The World and Everything in It - June 4, 2021

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today, we’ve summarized all the remaining student questions as we discuss them with John Stonestreet.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead on Culture Friday.

Also a new kids movie worth galloping back to the theater to see.

And your Listener Feedback.

BROWN: It’s Friday, June 4th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Biden announces major vaccine sharing push » President Biden announced Thursday the United States will donate 75 percent of its unused COVID-19 vaccines, sharing them with other countries.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki:

PSAKI: The president has announced a U.S. commitment to sharing a total of 80 million doses by the end of June. So that's 25 million doses that will go out as soon as possible.

She said some of those doses are shipping out this week.

About 19 million shots will go to the U.N.-backed COVAX program. Millions more will go to South and Central America, Asia, and Africa.

At a news conference Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said here in the United States, COVID-19 cases continue to plummet.

The new 7-day rolling average of new cases is now just over 15,000 per day.

WALENSKY: This represents a decrease of more than 30 percent from our prior 7-day average. And more importantly, it is a 94 percent decrease from the peak of COVID-19 cases we reported in January of this year.

At the January peak, new cases topped a quarter of a million per day.

GOP lawmakers blast Fauci after release of 2020 emails » The president’s top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci is taking heavy fire from GOP lawmakers.

That after thousands of pages of emails to and from Dr. Fauci were made public through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Republicans say Fauci’s emails from last year show that he was concerned about research taking place at a lab in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 first spread.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday...

PAUL: The emails paint a disturbing picture, a disturbing picture of Dr. Fauci from the very beginning worrying that he had been funding gain-of-function research. And he knows it to this day but hasn’t admitted.

Gain-of-function research is the practice of altering a virus or organism in a laboratory in a way that could make it more dangerous.

Fauci, in an email, expressed concern that U.S. funding may have even helped to pay for gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

Some Republicans say the emails also suggest Fauci may have given more credence to the COVID-19 lab leak theory privately than he was willing to admit publicly.

Fauci fired back at Republicans on Thursday, calling their criticism “nonsense” and said his emails have been taken out of context. He stated—quote—“I have always said . . . that I still believe the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human.”

Jobless claims fall again to new pandemic low » The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fifth straight week to another pandemic low. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 385,000. That’s down 20,000 from the week before. The number of weekly applications for unemployment aid, which generally reflects the pace of layoffs, has fallen steadily all year.

But U.S. employers are still posting a record number of available jobs. Many say they still can’t find enough workers to fill job posts.

At least 25 states have announced plans to cut off some emergency federal aid as early as next week. That includes so-called enhanced unemployment, which provides an extra $300 per week in federal money on top of state benefits.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Netanyahu opponents move to oust him from office » Political opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Thursday for a quick vote in parliament to end his 12-year run as the country’s leader.

That just hours after opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, declared they had reached a deal to form a new government.

The coalition is very diverse, consisting of eight parties from across the political spectrum. But Professor Gideon Rahat with Hebrew University says its members have one thing in common—a desire to oust Netanyahu from office.

RAHAT: The only rationale of this coalition of anti-Netanyahu forces.

The alliance includes hardliners previously allied with Netanyahu, as well as center-left parties and even an Arab faction.

The coalition could end two years of political limbo in Israel. Four elections over that time have ended in deadlock.

10,000 volunteers drop out of Tokyo Olympics » The 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are now less than 50 days away. But officials are facing an uphill climb as they prepare for the games with thousands of volunteer staffers backing out. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The International Olympic Committee expects at least 80 percent of athletes and residents of the Olympic Village to be vaccinated against COVID-19. But only 2-to-3 percent of Japanese residents are fully vaccinated. For that reason, many volunteer staffers are growing increasingly uneasy about taking part in the games.

About 10,000 of 80,000 unpaid volunteers for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics have told organizers they’ve decided not to participate.

Organizers said the loss would not affect operations.

The Japanese government has resisted calls by some to delay the Summer Olympics once again amid the slow rollout of vaccines in Japan.

Officials postponed the games last year due to the pandemic. The Summer Olympics are now set to begin on July 23rd.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: questions from non-Christians.

Plus, your Listener Feedback.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, June 4th, 2021. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It.

Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday. John Stonestreet is here. He’s president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

BROWN: John, good morning!

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning, Nick! Good morning, Myrna!

EICHER: We had a great couple of weeks on Culture Friday with student questions from World Journalism Institute and yet managed only to process four of them.

