Everett Piper
Columns by Everett Piper
When feelings are elevated above facts a free society suffers
I was asked on a national radio show last week what key stories of 2018 I believed had the greatest impact on our nation, our freedoms and the way we live our lives. For me, the answer is obvious. Published January 6, 2019
The magic for the new year
What is your favorite Christmas movie? Published December 30, 2018
Words have definition, and definition matters
It has been said over and over again: Words mean something. They have definition and definition matters. As Aristotle chided, "How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms." If we don't understand our words, their meaning can be manipulated and we often end up arguing for things that may be the exact opposite of our words' original intent. Published December 23, 2018
How evangelical capitulation equals the loss of religious freedom
This past week, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), two of the nation's foremost evangelical organizations, publicly announced they now support adding "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as officially protected minority classifications to the ranks of federal nondiscrimination law. Published December 16, 2018
Nebraska without Christmas
The Christmas season is upon us and once again, the headlines in the mainstream news are replete with stories of secular intolerance of Christ's mass. Leading this year's Festivus parade is Jennifer Sinclair, the principal of Nebraska's Manchester Elementary School who sent out a memo earlier this week to her faculty, staff, students and parents telling them that Santa Claus, Christmas trees, reindeer, the colors green and red, and even candy canes were considered offensive and would, therefore, be prohibited at her school. Published December 9, 2018
A college president turns a chicken sandwich into an intellectual adversary
Headline news of the week: Our college professors and presidents have completely lost their minds. Published December 2, 2018
What distinguishes conservatives from progressives is a belief in conserving ideals
Whether you know it or not, if you're a conservative you are a conservationist. Why? Because you believe in conserving things. Published November 25, 2018
Michael Avenatti and just desserts
In "The Magician's Nephew" from "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, C.S. Lewis tells us of the young boy named Digory who is sent on a journey by Aslan to retrieve an apple from a distant garden beyond the western mountains. The boy is told not to eat the fruit but rather to simply pluck it from its branch and return it to the Lion who intends to use it to plant a tree that will provide freedom, justice and protection to Narnia forevermore. Published November 18, 2018
Education has lost its way and consequently America has lost its soul
In 1948, Richard Weaver told us that ideas have consequences. A few short years earlier, Hitler said, "let me control the textbooks and I will control the State." Huxley and Orwell followed and warned of dystopias where education would be used as a means to total power and total control. Ideas do matter. Yes, ideas clearly have consequences. Good ideas lead to good places and bad ideas lead to bad places. As your grandmother said: Garbage in, garbage out. She was right. Education matters. Published November 12, 2018
Advice for Election Day
Dear Mr. Piper: November 6 is election day. Four years ago, you couldn't have convinced me to vote for a Democrat if you had tried. To me, the LGBTQ agenda was just too big to ignore. However, I have come to realize that creating laws against these things is not the solution. We have to operate within the framework that we are in. As Christians, our job is to love others, not legislate against them." Signed, Compassionate Chris Published November 4, 2018
Facebook fallacy of the week
Post: Oregon Bakers Fined $135K Over Wedding Cake Appeal to Supreme Court. If this is not overturned by SCOTUS everyone — EVERYONE — is at risk of financial ruin if we refuse to paint, print, sculpt, film, or speak messages of government propaganda with which we disagree. Published October 28, 2018
The list of surreal hypocrisies across America is endless
Over the past several weeks, our nation's cultural elites and mainstream media have lurched from one absurdity to another. Following each day's news causes one to suspect you might be reading badly-written fiction as opposed to journalism that is accurate, real and true. Published October 21, 2018
Christian and Pro-life: Thank God for single-issue voters
'You must be singular or be damned' Published October 7, 2018
10 lessons learned from the Kavanaugh hearings
As an academic, I am always looking for teachable moments. The following is a list of 10 lessons some of our nation's foremost senatorial leaders have taught us during the past month's Kavanaugh hearings. Published September 30, 2018
Ignoring the reality of human nature is a mistake
George Barna, in his book "What Americans Believe," points out that 87 percent of non-Christians and 77 percent of self-described born-again Christians agreed with the statement "People are basically good." Our culture by and large has discarded the idea of original sin. Published September 23, 2018
The left’s eagerness to be offended shows they believe in a final measure of morality after all
Recent headlines prove once again a simple fact that is as obvious as the sunrise: Contrary to popular belief, and flying in the face of multiple denials, liberals and progressives alike actually do believe in God. In fact, those on the cultural left such as the ladies on "The View," or the talking heads on MSNBC, prove their "biblical faith" as persistently and aggressively as anyone, and they do so every day. Published September 16, 2018
Accusing Brett Kavanaugh of judicial activism
Susan Brooks Thistlewaite, professor of theology and former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, penned an op-ed for Patheos this past week excoriating the Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh as "a pre-selected political ideologue" of, what she considers to be, the myopic and agenda-drivenright. Published September 9, 2018
Liberal nonsense on parade
It's "1984" and we are living in schizophrenic times. Dickensian times. Orwellian times. The best of times, but yet the worst. Published September 2, 2018
Sexual misconduct that was overlooked in the Clinton years becomes a rallying cry
When Bill Clinton was philandering and lying about it, media elites told us over and over again that our conservative objections were priggish and judgmental. It was none of our business. Traditional standards about marital fidelity and sexual chastity were antiquated and puritanical; something to lampoon on "Saturday Night Live" and something to mock on "The Late Show," but surely nothing we should concern ourselves about or take seriously in modern times. Published August 26, 2018
‘Progressives’ are hypocrites and they don’t care if you know it
Recent news proves beyond any doubt that most of our nation's leaders have lost any ability to think clearly and consistently. It also exposes the Big Lie -- the fact that members of the elite class really never believed any of their previous posturing about human rights, personal freedom and the dignity of every human being. Their call for diversity and inclusion was simply sleight-of-hand. Published August 19, 2018
