The World and Everything in It: February 21, 2025

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday, Germany raids homes over hate-speech laws, RFK Junior warns of a different kind of health crisis, and some conservatives are having trouble conserving.

NICK EICHER, HOST: John Stonestreet’s away. Katie McCoy is standing by!

Later, WORLD arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino reviews a new faith-based film.

SCOTT: Tell God that if he feels the need to punish someone then that someone should be me.

BROWN: It’s Friday, February 21st. 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: Time for news now with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Senate vote on reconciliation bill » Senators stayed up late last night to pass a $340 billion dollar package in a step toward President Trump’s agenda.

Republicans passed the bill using the reconciliation process allowing them to bypass a Democratic filibuster.

The bill would fund national security priorities as well as border security, including Trump’s mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

But it still needs to be merged with a bill from the House. The lower chamber is preparing a larger bill that includes almost $5 trillion dollars in tax cuts. The president prefers that approach.

Kash Patel confirmation » The Senate also voted on Thursday to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director.

AUDIO [Patel vote]: The yeas are 51. They nays are 49. The confirmation is confirmed.

It was a largely party line vote. Two moderate Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no.

Patel is a former Justice Department prosecutor who focused on terrorism cases. He served on the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term. Critics note that he lacks traditional law enforcement experience.

Ukraine: Meetings, Ukraine/European involvement » White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz says despite a public rift between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine is very much a part of ongoing talks to bring peace to the war-ravaged country.

WALTZ:  I've been talking to, uh, uh, his national security advisor, Zelensky's national security advisor on a regular basis. Uh, we just mentioned the meetings both Secretary of State and Vice President Vance have had with him. Uh, Special Envoy Keith Kellogg is out there literally right now.

Kellogg met with Zelenskyy and other top leaders in Kyiv on Thursday telling Ukraine’s president he understands his need for security guarantees.

Ukraine: Trump’s complaints » Kellogg’s Thursday meeting came, again, amid friction between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.

Trump recently blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion and referred to Zelenskyy as a “dictator.”

Those remarks drew condemnation from Democrats and pushback from some Republicans.

But aboard Air Force One, Trump shared some of his frustrations regarding Zelenskyy’s government.

TRUMP:   We don't get our money back and we told them that the deal is we'll do something for the rare earth and some oil etc …

Trump says he wanted to rebuild certain infrastructure in Ukraine and then partner with the country on things like aluminum production and producing rare earth minerals. The US would own a stake in the mineral rights. That, he said, would benefit Ukraine while also recouping some US tax dollars.

But Trump added that when the US Treasury Secretary traveled to Kyiv, Scott Bessent

TRUMP: … was treated rather rudely because essentially they told him no and Zelenskyy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him. He traveled many hours on the train which is a dangerous trip …

Zelenskyy said the US proposal did not go far enough in providing security guarantees.

That upset President Trump, who noted that a portion of European aid for Ukraine was sent with the expectation of repayment whereas all prior U.S. assistance during the war was given outright.

Trump order on migrants benefits » President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to cut federal funding for benefits that support illegal immigrants.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates current benefits for illegal migrants over the next 10 years would include more than $175 billion for Obamacare, Medicaid tax credits and food stamps.

Border czar Tom Homan:

HOMAN:  These billions of dollars we're going to save that illegal aliens shouldn't be getting, they can help rebuild North Carolina.  There's a lot of things we can do for American citizens, the homeless vets.

All departments and agencies are now directed to identify and end any program that provides the financial benefits to illegal migrants.

The order also mandates improvements in welfare eligibility verification.

 Israel latest » The Israeli military says a body released by Hamas is NOT that of the Israeli mother the terror group claims died in captivity.

The terror group sent four caskets back to Israel Thursday. It was said that three of them contained members of the Bibas family … a young mother and her two small children.

The bodies of four-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir Bibas were returned. But the remains of their mother, Shiri Bibas, were not.

Dr. Chen Kugel with the Israeli Health Ministry: 

KUGEL: Since October 7th, 2023, the team of the Israeli National Center of Forensic Medicine is dedicating itself to identifying all October 7th victims, and thus providing closure for the families … and proper burial.

The body of 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz was also identified.

But the fourth body was not Shiri, and could not be identified as any known hostage. Israel is demanding that Hamas return Shiri's remains.

