Details

Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 07 January 2026

If you’re older, a Boomer like me, when you hear about pornography you probably think of men and what we used to call “dirty magazines,” but this era is long gone, and among younger generations, including Christians, pornography is ubiquitous, insidious, and noxious.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #243 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.

There are a few topics that I do not like to think, research, write, or speak about. Among these topics are LGBTQ+ and pornography. For want of a more sophisticated way of explaining my feelings, these topics are too “icky,” too disturbing for me, too much of a yuk factor.

Both these topics, in different ways, stem from sexual perversion. Now, icky or not, I feel compelled to speak again about pornography.

Let’s set the stage with some statistics:

1. “Over 40 million Americans are regular visitors to porn sites. The average visit lasts 6 minutes and 29 seconds.
2. There are around 42 million porn websites, which totals around 370 million pages of porn.
3. The porn industry’s annual revenue is MORE than the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. It is also more than the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
4. 47% of families in the United States reported that pornography is a problem in their home.
5. Pornography use increases the marital infidelity rate by more than 300%.
6. Eleven is the average age that a child is first exposed to porn, and 94% of children will see porn by the age of 14.
7. 56% of American divorcesinvolve one party having an “obsessive interest” in pornographic websites.”

A 2013 article in ExtremeTech magazine estimated that 30% of the internet’s data usage was for porn. This is a multi-billion-dollar business worldwide.

What about among those who self-identify as Christians? “Beyond The Porn Phenomenon,” published in 2024 by The Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries, provides the most current data we have about Christians and porn use compared to the rest of the United States. According to this study:

1. 61% of the general population (aged 13 and up) watches porn compared to 54% of practicing Christians.
2. 75% of Christian men view pornography, compared to 78% of the general population.
3. 40% of Christian women view pornography, compared to 44% of the general population.
4. Two-thirds of pastors (68%) have struggled or currently struggle with pornography.

“If we combined these percentages with US census data, we can see just how many people this is: 45,174,658 Christian men watch porn, and 24,135,395 Christian women watch porn.”

Another study found that “Men are still more likely to watch porn than women in general, but the number of female porn users increases as they get younger.”

1. “33% of women aged 25-and-under search for porn at least once per month.
2. Only 13% of self-identified Christian women say they never watch porn –87% of Christian women have watched porn.”

Of these women watching porn,

3. “88% attend church regularly, 81% pray regularly, and 72% read their Bible regularly
4. Only 6.7% of respondents had heard female porn use discussed in a sermon.

Women are not immune to porn. The old dichotomy that men are visually stimulated and women are relationally stimulated is less than helpful when it comes to pornography use.”

I haven’t bothered to define pornography. Reason is, it’s like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous quote on obscenity, from the 1964 case Jacobellis v. Ohio, in which he noted: "I know it when I see it." He used this phrase to explain that while he couldn't precisely define "hard-core" pornography, he recognized it when he encountered it.

I’m assuming the same thing here. You know what pornography is.

The Bible doesn't mention pornography directly, but condemns the lust, sexual immorality (porneia), and objectification it involves, emphasizing sex within marriage. Key teachings include a call for purity in thoughts and actions (Ephesians 5:3, Philippians 4:8), viewing pornography as a destructive force against God's design for intimacy, leading to addiction, shame, and broken relationships. 

Human beings, human hearts, are no different now than those in the ancient past or in our past. People are created by God as sexual beings, but we are also fallen, sinful creatures who are born in sin and must deal with sin throughout our lives.

What’s different today from the past, even our past if like me you are an older Baby Boomer, is that the internet – first widely available in the mid-1990s – and the smart phone – first released on the market in 2007 – puts pornography in our hands, instantaneously, a lot of it for free.

I mentioned what we used to call dirty magazines, Playboy, and the like that featured unclothed women. When I was a kid the only way men accessed porn was to buy these magazines at newsstands, hide them in brown paper bags from the women in their lives, and sneak peek. I know this not because I did this, but I certainly saw friends do it.

