Josh Benner

Tag: fox news

  • Tomi Lahren swings and misses on abortion

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    Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons @Gage Skidmore

    Life is bigger than politics.

     

    This weekend, Fox News pundit Tomi Lahren (a woman who’s generally conservative-libertarian but who happens to be pro choice) argued that abortion isn’t a battle worth fighting.

    In her argument, Lahren says that conservatives lose on social issues. I think this is part of the failure of her argument. The life of an unborn baby is not a “social issue.” It’s a fundamental right that the child has.

    She argues that a challenge on Roe vs Wade is unlikely to succeed. That might be true. But does that mean it’s not worth trying?

    I don’t think Lahren gets it because she’s. not. pro. life. She’s pro choice and she’s also looking at the issue from a political perspective, what’s expedient, what’ll help get votes.

    The argument I find most troubling is that Lahren argues that “it’s not the government’s place to dictate.” It’s not the government’s place to dictate? The government necessarily has to dictate some things with this issue. For instance, for Miss Lahren, at what point is an abortion no longer justified? And who decides that?

    If she feels like it’s not the government’s role, wouldn’t a better answer be to leave it up to the states? It’s not like a reversal of Roe would make abortion illegal or dictate to everyone what they can or cannot do.

    But I return to my point that the lives of the unborn are worth fighting for. Political popularity doesn’t dictate what’s moral.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Is the media making truth harder to know?

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    With major news stories, does anyone else ever feel like it can be incredibly hard to even know what’s true?
     
    All of the media outlets have agenda, the spin that comes from both parties, facts getting twisted, intellectual dishonesty. I believe that truth is inherently worth knowing and pursuing and I feel like they make it so hard. I’ve read multiple articles on the border situation everyday this week. 
     
    It’s complicated. There’s a lot of context to these situations. 
     
    But it’s made so much more complicated to understand because of coverage. And I see it with stories all the time. 
     
    Every major media outlet does things that undermine their own credibility. Not saying they’re wrong on everything, but they’ve all been guilty of things to where I feel they can’t be trusted on everything. Some of the photos that are being shared aren’t even recent. Most noteworthy among them is the one of the little girl who’s crying. The one Time put on the cover. It’s not even true. She was never even separated from her mother. 
    There is no media outlet that has the credibility where they deserve to be implicitly trusted based on reputation alone.
     
    You hear different statistics and then conflicting statistics. 
     
    There are questions about what did or did not happen during the Obama administration. What Trump can or cannot do in regards to the border. 
     
    I also feel like a lot of things hinge on which side of the political aisle someone is on. Some people will just automatically assume it’s bad and wrong if Trump does it (same when Obama was president, same when George W. Bush was president). Others will generally be inclined to agree with the president if he’s in their party. But it’s shortsighted to think one president is always right or always wrong, and I feel like that biases how we interpret events in the world. 
     
    It’s so hard for there to be civility in arguments. There’s so much venom and vitriol. So much judgment and condemnation with those who respectfully disagree. So many assumptions we make about people’s character and intelligence based purely on if they agree or disagree with us. 
     
    We assume that people who disagree have their heads in the sand. 
     
    It’s hard to know what’s true! 
     
    For every statement, there is an opposite statement that someone will make where they also have a link to something that agrees with their point. 
     
    And it goes round and round. 
    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.