Years ago, historian Richard Hofstadter wrote an important book entitled The Paranoid Style in American Politics, in which he documented the role paranoia, fear and conspiracy theories have played in American political culture. He called it “an arena for angry minds.”

According to Stephanie Kramer, “A [2019] Pew Research Center study of 130 countries and territories shows that the U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Almost a quarter of U.S. children under the age of 18 live with one parent and no other adults (23%), more than three times the share of children around the world who do so (7%).

Who decides questions of truth? Who defines the boundaries of human rights? In a pluralistic culture, who defines the standards of behavior based on these rights? In our Postmodern, Post Christian era, answering these questions is no longer easy. There is no foundation for our civilization, no agreed-upon set of ethical standards, and no transcendent authority to which to appeal. Human autonomy is a given and the boundaries to that autonomy appear limitless. Two recent developments highlight the ongoing redefinition of human rights and human identity.

Ideas have consequences! Human beings are physical, spiritual, social, emotional and intellectual creatures. Humans respond to stimuli and react to that which both pleases and threatens. The complexity of humanity is reflected in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.), each of which attempts to explain why humans behave the way they do.

Sociologists often organize populations according to the generational differences they observe and then create categories with labels and timeline distinctives.

In 1976, Newsweek magazine proclaimed “the year of the evangelical,” with a cover story on being “born again.” It charted the expanding influence of evangelical churches, which were theologically and politically diverse, and, the article argued, were positioned to have a major impact of the nation’s public morality. After all, evangelicals were strategically important in the election of Jimmy Carter, a self-professed evangelical who talked of being born again. Today, few would portray the evangelical movement with such positive qualities.

Telling the story of an individual is an important exercise, for a historical narrative often reveals the character of a person and the long-run effects of historical actors and events. We can learn much from narratives. The Bible is filled with historical narratives and, among other things, reveals the purposes and goals of God, who acts in space-time history to accomplish His redemptive plan. So, how culture tells a story—creates a narrative—is quite important.

Today, yoga is part of a global wellness industry worth $25 billion. Alistair Shearer, a historian of Yoga, demonstrates that “in the US alone, the number of people doing yoga shot from 4 million in 2001 to more than 37 million by 2016.” Yoga today is associated with physical fitness, good health and clean living; 80% of yoga practitioners today are women. But few know that yoga has its roots in ancient and medieval India in the worldview known as Hinduism.

Rosaria Butterfield, former tenured professor at Syracuse University and former radical lesbian feminist, came to know Jesus Christ through the love and compassion of a pastor and his wife stretching over three years. She describes her conversion as a “train wreck,” for God had to dismantle her entire worldview, replacing it with the worldview detailed in Scripture. Butterfield is now married to a pastor in North Carolina, is a homeschooling mother and continues using her giftedness as a writer and speaker. She recently summarized a question and answer session she was hosting on a college campus in which she detailed her conversion to Jesus Christ.

Human depravity distorts and twists everything, creating chaos and disorder in the culture and its institutions. The first and most important institution God created was marriage and the family (see Genesis 2). What is it current condition? In our democratic-republic, education is intended to be a cooperative and dynamic enterprise involving the public school and parents. What is the condition of the public school movement? The state, an institution created by God to promote justice and thwart evil (see Romans 12:1-10), has taken on the role of a “savior,” ostensibly taking the risk out of living. The family, education, the state—each has been impacted by the depths of human depravity.