The World and Everything in It: July 26, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Buzz Williams. My wife Laurie and I live in Woodstock, Georgia. Laurie is a loan officer, and I am in sales. We hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday …

ELON MUSK: I’m actually a big believer in the principles of Christianity. I think they’re very good.

The world’s richest man Elon Musk says he embraces “Cultural Christianity.” What should we make of it?

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll ask Katie McCoy what she thinks in just a few minutes. Also today, a family movie teaching the wisdom of the elderly.

AUDIO: Crimenetto, it’s Alvin! And he’s driving his lawnmower!

And Listener Feedback.

BROWN: It’s Friday, July 26th. 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, Paul Butler with today’s news.

PAUL BUTLER, NEWS ANCHOR: House Republicans rebuke Harris » The U.S. House of Representatives has slapped Vice President Kamala Harris’s wrist for her failed handling of the Southern Border Crisis as President Joe Biden’s Immigration Czar.

Republican representative Mark Green from Tennessee began the debate:

GREEN: She owns all of his failed border policies and the horrific consequences that have resulted from them. Americans know it, and I'm glad that this Congress will acknowledge it too.

Democratic representative Bennie Thompson from Mississippi strongly opposed the resolution—calling it “unserious and politically motivated.”

THOMPSON: It's sad that today we are wasting time on this pointless resolution, which is nothing more than a campaign press release rather than addressing real problems facing the American people.

In 2023, Joe Biden tasked the Vice President to oversee diplomatic efforts with the so-called “Northern Triangle” countries—El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Harris was to get at the root causes of migration so U.S. development could encourage Latin American residents to stay in their countries. Additionally, Harris was to convince those countries to strengthen the enforcement of their own borders. But the number of illegal crossings into this country surged and Harris took heat for her seeming unwillingness to visit the border.

Yesterday’s resolution passed 220 to 196. The vote mostly followed party lines—with six democrats joining all the republicans voting in favor of condemning the Vice President.

BIDEN: Welcome back Mr. Prime Minister, we've got a lot to talk about...

Netanyahu meets w/Biden, Harris » A historic visit to the White House yesterday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first visit by the prime minister during the Biden presidency.

Netanyahu took the opportunity to praise the outgoing president's decades of public service.

NETANYAHU: From a proud Jewish Zionist, to a proud Irish American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel.

The two leaders are said to have spoken privately about a cease-fire proposal between Israel and the terror group Hamas...a deal that, if agreed to, would bring the more than 100 Israeli hostages home.

White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby says that's something that should have happened a long time ago.

KIRBY: Today is the 293rd day. That these hostages have been held captive by Hamas. And you just have to assume that it's the most horrific of circumstances.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is facing renewed criticism after she failed to attend Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress yesterday. She chose instead to speak at a sorority convention in Indianapolis.

GIMENEZ: She really disrespected him yesterday by not showing up.

That’s Florida GOP Congressman Carlos Gimenez speaking on Fox Business’s Bottom Line. Harris did meet privately with Netanyahu yesterday though. She told reporters that she told him she stands behind the state of Israel.

HARRIS: I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself including from Iran and Iran-backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

She went on to further denounce Hamas as well as the October 7th attacks.

Hostages found » Meanwhile in Tel Aviv…

NATS: [Singing at funeral]

Mourners gathered for the funeral of 19-year-old Sergeant Kiril Brodski, one of five Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered in Gaza by the Israeli military.

MOTHER: [Speaking Hebrew]

Brodski's mother saying that 19 years is only a small amount of time for a mother to enjoy the life of her son. She went on to say that she would always love him.

The Israeli military says four of the five bodies recovered earlier this week were soldiers. The other was that of a kindergarten teacher. All five were believed to have been killed in the October 7th attacks.

SOUND: [Homeless cleaning up camps]

Newsome issues Executive Order » A homeless man pushes a cart piled high with luggage through the streets of San Diego. He and others like him are being forced to move...due to an executive order by California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday.

In a video posted to social media Governor Newsom says that order empowers the state to remove homeless camps...after a recent Supreme Court decision upholding anti-camping laws.

NEWSOM: It's time to move with urgency at the local level to clean up these sites, to focus on public health and focus on public safety. There are no longer any excuses.

Last year California's homeless population was roughly 180-thousand people — the largest of any state.

