John Stonestreet – Page 50

The Population Bomb Bombs

May 24, 2021John StonestreetCulture, Current EventsCulture, Current Events, Family, Marriage

*John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center*

Recently, the New York Times reported that U.S. population growth is now at its second lowest rate in history. Lower birth rates devastate a country’s ability to ward off labor shortages, compete economically, and take care of its elderly.

The question is, why is this happening now?

One overlooked factor is the power of bad ideas: particularly the treatment of sex as a commodity, commitment as optional, and children as a burden. Children are often seen today as obstacles, not blessings, getting in the way of making money and satisfying our desires.

But this view misses the awesome responsibility and source of immense joy children are. Every person bears the image of God, so whenever families produce children, they mirror God to the world. Sure kids are sometimes irritating, but they’re often hilarious, and they always remind us that life isn’t about ourselves.

That’s a message a culture on the brink of a demographic crisis desperately needs to hear.

New York Celebrates Death with Abortion Exhibit

May 18, 2021John StonestreetAbortionAbortion, Arts & Entertainment, Culture

Sociologist Philip Rieff wrote about “death works”—cultural activities or expressions that serve no purpose except to tear down tradition and belief in the sacred.

Recently, Culture of Life Africa founder, Obianuju Ekeocha, took to Twitter to highlight an especially appalling death work. Bloomberg Quicktake featured a video on an art exhibit in New York City called “Abortion is Normal,” in which over 50 artists celebrate and defend the so-called “right to choose,” in bizarre and even grotesque ways.

The exhibit is described as a way to push back against abortion restrictions, but the pieces really speak to the central place death plays in the pro-choice movement.

For Rieff, abortion itself was a death work. It ends not just a life but a culture’s belief in life and that sex has a necessary connection with new humans. As Obianuju Ekeocha reminds us, “Abortion is vile and ugly.” That can’t be covered up with paint or anything else.

Genocide – The Musical

May 10, 2021John StonestreetChinaChina, Genocide

Totalitarian propaganda takes many forms, for example, the Soviet-era paintings where everyone looks stoically to the horizon, or, the Nazi film “The Triumph of the Will”.

These more stoic examples aside, some propaganda is more lighthearted. Back in 1943, for example, an American fan portrayed Joseph Stalin as a kindhearted man instead of as the brutal killer of millions. And, despite his body-count of even more millions, Chairman Mao’s fatherly smile still adorns posters across China to this day.

And now, according to the UK’s The Guardian, Beijing has made a musical inspired by the 2016 American hit, “La-La Land.” But, the purpose of this Chinese film called “The Wings of Songs,” is to convince viewers there’s nothing to the ongoing genocide of Muslim Uyghurs.

The truth is far more brutal and ugly than the film portrays. If we’re going to stand for human rights in the face of a new holocaust, we must tell the truth of what’s happening in the Xinxiang province.