The World and Everything in It: June 11, 2025

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

The department of government efficiency clears legal hurdles, but can its proposed cuts pass Congress?

GREENE: Once it passes in the House and it goes to the Senate, it starts a 45 day clock.

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

Also today, World Tour.

And, considering evil: can it help us think more clearly about truth?

KLAVAN: If you have a faith that cannot exist in the real world, you are going to lose that faith when the real world confronts you with suffering and evil.

And WORLD’s Janie B Cheaney encourages reading aloud to young people to build imagination.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, June 11th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR:  Protests spread to more US cities » Anti-ICE protesters clashing with police in Chicago as protests have spread from Los Angeles to other major U.S. cities.

In San Francisco, demonstrators marched down Mission Street chanting “Get ICE out the Bay” with some turning violent. Police arrested at least 148 people. Two officers were injured.

Meantime, in LA: protesters clashing once again with police in riot gear firing tear gas pellets.

Mayor Karen Bass told reporters last night:

BASS: I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting.

She said the curfew would be in effect from 8 p.m. last night until 6 a.m. this morning.

She added—quote—“We reached a tipping point” after 23 businesses were looted.

LA protests-2 » California Gov. Gavi Newsom on Tuesday asking a federal court to halt President Trump’s deployment of U.S. Marines to LA.

The president ordered the deployment of 700 Marines to support National Guard forces on the ground in LA.

Democrats have blasted Trump over the move. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER: Donald Trump bringing American troops and American uh, Marines in against American citizens is not only provocative, it's not only dangerous, it really threatens the bedrock of our democracy.

However, the troops have not been deployed to push back protesters. They will provide security for federal agents. Marines deployed under Title 10 are barred from law enforcement.

And they might not all arrive for another day or two. Fox News reported that an infantry unit was receiving training on protocols for use of force in a domestic setting.

He has also ordered deployment of another 2,000 National Guard troops to LA in addition to 2,000 already there.

President Trump said Tuesday:

TRUMP:  All I want is safety. I just want a safe area. We have, Los Angeles was under siege until we got there. The police were unable to handle it. You can speak to the chief. He said it on television.

Governor Newsom has sued the president over the guard deployment.

Ukraine latest » Cheers as well as tears after Russia released a second round of Ukrainian prisoners yesterday.

Both Russia and Ukraine have agreed to release all wounded troops and captured soldiers under the age of 25. That amounts to more than 1,000 troops on both sides.

But in the Ukrainian city of Odessa:

SOUND: [Odessa aftermath]

Fire crews again battled flames after Russia launched its largest overnight drone bombardment to date.

Authorities say two people were killed and nine others wounded in the city.

Meanwhile...U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers yesterday the Trump administration aims to decrease military assistance to Ukraine in the upcoming defense budget.

HEGSETH: As you know, this administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe it, negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interest, especially with all the competing interests around the globe.

Hegseth's comments came during an appearance before the House Defense Appropriations Committee.

Trump plans to end FEMA » President Trump wants to pull the plug on FEMA and hand responsibility for disaster relief back to the states.

He says he plans to begin the process of winding down the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the end of this hurricane season.

TRUMP: When you have a tornado or a hurricane, or you have a problem of any kind. Uh, in a state, that's what you have governors for. They're supposed to fix those problems.

The president says, in his view, FEMA has been mismanaged.

TRUMP: The FEMA thing has not been a very successful experiment, very, very expensive, and it doesn't get the job done.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says she will set up a FEMA Review Council to reform the agency and begin shifting toward state-led disaster response after hurricane season.

The Trump administration can downsize FEMA, but ending the agency or reallocating its funds requires approval from Congress.

Democrats warn the changes could endanger Americans.

Biden aides to appear before Oversight Committee » The House Oversight Committee is set to question several former Biden aides about the former president’s mental fitness while in office. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.

BENJAMIN EICHER: Four former officials have agreed to sit for voluntary, transcribed interviews beginning later this month.

Those include Biden’s former domestic policy chief, as well as aides who helped to manage his daily schedule and control access to the president. A former adviser to first lady Jill Biden will also appear.

Separately, the committee has subpoenaed Biden’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to testify on June 27 after he declined to appear voluntarily.

Committee Chairman James Comer says the panel is investigating whether Biden aides obscured signs of cognitive decline … and whether anyone made key decisions without his direct involvement.

