The World and Everything in It: July 29, 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

New legal twists in the Jeffrey Epstein saga —and renewed debate over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

TRUMP: It’s time to go after people.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: We’ll talk about it with a former prosecutor.

Also, what immigration enforcement means for Iranian Christians claiming asylum.

And a fresh voice in Christian pop music, unafraid to sing about the hard stuff.

MARY-CLAIR: I definitely struggle with just, you know, who is this speaking to me? Is it me? Is it the Lord? Is it the Enemy? It’s just kind of a dance between that in my mind sometimes.

And a conservative British lawmaker makes a bold appeal to preserve the country’s Christian heritage.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, July 29th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump moves up deadline for Russia » President Trump says he intends to shorten the 50-day deadline he gave Russia’s Vladimir Putin to reach a peace with Ukraine.

TRUMP:  I'm gonna make a new deadline of about 10, uh, 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason of waiting.

The president said he sees no point in giving the Kremlin until Early September when there is—in his words—“no progress being made.” He added that he is disappointed in Putin.

TRUMP:  I'm not so interested in talking anymore. He's, uh, he talks, we have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations. And then, uh, people die the following night in a, with a missile going into a town and hitting, I mean, recently, I guess the nursing home, but they hit other things. Whatever they hit, people die.

Trump has said that once the deadline expires, the United States will implement secondary tariffs on countries that do business with Moscow.

That could further isolate Russia and deal a heavy blow to its economy.

Trump meets with Starmer » Trump’s remarks came as he spoke alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. The two leaders met on Monday on a range of issues, including the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The prime minister told reporters:

STARMER:  It's an absolute catastrophe. And nobody, nobody wants to see that. So we've gotta get to that ceasefire and, uh, thank you, Mr. President for leading, um, on that.

For his part, President Trump said the U.S. is sending food and supplies to Israel for civilians in Gaza and he expects Israel to take it from there.

TRUMP:  I want them to make sure they get the food open. I wanna make sure they get the food. Every ounce of food I think you want to say. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Because that food isn’t being delivered.

Also in Scotland Monday, European Union Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said a new trade agreement between the US and the EU is a big win for both sides.

SEFCOVIC:  If I were to sum up this EU-US agreement in one sentence, I would say it brings renewed stability and opens door to strategic collaboration.

And he said he hopes it will be a stepping stone for a larger agreement in the future.

US-Chinese officials meet » Meantime in Sweden.

U.S. and Chinese officials met Monday in Stockholm, in a push to extend a trade truce that is set to expire two weeks from today. They’re hoping to buy more time to reach a wide-ranging trade agreement.

Negotiators met for more than five hours.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said the president is on a hot streak, closing trade deals with the EU, Japan, and Indonesia.

COTTON:  Of course, the difference there is that those are all friendly allied countries, uh, or the European Union itself. Mm-hmm. China's an adversary.

Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the U.S. has a number of objectives in negotiations with Beijing.

COTTON:  We want them to open up their markets. We want them to quit using things like critical minerals or other uh, items to try to get leverage over the United States politically. At the same time, while we need to build up our own capacity to produce those critical items so they can’t have that leverage over us.

American officials say those objectives are a matter of national security.

U.S. officials are hoping to lay the groundwork for a high-level summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this year.

The Trump administration says it has temporarily eased some export controls, including restrictions on high-tech chips, as a goodwill gesture. However…

Both sides remain far apart on core issues like overproduction in China’s steel and electric vehicle sectors and U.S. limits on advanced tech exports.

Walmart knife attack latest » A Michigan prosecutor has filed a terrorism charge against a man accused of stabbing 11 people at a Walmart over the weekend.

Prosecutor Noelle Moggenberg says the rarely used terrorism charge fits because the attack near Traverse City was intended to “put fear in the entire community."

MOGGENBERG:  Clearly this is one of the, uh, most serious crimes, uh, that, that someone can commit in the state of Michigan, and it has a huge impact on public safety.

Michigan created the terrorism charge more than 20 years ago in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The 42-year-old suspect Bradford Gille also faces 11 counts of assault with intent to murder.

Local law enforcement is praising the actions of citizens who stepped in to stop the attacker. This recording captures when a man armed with a concealed handgun intervened:

AUDIO (Walmart attack): Throw the knife down! Throw it away!

The suspect was reportedly homeless with a history of substance abuse and mental illness.

