Over the last few weeks, I have been struck by how many journalists and broadcasters are using the catchphrase “without evidence.” One headline, for example, said that “Trump, Without Evidence, Makes Vote Fraud Claims.” No matter how many vote fraud stories were published, or affidavits were signed, any claim of voter fraud by the president or by his campaign were always modified with the phrase “without evidence.”

This has been going on for some time. Two months ago, an article by the NPR Public Editor discussed the growing use of the “without evidence” catchphrase even at their news organization. Take the story about the teenager who shot back at rioters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The lead in the NPR story read that “Trump claimed, without evidence, that it appeared the gunman was acting in self-defense.”

I think any fair-minded person would conclude that the president was offering an opinion based on what he observed in the videos. It isn’t that he had no evidence, but that the NPR writer disagreed with his opinion. But having a different perspective is not the same thing as saying the opposite opinion has no evidence.

Another NPR story noted that “Trump has said, without evidence, that voting by mail is more vulnerable to fraud.” The evidence for that can be in books by John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky along with major academic studies.

Is there ever a time when the phrase “without evidence” is appropriate? Here’s an example: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says, without evidence, that the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change. I sincerely doubt any journalist would dare write such a sentence. That is why these journalists need to trash the “without evidence” catchphrase.

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas in front of us, this is the time of year when many are thinking about charitable giving. Mark Cuban tweeted that instead of donating to candidates in the Senate runoff races in Georgia, “please reconsider and donate that money to your local food bank and organizations that can help those without food or shelter.”

Who could be upset by that? According to Derek Hunter, it turns out “a lot of people.” One of the critics was singer and left-wing activist John Legend. He argued that flipping the Senate was crucial. “We need massive stimulus and aid to individual and small businesses. Government needs to do this. Charity isn’t sufficient.”

Legend is welcome to his opinion, but not his own facts. When I want to learn more about charitable giving or government policy, Hollywood celebrities aren’t exactly the first people I think of consulting.

In previous commentaries, I have quoted from Don Eberly who documented how generous Americans have been in his book, Rise of Global Civil Society. During most of the recent disasters around the world, private voluntary organizations had greater capacity to raise funds than government.

Arthur Brooks in his book, Who Really Cares, documents the significant divide between liberals and conservatives and between secular people and religious people when it comes to charity. One group talks about compassion and helping the poor and downtrodden. The other group actually gives their time and money.

Unfortunately, leftists like John Legend believe government is charity. But government isn’t charity. Government often uses our taxes inefficiently and is currently $27 trillion in debt. Mark Cuban deserves our praise not criticism for focusing on our proper priorities.

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.

In one of his famous essays, C.S. Lewis warned about the tyranny from bureaucrats and politicians whose rules and regulations essentially impose a gentler form of tyranny. “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.”

Cameron Hilditch argues that totalitarianism today is “soft around the edges” and thus a gentler kind to tyranny. “It has replaced the figure of the strongman with that of the virtuous scold.”

He finds an apt example of this is a First Amendment case from a school in Mississippi. Elementary school children must wear a mask at school. Naturally, the parents of nine-year-old Lydia Booth sent her off with the requisite face mask. The principal had a problem with the mask because it said “Jesus Loves Me.” She forced Lydia to take off her mask and put on a plain one. You can guess the reason: the words were Christian and violated school policy.

According to the lawsuit, Lydia’s parents could not find such a policy. But magically the policy showed up two days after the incident claiming that face masks cannot display “political, religious, sexual or any inappropriate symbols, gestures, or statements.”

Our friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom argue that Lydia’s First Amendment rights were violated. They also point out that other children wore masks with sports-team logos and political messages such as “Black Lives Matter” without incident.

Hilditch concludes that the family and the lawyers have an excellent First Amendment case. I also agree with his call for us to challenge these prevailing secular, progressive ideas in the public arena.

Before Thanksgiving and Christmas push the election from our minds, we need to remind ourselves how wildly inaccurate polling organizations were in 2020. We should recognize that political polling has always been an inaccurate science.