Christian deaths in DRC » Officials in the Congo are investigating the brutal execution of 70 Christians. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Militants from a group with ties to ISIS … kidnapped the Christians from a village in the country’s north east.

Authorities later found their bodies … beheaded in an abandoned church.

The militant group called the Allied Democratic Forces … has launched numerous attacks against Christians, peacekeeping forces, and aid workers.

Violence in the region has forced many churches, schools, and health centers to close.

The president of International Christian Concern Jeff King … is calling for an all-Africa military force to step in and restore order in the Congo.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Katie McCoy is back for Culture Friday. Plus, a film about a frail child with an unbreakable spirit.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 21st of February.

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.

It’s Culture Friday. Joining us now is author and speaker Katie McCoy. Katie, it’s always great having all the girls together.

KATIE MCCOY: (Laughter) I’m glad to know that you’ve gotten over that moment, Nick. (Laughter)

EICHER: Vice President JD Vance appeared at CPAC and gave a stout defense of his speech a week ago in Germany. People are still talking about that. He spoke last week around this same time at the Munich Security Conference … and he took aim at Europe, accusing nations like Germany of adopting what he calls a “Soviet”-style grip on free speech. Here’s a short bit of what he said over there.

VANCE: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. For years, we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values.

EICHER: By the weekend, CBS was seemingly making Vance’s point. On 60 Minutes, we saw video of German police raiding homes—more than 50 in a single day—seizing laptops and phones … enforcing the hate-speech law.

Have a listen.

AUDIO: It’s 6 o’clock on a Tuesday morning, and we were with state police as they raided this apartment in northwest Germany. Inside, six armed officers searched a suspect’s home—part of what prosecutors say is a Coordinated effort to curb online hate speech in Germany.

“What’s the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody’s door?”

“In Germany we say, ‘das würde man sagen dürfen.’ (tr., ‘people are allowed to say that’) So we are here with crimes of talking, posting on Internet.

They don’t think it was illegal?

No! They don’t think it was illegal! And they say, no, that’s my free speech. And we say, no, we have free speech as well, but it also has its limits.

EICHER: Earlier in the day, Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan is interviewing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She frames up a question in a crazy way … outright saying Nazis once “weaponized free speech” in the service of their genocidal aims.

I wonder where the line is between free speech and hate speech, Katie, and who gets to draw it. Do you think Germany’s approach exposes a cultural divide with America’s First Amendment ethos?

What does the Christian worldview say about this?

MCCOY: Well, anybody who’s been watching Face the Nation since the inauguration knows Margaret Brennan has just been having a little bit of a tough time.

You know, she’s not the first to slip into this fallacy.

Things that people don’t often know about, in the lead up to what we associate with World War II and the Nazi regime is that they didn’t fall into this. There was a gradual descent. Part of that in 1922, it was the Weimar Republic, actually, that tried to censor the Nazis, the emerging Nazi party, and it had the opposite effect. It was known as the Weimar fallacy.

Another thing that Margaret Brennan—this is kind of an embarrassing cultural revisionist history—is that Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister, took over all media: all print, all radio, everything in about the mid-1930s. It had to be approved by the state and any journalist that didn’t comply was sent to a concentration camp.

So, it’s a little mystifying that she either willfully or ignorantly made this statement.

Consider some of the headlines coming out of Europe in just the last probably two or three years, you might remember the hate-speech legislation coming out of Ireland. It criminalized all “hate speech,” but didn’t bother to define what that hate speech was. It was the type of thing that we could see right away where Christians could easily be prosecuted

In Finland, that actually happened. A long-time member of the Finnish parliament, Päivi Räsänen was tried for hate speech because she pointed out Scripture’s teaching on homosexuality. This happened after a church in Finland was publicly supporting a gay pride event. She was charged under what was called agitation of a minority group under the section of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the Finnish criminal code.

In Britain just in the last year, a man was convicted of praying near an abortion clinic. It was essentially a thought crime, and that’s one that Vice President Vance had highlighted.

So the reality is that when you move more and more to the left (or to the extreme right, but we see this more typically on the extreme left), it requires censorship in order to work. You have to censor and stamp out everything that does not align with the political narrative.

So not only is Margaret just having a bit of a moment with history. She’s just factually wrong.

