After 25 years of dominance DEI – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion – seems finally to be on its way out. Why is this a good thing?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #190 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
DEI, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” is now Dead On Arrival, or at least Dead Man Walking.
“Diversity and inclusion,” were first used politically in the 1990s. The focus was initially on representation—ensuring more women and minorities were included. This was followed by the addition of “equity” in the 2010s. The Black Lives Matter movement accelerated the use of the term equity regarding what they considered systemic racism in the 2020s in the woke explosion following in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody.
Remarkably quickly, DEI was promoted, adopted, and then used as a bludgeon to virtually take over American culture, inculcating socialist, Marxist race and gender categories in the minds of impressionable school children, demanding, or forcing by threat of canceling, adults in education, business, government, even the military to accept these freedom-destroying categories. Then these ideas were marketed not just with religious zeal but in essence as a new religion designed to displace Judeo-Christian values and Christianity. Not everyone pro-DEI was or is anti-Christian, but the philosophic foundation of DEI is indeed built upon anti-Christian values.
One enormous problem with DEI is that it subjugates or abolishes merit or meritocracy in favor of discrimination based upon race, ethnicity, or gender, all in the name of something made up called “inclusion” and something damaging called “equity” – not equality before the law or equality of opportunity, but equity of result, meaning leveling, sameness in the name of fairness and racial justice. Along with this, many proponents of DEI demonstrated not freedom of choice but a willingness to use authority to force acceptance of their views.
DEI destroys a key part of the American Dream – equal opportunity for all, meaning the freedom and chance of advancement based upon one’s talent and work.
DEI displaced this in favor of race or gender quotas and advancement as a matter of entitlement or restitution for society’s past sins like pre-Civil War slavery.
But this equality to equity switch is deceptive and dangerous. Equality of condition or playing field says, “It’s up to you.” Equity says, “It’s up to the government or some other authority to make something happen for you.” In other words, if necessary, resources will be redistributed based upon the left’s vision of fairness.
With warp speed, DEI became the religion of record for much of American education. DEI categories, including gender fluidity, are being promulgated daily in many public institutions of learning, not as theory but as established narrative.
Yet all the while DEI is a failed and dangerous un-democratic philosophy that does not improve education achievement for anyone, including minorities.
“There is something curious about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)…Modern political ideologies, such as socialism and fascism, have been understood as secularized versions of Christianity for a long time, at least since the French Revolution. The question is, do DEI statements clothe Christian concepts in secular garb? The short answer is Yes.”
“DEI is The Doctrine That Ate America. If it is not stopped, DEI will supplant the country’s Judeo-Christian value system and push America farther down the road of decline.”
Lest I be misunderstood, I am not speaking here against working for a better America that improves opportunities for all. I am not speaking against anyone because of their differences. I am not speaking against anyone, including those who make sexual preference choices with which I morally disagree. For example, “If someone is gay, straight, trans, black, white, brown, male, female, faith-based, or atheist. If that person is truly qualified for a job based on merit and experience alone, they should get it.”
This is common sense. This is a free, open, pluralistic society. This is a color-blind society as argued eloquently by Martin Luther King, Jr. Until the last twenty years, this was America.
But now DEI’s juggernaut has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society, discouraging recruits to join the military, displacing incentive with disincentive in the workforce, coopting professional training with DEI seminars, and undermining workforce effectiveness and morale, as witnessed among fire departments in Los Angeles County that were decimated by DEI baloney and budget cuts, rather than reinforced by firefighting training.
In my view, DEI does not help racial minorities or any other so-labeled under-represented group. Rather, it replaces your freedom with someone else’s power, removing individual choice and establishing government or other authority. Meritocracy does the opposite.
Meritocracy promotes excellence, advances civilization and culture. Even if inadvertently or unintentionally, still, DEI promotes mediocrity, denigrates civilization and culture. Meritocracy promotes independence and freedom. DEI promotes dependence and constraints.
In January barely a week into his second administration, President “Trump went about systematically dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion practices throughout the vast federal bureaucracy, federal contractors, and receivers of federal grants.”
