The World and Everything in It - July 15, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday: getting a read on public opinion on abortion. And we’ll talk about intimidation of a Supreme Court justice and the Senate committee argument that went viral.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk it over with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday.

Also today, Collin Garbarino with a review of the newest film adaptation of Jane Austin’s classic book: Persuasion.

And lullabies for parents.

BROWN: It’s Friday, July 15th. 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: Biden, Lapid disagree on deterring Iran » President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid sat side-by-side at a table in Jerusalem on Thursday …

AUDIO: [Applause]

… as the leaders signed a joint declaration vowing to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

But the leaders disagree on how to accomplish that. President Biden pronounced:

BIDEN: I continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome.

The Biden administration continues work to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

But the prime minister said words will not stop them.

LAPID: The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program, the free world will use force.

Biden said he is not ruling out force as a last resort. And he said his patience is running low as the White House awaits a response from Iran to the latest diplomatic outreach.

Biden in Saudi Arabia » Today, President Biden lands in Saudi Arabia on the final leg of his first Middle East trip as president.

As a presidential candidate, Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a global pariah over its human rights abuses, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But during this visit, the president suggested that he does not need to raise that matter again.

BIDEN: I always bring up human rights, but my position on Khashoggi has been so clear. If anyone doesn’t understand it, in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, then they haven’t been around for a while.

However, the slain journalist’s widow, Hanan Khashoggi, said administration officials told her differently.

KHASHOGGI: Based on our conversation, it did assure me that human rights issue, and on top of it my husband’s tragedy, it will come up.

Some have accused the president of abandoning his pledge to prioritize human rights.

The Saudi kingdom is an important oil producer at a time when high oil prices are further driving inflation.

Wholesale inflation climbed 11.3% from June 2021 » And we have more new evidence of continued, spiraling inflation.

The Labor Department says inflation at the wholesale level climbed 11.3 percent in June compared with a year earlier.

The U.S. producer price index measures inflation before it hits consumers.

Employers are feeling the pinch. Brandon Brown runs a small heating and air business in Virginia.

BROWN: We’ve had to actually raise labor and hourly rates to keep making it worth it to come to work for the employees.

On a month-to-month basis, wholesale inflation rose just over 1 percent from May to June.

Russia strike in Vinnytsia » Russian missiles killed at least 23 people, including children, and wounded more than 100 others in western Ukraine. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: The missiles struck an office building and numerous homes in Vinnytsia, a city of about 400,000. The explosions also ignited a fire in a nearby parking lot, setting about 50 cars ablaze.

While most of Russia’s recent attacks have been focused in the eastern Donbas region, Vinnytsia is roughly 150 miles southwest of Kyiv. Many civilians fled there from besieged eastern regions.

Ukraine accused Moscow of terror tactics, intentionally targeting civilians.

Meantime, the International Criminal Court met in The Hague. The ICC has called on some 40 nations to work together to prosecute alleged Russian war crimes.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

Ivana Trump dies at 73 » Ivana Trump has died at the age of 73.

She was the first wife of former President Donald Trump and the mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump.

Ivana was a Czech-born ski racer and part-time model-turned-businesswoman. In a 2017 interview, she recalled the day she met the former president.

IVANA: I turn around and there is this tall, blonde, blue-eyed guy, and he said my name is Donald Trump. I can see that you are waiting for a table, and the manager of the place is my friend. I’m going to get you a table.

They married in 1977 and divorced in 1992. They remained on good terms, and she backed his White House bid in 2016.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Today on Culture Friday: getting a read on public opinion on abortion. And the intimidation of a Supreme Court justice.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, July 15th, 2022. 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.

Let’s bring in John Stonestreet. He’s the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Good morning!

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning. 

BROWN: John, I want to talk about polls and perspectives.

A new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows that seven out of 10 Americans favor protections for the unborn after 15 weeks of gestation.

Among that strong majority are 60 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Independents, so it’s not just those who identify as Republican.

Of course, before the Supreme Court reversed Roe vs. Wade and the Casey decision, states couldn’t offer such protections.

But on the other hand, I see that in the state of Michigan organizers were able to collect more than twice the number of signatures than were needed to place a pro-abortion access measure on the ballot this fall.

This seems like what you and others predicted, that we’re going to be looking at a long and drawn out multi-front battle not just for hearts and minds on abortion, but a whole lot more varied political activity.

So given what seems like conflicting data points, are you overall optimistic at this early stage or more pessimistic?