Canadian Wildfire » A fast-moving wildfire in the Canadian Rockies has prompted 25,000 people to flee the popular tourist town of Jasper and its surrounding area. Officials report the fire has destroyed as much as half of the town’s structures.

Alberta premier Danielle Smith was moved to tears during a Thursday press conference:

DANIELLE SMITH: In the last day or so we have all seen on the news and social media the horrific pictures and videos coming out of Jasper. There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community.

Neighboring Jasper National Park is considered a national treasure. Firefighters are trying to prevent the blaze from spreading into the nature preserve. Todd Lowen oversees Alberta Forestry and Parks:

TODD LOWEN: Alberta currently has over 170 active wildfires burning throughout the province, with more than 50 of these classified as out of control.

Officials are pleading with residents and visitors to follow all local advisories and restrictions. Forecasters are calling for strong winds today raising the danger of rapid spread.

Paris Olympics » The 2024 Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony starts in just a few hours…officially beginning the two week international sporting event. After months of waiting, many Paris businesses are glad the games are finally here…because business has been slow, really slow for the last two months.

Jean-Pierre Salson owns a clothing store in Paris:

JEAN-PIERRE SALSON: Since the beginning of June, it started to get slower. July is worse, because I…think they are avoiding France and Paris because they are afraid of the Olympics, so traffic or whatever.

Tourism in the city of light is down 30 to 40 percent from this time last year. Some have been avoiding the city over fears of crowds and traffic…others are trying to avoid police checkpoints, metal fences, and digital passes required to access many parts of the city.

Hema Satija is a frustrated American tourist:

HEMA SATIJA: I know it's Olympics, I understand security and all that, but I think they should plan for tourism along with the Olympics.

Paris officials are planning for as many as 15 million visitors over the next three weeks—with more than a million people expected to line the 6-kilometer parade route for today’s Opening Ceremony. Meaning business is about to pick up.

I’m Paul Butler.

Straight ahead: Cultural Christianity on Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, Listener Feedback for July.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 26th of July. 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 time for Culture Friday, and joining us now is author and speaker Katie McCoy.

Morning, Katie!

KATIE MCCOY: Good morning, Nick And Myrna.

EICHER: Katie, I’d like to play some audio from an interview by the psychologist and author Jordan Peterson … an interview with Elon Musk. I’d always heard vaguely that Musk had had a sad experience involving a son who became transgender. Listen to this.

ELON MUSK: I lost my son, essentially. So they call it deadnaming for a reason. So the reason it’s called deadnaming is because your son is dead. So my son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.

JORDAN PETERSON: I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine what that’d be like.

They go back and forth a bit, lots of long pauses, and Musk finally says, because of his experience, “I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that.”

Then the two men kind of sit in the silence, a little awkward. Musk kept steady eye contact with Peterson, and he said finally: “I think we’re making some progress.”

So I’m struck with this, Katie, you know, Musk is determined to make the most valuable automobile company, and he does it, Tesla. Musk is determined to launch the biggest rocket into outer space, and he does it. SpaceX accomplishes that. Musk is determined to return free speech to social media, so he buys Twitter. Point is, when Musk is determined to do something, you might pay attention to that.

MCCOY: Yeah, no kidding. Something that stood out in that really tragic story of his son was how he described what is called "deadnaming." Deadnaming takes on a couple of different meanings. It usually means that a transgender person is referring to the name that their parents gave them as their deadname. But along with that, there's the new chosen name, and that is also to signify that they have a new identity.

And you know, when I think about all the different social aspects, cultural aspects, technological aspects, medical aspects, and we've talked about them all on this show, it is always worth remembering there is a spiritual aspect to this too. There is a spiritual battle and undercurrent that is trying to take captive a generation. And I really believe you can see it in this concept of deadnaming, it is truly a perversion of the Christian story that God put in our hearts to desire, to want and to be looking for. So this idea that you have to have a new identity so that you can find real life, and you have to consider yourself dead and have a new name, and then you can really be living. It's like this faux resurrection to get a new identity, actually, by destroying the identity that God gave you as his physical creation.

And I look at all of that and just think, what a picture of the demonic perversion of the Christian story in a way that is exploiting very lost and vulnerable people and leading them to horrible harm. It really is Satan's trick in this generation.

EICHER: Let’s talk about another thing Musk and Peterson discussed.

MUSK: I’m actually a big believer in the principles of Christianity. I think they’re very good.

