As has always been the case for Americans, the new year is a time for setting new goals, seeking restoration and renewal, shedding harmful habits, and resolving to do better in the future. Here are some resolutions that our nation would do well to adopt for 2016.

When in doubt, pass more laws. Instead of examining the root causes behind increasing gun violence in America, apply an ill-conceived, legally questionable legislative solution that will rob law abiding Americans of their constitutional rights while doing nothing to prevent criminals from doing what they do best

Robert Dear’s attack on Planned Parenthood provides the exact kind of red herring that Planned Parenthood so desperately needs in order to continue avoiding the true issue at stake in the debate over abortion. Thanks to one crazy man’s actions, the nation’s largest abortion provider can continue to obfuscate the reality of their work instead of owning up to the fact that they are, in fact, in the business of killing unborn children.

Mr. Obama must set aside ideology and confront reality. The fantasy world that he sees through the lens of his ideological vanity is going to result in more bloodshed, quite possibly here within our own borders. It’s time for the President to confront the world as it is, not as he wishes it to be. Radical Islam has declared war on the civilized world. Does the President have the chutzpah to wage war against radical Islam?

Communist China’s one-child policy resulted in millions of abortions, higher suicide rates, and a demographic crisis. Most Americans probably believe that such a thing could never happen here, but they are wrong.

Dying with dignity does not require suicide. The scenario posited by Governor Brown, in which a dying person is given the option to die in pain or die with dignity, presents a false choice and assumes that there are only two alternatives at the end of life – pain or death.

More maddening than the Obama Administration are the many American Christians neglecting the Persecuted Church. The challenge is that when advocating on behalf of the Persecuted Church, we must simultaneously highlight the social injustices within the Islamic world and the role radical Islam and Jihad play. This is uncomfortable for many Evangelicals.

There is a troubling and growing trend, whereby behavior otherwise condemned as uncivilized, backwards, cruel, and morally reprehensible is permitted in the name of “cultural sensitivity.” Apparently in Afghanistan, this means turning a blind eye to the desperate cries of children as they are abused and scarred for life at the hands of perverted men on a power trip.

Yes, indeed black lives matter. Every life matters. May the day come soon when we embrace this truth wholly, no longer looking at the color of our skin or the age or condition of our fellow man, but simply acknowledging that we are all members of the human family, deserving of respect and the full measure of protection of the law.

Human beings have always had an extraordinary capacity for self-delusion. We justify horrible things by telling ourselves that we are acting in the service of a noble cause, or by dehumanizing the victims of our unjust actions. History is littered with the corpses of innocent men and women who died in the name of their persecutor’s depraved ideology. Josef Mengele is perhaps the most famous example of this principle.