The World and Everything in It: December 26, 2023

PREROLL: Merry Christmas! I’m Les Sillars, host of the Doubletake. We’re looking forward to some great episodes coming up in season three that are funny or touching or thought-provoking, and told from a Biblical perspective just like all our work at WORLD News Group

If you’ve already given to WORLD’s December Giving Drive, thank you.

If you haven’t and you’ve enjoyed our journalism, please, consider a gift. Every little bit doesn’t just help. It matters. wng.org/donate. I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Victories for religious liberty, losses for life, and protecting kids from gender ideology.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk about these and other big stories with WORLD reporters. Plus, notable deaths in business and science, including the oldest winner of the Nobel Peace prize.

AUDIO: If you live long enough, you never know what’s gonna happen! (laughs)

And WORLD founder Joel Belz on seeing history in light of the One who made us.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, December 26th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: Up next, Kristen Flavin with today’s news.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, NEWS ANCHOR: Cease-fire proposal » Egypt is pitching a cease-fire proposal to Israel and Hamas, but neither side appears ready to back down from its war effort.

The plan calls for the phased release of hostages and a Palestinian-run government over Gaza and the West Bank.

Senior Israeli government adviser Mark Regev said that after the most recent cease-fire, the ball is in Hamas’s court.

REGEV: That cease-fire ended because Hamas refused to release more hostages. Had they released more hostages, names that they agreed to release, the cease-fire would have been extended.

Relatives of some of the Hamas-held Israeli hostages protested on Monday outside the military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

SOUND: [Protesters in Israel]

Shaked Shechter says her sister Romi was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th. She says her sister was injured, and she and other demonstrators just want their loved ones back.

SHECHTER: We know that nothing is moving right now, but we need someone to talk to us. We need someone to tell us what they are going to do. We need everyone to know that Romi and many more hostages are still held in Gaza, and we want people to remember them and not to forget that they are there, and they need to come home.

The Israeli military says the bodies of five hostages were discovered over the weekend in underground tunnels used by Hamas.

More war updates » Fears that the war could spread throughout the Middle East are mounting after an Israeli airstrike killed an Iranian military leader in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.

The high-ranking general was advising Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in Syria. Iran vowed revenge for the strike but did not immediately retaliate.

Christmas travel » In the skies above the U.S., holiday air travelers are much happier this Christmas than they were last year.

TRAVELER: We thought it was going to be crazy, but really, we got in and checked in and, ready to go. I’m not too worried, the weather’s nice. 

In 2022, weather and computer errors stranded more than 2 million passengers on Southwest Airlines.

This year, the airline said bad weather in Chicago disrupted some of its flights about 16 percent of Southwest flights were delayed Christmas Day, according to the website Flight Aware.

King Charles Christmas broadcast » In Britain, King Charles the Third delivered his second annual Christmas address, keeping a royal tradition that dates back more than ninety years.

During the broadcast, he encouraged the British people to show compassion in the face of worldwide turmoil.

KING CHARLES: On this Christmas Day, my heart and my thanks go to all who are serving one another, all who are caring for our common home and all who see and seek the good of others.

Environmentalism was also a major theme of the speech with the King urging the public to embrace a green agenda.

Navalny » In Russia, an opposition leader who went missing weeks ago has been found in a prison colony above the Arctic Circle.

Alexei Navalny’s associates said they lost contact with him earlier this month.

SPOKESPERSON: [Speaking Russian]

A spokesperson for Navalny said his team searched detention facilities around Russia. After locating him, a lawyer visited and said he is doing fine.

Navalny was sentenced to 19 years on charges of extremism, but had been imprisoned fewer than two hundred miles from Moscow.

He is now roughly 2,000 miles north of the capital.

New Russian Candidate » Russian President Vladimir Putin will face a challenger in next year’s presidential race.

On Monday, Leonid Slutsky, the leader of an ultranationalist party in Russia officially registered his candidacy for the 2024 Russian presidential election.

SLUTSKY: [Speaking Russian]

Slutsky promised change, saying his party stands ready to expand its leadership and establish its role governing the country.

Putin also registered to run for reelection. Under constitutional changes he oversaw, the 71-year-old is eligible to seek two more six-year terms after his current one ends next year.

I'm Kristen Flavin.

Straight ahead: Top stories from 2023. Plus, People in business and science who died this year.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 26th of December, 2023.

