Breakpoint

Last month, a local Memphis news station caught a drive-by shooting live on camera. During an interview about crime with Whitehaven community leader Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, a series of shots rang out across the street. Thankfully, no one was injured.  And just as surprising as the shooting was Cooper-Sutton's calm and faith-filled response. Immediately, she advised everyone to get down and stay down. “It’s okay,” you can hear her saying in order to comfort the shocked crew, and the clip ends with Cooper-Sutton saying from the ground, “Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for the blood of Jesus that cover[s] us.”  Paul promised the Christians in Philippi that the peace of Christ will rule our hearts. That’s just as true when our world is in chaos as when all seems fine and peaceful. And it’s a gift we can then give others. Live on camera, God gave Yolanda Cooper-Sutton peace. She then gave it to the crew and, because of a viral video, to the world.  For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

In less than a decade, the number of American companies with either an official department, an HR initiative, or a job title that includes the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has ballooned. In fact, by the end of 2020, U.S. companies were spending an estimated $3.4 billion on so-called “DEI” initiatives.  Proponents say DEI initiatives are necessary to fight workplace discrimination. Despite how quickly the trend has grown in recent years, however, it’s not working. In 2019, after spending $114 million on an initiative aimed at increasing and promoting diversity, Google’s workforce was still only 3% African American. Last summer, The Economist published findings that suggested DEI programs “do more to protect against litigation than to reduce discrimination.”   Partly behind the failure of DEI initiatives to accomplish their stated goals is how the terms are defined. Diversity is never measured in terms of belief, political party, or religion but, particularly in corporate settings, is reduced down to only categories of race, gender, and sexuality. This is why Time magazine evaluated the success of Google’s diversity program based only in terms of the ethnic breakdown of their employees. Of course, diversity is not less than ethnicity, but it should certainly include more.   At least part of the history behind defining down these terms emerges from academic circles and the growing influence of critical theory. This quasi-Marxist way of seeing all human history and every human interaction as a power struggle places every human being into two categories: oppressor or oppressed. Moral status is then awarded depending on how many "oppressed" categories with which one identifies. What’s left is an approach to life and human interaction that does not elevate what is good, but a purely negative ideology driven by an arbitrary rejection of what’s subjectively felt to be bad.  For decades, critical theory has stepped out of the academy into other spheres of culture, including media, government, and increasingly the marketplace. Though very few people have actually studied the academic source material, our wider culture is now in what might be called a “critical theory mood.” Companies spend billions of dollars implementing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs, because they’re under tremendous pressure by cultural gatekeepers to conform and, in effect, define “diversity” of employees by a small, select group of external traits.  “Diversity” that doesn’t include ideological diversity, for example, isn’t really diversity. Hiring a racially or sexually diverse workforce that is otherwise trapped in groupthink when it comes to religion and worldview does not make a better workforce. The belief that group identity should determine who deserves a job, a raise, or a contract is based on a flawed view of who human beings are. While our gender or ethnic backgrounds can have an enormous impact on our lives, they do not ground our value or determine our understanding of life and the world. Nor do they determine what kind of employee we might be.  In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly created the Governor’s Office of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” A few weeks ago, Virginia’s current chief diversity officer, Martin Brown, sparked controversy when he was caught on video saying “DEI is dead.” Brown’s job is mandated by the Virginia legislature, but instead of going along with the way these words are currently understood, Brown is committed to what he called “a different kind of civil discourse.” The name of his department has now been changed to the Virginia Office of Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion.   Many business leaders, struggling to tread water amidst the DEI tidal wave, know discrimination is wrong. They also realize that many “DEI” programs in practice actually promote discrimination based on a faulty understanding of these terms. Virginia’s chief diversity officer is offering a different, better way. Promoting equal opportunity, instead of making promises of equal outcomes that cannot possibly be fulfilled, treats every human being with the respect and dignity of equal consideration and high expectations.   Most other expressions of “DEI” are solutions in search of a problem that, in the end, will only result in more problems.   This Breakpoint was co-authored by Maria Baer.  