The World and Everything in It: April 28, 2026

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

The White House says the words of the President’s accused would-be assassin sound too familiar.

LEAVITT: Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler, are fueling this kind of violence.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today: the legal battle ahead for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

And as talks stall outside Iran, what’s going on inside?

Later: the Christian rock band The 77s return with new music.

ROE: There really isn't any intent behind this, other than to express whatever we're going through with the lyrics.

And WORLD Commentator Denny Burk on poison in our politics—and repentance as the antidote.

BROWN: It’s Tuesday, April 28th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: WHCD shooting latest » The man accused of carrying out Saturday's attack at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in Washington faced a judge in a federal courtroom in D.C. on Monday.

Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California listened as prosecutors read the charges against him. He did not enter a plea.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche:

BLANCHE: The first count is attempted assassination of the President of the United States. This count is punishable by up to life in prison. The second count is interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony. This is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

He is also charged with discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. That is also punishable by up to life in prison.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro:

PIRRO: This was an attempted assassination of the President of the United States with the defendant, making clear what his intent was, and that intent was to bring down as many of the high ranking cabinet officials as he could.

A judge ordered Allen held pending further hearings. The 31-year-old Caltech graduate is a teacher with no prior criminal record.

We’ll have more on that White House correspondent dinner attack later in the program.

SOUND: [Military band]

King Charles in Washington » A military band playing "God Save the King", part of a welcome ceremony as Britain's King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, stepped off a plane at Joint Base Andrews. The king is in town for a four-day visit.

Saturday's correspondents' dinner shooting prompted a last-minute security review. Buckingham Palace says the king is "greatly relieved" no one in the president's party was harmed.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters hours earlier:

LEAVITT: First Lady Melania Trump has led all of the preparation for the state visit, which will honor the longstanding and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The visit comes amid friction between Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran war. Charles will likely look to smooth things over during his visit.

The king is set to address a joint meeting of Congress today, making him just the second British monarch to do so after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.

Iran talks » Karoline Leavitt also told reporters on Monday that President Trump still wants to end the Iran war at the bargaining table, but some things are non-negotiable.

LEAVITT: I don't wanna get ahead of the president or his national security team. What I will reiterate is that the president's red lines, with respect to Iran, have been made very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as well.

The president's biggest red line: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The U.S. is pressing Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment for 20 years and ship its enriched uranium out of the country.

Iran's latest offer skips both demands. Tehran proposes reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the U.S. naval blockade first, and pushing nuclear talks down the road. Trump said Tehran’s latest offer was better, but not good enough.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the talks are complicated:

RUBIO: Our negotiators aren't just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they're willing to do, even who they're willing to meet with.

Rubio says economic pressure on Iran may yet force a deal.

Israel-Hezbollah » In Israel:

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the Lebanese-based terror group Hezbollah now has only about 10 percent of the missiles it started with when the recent conflict began.

The Israeli military says it struck 20 Hezbollah military targets in southern Lebanon and the Eastern Beqaa Valley Monday. That comes in response to what Israel says were repeated attacks mounted by Hezbollah in violation of the ongoing fragile ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments. Hezbollah never formally agreed to hold its fire.

Also Monday:

SOUND: [Funeral for Israeli soldier]

...hundreds of mourners turned out for the funeral of a 19-year-old Israeli soldier killed in a drone attack by Hezbollah over the weekend.

Idan Fooks is the third Israeli soldier to die in combat since the beginning of the ceasefire.

Japan’s PM launches panel to review defense » Japan is ramping up its defense posture against rising threats from China, North Korea, and Russia. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi launched a 15-member panel Monday to overhaul Japan's security and defense policies. She told the group the international situation has completely changed and the post-Cold War order is a thing of the past.

Takaichi took office in October. Last week, her Cabinet scrapped restrictions on lethal weapons exports — a move welcomed in Washington … but blasted by China.

Japan has reached or is on track to hit its goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense each year — about $270 billion through 2027.

Takaichi says her country needs to learn from Russia's war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict and brace for possible drone warfare in the future and longer fights.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: the Southern Poverty Law Center faces charges that it fueled hate rather than fighting it. Plus, a conversation with the founder of one of Christian rock’s longest-running bands.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 28th of April.

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.

First up on The World and Everything in It: Washington responds to another attempt on the President’s life.

WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta has more from the nation’s capital.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt underscored the seriousness of Saturday’s foiled attack by holding a press conference yesterday - the same day her maternity leave was supposed to begin.

LEAVITT: This is the third major assassination attempt against President Trump in two years. No other president in history has faced such repeated serious attempts on his life.