BROWN: Katie, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been health secretary for just a week, but his mere presence is provoking lots of debate. When he was sworn in a week ago, he gave a very moving speech … saying

A healthy person has 1,000 dreams. A sick person only has one,” Kennedy continued, describing what he called a “breathtaking epidemic” of chronic illness “that is disabling our people.”

60% of our population has only one dream — that they get better.”

Kennedy argued that this deeper spiritual alienation is what ”drives also the chronic disease epidemic, and the epidemics we’re seeing of depression, of suicide, of alcoholism, of drug addiction.”

I know lots of pro-lifers are concerned by RFK’s pro-abortion advocacy, but could he be on to something?

MCCOY: Very much, very much. In fact, there’s research linking loneliness and isolation to greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

Last fall, there was a study from Harvard University that surveyed 18- to 25-year-olds. Now, when you think 18 to 25, this is college, right out of college, this is the time of relatively low responsibility. It’s the time when the world should be your oyster. You’re dreaming big and you’re going for all your adventures when you’re young and full of idealism.

But here’s what the study found. It found that among 18- to 25-year-olds, nearly three in five of them, 58% reported that they lacked meaning or purpose.

Another significant portion of them said that they felt on edge, lonely, directionless—that they are trying to achieve just to achieve, but they don’t really know what they’re aiming for.

Another 45% of young adults reported a general sense that things are just falling apart. About the same number said that they had a sense of just not mattering to others. This is a significant spiritual and emotional health issue.

It’s also significant, Myrna, when we’re talking about it from here a biblically shaped worldview that this is the first generation, Gen Z, to grow up in a truly post-Christian culture. They don’t have categories like, what happens after death? They don’t have categories to understand purpose and meaning—and with that, too, on far less existential things. But they don’t have categories to understand the meaning of the importance of family, of work.

We have a generation launching into the world that they’re asking some major existential questions with little more than their feelings to guide them, and that is a major health issue.

EICHER: If you don’t live on social media, you may not know Ashley St. Clair. She’s a 26-year-old conservative influencer who recently revealed she gave birth to the 13th child of Elon Musk five months ago—allegedly. St. Clair claims she kept it private for the child’s sake until tabloid pressure forced her hand. When I saw this, I suggested WORLD Opinions tap our “other Katy” around here, Katy Faust, to write on the subject. She did.

We titled her piece “The cost of conservative hypocrisy.” She calls out conservatives who champion traditional family values yet cheer (or are at best keep silence) when allies break them. I saw some conservative personalities offering congratulations—and let’s just all agree, a baby born is clearly preferable to a baby aborted—and I found it discouraging. I know you did, too. What would’ve been the encouraging response, the proper Christian response?

MCCOY: Yeah, whenever something like this happens, it seems like there’s always a false dichotomy. In this case, the false dichotomy was either congratulations or contempt.

I think the way that we are called to respond to issues like this is compassion. So neither congratulating or having contempt, but compassion.

That’s exactly what Katy Faust’s article does. She’s the GOAT on things like this, and so she might be the “other Katy” here, but I want to be Katy Faust when I grow up.

Her article talks about compassion for the child, compassion for single mothers, who are burdened by the effects of raising a child on their own, compassion for this next generation who are looking for something real and consistent.

You know, it isn’t compassionate, it’s actually quite cruel, when we brush these things under the rug—when we don’t apply the same moral rubric because it fits our partisan politics.

You know, Nick, this reminds me of that passage in Romans that we know so well. We think of worldliness often times in terms of morality—and well we should; it’s very important—but we don’t often think about worldliness in the sense of the degree to which we reflect the world. One of the ways we as God’s people are at great risk of reflecting the world is when we allow the political partisan culture that we’re living in to affect our relationship with truth, rather than the other way around.

Romans 12 tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be renewed in our minds—and a big liability for us is that we would allow our political tribe to shape our convictions, or at least how we express them.

You know, today we’re talking about something related to single mothers, to children outside of marriage. But this applies to every aspect of our public life and culture, and that is something that the world obviously sees. Now, how do we do that? How do we sort of thread this needle and have genuine compassion, compassion that has the courage to say what is uncomfortable in a way that is loving? We need wisdom, and one of the best passages in scripture on wisdom comes from James 3. It says that the wisdom from above God’s wisdom is full of mercy and is without partiality, and that’s what we need.

We need the wisdom from God that has mercy for people that are affected by sinful choices, and also is without partiality. This is where we have the opportunity to be salt and light, to represent another king from another kingdom, and to demonstrate that our citizenship truly is in heaven.

