John Stonestreet – Page 2

Islam’s Growth in the West: Guest Column

Nov 13, 2025John StonestreetReligionIslam, Religion

Less than 25 years after Muslim terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people on 9/11, New York City, home of “ground zero,” just elected a Muslim as its next mayor. Some European cities are already majority Muslim, so what does this mean for America?

 Today on Breakpoint, speaker and author Abdu Murray takes a closer look at Islam in America and how Christians should respond.

The truth, as usual, is complicated. There are legitimate concerns about Islam’s growing influence in Western life. But there are also exaggerations—or flat-out falsehoods. Take the rumor that Dearborn, Michigan, has implemented anti-Christian missionary laws. It hasn’t. I’ve read the ordinances and confirmed with Christian friends who live there that they can still share the Gospel in Dearborn’s parks and streets.

Still, there are real tensions. When Dearborn’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, told Christian Dearborn resident and street preacher Ted Barham that he wasn’t welcome in Dearborn, the backlash was swift. In response, Hammoud issued a “sorry, not sorry” statement that Dearborn is open to people of all faiths. But he didn’t apologize or even address Barham. With a population that’s roughly 55% Muslim, Hammoud likely feels no need. His base will keep him in office.

That’s what makes the situation interesting—and instructive. Islam’s growth in the West isn’t hypothetical. It’s real, and it’s reshaping local cultures and politics. But contrary to some fears, Shariah law isn’t taking over Western legal systems. Islam’s spread in America isn’t primarily legal or coercive. It’s cultural, demographic, and deeply spiritual.

Despite its global PR problems—association with extremism, restrictions on women, authoritarian regimes—Islam continues to grow in the U.S. Yes, that’s partly due to immigration and birth rates. But it’s also because Islam offers what secularism can’t: a clear message and a sense of belonging.

For young men especially, Islam presents masculinity as virtuous, not toxic. It calls them to discipline, duty, and identity. In a culture that sneers at male strength and a mainline church that too often avoids moral rigor, Islam’s conviction can look like courage.

Islam also carries an underdog appeal. In the Western imagination, Islam is often the David facing a secular (or Western colonialist) Goliath—a minority religion maligned by elites. For younger generations trained to root for the oppressed, that story resonates. It resonates so strongly that some Western youth support Hamas despite knowing that Hamas wouldn’t return the favor. Meanwhile, many churches have grown timid. We’ve replaced persuasive proclamation with emotional appeal, trading substance for sincerity. In that void, Islam’s stridency looks refreshing.

It’s important to remember that Islam is not just a religion—it’s a total worldview that encompasses politics. Many Muslims envision a world submitted to Allah’s law. Muslims differ on how they think that should happen. Most believe in persuasion, service, and exemplary living. Others rely on demographic growth and migration. And a smaller—but concerning—minority openly speaks of Islam’s global dominance and rejects religious pluralism altogether.

Even secular observers have taken notice. Years ago, atheist Richard Dawkins remarked that “I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, insofar as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.” That’s a remarkable admission, and it underscores that Gospel proclamation to Muslims and serious Christian discipleship are not only spiritually vital, they’re essential to preserving the moral foundations of the West.

None of this justifies hostility or paranoia. But neither does it allow for naïveté. As Muslim populations grow in key Western cities, the temptation to use social or political leverage to silence criticism or limit evangelism is real. Dearborn’s situation reminds us that political pressure to self-censor can emerge even in democratic societies. History shows that when fear of backlash overrides justice or truth, victims suffer and wrongdoing festers. Moral clarity must outrank cultural sensitivity.

But the greater danger isn’t that Muslims are gaining power. It’s that they’re gaining people. Islam is winning some hearts that long for meaning, conviction, and community—hearts that should be hearing the credibility of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The tragedy isn’t that Islam is advancing. It’s that the Church has been retreating. Islam’s growth doesn’t prove that the religion is true. It proves its followers take their faith seriously, and that should wake us up.