Now, on one’s laptop or on that smart phone in your hand, you can instantly access, for free, one of those 42+ million pornography websites. This is what I mean about ubiquitous. Porn is everywhere.

And as of the mid-2010s, just 10 years ago, the modern era of independent, creator-driven adult content subscription sites began. Adult content creators—or if you prefer, pornographers—may be anyone who is willing to post licentious media of themselves: maybe your neighbors, or actresses who discover they can make more money posting than acting, or individuals who develop a brand presence like golf or swimsuit, i.e., seeking a following for their niche content that morphs over to paywalled adult content.

Adult-content sites offer content creators a platform they do not have to build and maintain, allows them to create accounts, post their pictures and videos, use paywalls and set their own fees requiring viewer-customers to purchase subscriptions for access to certain levels or kinds of content, then the websites return to the content creators as much as 80% of the revenues.

Many of these adult content creators are also active on social media like Twitter—the widest open to sexual voyeurism—Instagram, Facebook, and more, which typically are governed by restrictive parameters vis-à-vis nudity. The value of these sites to the adult content creator is brand promotion, name recognition, enticing more followers to links that feature more prurient content.

Remember this. Porn is not just on worst sites such that if you avoid these sites, you’re in the clear. No, adult content creators or their teams are continuously trolling on otherwise harmless sites. They use what in business is called a marketing funnel, meaning many might be engaged on the top end, and fewer take the next step, fewer still the next step in the funnel, but a certain percentage get all the way to the paywall sites and subscribe.

I have not visited adult content websites, but I know how they work. A typical marketing funnel involves: Awareness – you see an Instagram post featuring a person you find attractive; Interest – you check their advertised website; Decision - you buy a subscription, say $15 per month, giving you access to that person wearing less clothing or engaging in specific sexually enticing activity. Meanwhile, you are getting hooked on explicit pornography, and the content creator is making money based upon your addictive behavior.

So, I’d say, protect yourself. I’ve twice stopped using social media platforms that kept exposing me to enticements (trolling) to pornography. I got out because the social media platform was more of a threat than a help to me. Pornography is now as big a problem in the Christian Church as it is in culture.

The Bible warns against being mastered by anything, calling for freedom from damaging behaviors (1 Corinthians 6:12) and telling us “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor. 10:13).

There is no temptation and no addiction more powerful than the Holy Spirit.

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. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2026  

*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.

Details

Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 05 January 2026

Given America’s First Amendment freedom of religion, should American Muslims be limited in any way in terms of their beliefs and practices?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #242 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.

In the 21^st Century, Muslim immigration to the West, including the United States, has skyrocketed, and many of these immigrants are Muslims from distinctly Muslim-dominated countries and cultures.

Like all immigrants, they bring with them their religious worldviews and their cultures. Some, like millions of immigrants before them, have eagerly sought a better life and worked to assimilate in classic melting pot fashion. Others have resisted assimilation and acculturation, have consciously sought to perpetuate their cultural and religious practices they brought from home, and tend to live in balkanized communities separated from other citizens. The estimated 10 million immigrants who came to the US during the recent Biden Administration, many but not all Muslim, are part of this story.

In this piece, I want to think with you about freedom of religion, and when, if ever, it can or should be restricted.

The US Constitution’s Bill of Rights begins with the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This is a precious, and in world history, unprecedented guarantee of human rights. We do not ever want to treat it lightly or deny it’s protection of freedom of religion without considerable due process and careful thinking about community standards in a truly free society.

Numerous American voices are becoming concerned about not simply the number of Muslim immigrants who’ve come to the US, but

a) whether they will assimilate, and

b) whether their religious beliefs are compatible with a free society.

The challenge of Islam is that it is both a religion and a political ideology, one that seeks political control when it becomes dominant. Muslim adherents embrace Islam along a continuum of theological, political, and cultural ideas, some radical or extremist, some moderate. So, your conclusions about “what is a Muslim and what do they believe” depend upon which subgroup you may be examining along this continuum.

