The World and Everything in It: July 12th, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Kraig Dodge. I live in Newaygo, Michigan, and I serve as vice president of operations for a large ambulance service in West Michigan. I listen to the program every morning on my drive to work. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Some Republicans are walking back their strong pro-life positions to accommodate what they call political reality.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: We’ll talk about that with John Stonestreet ahead on Culture Friday. And, a classic film about running with endurance.

AUDIO: I believe that God made me for a purpose. For China. But he also made me fast…

And George Grant tees up this month’s word play…on sports metaphors.

REICHARD: It’s Friday, July 12th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MAST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden presser » President Biden spoke to reporters for an hour last night, hoping to allay Democratic fears and quiet calls for him to end his reelection bid.

BIDEN: I am not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job I started.

The news conference came at the end of the NATO summit in Washington. Biden highlighted his support for the alliance and warned that a second Trump presidency could undermine the strength of NATO.

BIDEN: My predecessor has made it clear, he has no commitment to NATO.

But the focus of the press conference remained squarely on President Biden and whether he’s still up to the task of heading the Democratic ticket in November. But Biden insisted …

BIDEN: I am the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I’ll beat him again.

The president, by and large, was much sharper than at last month’s presidential debate.

But two sound bites from Thursday cast a shadow over his argument that he’s still the best man for the job: In one instance, he misspoke when expressing his confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris.

BIDEN: I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I think she’s not qualified to be president. So let’s start there.

And hours earlier, he inadvertently introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” before correcting himself.

Lawmakers on Biden situation » Now the question is will President Biden’s pitch last night be enough to calm anxious Democrats who fear their political fortunes are sailing into an iceberg?

While most Democratic lawmakers have not publicly called for Biden to step aside. enthusiastic supporters are becoming harder to find on Capitol Hill. Sen. Corey Booker:

BOOKER: We’re going to defeat Donald Trump. 

REPORTER: Is Biden the best person to do that? 

BOOKER: Again, I feel we’re going to beat Donald Trump. I’m focused on the work at hand.

And Senator Sheldon Whitehouse spoke to reporters just ahead of a meeting with Biden’s campaign staff to talk through their concerns.

WHITEHOUSE: We’re having this meeting for a good reason, and we’re very interested to hear how they make their case.

Top Democrats in the House also remain noncommittal about backing Biden.

Polling conducted since the debate two weeks ago suggest Republicans are on track to win the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Some Democratic officials reportedly feel Biden could still be convinced to pass the torch and allow Vice President Harris to run in his place. But the idea some have floated of holding a mini primary in the weeks ahead would be a much tougher sell.

NATO - China/Russia » At the close of this week’s NATO summit, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he’s not worried about the fate of the alliance should Trump move back into the White House.

STOLTENBERG: The main criticism from former President Trump, but also from other former presidents, has not been against NATO. It has been against NATO allies not investing enough in NATO. And that has changed. The clear message has had an impact, because now allies are really stepping up.

Stoltenberg also spoke to the future of Ukraine, which was a key focus during the summit.

STOLTENBERG: Ukraine's future is in NATO and we will support you on your irreversible path to NATO membership.

CNN reports that the U.S. and Germany foiled a Russian plot earlier this year to assassinate the CEO of a major German arms maker supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Stoltenberg did not speak directly to the report, but says Moscow has shown a pattern of hostile actions and that NATO is not intimidated.

Garland inherent contempt » A vote to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt failed in the House of Representatives yesterday.

AUDIO: Four GOP members voted with Democrats to shoot down the measure, while more than ten others abstained.

It would have fined Garland ten-thousand dollars per day for each day in which he refuses to hand over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Biden.

Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna introduced the measure.

LUNA: Now therefore be it resolved that Merrick Garland, attorney general of the United States is found in contempt of the House of Representatives for disobeying the February 27, 2024 subpoena…

This resolution was separate from a contempt measure last month which did pass. It found Garland in contempt of Congress.

The recordings in question captured Mr. Hur’s questioning of the president of the mishandling of classified documents.

Shelley Duvall obit » Actress Shelley Duvall has died at the age 75. She was best known for starring opposite Jack Nicholson in the 1980 film “The Shining” and for her portrayal of Olive Oyl that same year in the live-action Popeye movie.