STONESTREET: Well, I think the wise way forward is to neither be an optimist or a pessimist. And maybe this is kind of a theological punt. But I want to be hopeful. That's the you know, that's the theological virtue word. So I'll throw that out. And I don't see hope as a middle ground between optimism and pessimism, I think it is kind of a embodiment of doing what TS Eliot said, which is, do everything we can and leave the results up to God, you know, for us, there's only the trying, he said, and the rest is none of our business. I do think, though, that the various polls and completely different results we're getting is a fascinating thing. If there weren't so much at stake, it'd be really fascinating. Of course, we've seen this in the political process. You know, for a while now, whether you can trust pollsters or can't trust pollsters in which pollsters Can you trust. And I think that, first of all, what this tells us is that most people didn't know what Roe v Wade was. They did not know that what roe did is essentially prohibit any meaningful restrictions on abortion, based on really flimsy categories, they did not know that we were completely out of touch with the rest of the civilized world, quote, unquote, that this Mississippi law that was at the heart of the Dobbs case, basically made us like France. I mean, people just didn't know that. The last time an issue so morally waited, divided the states like this, it had to do with slavery, and then the ongoing Jim Crow laws in the South after the abolition of slavery, where you had essentially slave states and free states. And then you had Jim Crow states, and, and, you know, states that that did not have those horrific laws. And we haven't really been in a nation so deeply divided along state lines. I think this also underscores in a place like Michigan, it's not surprising that you could find all the signatures you need that a Detroit to tell you, you go to Grand Rapids, and the senator of the state of Michigan, and you're not going to get enough signatures there. That's the reality there, Virginia, right. I mean, everyone thought, well, Virginia, wasn't even really purple anymore. And then the abortion issue specifically drove a Republican candidate back into power as the governor there. And you know, that's a state where you've got basically Northern Virginia and the rest of the world. So I just think that there's a lot of work left to be done. And that's really what this points to.

EICHER: I want to talk about the incident last weekend where Justice Brett Kavanaugh had to sneak out of a DC restaurant after a mob of protesters got word he was there.

I’d like to add right here that I think we need to remember Justice Kavanaugh has already been specifically threatened with murder and a suspect arrested outside his home. (I hear people, including a cabinet secretary, pooh-poohing this, suggesting Kavanaugh needn’t worry about his safety.)

But here’s my question for you, I can see where intimidation tactics like this can work. I can see where people who are just really averse to confrontation, who just want to live their lives in peace, would shrink from the debate and so the loudest voices can tend to win out.

I am not suggesting fighting fire with fire here, but how do you combat that from a Christian perspective?

STONESTREET: I think there's a lot to learn here. And mostly it's what it means to change hearts and minds. There's a real possibility that this will go the way tragically of something along the lines of, oh, I don't know, prohibition, you know, where it became the law of the land until it didn't. And the culture could not sustain where a law was, I think, you know, our best hope is to say, well, unrestricted abortion with no regulations whatsoever. The culture will not sustain that, but I don't think any of us should delude ourselves to think that we don't have a culture that doesn't prioritize sexual freedom above anything and everything else. And no cultural invention or artifact has made possible, unfettered sexual freedom like abortion has, and fully separating sex and procreation. From our understanding of reality, that separation has had such dramatic cultural consequences. And it's so widely assumed that there's an awful lot of hearts and minds to change. If we're going to see pro life laws go forward, I think we have to be really clear, then the level of courage that this is going to take, the attacks are going to get louder, the allowed attacks, maybe more specifically, are going to become more egregious, they're going to become more horrific. And look, we already know that in almost every other area of life and culture. The rules simply don't apply when it comes to sex than all these other areas, when it comes to how we think about sex versus how we think about anything else. We know that that's not the case. When it comes to science. We know that that's not the case. When it comes to counseling and psychology. We know that that's not the case when it comes to law. And by the way, it ain't the case when it comes to civility. And that's what we're seeing. So what sort of courage do we need to have? It's certainly this, you know, response that so many Christians have had to almost apologize for this wonderful legal overturning of roe is spineless, it's pathetic. It's not what we need. We can be strong, we can celebrate and still overcome evil with good. And that is exactly what the scripture commands us to do. This is the great human rights issue of our day. And I will say that those Christians who are telling every other Christian to sit down and be nice, and not say anything that might hurt anybody else's feelings are going to go down in history, kind of like the Christians who appeased the slaveholders.

