to a spiritual awakening through prayer and biblical research.

More Muslims are coming to Christ than in any time in history. Some believe more Muslims have become Christians in the last few decades than in the previous fourteen centuries. Muslims are seeing the horrors of ISIS and wonder if that is what Islam really is. That is why they seem so willing to accept Christ as an alternative to their religion.

We need to be prepared to challenge the theology of Islam and present the life-giving message of the Bible. We have a greater opportunity to lead Muslims to the Lord than in any other time. We should be diligent about presenting the Gospel to them in this country and around the world.

Over the last few decades cohabitation has gone from being rare to routine. So it isn’t too surprising that now there are more Americans who have lived with a partner than have married one. That is the conclusion of the latest Pew Research Center statistics.

Also disturbing is the increasing percentage (69%) of Americans who say it is acceptable for a couple to live together even if they don’t plan to get married. The excuse used to be that you might want to “test drive” your relationship before you get married. Now many see nothing wrong with living together even if marriage is never planned for the future.

Many years ago, I included a chapter on cohabitation in my book, Christian Ethics in Plain Language, because pastors were complaining about the number of Christian young people in their congregation that would live together before marriage. When the pastor would share verses from the Bible that speaks to the issue of premarital sex, the couples would often ask if there were other reasons not to live together.

Studies by secular sociologists found that in marriages where couples cohabited before marriage they increased their divorce rate by an additional 46 percent. They also found that cohabiters experienced significantly more difficulty in their marriages with adultery, alcohol, drugs, and independence than couples who had not cohabited. They also had a lower relationship quality, lower stability, and a higher level of disagreements.

Of course, the impact of cohabitation is also negative for society in general. The percentage of American adults who are currently married continues to decline. Fewer stable marriages are not good for the couples. It is even worse for children who need to grow up in a stable two-parent home.

Pastors and Christian leaders need to teach about the importance of traditional marriage and speak out against the dangers of cohabitation.

Why do nearly a majority (43%) of young people have a positive view of socialism? That is a question many pundits and social commentators have been pondering.

The swing to socialism isn’t due to the presence of favorable examples of it in the world. Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Venezuela are impoverished, authoritarian countries. Even the soft-socialism in many European countries isn’t that attractive to anyone who takes the time to look at their economic record.

Victor Davis Hanson identifies a number of catalysts for the new socialism. One of those is massive immigration. Many of these immigrants fled from poor areas in Latin America, Asia, or Africa. They arrive unaware of the economic alternatives to state socialism and even expect government to provide social services for them.

“Another culprit for the new socialist craze is the strange leftward drift of the very wealthy in Silicon Valley, in corporate America and on Wall Street.” They may feel guilty about their unprecedented wealth and thus champion socialist redistribution.

Perhaps the greatest reason for the swing to socialism is the university. The teaching, of course, is almost always focused on the evils of capitalism and the benefits of socialism. But Victor Davis Hanson also points to student loan debt. More than 45 million now have racked up a collective student debt of nearly $1.6 trillion. This often forces young adults to postpone marriage, child-rearing, and home purchases. If this is what capitalism looks like to them, no wonder they flirt with socialism.

The answer is alternative education. We must provide good reasons for why a free market is better than massive government control of the economy. We need to remind the younger generation of the sad history of socialism and communism. Otherwise we will see a swing to socialism in the next few elections.