Kristen Soltis Anderson reminds us that in 1936 Literary Digest declared Alf Landon would be the next president. The Gallup organization that year got it right only to later be embarrassed by being on the wrong side of the “Dewey Defeats Truman” upset.

Four years ago, the pollsters did not predict that Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton. We were assured that they caught their mistakes and would be more accurate this time. A few hours into election night, it was obvious that these pollsters were wrong not only about the presidential race, but the races for the US Senate along with the races for state legislatures.

Back in 2012, the polls were off because pollsters didn’t call enough cell phones. Then in 2016, they were off because they missed voters without college degrees. This time, the critics said they were missing the “shy Trump voters.” But in a previous commentary, I mentioned that most pollsters denied this group even existed. And the argument might work for the presidential race but can’t really explain why there was no huge blue wave for the House, Senate, and state legislatures.

Another argument being used is the Trump factor. He is a polarizing figure in American politics. That may explain why the presidential polls were accurate in Maine and South Carolina, but it fails to explain why the polls were so far off in the Senate contests in those states.

While the pollsters are trying to figure all of this out, I have a recommendation for you. Don’t trust the polls. Perhaps they will fix their survey techniques over time, but we don’t have to listen to them until they do.

Sadly, it has become trendy in some circles to say that the world would be a better place without religion in general and Christianity in particular. I really do wonder if professors, commentators, and people on social media really believe this or are just saying it without any serious reflection. As I like to sometimes say to my atheist acquaintances, I see lots of Catholic hospitals, Presbyterian hospitals, and Baptist hospitals. I have never seen a humanist hospital.

Previous books by D. James Kennedy ask questions like: What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? and What if the Bible Had Never Been Written? Rodney Stark documents the positive impact of Christianity in many books, including The Triumph of Christianity.

In his book, Unimaginable: What Our World Would be Like Without Christianity, Jeremiah Johnston explains what the world was like before Christianity and what the world would be like without Christianity. He then concludes by talking about the benefits in a world with Christianity. He was in my radio studio talking about the impact of atheism in our world, and then we concluded by talking about the positive influence from Christianity in our world today.

For example, there are an estimated 350,000 religious congregations in the United States, and the vast majority of them “serve in some capacity as a community safety net for those in need.” We also see churches and faith-based organizations helping out in disasters.

So, what is the economic impact of faith in America? According to one study cited in the book, religion’s $1.2 trillion impact is more than the global annual earnings of Apple and Microsoft combined. Or you can look at it another way. How much do we save in social services because these are performed by faith organizations? Rodney Stark of Baylor University concludes that the total current savings to U.S. society is $2.67 trillion/year.

The book’s facts and figures are a vivid reminder that the positive impact of Christianity in society is indeed unimaginable.

Back in 1996, Samuel Huntington wrote The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. He predicted the current conflict between Islam and the West.

In my book, Understanding Islam and Terrorism, I show how this clash of civilizations has had a profound impact on missions. In the past, countries that were closed to the gospel tended to be communist countries. Even so, there was still a significant amount of Christian growth in countries behind the Iron Curtain and Bamboo Curtain. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of these countries are more open to the gospel than ever before. Meanwhile, persecution of Christians remains in China.

But a new phenomenon has emerged. Muslim countries are now the most resistant to the message of Christianity. Mission work is limited or even non-existent in many of these Muslim countries. This, I believe, represents the greatest challenge for missions in the 21st century: reaching the Muslim world for Christ.

Samuel Huntington also predicted a growing conflict between western universalism and Muslim militancy. In other words, the conflict is between liberal western democracies and Muslim countries. This presents a major challenge for Christians trying to reach Muslims. When they see the West with its immorality and decadence, they reject it and Christianity. After all, they reason, these are Christian countries and this is what they produce. Therefore, we should be quick to point out as Christians we also disagree with much of what some of these countries produce.

Whether we are missionaries overseas or missionaries in our backyard, we need to begin to understand the nature of Islam and bring the message of the gospel to the Muslims we meet. I believe Samuel Huntington is correct in his analysis, and we should begin to understand the changing world around us so that we can be more effective for Christ.