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

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

First up: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With 2023 almost in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to talk about some of the biggest stories of the year, and what they mean going into 2024.

REICHARD: Joining us now are three of our beat reporters: Leah Savas, who covers life, Steve West who covers religious liberty, and Juliana Chan Erickson who covers marriage, family, and sexuality.

So let’s start with the headlines. Now, it’s hard to pick one story as the biggest of the year, but if you had to, what would it be? Leah, let’s start with you on the life beat.

LEAH SAVAS: Sure. I guess this could just be coming to my mind because it was pretty recent. But I would say the biggest story of the year was the Kate Cox case. And that’s the that’s the woman who sued Texas for permission to abort her baby, after doctors diagnosed the baby with trisomy 18. So I just think it was an especially big story because it’s a first of its kind lawsuit. In post-Roe America, women have sued their state since Dobbs over past pregnancy experiences and they’re arguing, you know, that they should have been allowed to get abortions because of pregnancy complications or a poor diagnosis for the baby. But the Cox case was a little different in that it was one woman going to court while she was pregnant, looking for permission to abort the babies she was currently pregnant with and she wasn’t one of those women who faced legitimate threats to her health. So we got to see the pro-abortion argument that the normal risks of pregnancy and of labor and delivery should be reason enough for a woman to be able to get an abortion. And I think we’ll probably see more lawsuits like this one.

REICHARD: Alright. How about you, Steve on the religious liberty beat?

STEVE WEST: Well I really found that was a tough assignment, Mary! Because you know normally, I’d go with a US Supreme Court ruling. And I really can’t help but mention 303 Creative versus Elenis. And that was that case about Lorie Smith who’s a website designer in Colorado, and the court said that she couldn’t be compelled under a Colorado anti discrimination law to create websites that celebrated same sex weddings. So that’s a big ruling and means a lot nationwide for anyone who offers creative services.

But you know the case that really struck me this month, in fact, came down from the Virginia Supreme Court. And I think it could have just as big an impact as a Supreme Court case because of the way it was written. Peter Vlaming was a high school French teacher fired from his job in 2018, five years ago, because he couldn’t in good conscience address a female student with male pronouns. And so a unanimous court, seven justices, just last week overturned a lower court ruling dismissing his case. But, it really is better than that because a court majority interpreted the Virginia Constitution’s guarantee of religious liberty as one that was even greater than that of the US Constitution. So now in Virginia, the only way to overcome a religious liberty interest is by showing that not doing so, not following a policy or a law, would endanger peace or good order. So that’s quite a strong standard and it even implied the way the first amendment should be interpreted in a similar way. It’ll likely influence other state courts in interpreting their own state constitutions. So that’s a big case.

REICHARD: That was a difficult one to pick. I know. So how about you Juliana, on the marriage, family, and sexuality beat?

JULIANA CHAN ERIKSON: I’m going to cheat here and pick one story that happened 20 times this year. In 2023, that many states passed laws protecting children from cross sex hormones and surgeries. And it seemed like when one state did it, neighboring states just jumped on the bandwagon too. And as you know, the laws didn’t pass uneventfully you’ll remember in Nebraska, a state legislator staged a weeks long filibuster back in April to stop her state from voting on it. And in Montana, a male lawmaker who identifies as female accused colleagues of having “blood on their hands” if they voted to ban transgender treatments for children. Despite all of that the bills in those states passed. There are still legal challenges in at least five other states and about a dozen others haven’t made any decisions yet. So I think the story is far from over.

REICHARD: This is my next question. What was the most encouraging story you got to cover this year? And we’ll go in the same order. Leah Savas you start.

SAVAS: Yeah, this is not really a news story, but it’s a just, you know, some everyday person kind of dealing with these issues that we’re reporting on in the abortion beat. And I’d say it’s the profile I did for the podcast of the Tennessee mom named Ashley Gilmore. She’s the one who faced pregnancy complications last year, that really could have cost her her life, but she’s still pushed back when a doctor encouraged her to get an abortion. She wasn’t even expecting to survive and knew that her baby might not either, but she still trusted God to determine the outcome of her story. And I was so encouraged and personally challenged by that story, especially after we see, you know, women after women suing their state, saying I need to be able to get an abortion to save my life. Seeing this mother who is willing to lay down her life for her child was just so impactful for me.

