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.”

Sports gambling involves wagering on sports outcomes, transformed by the 2018 Supreme Court ruling into a legal, universally accessible, and rapidly growing industry in over 35 US states. Popular platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM offer extensive mobile betting on leagues like the NBA, NFL, and soccer. However, this boom has sparked concerns regarding high-risk bets, such as parlays, and rising financial issues like credit delinquency among bettors. The danger of sports gambling especially concerns young men.

Mark 12:30-31 declares that we are to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. The challenge for the believer is what theologians call the noetic effect of sin: 2 Corinthians 4:4 affirms the depths of sin’s effect on our minds. For that reason, one of the weighty commands of the New Testament is to “renew our minds” (e.g., Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 4:23). Colossians 3:2 commands: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul speaks of taking “every thought captive to obey Christ.”

One of my hobbies is astronomy. When I retired from higher education in 2012, my wife bought me a telescope. Studying the stars and the planets is breathtaking. But beyond my amateurish investigations, I love to view the amazing photos provided by NASA from the Hubble Telescope and now the James Webb Space Telescope. The beauty, scale and sharpness of these photos are magnificent. And when I realize that these stars, galaxies and nebula are millions of light years away, I am drawn to King David’s affirmation, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky above proclaims His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1, ESV).

Marriage was the first institution God created (Genesis 2:24-25). Given how important marriage is to God, what is the state of this institution in the early decades of the 21st century?

The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues. In line with this mission statement, several times I have addressed the issue of what does it mean to be a “conservative” in the 21st century? A label that captures my personal convictions is the phrase “principled conservativism.” The views and convictions I expressed in the 17 January 2026 edition of Issues are a helpful summary of what I believe. In this edition of Issues, I want to think about the future of the conservative moment in America.

In the Pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) the phrase “sound doctrine” appears nine times. The Greek term translated “sound” means that which is conducive to health—in this case spiritual health. Paul connects sound doctrine with godly living; in God’s eyes, sound doctrine produces righteous living. For that reason, the church needs to review the command of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20: “make disciples” by going, baptizing and “teaching all that I have commanded you.” This is the task of the church, and making disciples involves teaching what God has revealed in His Word. How is the church doing in fulfilling this part of the Great Commission? How is it doing in teaching and promoting sound doctrine?

One of the most precious terms of the American Republic is liberty. This Republic’s founding documents are rooted in expressing and protecting individual freedom. In the Declaration of independence, Jefferson argued as a “self-evident truth” that we are “endowed by our Creator” with certain “inalienable rights” and among those are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Bill of Rights (the Constitution’s first Ten Amendments) articulates and guarantees a set of rights each citizen enjoys. “Liberty” is indeed a precious and unique dimension of this Republic. But, in 1992, Justice Anthony Kennedy, in the famous Casey abortion ruling, posited a re-definition of human liberty: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”