BROWN: Speaking of conservative hypocrisy … and we are running out of time … I want to bring this up. I continue to be alarmed by the positive attention given to the dreadful and probable criminal Andrew Tate. Evidently, the Trump administration is pressuring Romania to ease travel restrictions for Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate. These guys are facing serious charges of human trafficking and sexual misconduct. Romania, though, is holding firm, insisting their courts will decide, not foreign influence. Does the Trump White House really want to elevate these guys?

MCCOY: I hope they don’t.

My goodness, you know, here we are talking about the need to be impartial.

I certainly hope that Andrew Tate is brought to full justice according to the law. This is an opportunity again for us as believers to say that while we are very grateful for many of the policies that President Trump and his administration are enacting; for the White House to advocate that credibly accused predators would not be brought to justice is just wrong. We need to be able to say that no matter who is in the White House, no matter who is in office.

BROWN: All right, author and speaker Katie McCoy. Enjoyed the visit! Thanks, Katie.

MCCOY: Great to be with you all.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, February 21st.

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: another faith-based movie hits the big screen.

Zachary Levi is the rare actor who’s achieved success in both mainstream Hollywood and faith-based films.

His big break came when he landed the title role in the action-comedy TV series Chuck. His film credits include appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he starred in two DC comic book movies as the superhero Shazam.

BROWN: But in 2021, the action star took on a different kind of role in the film American Underdog.

That was the true story of NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, an outspoken Christian. Levi said playing Warner bolstered his own faith.

Now he stars in another faith-based movie from the same studios. Here’s WORLD arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino to tell you about it.

COLLIN GARBARINO: The Unbreakable Boy tells the true story of Scott LeRette and his son Austin, an autistic boy with a rare brittle-bone disorder who shows his father a new way to see the world.

TEACHER: Are you with us? Austin?

TYLER: I think his brain is on another planet.

TEACHER: Tyler…

AUSTIN: Nope. My brain is right here in my head on Earth.

Austin serves as the narrator, guiding the audience through his family’s milestones and dozens of broken bones. The story begins when his parents, Scott and Teresa, played by Zachary Levi and Meghann Fahy, first meet in a clothing store. They make a cute couple, but the story takes an unexpected turn for a faith-based movie. After just a few dates, Teresa becomes pregnant, and though she and Scott don’t really know each other, they move in together to try to make it work. Austin’s birth and the challenges of his condition add to the couple’s stress.

SCOTT: This is just not what I thought it was going to be like. You know. I feel like I’m failing every day. And the harder I try the worse I do.

Austin has a fragile constitution, but as one would expect in an uplifting movie, he possesses a joyful and optimistic perspective. We see his optimism and joy confront the world’s cruelty and cynicism. Worried parents are comforted, bullies become friends, and doubters gain certainty. But these typical elements of the genre aren’t the focus of the movie. It’s primarily about Scott. And Austin serves as the catalyst for his father’s transformation.

SCOTT: I wish I could enjoy anything as much as my son enjoys everything.

Before Austin’s birth, Scott is an ambitious man who hopes to escape the Midwest. But his unplanned family requires him to put his career goals on hold. Scott genuinely loves Teresa and his two sons—little brother Logan comes along shortly after Austin—but he’s struggling, feeling like he’s lost control of his life. Scott starts abusing alcohol to cope, and doing so makes a difficult situation impossible for Teresa and the boys.

SCOTT: You didn’t pay these. You didn’t pay any of these?

TERESA: I’ve been trying to keep up, but with the surgeries and the therapy and the medication, I had no choice.

Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company are the studios behind the movie, and their faith-based films tend toward a higher quality than is typical. The young actors give believable and endearing performances. Levi’s portrayal of Scott possesses a suggestion of the man-child—a quality he brings to many of his roles—but he’s also able to play the character with real feeling. Levi and Fahy have undeniable chemistry, and it’s Fahy’s powerful portrayal of the broken, yet tenacious Teresa that holds the film together.

TERESA: Scott!

SCOTT: What? I’m going golfing.

TERESA: No, you’re coming to church. We need to do family things, especially now.

It’s encouraging to see on-screen depictions of church attendance as a normal part of life, but the Christian message remains mostly in the background. During hard times, we see church members rally round the family, though Scott in his pain rebuffs the comfort they offer.