SOUND [Duvall Popeye clip]

Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas due to complications from diabetes.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: on Culture Friday, Republican leaders change their tune on abortion. Plus, this month’s Word Play.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Friday the 12th of July, 2024.

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

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

It’s time for Culture Friday, and joining us now is John Stonestreet. He’s president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

MAST: Let’s start with the outcry over politicians changing their views on abortion.

This past weekend, two senators with strong pro-life records seemed to walk them back: those senators were J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio.

Let’s focus on Senator Rubio’s comments. A reporter asked whether he supported changing the official GOP platform to say abortion should be a state issue. That’s former President Trump’s position, one that’s already been accomplished with the Dobbs decision. This is what caused some eyebrows to raise, though… Rubio answered the GOP platform must reflect the nominee and that nominee’s position is one “grounded in reality.”

Now, WORLD’s Andrew Walker wrote about this for WORLD Opinions. He pointed out that it’s one thing to acknowledge political realities, it’s a whole other thing to surrender moral principles.

John, most Americans are moderately pro-abortion. Do you expect there will be an outcry against this position change like Walker calls for?

STONESTREET: I think there will be. I think there will be by people who have been underestimated by the Republican Party just how pro-life we really are. And notice I said "we," because this is, this is a, I mean, doesn't even make sense to me as a politically viable strategy. I mean, the sort of commitment to certain candidates and the party that has been shown has by these folks, has been because of the very clear distinction between the position of the Republicans and the Democrats on the issue of abortion, specifically, and also, this is a group of people who believe that this isn't one of many issues.

This is a foundational issue, a fundamental issue. You don't get life right, you don't get so many other things right. And that's what's so confusing right now about President Trump's position, about the position that was articulated by Senator Rubio, about the position that's now been enshrined in the Republican platform, which is, how can you actually think what we think about abortion and then be okay with access to mifepristone. How can we actually think what we think when it comes to the dignity of preborn lives and then be okay with a completely unregulated, out of control IVF and surrogacy industry? You know, these are all things that the GOP is trying to kind of walk the political wind on. It's a tight wire, and it's where the pragmatism of politics has to break down, and you've got to go back to principle. And that's what I think Andrew Walker is calling for. That's what several of us will be calling for.

Now, at the end of the day, we also believe that there's only so much that politics can accomplish, and so there is this choice, not necessarily, as I said before, between the lesser of two evils when it comes to a particular race or particular candidate, but the best way, as one of my friends and former colleagues puts it, to lessen evil. And that's where this platform shift isn't super clear. If that this is the level of commitment that the Party now has to protecting pre-born lives, then it's not actually clear that this platform, that this party will lessen the evil of abortion anymore than it currently has with the overturning of Roe.

Don't get me wrong, as Ryan Anderson put it at an event that I attended this just this past week, the end of Roe is now two years old. What that means is there are two-year-olds that are walking around right now that wouldn't have been if Roe had not been overturned. That was a real win. But to suggest, as the President has, that somehow that what everyone wanted is just for every state to make their own decision on this. No, that's what we wanted on Roe, because Roe was terrible law.

Roe actually was poorly decided on a legal level, but it was also terrible in the sense that it enabled great evil across the board with no restrictions whatsoever. The goal has to be, still is that abortion gets swept into the dustbin of history, like some of the other historically grave evils, like slavery, like human trafficking, some of these other things that just can't be thinkable anymore as an option for people. So the schizophrenia, essentially, that's being called for by the Republican platform position now on this, by the presidential candidate, by Senator Rubio, is not going to be one that we can embrace and go along with.

REICHARD: My question then becomes what it means in the voting booth, just me and the ballot. There are lots of problems in the U.S. and lots of issues on ballots. Abortion being one. Does this reasoning you lay out mean Republicans should become one-issue voters then?

STONESTREET: No, politics is not a one issue vote, and that's why I like the framework of lessening evil versus the lesser of two evils, like a lot of people talk about, first of all, especially when you're talking about the presidential race, you're giving too much credit to, you know, who sits in the White House. And you know, the American experiment is who sits in all the houses. You know, who sits in the House of Representatives, who sits in Congress, who sits in your local state house, who sits in the wherever your local school board is housed, and most importantly, in the American context, and by the way, I think, in a Biblical framework, is who sits in your own house, and what sort of freedoms do you have to parent your own children. And of course, what we're seeing now is a political party that actually thinks that the state knows better than parents and the raising of children. So there's all kinds of levels of evil that we, that the government right now is enabling, that we can actually, I think, address with our vote. And that's where you know, the calculations have to begin.

