I have addressed the subject of marijuana several times on Issues in Perspective. Clearly, American culture has been moving in the direction of full acceptance of marijuana and its full legalization. But the accommodation to marijuana is not simply an issue of freedom and autonomy—doing whatever you want without the restrictions or regulations of the state. Marijuana is dangerous and we need to frame the issue not around the freedom of the individual, or what Carl Trueman calls “expressive individualism,” but around the issue of the public good.

The phrase “a new world of counterhistory” was popularized by historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. He uses it to describe an era where ideological rigidness causes people to reject both past and present factual truths if those facts conflict with their chosen political or cultural orthodoxy.

Michael Keller, the founding and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church–Lincoln Square, did his PhD dissertation on computational linguistics as applied to historical theology. As a pastor with his unique graduate training, Keller is well-equipped to help us understand how AI affects all aspects of the human condition. I recently read a lengthy article he wrote on AI in which he related this technology to identity formation and the larger identity crisis so pervasive in America. It is remarkably insightful and worthwhile. In this Perspective, I will summarize salient aspects of the article and then close with a series of conclusions drawn from Scripture.

The blockbuster movie of the 2026 summer is unquestionably Christoper Nolan’s The Odyssey. Over the years I have enjoyed Nolan’s films, for they are not only entertaining; they are provocative and thought-provoking. For example, Nolan’s Joker in the Batman movies is a classic nihilist who simply ”enjoys seeing things burn.” Interstellar was a disturbing movie because it focused on questions of life’s meaning and purpose as well as the stewardship responsibility of humanity. His film Oppenheimer caused me to read Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s masterful, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. But his Odyssey is challenging in other ways.

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century reform movement within the church. The Reformers believed that the Bible taught that salvation was based on faith, not good works, and that the Bible was the ultimate authority, not the Pope. In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther wrote a list of arguments called the Ninety-five Theses and nailed them to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther argued that people cannot buy God’s forgiveness; He believed God’s grace was a free gift appropriated by personal faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Thanks to the invention of the printing press, Luther’s ideas quickly spread across Europe, as did other Reformers such as John Calvin, Menno Simons (an Anabaptist) and Thomas Cranmer in England.

Within Western Civilization a disturbing trend is raising its ugly head: The Economist calls it “Gen-Z Socialism”—”A fresh crop of socialists want to remake the economy with price controls, hefty wealth taxes and a spree of nationalizations. Supercharged by fury over Gaza, they are winning voters at a formidable pace. Many rose to prominence only recently, like Zack Polanski, who leads the Green Party in Britain, or Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York. Others are long-standing political fixtures: the septuagenarian Jean-Luc Mélenchon is on his fourth swing at the French presidency . . . Forget weighty collectivist ideals or seizing the means of production. Gen-Z socialism is a me-first doctrine. Climate change and race, preoccupations of the 2010s and early 2020s, are now much more peripheral concerns. So are social issues, barring Gaza. Angst about inflation, housing and artificial intelligence have replaced all that with something cruder.

Ethically speaking, does the end always justify the means? Does a seemingly good end (having healthy babies free of all genetic disorders) justify the means (in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, etc.)? Reproductive and Genetic Technologies have empowered humans to a degree unimaginable only a few years ago. These technologies are also empowering parents to decide what kinds of children they want. Therefore, these technologies raise profound ethical questions, including ethical questions about the human embryo.

This weekend we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It is indeed the founding document of our nation. This anniversary reminds us of the importance of history and a proper understanding of that history. How Americans view their history is important, for that narrative is what is taught in our schools and informs how we view current issues in their historical perspective. Until fairly recently, there was a consensus among most Americans about that narrative. No longer. There are at least two competing narratives that dominate America’s educational curriculums and the various media outlets (e.g., cable television, the social media, and political commentary)

Joshua Chatraw of the Keller Center has made a series of observations about the relationship between entertainment and the growing culture of despair quite visible now within American civilization. He gives focus to three stages

Ben Sasse, who is dying of pancreatic cancer, recently wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal on AI and character development. He concluded with this reflection: “Character, whether of an individual or of a nation, is molded by habits and by time. This republic requires men and women to do long-form deliberation, serious thinking, honest humility and daily striving. What good is it to gain the whole world if we forfeit the souls that we’re supposed to form? We can’t expect to remain free without being virtuous, we can’t be bold without being rooted, we can’t be great without aiming first to be good. To stave off [Aldous] Huxley’s dystopia [in Brave New World], we must deliberately shape our children’s souls so that they can be creators, doers and thinkers embracing the next frontier.”