Comer says he will subpoena any aides who refuse to cooperate.

Democrats have sharply criticized the probe, calling it politically motivated.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Baptists call for Biblical marriage, pro-family policies » Southern Baptists have overwhelmingly endorsed a Biblical definition of marriage and a ban on same-sex marriage. That includes a call for a reversal of the Supreme Court’s 10-year-old precedent legalizing it nationwide.

They also called for legislators to curtail sports betting and to support pro-family policies.

The votes came at the gathering of more than 10,000 church representatives in Dallas at the annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

A proposed resolution says legislators have a duty to “pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law — about marriage, sex, human life, and family.”

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Washington Wednesday, the Supreme Court, DOGE, and the process of cutting government waste. Plus, a conversation with novelist Andrew Klavan on darkness and light.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday, the 11th of June.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Before we get rolling with the rest of today’s program, just a quick reminder, or if you’re hearing about it for the first time …

WORLD’s June Giving Drive is underway. Generous friends have already placed a $130-thousand-dollar challenge gift on the table. That’s their vote of confidence in Biblically grounded journalism. Now we’re asking for yours. Any amount, big or small, makes a difference. It’s easy and quick to do at wng.org/JuneGivingDrive. Thanks for standing with us!

Time now for Washington Wednesday.

Today, putting spending cuts recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency into law.

MAST: But first, the Supreme Court weighs in on two cases related to DOGE.

Although Elon Musk has left Washington, the department he built remains and still faces a host of legal challenges.

Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta has the story.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: On Friday, the Supreme Court sided with DOGE in two appeals cases.

In the first, a left-leaning watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued DOGE because it would not comply with Freedom of Information Act requests. Commonly called FOIA, the law allows citizens to request internal documents at certain agencies.

CUILLIER: It's important we see what our government's up to. That's the whole point of the Freedom of Information Act.

David Cuillier is the director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Center at the University of Florida. He says that while some government entities, such as the Defense Department, Congress, and the White House, are exempt from FOIA, DOGE should not be.

CUILLIER: When the government's making important decisions that affect our lives, that affect our taxes, that affect the services we receive, then we're entitled to see what's going on.

DOGE claims that it is not a federal agency, but simply an advisory group.

The justices decided DOGE does not need to comply with FOIA while the case goes back to a lower court for more legal discovery with a narrower focus.

Next, the Court overturned an injunction that blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security Administration data. That includes bank information, medical records, and social security numbers. The unsigned order said DOGE employees may continue to access the information so that they can do their jobs while the attorneys continue fighting lawsuits in court.

The decisions raise new questions about DOGE’s work going forward, especially now that special government employee Elon Musk is no longer at the helm. I asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about it in a recent briefing.

LUMETTA: Is there a DOGE leader taking the place of Mr. Musk?

LEAVITT: Well, again, the DOGE leaders are each and every member of the President's cabinet, and the President himself who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from our government.

There is no public org-chart for DOGE, but a budget request for 2026 asks for funds for 30 employees and 120 staffers who can be embedded as DOGE liaisons within other departments.

DOGE employees have accessed computer systems, email accounts, and datasets at every level of government to identify how money is being spent. But staffers have also sent emails to fire federal employees and cancel contracts. That could mean they serve more than an advisory role. And members of President Trump’s cabinet want to see DOGE further embedded in the federal government. Here’s Office of Budget and Management Director Russ Vought in a House Appropriations hearing last week.

VOUGHT: I think the vision for DOGE is in addition to having some of the consulting work that they've done is that DOGE would go and be far more institutionalized at the actual agency. So many Doge employees are at the agencies working uh almost as in-house consultants as a part of the agency's leadership. And I think the leadership of DOGE is now much more decentralized.

While the Trump administration works to make DOGE more concrete, legal challenges remain. On Monday, a federal judge in New York said that the Office of Personnel Management improperly gave DOGE access to federal employee documents. The court will consider next steps on Thursday.

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

MAST: While DOGE has the legal greenlight to continue its work identifying ways to clean up government spending, it’s up to Congress to put those cuts into law. So far, DOGE’s website touts an estimated $180 billion in savings. This week, the House of Representatives takes up a bill dealing with the first $9 billion of those cuts.

EICHER: Here now with more is Washington Bureau reporter Leo Briceno.