REICHARD: Steve we’ll turn to you now. Most encouraging story.

WEST: Well, that was an easier question for me. You know it was a September ruling by an appeals court out in California giving a huge, long overdue victory to some courageous high school students in San Jose, California. These were students that had a Fellowship of Christian Athletes group in the school, high school, and the court said that they could require that the group’s leaders affirmed FCA’s biblical beliefs. It said that constitutional guarantees of free speech and free exercise of religion trump anti-discrimination policies that the school was trying to enforce. That’s really important. You know, I was just encouraged by high school students who had the temerity to endure name-calling and intimidation not only by some students in the school, but even teachers.

REICHARD: And then Juliana.

ERIKSON: What really encouraged me is seeing marriage rates rebounding back to pre pandemic levels, and divorce rates, also remaining among the lowest we’ve seen on record. And this is all data from 2022. Marriage, as you know, still isn’t as popular as it was a generation ago. But I can see the stats are telling us a story. And that story seems to be people are waiting longer and being choosier about who they pick for their mate. But when they do tie that knot, they’re sticking to it.

REICHARD: Alright, well, we’ll be keeping an eye on those statistics for sure. Let’s let’s take a look behind the scenes now. For each of you what was the most challenging, or maybe surprising story that you covered emotionally or logistically? And Leah on the life beat let’s start with you.

SAVAS: This one’s kind of silly. It’s a logistic issue. It’s my fault. But I thought it would kind of be fun to share. I think most the most logistically challenging story to cover this year was actually the August vote in Ohio on the ballot measure that would have increased the percentage of votes required to pass a constitutional amendment. So I’m three hours from Toledo. I’m in Michigan. So I thought it would work to just drive down in the morning, do some reporting for the day and then drive back that night and write a piece once I got home. But in hindsight, it was a bad idea. I got home later than I thought and then ended up being up until probably like 3am working on my article. And, and that was even when I when I was in college that’s late for me. So I was really tired and thought, Okay, I’m not doing that again.

REICHARD: Hopefully you’re rested up by now.

SAVAS: Yeah.

REICHARD: Okay, turning to our legal reporter. Steve, most challenging or surprising story you covered.

WEST: Listening to Leah, I was reminded that one of my most challenging things this past year was failing to press record when I interviewed someone for a story, resulting in having to do it all over again. But here as an adoptive parent, I found the attempt by some states to shut out Christian parents from fostering or adopting kids the most heart wrenching story. As one example, Oregon says that Jessica Bates, a mother of five already is unfit to foster or adopt because she will not agree to support the gender choice of a child placed with her. You know, the number of kids in the foster care system is overwhelming. And yet because of this unBiblical view of sexuality and gender, some of the best homes for these kids, loving, supportive homes are excluded from consideration. That’s just not right.

REICHARD: Juliana.

ERIKSON: I’ve got a lot of single friends. And what I found surprising was an article I did about the world of online dating. Did you guys know that it’s like the most popular way for couples to meet? Well, I guess I didn’t. And there are concerns about it’s safety, particularly for women as I found. A few months ago, I wrote about how Australia requested online dating platforms set up stricter regulations in their country, after a woman there was murdered by her date, someone she’d had met online. Here in the US, there are no such protections on the books. And yet it’s not uncommon to read about women being harassed, or stalked, or assaulted, by dates they met online. When I talked to single women who used these apps, they told me it is a sketchy place. But one they also felt they needed to be on to find that special someone. So they take precautions. One woman told me she would not touch her drink again, if she walked away from a date, for fear that someone might add something to it. And another woman I talked to said she uses an app to mask her phone number, and even carries a gun on some dates. I can’t say I did any of those things when I was single.

REICHARD: Neither did I. Next question here, what stories are you expecting to be covering in the new year? And again, we’ll start with Leah.

SAVAS: This is hard because I feel like there’s a lot that’s going to be happening that we can expect, but also things that will come out of the blue. But it’s just a few stories on my mind. There’s going to be a trial of pro life activists who did a sit in at an abortion facility in 2021 in Tennessee, and they face the possibility of up to 11 years in prison. So we’ll be watching that. There’s also a big abortion pill case headed to the US Supreme Court. And there will be several State Supreme Court abortion rulings to keep an eye out for, including cases involving women suing their states over past pregnancy experiences. And then also, abortion will be a big issue in the 2024 elections. There are already two states that have abortion amendments on the ballots, and there are efforts in almost a dozen other states to get either you know, pro life or pro abortion amendments on ballots. So we’ll be watching that for sure.