“Muslims” are but followers of their religion, which is Islam. They are just people, who, like all other human beings, carry their beliefs in a complex and confusing, sometimes contradictory, manner. There are indeed “moderate” or simply nominal Muslims the world over, ones who are not radical, do not act on religious violence, and simply seek to live their lives in peace. But there are many others who act out—often dangerously—extreme ideological views.

With increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants flooding the country during the Biden Administration, some American commentators began to suggest Islam be banned in the US, while others focused upon banning specifically Sharia law or radical Islam.

Some commentators argue Muslims intentionally use American human rights protections to advance their belief systems in the US, beliefs that are anti-freedom.

Charlie Kirk famously tweeted, “Islam is not compatible with western civilization.” Some argue Islam is the #1 enemy of the civilized world. In other words, Islam as a religion is an existential threat to the values upon which American experience was built and flourished.

Islam and distinguished Middle East expert, author Raymond Ibrahim, argues Islam is not free. Islam as presented in the Quran is totalitarian, inherently expansionist, i.e., Jihad, adherents are prepared to kill to achieve its aims - antithetical to everything Western society stands for—opposes free speech, free enterprise, freedom to practice or not to practice any religion, freedom of assembly, free press, fundamental human and civil rights; hatred of non-Muslims, “infidels,” is commanded, the Quran allows deception of infidels as needed, i.e., lying, and the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the Quran. In Professor Ibrahim’s view, there may be moderate Muslims, but Islam is not moderate.

Let’s take a step back a moment for perspective. Throughout American history various religious groups have attempted to practice certain beliefs that, eventually, the Supreme Court of the United States disallowed, saying one can believe anything religiously, but not every action motivated by religion is immune from regulation.

For example, in Reynolds v. United States (1879), Mormon defendants argued plural marriage, i.e., bigamy, was required by their faith. But the Supreme Court drew a sharp line:

• Religious belief → fully protected
• Religious conduct → may be regulated

The Court noted that if religious belief excused illegal conduct, “each citizen would become a law unto himself.”

In Prince v. Massachusetts (1944), the Supreme court reviewed numerous lower-court blood transfusion cases involving Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Court said, parents may be martyrs themselves, but they may not make martyrs of their children. In other words, adults generally may refuse blood transfusions for themselves on religious grounds. But courts may override parents’ refusals for their children. The bottom line is the Supreme Court’s reasoning can be summarized like this:

• Religious belief is inviolable
• Religious conduct may be limited when:
• Laws are neutral and generally applicable
• Third parties (especially children) are harmed
• Compelling state interests are at stake
• The practice has never been historically protected.

Should The Muslim "Call to Prayer" be banned from public spaces in America? And should Muslims be stopped from blocking public roadways in order to bow in prayer five times per day? Dearborn, Michigan, nearby Hamtramck, considered to be America’s first majority-Muslim city, Paterson, NJ have authorized the call to prayer. Minneapolis, Minnesota became the first major U.S. city to allow the call to prayer five times daily, modifying its noise ordinance in 2023. 

Loud "Allahu Akbar" calls blasting from speakers can be disturbing to public spaces. No other religion demands this — churches don't shut down roads for prayer or bells, synagogues don't amplify services over neighborhoods. Bans aren't official city-wide policies but rather the result of applying general noise ordinances to religious practices. Blocking public thoroughfares has long been denied back to the protests of the 1960s.

So, what does this mean for Islam in the USA? It means that Muslims who have become American citizens enjoy and should enjoy the same rights and protections regarding freedom of religion as any other American. It also means that certain Islamist religious practices, should they become threatening to third parties or should the state develop a compelling interest in the outcomes, may be regulated without violating Muslim American’s First Amendment rights and certainly without banning Islam.