The Christian response must be urgency, not alarm. We need to recognize what makes Islam appealing—its conviction, its courage, its sense of mission—and rekindle our sense of those same virtues, but undergirded by the truth of Christ.

Our witness must be both persuasive and personal. Muslims and secular seekers alike should see in Christians a faith that is intellectually credible, morally grounded, and compassionately lived. The Gospel doesn’t offer domination, but deliverance; not control, but communion with the living God. So, let’s engage our Muslim neighbors, not avoid them. Let’s support those ministering in Muslim-majority communities. Let’s disciple men and women who embody truth with humility and conviction.

Islam’s rise in the West is not a reason to panic—it’s a reason to preach. Our Muslim neighbors aren’t the enemy. They’re people made in the image of God, searching for what only Christ can give.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Abdu Murray.

Fewer Young People are Identifying as Trans: Guest Column

Nov 7, 2025John StonestreetLGBTLGBT, Transgender

For years now, the number of young people embracing alternative sexual identities has grown consistently. Until now. In a recent article at UnHerd, Eric Kaufmann of the University of Buckingham summarized findings from a poll taken earlier this year of over 68,000 college students at more than 250 institutions:

My analysis of the raw data shows that in that year, just 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. By comparison, the figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023. In other words, the share of trans-identified students has effectively halved in just two years.

In a thread on X, Kaufmann suggested that the data indicates, “The fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend.”

Some have cautioned against premature optimism. However, prominent psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge, in a social media post from October 20, affirmed Kaufmann’s take. “For now,” she added in a lengthier treatment on Substack, “[I]t looks like the peak of trans identification is in the past.”

The same day Kaufmann posted, actress Keira Knightley made her own headlines for interesting behavior in an interview. Set to voice Professor Umbridge in an upcoming Harry Potter audiobook series, a reporter questioned her about the backlash against J.K. Rowling for her unwavering opposition to transgender ideology. With typical British understatement, Knightley said, “I was not aware of that, no. I’m very sorry.” And then she laughed as if the question was ridiculous. It’s difficult to imagine, even a few years ago, a prominent actress dismissing transgender sanctimony this way and getting away with it.

While it is too early to pronounce the transgender craze over, the vibe has clearly shifted. There are lessons to be learned from the way it is shifting. First, many young people who identified as trans or non-binary over the last decade were not even struggling with their identity. They didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the oppressor/oppressed binary they were constantly hearing about.

A few years ago, I heard of a middle school teacher who was asked how many of her students “identified” as LGBTQ. The teacher replied, with a tone as if it were a strange question with an obvious answer, “oh, all of them do.” When subsequently asked how many of her students were having sex, the teacher said, “probably none of them.” The reason they claimed an alternative sexual identity, she said, is “no one wants to be ‘cis’ or straight.” Being trans or non-binary was a way to climb the social ladder.

Second, studies like the Cass Report exposed the lies about so-called “gender-affirming care” and unsettled the power of the suicide myth that haunted so many parents. Eventually, even high-profile magazines like The Atlantic called out the coercive and manipulative trope of “Would you rather have a dead son than a live daughter?” Parents also saw their daughters lose competitions and scholarships to boys. Even more, they didn’t like the biological realities of perverted men and boys invading their daughters’ locker rooms and showers.

Third, more people are speaking out, empowered by those who were never silenced. J.K. Rowling deserves a lot of credit for refusing to sit silently while women were erased. Granted, she has the wit, public profile, and bank account to more easily absorb the social consequences, but the fact that she spoke up gave others the courage to do the same.