Congo church attack » Families are mourning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after a horrific terrorist attack. WORLD’s Paul Butler reports:

PAUL BUTLER: Islamist extremists stormed into a church in the city of Komanda on Sunday, gunning down at least 38 worshipers.

They also killed five others in a nearby village, abducted several people and set fire to homes and businesses.

The ISIS-affiliated terror group calls itself the Allied Democratic Forces.

It has frequently attacked Christians, peacekeeping forces, and other aid workers.

Earlier this month the group carried out another attack in two eastern provinces, killing more than 80 people.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the Department of Justice, the Jeffrey Epstein files, and 2016 election interference claims. Plus, a member of parliament calls England back to its Christian roots.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 29th of July.

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

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

First up: A new twist in the long-running Jeffrey Epstein saga.

Yesterday, Ghislaine Maxwell—Epstein’s longtime associate and a convicted sex trafficker—asked the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.

She says she was wrongfully found guilty of helping Epstein sexually exploit underage girls, asserting legal errors and unfair treatment during her trial.

REICHARD: The filing comes days after senior officials in the Department of Justice met with Maxwell in her Tallahassee prison.

When asked about that meeting, Trump called ongoing interest in the Epstein case a “witch hunt.” He then pivoted to declassified documents from 2016, claiming the Obama administration knew there was no Russian interference in the US election system…but chose to mislead the public anyway.

TRUMP: This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.

BROWN: Joining us now is Bobby Higdon, a veteran of federal law enforcement with decades of experience. He now practices law privately in North Carolina. During his government service, he served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and spent 24 years as Assistant U.S. Attorney before that.

REICHARD: Bobby, good morning.

BOBBY HIGDON: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: Well, let’s start with the 2016 story. The Russian collusion intelligence fiction appeared to be settled back in 2023 when the Durham report showed there was partisanship in the FBI. So I wonder: does the recent release of documents from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard change anything about how we analyze 2016?

HIGDON: Well, I'm not sure whether it does or not. You know it, what it certainly does is add to the body of evidence that some will have access to. And what she's doing is she is surfacing those materials—I think she said it was about 200 pages of documents that were previously classified, and she's provided those to the Justice Department to incorporate into this review that we thought was settled at one time that revealed partisan conduct by the FBI. It'll be up to prosecutors and investigators to then evaluate that evidence, and the Attorney General set up a task force to review it. She didn't say to investigate or prosecute, but she said review, which is sort of a preliminary step to see, is there merit to it, and if there is, if it shows criminal activity, then they can move to the stage of opening an investigation and then conducting that investigation. So I think the answer is, we don't know yet.

REICHARD: President Trump says that President Obama and some officials may have committed treason and you’re saying we’ll have to find out. But I wonder: how would the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. U.S. affect any investigations or prosecutions? That ruling gave President Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts done within his core constitutional authority, among other things.

HIGDON: I think you've crystallized exactly what the main legal issue would be as to President Obama. Presidents, by necessity, are given broad authority, and the Supreme Court really affirmed that and further expanded it and defined it when that ruling. And so I think that it would be a very tall hurdle to get over to prosecute a former president for actions that were taken in the course of their official duties, and that it would be a good argument that ordering an Intelligence Review for whatever reason would fall within the scope of that. I think what will be an interesting question is there are obviously a lot of other individuals involved there may or may not have the benefit of any type of immunity in conducting their official business, and many of those are people that we've seen in the media over the last few years making certain statements about the state of intelligence related to Russian collusion, Russian involvement in our elections. And so I suspect there'll be a much broader review that won't just focus on President Obama, but would focus on those that were serving in his administration and dealing with this issue.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about Ghislaine [Ghee-LENN] Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court. What is her argument?

HIGDON: Well, she advanced, I think, four basic arguments. She was trying to take advantage of the non prosecution agreement that Jeffrey Epstein had several years ago with the Southern District of Florida, and alleged that it was improper to prosecute her the trial court and the appellate court in the Second Circuit threw that out.

She also alleged that the statute of limitations that was applicable to her case had expired and could not be extended by this the statute that was passed that they were relying on. The lower court rejected that argument.

She asked for a new trial because she said that some of the jurors answers to questions during what year, which is the time period during the trial when you're selecting jurors were improperly handled.

And then she also said that at the time of questions being asked by the jury as they were deliberating her case, that the judge's answers modified the indictment, what they call his constructive modification. In other words, the judge changed the charges by answering those questions. Now the trial judge rejected all of that, the Second Circuit rejected all of that, and we'll see if the Supreme Court even accepts her case, let alone decides her case. But that's really essentially what's pending before the Supreme Court for a decision right now as they determine whether they'll take her case.