“Trump signed a second anti-DEI executive order, ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”…The following day, Trump signed a third executive order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.’”
“The second executive order, No. 24, laid out in detail what the departments and agencies needed to do to expel DEI. Mainly, they would have coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget, the attorney general, and the director of the Office of Personnel Management as they ceased all DEI activity.”
“The executive order, for example, called on the bureaucracy to take the following actions: ‘Terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions (including but not limited to ‘Chief Diversity Officer’ positions); all ‘equity action plans,’ ‘equity’ actions, initiatives, or programs, ‘equity-related’ grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.”
These DEI executive orders, along with others stating the federal government will recognize only two biological genders, male and female, and still others banning trans individuals from the military and athletics are, to put it mildly, extensive, transformational, draw a line-in-the-sand actions.
Some consider these actions lacking compassion or hateful or discriminatory or fascist, but none of these changes declare anything but what American society and culture considered normal, reasonable, moral, and common sense just since my days as a youth. None of these actions punish people but only state their sexual proclivities will no longer be the standard by which the rest of society must operate. They just will not be able to leverage their choices for advantage against others, for placement in the U.S. military, or for cheating in athletic events while endangering girls and women.
Will the decimation of DEI in government contribute to similar changes in business? Yes, it’s already begun. Corporations finally have cover to do what they know is good and wise for their customers and company without someone suing them or calling them racist or haters.
Walmart, McDonald’s, Ford, Harley-Davison and John Deere, now Target, are among the well-known consumer brands that reduced or phased out their DEI commitments in recent months. Others like Tractor Supply announced they will no longer conduct political cause related marketing initiatives, including Pride Month.
Will the end of DEI mean a setback for Blacks, minorities, and women? No, not if companies and American culture advance the ideals that made the country thrive in the first place: free enterprise, merit and work ethic, liberty and justice for all, rule of law blindly applied, opportunity for all.
“True diversity comes through the practice of nondiscrimination, outreach, and compliance with existing civil rights law and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Honoring the First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion can and should result in diversity of thought and goodwill among diverse groups of people. Institutions can and should abide by the First Amendment.”
DEI is now DOA in the federal government and U.S. military. It’s now up to non-governmental and private agencies, including churches, to provide open doors for all who wish to work.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.
Is deportation of illegal immigrants morally justifiable?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #189 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Immigrants and immigration are part of the warp and woof of the American nation state. In a very real sense, there would be no United States of America without immigration. Yet today we are embroiled in a major, costly, political problem involving not simply immigrants but unvetted illegal immigrants.
I’ve talked about immigration in several podcasts.
Immigrant Qua Cultural Enricher
Western Nations and Mass Immigration
Love Your Neighbor—Immigrants Too?
Before I proceed, let’s pause for a few qualifiers.
I am not taking a position against immigration, nor am I anti-immigrant. When I say this, I mean individuals who have come to America via a legal process. I have friends who fit this definition, people who came from other countries, worked for a time with a Green Card, and in the requisite period, applied for and attained their American citizenship. Bravo to them.
Our problem today are not these legal immigrants who worked the process and became American citizens. Our problem involves millions illegal or undocumented immigrants, many of whom it seems have not come to assimilate and pursue the American Dream, but to seek entitlements and apparently to prey on those around them.
So, when I say we have a major political problem relating to immigrants I am talking about illegals.
“As of January 2024, more than 7.2 million migrants had illegally crossed into the U.S. over the Southwest border during U.S. President Joe Biden's administration — a number higher than the individual populations of 36 states.” Other listings cite as high as 11 million migrants illegally entering the U.S. during the Biden Administration. Mr. Biden opened the floodgates his first day in office in 2021with executive orders that overturned the previous Trump Administration’s policies, like Stay in Mexico, and stopped work on the border wall. And, then the Biden Administration and so-called Progressives allowed illegals to flood the border, even employing night flights of illegal immigrants around the country, forcing state law enforcement to stand down, and more.
Since that time, several cities like New York, Chicago, Denver have spent billions of dollars on illegal immigrants, coopted schools and hotels to house illegal immigrants, spent millions on food credit cards, free cell phones or insurance, inexplicably refused to prosecute illegals involved in crimes against property and even rape and murder.
