Breakpoint (2026)

28/08/2026

Earlier this week, President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahan announced a crackdown on school districts that assist students with “transitioning” without parents’ consent. Citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Trump said, “Every public school in America is now on notice: That if they tell a child that they are trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse.” The administration’s actions are in stark contrast to the previous one.

Almost immediately, advocates accused the administration of lying about “transgender” children. Lisa Lightner wrote in an article for MSN.com,

“No. Schools are not secretly medically transitioning children. They are not prescribing hormones. They are not performing gender-affirming surgery. Teachers are not administering puberty blockers. Guidance counselors are not secretly arranging medical transitions behind parents’ backs.”

It was as if a common script had been distributed. It became a loud chorus of denial. Deny what parents are, in fact, claiming. Deny that teachers, counselors, and afterschool clubs taught and even targeted certain children with gender ideology. Deny that students were treated as if they were the opposite s*x on campus, with new names, pronouns, and sometimes, outfits, all while hiding their “social transition” from parents.

And yet, moms and dads, from California to Maine, keep reporting that though their children were questioning their bodies and exploring identities at school, they were not notified by school officials. In many cases, these children were encouraged and assisted in their confusion by school officials. Often, if parents learned about their child’s mental distress and protested, they were met with the psychological threat of, “Would you rather have a living son or a dead daughter?” or, in some states, legal threats for “deadnaming” their child.

But everyone should know, especially anyone being gaslighted by this “it never happened” talking point: There are receipts. Erin Lee, Director of Protect Kids Colorado, posted those receipts on X, which included her own story:

“Fascinating how so many people are out here saying “this doesn’t happen” and “this is a made up MAGA problem.” So let me shed some light . . . This happened to my little girl. . .. I went public and discovered it had happened to many others. I sued all the way to the Supreme Court—along with other affected parents. The school district admitted to and defended it, in legal documents. Justice Alito called our case “troubling and tragic” and an issue of “great and growing national importance.” It was a living nightmare that almost destroyed my child.”

Lee then cited numerous other examples. Six cases have reached the Supreme Court: John and Jane Parents v Montgomery County (23-601); Parents Protecting Our Children v Eau Claire (23-1180); Foote v Ludlow (25-77); Lee v Poudre (25-89); Littlejohn v Leon (25-289); and Lavigne v Great Salt Bay (25-759).

Another 14 cases are still in lower courts: Doe v Weiser (Colorado); Mead v Rockford Public School District (Michigan); Vitsaxaki v Skaneateles Central SD (New York); Lema v Davenport (New Jersey); Regina v Staley (California); Doe/Heaps v Delaware Valley (New Jersey); Blair v Appomattox (Virginia); Konen v Spreckles (California); Perez v Broskie (Florida); Koltenbach v Hilliard City Schools (Ohio); Figliola v Harrisonburg City Schools (Virginia); Wiley v Sweetwater County School District (Wyoming); Parents Defending Ed v Linn-Mar (Iowa); TF v Kettle Moraine (Wisconsin).

The thing that “isn’t happening” is happening all over the country. Alliance Defending Freedom has reported on numerous cases and now represents a growing number of parents who were kept in the dark by school officials. Justice Alito cited that an estimated 6,000 public schools in the United States operate under so-called “gender-affirming” policies that specifically exclude parents. And a group known as “Defending Education” has a list of offending school districts online.

Thank God for these efforts by the White House to reign in the madness but especially for the moms, dads, and grandparents who stood up to the lies sold to their children in secret and are willing to expose them in public. We owe it to them and especially the children to share these stories.

As the Apostle John wrote,

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

The gaslighting must stop.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy D. Padgett

27/08/2026

On July 3rd, during his comments to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani contrasted what he called “conventional wisdom” about “American exceptionalism” with his belief that America is exceptional because “here, nothing is fixed into place.” The approach is similar to how President Barack Obama often crafted public addresses, borrowing vocabulary but using a new dictionary, reappropriating ideas from the American tradition but with a progressive twist.