LEO BRICENO: This isn’t the first time President Trump has sought to claw back spending already appropriated by Congress. In 2018, the White House asked Congress to rescind nearly $15 billion across the government. The House of Representatives approved it, but the bill ultimately failed in the Senate.

This time, President Trump is starting with a smaller package, $8.3 billion in reductions from foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion in reductions to funding for Public Broadcasting.

On Thursday, the House will vote to make those cuts official.

For lawmakers like Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, it’s a key part of fulfilling Republican promises to cut government spending.

NORMAN: We need a lot more to get this country back on the financial track, which I think we will.

BRICENO: But as far as this Congress goes, do you know if the Speaker expects to have a rescission package a month, or—

NORMAN
Hopefully every two weeks.

BRICENO: Really?

NORMAN: Yes sir.

BRICENO: That seems really optimistic. Is that something the President—

NORMAN: We have to aim high, but this is the first step. Let’s see how this goes.

Rescission packages are special types of bills that fast track consideration of a spending reduction. At the president’s request, these bills allow lawmakers to more easily undo spending that’s already passed Congress and become law. Instead of the 60-vote threshold normally needed to break a filibuster, rescissions can pass in the senate with just 50 votes. And right now, Republicans have 53.

But even with the expedited measures, the process can take a while.

BEAN: It’s like walking on a walker. It's much slower than you want to go, but it does get you there eventually.

That’s Congressman Aaron Bean of Florida, chair of the House DOGE caucus. He recently got his knee reconstructed, so he’s on a walker himself—heard there taking the elevator instead of the House’s marble staircase.

The $9 billion dollar figure up for consideration in the House is a fraction of the cuts DOGE has identified So where’s the rest?

Well, not all of the $180 billion in DOGE cuts will require Congress’ approval.

Here’s Georgia Congresswoman Marjory Taylor Greene.

GREENE: Some of those are grants and contracts and those are things that Congress has nothing to do with. Those are grants and contracts that the departments themselves actually sign and hand out.

The rest won’t come all at once. Congressman Bean says they’ll consider it a bite at a time.

BEAN: I like little singles every week. I want a rescission package—if it were up to me—I would take a rescission package every week. We should be voting every week to cut. But listen, I understand the Big Beautiful Bill has consumed—and still is consuming—all the oxygen. So once we get that out of the way, then we can focus like a laser on making additional cuts.

Another rule for this ground game, the expedited power only applies to the cuts the president specifically asks for.

BEAN: That’s, the whole rescission package has to come from the White House and they have to do it. So I’m gonna, I’ve been with Russ, with Secretary Besant with all of them begging for the last nine months, ‘Hey give us a package.’ but again, everyone has been occupied.

And with everyone occupied with nomination hearings and budget reconciliation, lawmakers want to make sure they hit the timing right for a rescissions bill. Congresswoman Greene explains what happens when the President makes his request.

GREENE: It starts a 45 day clock. And that’s because of the rules in the Senate.

If the clock runs out and the Senate does not pass it in time, the easier hurdle of a simple majority vote expires, and the bill has to go through the normal 60-vote process.

GREENE: That’s why they’re being really careful to, okay, we got to make sure that ‘well, we know it’ll pass the House but we got to make sure the Senate is capable of taking it up and passing it.’”

The Senate’s 45-day clock isn’t the only threat to rescissions. Some House Republicans aren’t sold on everything that’s in this package.

BACON: So I think, we’ve got time to talk with leadership on it.

Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon says he wants to slow down and unpack the cuts to public broadcasting services. He’s also concerned about cuts to PEPFAR,a George W. Bush-era program that combats AIDs internationally.

BACON: Well, I feel better about PEPFAR because last week it was being reported was a 100% cut. It's 8% cut and they’re protecting all the medicine, all the medical care. Yeah. So, I feel better about that but I’m going to work with some of my colleagues on the PBS/NPR stuff. And I’ll leave it at that for the time being.

So far, Bacon is the only Republican to publicly voice concerns, and Speaker Johnson hopes it stays that way.

Depending on how this first package fares, it will be up to President Trump to get the ball moving on the rest of the DOGE cuts.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leo Briceno, in Washington, DC.

LINDAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Oduah.

SOUND: Chanting supporters

Onize Oduah: Colombian shooting — We start today in Colombia with an assassination attempt during a campaign event in the capital city of Bogota.

Presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was addressing supporters in a park on Saturday when he was shot three times.

Uribe has undergone an initial surgery, but doctors say he is still in critical condition.

Uribe’s wife, María Claudia Tarazona, thanked supporters for standing with her family.

MARIA CLAUDIA TARAZONA: [SPANISH] I ask each one of you to continue praying hard, not to give up, and that we are united in prayer. Thank you.

She asked for continued prayers for her husband’s recovery.

Authorities detained a 15-year-old suspect who was found with a 9-millimeter Glock-type firearm. Investigators are still working to uncover the motive behind the attack.

Laura Sarabia is Colombia’s foreign minister.

LAURA SARABIA: [SPANISH] Many of us have failed at this time. It must be a call to reflection, but above all to action. We have failed to provide security and peace for all Colombians.

She admitted that authorities failed to provide security and peace for all Colombians.

Uribe is a critic of Colombia’s leftist government. He also opposed the activities of drug cartels and guerrilla groups that still control parts of the country.

India-U.K. partnership — Next, to India, where British and Indian officials are discussing expanded counter-terrorism cooperation.

The move comes amid recent tensions between India and its neighbor, Pakistan. A ceasefire last month paused rising violence after 26 people were murdered in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir. Indian authorities blamed Pakistan for the killings and retaliated with targeted missile and air strikes.

Here’s British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

DAVID LAMMY: We want the situation to be maintained, but of course we recognise fragility, particularly in the backdrop of terrorism, terrorism designed to destabilise India, attack tourists going about their daily lives, and we are keen to continue to work with our Indian partners on counter-terrorism measures.

Lammy said both sides also discussed boosting trade before he left India on Sunday.

SOUND: [Students]

DRC exams — Over in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, tens of thousands of high school seniors have started their state-run final exams in the rebel-controlled eastern region.

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized control of the area’s two largest cities in fighting earlier this year.

Education officials had to escort the exam materials from the country’s capital of Kinshasa into the rebel-held cities. The tests are similar to the SAT’s for students hoping to get into college.

Mangala Lubunga is one of those students in Bukavu.

MANGALA LUBUNGA: [FRENCH] I feel happy, I feel at ease. With the war, our friends died, others fled to neighboring countries. But today, I was able to finish my exam in secure conditions.

He says some of his friends died while others fled to neighboring countries. But he’s happy he can take his exams safely.

Authorities waived exam fees for students in the region over the insecurity. The testing will continue through mid-June.

SOUND: [Cheering]

Uzbekistan soccer — We wrap up in the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan.

Soccer fans broke out in cheers as the country’s national team qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

It follows a goalless draw with the United Arab Emirates.

Otabek Khaydarov is one of the team’s supporters.

OTABEK KHAYDAROV: [UZBEK] If we are lucky, with Asian or South American teams, of course, the game will be better. Of course, with Europeans too, but their level is much higher than ours. But anyway, I am very happy that our team made it to the World Cup.

He says he’s happy about the team’s success, but knows they face a challenge ahead against European teams.

The World Cup is held every four years. North America will host the 2026 competition with games scheduled across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: You know you’re deep in the fog of having a newborn when a neighbor notices you and calls 911 because she thinks you look like a kidnapper.

HAMBORG: Someone called the cops on me, thinking that I was a homeless person with a baby.

Chapman Hamborg is an artist, and a dad with a bigger sleep deficit than a congressional fiscal deficit. Tattered slippers, hair all askew, baby bundled to his chest—and from the pictures, you’ve got to admit it, yeah, he looked a little scraggly.

The responding officer didn’t seem especially alarmed, but you can never be too careful, so he checked it out.

OFFICER: This lady lives, I think, a street over. She saw you, she got worried, so she followed you.

Here’s the amazing part: Chapman wasn’t offended. Actually, he expressed thanks to the neighbor for caring, and then he decided to sell some of his artwork to benefit a homeless charity.

No kidding! So the moral of the story’s maybe don’t judge a guy by his slippers until you’ve walked a mile in ’em?

It’s The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, June 11th.  Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Finding beauty in tragedy.

Author Andrew Klavan spent years as a screenwriter and crime novelist. But his latest work explores how to find the light in dark stories—both true and fictional.

MAST: His latest book: The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness looks at how seeing evil for what it is can help us think more clearly about God. WORLD’s Mary Reichard read the book and talked to Klavan about it. Here’s an excerpt from a longer interview.