EICHER: Well, again, speaking of confrontation. This one is all over the internet—the exchange between a law professor at U-Cal-Berkeley and a conservative senator in a congressional hearing—that was set up to discuss the overturning of Roe vs Wade and what that might mean for abortion access.

This was professor Khiara Bridges and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. So you had two ivy league trained lawyers who are from different planets philosophically. And I say that because the senator seized on some of professor Bridges’ rhetoric about “people with the capacity for pregnancy” versus the compact and easily understood term “women.” I mean, why use one word when six will do?

But the exchange was revealing—about a minute and a half.

JH: Professor Bridges, you said several times, you've used a phrase, I want to make sure I understand what you mean by it. You've referred to "people with a capacity for pregnancy." Would that be women?

KB: Many women, sis women have the capacity for pregnancy, many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as non binary people who are capable of pregnancy.

JH: So this isn't really a women's rights issue. It's—

KB: We can recognize that this impacts women, while also recognizing that it impacts other groups. Those things are not mutually exclusive, Senator Hawley.

JH: So your view is, is that the core of this, this right, then, is about what?

KB: So I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic. And it opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing that, oh—

JH: You're saying that I'm opening up people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who are gonna have pregnancies?

KB: So I want to note that one out of five transgender persons have attempted suicide. So I think it's important in—

JH: Because of my line of questioning, so we can't talk about it?

KB: Because denying that trans people exist and pretending not to know that they exist—

JH: I'm denying that trans people exist by asking you (are you?) if you're talking (are you?) about women (are you?) having pregnancies?

KB: Do you believe that men can get pregnant?

JH: No, I don't think men can get pregnant.

KB: So you're denying that trans people exist!

JH: And that leads to violence. Is this how you run your classroom? Are students allowed to question you? (Absolutely!) Are they also treated like this? Where they're told that they're opening up people to violence.

KB: We have a good time in my class. You should join. (Oh, I bet.) You might learn a lot.

JH: Wow, I would learn a lot. I've learned a lot (I know!) just in this exchange. Extraordinary.

These are smart people and they both knew what the other was talking about. This was pure rhetorical sparring. But useful, don’t you think?

STONESTREET: Well, yeah. And I thought that the distinction between how they approached it was a tremendous distinction. Senator Holly continued to ask respectful questions and let the patent absurdity of the law professor from Berkeley bridges, her comments kind of speak for themselves. And I thought that was a wise strategy. Basically just say, is this what you're really saying? On the other hand, in response to questions, and we saw, by the way, the same thing I think if you go to some of the experts that were interviewed so-called experts that were interviewed and Matt Walsh's documentary, what is a woman? That when a question, as basic to a Professor of Women's Studies, what is a woman? The accusation back is one of anger, you know, you're being transphobic. And the disdain in the law professor’s voice and her facial expressions and her demeanor and posture towards the Senator, I think spoke volumes. It tells you which person's ideas actually can hold water, and which ones cannot. And I think that that's one of the reasons Christians in particular, to go back to our last question need to be confident and what is true, if you're not confident that the preborn are fully human, made in the image of God worthy of protection from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, then you need to be because you can rest solidly on that ideological foundation. You don't have to make it up, you don't have to be angry or sarcastic or cynical or snarky about it. If you really believe that there are men and there are women, this is not something you have to apologize for. This is clear. The other side's views on this are patently absurd, and their refusal to actually engage in any sort of conversation about it and to immediately tell everyone that disagrees that they're transphobic and evil when that's been the consensus throughout human history, and is still the consensus for the record around most of the world forever. I think the absurdity speaks for itself. And that's, you know, I think that's one of the strategies that Christians can use is let the absurdity speak for itself and then we point to a better way.

BROWN: Well, John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thank you, John.

STONESTREET: Thanks so much.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Art experts recently discovered an unknown portrait by Vincent Van Gogh not too far from a known painting.

Professor Frances Fowle at the National Galleries of Scotland told Sky News they were examining a work by Van Gogh when they found something else.

FOWLE: On the reverse, hidden by a sheet of cardboard.

…a self-portrait by Van Gogh himself.

You see, he sometimes turned canvases around and made use of the other side. Canvases were expensive, after all!

The self-portrait is believed to have been hidden for over a century, and experts believe it was an early one.

You may wonder how they know this.

One really important clue: In the painting, Van Gogh has an intact left ear. He was 35 when he famously cut off the lower part of it misusing a razor.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 15th. 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. It seems like every few years we get a new Jane Austen adaptation for the screen, and today Netflix releases its take on the novel Persuasion.