For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Despite advocates’ claims that marijuana use is harmless, another study indicates otherwise. Apparently, the number of hospital visits for pregnant women has almost doubled in Ontario since Canada legalized recreational marijuana in 2018. Of those visits that were marijuana related, the majority were emergency room visits.  According to lead researcher Dr. Daniel Myran, although marijuana-related incidents were only a fraction of overall visits, almost all of them were serious. And according to other research, babies born to marijuana-using mothers are more likely to be born prematurely, have lower birth weights, and be admitted to neonatal care units. Exactly how marijuana harms preborn children will require additional research, but the clear risks are reason enough to recommend that pregnant moms avoid using marijuana altogether.  This is another contradiction to the narrative peddled to us for years. Recreational marijuana use is simply not as safe as we are told it was.   For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Recently, three families—one Muslim, one Roman Catholic, and one Ukrainian Orthodox—filed a lawsuit against the Montgomery, Maryland, school district. Back in March, the district had shifted its policy, announcing that parents would no longer be notified of LGBT content and parents could not opt-out their students.   This is just one example of how deeply worldviews can collide, in just one of many cultural arenas. Who is fundamentally responsible for cultivating the health, well-being, and beliefs of children? Parents or the state? What is acceptable behavior when it comes to sex, and at what ages should we expect them to think about such matters? Are we fundamentally defined by sexual urges and inner feelings, or by something (or Someone) else? Here, three couples who diverge wildly on religious matters agree that certain cultural narratives are undermining their ability to raise their children and imposing a secular worldview on them instead.   It is because of this very real collision of worldviews, and the consequences of them, that the Colson Center seeks to equip Christians to understand the public implications of Christian truth, including how to live out that truth in this difficult cultural moment. There are plenty of wonderful resources to learn and study the Bible and Christian theology, and there are different organizations dedicated to discussing and analyzing cultural issues. Seeing the challenges of our cultural moment through the light of Scriptural truth is, however, something else, as is seeing our presence in this cultural moment as a calling of God. Our daily Breakpoint commentaries and What Would You Say? videos are timely, but not merely reactive, offering a grounded way of thinking about tough issues and hard questions through the lens of Christian truth.   The Upstream and Strong Women podcasts engage a variety of thoughtful Christian voices who are pointing us both upstream and downstream, how to think and how to live. The Colson Fellows program trains and equips leaders in every sphere of culture and every walk of life, to live redemptively where God has placed them. The Colson Educators Collective equips teachers to teach from a Christian worldview, and the Colson Center National Conference is an annual time of learning and formation, not to mention quite a “family reunion” for us.   Breakpoint listener Lexi, who just graduated high school, wrote to tell us how the Colson Center has helped her live out her faith:  "My junior and senior years of high school I began to discover a love for worldview study that I had not known. ... I discovered Breakpoint, then read more Nancy Pearcey, C.S. Lewis, Schaeffer, watched Dobbs unfold, and realized there were more Colson Center podcasts and started listening to Upstream and Strong Women too.   The Colson Center and the concepts you discuss have played such a huge part in this watershed. It has shaped my understanding of the world I live in, and consequently who I’ve become, where I am going to college, my desire both primarily to be a mother and secondarily to pursue law. In short, the Colson Center has been very instrumental in my life."  Another Breakpoint listener, a mother, shared how God used Colson Center resources to bolster her faith and love her family through the upheaval of the last few years:  "Both of my kids graduated in 2020; one from high school and the other from college. Navigating these major life transitions during a pandemic was very challenging for them, to say the least. With COVID also brought confusing messages from our families, Christian friends, health and political "authorities," and even our beloved church. ... George Floyd ... and a course in "Ethnic Studies" had our daughter buying into Critical Race Theory and deconstructing her faith.   Enter the Colson Center. I had somehow gotten on your email list and subsequently subscribed to your Breakpoint podcast. Then came along your online conferences and short courses, the Strong Women podcast and Upstream with Shane [Morris]. Your articles and programs grabbed a hold of me and helped me—a Christian of over 30 years—keep my eyes on Jesus during a very confusing time. They helped me speak truth in love to my kids, friends, family, and church."  The Colson Center equips Christians to live out their faith with clarity, confidence, and courage in this cultural moment. If Colson Center products and programs have helped you as a parent, grandparent, youth, student, citizen, employee, leader, or neighbor, would you prayerfully consider partnering with us through a fiscal-year-end gift? Any gift given by Friday, June 30, will help us continue equipping Christians to live as agents of restoration in this time and place.   