Listener feedback: June 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, June 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next. listener feedback for the month of June we start things off with Sally Brogy from Whitinsville, Massachusetts. She sends these comments on Culture Friday from last week.

SALLY BROGY: In the Culture Friday segment on June 20th, John Stonestreet gave an overview of what Islamic teachings say about the annihilation of nonbelievers. It made me think of my Islamic coworker who seems to be a caring, friendly and well educated great coworker. So I thought that it may be important to make a distinction that in both Christianity and in Islam there are both true believers and cultural believers.

We understand that true believers in the Islamic faith will want to kill and destroy anyone who has not expressed fidelity to Muhammad. However, likely there are many people who call themselves Islamic who are only culturally Islamic. Perhaps my coworker who may not even know these these teachings of the Quran. The contrast between the two faiths still exists. One Faith teaches to kill the nonbelievers while the other faith wants to save nonbelievers. But I think it's important for us to recognize that some people who say they are Islamic actually may not be Islamic. Of course as Christians we want to love and show love to all people and hopefully get a chance to share the gospel. Thanks very much again. God bless you all.

EICHER: Next, physician Amy Givler. She had a comment on our June 10th story on the California riots.

In the setup to the report I used the phrase “suspected illegals” and that didn’t sit well.

AMY GIVLER: As a physician, my ears perked up because I'm very sensitive to language that labels a human being by a characteristic they have or a behavior they have. In medicine, we call that “person first” language, and “person first” language means that I'm training myself to say the person with diabetes, rather than saying the diabetic or he is struggling with drug addiction, rather than saying he is a drug addict. … When I say that, I was saying basically: he equals drug addict, but he is a person. He is made in the image of God, a human being, and so much more than his drug addiction. So likewise, people who are in the United States illegally are not illegals, because that robs them of their humanity.

Fair point … of course word choice does matter. I did write back to Dr. Givler and part of what I said I’ll share here: namely, that I meant the phrase not as a label but as a journalistic shorthand for “suspected illegal entrants” or “suspected illegal aliens.” The aim was not to dehumanize but to reflect, with word economy, the legal category relevant to the story and the actions ICE was taking.

It was a four-and-a-half-minute report already dense with legal terminology … and we were trying to avoid piling up technical phrases that could bog down the story or make the audio harder to follow.

But that said, her reminder is helpful: we always want to speak with truth and with grace—recognizing the image of God in all people while at the same time accurately describing the issues at hand.

Thank you Dr. Givler for taking the time to raise the point. It’s well-taken.

BROWN: Next, listener Becky Manring appreciated Andrew Walker’s commentary on Christian elites…and she offered this antidote:

BECKY MANRING: Colossians 2:6-7 says, “Therefore, as you received Christ, Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

There is a shameful lack of rootedness in Christ and His Word in the family of God. And Mr. Walker's assessment, I believe, ties directly to the surveys that The World And Everything in It discussed on Friday, June 13th, from Arizona Christian University's cultural research center. We listeners heard the results that stated only 6% of self-identified Christians actually live and think in ways that align with the Biblical worldview. So really, is it any wonder that Mr. Walker found a dearth of faithfulness in the evangelical elite?

I believe that we need to exhort ourselves with the Word of God, not blog posts. To demand of ourselves to be in churches that preach from actual scripture, not settle for online recordings. To encourage one another, not with memes, but with Bible verses to root us in the Word. And we certainly need to pray that the Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with the mind of Christ to truly walk in Him, we must ring aloud again: Solus Christus, sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, soli, DEO, Gloria to God, be the glory.

A couple more comments from listeners. Next, we head to Dallas, Texas where Michaela Meyer lives. She expresses gratitude for the recent interview with novelist Andrew Klavin.

MICHAELA MEYER: I'm a painter doing an artist residency here through a ministry called Transform Arts… And I just wanted to thank you for your interview with Andrew Klavan and share how it impacted me. As a Christian artist it's been a challenge to navigate the art world because it feels like you always have one foot and two conflicting ideologies. I love Klavan’s emphasis on truth transcending the divide between the sacred and the secular. And the humility it takes to see that God reveals things to non-believers that I—as a Christian—then sees. It has made me more curious and hopeful about the future of our culture, because I believe that God is pouring out His words on a multitude of artists, even if they aren't fully aware of the source of their inspiration. Thank you for all that you do.

EICHER: One more call this morning. This one from Matt Brown who lives in Tucson, Arizona…

MATT BROWN: Just listened to The World and Everything in It today. This is Thursday, June 12, and wanted to say that the segment Myrna Brown did with this woman who's building tiny houses in Alabama represents a “can do attitude” and a proactive approach to this housing crisis that is just absolutely impressive, inspirational.

Kudos to Myrna Brown. And also the segment by Cal Thomas on the Vietnam Saigon orphans that came to the U.S.…deeply, deeply moving. And it's just heartwarming and refreshing to hear stories of that nature that reminds us what we can do and how we can impact and change lives. So thanks so much to Cal Thomas for that segment.

Well, thanks to everyone who wrote and called in this month. It’s good to hear from you. We’re grateful you take the time to share your thoughts with us.

And just as grateful when you share your resources. Those gifts are what keep this program coming to you each day. We're in the home stretch of our June Giving Drive: today, the weekend, and Monday, and then we close the books.

Now, here’s the simple reality: the depth and reach of our reporting travel at the pace your generosity allows. Every gift extends the miles we can go, the interviews we can conduct, the writing and editing hours we can devote to getting each story just so.

BROWN: So if you’ve benefited from The World and Everything in It—or from WORLD’s wider coverage—would you make that known by contributing to our June Giving Drive. Every gift makes a difference ... a few dollars or quite a few dollars, it all comes together to fuel biblically grounded journalism for the year ahead.

WNG.org/JuneGivingDrive is the place to go. And again, thanks for helping us keep truth in front of listeners every day.

EICHER: If you have a comment to share you can email editor@wng.org. You can include an audio file attachment to your email and we’ll consider it for air. You can even phone it in at 202-709-9595.

BROWN: And that’s Listener Feedback for the month of June!

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.