PETERSON: So in what sense then are you not religious? … So Dawkins just came out three weeks ago or thereabouts and announced that he was a cultural Christian, right? And so the question—

MUSK: So I’d say I’m probably a cultural Christian. I was brought up as an Anglican and I was baptized …

Katie, obviously, believing in the principles of Christianity or its cultural expression won’t save you, but it’s interesting to me. I’ve heard our Christian witness is jeopardized by the cultural stuff.

MCCOY: Well, it certainly can be harmed if we get the categories wrong. So when people talk about cultural Christianity, you could even look at some of how post-Christianity and its patterns. We see that at work, people like things like kindness and generosity and hospitality to strangers, but they just don't want to have to be bogged down with the exclusive claims of the Christian faith, like Jesus is Lord, and He is the only way to be made right with God.

So in every generation, we have to be very mindful that we don't confuse the effects of Christianity with the substance of Christianity. And I find it kind of interesting though, Nick that even atheists and agnostics are recognizing the difference between a Christian culture and a Christian conversion. Isn't that just kind of interesting? They recognize that they are appreciating the effects of the Christian faith, but they're not ready to be all in with who this Jesus is and what He demands of our lives, like repentance, faith and following Him in every aspect of who we are.

But let's look at this trend, because I think there's a reason for hope here. There's this fascinating pattern of more and more secular thinkers expressing appreciation for Christianity because of its effect on society, and we can see they're tracing the impact of the Christian influence on society, especially Western culture, and that culture's value of the individual, especially even things like free market, freedom of conscience, even free speech, to say nothing of giving people an answer for questions like meaning and purpose, and that shouldn't surprise us, because Jesus said we are the light of the world. We are those who shine truth and hope into darkness, and we're the salt of the Earth. We are moral preservatives against the decay and the corruption of human sinfulness, and we live best when we live by God's design. Society works best when society is operating according to God's design.

You know, one of my favorite examples of this in history, I'm kind of a history nerd. I'm going through kind of a medieval English history podcast kick. But one of my favorite stories is from the seventh century, where a Christianized Ireland instituted something called the law of the innocents, and the law of the innocents protected women, children, clergy and other non-combatants in times of war. These are things that we might associate with relatively modern evolution of human history. In fact, this law of the innocents, again, seventh century, punished sexual violence against women, and it shows, broadly speaking, that those who have been justified by God are going to bring about just laws into the world. And we can spend all day talking about examples in Christian history of men and women who have done just that.

BROWN: Everybody is talking about Kamala Harris. As the presumptive democratic presidential nominee, she’ll be the most pro-abortion presidential nominee in American history—the first to visit an actual abortion clinic during her vice presidency.

Question, Katie: you used to teach women’s studies from a biblical worldview. Is there anything to the argument that it might be time to have a woman in the Oval Office calling the shots? From a women’s studies perspective, is that a legitimate point of view?

MCCOY: Well, first, Myrna, I think we can take a step back and celebrate the fact that all of a sudden, everybody seems to know what a woman is now. But in all seriousness, is it time for a woman president? Well, sure, if she's qualified and capable, but let's look at the things that Vice President Harris stands for regarding women.

The only thing that I can really find that she stands out in in trying to fight for women over is the right for them to have abortion on demand, and the right to get the abortion pill by mail, by the way, where one in 25 of them can end up going to the emergency room. Other things with Vice President Harris's record about women include she voted against something called the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This piece of legislation would have guaranteed that doctors have to give equal medical care to infants who survive an abortion procedure. Vice President Harris voted against that. She's certainly not for protecting female-only access for women in sports, and that's not only an equality issue, but in many cases, a safety one.

Vice President Harris was in favor of something called the Equality Act, which is one of those things that sounds really great, until you get into the nuts and bolts of what it is, and it would have reversed legal precedence of religious freedom for Christians everywhere. And then finally, she was for decriminalizing prostitution, and that would have only added to the exploitation of women and girls. But you know, Myrna in our culture of identity politics and tribalism, we often tend to look the other way on whatever doesn't fit the framework that we want to support, and I think something that I'm sitting with, and I would humbly ask my brothers and sisters in Christ to sit with as well, the same way that there are legitimate concerns for the public witness of Christians who look the other way on the words and actions of former President Trump, and they often do that in the name of policies that he will represent … in the same way there are legitimate concerns for the public witness of Christians who look the other way on the words and actions of Vice President Harris, and doing so in the name of the identities that she represents. Proverbs 11 says that the Lord detests dishonest scales and James 2 warns us against partiality. And I think this election season, we all need to be willing to let God's words step on our toes.

