The World and Everything in It: July 26, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. Hi, my name is Stuart Welch. I'm an air force officer finishing a one year tour in Iraq.  I'd like to give a special shout out to my good friends, Darren and Maggie Duke who introduced me to this wonderful program. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The polls have former President Trump retaining his lead among Republicans in the presidential primary. What about the others?

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also today, news from around the world on WORLD Tour. And meet a pro soccer player doing ministry to kids, and showing how persistence pays.

AUDIO: I’m reminded of the widow who kept going to the judge and then the judge said give it to her. Not because I want to but she annoys me. So I’m the guy like that.

And World commentator Janie B. Cheaney on “What is an American?”

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, July 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: Time now for news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: GOP Biden impeachment inquiry » House Republicans are weighing a possible impeachment inquiry into the president over allegations of a Biden family bribery scheme.

Democrats insist those claims were debunked during former President Trump’s first impeachment trial. But Speaker Kevin McCarthy says there are holes in the president’s story.

MCCARTHY: We have a president who told the American public in October that he’s never spoken to his family about any of the business. He said no one in the family had ever gotten money from China. Well now that has proven not to be correct.

An inquiry could be a first step toward bringing articles of impeachment.

But McCarthy says the purpose would simply be to—in his words—give “Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the information needed.”

GOP lawmakers have ramped up investigations of Biden and his son Hunter Biden particularly huge payouts the younger Biden received from a Ukrainian energy company.

Judge blocks immigration rule » A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a rule that allows immigration authorities to deny asylum to migrants who did not take newly required steps. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The Biden administration enacted new rules earlier this year for those seeking asylum at the border in an effort to curb record-high border traffic.

Under the rules, migrants should first apply for an asylum appointment online, or seek protection in a country they pass through. If they don’t, border officials can turn them away.

Immigrant rights groups sued, arguing that federal law protects the right to asylum regardless of how a person enters the country.

And U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar on Tuesday agreed.

He said the rules “cannot remain in place;” however, the Obama appointee delayed his order from taking effect immediately to give the Biden administration time to appeal.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Russia conscription » Russia is raising the upper age limit for military drafts.

Beginning January 1st, men up to age 30 can be compelled to serve. The official age limit is currently 27, though there have been reports this year of Russians twice that age being forced to fight in Ukraine.

KARTAPOLOV (Russian): This law is written for a big war, for general mobilization.

Head of the parliamentary defense committee Andrei Kartapolov says the change will allow the government to conscript enough men to fight in a full-scale war.

911 burnout » 911 operators across the country say they’re stretched too thin which for many Americans could mean that urgent help arrives too late. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: The National Emergency Number Association surveyed more than 800 emergency operators.

A whopping 80 percent of respondents said they were understaffed, with many feeling a sense of burnout.

The findings align with citizens reporting wait times or busy signals when calling 9-11.

Respondents blame the high stress and poor wages of the job for the staffing shortages.

Some workers also said they feel undertrained.

Twenty-five percent of operators surveyed said they needed more training on mental health calls. and nearly 40 percent said they didn’t feel prepared to handle active shooter calls.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Ring of Fire » A Republican senator is proposing a bill that would deploy more missiles to the Asia-Pacific region to counter growing threats from China.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst said Tuesday:

ERNST: We do not have enough missiles, ground-based lauch missiles, in that area to push back against China and protect Taiwan and our own interest.

Ernst said the goal is peace through strength and to bolster not only the defense of Taiwan but of other U.S. allies in the region as well.

SOUND: [SIGNING CEREMONY]

Till Monument » Sounds from a signing ceremony at the White House on Tuesday where President Biden signed a proclamation establishing a national monument to honor the life of Emmett Till.

The black teenager was beaten and murdered in a racist attack in 1955.

Biden also remembered the actions of Till’s mother after her son’s death.

BIDEN: Insisting on an open casket for her murdered son, she said, let the people see what I’ve seen.

