Listener Feedback for October

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Up next, listener feedback for the month of October.

We begin with a note from a college student studying elementary education at Colorado Christian University.

He offered a correction after our story on October 19th regarding Oklahoma’s approval of a religious charter school. In the interview, guest Ernie Walton from Regent University Law School defined a charter school as a “private school that operates with a contract with the state to educate children.”

NICK EICHER, HOST: But listener Nathan Baylor points out that while charter schools do maintain their own board of governance and are operated independently of the public school system—it is still considered a public school, not a private one.

Our next correction comes from the news yesterday. We described the gun believed to have been used in the shooting in Maine as an “assault-style rifle.” Now, assault rifles are capable of both automatic and semi automatic fire. But AR-15’s—like the weapon we described—are not capable of fully automatic fire, so the term “assault rifle” is a misnomer.

BROWN: In general WORLD tries to avoid the term “assault-style weapon” even as many other outlets use it as a catch-all term. We apologize for letting that slip through the editorial process.

Our first listener comment comes from Patrice Brink. She lives in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, and she responded to a recent commentary by Bethel McGrew:

PATRICE BRINK: I just wanted to make a positive comment about Bethel McGrew's commentary on the three progressive anti-abortion uprising activists who were found guilty for their protest outside of the Washington D.C. abortion clinic. Her comparison of these three with the Good Samaritan is an entirely apt comparison, and I was very pleased with the report. We should support them because we are all in support of unborn life. Thanks for your great reporting. I appreciate it.

EICHER: But a pro-life activist and WORLD listener named Maryln from Washington state thought that we left out some important information in that commentary.

MARYLN: I agree that pro-life advocates do not need to adhere to every aspect of a Christian worldview, and we can appreciate these activist commitment to protecting preborn children. However, many of us cannot agree with their aggressive tactics, not only are they unlawful, they are ineffective. These aggressive methods may also limit access for peaceful sidewalk advocates as buffer zone laws are put into effect as a response. So let’s emphasize what works. Thank you for all you do to defend life.

There are two stories this month that generated a lot of mail. The first one was the two-part story from you, Myrna, on church libraries. And here is listener Rebecca Payne:

REBECCA PAYNE: As an early childhood literacy specialist and a Christian, I just wanted to thank you for your recent episode about church libraries. For a family with financial constraints who needs to use libraries to fuel their children's reading—and their reading to their children—the church library having access to books that are God honoring that the city library usually doesn't have, is an excellent resource and something that I'm thankful that church libraries do exist and are able to provide. And I'm hoping that your piece will bring more light to them.

BROWN: Thanks Rebecca. Listener Kaylee Feeny was also grateful for the stories, though she reminded us that not every church has a robust library—meaning some families still have to rely on their community library. She writes:

“As Christians, we can enter these spaces with humility and wisdom and most of all, trusting God. [I] just want to remind people to not feel guilty or afraid about visiting their public library. I don't want Christians to ‘cancel’ their public libraries. How sad that would be!”

EICHER: There were also a handful of listeners who wrote in to tell us about personal lending library services as another alternative, and we’re looking into those for a future story.

And now onto a story that generated more mail than anything else we’ve done in recent memory: Emails from those who enjoyed the extended Culture Friday interview with Rosaria Butterfield which we featured last weekend.

Here’s listener Matt Brown:

MATT BROWN: Oh my, I’m deeply moved, deeply impressed, deeply convicted, deeply challenged, and I will be reading her book, and I will be following any podcasts that she does. Another clarifying voice when we so desperately need to hear from in our world of muddled thinking among evangelicals. Again. Thank you so much for this segment. Have a great day.

BROWN: Long-time listener Joan Lasseter from Montgomery, Alabama, adds: “This had me sitting up, taking notes, and rejoicing with her final psalm-singing! Everything she said was offered intelligently AND humbly, truly instructive and thoughtful! Loved this, and might listen to it every day for a while (lots to unpack-and so very timely).”

EICHER: Dennis Daise of Goodland, Kansas writes to say he thought the extended version is an excellent idea. He thought Rosaria answered questions that the listener could relate to in this day and age! In other words, Christians don’t always have to be on the defensive!

BROWN: And there were many just like that. The majority of the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and nearly everyone asked for more.

EICHER: Well, we’re working on it, and hopefully we’ll have some more to say about that in the weeks ahead. Thanks to everyone who wrote and called in this month. We’re grateful that you listen, and that you take the time to provide thoughtful feedback.

BROWN: And thanks to everyone who has left comments and ratings on Apple iTunes. If you have comments to share with us you can send them to editor@wng.org. And if you’re writing, why not take a moment and record your comments on your phone and send those along as well? We’ve included instructions on how to do that on our website: wng.org/podcasts. If you’d rather call, then you can reach our listener line at 202–709-9595.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.