REICHARD: Which of those, if any, do you think are her strongest or weakest arguments?

HIGDON: Well, I think, frankly, that most of these arguments are not very strong ones. I think that the the issue of the non-prosecution agreement will be governed by the terms of the agreement. Statute of limitations is a matter of looking at the statute and seeing whether or not any of the activity that's alleged, and in this case, there was a conspiracy which would give broad scope to the charges. If any of those activities fall within the limitations period, then you can prosecute her. Judges are given very wide latitude in dealing with jurors, and you have to look at what is said to the jury in the context of the entire trial. So I'll be surprised if the Supreme Court takes the case, let alone decides in her favor.

REICHARD: Are there other aspects of these stories that you think warrant more discussion? Either Russian collusion or the Epstein files?

HIGDON: Well, I think what is fascinating about the Maxwell case is the decision by the Justice Department to interview her. In recent days, the Deputy Attorney General spent nine hours with her, and let me just pause there and tell you, for the Deputy Attorney General of the United States to interview any witness is unusual, because the Deputy Attorney General does not generally involve himself or herself in the the individual workings of a specific criminal case. It's not to say it's improper, it's just unusual, but this is a very high profile case and a very important case. And so they granted Ms. Maxwell limited immunity, called use immunity, or in some districts, it's called “queen for a day,” where you get to talk about your own criminal activity and that of others without harming your case. You're given immunity for the conversation and the content of that conversation that you have on that day, and that's what they granted to her, even though she has been convicted at trial, which makes it unusual in terms of timing, and even though she has an appeal pending, which makes it unusual in terms of timing.

As a prosecutor who worked these types of cases for nearly three decades, I could count on one hand the number of times I even interviewed an individual after they've been convicted at trial. That type of benefit is usually extended to someone who's agreed to plead guilty and wants to cooperate, cooperate with you and earn a reduction in their sentence. I'm sure that her goal, if they use her as a cooperator, is to achieve a reduction in her sentence. But of course, the government has a significant interest in determining what is the full scope of evidence and who else was involved, if anyone, and we know there were many people involved in the criminal activity she was a part of, so it'd be very interesting to see how this plays out. But what occurred in the last few days is very unusual.

REICHARD: That’s clarifying. Thank you. Bobby Higdon is a former Assistant U.S. now in private practice in North Carolina. Thanks so much.

HIGDON: Thank you, Mary.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Iranian Christians at risk of deportation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently detains nearly 60,000 immigrants in facilities across the While about a third have criminal convictions, the majority, more than 70%, do not. Among them: religious minorities fleeing persecution in their home countries.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Last month, ICE agents arrested several Iranian Christians in Los Angeles. Some have already been denied religious asylum. Now their pastor is on a mission to get Washington’s attention.

WORLD Reporter Carolina Lumetta reports.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Pastor Ara Torosian visited the nation’s capital for the first time last week, but not as a tourist.

TOROSIAN: I'm kind of looking for that lost sheeps in my life.

He held black and white printed signs outside the White House gates. They read, “Christian refugees are not criminals” and “ICE: stop deporting Iranian Christians.”

TOROSIAN: I'm trying to send this message through anybody to President Trump, because President Trump in many speeches says I know and I’m aware that Christians in the Middle East are threatened horribly, but what about inside of country, domestic persecution? I felt this is domestic persecution for Christian, Iranian Christian.

Torosian pastors Cornerstone Church in West Los Angeles, a congregation that worships in English, Spanish, and Farsi. He and his wife fled religious persecution in Iran in 2010. Now, many of his congregants are worried their path to do the same has been taken away.

TOROSIAN: Why are you taking him?

On June 24th, Torosian received a call from one of his congregants, Marjan. Customs and Border Patrol agents were detaining her husband, Reza, outside their apartment.

TOROSIAN: I’m his pastor

AGENT: He has a warrant, sir, okay?

TOROSIAN: For what?

AGENT: He’s being arrested for immigration.

TOROSIAN: He’s an asylum seeker.

AGENT: It doesn’t matter, sir, we’re just following orders, he’s got a warrant.

Torosian told officers the couple arrived through the CBP One app. They had temporary legal status under religious asylum, but the Trump administration shut down the app. Reza’s wife ran outside. Officers began arresting her, and she had a panic attack.