Billboard Chris showed up everywhere, repeatedly, willing to be arrested again and again for the sake of the truth. Chloe Cole not only had the courage to admit she was wrong, but she has now encouraged millions of others to see the victims of these terrible ideas and to speak out on their behalf. Riley Gaines refused to be intimidated by a male swimmer, the NCAA, violent protests on college campuses, and hostile media. Certainly, what Abigail Shrier, Ryan Anderson, Dr. Allan Josephson, and other thought leaders said about this phenomenon from the beginning has been thoroughly vindicated. This has always been a social contagion. And there are others, too many to mention, who had the courage when needed to confront this horrible lie.

This battle is far from over. Still, their stories and this story, how the unthinkable became unquestionable but how the spiral of silence was broken by those willing to say what is true, should give all of us courage to stand with truth. And it should clarify for all of us why God called us to this moment in human history.

From One Clinic to Millions of Aborted Babies: Guest Column

Oct 31, 2025John StonestreetAbortionAbortion, Life, Planned Parenthood, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On this day in 1916, the first birth control clinic in America was opened in Brooklyn, New York. Margaret Sanger, a nurse who worked among the poor on the Lower East Side, founded the Brownsville Clinic, which was later renamed after her. Sanger founded Planned Parenthood, the organization that would lead America into an era of child killing. An estimated 64.5 million babies have been killed since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on demand in 1973. Though the Dobbs decision overturned Roe, abortion had already, as Ryan Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis argued in their book, poisoned nearly every aspect of our culture.

At the heart of Sanger’s views was a deep, insipient racism that continues to express in the work of the organization she founded. An avowed advocate of eugenics, Sanger famously launched “The Negro Project” to reduce or eliminate the Black population by encouraging sterilization and birth control. Though the context of her words is debated, Sanger once described the project by saying:

We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.

Sanger’s legacy is straightforward. While African Americans make up about 14% of the U.S. population, as of 2021, 28% of all abortions are from black women, compared to 6.4% of white women. Black moms are somewhere between three and five times more likely to have an abortion than white moms. In New York City, thousands more black babies are aborted than are born each year.

In the book How to be an Anti-Racist, which was on The New York Times Bestseller list for 45 straight weeks, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi defined racism as anything that “produces or sustains racial inequity.” According to Kendi, intention does not matter. Only outcomes matter.

Ironically, Kendi and other progressives center abortion rights in the cultural agenda for diversity, equality, and inclusion. However, according to his own (flawed) definition of racism, there is no more racist practice than abortion, and there is no cultural institution more racist than Planned Parenthood. Over 19 million more African-American people would be in the world today if not for legalized abortion and Planned Parenthood. Even more, Planned Parenthood’s business model directly targets black and other minority women. A 2017 Protecting Black Life study found that 22 of 25 abortion mega-centers were located within walking distance of black communities.

The idea of “systemic” or “institutional racism” is controversial. Often, the concepts are used to subvert debate and condemn political opponents. However, it should not be theologically controversial to suggest that sin can take systemic and structural forms. There are examples throughout Scripture and human history. For example, prior to the flood, God described the evil of man as “great in the earth, and … every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 ESV).

Systems and structures can operate, with either intention or inertia, in ways that harm certain groups. This does not alleviate individual responsibility for evil. Rather, it is what happens because evil corrupts hearts and minds, people and nations, and individuals and systems.

There is no greater example of systemic racism in an organization than Planned Parenthood. Proponents of eugenics, like Sanger, wanted wealthy, healthy and strong people to have more babies, and poor, sick, disabled, and minority people to have fewer (or no) babies. Of course, the women who walk into a Planned Parenthood today are not thinking about Margaret Sanger or her racist views. They are in crisis and looking for help. Many are in poverty. Way too many are being pressured to abort. Many are scared. Black mothers are nearly three times as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as white mothers. All have been raised in a society in which abortion has been normalized.

Years ago, Planned Parenthood of New York removed Sanger’s name from its clinic. They even appealed to the city to change the name “Margaret Sanger Square.” Distancing from Sanger does not lessen the evil of her views or life’s work. Nor does it redeem the racist foundations upon which Planned Parenthood has been built and still operates.