BROWN: Katie McCoy is an author and speaker. Her latest book is titled To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond. Thank you, Katie!

MCCOY: Great to be with you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, July 26th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: We rewind to 1999 to a slow-burning family film about growing old and making peace.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Here’s reviewer Chelsea Boes on why movies like The Straight Story can fight against a phenomenon called “popcorn brain.”

CHELSEA BOES: While you’re sweating it out on your mower this summer, imagine what it would feel like to hit the road on that lawn mower for 240 miles straight.

ALVIN: I’ve gotta go see Lyle.

ROSE: But dad–How are you?

ALVIN: Well I haven’t quite got that figured yet. . .

Richard Farnsworth plays retired Iowa farmer Alvin Straight in The Straight Story. It’s a film based on a true story and directed by David Lynch. Alvin’s estranged brother, Lyle, just had a stroke … and Alvin is determined to visit him and make amends. Here he’s arguing with his disabled daughter, Rose, played by Sissy Spacek.

Rose has plenty of reasons for Alvin not to go:

ROSE: One, your eyes are bad, that’s why you don’t drive your car. Two, uh Uncle Lyle lives in Wisconsin, which is 370 miles away. You would have to stay all night in Des Moines. Three, your hips are bad.

The Straight Story is rated G and puts David Lynch’s storytelling chops on full display–as well as his insistence that his audience be patient.

MUSIC: [Alvin’s Theme - The Straight Story Soundtrack]

The real Alvin Straight took his lawn mower trip thirty years ago, and Lynch made his film long before the invention of TikTok. But something about this film feels like a good antidote to a problem of today, the problem of the shortened attention span, or what’s earned the nickname “popcorn brain.” They say it comes from too much scrolling. TikTok and Instagram are the main culprits—causing our brains to pop from one focus to another, much like popcorn in the microwave. The Straight Story can help you slow down long enough to pay attention to people again. The film is about growing old–but it offers what Dune director Denis Villenueve has said young people are craving: substantial, meaningful content.

ALVIN FRIEND 1: Crimenetto, it’s Alvin! And he’s driving his lawnmower!

ALVIN FRIEND 2: Alvin! What are you settin’ out to do here?

ALVIN FRIEND 3: For cray-ay, Alvin!

ALVIN FRIEND 4: Alvin, you’re gonna get blown right off the road, that’s what I’m afraid!

Most of Lynch’s movies are slow-moving but mesmerizing, surrealist art films. Though The Straight Story is hardly Lynch’s usual fare, he does use his signature lingering shots and includes whole scenes that don’t noticeably drive the plot. Lynch forces us to slow down as we watch Alvin’s five-mile-per-hour plod across the plains. And somehow, we want to watch every second. Alvin’s hat blows off his head when a semi passes too close to his mower? We’re glued. He’s going so slowly we can see every yellow dot in the road, but we can’t look away. What we’re watching is the master strokes of David Lynch, who knows how to make us feel the glory in earth’s smallest moments.

We learn more about Alvin’s life, wisdom, and immense suffering as he meets strangers along his route: A parade of bicycle racers. Twin mechanics. A Catholic priest. A fellow World War II vet. A pregnant teen.

TEEN: No one knows. Not even my boyfriend.

ALVIN: Well, they may be mad. I don’t think they’re mad enough to want to lose you or your little problem.

TEEN: I don’t know about that.

ALVIN: Well, of course, neither do I, but a warm bed and a roof sounds a mite better than eatin’ a hot dog on a stick with an old geezer that’s travelin’ on a lawnmower.

And while on the surface almost nothing is happening, tension is building. Terrain grows hillier as he nears Wisconsin, making towing a trailer with a John Deere mower more and more perilous. Kind strangers offer to help him—but Alvin has to do this his own way. Will he get to Lyle in time?

MUSIC: [Laurens, Iowa - The Straight Story Soundtrack]

I wouldn’t recommend asking young kids to sit through The Straight Story, but it’s an excellent watch for teens and parents. It contains some mild swearing and some hard themes—including talk of war, teen pregnancy, and family tragedy. But it also carries with it a lesson in patience—a patience essential if kids (and the rest of us) are to learn to listen well to the elderly.

I’m Chelsea Boes.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Listener Feedback. We begin today with a correction.