Do we really need a new one?

BROWN: Well, Collin Garbarino says he’s of the persuasion that this version isn’t quite right.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Let me begin by saying I’m a big Jane Austen fan. And I’m a big fan of Jane Austen movies. I haven’t seen all the screen adaptations, but I’ve watched most of them. So when Netflix announced they would bring her last completed novel Persuasion to the screen, I was ready. Out of all Jane Austen’s books, Persuasion is the one that still needed an excellent screen adaptation. But it turns out I’ll have to keep waiting because Netflix didn’t do it justice.

Anne: One’s family is only escapable by two things: marriage and death. Both seem unlikely in the immediate future.

The movie follows the novel’s storyline with relative faithfulness. Dakota Johnson plays the heroine Anne Elliot—the neglected middle daughter of a vain minor nobleman ably played by Richard E. Grant.

Anne: My father, he’s never met a reflective surface he didn’t like. Vanity is the beginning and the end of his character. Also the middle.

Sir Walter: “Sir Walter Elliot, born March 1, 1760. Man of consequence, known for his exquisite jawline.”

Her two equally proud and silly sisters are played by Yolanda Kettle and Mia McKenna-Bruce with a healthy dose of humor.

Elizabeth: Shame there wasn’t anything nice we could think to add about you, Anne.

Anne: Thanks for trying.

Elizabeth: You’re quite welcome. I wanted to leave you out entirely, but Daddy thought people might think you had died.

Unlike the rest of her family, Anne is sensible. But she regrets one great folly from eight years previous: She allowed herself to be persuaded to refuse a marriage offer from Captain Wentworth played by Cosmo Jarvis. He was too poor. Now, Wentworth has returned to England, and he’s made his fortune. Will circumstances, misunderstandings, and rival suitors keep the two apart?

Sir Walter Elliot: What right has the British Navy to bring persons of obscure birth into undue distinction? Only God has the right to bestow rank. What good is a title if you have to earn it? What good is anything if you have to earn it?

Despite the movie’s beautiful cinematography and its faithfulness to the novel’s storyline, Austen purists will find themselves disappointed with this new adaptation. In updating the story for a modern audience, Netflix robbed it of what made it special.

In the book, Anne possesses more quiet goodness than any of Austen’s other heroines. She’s intelligent and sweet. She bears the injustices that her family heaps on her with an unassuming strength. She loves those around her with a steadfast kindness they don’t deserve. Netflix must have deemed Anne’s goodness too boring, so the filmmakers radically altered her personality.

In this adaptation, Anne speaks with irony and has a mischievous streak, and like her father and sisters, she can act with some foolishness of her own.

Mary: Can someone help me?

Anne: Mary is preferable to Elizabeth in that she’s a total narcissist so conversing with her requires very little energy and can be great fun. Once I went an entire 24 hours speaking exclusively in Italian. She only noticed when I asked her to pass the sale.

Anne doesn’t live with quiet regret. Instead, she drinks bottles of red wine alone to cope with her loss. She’s impetuous and calls attention to herself in some cringe worthy scenes. This version of Anne has more in common with Louisa May Alcott’s Jo March than she does with any creation of Jane Austen.

Anne continuously breaks the fourth wall. In almost every scene, she looks directly at the camera to say something clever or give us a little wink. We get long scenes in which Anne sits alone recounting her past to the camera.

Anne: The first note he passed me in church. The playlist he made me. One lock of hair from him. And one from his horse, Sampson, whom I scarcely knew. And this cow bell whose sad, empty knell best captures my melancholy. Eight years of it.

The dialogue is also full of anachronisms, and distractingly contemporary.

Louisa: Is it true he’s devastatingly handsome?

Anne: He has a kind face, yes.

Louisa: And is it true he actually listens when women speak?

Anne: He listens. He listens with his whole body. It’s … electrifying.

Netflix also updates the story with some non-traditional casting. In this version of Regency England, People of European, African, and Asian descent all mix in the same social circles. This bit of modernization I thought worked well. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing British-Malaysian actor Henry Golding play Wentworth’s rival, Mr. Elliot.

Louisa: Who is that?

Mr. Elliot: Pardon me. I think I’m in your way.

Anne: Perhaps you can correct that.

Mr. Elliot: Perhaps.

Henrietta: Hello.

Wentworth: Can I help you with something?