We had 25 students total, and we could go awhile trying to answer them all, so I looked through everything else they submitted—looking for themes—and here’s a common thread I noticed: Our students clearly recognize the cultural hostility all around them. Whether it’s LGBT issues or life issues or issues of ethnic conflict, they’re hungry to know how specifically and personally to engage. And to the point, they want to know how to engage quote-unquote “the other side.” They’re eager to be able to bridge the differences and speak intelligently but also compassionately.

This is in your wheelhouse, John, so take the next few minutes and just talk a little bit about what you do to prepare to engage culturally.

And so, to put it in the form of a question: What do you do to make yourself ready to give a genuinely Christian answer to the questions non-Christians are raising?

STONESTREET: Well, I think there's a lot of things that you can do to prepare yourself to, as the Scripture puts it really clear, give an answer for the hope that's within you. 

And I think one of the things you find throughout cultural moments and transcends human history is that when people see hope, they ask about it. Because hope is not something that transcends kind of mere feelings for very many people. When it's when people really see it, it's inherently attractive to them, I think, especially at a time like ours, when so much is up in the air culturally, whether you know, how we should behave or even who we are. 

So you know, number one, is live a life of hope. So people asked number two is, be willing to learn what you don't know—so that you know that you don't know and then you can go figure it out. 

I think another thing is, is learning to listen. You know, there was an old bumper sticker that I always thought was really profound, which is if Jesus is the answer, what's the question? And now we might think that everyone kind of shares the same existential questions. And I think at some level, to be human is to ask these questions. It's to have eternity in our hearts, as the author of Ecclesiastes put it. But not everyone's is aware of where the dull ache is coming from. Not everyone has the same sort of lifestyle or relationships where these nagging things rise to the surface. And so to assume, that people want to know about this or that or the other is not to listen. And that's almost always the case, think about it, you're much more likely to listen to anyone if you think they're listening to you. 

I also think another way to another step in this being ready to answer the questions that non Christians are raising, I really appreciated how the question was asked, which is, ‘how do you make yourself ready to give a genuinely Christian answer to the questions non Christians are raising’? The best way to give a genuinely Christian answer to questions that non Christians are raising is not to believe the cultural line that every opinion counts. Some opinions are misinformed. Some opinions are dumb. If you think, ‘why, I don't think Jesus would have never done anything like that.’ But you've actually never looked at what Jesus said. You never studied it. You haven't trusted the teachers, and the preachers and the evangelists that have been gifted by God and called to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, then don't try to wade out and make stuff up. And I think too often, Christians not willing to do the work are much quicker to just make stuff up.

EICHER: I do want to single out one question from our class philosopher, Nick Jensen, who wanted to know: “What's your favorite argument for God’s existence that you've encountered in the study of apologetics?” So there you go, from Nick, asking for a friend.

STONESTREET: Nick, my favorite, yes, my favorite not the one I think is most compelling. But good news. I think they're both the same in my book, and I always recommend that young people buy a copy of Blaise Pascal's collection of writings, it's called Pensées, which means thoughts in French. Pascal was a brilliant mathematician, skeptic, who in his kind of, I think, late 20s, became a believer, died in his mid 30s. 

But what he does in that book, in so many of those thoughts is the most compelling argument for God's existence, and I'll sum it up this way: Atheists have to believe that humans or animals, new agers, or Hindus have to believe that humans are actually divine. What's most what's more true? Well, neither. What Christians believe is that we're made in the image of God, but we act like animals. 

Ah, that explains things. 

And that's the most compelling argument I know about God's existence is an argument from the human condition. How do we explain our the glory in the garbage of the human condition? What, what explanation holds those together? And I'm not just even talking about the intrinsic design, the brilliance of the design of the eye or the mind or, you know, various ways that biological parts of us or whatever, I'm actually just talking about, what best explains why humans have a moral intuition. Why we violate that moral intuition. Why we at times can do unbelievable acts of creativity, and also do really stupid things. What explains all of that? Christianity gets the human condition, right. The Christian God is an explanation for the human condition that no other worldview approaches.

BROWN: John, many of our WJI students go to faith-based schools that have been pulled into a big lawsuit filed by a group of LGBT students. The lawsuit challenges the right of the Department of Education to grant religious exemptions to Christian colleges. Schools like Westmont College, where student Addie Michaelian attends.

Addie says there have been campus-wide conversations about gender, sexuality, school policy, and the actions of administrators. At the end of last semester she says several students staged a protest that featured posters depicting rainbow crosses.