I have no desire to deny American citizen Muslims their right to freedom of religion. While I am not Muslim and while I disagree with what Islam proclaims and while I certainly reject radical Islam or Islamist views, I do not want to deny construction of mosques. I do not believe the Quran supersedes the Bible, but I do not want to ban this book.

In my view, freedom of religion was inaugurated in the Garden of Eden when God created Adam and Eve in his image with reasoning capacity and a moral consciousness, then permitted them to decide. God commanded them to obey and left them to choose, to exercise their freedom to believe and obey God, or not.

I do believe, though, that certain Islamist beliefs are inimical to free society and should be prohibited in Western civilization, specifically the USA, e.g., honor killings, female genital mutilation, child marriage, bigamy, jihad, forced religious conversion, misogyny, or obviously religiously motivated rape gangs like those occurring in Europe.

I also believe restricting others’ religious or cultural practices, which ostensibly offend some Muslims, e.g., not permitting dogs in neighborhoods where Muslims may live or shutting down Christmas celebrations or making haram foods like pork or alcohol illegal at local supermarkets near Muslim populations, are unnecessary religious impositions upon a pluralistic culture. 

For e pluribus unum to work, we must be able to debate religious ideas in the civic public square and determine truth based upon the merits of views, not coercion or silencing. This is the essence of a free society. All Americans are welcome to join this conversation.

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. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2026  

*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.

Details

Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 29 December 2025

Have you ever been thrust into a leadership assignment you did not know was coming? Or have you found yourself in a leadership opportunity but hesitated to step up?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #241 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 years I wanted to write a leadership book. I finally began one in year 2010, wrote maybe three-fourths of the envisioned chapters, set the content aside in view of job responsibilities, then didn’t touch it for fifteen years.

As I bypassed the typical retirement age and kept working, people would ask, “Why are you still working?” I usually said, “Because I don’t hate my job, and I’ve thus far been blessed with health; plus, it’s good to keep working for a number of reasons.” As I got closer to a time when retirement seemed likely, people started asking me, “What are you going to do when you retire?” Or they’d say, “You need to have something to do when you retire.” I’d respond, “I thought the point of retirement was to not do?”

When I finally did retire, end of May 2025, the Good Wife and I took a week in a log cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and when we came home, I picked up my leadership manuscript from lo those many years ago. I had something to do when I retired.

First, I re-read what I wrote fifteen years ago. Do I still think what I thought then? What illustrations did I use that by now are obscure and should be updated? Eventually, am I ready to tackle new content in the last chapters of the book?

I dove in and worked June through August on this and finished the book, took some time to identify a publisher, and with great satisfaction celebrated the book’s release November 21, 2025.

The book is called Be One of God’s Unlikely Leaders: Live With Focus, Get Things Done. My premise is leadership is a learned behavior. I say this because I believe leaders are more often “made” than “born.” Of course, all people are born, but leadership is developed. In my view, anyone, anytime, anywhere can be a leader.

Sometimes the leader is the one you’d pick out of a crowd. But just as often the leader is the person you’d least expect. I call them “unlikely leaders.” It’s these “unlikely leaders” who surprise us. They rise-up in our midst, demonstrating once again that a leader is a person who stands up and steps up, a person who meets a challenge or sees an opportunity and helps the rest of us attain a new level of achievement, or maybe safety or satisfaction or creativity. 

Being a leader is not the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful, the famous, or the beautiful people. Being a leader isn’t reserved for the super talented or the V.I.Ps. It’s not just for men, adults, a given nationality, race, or ethnic group. 

Contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not a mysterious talent only some people are “lucky” enough to acquire. Quite simply yet quite remarkably, leadership is a gift of God to all of us. This book is written for everyone who’s ever thought, “How am I going to do this?  I’m no leader.”

That’s a lot of people. Maybe it’s you. You want to accomplish something, but your perception of leadership—or of yourself—makes you think you’re not cut out to be a leader. You think you can’t be a leader. This book is for you.