Prosecutors say the suspect's manifesto made clear his intent to target the president and his administration. Leavitt blamed Democrats for what she called reckless rhetoric aimed at Trump.

LEAVITT: When you have people in positions of power that are saying things like this every single day for years, you are inspiring violence by people who are already mentally ill. And that's what we've seen against this president for far too long.

She also called on Congress to pass funding to end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security… the agency that funds and oversees the Secret Service.

LEAVITT: This is a national emergency, and every member of Congress needs to put their country over party and get the Department of Homeland Security funded.

Right now, that rests in the hands of Republican leaders…who are split over how to fund DHS. Here’s Senate Majority Leader John Thune yesterday:

THUNE: We've had conversations about the importance of getting all the agencies over there funded, and the fact that now that we've got a budget resolution for them to consider, hopefully that will be some impetus toward opening up the other agencies.

Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed on paper that the House would pass a truncated DHS appropriations bill the Senate approved last month, while the Senate worked on funding immigration enforcement through reconciliation.

But they’ve clashed over timing. Thune wants the House to pass their bill immediately, while the Republican House Freedom Caucus says reconciliation must come first. Then yesterday, Johnson told reporters he would revise the bill the Senate already sent over.

JOHNSON: It has some problematic language because it was haphazardly drafted, and so we stated our objections about that very clearly–

MANU RAJU: So you will never put that on the floor?

JOHNSON: We have a modified version that I think is going to be much better for both chambers. Doesn’t change most of the substance, but it makes sure that we’re not going to orphan two of the primary agencies of DHS. We have to make sure that immigration [law?] is enforced, and that the border is safe and secure.

Any changes the House makes must go back to the Senate for another vote. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the department will run out of emergency funding by Thursday unless Congress acts. And reconciliation will still take weeks to work on. Here’s what Thune told WORLD:

THUNE: …the House is going to have to defer to them about when, when they take it up, but hopefully be able to get it done.

But as of now, the DHS appropriation is not on the House’s busy floor calendar for this week.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta, in Washington.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Combating hate.

The Southern Poverty Law Center faces a legal battle after a Grand Jury indictment. It alleges the group told donors their money was being used to fight hate when they were actually funding it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: The group, also known as the SPLC, began as a legal organization and gained notoriety for bankrupting the Ku Klux Klan in the 80s, but now DOJ says SPLC manufactures tensions to keep themselves financially afloat. WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: When the SPLC was founded in 1971 in Alabama, white supremacy ran deep in many parts of the South. Clinton Johnson is a pastor in Mobile:

CLINTON JOHNSON: The feelings and attitudes of people who choose to hate is deep. It's rich, it's real.

The SPLC took on everything from helping get streets paved in historically black neighborhoods to fighting for more black representation in politics.

Then in 1981, in Mobile, a black 19-year-old named Michael Donald took a late-night trip to buy cigarettes. He never came back. The next morning, the town found Donald hanging from a tree.

JOHNSON: I remember being shocked to have lived to experience in my time firsthand seeing a body of somebody who looks like me hanging from a tree.

Members of the Ku Klux Klan lynched Donald because a jury deadlocked in the case of a black man accused of killing a white police officer.

JOHNSON: It sent a lesson about how important it is to be careful about where you go, what you do, when you do.

Police quickly arrested and convicted Donald’s murderers. But Johnson says the real win came when the SPLC helped Donald’s mother sue and ultimately bankrupt the Klan.

For years, that 1981 victory stood as the gold standard for civil-rights litigation. But the Department of Justice now alleges that in the decades following that landmark case, the SPLC’s relationship with extremist groups shifted from dismantling them to secretly sustaining them.

FBI Director Kash Patel last week.

PATEL: The Southern Poverty Law Center, in a massive, sweeping indictment, has been charged with allegations of fraud and using the banking system to perpetrate that fraud.

According to an unsealed federal indictment … the SPLC engaged in a “clandestine” operation involving bank accounts for fictitious companies.

PATEL: Funds were used to facilitate the commission of further state and federal offenses totaling over 3 million dollars.

The most damning charge involves a paid informant who helped coordinate the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The government alleges the SPLC paid that organizer more than a quarter-million dollars to help plan the event and make racist posts online.

Gene Rossi is a shareholder with the law firm Carlton Fields. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor with the DOJ. He says one set of counts is at least academically clear.

ROSSI: You can't set up fake accounts at a bank, which they did, and you can't lie to the bank about the fake accounts. But would a jury? Would a jury convict?