TOROSIAN: Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?

AGENT: You can’t impede an investigation. You want to be arrested as well?

TOROSIAN: I am a U.S. citizen!

One day earlier, agents arrested another couple in Torosian’s church, along with their three-year-old daughter. Majid and Sara were attending their monthly hearing at the county immigration court. The family was moved to an ICE detention facility in Texas. Torosian flew to Washington hoping to prevent their deportation.

TOROSIAN: I'm fasting and praying that Lord will open some door for me to speak. It was last minute decision I said this is my last shot and my people is in prison right now.

Torosian advises his congregants to comply with all immigration laws and to attend all their court hearings. But he says the national conversation over immigration often overlooks refugees who do follow a legal pathway.

TOROSIAN: I think the US needs a big reform in immigration to find some way and save way to bring persecuted Christians and minority to this country and people that really their life is danger.

Open Doors International rates Iran one of the worst countries for religious persecution. Leaders govern the Islamic Republic according to Sharia law. Anyone who evangelizes for another religion may serve a prison sentence up to 10 years. Muslims who convert to Christianity can receive the death penalty…and that’s driven many to escape the country and claim asylum. Last month, U.S. officials deported 11 Iranian Christians to Panama. Leaders there have given them 6 months to find another country to accept their asylum claim.

ELSANOUSI: If they are returned to Iran, then everybody knows the result, right? Why we should allow that to happen?

Mohamed Elsanousi is a commissioner with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, also called USCIRF. Their annual report recommended that Congress reauthorize the Lautenberg Program, which creates a more streamlined way for religious minorities to flee to the United States. It was first enacted in 1990 to resettle Jewish people fleeing the Soviet Union, then it was expanded to include several religious minorities in Iran.

ELSANOUSI: Since 1990, the program has saved approximately 30,000 people from the Iranian government's severe religious persecutions.

It’s the same program that allowed Torosian to arrive in the U.S. But it requires yearly congressional reauthorization. That was put on hold in January when President Trump paused all admittance for refugees.

ELSANOUSI: This is one of our fundamental values in this country, is to protect religious freedom… So that's why we want to make sure that they are not returned to Iran where they can face persecution.

In Washington, Pastor Torosian worked with Christian refugee organization World Relief to schedule meetings with lawmakers. And he says he also spoke with White House faith office director Paula White Cain. He returned to Los Angeles on Thursday. Then two days later:

SOUND: Clapping sounds

Majid and Sara returned to church in West Los Angeles with their three-year-old daughter on Sunday. The adults will wear ankle monitors for the next two months until their court hearing. Meanwhile, Marjan has been detained at an ICE facility three hours outside Los Angeles, and she has a court hearing today. Her husband Reza was taken to New Mexico, but has yet been scheduled for a hearing.

TOROSIAN: America should be a refuge for people that they don't have safety in their countries…That's why I came to America. I had lots of opportunity to be in different countries but I choose America because I believe America is one of the safest country and there is freedom of speech, freedom of religion and land of opportunity.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Okay, so you’ve heard of busting moves, but what about busting balloons? Serial Guinness record-breaker David Rush and friend Jonathan Hannon just popped ten balloons between the sides of their hips in record time!

First the prep: take off the jewelry, like rings.

RUSH: Ow! Whoa!

I know what he means! Then the countdown:

ANNOUNCER: 3-2-1, go!

SOUND: Sound of bursting balloons

Record to beat? 17 seconds…and just goes to show, persistence pays off!

RUSH: Got it in just over 7 seconds!

The record still has to be verified, but you ask why someone would even do this?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The answer’s timeless: because it’s there.

REICHARD: Competitive people!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday July 29th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a newcomer to Nashville’s music scene with deep roots in Christian music.

Artist Mary-Clair recently debuted her first full-length album. She’d racked up impressive streaming numbers before that.

REICHARD: In a conversation with WORLD’s music critic, Arsenio Orteza, Mary-Clair talks about the creative process and how the recent Michael Tait scandal has shaped her view of integrity.

ARSENIO ORTEZA: Mary-Clair Brickell’s album Enough feels unusually confident for the debut of a 21-year old. Mary-Clair completed a degree in commercial music and songwriting in May, but she’d already begun making like a pro. Her first single, “Heaven in the Way,” actually came out two years ago, when the idea of an entire album was just a twinkle in her eye.