But it is notable now that America has lost, you know, the clear choice, at least according to this platform language, to think that being pro-life is to be satisfied with where things currently are, where half of our states or so on, are protecting life, and half of our states are more actively targeting pre-born lives than was the case under Roe. I mean, you know, we have states passing more radical pro-death laws. My state's one of them, Colorado, where now you're not only trying to enable abortion at any stage, but actually going after pro-lifers, going after these sweet little old Catholic ladies that show up every day at pregnancy resource centers, targeting doctors who want to give women the additional choice of abortion pill reversal.

So to take away the stark choice, and then to think that pro-lifers are somehow going to be happy with this, absolutely not. This is never what we signed up for. We didn't sign up for the end of Roe. We signed up for the end of abortion.

MAST: Alright, one more question John: The organization you lead today was founded by the late Chuck Colson. And it was 50 years ago this week that he began serving prison time for his part in the Watergate scandal.

Now his daughter Emily Colson was 15 years old at the time. She wrote a reflection of that day in 1974 for WORLD Opinions about a one-on-one conversation she had with her father in that jail cell.

Had you heard that story before? And what lessons are there for us today as we think about the promise of Jesus to never leave or forsake us - whether it be in a man-made prison or a spiritual one?

STONESTREET: Yeah, I had not heard that story before. I mean, Emily had shared, and of course, she has spoken for us at the Colson Center, and also serves on our board, and she actually did a Breakpoint commentary in the steps of her dad on that same day, talking a little bit more about what it was like for her dad to go to prison. And you know what? We actually believe that this Romans 8:28, thing that we unfortunately oftentimes lob over the wall to people who are who are suffering and hurting in inappropriate ways. “Hey, all things work together for good.” But the truth is really that God is orchestrating these details together.

And of course, Chuck said that in that famous press conference leaving the courtroom, "I could serve God in prison. I can serve God outside of prison." And it proved to be true. But you forget kind of the human cost of a 15, then 15-16 year-old girl, Emily Colson, trying to make sense of this with her dad, you know, believing in her dad and yet having such a public fall like he did, and what does that mean for, you know, their relationship, and you know she needs him. In fact, you know there was a former political enemy of Chuck's that offered to serve his sentence because, as he said, you know, his kids need him. And it's just there's so much that kind of emerges from this story. And looking back you you can see it was, you know, as Emily said in our commentary for Breakpoint, there's a line from Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, who said, you know, "Life is understood backwards, but it has to be lived forwards."

And so, you know, it was such a beautiful thing to hear her reflect backward on something about what it was like to live that forwards. And of course, we've all had that experience where you go through something, and then years later you can kind of start seeing how God used it. And now it's, it's just such an incredible thing, you know, being with a gathering, even this week, and Chuck's name comes up over and over and over and over again, of course, by me, but also by many others who just kind of point to his leadership, his ability to connect the most significant questions that Christians have to the fundamental truths of the Bible, who we are as human beings, who God is, the potential and possibility of forgiveness. It's just, it's just a wonderful thing to remember.

And you know, there's so much came out of that day. So much came out of not only the fact that Chuck became a Christian, but that he did go to prison, that his first years in following Jesus were going to prison, and of course, famously, we know now he went back to prison over and over and over and never stopped, most famously, on Easter Sundays to preach about the resurrection. And so many things emerged from this that we can trust God's hand in orchestrating the events of our lives, even when it's really, really difficult. And Emily, of course, wrote about that and did so so beautifully.

REICHARD: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. John, thanks so much.

STONESTREET: Thank you, both.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Friday, July 12th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a classic sports movie. On Monday’s History Book, we noted that this week marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell winning the gold medal in the 400 meter race during the 1924 Olympic games.

MAST: The story of Liddell’s missionary call and his convictions about not competing on a Sunday are the primary conflicts in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire. WORLD Radio executive producer Paul Butler believes it stands up well more than 40 years after its first release.

AUDIO: [OLYMPIC SOUNDS]

PAUL BUTLER: I remember watching Chariots of Fire in high school while my parents served overseas as missionaries. We checked out the worn VHS tape from the mission library.