Then there are other people I meet who don’t want to be leaders. Or at least they say they don’t want to be a leader. They lack confidence in themselves or their abilities. They’re not sure they have “the right stuff.” They fear the hassle or the pressure or the accountability or the potential embarrassment if they don’t make it. But even these folks can become leaders, and some of them, deep down, really want to.

Maybe that’s you. You’d like to lead, but you’re not sure how. Remember what we said:  Anyone, anytime, anywhere can be a leader. That includes you. 

You’re still breathing, so it’s safe to say God’s blessed you with time and talent. So, no matter how unlikely it may seem, you can learn to lead.

The importance of leadership cannot be overstated. Whether an art or a science, leadership is key to change, accomplishment, and success. Leadership motivates others to get things done. 

The Bible is filled with stories of everyday people who learned to lead for the Lord. I call them “God’s unlikely leaders.” They were people just like you and me.  Really. We say that, but it’s genuinely true. Moses and Peter were flesh and blood men, talented, temperamental, tough, scared—all rolled into leaders who accomplished great things for God despite their weaknesses.

Biblical leaders aren’t typically people we would’ve chosen. They’re not always the ones their contemporaries chose or wanted to choose. They weren’t always the best and the brightest.

God’s leaders are a strange list of characters from all walks of life. Sometimes it seems the only trait God’s leaders hold in common is the fact it’s unlikely they’d ever be chosen to lead.    

We think biblical leaders are an “unlikely” bunch because we look for people we think are leaders while God looks for people who will be leaders. God doesn't think like we think. God looks for obedient people he can form into leaders. 

“Man looks at the outward appearance,” God said to Samuel, “but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Godly, effective leadership is in short supply. There are manifold opportunities for you. 

Real leaders lead when others are not yet following. This does not mean leaders ignore their followers, only that great leaders see things before others, see a possible future, aspire to it, and inspire others toward it as well. 

In Be One of God’s Unlikely Leaders—Live With Focus, Get Things Done, I try to make it clear leadership is not about pride, prowess, power, or promotion. It’s about ordinary men and women—unlikely leaders—being used of God to accomplish extraordinary things.

Be One of God’s Unlikely Leaders is a roadmap to accomplishing more for the Lord than you thought possible.

God often calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things, not because they are great, but because he is. 

Leadership is not for the faint of heart. In a complex world, leadership is challenging, stressful, and fraught with obstacles—polarization, technological change, shifting social dynamics.

Leaders get burned out, bummed out, or bounced out, and potential leaders hesitate to step forward, creating a leadership vacuum.

But this is our moment. God is still sovereign, and leadership as unto the Lord even in the most demanding environment can be productive, transformative, and rewarding. For Christians, leadership is not an option; it’s an opportunity. 

In his book, Involvement, the late British theologian John R. W. Stott chastised the Christian community.  He said, “Don’t be content with the mediocre! Don’t settle for anything less than your full God-given potential! Be ambitious and adventurous for God! God has made you a unique person by your genetic endowment, upbringing, and education. He has himself created you and gifted you, and he does not want his work to be wasted. He means you to be fulfilled not frustrated. His purpose is that everything you have and are, should be stretched in his service and in the service of others. This means that God has a leadership role of some degree and kind for each of us.”

The late Mother Teresa said, “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” You can be an unlikely leader, a legion of one. 

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. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.

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.

Details

Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 22 December 2025

Israel and its neighbors, most recently Hamas extremists in Gaza, have been in all-out war since 10/7. Is a two-state solution really a solution?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #240 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.

“The war in Gaza has focused attention once again on the search for solutions to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The solution favored by the United States, the European Union, most of the world’s democracies, and the United Nations has long been the two-state solution. This formula calls for two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side peacefully with security for both.”

After WWI, the Peel Commission, 7 July 1937, proposed Palestine be partitioned into three zones: Arab state, Jewish state, neutral territory containing the holy places. This recommendation to “partition” became the first official call for what later was termed a two-state solution.