This Breakpoint was co-authored by Michaela Estruth. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Last month, a professor at Hunter College in New York City was fired and later arrested for an outburst directed at pro-life students. Shellyne Rodriguez was caught on video shouting profanity at the students and claiming their pro-life display was “violent.” She then shoved pamphlets off the table before storming off. When a reporter from the New York Post showed up at her home asking for a comment, she charged him with a machete.   Abortion is an example of what sociologist Philip Rieff called a “deathwork,” a cultural artifact that only tears down. One mark of a “deathwork” is incoherence—such as calling something “violent” before responding with actual violence, or claiming to promote tolerance and inclusion by excluding all who disagree.  The pro-life students at Hunter College did well, remaining calm in the face of this incoherent aggression. Their example is one we can follow as we point people in this culture of death to eternal life.  For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

According to recent numbers released from the CDC, about 1 in 4 of today’s high school students identify as LGBTQ. This means it’s never been more important for Christian parents, teachers, pastors, and mentors to love, support, and guide teens who are wrestling through these issues. They need to know what biblical truth is about sex, identity, and relationships, and why it is loving, reasonable, and best.    I am so grateful for a brand-new resource from my friend Greg Stier, whose writing and work at Dare 2 Share ministries has made him a leader in working with students. In a recent blog post, Greg outlined four key principles to help lead teenagers to a biblical understanding of these difficult issues in a way that is loving, articulate, and bold.  The first biblical principle is to “choose love, not hate, as [our] posture.” Even though Christians reject the false views of love promoted in so many ways today, we are not off the hook from practicing the real thing. Greg explains:   “God is love.” That’s who He is. ... Because of His love, God doesn’t wait until we clean up our act to save us. ... Romans 5:8 shockingly asserts: ‘But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ ... Encourage your teenagers to love everyone, no matter what, all the time, because God has relentlessly loved us. Teach your teens to continually drench their theological convictions with biblical compassion and agape love—and may we do the same.  Second, we must “choose the Bible, not culture, as [our] authority.”  The Bible originated from the mind of God. ... Because it’s inspired from God Himself, it’s as perfect as God Himself.  As Christians, we’re commanded to listen to, respect, and obey God’s Word—whether we like what it says or not, whether culture disagrees with it or not, whether people mock us for it or not. Even when we don’t like the rules, we can take comfort in the fact that they aren’t arbitrary—they’re based on God’s perfect character and are given for our good (see Deuteronomy 10:12-14).  [but] it’s important to help [students] understand that God’s house rules don’t apply only to Christians. ... God made the universe, so everything in it belongs to Him. As Psalm 24:1-2 explains:  ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.’  The Bible is His primary way of explaining to His creation—to all humanity—who He is, who we are, and how the world works. Since the whole universe can be considered God’s “house,” His rules—as outlined in the Bible—apply to everyone.  In other words, the Bible is humanity’s instruction manual. And it’s clear on issues of identity and sexuality.  Greg goes to outline just how clear the Bible is on identity, gender, and sexual orientation.   Third, we need to “choose the Gospel, not sin management, for solutions.”   It’s vital to believe, and help our teenagers to believe, in this transforming power of the Gospel. Romans 1:16 makes it clear that “it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” The Greek word for “salvation” means “deliverance from peril or danger.” We must believe that the Gospel can deliver any teenager from any sin, including any kind of sexual brokenness.  We’re all born as slaves to our flesh—which encompasses our genetics, hormones, natural instincts, and sinful desires—and into a sinful, fallen environment—which includes abuse, unbiblical ideologies, and more. But the amazing news of the Gospel is that when we trust Christ, His Spirit frees us from that slavery and enables us to live in God’s ways—no matter what caused our sin to begin with.  And finally, fourth “choose engagement, not detachment.” For years, Greg and Dare 2 Share ministries have been training and equipping students to share their faith. Increasingly, this means having to engage difficult questions and issues such as these. What if it’s possible not only for Christian teens to not be confused and deceived, but to also be ambassadors for Christ to their confused and deceived peers. Greg thinks it is.  Imagine if the Church began to intentionally reach out—with a Jesus-style blend of love and conviction—to people who identify as LGBTQ and started seeing more and more lives transformed by the power of the Gospel. How much different would the future look, both for the Church and for the lives that were changed?   Greg is offering a free four-lesson curriculum for students called Hard Questions: Examining Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Through a Gospel Lens on his website. You can find it at gregstier.org.   This Breakpoint was co-authored by Kasey Leander. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