Now the Trump 2.0 Administration is closing the border and plans to deport, as necessary, millions of illegal immigrants. This, of course, has produced reaction: some 54% of Americans support mass deportation, while others, Democrats, Progressives, social justice advocates, cry fascism and say Trump and those who support his efforts lack compassion, or worse.
Why President Joe Biden, and why most Western European nations, opened borders in the past few years to mass immigration is at this point murky at best.
One reason is a philosophy called Multiculturalism, which wedded to the leftist progressive Democrat desire for political power is at work in the U.S. The last few years’ influx across the open southern border of unvetted, unauthorized, mostly male military-age migrants is now producing predictable, social fragmentation, unrest, and dangerous circumstances in American cities.
“The events on the border are not a humanitarian crisis but a political one…What’s at stake is whether or not laws apply to citizens and foreigners alike. Biden believes that the law should only apply to the former; Trump, to both…People often say, ‘the system is broken’ and call for new laws, but the legal framework isn’t broken, it’s ignored. It’s ignored because various people with power benefit from the chaos politically and economically.”
Meanwhile, many Christian leaders argue it would be wrong for the U.S. to consider closing borders or curtailing immigration because to do so is to not love our neighbors or not welcome strangers. So, this view states that to close borders, restrict immigration, and certainly to deport illegals, is to act in a non-loving, non-Christian manner.
Recently, “Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a ‘disgrace,’ as he weighed in on the incoming U.S. president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him ‘not Christian’ for wanting to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.” Interestingly, the Pope failed to mention the walls that surround Vatican City.
Author Megan Basham observed, the United States should welcome ‘huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ to share in the blessings God has bestowed on us. But if we incentivize illegal immigration by rewarding those who ignore our laws and fail to ensure that those to whom we grant citizenship understand and respect our founding ideals that made the nation great, the United States will soon look little different from the countries these immigrants are fleeing.
So, deportation is one approach to correcting what many consider an unsurvivable wave of mass immigration.
Deportation of illegal immigrants is nothing new. The first U.S. presidential administration to order the deportation of illegal immigrants was that John Adams, the second President of the United States. All U.S. president administrations have deported unauthorized non-citizens. Recently, George W Bush deported 2 million, Obama 2.8 million, Trump 1 766,373, and Biden 1.1 million.
Is deportation of illegal immigrants morally justifiable and why?
So, the U.S. must develop immigration policy that protects and preserves American ideals and identity, rule of law, and borders so that the nation may survive and meet the needs of its citizens, and the U.S. must develop immigration policy that provides a legal, orderly, just path for those who desire freedom and opportunity to become Americans. Both these conditions empower us to love our neighbors.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.
What can we learn from the Los Angeles area wildfires?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #188 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Undoubtedly many of us have been watching news reports and thinking about the horrific Los Angeles area wildfires. You have to go back to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that “eventually consumed roughly 3.3 square miles, killed up to 300 people and left 100,000 homeless” or the San Francisco Fire of 1906 in which “over 25,000 buildings were destroyed over 490 city blocks and 3,000 people died,” or the Hawaii fires of 2023 to find comparisons in the area affected and the number of homes and structures destroyed.
The Great Fire of London raced through the city during the Black Plague and destroyed over 13,000 homes, leaving 100,000 people homeless. And there are many other historic fires that destroyed entire cities, forcing survivors to work decades to rebuild. So, fire is nothing new, but in our modern age we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking such extensive, unstoppable power is somehow a thing of the past, that mass devastation can’t happen now, certainly not in Tinsel Town.
Then it happened.
I’ve been thinking about what’s lost and what can be salvaged or rebuilt. Obviously, loss of the lives of loved ones cannot be recovered. At this writing there are 27 lives lost and more than 12,300 structures destroyed.
“The ongoing fires could become the most expensive in terms of insured losses in California history, with analysts estimating that losses could approach $20bn.”
“Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates total damage and economic loss between $250bn and $275bn, which would make the LA fires the costliest natural disaster in US history, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.”