PASTOR: If you need anything…

SCOTT: Yeah. OK. I could use a favor. Tell God that if he feels the need to punish someone then that someone should be me… because I can handle it. And I probably even deserve it.

There’s some talk of belief in God, though it’s of the vague variety found at Alcoholics Anonymous. In these moments, the dialogue gets a little awkward. It’s as though the filmmakers struggled to craft scenes that could appeal to general audiences—getting the message across without getting preachy.

Though the film doesn’t contain a gospel presentation or explicit moment of conversion, it possesses ample grace in the person of Austin. The unbreakable boy becomes something of a Christ figure in the movie. His birth is unexpected. The world doesn’t understand him, but he offers unconditional love and kindness. And because of his indomitable spirit housed in a broken body, those around him experience healing and restoration.

SCOTT: I want to be more like my son.

Scott’s desire to become more like Austin becomes something of a metaphor for Christians who seek to grow in Christlikeness.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, February 21st. 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. Before we end the week, we’ve got just a bit more from our recent conversation with Catherine Wheeler—the OBGYN who conducted about 20 abortions during her career. Nearly all of them were due to fetal abnormalities. As an obstetrician serving the fairly conservative region of Salt Lake City, Utah, Wheeler says she didn’t believe in elective abortions …

CATHERINE WHEELER: I didn't understand abortions in that situation, I just couldn't understand it, not in a judgmental way, but I knew that people could come along and support like they did me.

She said that her limited support for abortion was only possible because she didn’t actually consider what was happening during the procedure.

In Wednesday’s segment we heard the story of her final abortion, and how she believes God removed the scales from her eyes—allowing her to see clearly the evil of abortion. What we didn’t include was how God used another medical worker’s convictions to set the stage for that revelation.

WHEELER: I showed up one day and an anesthesiologist who thought that this was a woman who was miscarrying looked and saw actually it was not, it was an abortion.

The anesthesiologist put his foot down, and refused to assist in the case, because nobody told him this was an abortion.

WHEELER: And so that opened something for me, that a doctor actually it's okay to say no... And I thought, you know, maybe this isn't a good thing to be doing at this little community hospital.

Her days of providing abortions were numbered.

Now a pro-life physician, Dr. Wheeler speaks often about how abortion harms men as well as women.

WHEELER: I have such a heart for men, mostly because I've started to hear their stories. And for men, they were told this narrative, instead of being a protector and a supporter and a care, a caring father husband, they've been given this other narrative. You have to shut up. And I don't know what that's done to men, but it has not done good things, and my heart just bleeds for them.

Dr. Wheeler remembers visiting a pregnancy center in Spokane Washington.

WHEELER: And we were putting roses on a fence on a memorial day, and a man stopped to talk, and he's just crying about, I mean, it probably been 50 years, and he's crying about the baby he lost. I'm like, wow, never thought about that affecting men. So many men come up and talk to me, and some of them have lost babies, and some of them are crying because they were going to do an abortion, and then they saw the baby, and because they got to see a baby on ultrasound, he has a child.

Dr. Wheeler encourages men in a couple ways. First, to seek healing…avoid burying the grief of participating in an abortion.

WHEELER: But secondly, step in there and be the person you are. Your voice is incredibly powerful. Just to come alongside any woman who's suffering from something frightening, as frightening as being abandoned and pregnant. Any male voice is, I think, incredibly important. So whether it's a friend or somebody else, just stepping into those roles as a strong person who cares and offering help. And when we see the lies out in the culture, we can't we can't just lay down and let them have the narrative which is harming everybody.

Doctor Catherine Wheeler told us her story after this year’s March for Life…we’ve included a link to Wednesday’s interview in our transcript and show notes.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team who helped out this week.

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Emma Perley, Lindsay Mast, Will Fleeson, Emma Freire, Joe Rigney, Leo Briceno, Onize Oduah, Janie B. Cheaney, Carolina Lumetta, Addie Offereins, Cal Thomas, Katie McCoy, and Colin Garbarino.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Travis Kircher, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

And a big thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Carl Peetz and Benj Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Harrison Watters is Washington producer, senior producer Kristen Flavin is features editor, Paul Butler executive producer, and Les Sillars editor-in-chief.

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 records that: “Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’” —Luke 12:13-15

The Scriptures say to gather together to worship the Lord. Remember to do that this Lord’s Day!

And, Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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.