With a one-minute look at culture from a Christian worldview, I’m John Stonestreet with The Point.    Recently, Christian writer Samuel Sey tweeted, “The question isn’t: ‘does God exist?’ The question is: ‘how could anything exist without God?’”   Or, as Fraulein Maria sang in The Sound of Music, “Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.” Not only is there something (lots of them) in this world, but there is also consciousness, creativity, beauty, love, and order. These things say an awful lot about what kind of First Cause is required to bring all these somethings into existence.  One Twitter user pushed back against Sey arguing that a more important question is, “What kind of people should we be?” Sey responded, “It’s impossible to know what kind of people we should be without affirming who our [C]reator is.” God, in particular the Christian God, is the best explanation for the world we experience.  As C.S. Lewis put it, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”  For the Colson Center, I’m John Stonestreet.    For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I’m John Stonestreet.  It’s been almost two years since the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving a void of power quickly filled by the Taliban. In that time, Taliban rulers have outlawed women’s education, religious freedom, and even music. That’s why a concert violinist named Ali left his instrument behind when he fled Afghanistan in 2021. He knew the Taliban would confiscate and destroy any instruments they found, along with music shops and schools.   After Ali arrived in the United States, a stranger heard his story and decided to donate his violin to the displaced musician. Through a series of connections, the violin made its way from New York to L.A., courtesy of a podcaster who shared the saga in a now-viral Twitter thread. Initially, Latif Nasser struggled to track down Ali in California. His texts and calls went unanswered. Eventually, when the two met, Nasser discovered Ali had been unresponsive due to an unpredictable work schedule at the mall. Most of the money Ali made was sent to support his family in Kabul.   Nasser also learned that Ali had been a famous violinist in Afghanistan. He performed in a TV orchestra and even toured in the West. In fact, he’d once played at Carnegie Hall.  Nasser not only gave Ali the violin, but he also set up an online fundraiser to help Ali restart lessons or attend music school. The fundraiser was so successful that Ali eventually shut it down, not wanting to take more money than he needed.  This remarkable story is not only about the kindness of strangers: It also points to something deeper about what it means to be human. God created us to create, like He does. Made in His image, as the first few chapters of Genesis make plain, humans were created for the purpose of cultivating the rest of creation for the glory of God (Genesis 1:26-28). God’s Word makes clear that, in Christ, He intends not just to save souls but to restore His creation. Just as the garden was full of beauty, when Christ’s Kingdom is finally “on earth as it is in heaven,” its beauty will be perfect. Though our attempts to cultivate the earth are tainted, frustrated, and even painful, our calling to care for His creation remains. Beauty remains even when perfection is impossible. Beauty pleases God and brings Him glory, just as beauty pleases us.  In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl tells the story of waking up one night in Auschwitz to the unlikely sound of a violin.   To discover that there was any semblance of art in a concentration camp must be surprise enough for an outsider, but he may be even more astonished to hear that one could find a sense of humor there as well.  According to Frankl, beauty and humor offered the prisoners a kind of cognitive distance from their suffering, even if only for a few minutes, suggesting that a deep longing for beauty is central to the human experience. Art and music are not frivolous parts of life. If Frankl’s account is true, human beings will hunger for beauty even when they have far more urgent needs—like food, water, and safety—going unmet.   The gratuitously oppressive move by the Taliban to outlaw music is fundamentally different from how the Bible describes the purpose and substance of beauty, especially its power to point us to the one true God andmove us to worship Him. It only makes sense that the Taliban would hate music, just as they hate education, religious freedom, and individual rights. Each of these things flows from Christianity’s fundamental view about God, His world, and human beings.  In fact, the power of beauty to point us to God was a theme of this year’s Colson Center National Conference. We hosted an impressive lineup of speakers, many of whom have dedicated their lives to creating beautiful things, from graphic design to good barbecue. If you missed the conference this year, the footage will be available soon to stream online. Just visit colsonconference.org.  This Breakpoint was co-authored by Maria Baer.  For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