Since 1937, a “two-state solution” calling for a Jewish state—Israel—and a separate, independent Palestinian State—some say in Gaza, some say place it elsewhere—has been proposed at least ten times (e.g., 1947, 1948, 1967, 1973, 2005, 2006), each time rejected by Arab nations and whatever group represented Palestinians at the time.

After WWII, “The U.N. General Assembly voted in 1947 to divide Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.” Officially, “the 1947 UN Partition Plan was the first (bona fide and geographical) attempt to realize a two-state solution.”

Meanwhile, some “81% of US Christians believe in a two-state solution, with 88% also saying that Israelis have the right to determine their statehood and government and 76% that the Palestinians have the same right. (This survey of more than 1,200 American Christian views on the Israel-Hamas war was conducted by Lifeway Research on behalf of the Philos Project. It was conducted online between November 14 and 21 (2023) using a national pre-recruited panel of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians).” 

A “one-state solution” has been called a “bi-national state.” “Contrary to the two-state solution, the entire territory of former Mandatory Palestine is not divided between the two parties. Instead, the area serves as a common homeland for both Jews and Palestinians. In the bi-national state, citizens of both nations will have one joint country, one constitution, and one democratically elected government.

Although the government is democratically elected, it will be proportionally represented by multiple interest groups. Furthermore, this state cannot be Jewish or Islamic, as one of the groups would have an advantage.”

This proposal highlights one of the many problems when you conceive of a “Jewish” nation-state. In December 2023, some “73.2% (about 7,208,000) are Jews, including about 503,000 living outside the self-defined borders of the State of Israel in the West Bank. About 21.1% (around 2,080,000) are Israeli citizens classified as Arab, some identifying as Palestinian, and including Druze, Circassians, all other Muslims, Christian Arabs, Armenians (which Israel considers "Arab"). An additional 5.7% (roughly 554,000) are classified as "others." This diverse group comprises those with Jewish ancestry but not recognized as Jewish by religious law, non-Jewish family members of Jewish immigrants, Christians other than Arabs and Armenians, and residents without a distinct ethnic or religious categorization.”

In a one-state solution, both Jews and Palestinians worry the other group will outpace their own, via birthrates or immigration, gaining a stronger representation. Herein is the problem I noted. Building a nation-state around a given ethnicity leads to demographic imbalance or political limitations via control.

Most recently, President Trump said he is against a two-state solution, the first American President to take this position. Partly this is due to what he considered rampant support of Gazans for 10/7. Others who oppose a two-state solution argue that:

1) God gave Israel to the Jews,

2) a Palestinian state would be a terror state on Israel’s border, and a

3) two-state solution would reward terrorism, creating a strategic and military nightmare for the state of Israel.

One reason a two-state solution has always been problematic is that has always largely been a Western idea, not really one born in the Middle East. Yes, Middle Easterners were involved in earlier proposals, and yes some of them affirmed the idea, but for the most part it’s been something pushed from outside.

While a two-state solution seems and may indeed be “rational,” that’s also part of the problem. Relationships between Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, are more emotional, cultural, and political than rational. Simply because an idea makes sense on paper does not mean it makes sense to those expected not only to endorse it but to live by and in it.

Many American Christian leaders support a two-state solution. But this approach is not supported by all Christians. Some who call themselves Christian Zionists are not in favor of a two-state solution and then some are. Usually, support or rejection of the idea turns on whether people believe Jews have a divine right to the land that reaches back to biblical times. And there is also the ongoing legitimate concern for security.

The raison d'être, the very reason for existence, of Hamas, and some other extremist terrorist groups, is based upon hatred for Israel, a commitment to see the nation destroyed, and vows to exterminate all Jews. As American-Israel author Joel C. Rosenberg says, “You can’t make peace with people who don’t want peace.”

