The World and Everything in It: May 14, 2026

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.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

The president in Beijing. We’ll talk with a China expert who says human rights have to be on the table.

And:

AUDIO: When the Strait of Hormuz closed, nitrogen prices went up $100 per ton.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Surging prices leave farmers with tough choices.

Also today, the risks and benefits of antidepressants.

Later, we follow a Colson Fellow through a year of intense worldview building.

SAM: The wheels were turning, and so I think it was probably one of the first times some of our kids had heard that.

And WORLD commentator David Closson on government disfavored views.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, May 14th. 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 with today’s news.

SOUND: [China band]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: » Trump in China » A military band in Beijing … part of a red carpet welcome for President Trump last night — or this morning, local time. That marked the start of Trump’s two-day visit to China …

XI: [Speaking Mandarin]

… where leader Xi Jinping welcomed Trump inside the Great Hall of the People.

President Trump called Xi a friend … and had kind words for the Chinese leader.

TRUMP:  And we're going to have a fantastic future together. I have such respect for China, the job you've done. Uh, you're a great leader. I say it to everybody, you're a great leader.

Their high-profile summit is expected to focus on trade but also include the Iran war, technology and Taiwan.

Trump hopes to iron out differences and increase China's import of American agricultural products and passenger planes. Though, most analysts are not expecting major breakthroughs.

Gaza Board of Peace latest » The chief diplomat for President Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza … says people are still dying in the war-ravaged territory. And progress has not come as quickly as hoped … seven months after Israel signed a ceasefire with the Hamas terror group.

Nickolay Mladenov says the blame lies squarely with Hamas.

MLADENOV: We have a ceasefire. It is holding. It is not perfect. It is far from perfect. There are violations every day and some of them are very serious. 

Mladenov says Hamas still refuses to disarm … and in areas it still controls, it’s consolidating its grip on power.

MLADENOV: It is taxing people in the street who have nothing left to give. It is blocking Palestinian workers and contractors approved by the Board of Peace from building temporary communities intended to build shelter. To what end? To squeeze better terms of a negotiation.

But Mladenov says there may be a future for Hamas...if it's willing to lay down its arms and become a part of the political process.

But Israel's government believes lasting peace will only be possible after the terror group is completely destroyed.

Warsh confirmed » Kevin Warsh is the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve … after a Senate confirmation vote Wednesday.

AUDIO:  The ayes are 54, the nays are 45. The nomination is confirmed.

President Trump wants Warsh to cut interest rates faster than outgoing chair Jerome Powell did — easing the Iran war's hit on American wallets.

Democrats called Warsh a "sock puppet" for the president — warning he'll surrender the Fed's independence. Republicans, though, called him highly qualified … noting that he served on the Fed board from 2006 to 2011.

Powell will stay on the Fed board as a governor — the first chair to do so since 1948. That denies Trump a chance to name another appointee.

Inflation numbers » Warsh will chair his first policy meeting next month … on the heels of a new inflation bump. Wholesale prices surged last month. The Labor Department just reported the biggest jump in more than three years.

The Iran war is the main driver — pushing energy and fuel costs higher.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson says … it’s only temporary.

JOHNSON: The Strait of Hormuz is the big wild card here, and as soon as we get that done, I agree with the president, I think the prices come right back down to where they were. 

Democrats say Americans are paying the price for what they call a "war of choice." But the White House says preventing a nuclear-armed Iran was the only choice.

The Federal Reserve was set to cut interest rates this year — but the war put those plans on hold. 

Redistricting latest » Republican-led states continue to redraw their congressional district lines — with potentially big implications for November elections. WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more.

HARRISON WATTERS: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that states cannot draw district lines primarily based on race.

And that has many red states scurrying to redraw the lines … in hopes of picking up more Republican seats in Congress.

Missouri’s State Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the state’s new election map passes constitutional muster … and can be used in this year’s midterms. Republicans could pick up one more seat there.

Meanwhile in South Carolina — a plan to redraw the congressional map has stalled. The Senate Majority Leader joined Democrats Tuesday to block a vote. Governor Henry McMaster called a special session after the Supreme Court tossed Louisiana's gerrymandered map. Primaries are June 9th — a new map would mean another election in August. Lawmakers have until tonight to act.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: fertilizer shortages leave farmers with tough choices. Plus, why religious liberty matters, no matter who is in office.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Thursday the 14th of May.

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

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

First up on The World and Everything in It: The U.S.-China summit.

President Trump is in Beijing for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He brought key Cabinet officials, defense and trade advisers, and a long list of CEOs. The stated agenda includes trade, investment, Iran, and other matters. But the deeper question is whether Trump arrives with leverage—or whether Xi sees an opening.

EICHER: Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. His specialty is U.S.-China relations and great-power competition. He is the author of the book Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.

Michael, thanks for making time for us, and good morning.

SOBOLIK: Good morning, glad to be here. Thanks for having me on.

EICHER: Michael, you said on a recent podcast that Xi Jinping in advance of this summit made up his own “Christmas wish list.”

What’s at the top of it?