MUSIC: [“Heaven in the Way”]

Mary-Clair’s father runs a music-management company whose clients include the Christian artists MercyMe, Cain, and Micah Tyler. So she has seen the music business up close. I asked her about that experience and how it helped put her on her path.

MARY-CLAIR: I was able to get a front row seat to what it’s like to be an artist performing. And I kind of developed a love for that at a very young age, especially being in a place like Music City. So it was just music 24-7 for me, and I really loved it.

One specific advantage of having connections in a place such as Music City—that’s “Nashville” for those not in the know–is that Mary-Clair got to meet and know influential insiders. One of them was the two-time Grammy-winning producer Tedd T. As a business associate of her father’s, he recognized Mary-Clair’s talent and helped develop her songwriting from the time she was a teen. Not surprisingly, he also ended up playing a crucial role in determining the final shapes taken by Enough’s 14 songs. It was Mary-Clair herself, however, who insisted on including the album’s only cover song.

MUSIC: [“Crying in the Chapel”]

I asked her why she chose to include a 1960s Elvis Presley hit on an otherwise contemporary pop album.

MARY-CLAIR: That’s just been one of my favorite hymns, growing up. My grandpa had it on the Elvis vinyl.

MUSIC: [“Crying in the Chapel”]

MARY-CLAIR: And I just always loved the idea of just a hymn that talks about, you know, crying with the Lord, because a lot of the hymns I listened to growing up were very grand and, you know, “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.”

Another industry pro who helped out was the Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and vocal producer Julia Ross. According to Mary-Clair, it was Ross who contributed one of the album’s most disarmingly straightforward lines.

MUSIC: [“Pieces (Ruthie’s Song)]

It comes from the song “Pieces (Ruthie’s Song).” I asked Mary-Clair to elaborate on where “The weight of the world is as light as your heart is” came from and what it means to her.

MARY-CLAIR: That was written by Julia Ross, and…she has sisters. She’s the youngest though. And I wrote this for my sister. And I just wanted to give her a reminder that, you know, no matter what happens, don’t let it weigh you down. And whenever Julia heard that, she was—she wrote that line down. And I said, “Well, what does that mean?” And she said, “It’s just what you said, you know? The world can be heavy, but as long as you can not let it weigh you down, you’re going to be O.K.”

Another one of Enough’s more attention-getting songs is “Voices.”

MUSIC: [“Voices”]

Mary-Clair told me that “Voices” also has something to do with the “weight of the world.”

MARY-CLAIR: Whenever hard things happen to me, I struggle with the truth sometimes, and my vision can get clouded by, you know, those circumstances of everyday life, and I really try to figure out what the truth is and, honestly, just trying to read my Bible more. That’s the truth. But I definitely struggle with just, you know, who is this speaking to me? Is it me? Is it the Lord? Is it the Enemy? It’s just kind of a dance between that in my mind sometimes.

I spoke to Mary-Clair about one week after news broke regarding the sex-and-drugs scandal involving the former Newsboy and dc Talk member Michael Tait. Although she’s just starting her career, I wanted to know whether she was developing any insights about the dark side of fame as a Christian artist in light of the Tait story.

MARY-CLAIR: My mission as an artist is to show people of all ages that you can be a Christian, and you can follow God, and you can also admit that, you know, you have hard days. But the best thing to do is be honest with yourself and the Lord and your fanbase. I think you owe it to them to let them know where you are and to not put on this facade of, you know, “I’m this great Christian artist, and, you know, I love the Lord, and I never sin!” And that’s kind of the vibe that I get from some Christian artists sometimes.

That’s not to suggest that Mary-Clair’s debut doesn’t have songs that represent the positive aspects of being a believer. It does. In fact, the album’s opening number represents those positive aspects quite well.

MUSIC: [“Your Love”]

The song is “Your Love.” It’s one of Enough’s singles, and it has been featured on the Christian-music playlists of Amazon, Spotify, and Pandora. It’s also one of the reasons that Mary-Clair’s music has already received more than five million streams. So although her debut album is called Enough, it looks as if it will leave people wanting more.

I’m Arsenio Orteza.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Tuesday July 29th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Earlier this month, a conservative member of British Parliament delivered a powerful speech before the House of Commons to a nearly empty chamber. While his colleagues may have missed the speech in person, the video has been viewed nearly 4 million times on X. Some are saying it could become the spark for a “Christian counter-revolution” in the United Kingdom.