MOVIE CLIP: It says in the old book: He who honors me, I will honor…

Chariots of Fire is a historical sports drama based on real events that follows two very different British athletes. One is Harold Abrahams—portrayed by Ben Cross. Abrahams is an English Jew struggling to overcome prejudice … striving to find acceptance through his accomplishments:

MOVIE CLIP: Well if you can’t take a beating, perhaps it’s for the best. I don’t run to take beatings. I run to win.

The other athlete is of course Eric Liddell—played by Ian Charleson. Liddell is a devout Scottish Christian…

MOVIE CLIP: I believe that God made me for a purpose. For China. But he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.

Chariots of Fire won four Academy Awards—including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

TED KLUCK: You mention Chariots of Fire, and people start, like humming the theme song to it.

Ted Kluck is associate professor of journalism at Union University. Chariots of Fire is one of his favorite films:

KLUCK: Oh man, I saw it at like age six with my dad. And I didn't understand all the stuff about race and all the stuff about Abrahams. I just knew that I liked running and sports movies…

MOVIE CLIP: To your marks. Get set. [GUN FIRE]

But the movie isn’t actually about running. Track and field events, foot races, and the Olympics games are just the setting for much more substantial story elements: themes of friendship, love, fulfillment, longing, purpose, and loyalty.

KLUCK: I grew up with it as an athlete. As a coach. And I really loved what it was saying about competition and about where we find our identity in life.

MOVIE CLIP: When we were in China, my father here was always waxing lyrical about his wee home in the Glen…

The sets and filming locations are superb. The costumes and characters age well…even after 40 years. The cinematography is strong. There are a handful of sequences that reveal director Hugh Hudson’s documentary background—especially during the film’s 1924 Olympic reenactments.

Just a few of the reasons why Ted Kluck returns to the film again and again:

KLUCK: My favorite scene in the whole movie is after Abraham's wins, and he has that scene in the pub with his coach, where it's kind of like, well, what, what do we do now?

MOVIE CLIP: It’s out of your system…go home to that girl of yours and start living…

Most viewers remember Chariots of Fire because of Eric Liddell and the assurance that in the end, “good guys win.” But Kluck says he’s personally convicted by the flaws of the other main character: Harold Abrahams.

KLUCK: Abrahams is really an idolater. And I say that with great sympathy, because I tend to be an idolater in the same ways. You know, we think that gaining this thing will fulfill us, and as Christians, we know that that's not true. Only Christ can do that, but the movie shows the pursuit of that in pretty profound ways.

MOVIE CLIP: There’s one right, one wrong, one absolute ruler. A dictator you mean? Aye. But a benign, loving dictator…

Chariots of Fire is not a Christian film—but it adeptly reflects Eric Liddell’s faith and treats Christianity reverently…though it doesn’t always get it quite right. Life in the 1920s is also on full display in the film. There is some alcohol use, quite a bit of smoking, and a handful of curse words but no vulgarities. There are a few scenes set in locker rooms but nothing gratuitous.

The film does take liberties with the facts of the story. For instance, Abrahams didn’t actually run the quad race featured at the beginning of the film. Additionally, at the Olympics he lost the 200 after winning the 100 meter race…the film reverses the order for dramatic effect. And then there’s the problem of running on Sunday for Eric Liddell. In the film Eric doesn’t learn about the Sunday heats until he’s headed to the Olympic games.

CLIP: When did you get to know? Did you not see the paper this morning? They have the whole program. The heats for the 100 are on the Sunday after the Opening Ceremony.

In reality, he learned months before the Olympics and began training for the 200 and 400 meter events which weren’t scheduled to run on Sundays.

CLIP: My boy, as things stand, you must not run…

When the film came out, the Liddell family was pleased with the film’s treatment of Eric’s life by and large…Patricia Liddell Russell is Eric’s daughter:

PATRICIA: My mother met Ian Charleston and became good friends with him. He said, “How did I do?” And she said, “You did beautifully, Ian, but he was not as sober, as you made out.”

Patricia adds the family was upset over how Eric’s sister Jennie came across in the film.

MOVIE CLIP: Your mind’s not with us any more son. It's full of running, and starting, and medals, and paces. You have no room for standing still.

PATRICIA: She was horrified at how she was portrayed. She said, “I'm not like that. I would never tell Eric that, you know.” So she came across just a little stiff and starchy.