With the brutality of his murder laid bare her decision helped to galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Scanning the 2024 Republican field on Washington Wednesday. Plus, sharing the gospel through soccer.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 26th of July, 2023.

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

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

It is Washington Wednesday once again, and today we’ll take an updated look at the race for the GOP presidential nomination. And we’ll start with what the polls are saying.

Former President Donald Trump maintains a commanding lead. In an average of recent polls, he’s just over 50%.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place, hovering just under 20%.

No one else is even close to double digits at the moment. But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s not discouraged.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: He is the former incumbent president. So of course before anybody runs any kind of real campaign, that’s where the numbers are going to be. And if they weren’t there, all the stories would also be about Donald Trump not performing as well as someone who’s been elected president should do.

Christie right now is polling around 3%, and that puts him just behind South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

HALEY: I think I’ve done over 30 events in New Hampshire, over 25 events in Iowa. We just did another event in South Carolina. We’re not doing rallies and leaving. We’re going and we’re making sure we’re doing town halls, answering every question, shaking every hand, touching every person. We’ve got a country to save.

EICHER: Just ahead of Haley in the polls are former Vice President Mike Pence and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamey. He’s in a virtual tie with Pence for third place, but it is a distant third at about five-and-a-half percent.

Joining us now to break down the current state of the GOP race is political strategist Matt Klink.

REICHARD: Matt, good morning!

MATT KLINK: Hey good morning Mary, how are you doing?

REICHARD: Doing well. Let’s start with Gov. Christie’s point. Early polling tends to favor the better-known candidate, obviously that is former President Trump. But if someone were to close the distance, when is that likely to happen and how?

KLINK: Mary, the Republican primaries really haven't even begun yet. The first debate is on August the 23rd. Right now, I think that six or seven candidates have qualified based on the criteria that the Republican National Committee sets. And that really is a first opportunity for, for people to look at the candidates in person and all on the same stage. What Christie did say was that after that first performance, that first debate, that if candidates are still in the, you know, 1% or below range, they need to bow out because they don't have a path to victory. And in many cases, he's right. The biggest obstacle that the Republican field faces is that Donald Trump is well known. And Donald Trump wants as many Republican candidates in the race as possible, because each of them will take their little sliver of the vote. And collectively, if you add up all those slivers, it's a big percentage of the Republican base. So Donald Trump hopes that as many people dip their toe in the water as possible, and every other Republican candidate hopes that if candidates have no shot of victory, that they drop out quickly, to let those who can go person to person with Donald Trump, duke it out to find the best nominee for the party.

REICHARD: Trump has suggested that he might skip the first Republican debate on Fox News a month from now. Looking at it objectively, does that make sense for Trump given his big lead at the moment?

KLINK: Why would Donald Trump, exactly I mean, why would Donald Trump want to subject himself to everyone's, you know, animosity and jibes and poking and argument when he is ahead by 30+ points over everyone? It's just I mean, look, we remember we don't vote for president based on what the national polls say. It's a series of individual states. And the first three states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Donald Trump is ahead handily in all three. Why would he want to give these, you know, these very, very far behind challengers, any oxygen at all to try to overtake him in the polls? My guess is that he skips he'll wait until much later in the process. And then he'll only debate in person if he has to. He's going to try to run this as an incumbent Republican president would and try to limit competition with with the also-rans who are so far behind.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about the criminal indictments of Trump. Is this actually helping him in the GOP race?

KLINK: This is just the perplexing part of everything that surrounds Donald Trump. You know, we've used the word unprecedented more times with Donald Trump's presidency and candidacy than probably any other presidential candidate or president in the history of this country. Every court case that has come out against Donald Trump so far has not brought about his demise. It's crystallized his support. And there is a big concern among Republican insiders on Capitol Hill, that these charges are not having their intended effect of turning people off, at least Republicans off. The challenge, though, Republicans alone can't give Donald Trump the presidency. They need independent voters. And that is a still a humongous problem for Donald Trump. Not so much in the primary, but certainly for a general election.