If there is any practical hope, “a just and moral solution to the conflict necessitates a Palestinian leadership that is genuinely committed to peace and ending its culture of incitement against the Jewish people…Sadly, Palestinian political culture continues to glorify terrorism and denies Israel’s right to exist.”

Let’s look in the Bible for a moment. “Scripture is clear that God has assigned the land to Israel (Gen. 12:1–7; Ex. 6:8), and prophecy speaks of its full restoration (Jer. 30:1-3; Ezek. 36:24–28). Scripture also repeatedly warns against unjust division of God’s land (Joel 3:1–3) and foretells judgment on nations that divide the land and mistreat God’s people, while Ezekiel 36:5 condemns nations that claim possession of Israel’s land with “utter contempt.” Furthermore, Numbers 35:33–34 warns against polluting the land through bloodshed—a consequence that any forced political solution risks incurring. Ultimately, God makes clear that the land belongs to the (Lord) (Lev. 25:23), and for this reason responsible stewardship of it is paramount.”

“The Jewish connection to the land is ancient and well-documented. The term ‘Jew’ derives from ‘Judea,’ a central region of Israel. Scripture, archaeological evidence and an enduring Jewish presence – even during exile – affirm this bond.

After crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, Rome renamed Judea ‘Palestina’ after the Philistines to mock the Jews. ‘Palestine’ referred to a geographic region at the time, not a distinct national identity.”

“The Middle East’s problems will not be solved by reducing them to hashtags or campus chants. They require patient engagement, nuanced understanding, and the kind of costly love that characterizes authentic Christian witness. This means speaking truthfully about Hamas’s terrorism while also acknowledging Palestinian suffering. It means supporting Israel’s right to defend itself while questioning whether all tactics serve the cause of justice. It means caring about Gaza while not forgetting those suffering in many other situations in the Middle East. It means advocating for Palestinian Christians while also defending Jewish families.”

In principle, I am in favor of a two-state solution, meaning I think it’s rational and ostensibly fair. But I favor a two-state solution only if Israel’s security can be maintained, only if Hamas terrorist leaders in Gaza are removed and others in leadership who follow truly renounce terrorism, and only if Hamas’s prime directive of eliminating Israel and all Jews is buried deep in the sands.

I also recognize the genuine plight of Palestinians, unwanted by Arab nations, caught in the middle of misery with no way out. They, too, need a solution.

I admit that the likelihood of this happening is slim, or at least is not predictable, currently. And one other major consideration not addressed here: peace between Israel and Palestine is inextricably tied in with what’s happening in Iran, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and more.

Our ultimate hope lies not in political solutions but in the Prince of Peace who will one day make all things right.

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. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.

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.

Details

Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 18 December 2025

Antisemitism is sadly alive and well and flourishing the world over, both among the Left and the Right.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #239 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.

Antisemitism is, simply put, hating Jews. A formal definition comes from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” 

Dec. 13, 2025, an armed individual walked into a Providence, RI, Brown University classroom of a Jewish professor “where students had gathered to review for their final exam in Principles of Economics, Brown’s most popular class and one that is dominated by freshmen. He killed two students and injured nine others.”

A day later, “December 14, 2025, a terrorist mass shooting occurred at Archer Park beside Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, in the late afternoon during a Hanukkah celebration attended by approximately one thousand people. Two gunmen shot at the crowd, killing 15 people, including a child. Police and Australian intelligence agencies declared it an Islamic State–linked terrorist incident. Numerous world leaders, news outlets and Australian authorities said the shooting was motivated by antisemitism.”

“Since the onset of the campus protests in October 2023, in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, one thing has become painfully clear: we have an antisemitism crisis on campus. The past academic year witnessed more than 1,400 antisemitic incidents on campuses across the nation – an unprecedented, all-time high.”

“A whopping 39% of Jewish college students have had to hide their identities on campus while 62% said they have been directly blamed for Israel’s military action in Gaza, according to a new report obtained by The New York Post. The civil rights group StopAntisemitism issued its 2025 ‘report cards’ grading how 90 colleges addressed the spreading hatred against Jews on campuses, with 14 schools flunking the exam.” Brown University is one of the fourteen.