In Mamdani’s telling of the story, American exceptionalism is foundationless, with no permanent truths, enduring principles, or fixed understanding of human nature. In contrast to the founder’s understanding of people as flawed yet capable of virtue, a progressive vision of history is built on the law of ceaseless change. Somehow, every change is for the better because humans are progressing according to some “long arc of history.” Politically, this aligns with the idea of the Constitution as “living,” a vessel with no absolute principles but only new meaning constantly being poured into it. Francis Schaeffer described this kind of moral vision as having “both feet firmly planted in mid air.”

Mamdani also announced a “pieds-a-terre” tax—a surcharge on those with non-primary residences in the city. His office then published a list of all who would qualify for the tax, despite the long history of violence by those committed to socialist ideology. The assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York City by confessed killer Luigi Mangione, and those who celebrated it, should’ve been enough to reconsider that plan.

Of course, a central plank of socialism’s economic agenda is that the state should own the means of production. In the socialist view, the state is ultimately responsible to ensure what Mamdani has redefined as American exceptionalism. His proposal for government owned grocery stores naturally follows. As Dr. Eric Patterson wrote recently on Breakpoint,

“Remember, Marx said that control of the economy (Socialism) was the first step toward control of everything (Communism). It’s noteworthy that Democratic Socialists attack private property, an innovative business environment, and often call freedoms of religion and conscience smokescreens for superstition and intolerance of their progressive agenda.”

Ironically, it was American Communists who first coined the phrase “American Exceptionalism,” out of frustration that America proved so resistant to Communist takeover. Stalin popularized the phrase as a way to accuse America of believing the heresy that it was somehow “exceptional” and exempt from the “historical inevitability” of the Communist Revolution.

There is no universally agreed upon definition, but if America is exceptional, it is not because of some self-perceived superiority or because Americans are somehow exempt from human frailty and fallenness. Rather, it is because the combination of certain founding principles, the priority of religious liberty, the flourishing of pre-political institutions, and a robust civic culture better reflect the potential and perils of the human condition.

The young, energetic faces of the DSA and their supporters reject these aspects of America’s founding, its covenantal purpose, and its role as a model for freedom. Instead, they reimagine America out of an envy for those they believe have unfairly advanced. Time will tell how powerful this movement will be. In the meantime, Americans should do their homework and study the history of socialism.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” Christians have the worldview resources to best assess where we have been and the moment we are now in. The Biblical framing of the human condition provides not only insight in what to do next and how to do it, but most importantly the hope secured for us in the work of Jesus Christ.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Andrew Carico.

26/08/2026

To claim, as some progressive politicians do, that Jesus would have been pro-abortion is nonsense, of course. However, it points to a larger problem that has been made worse in the internet age. Lacking an understanding of logic and critical thinking, people often confuse assertions with arguments.

An argument is a particular kind of thing. Beyond a truth statement, it offers reasons why it is true. An assertion only reveals what the person making the assertion believes about the world. An argument tells others why they should believe it, too. In the process, it provides a line of thinking to evaluate and consider.

The statement, “Jesus was pro-choice” is an assertion. Assertions can be said with enough confidence to feel persuasive. Also, pressure can be added in an attempt to persuade. But claiming to be offended because someone doesn’t agree with an assertion is not an argument either. Saying something with confidence isn’t evidence. Confident or pressured assertions are still just assertions. And, as the saying goes, what is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. This is the burden of proof.

An argument has two essential parts: a claim and reasons for that claim. Both parts are necessary. As apologist Tim Barnett described in a new What Would You Say? video, part of the “How to T.H.I.N.K. Series,” think about a house where the claim is the roof and the reasons are the walls. Just as a house has a roof supported by walls, an argument is a claim supported by reasons. Without walls, you don’t have a house. Without reasons, you don’t have an argument.

No matter how passionately someone believes in something, an assertion is a claim without support. It’s a roof without walls; a roof lying on the ground.

The person who makes the claim is responsible to defend it. Especially online, people often feel the need to refute every assertion they disagree with. This is the source of endless social media fights. But those who did not make the claim are not responsible to refute it. A better response is to ask for reasons, including evidence for the assertion. Maybe the claim is true, and maybe it’s not, but until the person who professed it gives reasons to believe, no one has reason to believe.