“Before the fires broke out, insurance groups such as State Farm and Allstate started cancelling home insurance policies in areas prone to fires. As of 2022, the Illinois-based State Farm was California’s largest insurer. In July 2024, it dropped about 1,600 policies for homeowners in Pacific Palisades, which meant 69.4 percent of its insurance policies in the county were not renewed.”
These actions did not take place simply because the insurer wanted to ditch California but because the state had previously capped the insurance premiums companies could charge, thus making the insurance an unprofitable proposition for the companies.
So, it remains to be seen if some families, particularly ones without considerable personal resources, will be left with no insurance or not enough insurance to replace their homes in the burned over communities. It’s another thing, too, even if they have insurance, whether families will want to rebuild in what are warzone neighborhoods bereft of trees and the shrubbery so prized for privacy. In addition, will families want to rebuild not knowing what the rebuilt neighborhood will look like, what the homes near them will be like, and in an area where businesses and amenities like parks, etc., do not exist.
My guess is that homes in Malibu, bordering Hwy-1 running alongside the Pacific Ocean will be the first to be rebuilt, for two reasons: one, these homes were nearly all multi-million-dollar residences and thus owned by families with substantial means, and two, the ocean beach is still there. Once cleanup takes place, Malibu will look like Malibu, which is not necessarily the case in Pacific Palisades or other canyon or hillside communities.
Like the impact of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, September 2024, families were left with properties, i.e., dirt, but they still owed the bank for the mortgage on the house that no longer existed. This could happen in California too.
Add to this the anger aimed at government officials that we’re hearing come in the wake of what many say were preventable, or at least containable, fires. Assuming this anger will continue and grow, and among the angry are celebrities with names, fame, fortunes, and capacity to talk to the media, there may be extensive lawsuits come from these hellish fires. If so, likely so, this is going to take time.
I’ve been thinking more about the fact that insurance cannot replace the irreplaceable. Earlier we mentioned loss of life, including pets. That’s of course number one. But then there is the content of these thousands of homes. For example, people’s sentimental items that have no real financial value but to the owner priceless value. This could be family heirlooms, pictures, toys, clothing, souvenirs, collections of one kind or another. It could be someone’s modest but meaningful arts and crafts, wedding or anniversary gifts. None of these things, once burned, can be replaced.
Then there are the homes wherein the owner, maintained memorabilia from his or her career, or the sports achievements of a family member, trophies, medals, awards. I’ve already seen one picture, which frankly could have been generated by A.I., that showed a movie Oscar lying amongst burned rubble, tarnished, damaged.
Now whether this was a real picture or a generated one, the point stands, many film and television celebrities lost homes too, and some of them indeed had won Oscars and featured them in their homes.
Years ago, when we lived north of New York City in Westchester County, the surrounding communities featured high-end homes like those found in Pacific Palisades. While the houses were million-dollar structures of far greater value was the fact a few of these homes contained artworks, sculptures, and artifacts within them that were worth tens of millions, sometimes ten times the value of the house.
It’s not too much of a stretch to think that many of the homes that burned in the California fires, especially perhaps those belonging to higher net worth families, contained serious valuable artworks within them, art now lost. None of these original artworks can be replaced.
Insurance cannot replace the irreplaceable.
The 2023 Türkiye/Syria earthquakes killed 53,537 in Türks and up to 8,476 Syrans, and left 1.5 million homeless: at least 518,009 houses and over 345,000 apartments were destroyed in Türkiye. It’s too hard to estimate in Syria. In the aftermath, the ministry with which I serve, SAT-7, Middle East and North Africa satellite television and online media, reported on people’s needs.
Of course, like for many in the Californian wildfires, the immediate need is “physical relief,” the basic human requirements of safety, shelter, food, medical and health assistance. People need rescue and aid addressing life-threatening and other injuries, they need somewhere to stay, and they need physical stability and sustenance. They may need transportation to get to safe havens. This took place in Türkiye and Syria as tens of thousands of international aid teams came to help from all over the world. It’s happening now in Los Angeles County.