“This surge of antisemitism in schools stems from a decade-long politicization of the education system, infiltrating every aspect from educational philosophy to curriculum and classroom discussions. If we want to get serious about addressing antisemitism, we must understand its driving force: the new leftist dogma.

At its core is ‘critical pedagogy,’ an educational philosophy that fuels resentment, victimhood, and collectivism, while promoting hatred towards certain groups.

It indoctrinates students to view the world through a lens of power dynamics and oppression. Cloaked in euphemisms such as ‘inclusivity’ and ‘social justice,’ this ideology – like all aspects of woke education – contains a destructive mind virus.”

“Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

1. Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
2. Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
3. Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
4. Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
5. Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
6. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
7. Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
8. Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
9. Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
10. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
11. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”

There is a sense in which antisemitism is no different than any other form of bigotry, hate, and harm directed at individuals or groups whose human characteristics differ from the hater. Racism exists in all societies. Discrimination and persecution have been directed at countless families, clans, tribes, and people groups since ancient times. Antisemitism, like all hate, is sin, and human beings are sinful people who sooner or later aim suspicion, fear, envy, or arrogance toward others different from themselves.

But in another sense, antisemitism is different from other forms of racism. Antisemitism targets Jews as a people, not just as followers of a religion. Historically, Jews have been treated as a racialized group (e.g., Nazi ideology), regardless of individual beliefs or practices. Because of this racialization, many legal systems and institutions classify antisemitism under racism or ethnic discrimination.

A Jewish person can be targeted even if they are atheist or secular. Antisemitic ideas often involve myths about bloodlines, inherent traits, or collective guilt, which go beyond religion. Antisemitism has some unique features compared to other forms of hate:

• Conspiracy theories (e.g., secret control of governments, media, or finance)
• Collective blame (holding all Jews responsible for real or imagined actions)
• Contradictory stereotypes (Jews portrayed simultaneously as weak and all-powerful)
• Persistence across very different cultures and time periods

Because of this, scholars often treat antisemitism as a specific category of hate, even when it is legally grouped under racism.

The Bible records examples of antisemitism. The Pharaoh and the Egyptians looked upon Jacob’s descendants and said, “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land... So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves” (Exodus 1:8–14).

“The Spirit of Amalek is the oldest enemy of Israel. The Amalekites were the first people to attack Israel when they left Egypt for the Promised Land” (Ex. 17:8). The ancient Amalekites became a symbol of unprovoked hatred toward Israel (Deut. 25:17-18).

In the book of Esther, “Haman was filled with fury…So, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom” (Esther 3:5–6). This is one of the clearest biblical depictions of attempted genocide against Jews. Surrounding Nations’ evidenced hatred of Israel, a collective wish for Israel’s destruction. “They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’” (Psalm 83:3–4).

The New Testament noted “…the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind…” (1 Thess. 2:14–15). This passage has historically been misused to justify antisemitism. But theological scholarly consensus emphasizes:

• Paul himself was Jewish
• It refers to specific authorities, not all Jews
• The New Testament elsewhere condemns hatred (Romans 11).

Meanwhile, the Bible reminds us that God’s covenant with the Jews is everlasting. “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant” (Gen. 17:7). “I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.” (Ezek. 37:21–28).

Antisemitism contradicts the Bible and the Christian ethic of love. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39). “Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner” (Prov. 14:21).

Jews are our neighbors. There are more Jews living in the United States – 7.5 million – than Jews living in Israel – 7.2 million. From Stephen Spielberg, Wolf Blitzer, Jerry Seinfeld, Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to the guy at your local grocery you didn’t know was Jewish, Jews are our neighbors and U.S. citizens.

Hating and harming them hurts them, it hurts America, and it hurts those who hate and harm.

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. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers. 

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.