So Addie has two questions: how should she engage this issue with compassion but without compromising Biblical truth.

And as a student, how does she hold administrators accountable [to do the right thing]?

STONESTREET: Well, man, Addie's asking a very, very difficult question. And I think it's going to be far more challenging for many Christians right now. We know that Christians get challenged on university campuses that are public, that our state schools that are have a secular history, or who long ago abandoned, you know, Christian roots.

Look, I think you can’t assume that your fellow Christian students at that university, you can't assume that they have the categories of thought, that are necessary to believe what the Bible teaches about sexuality. Here's what I mean. Our culture has been running away not from a Christian moral vision about sex. But a Christian ontological understanding of sex. Ontology is that is the basically the essence of being. In other words, what we have gone through is not our culture, saying, 'Oh, you used to say that was a morally wrong behavior. I'm saying it's morally okay.' The culture has embraced a fundamentally different understanding of what it means to be human, the nature of reality, the role of design in the universe. And so many students, if they have taken seriously the moral claims of the Bible on their sexual behavior, have not taken seriously the ontological claims of the Bible on their sexual identity.

In other words, they miss God's created intent for who they are as human persons. So I think you got to start there, I think you've got to actually ask questions like, 'Look, if God has revealed to us in what he has made, what do our bodies reveal to us about God and what he wants?'

Because really, in order to embrace the new understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity as a Christian, not only do you have to say that the body is irrelevant to who we are as human persons, but that it sometimes the body actually gets it wrong. And that's a statement not about the fall. That's a statement about God's creation. And so that's a way to do it.

And I think, how do you hold administrators accountable? I think there's a couple ways you can do that, I think. You do it with with respect, but you actually do it. You actually go and you ask questions, you actually go and point out flagrant violations of God's Word. You ask them why they think the way they do you learn how to make the argument on sexual issues.

But be courageous. You're going to face a lot of opposition. You might face more opposition, and he's going to face a lot of opposition, she might actually face more opposition than if she were on a secular college campus, because unfortunately, that's what we see in too many Christian college campuses. And of course, that is a real shame, but it's also something that parents need to know.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

EICHER: John, I’m always energized by student questions and I know you are, too. Thanks for digging in on those the last few weeks.

STONESTREET: Hey, you bet Nick. Thanks so much.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s never too late to do the right thing—even when the right thing is simply returning an item you promised to return awhile ago.

A library in Ireland recently received a book that someone checked out years earlier—a copy of a book called The Hedge and the Horse.

Now, the Monaghan Town Library did away with all late fees in 2019, and good thing because the borrower of this particular book would have owed roughly $2,000 in fines!

Pretty steep, yeah, but the library patron checked out this title in 1957—January 11th, 1957 to be exact.

Interestingly, a library notice on the inside of the book stated—quote—“borrowers must report to the local librarian all cases of infectious disease occurring in their houses while library books are in their possession.”

Interesting time capsule—given Covid.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, June 4th. 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: a trip to the movies. 

If you’re like most of us, you haven’t been to a theater in over a year. And if you’re ready to get back in the saddle, reviewer Sharon Dierberger has a recommendation.

SHARON DIERBERGER, REVIEWER: It’s a rare girl who hasn’t dreamed of having her own horse and galloping off on far-flung adventures. Spirit Untamed will transport those girls—and their parents—to a fun frontier where the bad guys are bad, but not creepy, and the good guys … are gals.

LUCKY'S MOM: Be fearless, Fortuna. MUSIC LYRICS: Be strong. Be brave. Let courage lead the way. Stand tall and know who you are…

The PG film from DreamWorks Animation opens in theaters today. It hits the sweet spot of girl-loves-horse combined with genuine friendships and loving family members who aren’t perfect. And it projects those upbeat, overt messages about being fearless and never giving up. It even shows that doing your homework pays off.

AUNT CORA: I know living with Grandpa isn’t easy, but part of being a Prescott is not alway having what you want, but doing what’s best for the family. Now come down from there and finish your math.

The film opens as 12 year-old Lucky Prescott is headed from the big city to the Western frontier. She’s traveling with her Aunt Cora to spend the summer with her father. When she was just a baby, he sent her to live with relatives after her mom died while performing acrobatics as a rodeo stunt rider.

AUNT CORA: It wasn’t easy for him after your mom died. Something broke in him and he— LUCKY: Why didn’t he come with me? AUNT CORA:Sweetheart, he was alone in the wilderness with a baby. He did what he thought—what we all thought—was best.

