Culturally impaired

In a year of decline, Christians displayed a little clout | Gene Edward Veith

Even though the culture kept slouching towards Gomorrah, Christians actually exerted some influence on the culture (and vice versa). Here are some cultural milestones of 1997:

Information technology is now the nation's largest industry. Computer and media-related businesses passed construction, the food industry, and automobile manufacturing, according to a study of Commerce Department data sponsored by the NASDAQ stock market and the American Electronics Association.

In trying to come to terms with this new mega-industry-which did not even exist a few years ago-the courts reined in Microsoft but struck down efforts to protect children from Internet predators.

TV networks finally succumbed to pressure to adopt movie-style ratings. Then, except for NBC, they succumbed again to pressure to make them more informative by including symbols for the various kinds of objectionable content. But whether the ratings have made much of a difference in the nation's viewing habits remains to be seen.