On July 16th we made a historical error … putting Donald Trump’s third presidential nomination as a Republican into a class with Thomas Jefferson. The Grand Old Party is old … just not so old as to include Jefferson. Jefferson’s party was the “Democratic Republican Party.” Different thing. Our mistake.

BROWN: And now for some feedback. The first refers to a story on July 11th.

BECKY: I just wanted to say thank you very much for the…report that you did on food pantries this week…

My husband has been pretty much the primary breadwinner but he has not been able to find work for 10 months…We have been starting to go to food pantries and…I'm suspecting there are a lot more people like us out there than people would like to admit, because things are hard right now economically…

And so we are very thankful for churches that have food pantries, and our home church, you know, that supports us and loves us and and does what they can to help us and they have truly been helpful and Godly brothers and sisters as well who have helped us out. So all of it works together to care for God's people. And I just want to say thank you for bringing attention to that food pantry.

BROWN: Next we turn to the Psalms. Three different listeners wrote in with encouragement from the songbook of the Bible.

Here is longtime listener Doug Woodford:

WOODFORD: I generally think of your podcast as based on WORLD’s key verse: Psalm 24:1. But I was pleased to note God's ownership of everything, including the cattle on a thousand hills reading Psalm 50 today. In verse 12, he says, “if I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world and everything in it is mine.” Thank you for recognizing God's supremacy in all you do.

EICHER: On July 10th commentator Janie B Cheaney reflected on late bloomers, and that appealed to listener Mary Stella of Midlothian, Virginia. She stopped what she was doing to listen, then she listened again two times more. She says she’s had a 40-year professional career but has done songwriting on the side and was kind to send us a sample. We’ll play a few seconds here as it fits our feedback theme, a rendition of the 138th Psalm.

PSALM 138 ENDING
STELLA: And let us sing of the ways of the Lord,
If He shall tarry we’ll sing all the more.
Giving Him praise,
All of our days,
With are whole heart,
We sing of His way.

BROWN: And one more comment. This one on Paul Butler’s piece last Friday.

DAVIS: My name is Brenda Davis from Antioch, California. And I really enjoy The World and Everything in It. I listen every day for a fuller perspective of news here and in other countries. Yesterday's history commentary on Psalm 23, it was excellent.

I didn't know it was sung at Queen Elizabeth's state funeral. It was also sung at President Eisenhower's funeral in 1969. It was sung a cappella by a boys and men's choir to the tune, Evan, which I love.

CLIP FROM EISENHOWER FUNERAL: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me down to lie, in pastures green He leadeth me the quiet waters by…

The middle verse was sung at a crescendo. Yeah. Though I walk in death's dark veil. Yet will I fear no ill for thou art with me and thy rod and staff me comfort still.

CLIP FROM EISENHOWER FUNERAL: For thou are with me and thy rod and staff ye comfort still…

But I remember it as a child watching that on our black and white TV. And my dad who I rarely saw cry had tears running down his face when this song was sung.

CLIP FROM EISENHOWER FUNERAL: My head thou doest with oil anoint and my cup overflows …

It's a wonderful memory. And Paul Butler's piece brought back that memory. I commend to you Dr Robert Godfrey's excellent book: “Learning To Love the Psalms.” He points out Hebrew poetry is Chiastic and the key verse is found in the middle of the Psalm.

So the key verse of Psalm 23 is “for Thou art with me.” Praise the Lord. He is with us. Thank you for reminding me Christ is in the Psalms. We can sing them back to him with praise for his faithful presence. Thank you for your research and your timely news every day. God's best to you all.

CLIP FROM EISENHOWER FUNERAL: Amen.

Thanks to all who wrote and called. We’re thankful for the time you give to listen each day and even to provide thoughtful feedback.

If you have a comment to share you can email editor@wng.org. You can include an audio file attachment to your email and we’ll consider it for air. You can even call it in at 202-709-9595.

And that’s Listener Feedback!

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

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Caleb Welde, Mary Muncy, Janie B. Cheaney, Leo Briceno, Onize Ohikere, Grace Snell, John Wilsey, Jill Nelson, Bekah McCallum, Cal Thomas, Katie McCoy, and Chelsea Boes.

And a new voice on the program this week: World Journalism Institute Young Professionals graduate Abigail Hofland.

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.

MYRNA BROWN, 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 Psalmist writes: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.” —Psalm 22: 27, 28

Be sure and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with brothers and sisters in Christ in church on the 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.