REICHARD: Governor Ron DeSantis was supposed to be the guy to give Trump a run for his money. And maybe he still will, as you say it's early, but six months ago, only about 15 points separated the Santas from Trump in the polls. And now Trump's edge over the governor has doubled. Matt, how do you see the DeSantis campaign so far? And what would be your advice to him if you were advising him?

KLINK: Ron DeSantis's campaign has clearly struggled. On a positive note, if you're going to struggle in a campaign struggle early and fix the machine so that it runs smoothly later. So Governor DeSantis [has has] has not plenty of time, he has time and he has enough money to quote unquote, right what's wrong with his campaign? But you're right Mary, he is definitely struggling. He has failed to really galvanize a base of support, and other candidates, you know, Vivek Ramaswamy and some of the other you know, Tim Scott, and others, they're they're nipping at his heels, as Donald Trump is just continuing to climb and climb and climb. So Ron DeSantis needs to figure it out quickly. He still is, he is in a solid second place, but he he could barely see the back of Donald Trump. He's so far behind.

REICHARD: All right. Well, let's talk now about the hypothetical general election polls. The numbers there have shifted as well, a month ago, an average of polls showed Trump leading President Biden and now the polls give Biden a slight edge against Trump and an edge over DeSantis as well. DeSantis could argue of course, that the country just doesn't know him yet. Matt, what do you make of Biden's edge in the general election polls at the moment?

KLINK: The the polls right now are more directional than anything that you should stick a pin on a map and say, this is definitely it. They're gonna fluctuate back and forth. You know, inflation is still high, although it is dropping. Interest rates continue to be a problem. Joe Biden has some inherent weaknesses for an incumbent president of any party, that you know, are going to be problematic. But what Joe Biden wants is one thing: he wants to run against Donald Trump, who is more polarizing, and likely more unpopular than any other political figure right now running for president. The Biden camp believes that they have beaten Donald Trump once and they believe that they can beat him again.

REICHARD: You mentioned Vivek Ramaswamy earlier. He's caught up with former Vice President Mike Pence in the polls, as we mentioned, what does Ramaswamy have to do to keep his momentum going?

KLINK: Talk about probably one of the greatest campaign stories to date of election 2024. This, you know, young, very, very quick witted candidate is running for President of the United States with a first and last name that are ... he's no, Bob Smith, put it that way. And he is just capturing the moment everywhere he speaks, people are drawn to him. He's optimistic. He knows what he's talking about. He's not afraid to take difficult positions. What he's going to have to do, though, eventually, is if you want to take out the front runner, you've got to start attacking the front runner. And Vivek Ramaswamy, like everyone else, for some reason, they are reluctant to go after Donald Trump, with the glaring exception being Governor Chris Christie. And the only way Donald Trump is going to be beaten is not by ignoring him. It's by going after him and trying to braise his negatives even more and get more and more people on an even footing with him so they can debate person to person. And no one has done that yet, including Ramaswamy.

REICHARD: All right, Matt Klink with Klink Campaigns has been our guest, Matt, thanks so much.

KLINK: Thank you, anytime.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere.

Egyptian activist released — This week’s global roundup starts in Egypt, where a detained Coptic Christian activist has regained his freedom and left the country.

SOUND: [Airport applause]

Patrick Zaki arrived in Italy on Sunday to the sound of applause.

SOUND: [Applause]

Egyptian authorities arrested Zaki back in 2020 during a short trip to visit his family. Zaki was a master’s student at Italy’s University of Bologna at the time.

Prosecutors charged him with spreading false news over an opinion article he wrote on discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

He spent 22 months in prison before going on trial. Zaki’s lawyers said he faced torture during interrogation, including electric shocks.

SOUND: [Celebration]

Family and friends welcomed news of his release one day after a court in his hometown of Mansoura sentenced him to three years in prison. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi pardoned Zaki and a handful of other prisoners.

Back in Bologna, Zaki said he is beginning a new phase of his human rights work.