MARY REICHARD: Andrew, welcome. It’s great to have you with us.

ANDREW KLAVAN: Thank you, thanks for having me, I appreciate it.

REICHARD: In the book you generally describe some very heinous murders from real life and from the art world. One of those real life stories is the story of Cain and Abel. Why do you think that story still holds such weight in understanding evil?

KLAVAN: The murder of Abel by Cain is the first thing that happens after the fall of man. And it sets the tone of history in the same way if you're traumatized in your childhood, that trauma can repeat and repeat throughout your life. The brother battle is the whole story of the Old Testament. One generation after another is engaged in a brother trying to seize power from the other brother. And all the themes that go into that: envy, inner strife, the kind of idea that...murder in some way as a kind of suicide, kind of killing of your own soul. All of those themes are involved in the murder of Cain and Abel.

REICHARD: In the book, you describe atheist philosophy and your own conclusion that it just doesn’t adequately make sense of the moral order. How did you come to that conclusion?

KLAVAN: Because I had read a very, very dark novel called Crime and Punishment about an axe murder when I was 19, I was absolutely convinced that morality was not relative, that you had to make an argument that some things are just wrong. When you read the axe murder in Crime and Punishment, you just think to yourself, no, there's no planet on which this is right. So I was looking for an atheist who could make sense of the fact that there was a moral order. And finally I came upon the work of the Marquis de Sade, who is the psychopath from whom we get the word sadism. And his work is sadistic pornography interspersed with brilliant philosophy. Why is it okay to torture somebody for your own pleasure? And I read that and I thought that is the first atheist philosophy that actually holds together. Because what de Sade said is there's no God, therefore there is no morality. Therefore you should do whatever gives you pleasure. And in nature, the powerful overcome the weak. So why wouldn't you take pleasure in being the powerful and torment the weak? I thought, that makes sense, but it's hell. It's horrific. And so I made the only leap of faith I ever made in my journey to God, which is I thought, I believe that that's wrong.

MARY REICHARD: Hm. I know you’ve had some criticism about being a Christian and writing about these dark things. So help us to understand. We know scripture says hating one’s brother is as bad as murder. So how do you justify exploring depravity to show separation from God?

KLAVAN: Because I think that that's where the line is drawn. And one of the things about murder is it because it's so horrific, because we understand right away that it's bad, it makes you think, well, what's bad about it? Why is it bad? And what's bad about it is the fullness and sacredness of another person. I think murder is the absolute statement. It's the absolute dramatization of that sanctity and why, and once you deny that sanctity, you put yourself in a position of having done evil.

REICHARD: Continuing along that line, what do you think about the criticism that studying evil is like eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that it’s plain old sin dressed up as insight?

KLAVAN: I'm always having Philippians thrown at me, people saying, you know, should meditate on what's good and noble and true. if that verse, I mean, that's a complicated verse and an interesting one, but if all that means is it's like the song from Peter Pan, you know, think of the happiest things as the same as having wings. You have to remember that Peter Pan never grew up. And if you have a faith that cannot exist in the real world, you are going to lose that faith when the real world confronts you with the kind of suffering and evil that it does confront you with. When I look at plays that are about horrible things like Macbeth, is always my best example. It's one of the most beautiful plays ever written, but it's about nihilism, death, betrayal. Every evil that you can think of is in that play. And yet it is a beautiful thing because it actually shows you what evil is and what it does to you, how it separates you from the moral order and therefore separates you from all meaning and all love.

REICHARD: So I’m curious: is there a way to determine if art is Christian? If it contains violence or sorrow what should we make of those elements?

KLAVAN: Well, I believe that all truth is Christian. This is one of the things that I think is a shame about the modern world and religion in the modern world, is I think that we put Christianity aside. You go to church on Sunday, you say certain things, and those are Christian things, and other things are not Christian things. I don't actually believe that. I believe that if there is a God, which I think I not only think there is, I have complete faith that there is, that's the center of reality. That's the nature of reality. So I think that any true story is, will, you know, all things work together for those who love God. I think any true story will express God. Art that is honest will be Christian art. Someone once asked the great justice, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was a devout Catholic, what does a Christian judge look like? And he said, he looks like a good judge. And I think that that's what Christian art looks like. It looks like good art.

