In 2022, research found that almost 1 in 5 Gen Z-ers were willing to quit their job to be an "influencer" on social media. 12% would quit college. So, whatever an influencer is, it sure seems important to this generation. Is that for good or for ill? While there are rarely clear answers to questions like these, here are some thoughts that might offer a sound perspective on the newfangled industry of "influencing."

Last time, we discussed the two sides of the intramural pro-life debate: abolitionists and prudentialists. And we observed that each side has a valid perspective based on a very true aspect of the issue. But shall the twain ever meet?

Last time, we discussed several moral issues that arise when man decides to "play God" in the area of human reproduction. In vitro fertilization always takes innocent life. Embryonic genetic editing tends towards the sad assumption that the mother is the only patient involved, because the embryo is not considered a patient. And efforts to alter a baby's genetics don't have an easy line between "health-related concerns" and flat-out "child enhancement."

The pro-life movement is solidly consolidated in its stance on abortion. And this is for good reason, given how heinous and grievous of a crime abortion is. However, abortion is not the only contemporary issue fundamentally affecting nascent life. One issue on which pro-lifers arguably have less of a consensus involves the medical practices for various forms of artificial reproductive technology.

There's a common debate that tends to pop up in pro-life circles when "partial solutions" to the evil of abortion are proposed. Incremental pro-life moves, such as a ban on abortion after the baby is 15 weeks old, tend to draw both ire and praise from the same side of the aisle.

Doors are insensitive. They just stand there, entirely filling up the entrance to their houses and obstinately obstructing the way without caring who's at the doorstep. Society would seem a lot more hospitable without doors, wouldn't it? Sure, maybe—but society would also be a lot less safe. The insensitivity of a door is precisely what protects you at night.

Have you ever wondered why so many companies invest so much energy and resources into being woke? After all, business seems like it should be about, well, business! Basic economics tells us that resources are always scarce, and the goal of a successful corporation is to use its resources more effectively than its competitors and thus make a profit.

We ended the last piece in the middle of our discussion of the biblical benefits of homeschooling. Jesus tells us that every student, when he is trained fully, will be like his master (Luke 6:40), which prompts us to ask: what kind of masters are my children being trained by? We discussed the godless ideas permeating the public school classroom, but education is more than just ideas. It also involves people. So let's also consider more than just the lessons being taught; what about the people teaching them?

In a recent piece together, we explored one of the major benefits of homeschooling that greatly impacted me as a student: the freedom that my parents had to tailor my education to my needs. I know many other homeschool families have reaped this benefit from homeschooling as well. Homeschooling parents are able to educate their children according to their individual needs and aptitudes, which often results in a more rigorous and productive education than the standard fare in the public school system.

I've been blessed to write several dozen articles for IFI on topics ranging from transgender bathrooms to sports gambling to the politically correct concept of "ableism." It's been a very fun ride. But, peering back through it all—the rants on the artificial fertility lobby and the exposés of abortion politics, the laments over the modern denial of science and the abandonment of logic—I still think back to the very first article I ever wrote for the Institute: COVID Boosted Idea of Educational Freedom.

The "slippery slope" idea is sometimes a fallacy. But other times, it's simply the way the world works. Concerned conservative Christians—the ones who warned us that legalizing one sexual perversion would lead to another down the road—were right. Say hello to polyamory, 2024.

When a culture increasingly redefines marriage, marriage itself will eventually become meaningless. If marriage can mean anything you want it to, then it actually means nothing. An example of this is a new trend that is emerging in our country: open marriages and polyamory.

Online sports gambling has been around for a while, but it has really put the pedal to the floor over the last few years. This is partly because the activity enjoys much more legal leeway now than it has in the past. Only just a few years ago, states were forbidden by federal law from operating or sponsoring sports lotteries, but the Supreme Court struck down that law in the case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (2018).

Every school has to know at least a little bit about the students it is teaching, and every school has to provide at least something of value to its students. But there's a flipside—in pursuit of these goals, schools should not pry into areas of family life beyond their proper purview. While every family will have slightly different standards about what is appropriate for schools to inquire about or provide for their kids, I think that concerned parents and observers of the education system may soon sound the alarm that schools are becoming too intrusive.

Does it ever seem if the cultural left's calls to action are often aimed at problems that seem—at least somewhat—manufactured? Does it seem almost as if, in a world that isn't run their way, we wouldn't have to face the kinds of issues that they’re trying to fix?