Very quickly, once what amounted to M.A.S.H. units set up in Türkiye and Syria attended to serious medical and health threats, our staff were told by doctors and nurses on site that people began expressing a desire not simply for physical relief but for “spiritual relief.” They began asking existential questions, like,
Where is God? Did he forget us; is he punishing us? Why did I survive but my brother did not? How could a fair, loving, and just God allow something like this to happen? Why didn’t an all-powerful God stop this from happening? What will happen to us now?
Right now, and assuredly in the days ahead, these kinds of existential “spiritual” questions are being asked and they’re going to be asked for the foreseeable future.
People made in the image of God, whether they acknowledge him or not, look for spiritual solace in the face of adversity, destruction, and in some cases death. People what to know why and they yearn for hope.
News reports have tended to focus on who’s to blame for the fires? What political leaders and what political party is responsible? Could the fires have been prevented or at least fire prevention and mitigation efforts better employed? If not prevented, could the fires have been curtailed sooner? These kinds of questions are likely to go on for weeks if not years to come.
In the meantime, people will privately if not publicly ask why? As believers, we can cite a tremendous Os Guinness insight, we do not or will not always know why, but we know the God who knows why. We can help those who ask existential questions. We can respond with faith and assurance, knowing the Sovereign God is not surprised and has not departed, indeed he is there to bless those who respond to him.
I’m not sure what all God wants this nation to learn from these horrific and tragic fires, but I do know “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Ps. 46:1-3).
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.
An inescapable element of a social media age, memes are everywhere, but are they all harmless? What about the ones that employ Scripture, especially for political ends?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #187 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Meme is a word most of us would not have recognized ten years ago. Now they’re a daily occurrence.
The word meme was first coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene. He derived the term from the Greek word "mimema," which means "that which is imitated." For Dawkins, a meme referred to a unit of cultural transmission or imitation, such as an idea, behavior, style, or practice that spread within a culture, e.g., melodies, religious beliefs, catchphrases, or fashion trends.
More recently in the 21st century, internet memes are now understood as visual, textual, or video content that spreads virally online, often through humor, satire, or commentary on societal or cultural phenomena.
Visit any social media platform, and you’ll see images of animals, people, landscapes, you name it, usually along with some printed observation that makes a joke, takes a potshot at a political rival, celebrates some human event or achievement. The uses of memes are limitless.
Since this is audio podcast, I can’t put a few memes up on screen for you to see, but I think you understand what I’m talking about. Memes can be funny, serious, insightful, honoring and honorable, and because we’re human beings, memes can also be ill-advised and unwise, offensive, vulgar, mean, pornographic, derogatory and more.
So, what about memes? First, there’s no “Thou shalt not meme” in the Bible. Memes, of course, did not exist when Scripture was written. But the use of images as such existed, and images are not condemned in Scripture, nor considered intrinsically evil, though we are warned not to make graven images or idols out of that which we artistically create.
So, like anything else we engage in life, memes should be something we consider carefully, and about which use good discernment. In other words, it’s possible to use them harmlessly or harmfully, or wisely or unwisely.
As I said at the top, memes can be funny or make thoughtful points. I’m not “against memes,” nor is this some kind of legalistic anti-meme screed. I’m just thinking aloud with you about something that has become a part of contemporary life.
Since 2024 was a presidential election year, political memes dominated social media. But I’m not sure 2025 and thereafter will be much different. Biden memes, Harris memes, Trump memes, they’re endless.
Scripture offers several straightforward comments about Christian involvement in what we call politics.
For example,
These verses, and there are many others, teach us that Christians should care, be involved in politics and government as they deem appropriate, and trust God in all of this. So again, nothing here that suggests Christians who produce memes with political messages are somehow acting improperly.
But as I said earlier, it is possible to create memes, just like it is possible to speak or write, in a manner that is indeed an improper application of Scripture.
I confess the memes that make me uncomfortable are those that quote Scripture alongside highly partisan presentations, or ones that use Scripture or biblical imagery alongside candidates as if to bless that person as God’s choice for the office. I am even more uncomfortable with memes that basically offer not Christian but civil religion, memes that wrap the candidate in the Bible and the flag. Worst of all, there are memes that I consider sacrilegious.