REICHARD: Steve West legal beat.

While I’m watching two areas this coming year. One is the whole area of parental rights, the constitutional right of parents to control the education and upbringing of their children. That’s come into play in conflicts with school districts over whether parents can opt their kids out of objectionable sex education material, as has come up in Montgomery County, Maryland. But it also comes up in disputes over whether sexually explicit materials should be available to kids in libraries and classrooms, and whether schools can secretly transition a child to a gender not matching their sex. Unlike the first amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, the Supreme Court really hasn’t explored the parameters of this 14th amendment right.

Now the other area is the right of Christian organizations to maintain their integrity by hiring only like minded persons, those who can affirm that organization’s statement of faith and abide by its standards of conduct. Recently, Christian relief agency World Vision lost a battle over just this point. But it may be appealed. And there are other cases out there.

REICHARD: Juliana, what stories are you expecting to cover in the new year?

ERIKSON: This will venture into Steve’s territory. But the battle over puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for kids has divided the country. And I think it will only be a matter of time before the Supreme Court will take a case on this. The other story worth watching is one that made headlines last week but has been percolating for months and some would say years. And that’s the announcement that priests within the Roman Catholic Church can now say blessings over same sex couples. Earlier this year, the Church of England made a very similar announcement. In both of those churches, homosexuality is still considered a sin. And the Vatican said explicitly that these blessings that they have allowed should not be construed as approval for homosexuality or have the look or feel of a wedding. But I think next year, we will see more debate about this and those blessings are gonna start to look more and more like weddings.

REICHARD: Well, Leah, Steve, Juliana and I have a whole lot to cover here. It’s a reminder we have plenty of work to do. So job security there. Thanks to all of you.

WEST: Thank you, Mary.

ERIKSON: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 26th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Notable deaths in 2023.

EICHER: You may have had a notable loss this year, personally, probably all of us were touched by the deaths this year of those who were not widely known but dear to us — friends, family members, perhaps former teachers or coworkers.

But this week, we will mark the deaths of people who were known broadly, or who had a broad impact on the world.

REICHARD: Today we begin with people in business and science. Business icons like Charles Munger of Berkshire Hathaway dominated the headlines. But Features Editor Anna Johansen Brown has the stories of nine others whose work helped others.

AUDIO: Coming up on the 10 second mark. 10, 9, 8, 7…

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Before Apollo 11 landed on the moon, there was Apollo 7: The first complete test of an Apollo spacecraft. That mission in 1968 … Walter Cunningham was on board.

AUDIO: Commit, liftoff. We have liftoff.

Cunningham piloted the lunar module. He was a former fighter pilot and had several degrees in physics. NASA selected him for its astronaut program in 1963.

During Apollo 7, the crew test fired lunar orbit engines, simulated docking maneuvers, and did the first-ever live television broadcast from an American spacecraft.

AUDIO: Apollo 7 became very important. If we had not had a success on Apollo 7, we really don’t know what would have happened to the Apollo space program.

Cunningham died January 3rd at the age of 90.

AUDIO: [Whale songs]

Next, a man who spent years listening to whales. Roger Payne was the first person to discover that whales could sing. He died in June at age 88.

Payne first discovered whale song in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda. A Navy engineer gave him a recording of strange underwater noises…sounds the Navy had heard while listening for Russian submarines.

AUDIO: [Whale songs]

Payne realized the haunting tones were coming from whales. They were strikingly complex compositions, with base notes and musical phrases.

In 1970, he produced an album called “Songs of the Humpback Whale.” It became the most popular nature recording in history.

AUDIO: The enthusiasm was just shocking. And what it all comes down to then is that it shows you, I think, what the effect is of the sounds of these animals on the deeper feelings that people have.

Payne’s research spurred a global movement to end commercial whale hunting. It also sparked the iconic phrase, “Save the whales.”

From singing to silent communication.

Dorothy Casterline was a deaf linguist. She helped write the first comprehensive dictionary of American Sign Language.

Casterline was born in Hawaii in 1928. She lost her hearing in 7th grade, though she never knew why. At the time, Honolulu didn’t allow deaf people to drive…but Casterline convinced state officials to change that policy.