He says the wire fraud counts are less clear cut and will hinge on whether donors knew where their money was going. Rossi notes it’s unusual that the DOJ only listed the SPLC in the indictment.

ROSSI: When they indict nonprofits, they usually put in the nonprofit, but they also have one or two or three executives or people in power who were involved.

Prosecutors can add more defendants to the indictment up until the trial date … but if they’re going to, it will likely be within the next month or two.

The Biden administration looked into the SPLC, but closed an investigation. The Trump administration reopened it.

Over the last 20 years, conservatives have criticized the SPLC for using its so-called hate map to label any group that disagreed with a far-left agenda.

The SPLC hate map included not only the Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood … but also organizations like Focus on the Family. President Jim Daly says Focus was listed last year and lost some funding because of it.

JIM DALY: Fortune 500s, Fortune 1000s, their HR departments, their corporate boards, they look at that list as somehow, some kind of gospel.

Then there’s Moms for Liberty. CEO Tina Descovich says they advocate for parental rights in schools and were put on the list three years ago.

TINA DESCOVICH: We immediately started receiving all kinds of threats and protests at our events.

Other organizations listed include Turning Point USA and Alliance Defending Freedom.

The American Family Association has been on the list for more than a decade. Vice President Walker Wildmon says pro-family values are not “fringe.”

WALKER WILDMON: The problem with all of this is that we've taken political, ideological, and religious differences and we've labeled them hate.

While advocacy groups are legally permitted to label their opponents, this federal case hinges on more than just rhetoric. The government is alleging a systemic criminal enterprise—one that used the same court system the SPLC once championed to instead hide millions in payments to the very extremists it claimed to be fighting.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming next: the standoff with Iran enters a new phase.

Talks are stalled, tensions remain high in the Strait of Hormuz, and both sides are signaling they’re in no hurry to back down.

But some analysts say the real story isn’t happening at sea or at the negotiating table—it’s inside Iran itself.

Joining us is Janatan Sayeh, a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Janatan, good morning.

SAYEH: Good morning. Great to be with you.

EICHER: Your argument is that the real story is what’s going on inside Iran. So maybe tell us what we’re missing.

SAYEH: The reason, I think the real story is what's going on inside Iran is going beyond just the human rights angle. That was the main pressure point against Islamic Republic, and has been, it's truly the real existential threat, and from a policy angle, it was used, in part, at least as a justification for initiating this conflict. That's what Trump stated during his State of the Union. He reiterated that the first day of the war on February 28. So just to see that the Iranian people angle is not part of discussion when we're talking about any potential ceasefire re-extension with Tehran, is greatly concerning, because we might be alienating the main leverage that we have against the regime, which is not bombs or economic blockades, but comes down to how we'd be able to mobilize and inspire the masses inside the country.

BROWN: Well, right now, talks appear stalled, and both sides are blaming each other. From your vantage point, is this a temporary breakdown—or something deeper?

SAYEH: Two ways of looking at it, and whether time is on America's side or on Tehran side, but the interesting angle here is that we saw the Islamic Republic give a new proposal. And interestingly enough, they have scaled back from their maximalist demands. So, initially they would just send proposals that would be so comprehensive it would talk about the Strait of Hormuz. It would talk about the nuclear file proxies and all angles. All of a sudden they’re shifting it, saying we want to have only one agreement in the short term with the United States, so they can remove this blockade. And that's what's been interesting. It's indicative of the fact that that economic pressure is working, and the regime officials are concerned about that. So I think the question here is, is Washington going to disaggregate and separate the different talking points. Just on one hand, resolve the Strait of Hormuz with Iran and then postpone the nuclear talks, or is Washington finally realizing that this economic blockade might give them even more leverage? So why not flip the script even further onto Iran and impose some sort of a surrender?

BROWN: You’ve also written about divisions inside Iran’s leadership. How significant are those right now?

SAYEH: They have always been there. Different pillars of the regime continue to disagree with one another. Of course, you have the “hard line” body that's controlled mostly by the IRGC. Then you have the diplomatic machine. The difference here is there is no supreme authority that could mediate between the different pillars, which is why, on one hand, we might be seeing contradictory messages coming from Tehran. First they initiated the talks, and then afterwards they backtrack, saying we're not going to be reappearing in Pakistan to continue them. That's going to be the main challenge when we're dealing with them. But what's on my mind is whether Washington can somehow use those rifts to further exploit the divisions within the regime. I don't think we can replicate a Venezuela model, and this is not to suggest we can find someone that's going to be more rational to work with. It's more so to say, looking at the regime long term, there's a lot of grievances against the hard line apparatus that we can somehow leverage to pursue regime collapse.