Interestingly, as I was thinking about this topic and did some research in the past week, I found few memes portraying Mr. Biden or Ms. Harris in association with Christian themes or imagery. A few, but very few. Meanwhile, I found almost innumerable such memes portraying Mr. Trump in association with Christian themes or imagery.
Now let’s pause for a disclaimer: I want to talk about memes that mix or apply Christian themes or imagery alongside given candidates, mostly Mr. Trump, without this being heard as a) me blaming Mr. Trump, or b) me attacking Mr. Trump or his policies. Partisanship and politicking are not my points here.
What I want to focus upon is us discerning together whether given memes are appropriate or wise. I wish I could show you visuals, but in lieu of this, think of memes this way: memes I consider—
So, memes that make me uncomfortable—Think of memes in which Mr. Trump is being hugged by Jesus or wherein Jesus is standing with his hand on a seated Mr. Trump’s shoulder. Or another one depicting Jesus and Mr. Trump walking on water. Uncomfortable? I am.
What about civil religion? Think of memes depicting Jesus sitting beside Mr. Trump in a courtroom, or Jesus embracing Mr. Trump in the Oval Office or standing ethereally behind Mr. Trump who is seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with the meme captioned: “Jesus is guiding Trump; Democrats and Satan are trying to stop him.
Finally, there are memes I find so offensive and impious I label them sacrilegious. One meme shows Jesus hanging on the cross in the background and Mr. Trump standing victoriously in front of him—I don’t even know what this means.
Another meme depicts Mr. Trump as a great image in the sky above a crowd of people while heavenly aura beams out from Mr. Trump’s image. I guess this one is attempting to make Mr. Trump a deity. There are memes in which Jesus wears a MAGA hat, memes where Mr. Trump is dressed in a white robe, hands folded in prayer and a halo glowing around his head.
One blasphemous meme depicts a shirtless Mr. Trump wearing a crown of thorns and hanging on a cross alongside a caption: “I drained the swamp. Promises kept. They had me impeached. Jesus wept…Never…forget.”
Then there’s the meme that portrays Mr. Trump in a white robe wearing a crown of thorns with a cross on a wall behind him. Strangely, four or five Jesus characters stand behind him.
Lastly, a profane meme portrays a dark-haired Mr. Trump, presumably to resemble Jesus, with his hand raised like a pope and a caption: “He shall rise again in 2024.”
I know it is more difficult to follow this on audio than to see these memes in visuals. Just do a search like “Trump and Christian memes” or “Trump and Jesus memes.” Then go into the image pages and you will see some of the memes I’ve highlighted and more. Draw your own conclusions on whether any of these make you feel uncomfortable or are indeed sacrilegious, irreverent, or desecration.
Again, I am not saying all memes are bad or wrong or unspiritual. I’m not blaming Mr. Trump for these memes. I’d make the same observations if my image was being propagandized as somehow especially blessed by Jesus. Toward good discernment, remember these points:
Blessings to you.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.
It’s a new year – I haven’t made resolutions, but I do have hopes for the days ahead; how about you?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #186 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Hope springs eternal, so they say.
“Hope springs eternal" is an idiomatic expression that conveys the idea that humans inherently possess an enduring sense of hope, no matter the difficulties they face.
It expresses the notion that people retain hope and optimism, even in discouraging circumstances. The phrase…comes from Alexander Pope's poem ‘An Essay on Man’ from the 18th century. The full line reads, ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest.’ This poetic line emphasizes the unwavering spirit of optimism in humans.”
>At the end of the magnificent movie about the Civil War era, “Gone with the Wind,” after years of tragic destruction, despair, and death, central character Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tara. Home. I'll go home…After all, tomorrow is another day."
>In the Broadway musical, “Annie,” Orphan Annie sang, “The sun will come out Tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun! Just thinking about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs, And the sorrow 'Til there's none! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya Tomorrow! You're always a day away”
>In the movie “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks-as-Chuck Noland wraps the film by saying, “And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?”
