Culture Friday: The state of society

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 31st of May, 2024.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

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BROWN: Well, Nick, it’s so good to see you. [Oh, I think it’s better to see you than to see me!!] Usually we’re in different cities, in different studios, and only the magic of the medium makes it seem that we’re sitting across from one another.

But we are once again in Northwestern Iowa, Sioux Center, enjoying the hospitality of Dordt University … and in the company of some special students at World Journalism Institute. They’re working so hard, asking good questions, and really engaging with us to learn more about the craft of Biblically objective journalism. I’m sad that it’s the last day. It’s always a joy to watch passionate young people grow in their skills and abilities, and my pleasure to have a part in it.

EICHER: Agree with all that and looking forward to listening to their final projects later on tonight. But before we welcome Katie McCoy for Culture Friday, let’s listen in on the end of devotions a couple of days ago, Myrna, when you taught the students to sing!

STUDENTS SINGING: [HE HAS DONE MARVELOUS THINGS!]

If that doesn’t encourage you to hear aspiring Christian journalists who’ll be the future observers of God’s marvelous things and faithful reporters of the marvelous things He will do and communicate that with truth and grace.

BROWN: Yes! Well, next on The World and Everything in It: Culture Friday. Joining us is author and speaker Katie McCoy. Good morning!

KATIE MCCOY: Good morning Nick and Myrna, always great to be with you!

EICHER: All right. Well, Katie, we're starting with a sad story today, an incredibly sad story out of Holland. A writer for the Free Press told the story of Zoraya ter Beek. Tough history. At age 21 Zoraya was diagnosed with autism. She had also suffered from depression and anxiety. And about a year after that autism diagnosis, she took to wearing a tag around her neck that said, Do Not Resuscitate. Just going throughout her days wearing it like a necklace with the message Do Not Resuscitate. So by age 26, she had applied for Holland's doctor assisted suicide program. And let me read now from the Free Press directly. “Last Wednesday, her wish was finally granted. After a three year wait Zoraya ended her life through physician assisted suicide. She had just turned 29.” So zooming out on this, the reporter wrote a very sensitive piece, and she had followed Zoraya for at least two years in her reporting on the growth of assisted suicide around the world. Let me quote the writer, she said, “I told Zoraya more than once that I understood her suffering, but I hoped that she would not go through with her decision to kill herself. It was hard to hear the news that she had died, that the society in which she lived had given up on a young person who had so much to live for and so many years ahead.” Now, Katie, I find that an interesting thought. But as I read on, as I read a few pieces about Zoraya, it seemed at least arguable that society here didn't give up on her. I'm actually seeing what I think is evidence that this euthanasia worldview seems more active than passive. In other words, the law as moral teacher, it seems more and more are being taught through the law, that killing themselves is not only the way to go, but you know, we'll help you with it. Is that too harsh on assessment?

MCCOY: This story was absolutely devastating. A young woman in her 20s who clearly needed help for most of her life, and she had multiple different issues, not only psychologically, but then also neurologically related to autism that caused her to just feel like she didn't fit. When I read her story, there was such a hopelessness in it that you cannot help but have a deeply broken heart for her. I think you're exactly right, though. Society did usher her into this, not only by making it an option, but by making it one so readily available. You know, here in the United States, we have some states that do have legalized physician-assisted suicide. In the Netherlands, however, it goes even a step further. There are organizations that hand out what's called suicide kits. Where if you're denied, or delayed from the government, your desire to have a physician-assisted suicide, you can do it yourself. This is horrific. And it is one of the many ways we see that in this generation, especially Generation Z that is coming up, there's such helplessness, such lack of purpose. And it is one of the ways that Satan has blinded the eyes of people to the truth of the life that is in Jesus. And if this doesn't give us motivation to be proclaiming the hope that we have in him, what more of a tee-up could we need? You know, one of the things we see with these stories is people being open about the hopelessness that they feel. How many other people do we see on just a daily basis that have this sense of emptiness and feeling like there's no way out? And you know, Nick, another thing about her story that stood out to me, she described how her psychiatrist basically looks at her and said, there's nothing more we can do. Well, how does that not affect a young 20-something who's looking at the whole rest of her life saying, it's going to be like this forever? I'm going to feel like this forever. So the responsibility that the medical community has, certainly religious community and educational community has, to help this woman look beyond her immediate circumstance to help her find a sense of purpose and meaning and significance in society, to say nothing of her spiritual need for reconciliation to God and Christ. What a magnificent wake-up call for all of us to recognize the state of the society we're living in and the hopelessness that is so common all around us.

EICHER: Well, Katie, I have a follow up, and I wonder what you think about this: when doctor-assisted suicide started to be presented to the public—whether we're talking about Canada or U.S. individual U.S. states that did it, Holland and so forth—it was always around terminally ill people a certain number of months of life likely remaining, that sort of thing. Of course, if you're pro-life even that isn't acceptable. But my point is that we're always drawing new moral lines. Here it is, don't cross that line. But then we always seem to find our way across and we've crossed it again, we've drawn a new line. And on this side of the line now it's people who are profoundly depressed. But we'll make sure there's a waiting list. There'll be some safeguards like that. But my follow up question is, isn't euthanasia fundamentally unregulatable, on the margin.