ZAKI: I can't forget the many people who are still paying the price of their peaceful expression of dissent in Egypt, and I hope that this will be the beginning of a fundamental resolution to their cases and to an opening in my country, Egypt.

El-Sissi also pardoned human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer. After two years in pre-trial detention, he received a four-year prison sentence in 2021 for spreading false news, misusing social media, and joining a terror group.

SOUND: [Travelers in airport]

Greek wildfires — In Greece, crowds of tourists queued up at the Rhodes International Airport on the island of Rhodes on Monday after wildfires put a stop to their holiday plans.

Local police said they evacuated more than 20,000 people by land and sea.

SPOKESPERSON: [Speaking Greek]

A spokesperson for the Greek Fire Service says it’s the country’s largest evacuation of tourists and residents.

Firefighters are battling 82 wildfires across the country. Sixty-four of them started on Sunday which marked the country’s hottest day yet this summer with temperatures of about 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

LENA SCHWARZ: [Speaking German]

Lena Schwarz, a German tourist who returned home from Rhodes described her experience as hell on earth. She says she ran 6 miles on foot to get away from the flames.

Greek authorities have also accommodated some of the evacuees in hotels and a conference center.

A sweltering summer this year has brought similar wildfires and heat waves to other European countries including Spain and parts of Italy. Fires in Algeria have killed at least 34 people.

SOUND: [Singing]

India Manipur protests — In India’s capital of New Delhi, Christian protesters sang and held candles on Sunday to protest violence targeting women in the northeast Manipur state.

Ethnic violence has persisted there since May between the majority Christian Kuki tribe and the majority Hindu Meiteis.

It began after the Kukis protested the Meiteis’ request for a scheduled tribe status. That designation gives marginalized communities like the Kukis guaranteed quotas for education, health, and government jobs.

The latest outrage came after a viral video last week showed a mob stripping and assaulting two Kuki women in May. Police have opened a gang rape investigation into the incident.

Outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi, Sister Lidwin Fernandes described the video as heartbreaking.

SISTER LIDWIN: How can I see that video and keep quiet myself? And that’s why I wanted to bring all the women together, all Christian women, so that we may fight for the sake of the women, not only for today, but forever.

More than 130 people have died in the violence. More than 60,000 people have fled their homes.

The trending video sparked reprisal attacks against the homes of some of the accused men.

SOUND: [Meitei women]

Some Meitei women have also blocked roads to stop police from arresting more suspects.

SOUND: [Protest song]

Honduras education protest — We close today in Honduras where thousands of Christians and civil society members marched in the capital and other cities on Saturday to oppose a sex education law.

Congress approved the Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Education Law back in March, but it hasn’t come into effect.

The legislation seeks to create a sex education curriculum in public schools. Authorities have said it will be age-appropriate and begin as early as kindergarten in a bid to curb teen pregnancy.

Opponents have said it promotes gender ideology and will introduce topics like homosexuality and transgenderism to minors. Authorities have disagreed, arguing they plan to respect the traditional family model.

LUIZ GOMES: [Speaking Spanish]

Luiz Gomes, a Catholic priest who attended the march says he doesn’t want the law to pass because it threatens the Honduran family system.

President Xiomara Castro said she will study the law before deciding whether to sign or veto it.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: What you see is not always what you get.

A baby gorilla appeared on the scene at the Columbus Zoo last week. Zookeepers were shocked when they found out who the mother was.

Because as it turns out the Columbus Zoo misgendered her! Seriously. They’d even given her the name Sully and called her a he.

In all seriousness, it is difficult to figure out the sex of Western lowland gorillas. In their first eight years, males and females are about the same size and don’t have many outward differences. And gorillas have naturally large abdomens, so you can’t really tell when a gorilla’s preggo. So no one noticed Sully’s pregnancy. And by the way: change her name. Sally. This is easy!

As far as zookeepers can tell, the baby seems to be female, too, but …

Mary: Have to get back to you on that.

Probably in about eight years.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 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: Soccer 4 Life.