>In Scripture, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
I recently shared in this podcast about what scholars are calling the “Anxious Generation,” an entire cohort of American youth who are growing up filled with anxiety and despair, not so much because they do not have material goods and well-being but because they have no sense of purpose or meaning.
Some scholars blame the hours adolescents spend on smartphones, detached in another world and this without friends, without social integration. Some blame this era’s rejection of the “God who is there,” the Sovereign Creator of the Universe who not only made each of us but who gave us a desire for purpose and meaning, then told us he is the foundation and center of this purpose and meaning. Reject him and you end up with no hope, just delusional, psychotic anarchy.
Scripture gives us another view of the future: Jeremiah says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lamentations 3:21-24).
The Shepherd-King David in the Old Testament, reminded us, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:18).
In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we’re instructed, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” (Jn. 16:33).
“Christian hope gives believers the resilience and strength to overcome the misery in the world, the Devil’s distractions, and the hardships of life in the body.”
“What is a Christian hope? It does not simply dream of a better existence or dwell in the clouds. It’s not only a fantasy of who or what people would like to be. Due to God’s presence and the concept of life, death, and Christ’s resurrection, this Christian hope is also a source of power for living independently, rather than according to the principles of a society built on greed and competitiveness.”
So, I have hope for the future based upon who God is and what he has promised. I am, or try to be, an “optimistic realist,” optimistic in the sense that I operate with that Christian hope, but a realist because Scripture has taught me about the depravity of mankind and the presence of sin.
I look forward to year 2025 with certain hopes.
Scripture says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).
I hope you enjoy a wonderful, blessed new year.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.
Have you ever wondered if smartphones and social media are as wonderful for us as they are cracked up to be?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #185 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
For those of us over 30 years of age, the idea of a cell phone is still a tool of wonder. We can remember B.C.P., before cell phones. We can also remember B.I., before Internet. While the internet was used in academia during the 1980s, most of us didn’t encounter it until the mid-1990s during the Clinton Administration.
I remember my first car phone in the 1990s and my first mobile flip phone not long thereafter. I remember cell phones first being shown on television shows in the 1980s, like Miami Vice, when Sonny Crocket would pick up a phone the size of a brick.
We remember we had a life back then. We communicated, just differently. We researched information and learned, just differently. We listened to music and radio, just differently. If you’re over 30 you remember all this.
But it is in the 2000s that internet and cell phones became foundations for what we now call smartphones. The smartphone hit the market in 2007. (p. 32) You may also remember sensing the emergence of “a widely shared sense of techno-optimism; (the belief) these products made life easier, more fun, and more productive.” (p. 3) This technological, commercial tsunami launched what scholar Jonathan Haidt calls “the Great Rewiring of childhood,” based upon a rapid introduction of new handheld techno wizardry. His book—The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness—"tells the story of what happened to the generation born after 1995, popularly known as Gen Z, the generation that follows the millennials.” (p. 5)
Was embracing smartphones wise? Was it safe? No one knew. New York University Professor Haidt noted, “We don’t let kids buy tobacco, or alcohol, or go in casinos,” but we ignored the harmful effects of the overuse of smartphone technology. (p. 5)
Professor Haidt says “happened to the generation” because American youth were handed a powerful new tool or toy that captured hours of their time each day, literally transformed how they thought and learned, engaged them with an unknown online set of contacts mislabeled a “community” while disengaging them from family, friends, recreation, and the great outdoors, thus introducing a massive wave of social detachment. Smartphones exposed the minds of youth to personal and world problems through a daily immersion of the worst news. (p. 39)
MIT professor Sherry Turkle described life with smartphones this way: ‘We are forever elsewhere.’ (p. 34) So not long after this new tech access is it any wonder a global teenage mental health crisis exploded?