Mr. Elliot: Considering what I’d like help with, probably not.

Wentworth: Hmph.

To be fair, Persuasion isn’t a terrible movie in and of itself. There’s some enjoyment to be had. It’s funny and beautiful, and other than a couple of lines of innuendo, this PG movie is pretty clean. It’s just a terrible adaptation of Jane Austen. I’m still waiting for the real Anne Elliot.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, July 15th. 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.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Rosie Thomas had a string of alternative folk-pop records beginning in the early 2000s.

But these days, she’s engaged in a very different project.

WORLD Reporter Steve West recently talked with Rosie Thomas about her musical and personal journey.

MUSIC: [Sell All My Things]

STEVE WEST: If you heard one of Rosie Thomas’ early records and then saw her in concert, you may have sensed a mismatch between her upbeat demeanor and her often melancholy songs. That probably comes with her heart for people.

ROSIE: I always have this gut feeling that people are keeping things in. And I want to be the person giving them an invitation to let it out.

MUSIC: [Since You’ve Been Around]

That desire to encourage people was always there, but Thomas said it took an attack of anxiety while on tour to bring a change. She let go of the need to succeed.

ROSIE: I realized when I look back now that it was actually a loving gesture. It was as if the Lord was tugging on my pant leg going Rosie, there's more to you now. You gotta let something go. Are you willing? I sort of lost the purity of it all, you know, that really where it started was just to encourage others. And so I did: I threw it away.

Thomas took a break from touring after 2012’s With Love. She settled into home life with husband Jeff Shoop and had three children–now 7, 5, and 3.

MUSIC: [I Will Carry You (Always Here for You)]

ROSIE: God was good because that's when I got pregnant. And so these kids came along and filled me up in a whole new way and contentment showed up in my life for the first time. And then I took it from there. If this is how I'm supposed to feel, Lord, then show me what can I put back in my arms, my hands, that feels like this? And then the writing showed up again.

Thomas considered an album of lullabies for children. But then it occurred to her, what about parents? Don’t they need soothing and comforting as well?

ROSIE: I was full of anxiety, then just coming off that panic attack. And here I was pregnant. And I thought, Oh, no matter what I feel, no matter what I go through, no matter how flawed I am, I will carry this kid the rest of my life, flaws and all you know, and it will always be there.

She ended up recording an EP titled Lullabies for Parents, Vol. 1, which she released early this year.

MUSIC: [Even My Best Won’t Be Good Enough]

ROSIE: Buster may have been three months old, and I was at church and this woman came up to me. He was crying, and I was trying to comfort him. And she just said, very quickly, I just want you to know that even your best job, all that you give, who you are, it will never be enough. But God will fill your son.

MUSIC: [It’ll Be Alright]

Thomas has a way of seeing a hard thing as something used by God for good. A glib song title like “It’ll Be Alright” becomes a comforting reassurance as she sings.

ROSIE: When you go to bed at night and you feel guilty, it's a really good sign in a way, just to let you know, that just shows right there how much you love these people, these children, you know? And let that guilt go away. It'll be all right.

 MUSIC: [All Is Full of Love]

ROSIE: A friend Mary, in her 60s, always said Rosie, if you don't say it, then who will? I said that I will. So I'm the one that will say I'm broken. I am the one that will say I'm struggling. I'm the one that will say I don't know how to parent. I don't know what I'm doing. I'll do it for the sake of those that are stuffing it so that maybe they can go even if it's under their breath.

Thomas continues to be transparent about her failings and her hope, sharing some of the lessons learned in her Lullabies for Parents podcast.

ROSIE: How do we remember that God's in control? I tell my kids every night God has–what, I say? And they get annoyed now. Perfect plans for us. Yep. Do you have anything to worry about? Nope. Good night. I'm telling myself that, right? At nighttime, we're good, Rosie. All right. It'll be alright.

MUSIC: [It’ll Be Alright]

I’m Steve West.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Your support is what made this week’s programs possible, as well as our faithful team here who helped put it all together:

Kent Covington, Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Collin Garbarino, Josh Schumacher, Mary Muncy, Kristen Flavin, Addie Michaelian, Leo Briceno, Kim Henderson, Whitney Williams, Onize Ohikere, Joel Belz, Leah Savas, Bonnie Pritchett, Anna Mandin, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Steve West.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are the audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Production assistance from Emily Whitten. Paul Butler is our executive producer.

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: …if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1-3 ESV)

Remember to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend, and God 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.