Viewers interested in a more factual presentation of Eric Liddell’s life—especially the events after the Olympics—should check out the 2008 documentary Champion of Conviction. It’s distributed by Vision Video and available for free on YouTube.

There are many excellent books on Eric Liddell’s life…one I would recommend is David McCasland’s biography titled: “Pure Gold.”

Even with its flaws, Chariots of Fire remains a masterpiece and is set to inspire a whole new generation of viewers to run the race with endurance…once again Ted Kluck:

KLUCK: I don't think this was a movie about how Eric Liddell won the race because he's a Christian. This movie leans into some really interesting characters and puts them in interesting places, and some kind of moral messages emerge. But they didn't really set out to do that. And I think the movie succeeds because of it.

For WORLD Radio, I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Friday, July 12th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. WORLD Commentator George Grant now with Word Play for July. Let’s dive right in.

GEORGE GRANT: Sporting events are ubiquitous in American culture. 124 million of us watched as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime for their second consecutive Super Bowl victory. Over 18 million people tuned into the college football playoffs in 2023. According to journalist Alex Kerai, nearly 70% of Americans watch live sports, with many tuning in on a weekly basis for the latest football, basketball and baseball games. So, it probably should not surprise us that sports have dramatically shaped our language.

Sports metaphors abound, taking a prominent place in our everyday discourse. To “call an audible” is to improvise often on the spur of the moment, to change the play right at the line of scrimmage. To “block and tackle” means to get back to basics, to focus on the fundamentals. To “throw a Hail Mary” is a last-ditch effort, a Long Shot, a wing and a prayer. Like “end-around,” “punt the ball,” “Monday morning quarterback,” “flood the zone,” “man-to-man defense,” “home-field advantage” and “spike the ball,” these metaphors all originated with football.

Baseball has given us the phrase, “hit the ball out of the park.” It means to succeed well beyond all expectations. The sport has also given us ”step up to the plate,” “rain check,” “last man out,” “pinch hitter,” “playing hardball,” “the bases are loaded” and “ballpark figure.” To “throw in the towel” is taken from boxing. It means to surrender or admit defeat. The sport has been linguistically prolific, giving us “saved by the bell,” “down for the count,” “go the distance,” having someone “in your corner,” “on the ropes,” “the old one-two punch,” “ringside seat,” “roll with the punches,” “sparring partner,” and “throw a hat into the ring.” To “take the gloves off” means to attack without mercy, and is often associated with boxing, but it actually originated with the sport of ice hockey. Horse racing gave us “down to the wire,” meaning right to the very end or at the last second. But the sport has also bequeathed us “the hands down,” “home stretch,” “under the wire,” “win by a nose” and “throw in a ringer.”

A “slam dunk” is a sure thing, a can't miss play that's derived from the game of basketball, as is the aggressively disruptive strategy of the “full court press.” It was the sport of cricket that originally gave us the “sticky wicket,” a very difficult circumstance. It also gave us “stumped,” “crossing the line,” “on the back foot,” “batting average,” “hot spot,” “knuckleball,” “slog,” “twelfth man,” “a case of the yips,” and “hat trick.” A “gambit” is a strategy, tactic, or opening move in wrestling. It came to us from the Italian gambeto, meaning to surprise or trip up an opponent. “Go to the mat” is also drawn from wrestling, meaning to fight to the finish, as is “no holds barred,” meaning no rules apply and all restrictions are lifted.

Now these examples barely scratched the surface of our most common sports metaphors. Given half the chance, I'd love to take a mulligan and go another round, but by now, you probably surmised that that is pretty much par for the course for me.

I'm George Grant.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week:

Nick Eicher, David Bahnsen, Kim Henderson, Brad Littlejohn, Bonnie Pritchett, Janie B. Cheaney, Mary Muncy, Leo Briceno, Carolina Lumetta, Onize Ohikere, Steve West, Cal Thomas, and John Stonestreet.

And a new voice on the program this week: World Journalism Institute college graduate, Elena Olvera.

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

And thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters.

Our Senior producer is Kristen Flavin, and Paul Butler is Executive producer, with additional production assistance from Benj Eicher.

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: For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. —Psalm 11:7

Let’s worship our Father with brothers and sisters in Christ in church this weekend…the fruit of the spirit is relational, says Galatians five! Lord willing we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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