On the train West Lucky looks out the window and sees a wild mustang running with his herd. She’s instantly enthralled. When she meets him again later, she names him Spirit.

But her dad is afraid of her going anywhere near the wild stallion. He doesn’t want her to get hurt—like her mom did.

You can probably guess what happens next. Lucky can’t resist the horse and cautiously tries to gain his trust. That’s portrayed in comical scenes with a tango-like dance backward and forward between horse and girl.

Abigail and Pru, two young horse-loving gals with spunk and personality themselves, quickly befriend Lucky. They encourage her to ride Spirit. When she finally does—the stallion bolts, with her clinging to his mane.

LUCKY: I just rode a horse! I almost died—but I just rode a horse! PRU: Around here we call that hanging on for dear life. ABIGAIL: Hey, but it’s a start. You’re a natural!

Then come the villainous wranglers. They rustle Spirit’s herd away, driving it across canyons. The three gal pals give chase on horseback. They face daunting, precipitous paths like the Ridge of Regret, but they are determined to get Spirit’s family back.

Their pursuit isn’t all danger, though. As they ride, they sing their hearts out, accompanied by Abigail’s guitar, and tell each other the kind of stories you’d swap at summer camp. One evening finds them devouring marshmallows by the campfire. They quickly devolve into fits of girlish giggles.

LUCKY: And tomorrow, we’re going to take on a bunch of dangerous bandits.” [Giggles] PRU: It’s not funny! [Giggles] LUCKY: I know. [Giggles] LUCKY: Are we insane? [Frog ribbits, giggles]

The idea for this film sprang from the TV series Spirit Riding Free. It followed a 2002 movie called Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The horse rescue plot in today’s film is similar to its popular predecessor, but this is a much better movie.

The animation has vastly improved, and brings a beautiful cinematic flare to the big screen. The subplots about family and friendship are stronger. And the mix of ethnicities among all the characters seems more natural. It also shows that it’s normal for people of all races to be friends and work together.

ABIGAIL: You know, once I was playing checkers, and I lost all my pieces—all of my pieces—and I still won the game. PRU: Uhhm. I think what Abigail is trying to say is, the Lucky we know would never let anything stop her. Until Spirit gets on that boat, we still have a chance. ABIGAIL: We’ll never know if we don’t try. We are the pals, aren’t we? PRU: What do you say, Prescott?

The film’s blend of reality and completely crazy impossibility will keep kids engaged and enjoying the ride. And parents will appreciate the blatant but winsome positive messages, even in the catchy songs.

There is one problem though: The kids may start begging for a pony again.

I’m Sharon Dierberger.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, June 4th. 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.

Well, right around the corner, we’re starting up our June Giving Drive—that’s coming on Monday. And I’d like to take a quick moment to thank you for your part in creating a pool we can use to match some gifts.

That’ll help us create an extra incentive to reach our funding goal for our fiscal year end.

Maybe you’d like to add to the pool—fill it up a little deeper. There’s still time to do that. If you’re interested, you can drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with one of our development team to work out the details.

You can email me at Nick@wng.org.

Time now for your Listener Feedback.

BROWN: But first, two corrections. In last week’s story about Portland and Seattle, we incorrectly identified an African American lay leader serving in Portland. Her name is Michelle … but we got her last name wrong. It’s Michelle Jones.

EICHER: And in Monday’s History Book, we talked about when the Roman Catholic church declared Joan of Arc a saint … and we got the date wrong. Rome did not make that official designation until the 20th century.

BROWN: Ok, moving on now to your calls and emails! We’ll start with a call from longtime listener Wes McFall. He’s a physical therapist and said he often talks with patients about things he hears on the program. And, of course, he recommends they listen for themselves, even non-Christians. He says it’s good exposure for Biblical truth.

WES MCFALL: I do, however, get a little bit anxious when the pieces roll at the end of your program. For a program that regularly claims to be Biblically objective, I think it’s necessary to clearly state when something is more of an opinion. Although the majority of the time I can give a hearty “amen” to the majority of perspectives given, it’s not clear Biblical truth but instead a person’s opinion. I think it would be wise to clearly state when something is an opinion piece, if it is one, even if that may seem obvious. Keep up the good work, team!

