America is dying younger.

Last month marked the 100^th anniversary of the end of World War I.

Not surprisingly, during the years 1915-1918, the average American life expectancy shrank. More than 100,000 Americans died from the war, and another 675,000 of Spanish flu.

Today, U. S. life expectancy is shrinking again. As the Washington Post reports, we’ve just endured the worst four-year stretch for life expectancy since World War I.

Think about that. Life expectancy trends today match those of a time of war and pandemic?

What’s driving the trends today are so-called deaths from despair. Rates of suicide, drug addictions and overdoses are spiking, and despite those trends, more and more states are legalizing assisted suicide and embracing marijuana!

As more drift away from the church, as moral truths are hunted from the public square, as the church accommodates to the culture, as the narcissism of a “me and my desires” culture sweeps away an entire generation, as the family loses its central place and role. . . are we even surprised?