TikTok is feeding teens a “diet of darkness.” Recently, a group of researchers created fictitious accounts of 13-year-olds and quickly found their feeds full with content about eating disorders, body image, self-harm, and even suicide. This is despite the fact that TikTok currently employs 40,000 content moderators and has default screen-time limits for teens.   TikTok’s problems have long plagued all social media platforms. Most have made efforts to prohibit the promotion of socially contagious self-destructive behaviors, but none have been able to eliminate this content entirely. Their guidelines, bans, and moderators do nothing to restrict other destructive content, such as ideas about gender confusion and transition.  Parents can’t rely on the goodwill of social media giants to protect their kids. They must be proactive in teaching them how to use tech wisely and, often, just say no to it. Most importantly, parents need to remind their kids who they are: people made in the image and likeness of God. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

On June 5, 1865, Anglican priest and polymath Sabine Baring-Gould wrote the processional hymn, “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” The hymn was originally written for children walking to Horbury St. Peter’s Church near Wakefield in Yorkshire, England. Far from the cultural stereotype that the hymn earned Baring-Gould—that of a militant, narrow-minded clergyman fearful of and fighting against new knowledge—he actually led an impressive life, remaining keenly inquisitive about the world God has made.   The song, which he wrote in about 15 minutes, was originally titled “A Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners.” It was inspired by biblical imagery of the Christian as a soldier and only became popular when composer Arthur Sullivan wrote a new melody for it later. Its military imagery, out of step with today’s cultural vibes, has led many contemporary hymnbook compilers to leave it aside.  Like other Anglican clergymen of his day, Baring-Gould was involved in more than serving parishes and writing children’s processionals. He was the son and heir of a noble family but decided on a career in the Church. Ordained in 1864, he became curate at the church at Horbury Bridge, where a year later he would pen “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” There, he met Grace Taylor, the then-teenaged daughter of a local miller. The two fell in love and, despite a considerable age gap, were married for 48 years until her passing. Together, they raised 15 kids, all but one of whom survived into adulthood.   Even while serving in parishes, Baring-Gould was a prolific writer, with nearly 1,300 titles to his credit. These include novels and short stories published in a variety of journals, a 16-volume series called Lives of the Saints, modern biographies, travelogues, hymns (the best-known of which aside from “Onward, Christian Soldiers” being “Now the Day Is Over”), sermons, apologetics, and cultural and anthropological studies. He had an international reputation as an antiquarian. His Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, a study of 24 medieval superstitions and their variants and antecedents, was particularly popular and was even cited by sci-fi and horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. He also published The Book of Werewolves, a collection of stories still widely cited.  To do some of this work, Baring-Gould studied and mastered several ancient, medieval, and modern languages. Along with more common languages for British scholars of the period, he knew Basque, an obscure language unrelated to any other, sufficiently well enough to translate a Basque Christmas carol into English as “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came.”  Baring-Gould’s God-driven curiosity about the world only furthered when he inherited his family estate in Devon in 1872. He moved there as both squire and vicar in 1881, devoting a great deal of time to studying and writing about Devon and the West Country. He transcribed hundreds of folk songs from the region that would otherwise have been lost, even publishing several volumes in collaboration with Cecil Sharp, a central figure in preserving and promoting English folk songs in the Edwardian period. Baring-Gould considered these collections of songs his most important work.  He also earned an international reputation in the developing field of archaeology. With his friend Robert Burnard, Baring-Gould began the first scientific archaeological excavations of Dartmoor in Devon, which includes the largest concentration of Bronze Age remains in Britain. The two initially concentrated on hut circles, depressions in the ground outlined with stones that were the foundations for conical wooden huts thousands of years ago, before launching a more systematic investigation of the region. As secretary of the group, Baring-Gould authored the first 10 annual reports of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee. This began a systematic exploration and occasional restoration of the region’s prehistoric sites. Beyond the annual reports, he published several other works on Dartmoor.  As if all this were not enough, Baring-Gould was also an amateur ironworker and painter. Prior to his ordination, while a teacher at a boys’ school, he designed the ironwork for the school and painted scenes from The Canterbury Tales and The Faerie Queene on the jambs of the windows.  In all, Baring-Gould was far more than the lyricist for “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” As Anthony Esolen commented, he could only have lived in the 19th century, when scholarship was not so specialized, and amateurs could still make important contributions to a wide range of fields. For our era, he is a remarkable example of a person who used the prodigious talents God had given him to serve the church, his community, and the wider world.  This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org