REICHARD: You talk about good art and bad art and you write about Michelangelo’s Pieta–the sculpture showing Mary holding the body of Jesus. What do you think that depiction of suffering teaches us about beauty?

KLAVAN: It ends with the Pietà, which I believe is the most beautiful work of sculpture in the world. It's a picture of a woman with her dead son, Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus. And so it is a picture of the saddest possible thing that can happen to a human being in life, for a mother to lose her child. There is simply nothing sadder or more tragic than that. And then it goes beyond that since this is the world losing its God for a moment in that moment of death. It's a revelation of our estrangement from God that we would crucify him when we found him, when we saw him right in front of us. It is absolutely the worst moment in human history. And yet, and yet, Michelangelo made it beautiful. I think probably the central thing that keeps people from believing is the question, how can there be an all good, all knowing God when the world is so full of evil? And I don't think all of the usual Christian answers carry the day. The idea of, it's for free will and there has to be evil for there to be free will and the world is broken and Adam and Eve and all this stuff. None of that really helps you when you're in the midst of evil, when you're in the midst of suffering, when you're in the midst of darkness. But the idea that we might be a small part of a beauty that we can't see, we can't fully comprehend because now we see through a glass darkly, but we'll then see face to face. That to me is the answer. Without the fall, there couldn't be the redemption, and without the evil that we have in life, in this material life, we couldn't experience the actual beauty of the design that we will eventually see face to face.

REICHARD: What a wonderful thought. Andrew Klavan, thank you so much. Really enjoy talking to you.

KLAVAN: It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

MAST: That was an excerpt of a longer conversation. We’ll run the full version this weekend on The World and Everything in It feed, wherever you get your podcasts.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, June 11th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Up next: Reviving the read-aloud. Commentator Janie B. Cheaney says sharing stories might be just what families need.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: A word to parents: if you want your children to be readers, read to them. I dare you to find one expert who contradicts that advice. Still, it seems a majority of parents are not so inclined. Recently the UK Guardian reported on a former elementary school teacher who asked followers of his Instagram account why they weren’t reading aloud. Some complained that they didn’t have time, or the kids couldn’t pay attention, or they just didn’t enjoy it.

That informal sample was no outlier. A survey posted by HarperCollins UK reveals that fewer than half of the Gen Z participants enjoyed reading aloud. Their children tend to regard reading as a “school subject” rather than an enjoyable leisure activity. Which is to be expected when reading is taught as a school subject rather than an enjoyable activity. Even avid bibliophiles often let go of the practice when their lap-sitters graduate to reading for themselves. But there’s a strong case for keeping it up even through the teen years.

For one, our culture is obsessed with the visual. Reading aloud offers young people a chance to slow down and form their own pictures called up by words alone.

More importantly, words shape reality. From their earliest days, our children learn who they are and where they belong when we speak their names. We say “No,” and give them a sense of lawful limits. We encourage confidence with “Good job!” Once they’re older, spoken stories can open doors to a wider world before they’re ready to launch into that world.

Third, shared reading is shared life. Reading aloud is experiencing a story together as it slowly unfolds over time and opens opportunities for discussion. It also makes priceless memories. Gladys Hunt, in Honey for a Teen Heart, tells of her family’s epic experience of going through the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They read at home, on long car drives, during a ski vacation and a camping trip–including one memorable day of rain and wind, spent wrapped up in sleeping bags. The reading of a saga was itself a saga of shared thrills and frequent emotional pauses.

Finally, spoken words have power. Psalm 19 begins with the heavens declaring the glory of God—the very heavens that were called into being with words. The psalm goes on to extol God’s spoken words in the law—as light, as truth, as treasure, as sweetness—concluding with, “by them is your servant warned.” One alternate translation reads, “Thus is your servant formed by them”—that is, by the words of God. In a very real sense, we are formed by the words of God, particularly as they are spoken to and over us.

To a much lesser extent, we are formed by the words in stories and books. Hearing them, as opposed to processing them by ourselves, draws us out of our little hothouse and into a web of interconnected experience. A worthy book can make that experience worthwhile: “rejoicing the heart” but even, a little, “reviving the soul” and “enlightening the eyes.”

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: a new law in Washington has Catholic priests concerned about confessions and confidentiality. And, a grandmother picks up tools to do something about affordable housing in her area. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

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

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: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” —Hebrews 9:27, 28

Go now in grace and peace.

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