The Great Rewiring via smartphones “hit girls much harder than boys: the increased prevalence of posting images of oneself, after smartphones added front-facing cameras (2010) and Facebook acquired Instagram (2012), boosting its popularity. This greatly expanded the number of adolescents posting carefully curated photos and videos of their lives for their peers and strangers, not just to see, but to judge. Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable.” (p.6)
“While girls' social lives moved onto social media platforms, boys burrowed deeper into the virtual world as they engaged in a variety of digital activities, particularly immersive online multiplayer video games, YouTube, Reddit, and hardcore pornography—all of which became available anytime, anywhere, for free, right on their smartphones.” (p. 35)
Interestingly, “there was little sign of an impending mental illness crisis among adolescents in the 2000s. Then, quite suddenly, in the early 2010s, things changed.” Two mental disorders skyrocketed among adolescents in the 2010s: anxiety, depression. For example, “E.R. visits for self-harm increased 188% 2010 - 2020 for girls. 48% for boys.” “Suicide rates increased 91% boys and 167% girls 2010-2020.” (p. 30-31)
“Between 2010 and 2015, the social lives of American teens moved largely onto smartphones with continuous access to social media, online video games, and other internet-based activities. This Great Rewiring of Childhood, (Professor Haidt) argues, is the single largest reason for the tidal wave of adolescent mental illness that began in the early 2010s.” (p. 44)
“The sheer amount of time that adolescents spend with their phones is staggering, even compared with the high levels of screen time they had before the invention of the iPhone. Studies of time use routinely find that the average teen reports spending more than seven hours a day on screen-based leisure activities (not including school and homework).” (p. 139) This results in social deprivation – less time with real human contact – sleep deprivation – yielding “depression, anxiety, irritability, cognition. deficits, poor learning, lower grades, more accidents, and more deaths from accidents.” Then attention fragmentation – not able to focus and stay on task, and addiction – with social media companies using behaviorist techniques to “hook” youth into being heavy users. (p. 140)
From this social psychologist’s point of view, “social media is a trap that ensnares more girls than boys. It lures people in with the promise of connection and communion, but then it multiplies the number of relationships while reducing their quality, therefore making it harder to spend time with a few close friends in real life. This may be why loneliness spiked so sharply among girls in the early 2010s, while for boys the rise was more gradual.” It makes girls more vulnerable to stalking, or boys in their school pressuring them to share nude photographs of themselves. It makes boys more vulnerable to cyberbullying and pornography. (p. 173)
Where does religion if not biblical Christianity fit in this smartphone social media Great Rewiring?
“Soon before his death in 1662, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote a paragraph often paraphrased as ‘there is a God-shaped hole in every human heart.’ (p. 215) The scholar-author Jonathan Haidt states that he agrees with Pascal but in an earlier book Professor Haidt tried to explain the source of this God-shaped hole in the human heart by drawing on Darwinian evolutionary theory. “Many of my religious friends, (Haidt says) disagree about the origin of our God-shaped hole; they believe that the hole is there because we are God's creations and we long for our creator. But although we disagree about its origins, we agree about its implications: There is a hole, an emptiness in us all, that we strive to fill. If it doesn't get filled with something noble and elevated, modern society will quickly pump it full of garbage. That has been true since the beginning of the age of mass media, but the garbage pump got 100 times more powerful in the 2010s. It matters what we expose ourselves to.” (p. 215-216)
Religion, particularly Christianity, teaches us that to be “slower to judge and quicker to forgive are good for maintaining relationships and improving mental health. Social media trains people to do the opposite: Judge quickly and publicly, lest ye be judged for not judging whoever it is that we are all condemning today. Don't forgive, or your team will attack you as a traitor. From a spiritual perspective, social media is a disease of the mind. Spiritual practices and virtues, such as forgiveness, grace, and love, are a cure.” (p. 211)
Professor Haidt observes, “There is a ‘God-shaped hole’ in every human heart. Or, at least, many people feel a yearning for meaning, connection, and spiritual elevation. A phone-based life often fills that hole with trivial and degrading content.” (p. 218)
To combat the effects of the Great Rewiring, Professor Haidt concludes his seminal work with “four foundational reforms:
This is a scholarly book. It is thorough, well-documented, current, and loaded with common sense. Parents should heed the warnings and recommendations in this book, as should church youth groups, and certainly all educational institutions.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024
*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.