BROWN: In the speech he briefly outlines the history of Christianity in the UK—specifically the importance of the Church of England and calls the nation to return to its roots. As we end today’s program, here are a few highlights from the address, edited to fit the available time. Here now is Member of Parliament Danny Kruger from July 17th, 2025:

DANNY KRUGER: The Church is a chaplain to the nation, and through the parish system, in which every square inch of England has its local church and its local priest, we are all members—we all belong.

And so when I speak of the Church of England today, I am not speaking about the internal politics of the Anglican sect; I speak of the common creed of our country, the official religion of the English and the British nation, and the institution—older than the monarchy, and much older than Parliament—which made this country. It is no surprise that both the Church and the country itself are in a bad way, divided, internally confused and badly led. The Church is riven by deep disputes over doctrine and governance, and is literally leaderless, with even the process of choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury unclear, confused and contended. The country itself reflects that—unclear in its doctrines and its governance, profoundly precarious, chronically exposed to threats from without and within. It is at risk economically, culturally, socially and, I would say, morally.

Last month, in the space of three days in one infamous week, this House authorised the killing of unborn children—of nine-month-old babies—and it passed a Bill to allow the killing of the elderly and disabled. We gave our consent to the greatest crime: the killing of the weak and most defenceless human beings. It was a great sin.

In the reaction to these votes, and all around us in reaction to the state of the country and the world, something else is happening. There is a great hunger in society for a better way of living, and I want to use this opportunity to explain what that better way is and why we here in England have the means to follow it.

The western model was forged and refined in England over a thousand years from the 9th to the 19th centuries. What is that model? It is simply this: that power should arrange itself for the benefit of all the people under it, and specifically for the poorest and weakest; that the law is there to protect the ordinary person against the abuse of power; and that every individual has equal dignity and freedom, including, crucially, the freedom of conscience, religion and belief, which makes space for other religions under the Christian shield—a secular space. Indeed, the idea of a secular space is a Christian concept that is meaningful only in a Christian world.

Throughout the long years from the time of Alfred to the time of Victoria, it was assumed that a nation was a community of common worship and that our community —this country—worshipped the Christian God. Then, in the 20th century, another idea arose: that it was possible for a country to be neutral about God; that the public square was empty of any metaphysics; and that the route to freedom lay through the desert of materialism and individual reason—“no hell below us, above us only sky.” That idea was wrong.

Because we have found that in the absence of the Christian God, we do not have pluralism and tolerance, with everyone being nice to each other in a godless world. And there are two religions moving into the space from which Christianity has been ejected, and one is Islam. But it is the other religion that worries me even more. This other religion is a hybrid of old and new ideas, and it does not have a proper name. I do not think that “woke” does justice to its seriousness. It is a combination of ancient paganism, and Christian heresies, and the cult of modernism, all mashed up into a deeply mistaken and deeply dangerous ideology of power—hostile to the essential objects of our affections and our loyalties: families, communities and nations. It is explicitly and most passionately hostile to Christianity as the wellspring of the west.

Now we can no longer pretend, as people did in the 20th century, that we can be neutral or indifferent to God or to the public square being a godless desert. The fact is that the strong gods are back, and we have to choose which god to worship. I suggest we worship the God who came in the weakest form, Jesus Christ. This God is a jealous god—it is him or nothing—and we have to own our Christian story, or repudiate it. Not to own it is to repudiate it, and to repudiate Christianity is not only to sever ourselves from our past, but to cut off the source of all the things we value now and that we need in the future, such as freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights.

A wind is blowing, a storm is coming and when it hits we are going to learn if our house is built on rock or on sand, but we have been here before. The reformers of the 11th and the 16th centuries, the Puritans in the 17th century, the Evangelicals in the 19th century all brought this country back from the edge—from idolatry, error or just plain indifference, and from all the social and political crises that indifference to Christianity brought about—and they each in their generation restored this country to itself.

A new restoration is needed now, with a revival of the faith, a recovery of a Christian politics and a re-founding of this nation on the teachings that Alfred made the basis of the common law of England all those centuries ago. This is a mission for the Church under its next leader, whoever that is; it is a mission for this place—the old chapel that became the wellspring of western democracy—and for us, its Members; and it is a mission for our whole country. It is the route to a prosperous modernity founded on respect for human dignity, responsibility for the created world and the worship of God.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: navigating the promise and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in the public square. That’s on Washington Wednesday.

And, a World Tour special report on the church in Iran.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

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

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: Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Verses 8 through 10 of Psalm 25

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.