Population decline is no longer a future projection but a present reality. The West, if not the world, is well into a shrinking and aging population trend. The USA's population replacement rate is 1.6, well below the 2.1 children per child-bearing-age woman needed for replacement without something like immigration. Nearly all the economically advanced countries of the world are in similar shape or worse, including China, Japan, and South Korea. Reason for this global phenomenon are rooted not in biology but in moral or philosophic choices influencing couples' attitudes and actions re procreation. The focus now is mostly on self-actualization as opposed to families. These trends directly affect economic and cultural vitality and the country's prospects for the future. Christian teaching calls children a reward, not a burden, and blesses family structures. For more Christian commentary, see my website, www.rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers. #PopulationDecline #ReplacementRate #GrowthOrDecline

Jan. 19, 2026, about three dozen protesters entered the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, disrupting an ongoing worship service and chanting “ICE out” and “Renee Good." Some of the protestors claimed a First Amendment right allowing their actions, while opponents argued the protestors violated the First Amendment rights of church parishioners attending the service. Confusion over 1A rights is now as much a part of the Minneapolis discussion as people's differing views of ICE, immigration, law enforcement, and protest. Needless to say, 1A involves not only freedom of speech but freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, key and critical elements of the American experience. For more Christian commentary see my website www.rexmrogers.com or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers. #protest #FirstAmendment #IllegalImmigrants #ICE #Soulforce

Elected officials on the Left and Right, Progressives, Democrats, and Republicans have become increasingly bold and often crude in their public comments attacking the opposition or decrying some development they do not like. Traditional four-letter words are passé. Now it's vulgarities like the F-word. Apparently officials think this makes them sound tough or sincere or authoritative. But more importantly, elected officials are now calling for citizen followers not simply to "protest peacefully," but to "resist," to pushback, to fight, and this is specifically aimed at law enforcement officials. Leaders don't seem to realize that, though they did not say "become violent," followers hear their cranked-up rhetoric and take it to the next level of physical altercation. This is called a stochasic effect wherein public speakers use vague, coded, or inflammatory language that demonizes a target, allowing the speaker to maintain "plausible deniability" for any subsequent violence. It's happening regularly in American political discourse and it is dangerous. For more Christian commentary see my website www.rexmroger.com or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers. #violence #mobs #anarchy #FreedomOfSpeech #protest