Kerby Anderson
Two weeks ago, the president of the University of Florida, Ben Sasse, wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. I wish other university presidents would read what he wrote and apply these same lessons to their college.
He tells “parents and future employers: We’re not perfect, but the adults are still in charge.” The school’s response to protests and encampments is driven by three basic truths.
First, “universities must distinguish between speech and action.” Speech isn’t violence. Throwing fists, storming buildings, vandalizing property is violence. Universities are supposedly in the business of discovering knowledge and passing it on. “The heckler gets no veto. The best arguments deserve the best counterarguments.”
Second, “universities must say what they mean and then do what they say.” Administrators at many of these colleges are issuing empty threats. He reminds us how ineffective that is with a 2-year-old. It doesn’t work any better with a 20-year-old. “Moving classes online is a retreat that penalizes students and rewards protesters.”
He made it clear to protesters that: “We will always defend your rights to free speech and free assembly—but if you cross the line on clearly prohibited activities, you will be thrown off campus and suspended.” He reminds them that they are a university, not a daycare.
Third, “universities need to recommit themselves to real education.” He laments that professors and their schools have adopted a rigid and dogmatic view of identity politics. As I have mentioned in a previous commentary, many of the students chanting “from the river to the sea” do not even know the name of the river or the sea.
Ben Sasse concludes that it is time for universities to do their jobs again. The first start is to read his op-ed, and then have college presidents apply it to their school.

Penna Dexter
Radical transgender directives just keep coming from the executive branch of the federal government. The latest decree, official guidance for employers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, concerns restroom and pronoun use.
The guidance states that “the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity” could bring a workplace under harassment charges. So could misgendering: “repeated and intentional use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s known gender identity.”
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employers with more than 15 employees from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Now — without a vote in Congress — the EEOC is including sexual orientation and gender identity in the list of protected categories.
The EEOC’s mandate is to combat racism and sexism in the workplace. It is not to force employers to pretend a person can change his or her gender identity.
Last July, the United States Senate narrowly confirmed Kalpana Kotagal to serve on the EEOC. Leading up to the vote, Senator Ted Cruz voiced his concern about what he described as her “record of support for radical transgender ideology.” Ms. Kotagal was confirmed as the third Democrat on the 5-member commission. This guidance is the fruit.
When the EEOC proposed this update last fall, 20 state attorneys general expressed their opposition, arguing that the proposed guidance would threaten the First Amendment rights of employers, employees, and, in some cases, customers.
Reed Rubenstein, director of oversight at America First Legal, pointed out that “Most large corporations promote gender ideology and punish workers who dissent, but it is likely that the EEOC will focus on small and privately owned family businesses, many of which lack the resources to fight back effectively.” Christian employers: be warned.
The Heritage Foundation’s Jay Richards told The Daily Signal, “normal people” must understand. He warns, “We’re dealing with a totalitarian ideology that wants to destroy the present order.” 

Kerby Anderson
Is Christianity as bad as atheists say that it is? For decades we have heard the charges from the so-called New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. But those ideas are starting to surface in other discussions. As one of my radio guests noted, non-Christians used to ask if Christianity is true, but now many ask whether Christianity is good.
Secular professors often will talk about Christianity in a negative way, focusing only on the Crusades, the Inquisition, or the Salem Witch Trials. But we never seem to hear about any of the positive contributions of Christianity. Fortunately, Jerry Newcombe has provided such lists in his books and commentaries.
For example, if you are educated, you should probably thank Christianity. “Education for the masses was a gift of Christianity to the world,” he explains. Education in America was established so that citizens could read the Bible for themselves and not be deluded. Nearly all the colleges in America’s early history were founded on Christian principles.
If you have ever been in a hospital, you should also thank Christianity. “St. Basil of Caesarea, who lived in the fourth century, is credited with creating the first hospital in the history of the world.” And let’s not forget the advances in science. As Norm Geisler and I explain in our book on Origin Science, most of the pioneers in the field of science had a Christian worldview, and others were theists who believed in God.
Most of the social movements in the 19th and 20th centuries sprung from Christian convictions. The abolition movement, child labor law movement, suffrage movement, and the civil rights movement are just a few examples.
Christianity shouldn’t be blamed for what is bad in the world. We should be grateful for the many blessings it provides each of us.