In Disney’s classic cartoon feature, Bambi, “Thumper” the rabbit offers a wise piece of advice: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” God’s Word has much to say about the words we use and how hurtful and damaging they can be (see the Proverbs and James 1:19-27; 3:1-12). Most of us forget physical hurts we may have incurred growing up, but we remember vividly the cruel words from a bully or a childhood enemy—or even a merciless parent. Such words are often the root cause of bitterness, which is poisonous and destructive.

This summer we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon (20 July 1969). Those of us who are older can remember what we were doing that day in July fifty years ago. It was a monumental achievement of American technology, drive and perseverance. The Apollo space program harnessed nearly everything that was unique about American civilization to realize one of humanity’s greatest achievements. But it was also wrapped around the realities of the Cold War.

In April 2019, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention issued its Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles. The statement is an important tool, enabling Christians to think about the expanding technology known as artificial intelligence (AI). In the Perspective, I want to summarize this significant statement.

The evidence that American culture is becoming more secular is overwhelming. For example, the rise of the religious “nones” is one of the more profound developments within American culture. They constitute about a quarter of the total population and, about a third of those who became adults in the new millennium, identify with the “nones.” As The Economist reports, “Comparing 2016-2018 with the last three years of the 20th century, declared participants in organized religion have plunged by nearly 20 points to 52%.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the tenth-leading cause of death in the United States. In 2017, there were 47,126 suicides and nearly 1.4 million suicide attempts. The CDC estimates that self-inflicted deaths and injuries cost the US approximately $70 billion a year in direct medical and work-loss costs. Between 1999 and 2017, the age-adjusted rate for suicide in US increased 33%.

The controversy over sex education in the public schools is a major cultural issue in America. Since the federal government has gotten involved in funding such programs, it has become even more provocative and controversial.

Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) released its new guidelines, which defined “traditional masculinity” as pathology. Psychoanalyst Erica Komisar argues that the APA guidelines “demonize masculinity rather than embracing its positive aspect. In a press release, the APA asserts flatly that ‘traditional masculinity—marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression—is, on the whole, harmful.’”

For civilization to work, it needs a foundation, a set of moorings that provide an anchor for it to function reasonably, justly and fairly. American civilization gives every indication that it has no foundation, no underpinning. The selfish, self-centered, self-indulgent individual has replaced the community-minded, other-centered virtuous citizen—the glue that held American society together. Our politics, our universities and our economy are all driven by an ideology that stresses identity politics, grievance-focused protests and an economy with no ethical foundation.

Consider the amazing national trend of accommodating American culture to the legalization of marijuana. In 2014, the editorial page of the New York Times argued intensely (on the front page) for the legalization of marijuana and the removal of all penalties against the manufacturing and distribution of marijuana, let alone the possession of marijuana in its many forms. Ten states (soon to be joined by New York and New Jersey) have voted to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal use. Licensed shops in Colorado and Washington now sell it to anyone who wants it. Numerous states have recently legalized the drug for medicinal use, bringing the total to 23; this number will undoubtedly grow.

As with the issue of war, capital punishment is filled with intellectual and theological tension. In this Perspective, I am not defending how capital punishment is practiced in the United States or any other country. Instead, the focus is whether one can make a biblical defense for capital punishment as a responsibility of the state. If humans bear God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), then ethically taking the life of an image-bearer in a premeditated act of murder demands just punishment, for killing a human being in such a manner is an attack on our Creator. It is a rejection of His sovereignty over human life (see Deuteronomy 32:39). But is it just to make the punishment capital?