When she went to college in the 1950s, sign language was viewed as simply gestures…a derivative of spoken English. But Casterline worked with other researchers to prove that it was a language in and of itself, with its own rules, grammar, and syntax. Their dictionary of American Sign Language permanently transformed communication within the deaf community.

Casterline died August 8th at age 95.

Next, John Goodenough, the oldest person ever to win a Nobel prize.

AUDIO: If you live long enough, you never know what’s gonna happen! (laughs)

Goodenough was a chemist, known for his work inventing the lithium ion battery. His batteries went on to power most cell phones and laptops, as well as pacemakers and electric cars.

But he didn’t start off as a scientist. He struggled in school.

AUDIO: I worked hard, because I was dyslexic and I was trying to cover it up.

He went on to graduate with highest honors from Yale with a degree in mathematics. After World War Two, Goodenough worked at MIT, where he helped lay the groundwork for one of the first forms of computer memory—RAM.

In the late 70s he worked at Oxford, experimenting with lithium ion batteries. Goodenough figured out how to pack more voltage into a smaller battery…while keeping it stable and rechargeable.

Goodenough was a Christian, often repeating this prayer: “Help us, O Lord, so long as we live, to live nobly and to the good cheer of our fellow man.”

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2019, at age 97. He died in June, just shy of his 101st birthday.

Next, another Nobel prize-winner, Harald zur Hausen. Zur Hausen was a German virologist.

AUDIO: That’s an old love of mine since my student time. Not necessarily viruses, but I was interested in infections and cancer.

In 1967, Zur Hausen contributed to a groundbreaking study on viruses and cancer. The study proved for the first time that some viruses can turn healthy cells into cancer cells.

Later, Zur Hausen turned his attention to human papillomavirus…or HPV. That’s the virus that causes warts...but there are over 170 different kinds of HPV. No one knew that until Zur Hausen’s research. He thought there might be a link between HPV and cervical cancer. He was right.

AUDIO: Somehow we anticipated for quite some time that we were on the right track. So we were pleased of course to find it eventually, but others say it was a consequence of a long period of hard work.

Most strains of HPV are harmless, but certain kinds are responsible for 90 percent of cervical cancers. Zur Hausen’s research laid the groundwork for an HPV vaccine.

AUDIO: I think proud would not be the right expression for it. It’s, you know when you get older, then you see how many open questions still remain and I think this requires some kind of humility.

Zur Hausen died in May at age 87.

Next, the man behind a museum.

Harvey Meyerhoff started off in real estate and soon became a business tycoon. Part owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Chairman of the Board of Johns Hopkins. But he’s remembered most of all for his philanthropic work…and his role in bringing the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to life. Audio here from the museum’s dedication in 1993.

AUDIO: When I became chairman of the council six years ago, my late wife and children told me this would be the most important thing I could ever do in my life. They were right.

Meyerhoff worked with President Ronald Reagan to secure land in Washington, D.C., next to the national mall. He raised funds and led the museum’s design and construction.

AUDIO: This building tells the story of events that human eyes should never have seen even once; but having been seen, must never be forgotten.

More than 47 million people have visited the museum since its opening. It serves as both an educational tool and a memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust.

Meyerhoff died in August at age 96.

Another businessman died this year, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. He was a wealthy French aristocrat and manager of a successful champagne company. But in 1993, he became quadriplegic after a paragliding crash in the Alps.

At first, Pozzo di Borgo struggled with depression. He attempted suicide.

AUDIO: At the time, I was coming out of two years of hospital. Intensive care and medication.

While interviewing candidates to be his caretaker, Pozzo di Borgo met a young Algerian immigrant: Abdel Sellou.

AUDIO: I need assistance. What, don’t your arms work? They don’t.

Audio here from The Upside, an Americanized film based on Pozzo di Borgo’s life.

AUDIO: Have you ever done this kind of work before? I done every kind of work you can do with a record.

Sellou was a career criminal who only applied for the job to fulfill his visa requirements. He even stole a Faberge egg during the interview. But Pozzo di Borgo took a shine to his unconventional style and cheeky sense of humor, and the two became fast friends, often pulling elaborate pranks.

AUDIO: I needed a guy crazy enough not to be afraid of the situation. He is not afraid of nothing at all.