MCCOY: It's a great point. In fact, in Nancy Pearcy’s book, Love Thy Body, she has a chapter on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. She makes the point that it's actually very few people applying for this that have unbearable pain, or what we might say, is applying for it because of a mercy death. They're just living in the throes of such suffering that they are asking for a way out that is humane and controlled and medically supervised. That's actually a very small percentage of those who are applying for medically-assisted suicide. So much of it that we're seeing more and more has to do with a psychological need. People have anxiety, depression, they feel like they just can't shake the cloud that they're in, that they can't climb out of the hole. And it demonstrates how we have to be, as we talked about, especially thinking about connecting this to different technological advances that we have. I know this isn't about technological advances. But certainly this question of, can we, versus should we, applies to euthanasia, medically-assisted suicide, and a host of other things that happen in the medical community, ostensibly for the betterment of humanity in the human condition. But can easily be going awry, and be harmful to people if it's not guided by some transcendent principles of what we should do, not just what we can do.

BROWN: Well, Katie, I want to take you back one year ago. It was the beginning of this so-called Pride Month, and we asked you about how LGBT activism has stepped up under the Biden administration. And here's what you said:

MCCOY (2023): I think we're seeing this come up to a new level of activism, especially corporate activism. You know, it used to be that this was about tolerance, acceptance, respect, things that every human being should be able to expect from their fellow citizen. Now, however, this isn't about tolerance. This is about recognition. I think there's a couple of things going on. First of all, this year, it seems like we're seeing so much more that specifically targeted to children. And parents all over, whether or not they are religious, some of them are atheist. And they're just saying enough. This is enough.

So one year later, Katie, is enough still enough?

MCCOY: Well, if Target is any indication, then we may see the tide beginning to turn. Target is scaling back and changing to geographically focused locations where they are going to put pride materials out this year. So in other words, boycotts kind of do work. And we certainly saw how people just had total backlash to saying, “I'm not going to shop at Target anymore.” They were willing to change their rhythms. You had moms saying, “I'm done. I'm getting my groceries and everything else that somewhere else.” Now, interestingly, Myrna, Walmart seems ready to take up the baton, they have already rolled out quite a big campaign. But I think this past year has demonstrated a confluence of a few things. Corporations are recognizing that maybe this is not worth the risk. That the bet that they're taking on the everyday American not caring, may come back to bite them. But along with that, we're also seeing more and more research-based institutions say that, hey, this “transgender, trans affirming care,” for children has no substantial factual basis. And we also have the legal sphere of more and more detransitioners suing their medical caregivers for fraud, negligence and medical malpractice. You put all of that together, and I think corporations are doing what they do for better or for worse. They're going to read the market, and they're going to have to do business decisions that they can give an account for to their shareholders. And I think enough is enough. The temptation, however, will be to let your foot off the gas to not be mindful of the different companies that are pushing this agenda. And it's always a good time to remind people, Myrna, that you know, we can't all do everything. But each of us can do something.

BROWN: You know, it's interesting, Katie, some companies, as you say, are changing. Other organizations like the one I'm about to talk about are not. Well, La Leche is an organization started in the 50s, advocating for breastfeeding babies. And until now, there was never a need to explain who would be breastfeeding babies. I mean, that would be absurd, right? Well, now this internationally acclaimed organization is welcoming biological males into its classes and spaces. Now, Katie, I breastfed both my babies, and it is the most wonderful thing ever. And they're just messing it up.

MCCOY: Myrna, they've lost the plot. It's just insanity. But let's take a step back. And before we look at how our culture is twisting this, let's look at what God designed. God designed mothers to be able to breastfeed their babies, and in so doing have a strong psychological and emotional bond. You know, right after a baby is born, a mother's breast milk emits a scent similar to the amniotic fluid that surrounded the infant in utero. And you mentioned this European organization, there are a lot of practices in Europe very different from American maternity wards, where they just have the patience to allow the newborn to be placed on the mother's chest immediately after birth. And within a short time navigating by scent, the baby is able to latch on to its mother exclusively through scent. And then of course, in the mother's first days, her breast milk is giving antibodies, antioxidants for the newborns immune system. It is truly remarkable. And it is built into a woman's body to be able to do that for the physical and emotional health and well being of her child. That's part of what makes this story so insane, is you have biological men who, either to fulfill a fantasy or fetish, want to have a simulated experience of being a woman. And they are demanding to have a synthetic hormone cocktail that would allow them to “lactate.” Now, not only can they not produce breast milk the same way that a postpartum mother can, but because it is hormonally produced synthetically, it is passing on to the baby serious health risks, especially to the baby's heart. Again, all so that this biological male can have the experience of pretending that he is female. You know, all of these things have been headed this direction. Before it was telling conservatives and Christians to just shut up. I hope that society stands up, whether you are religious, whether you are an atheist, and say this is way too far. This is crossed the line of a trend. It is now harming infants. And I think about the organization of Katie Faust, Them Before Us. We have completely lost that in our society, whether that is family structure, decisions about divorce, abortion, hookup culture, and now transgender parents—fill in the blank. Once we get away from God's design for sex, marriage, and family, we open ourselves up to a host of distortions.

EICHER: All right. Author and speaker Katie McCoy. Thanks so much, Katie. Have a great weekend.

MCCOY: Thank you. So good to see you all. Happy Friday.

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