EICHER: Jonatan, as we wrap up, if this conflict were to end in a deal that stabilizes oil flows or even sets the nuclear program way back, but still leaves the regime largely intact. Who's the winner?

SAYEH: Undoubtedly, the Islamic Republic, simply because all these measures that you mentioned, such as the nuclear program or the Strait of Hormuz, are guarantees that the regime thinks it could keep it afloat. So if it was finally able to use some of these different assets just so it can stay in power, that means it's one, and that means its strategy worked of coercing so many different diplomatic measures and military assets solely for survival. And what we would see in the region, of course, would never be an end to how the Islamic Republic behaves. It's just postponing the problems. I would even challenge the notion that we can get behavior change from them in any capacity. And of course, the real loser of that would be number one, the Iranian people that really stood up on the side of democracy and were aligned with the United States and Israel for trying to pursue freedom. And close to that would be our Persian Gulf state allies in Israel. Ultimately, you're talking about a regime that's not going to give up its malign ambitions of wanting to support terrorism in the region, and that terrorism is not limited to the Middle East. It has extended itself on American soil. So of course, another implication would be for the average American.

BROWN: Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Janatan, thank you for your time.

SAYEH: Thank you for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A backyard in Southern California got a surprise delivery—no signature required.

A hot air balloon carrying 13 people dropped in unannounced onto a strip of grass barely 10 feet wide.

The homeowner was watching TV. His wife was exercising. They headed out to the backyard to see what the commotion was.

AUDIO: Hi everybody! Hahaha! How’s you guys’ trip so far? 

Thanks for asking—I imagine the balloon pilot thinking—though no doubt with many other things on his mind. Like how little fuel he had. Like the shifting winds. And genuine thankfulness he was able to stick the landing—bringing the balloon down without hitting the house or getting caught in the trees.

AUDIO: Look at this! … That is so cool! Wow! Hahahaha!

Sometimes the safest landing is a simple right-side up.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 28th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: New music from one of Christian rock’s longest-running bands.

The 77s emerged on the Christian rock scene in the 80s, founded by frontman Michael Roe. Now after almost 25 years—they’re back with new music.

BROWN: WORLD’s music critic Arsenio Orteza got the chance to talk with Roe about the band’s legacy and their long-awaited return.

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Since their appearance on the Christian-music scene in 1982, the 77s have set the standard for rock that’s in the world but not of it.

MUSIC: [“Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba” by the 77s]

This is “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba,” a cut from their 1984 LP, All Fall Down. Now the 77s are back with a new album called 7. It’s their first original material in almost a quarter century. To call it “much anticipated” would be an understatement.

MUSIC: [“Out of the Clouds” by the 77s]

This is “Out of the Clouds,” the album’s opener. It’s the kind of song that whets listeners’ appetites for more. In this case, though, there was a problem: not everyone initially thought there was enough more.

The album is called 7 because its 32-minute vinyl version has exactly seven songs. The CD has 10, the digital download 11. People who buy the vinyl get access to all the songs digitally. But Mike Roe, the 77s frontman, says not everyone was as tickled with the “seven” concept as the band was.

ROE: In today's economy, people want their money's worth, right? So on the next one, we'll put 10 or whatever it is.

The silver lining to the situation is that there’ll be a next one—and that even purists who stick to the new album’s “official” seven songs will find themselves with plenty to enjoy.

MUSIC: [“Saddle Up” by the 77s]

This is “Saddle Up,” a song written by the 77s’ drummer, Bruce Spencer. Roe says that people often think that because he sings all the songs, he writes all the songs too. But these days Spencer and the bassist Mark Harmon write the music while Roe and Spencer write the words.

ROE: What I do is I find the best guys that I can to have them do their best, and then I just either edit it or contribute to it in whatever way I can, because a band needs to be a band with everyone contributing, you know?

7 makes a strong case for Roe’s assessment. Besides rockers such as “Saddle Up” and “Out of the Clouds,” the album includes two mid-tempo pop gems. “Be Still,” which closes 7’s vinyl edition, cautions against looking for peace in today’s ever-shifting political binary. And then there’s this song.

MUSIC: [“Heart Back” by the 77s]

It’s called “Heart Back.” And Roe says that hearing it in its early stages is what made him want to work within the 77s framework again.

ROE: I'd gotten to a point where there were so many other things I wanted to do. Why would I want to do this again? And when I heard Bruce's demo of “Heart Back,” I just went. “My gosh! That's like if Fleetwood Mac was back together, that would be their single!” I said, “How can I resist not sharing that with the world?”