Their friendship inspired The Intouchables, one of France’s most popular films of all time. It also helped Pozzo di Borgo enjoy life again.

AUDIO: You can’t cry all your life. 6:09 Good humor, smiling, is probably the best remedy to difficult situations.

He said his life as a quadriplegic was more painful than his life before…but more rich, and more true.

AUDIO: In the apparent weakness we all have in a wheelchair or when we are called disabled, we develop extraordinary strength.

Pozzo di Borgo died in June at age 72.

Finally, we remember a medical pioneer. Michael Brescia died in April at age 90.

Early in his career, Brescia helped discover a new, lifesaving method of kidney dialysis.

AUDIO: The idea was to find a methodology that would allow a patient to go on the artificial kidney machine, three four hours, cleanse the blood, etc.

At the time, patients could only be on dialysis a few times before risking damage to their arteries. Brescia’s method involves joining an artery and a vein together. It increases the time a patient can be on dialysis and gives them a better chance at finding a donor kidney.

Brescia could have become enormously wealthy by selling the idea. But he turned down all offers, instead publishing the method in a medical journal in 1966. He never made a dime from it.

Later, Brescia devoted his life to comforting the dying. He created hospice care procedures, and fought against assisted suicide.

AUDIO: I want to make the point that suicide is not medical treatment.

A devout Catholic, Brescia often spoke of “administering God’s comfort” to those in pain.

On his tombstone, he wanted this phrase inscribed: “He loved his patients.”

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday December 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next, a classic commentary from 1988.

Christians know all of history is God’s story. Today, WORLD founder Joel Belz says keeping God in mind will help any history lesson come alive.

JOEL BELZ: One recent survey suggests that fewer than half the students in a typical American high school can tell you within 100 years when Abraham Lincoln lived. A similar number are unable to tell you in which century World War I was fought. More than half fail when asked to identify even one of America's two main foes in World War II. If the high schoolers had been unable to say who fought in the Peloponnesian War, and where and when, or even where Napoleon suffered his final defeat, the issue might still be regrettable, but perhaps not worth stressing is of crucial concern. But the failure was at such a basic level that you're tempted to ask, why bother teaching history at all?

One standard response is that people who are not acquainted with history are sentenced to repeat its errors. That is true, of course, even for Christians. But there is a more profound reason why Christians should have at least a basic acquaintance with the world around them–with its history, its geographic layout, and what is happening in it from day to day. That reason is simply that all of this is God's handiwork. To be disinterested in it is to snub him, to say that what he has done and is doing is unimportant. With humans, such an attitude would be rude. With God, it is blasphemous.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to visit Westminster Abbey in London. If any place is calculated to stir the slumbering heart of a non-historical person, Westminster Abbey should do it. There, beneath and above you as well as on every side, are the reminders and even the remains of the people who made our culture what it is. The kings and the queens of England from half a millennium ago, Isaac Newton, and surprisingly almost beside him Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, and Beatrix Potter, George Frederick Handel and Isaac Watts, David Livingstone, except of course for his heart. And if our guide statistics were accurate, about 2,994 other notables. It's quite a mind stretcher.

In a small way, I was impressed. But in a larger sense, Westminster Abbey left me cold, and sent me thinking about why history has become so dull and chilly a subject for so many these days. The problem is that you've got all these people and places and dates, a confusing mass of data going nowhere in particular. Such a sense might be present to a degree at any historical shrine. The irony at Westminster Abbey, however, is especially poignant, simply because it is all shown off so grandly, in a huge edifice known as a house of God, but almost explicitly from beginning to end, excluding any reference to that very God.

Fearful of offending, the guide speaks only in the vaguest terms of some wispy deity, slipping more often into references to those ideals which once drove all the great heroes memorialized here now. No wonder kids get bored. I was.

If the guide had been prepared instead to tell us of the great king whose subjects all these people were, some of them loyal, some of them traitors to his cause, then there would have begun to be the framework that produced the beginnings of a plot, and who can hold anybody's interest without a plot? At Westminster Abbey, it got even worse. Garish and disconnected, it seems pagan to the core. That’s where disconnected history leads you. Ignoring your past is bad. Disconnecting your past from its controller may be even worse.

I'm Joel Belz.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Big political stories from 2023 on Washington Wednesday. And, remembering notable leaders in religion. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. 

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: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” —Psalm 145, verses 18 and 19.

Go now in grace and peace.

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