Whether it happens in your neighbor’s backyard, or across an open field on a corner lot, the spontaneity and simplicity of soccer makes it the world’s most popular sport.

EICHER: It’s growing in the U.S., beloved by an estimated 265 million people around the world.

WORLD’s Myrna Brown introduces us to a pro soccer player, who’s turning soccer fields into mission fields.

SOUND: [OUTDOOR SOCCER FIELD]

MYRNA BROWN CORRESPONDENT: It’s a sweltering summer evening on the neighborhood soccer field. Players are busy lacing up cleats, strapping on shin guards and keeping water bottles on ice.

SOUND: [KIDS GIGGLING]

But in a tiny corner of the astroturf, a group of 10 and 11 year olds in bright orange jerseys sit criss-cross, suiting up with another kind of gear.

COACH Z: Alright, so we talked about the whole armor God and we said how many pieces? Six, yes ok…

That’s their coach, Zenzo Ndlovu, “Coach Z” for short.

COACH Z: Today we’re talking about the breastplate of what? Righteousness. Which organ do I protect? Chest? No. The heart? The heart.

Coach Z is slender and bald with a salt and pepper goatee. This is how he begins every soccer practice. His players and their parents say they look forward to the sideline devotions.

TONI AJAYI: We’re learning about the armor God’s giving to us to protect us from all evil.

MARTREEM YACOUV: I love the idea of him telling them about the Bible, starting with the Bible verse.

COACH Z: We let parents know this is who we are. We don’t apologize for that. But we just try to stay true to who we are.

50 years ago, Coach Z was born in Zimbabwe, a country in southern Africa. He lived with his father, mother, and his nine siblings in a village 200 miles away from the nearest city.

COACH Z: You’re talking about a place that does not have running water, electricity. You had to walk 50 miles to school. The first time I slept on a bed, I was probably 14.

Soccer, commonly known as football, is Zimbabwe’s national sport. For Coach Z it was also his way out of poverty.

COACH Z: I played bare feet. I walked miles to the nearest dirt field to play.

A soccer scholarship eventually brought him to the University of Mobile, a private Baptist university in Alabama.

COACH Z: It was kind of rigid, you know.. Rigid structure. Whatever I had in mind about American college was not what I saw there.

What stuck out to Coach Z was his college roommate’s lifestyle. How he consistently read his Bible and handled conflict on the soccer field.

COACH Z: He would take it well and that was real intriguing to me. I thought how can someone just take it like that without yelling back. And he never forced Jesus on me. He never pushed it down my throat.

In 2002, Coach Z not only began following Jesus, he also accepted an invitation to spend his summer vacation serving as a coach at a Christian camp in Ohio. It was his first time sharing the gospel.

COACH Z: And so I just broke down and cried. That whole week was just a blessing because at the end of the week I was named coach of the week out of 100 coaches.

Coach Z was then dispatched to another Christian camp in Philadelphia. As he was packing up and heading back to the University of Mobile, God gave him another assignment.

COACH Z: Right then when we were breaking down the equipment that I heard the Lord say, go back to Zimbabwe and show people what I’ve done in your life.

CHANT FROM ZIMBABWE CAMP: Soccer 4 Life! Say it again, Soccer 4 Life!

Every year since 2002, Coach Z has returned to his homeland to host Soccer 4 Life camps.

SOUND: [ZIMBABWE PLAYERS ON THE FIELD]

While in Zimbabwe, he records and documents what he hears and sees. In this video, there are no green soccer fields, only dusty dirt roads filled with young soccer players dribbling and passing balls. But Coach Z says the gospel always comes first.

COACH Z: [Speaking in Zulu language]

From the dingy streets of Zimbabwe…

COACH Z: [Speaking in Zulu language]

… to the green astroturf in Alabama…

AMERICAN GIRL READING SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 6:14 Having on the breastplate of righteousness…

Coach Z says the fields are white for harvest. But sports mission work can be challenging. When he first started his Soccer 4 Life Club, still a student in Alabama, he ran into parents who didn’t always want his help.