The next time someone claims, “Jesus is pro-choice” without offering evidence, there are two options. One could dismiss it with a quick, “No, He isn’t!” But that will likely shut down any hope of a productive discussion. To advance the conversation, a better reply would be, “That’s an interesting claim. What reasons do you have to believe it?” In other words, you’re simply asking them to defend their assertion. Anybody honestly interested in truth won’t be bothered by that kind of request.

If the response is, “Well, Jesus is pro-choice because He has a high respect for women and their choices,” this is an actual argument. There is a claim: “Jesus is pro-choice.” And there is a reason: “He respected women and their choices.” That is an argument. And that means there’s something to evaluate, refute, and discuss.

Remember, the goal of an argument isn’t to “win” the conversation but to find out what’s true. When someone offers an actual argument, it must be tested. Ask, “Does the reason and evidence support the claim?” For example, “Does Jesus’ respect for women and their choices mean that He would support abortion?”

Of course, the answer is no. But a conversation dealing with reasons and evidence, rather than just claims, is much closer to the truth. Which, of course, is the goal and why God gave us minds to love Him in the first place.

Check out the entire “How to T.H.I.N.K. Series” with Tim Barnett on the What Would You Say? YouTube channel. It’s a great way to learn critical thinking skills and teach others.

25/08/2026

Antisemitism on the Rise, Again

According to a new report from the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism, “In both the number of lethal attacks and the number of casualties, 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks . . . in more than 30 years.” As a CBS article describing the report pointed out, this includes 15 people who were shot dead at Bondi Beach in Australia, two who were killed at a Manchester, UK synagogue, two who were gunned down at a Jewish museum in DC, and an 82-year-old Boulder, CO woman who died a month after being hit with a Molotov cocktail.

While the attackers responsible often claim vengeance against Israeli actions in the Middle East, the attacks are not against Israeli military or government sites. Instead, as has been the case for much antisemitic violence throughout history, the targets are random people around the world who happen to be Jewish.

In fact, Jews have been the target of irrational hate and violence since at least the fifth century BC, when Haman was bested by Mordecai. According to the historian Josephus, some 50,000 Jews were killed in the AD 60s when an ethnic riot broke out in Alexandria, Egypt. The harassment and murder of Jews in the Russian Empire was so common it’s portrayed as an ordinary fact of life in the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” Most evil, of course, was the Holocaust perpetrated by the N***s in the 1930s and 40s, a mass murder so horrific that there are still fewer Jews alive in the world today than there were before it.

One reason this demon has returned is that history has moved on. The memory of the Holocaust is fading, and the world is less familiar with names like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Nearly everyone that was involved—victim, villain, or liberator—is now dead. Without the power of eyewitness testimony, the lessons of “Never Again!” are lost.

Another factor is a quirk of this cultural moment, in which skepticism is considered a virtue (not to mention profitable). Like the dwarfs in C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, many are convinced they are too informed to be “taken in” by commonly held ideas. Their cynicism is not the result of newly surfaced facts, but a posture of dis-believing all accepted narratives. This posture is the pop-intellectual version of what philosopher Philip Rieff called a “deathwork.” Rather than pursuing truth, it’s more popular to join the knee-jerk disbelief crowd who claim that the “postwar consensus” is just what “They” want you to believe.

In other words, the new antisemitism is as irrational as it is evil. There’s nothing Christian about it.

In 1943, before the world learned of the Holocaust, apologist Francis Schaeffer responded to Jew-hatred:

Considering anti-Semitism, the first thing that fixes itself in my thinking is the fact that Christ was a Jew. When we open the New Testament to Matthew 1:1, we find the very first claim made concerning Christ is that he sprang from Abraham and was a descendant of David. The Bible does not say that Jesus just happened to be a Jew, but the Word emphasizes over and over again that he was a Jew.

Hatred of Jews has no place whatsoever for the Christian. This is about more than even the biblical call to love our neighbors, though that should be enough. Jesus’ Jewishness is at the center of His identity because at the center of God’s plan to bless all the nations of the earth was His making a chosen people of the descendants of Abraham. To hate “the Jews” is to scorn the most important Jew of all.