So far, we’ve sampled highlights of the official seven songs. But the CD bonus tracks have a lot to recommend them, too. There is, for instance, the free-range rock and roll of “Weedzlers.”

MUSIC: [“Weedzlers” by the 77s]

Roe calls “Weedzlers” the new album’s “most fully realized song.” He also says that its sound captures the 77s at their purest. And despite their spontaneous and playful nature, the lyrics sound like a prayer.

ROE: It's a mixture of frivolity and desperate. It’s the kind of prayer you pray when you're just so far gone and you're just grasping at any straw. And I've been at that place. You know, I think we all have.

Roe is aware that the emphasis of the 77s’ lyrics has shifted over the years. In the beginning, they were more immediately identifiable as the work of a Christian band singing to a Christian audience.

Nowadays, though, the band’s audience has expanded, and its original audience has matured.

ROE: It didn't soften. It went in another direction. It became actually way more subversive because there really isn't any intent behind this other than to express the best music we can through whatever we're going through with the lyrics.

As for “Uncle Gene,” that 11th song available only as a digital track, it’s not about Gene Eugene, Roe’s late partner in Lost Dogs, but about Roe’s relatives. He calls it a “rocking rockabilly nutso thing.” Musically, it’s totally in the moment – and the perfect way for those who “saddle up” at the album’s outset to gallop off into the sunset.

MUSIC: [“Uncle Gene” by the 77s]

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

NICK EICHER, HOST: 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.

An attempted attack on political leaders over the weekend is raising deeper questions—not just about security, but about the state of the country itself.

WORLD commentator Denny Burk says the problem goes deeper than politics.

DENNY BURK: It has been difficult to look away from what happened Saturday night in Washington.

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a man identified as Cole Tomas Allen ran through a security checkpoint—armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and knives. He allegedly shot a federal officer before being stopped, just short of a ballroom where President Donald Trump, the vice president, and top cabinet officials were gathered.

In an interview with CBS, the president later described the moment when it became clear something was wrong:

TRUMP: We heard a big bang, and it was either a gunshot or it was a tray of dishes, which happens a lot in ballrooms. And I was hoping it was a tray, but it wasn’t. …And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one.

Before the attack, the suspect sent a manifesto to family members—trying to justify what he was about to do—as read aloud by CBS interviewer Norah O’Donnell.

AUDIO: The so called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. … And he also wrote this, ‘I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes’.

Outrageous charges, but nothing we wouldn’t normally see on progressive and social media.

Some say the manifesto reads like the ravings of a madman.

And yet … is he really? Or is he someone radicalized by rhetoric that has become common in our politics?

President Trump is not above criticism. I have criticized him myself—for moral and political failures. But he has never been charged with or convicted of rape, pedophilia, or treason.

So what does it say about our moment … that someone would attempt murder based on claims like these?

Hatred has reached a boiling point—and it is spilling over into violence, and now the third attempt on the life of the president.

What is happening in our country … that political violence is becoming more common?

And more disturbingly—more thinkable?

Former Nebraska senator Ben Sasse—now living with a terminal cancer diagnosis—is especially clear-eyed about what ails America. He spoke on the same 60 Minutes broadcast:

SASSE: …people are incredibly rich at a material level, statistically, and yet we’re pretty impoverished spiritually and communally, in that we don't have fit community. We don't, we don't … know the people who live two doors away from us, and we don't feel like we're in a common cause with people right now.

That used to be the American instinct.

Politics has always been hard-fought. But we once believed our neighbors had a right to be wrong—and to say so out loud.

Our grandfathers stormed the beaches of Normandy to preserve that freedom.

Now?

We treat political opponents as enemies to be denounced or destroyed.

And none of that leads anywhere good.

But here’s the deeper problem:

We cannot fix this just by telling people to calm down.

Our crisis is not merely political.

It is spiritual.

Politics matters—but it is not ultimate. And it cannot repair what is broken in the human heart.

Until we reckon with that… we will keep trying and failing to solve a spiritual problem with political tools.

Real change will require something deeper—repentance, renewal, and a return to the idea that we are accountable to a moral order beyond ourselves.

That sense has been fading for a long time.

And moments like this remind us how much we have lost.

I am praying we might recover it—before more damage is done.

For WORLD, I’m Denny Burk.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: We’ll talk politics with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday. And, you’ll meet the veteran who worked to bring a Gulf War memorial to reality. 

That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” —John 13:34 and 35

Go now in grace and peace.

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