COACH Z: And so I went to his house. He didn’t want to come out. Called him again, he told me not to call him again because he didn’t want his kid to do nothing and he hung up in my face.

Coach Z says he also works hard to accommodate players with special needs.

COACH Z: If a kid is autistic, parents know that. They know that 99 percent of the kids are not, but they still sign up. They have hope. So, you have to be the hope for that parent. You have to partner with that parent.

And the burden is even heavier for children whose parents can’t afford soccer club fees. Coach Z collects donations for scholarships.

COACH Z: I’m reminded of Luke 18 of the widow who kept going to the judge and then the judge said give it to her. Not because I want to but she annoys me. So I’m the guy like that. I knock on doors. I don’t give up.

He says he can’t give up because there’s too much at stake.

COACH Z: Today I’m heading to South Africa. I’ll be there for seven days doing Soccer 4 LIfe clinics there. And after a week, I’m heading to Zimbabwe for three weeks just going to the villages. We’ve got three villages we’re going to be doing this at. And I’m excited. Really it’s just an introduction of Christ. It’s a seed I’m trying to plant.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Mobile, Alabama.

COACH Z: [PRAYING]

EICHER: What a great story! You know, Myrna also did a companion piece for TV. And if you’d like to see it, you can.

For free, even if you don’t subscribe.

We’ve posted a link in today’s transcript at wng.org. Check it out.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 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: commentator Janie B. Cheaney wants to know, What’s an American?

JANIE B. CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: Western history in general, and American history in particular, has become a minefield of reinterpretation, with some of the greatest flare-ups over how to teach it. Last week Vice President Kamala Harris blasted Florida’s new standards for black history for teaching that “enslaved people benefited from slavery.” That’s a lie, wrote Charlie Cooke in National Review, going on to list 191 references to slavery in the Florida curriculum. Cooke adds, “There is simply no way of perusing this course and concluding that it ‘gaslights” people or whitewashes slavery.”

That’s just the latest skirmish in a civil war of words, where conflicting ideas meet on the battlefield to test whether any nation that so vigorously debates its own existence can long endure.

The debate isn’t new, though. The Revolution that created the United States was our first civil war, beginning with a clash of ideas that led to blood and bullets. Shortly after the war for our independence came to an end, a French aristocrat who had settled in upstate New York tried to define the stakes. His name was Hector St. John de Crevècoeur, and his Letters from an American Farmer, published in 1782, is best known for an essay that asks the question, “What then is an American, this new man?”

An American, wrote Crevècoeur, is heir to European arts and sciences, but freed from European traditions and obligations. He is a man of property, entitled to the fruits of his labor. He is a free agent in a classless society, owing no allegiance to a king or a church. And he participates in a great destiny: “Here, individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great change in the world.”

Interestingly, Crevècoeur wrote those words in England, after first being hounded off his farm for suspected Tory sympathies, then held in British-occupied New York City for suspected espionage. Returning to New York in 1784 as newly-appointed French consul, he discovered his farmhouse destroyed in an Indian raid, his wife dead, and his children scattered. Eventually Crevècoeur returned to his homeland and died there, leaving it to the Americans to discover for themselves who they were. We haven’t figured it out yet.

Americans might be simply defined as individuals freed to act out their human nature. Human nature is complicated, and so is American history. Humans are the “glory and garbage of the universe” according to another Frenchman, Blaise Pascal. Glorious are the innovations, the material prosperity, and the opportunity to follow up on a good idea. Less so is the freedom to exercise greed and prejudice. Americans aren’t uniquely good or evil; we’ve just been uniquely unfettered.

That’s why John Adams said our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. We the people, left and right, still believe that; the disagreement is over whose morality, and what religion.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Breaking news: July is hot. It’s always been hot. This year, though, especially so. But is there a reason for all the broken records? We’ll talk to an expert.

And, what life’s like as a chaplain serving the families of veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1, verses 9 through 11.

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.