Kerby Anderson
Although America is certainly a divided nation, the divisions between the various tribes are not as great as you might be led to believe. Yes, the social and political debates are loud and intense, but the fringe, rather than the mainstream, gets most of the attention.
A study done by the group “More in Common” discovered “The Hidden Tribes of America.” The researchers discovered that a small group (8%) in the liberal wing and a smaller group (6%) in the conservative wing are the ones who consistently shout, post, and vote while the rest of America is often exhausted by all of the rhetoric.
Here is an interesting contrast. On the one hand, these two groups hate each other and disagree with each other on just about every topic. On the other hand, they are very much alike. Both groups are mostly white, educated, and politically active. They always vote and give time and money to political campaigns.
But here is the relevant fact: the two groups combined only constitute 14% of the American population. In other words, 86% of most of us watch and listen to these two groups argue and criticize each other while ignoring the many points in common we might have.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to you if you have been listening to my commentaries for any length of time. In the past, I have talked about various points of agreement. For example, Dirk Philipsen made the argument many years ago that you could fill a room with Tea Party members, Occupy Wall Street activists, and concerned Americans and find agreement. He says you would find people concerned about concentrated power, out-of-control change, and concerns about a government that no longer represents the people.
After this divisive election season, we need to find a way to bring the American people together. But we won’t bring people together if we let the two fringe wings of the political spectrum dominate all our discussions.

Kerby Anderson
The term “anti-Semitism” has been loosely thrown around for years, and has been used to label President Trump, even though he has Jewish people in his extended family. It is about time to give specificity to a real problem that has often been redefined and demeaned by misuse.
At the core of anti-Semitic thought is that Jews are the source of many social problems and thus the Jews are guilty of everything. This is what is so crazy about this false belief. Supposedly Jews are the reasons for problems in commerce and our culture. Arab countries have 40 times the population of Israel and occupy a land area that is 500 times greater. Yet, it is Israel that is the problem and must be pushed into the sea. And the United Nations routinely passes resolutions condemning Israel while ignoring significant human rights abuses in other countries.
The murderer who rushed into the Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 Jews certainly believed that Jews were the problem and needed to be killed. If you read some of his Gab posts, you would be horrified by his anti-Semitic words and images.
Dennis Prager reminds us that Jews understand this hatred. On Passover, they read from a Jewish prayer book these words: “In every generation, they arise to annihilate us.” Notice it doesn’t say “persecute us” or even “enslave us.” Anti-Semites want to kill all Jews and eliminate them from this planet.
The level of this hatred isn’t just irrational; it’s demonic. That’s about the only explanation you can have for people possessed by a level of hatred that makes no sense. Jews number 18 million in a world population of 7.5 billion. Israel occupies a land mass no bigger than New Jersey. Yet, Jews are the problem, and Israel is the problem. This only makes sense when viewed through the lens of spiritual warfare.