24/08/2026

A search for "Study Bibles" at Christian Book Distributors yields over 2,600 results. Though Bibles published with attached notes dates to at least the 1500s, beginning in the twentieth century, the practice exploded. Now, virtually every theological tradition, demographic, vocation, cultural perspective, preacher, and influencer—from teen girls to firefighters to duck hunters—has a study Bible just for them.

As Stephen Nichols has explained, when reviewing the massive number of study Bibles on the market today,

“. . . all except the Geneva Bible date from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It would not be a stretch to speak of the century spanning 1917 to the present as ‘The Century of the Study Bible.’”

Is this a good thing? On one hand, scholarly notes can make the truths of the Bible more accessible to believers. There’s great value in seeing the text in its full literary, historical, and theological context. Like “iron sharpening iron,” we all benefit when we can benefit from the knowledge of fellow Christians, especially those with gifts for study and teaching.

On the other hand, it is not uncommon for study Bibles to contain more notes than biblical text. For example, the current edition of the Life Application Study Bible is 3,264 pages! It is common to get so distracted by all the extra resources that we end up losing track of God’s actual word. In the process, we read more about the Bible than we do the Bible itself.

The hyper-specific study Bibles carry a greater danger. If each of us is reading a narrowly tailored version of Scripture—a woman’s Bible, a teen’s Bible, a teacher’s Bible, a butcher, baker, candlestick maker’s Bible—we can see God’s word as our “own personal Jesus.” God’s word is for God’s people as a whole, together, not just individuals living atomistic lives.

In A Practical Guide to Culture, Brett Kunkle and I provide principles for how to read the Bible. In it, I suggest only reading study notes after the text of the Bible itself. Why? It's a simple posture that puts first things first. While tools such as commentaries and scholarly aids can get us closer to the Word, they’re not an end in and of themselves.

We also suggest reading it together with others. This is primarily a task given to the Church but, too often, space that could be given to hearing together the Word of God is given instead to extended music and preaching. Though both are very good things, it is again a matter of putting first things first.

The Bible speaks to the redemptive power of God’s Word throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Prophet Isaiah proclaimed that God’s Word will not “return empty,” and will “accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:11). The Prophet Jeremiah said he loved God’s Words so much he “ate” them, and they consisted of his “joy and . . . heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16).

Throughout Scripture, we are told it was through God’s Word that the world was created (Genesis 1:3-4, 6-7, 9), that creation is sustained (Hebrews 1:3), that new life is imparted (1 Peter 1:23), that spiritual growth takes place (Isaiah 55:10-11), that Satan is defeated (Ephesians 6:17), and that judgment is delivered (John 12:48). In other words, God’s Word is not just a book of helpful teachings. It is a book that defines reality and transforms people, cultures, and nations.

The Bible is a book, but it is not just a book. It is the revealed truth of God, the self-revelation of the Creator of the universe by which He explains His world and His work within it to bring life and salvation.

So, in the words of St. Augustine, “take up and read.” Enjoy the gifts and blessings that Study Bibles provide, but read His Word first. After all, His Word provides the Story of the world and frames all of reality under the rule and reign of Christ. And because It culminates in the person and work of Jesus the Christ, our redeemer, it is good news.

21/08/2026

Earlier this week, an estimated 30,000 people gathered in London to mourn Cambridge professor Jason Arday, who took his own life after revelations that much of his academic record and personal biography was plagiarized or simply made up. Despite these facts, many who gathered directed blame at media for covering what an Al Jazeera opinion writer called an “institutional murder.” Ibram X Kendi even claimed in an essay that “The Media Lynched Jason Arday.”

In 2023, Arday became the youngest black professor in the history of Cambridge, a school over 800 years old that is, along with Oxford and Harvard, considered one of the top three universities in the English-speaking world. Immediately, he was hailed by colleagues for his brilliance in the field of sociology. His success seemed more impressive because of what he overcame as a black man subject to discrimination and systemic oppression, including being non-verbal until age 11 and illiterate until age 18.

It sounded too good to be true and, unfortunately, it was. On August 5, Arday resigned from Cambridge after a former colleague found evidence that his PhD thesis and several academic papers “closely resembled, and in some cases copied, the work of other scholars without proper attribution.” A childhood classmate then denied Arday’s claim that he couldn’t talk as a child. Arday also claimed to have run 600 miles in six days, to have completed 30 marathons in 35 days—much of it with a fractured, swollen leg—and to have been on a TV show that came out decades before he was born.