EICHER: Well, thanks for your boldness in talking with your patients. And I think you hit on it. We do tend to place commentaries toward the end of the program—whether it’s Cal Thomas or Marvin Olasky or Kim Henderson. We do make it a practice to refer to commentators as commentators with the implication that it’s commentary. And you should notice that we introduce a report, we’ll say, for example, “Sarah Schweinsberg reports” and then Sarah will lock the piece out at the end with “reporting for WORLD” which commentators don’t do.

Now, maybe we’ve neglected identifying commentators at times  and if we do, that’s an oversight and we sure don’t mean to mislabel our content. So thanks for the reminder.

BROWN: Next, speaking of Kim Henderson, we have some audio fanmail for her. You know, we get quite a bit of that.

EICHER: We sure do!

BROWN: Listener Leta Powell sent this in response to Kim’s piece about Mother’s Day.

LETA POWELL: I just want to thank Kim for her wonderful pieces. She has such insight into how we feel, so many of us. And that piece was just so beautifully written. So I just want to thank you, Kim, for your beautiful writing. I’ve listened to that piece a couple of times. Both times it has almost brought me to tears, so thank you so much.

EICHER: We also got some praise for Whitney Williams. Listener Lee Gwaltney of Chesapeake, Virginia, emailed to say that Whitney’s piece this week gave a whole new meaning to The World and Everything in It. Here’s part of what he wrote:

Just when you think you’ve heard it all and ‘know it all’ you hear a piece about leeches. Thank you Whitney for making me smile, cringe, and more importantly further appreciate this program that I listen to every weekday morning.

BROWN: We also got some appreciative emails about Lillian Hamman’s story on Tuesday’s program about Gold Star mom Elaine Leusink. Listener Rick Porter said he clearly heard the skills of a good journalist in Lillian’s report. And of course he noted that she just completed our World Journalism Institute, which she did with flying colors. He said her story showed objectivity, sensitivity, and faith.

EICHER: It definitely did. You can expect to hear more of WJI graduate work as we continue working with these young reporters to help them grow their reporting skills. We have a summer internship program, so you’ll be hearing some of the pieces the students worked on during their time with us at Dordt University. So, stay tuned!

BROWN: Back to the phone lines now. Next up, Matt Brown from Tucson, Arizona.

MATT BROWN: Just wanted to say that I had heard comments that Paul Butler had been given regarding his voice and interestingly enough if there’s one voice with World that I so thoroughly enjoy listening, it is actually Paul Butler. It’s actually not the tone. It’s actually the cadence and the intonation that are so engaging for me as a former NPR addict. So I consider Paul Butler Cadence and intonation and overall style very much in keeping with that of NPR, which I listened to for so many years and finally gave up due to their absolute, unfortunate political stands. So Paul, take heart man. You really are absolutely the voice that I enjoy the the most not that I don’t enjoy all the voices but yours in particular is engaging for me as a former NPR listener. If you take the right way! I appreciate all y’all do.

EICHER: Thank you, Matt. Now another call from another Matt. Matt Templeton from Dallas, Texas.

MATTHEW TEMPLETON: I just have to say, this season of The Olasky Interview is on fire. The interviews with Mez McConnell and Roland Warren both had amazing thought leadership and I was extremely moved listening to them I am so encouraged to keep giving to WORLD, and give more, specifically hoping that you’ll make more podcasts. And I know you’ve been teasing with new shows coming soon. But please, please, please keep doing what you’re doing and make more. It is excellent in both a journalistic aspect and in a way of influencing our hearts and minds. And we really appreciate it. Thank you.

BROWN: And finally, we’re going to end today with a special blessing from Vicky, who called in from Los Alamos, New Mexico.

VICKY: The World and Everything in It is the perfect compliment to my 35-minute commute. My favorite part is the blessing. What better way to start my day than a positive reminder from God’s Word, followed by, “go now in grace and peace.” So today I would like to return the blessing to all staff at World. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Go now in Grace and peace.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It really does take a dedicated team to put this program together and deliver it to you each morning. And what a team we have!

Thanks are in order:

Anna Johansen Brown, Kent Covington, Sharon Dierberger, Kristen Flavin, Katie Gaultney, Lillian Hamman, Onize Ohikere, Jenny Rough, Sarah Schweinsberg, Cal Thomas, Emily Whitten, and Whitney Williams.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are our audio engineers. Leigh Jones is managing editor. Paul Butler is executive producer. And Marvin Olasky is editor in chief.

And you! Thank you for making possible Christian journalism in the vast marketplace of ideas.

Be encouraged by these words from Joshua 1:9... Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Go now in grace and peace.

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