Rather than admit wrongdoing, Arday wrote in his resignation letter that “talent, perseverance and hope can triumph over even the greatest adversity,” adding that his years at Cambridge were “marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack.” According to detection software, the letter was mostly, if not fully, written by AI.

Rather than blame Arday and those who hid and enabled his lies, protestors directed attacks at the man who exposed them. According to the mayor of London, Arday was “the victim of a pernicious public shaming." Others insisted that a white academic would not have faced the same level of scrutiny.

Before news broke of Arday's death, respected academic and linguist John McWhorter (who happens to be black) suggested that he was indeed a victim, but of an academic paternalism often directed toward minorities. According to McWhorter, “The kindly, antiracist white academics think suspending their judgment when it comes to a black man makes them good people.” In reality, he continued, they are guilty of the same racism they’re claiming to oppose. As he bluntly put it, “Arday’s elevation at Cambridge was founded in racism no less overt.”

In other words, just as it is racist to assume that someone is morally inferior because of their race, it is racist to assume that someone is morally superior because of it. But that is the consequence of the spirit of our age, the critical theory mood that dominates academia and dehumanizes those it claims to help.

In the 1950’s, another Cambridge professor argued for a different moral vision, a higher moral law that transcended time, place, era, and culture and to which every person is accountable. What C.S. Lewis called “the Tao” is “the doctrine that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kind of things we are.” Those who deny it are, he continued, “like men who should commit patricide in order to be free and live on the vitality of the father they had killed.”

In the same way, dismissing universal moral norms based on certain external characteristics of some will never deliver the dignity people deserve. This “soft bigotry of low expectations” does not respect people; it infantilizes them.

Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have victims. Some of the world’s worst ideas are those that cause people to imagine themselves as only victims. Arday was as much a victim of his own ideas as he was the victim of other’s good intentions.

20/08/2026

According to a 2025 survey, 62% of Americans under 40 have a positive view of socialism or communism. Where did this come from, and what should be done? That’s the question we asked Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation,

We have a problem with both “practical socialism” and “ideological socialism.” We’ve raised a generation of “practical socialists,” meaning that their every need and desire has been provided for by an external authority with apparently no personal cost. Why shouldn’t this support extend into adulthood?

On the ideological side, many of us weren’t paying attention when the media and public education radically changed the narrative taught in our schools. No more the hard-fought American Dream. Instead, they were taught that our history is one of oppressors (usually white and Christian or Jewish) grinding the oppressed. Thus, we need a radical restructuring of American institutions.

Ideas have consequences. Good ideas have good consequences, so re-centering on gratitude, work and value creation, rightful patriotism, and other key themes can help.

The first step is to cultivate gratitude rather than entitlement in the next generation. This begins in the home with how we teach our children to say thank you, show respect to teachers and elders, and recognize the blessings of daily life in America—food on the table, safety, freedom to fully practice our faith, and opportunity for advancement. These are privileges that millions around the world are denied. We should not take them for granted.

Tied to this, is a generation that deeply distrusts authority. Some of this is the result of failures by older generations—broken homes, public scandals, and a culture that too often mocks or dismisses the role of public officials, police, and even parents. Think, how many times have our kids heard, “all politicians are corrupt” or the police mocked as “po-po” or donut-lovers?

When legitimate authority and public service is undermined at home and in the public square, it leaves a vacuum that radical ideologies are eager to fill. By the time kids arrive in college, they’re primed to see America’s story not as one of opportunity and progress but as a litany of oppression and injustice. How we model gratitude and respect for authority—both in word and deed—matters more than ever.

We must also be mindful of what our young people consume—in books and the boundless online content. “Content” spans everything from more ideological school textbooks and Wikipedia articles to viral TikTok videos and Instagram feeds. Much of this material shapes their worldview more powerfully than any classroom lesson.

Limiting exposure to harmful or hedonistic material is only part of the equation; we must also provide access to uplifting stories and ideas that reinforce the values we hope to see flourish. Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet and Carina Felina are children’s books that are analogies of the communism that has decimated her native Cuba.

At the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, we’ve curated an Amazon page of appropriate materials for different age groups and curricula for elementary and middle school families and schools that tells stories of courage, honesty, and sacrifice in contrast with the evils of communism.

Another vital element is the cultivation of rightful patriotism, which C.S. Lewis says stems from an appropriate love of home. Patriotism doesn’t mean ignoring our nation’s shortcomings. Rather, it means an honest pride in the American story—a story that, while imperfect, is remarkable for its steady march toward greater freedom and equality.

One of the best ways to cultivate a love of America is by speaking with recent immigrants. My family has heard me quiz taxi drivers: Afghans, Ethiopians, Ukrainians, Pakistanis, Somalis, and others who fled the devastation of their homelands and who deeply appreciate the freedoms and opportunities the U.S. offers.

A fourth element that deserves attention is the value of work. For too many young people, the experience of holding a job, earning a paycheck, and learning to manage money is delayed or missing entirely. Just a few years ago, it was common for teenagers to take on summer jobs, mow lawns, babysit, or work in local stores. Their work created value, and they were compensated for that value. Learning the value of a dollar, saving up for something special, and making decisions about spending and giving are all part of growing into a responsible citizen.

Finally, we must not neglect the role of religious faith in the shaping of character. Martin Luther King, Jr. rightly observed that communism is incompatible with Christianity because it is “secular, atheistic, and materialistic.” Our Judeo-Christian heritage teaches the opposite. It instills a sense of human worth, dignity, and responsibility for family and neighbors. It teaches that every person is created in the image of God, deserving of respect and compassion.

By teaching children about faith, gratitude, rightful patriotism, and the value of work, we instill in them a sense of purpose and reality that can withstand the destructive ideologies of this civilizational moment.

That was Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Learn more about their work at vocmuseum.org.

19/08/2026

A common complaint about Christians is that we are hypocrites. We are, of course, at least according to what Holy Scripture says about the human condition between the First and the New Creations. There is however, a larger perspective to know about what Christianity has contributed to the world throughout our history.

For example, Christians are among the most generous people in the world. In the fall of 2024, after Hurricane Helene destroyed so many Appalachian communities, among the first to arrive to help and last to leave were a couple of thousand Amish, who literally rebuilt the homes of strangers. Groups like Samaritan’s Purse were already there, as they so often are, providing for the hurting.

In fact, Christian kindness shows up not just when disaster strikes. Consistently, according to survey after survey, religious people, especially Christians, are exponentially more likely to volunteer their time and give their cash than their secular neighbors.

Ironically, secular critiques of Christian generosity depend on the Christian assumptions about life and human value that now dominate the Western mind. As Eric Metaxas has said, “We no longer fight about whether to help the poor, but how best to help the poor.” That’s because of Christianity.

Tom Holland has documented as much in his book Dominion. Instead of being the source of the contemporary morality of liberty, human dignity, and charity as is often assumed, the Greco-Roman world was a brutal civilization where violence and cruelty drove the economy and secured political power. The poor were beneath contempt, not to mention care. Women had no rights, and children, especially the disabled or weak, were discarded outside city walls and left to die. It was because Christians imagined and practiced human dignity that all of that changed.

The skeptic scholar Bart Ehrman affirmed as much in his recent book, Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West. In the ancient world, public works were privately funded, but not for the common good. It was so the powerful could show off. When the stronger helped the weaker, it was because they got something out of it. When they oppressed the weaker, it was simply because they could.

Christ’s call to love the unlovable shifted the entire moral compass of the West from dominance to self-sacrifice. As Ehrman put it in his book:

Where would we be without hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, and charities dealing with disaster relief, poverty, literacy, homelessness, and hunger? As an agnostic/atheist myself, with regard to at least this particular offshoot of Jesus’ teachings, I say: Thank God for Christianity.

In other words, the only reason it is “obvious” today that we should give to the poor—and Christians are wrong when they don’t—is because of Christianity in the first place. Christians rarely hit the target set for us by Jesus Christ. But the fact that we talk about how to care for the weak, the outcasts, and the poor and not just if we should, is a sign of Christianity’s enduring influence on the world.

Breakpoint

28/08/2026

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