SOBOLIK: Taiwan is at the very top and honestly Taiwan has been at the top of the Chinese Communist Party's wish list for decades now when it comes to the United States. Richard Nixon went to China in 1972, the top of his list was getting America out of Vietnam quickly and safely.

At the top of Mao Zedong's list—Mao, one of the famous butchers of the 20th century with the number of people he and the communist ideology killed inside of China—At the top of Mao's list was Taiwan. And it's been that way ever since. The Chinese Communist Party views an independent Taiwan as an ideological challenge, as a civilizational affront to China and maybe like a geopolitical embarrassment because from their perspective it's a divided China that they need to reunite.

From many people in Taiwan's perspective, and I feel like I can say this with some confidence because I was in Taiwan within the past month for a week-long series of meetings on a delegation, Taiwanese people quite like their freedom. They quite like their democracy. But generally speaking, they love the United States and they're very grateful for the military support that we afford them and for the diplomatic relationship, even though it's unofficial, the diplomatic relationship that we have had with Taiwan for decades now.

So Xi Jinping is going to be looking to create daylight between the United States and Taiwan. And it's something that President Trump knows is coming and he's going to need to be able to handle that situation well when Xi Jinping brings it up.

BROWN: A piece you wrote for your think tank, The Hudson Institute, argues Trump’s best leverage is human rights—especially political prisoners such as Jimmy Lai [lie] and Pastor Ezra Jin [gin] Mingri[ming-ree] You say those cases hit Beijing’s deepest vulnerability: fear of its own people.

Do you think it’s likely Mr. Trump will raise human rights, even privately?

SOBOLIK: This I think is going to be the most important question, Myrna. And yes, I do think he's going to raise it. And I hope he does even more than that. I hope he leans in and really puts some political heft and capital behind this ask. Right now with the summit, you basically have a tale of two lists. The list that's gotten a lot of attention is the list of CEOs that are going to China with President Trump. My fear is that the president is going to walk into a trap because it seems like he's going to try to do what a lot of his predecessors have tried to do, which is crack open the China market so U.S. businesses can get a fair shake and can compete fairly inside of China.

On paper, that's great. In reality, the Chinese Communist Party has never really been that interested in treating American companies fairly. They're interested in acquiring intellectual property by hook or by crook, which they have done. And usually they will use that to prop up Chinese competitors that have historically run some American businesses off of the playing field completely. So there's a second list that I think is going to be a lot more.

Not just morally important for the president to raise, but I think could actually have more geopolitical benefit for the president to raise. And that's the list of political prisoners that he has mentioned. And for these political prisoners, you mentioned a couple of them here. Now you mentioned Jimmy Lai. You also mentioned Pastor Ezra Jin. President Trump is committed to raising both of these cases. This is where the CCP is the weakest. They're terrified of their own people and that's why they censor them and that's why they imprison them.

This is the intersection of the right thing to do and the strategic thing to do, which in foreign policy, you usually don't get those things overlapping, but in this situation, you do. And let's face it, any promises that she makes for market access, he's probably gonna break in a few years. But if we can get these prisoners home, that would actually be a material gain.

Trump arrives with the Iran war still very much unresolved. Talks are stalled, Iran’s blockade pressure continues, and U.S.-Israeli objectives remain out of reach. You made the point in The Free Press, Michael, that asking China for help on Iran could repeat former President Biden’s mistake before Russia invaded Ukraine—when Beijing ended up helping Moscow, not Washington.

Yet, President Trump may want Xi’s help pressuring Iran. Surely he doesn’t want to come off looking like Joe Biden. Is the lesson not even to try, or is there a better way to leverage China against Iran?

SOBOLIK: The best thing we can do with China is instead of asking them for help to hold them accountable where they're breaking our sanctions, where they're making the problem worse, we should expect China to stop sending weapon components to Iran. And they've continued to do this. A number of weeks ago, President Trump said publicly that any nation sending Iran weapons would be hit immediately with a 50 % tariff.

Not that long after, there was a weapons shipment from China where there were some drone components and some weapons precursors that were intercepted. Nothing happened. There were no tariffs employed. There were no sanctions levied, at least as far as I can tell. What the United States has been doing, and this is good as far as it goes, they've been sanctioning individual companies doing bad things.

That's fine, but listen, China's really good at evading sanctions. What we really need to be doing is changing the cost calculus to make the pain of supporting Iran greater than the benefit of supporting Iran for China. Part of that, I think, needs to be following through on some threats that the administration has made toward Chinese banks that are allowing and facilitating financial transactions for Iranian entities. If President Trump expects Xi Jinping to help him, I think he's in for a rude awakening because Xi Jinping is not our friend. Having that clarity of this is gonna be, no matter what promises or assurances Xi makes, they're probably gonna be broken. You need to go when they're willing to change that cost benefit calculation for China.

BROWN: Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. We’ll be watching. Michael, thank you.

SOBOLIK: Thank you so much.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: rethinking antidepressants.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says doctors need to do more to warn patients about the risks of stopping certain antidepressants.

The number of Americans using them has increased by the millions since the 1990s.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: One in six American adults now takes an antidepressant daily, as does roughly 1 in 10 American children.

And while many in the medical community say the drugs are safe and effective, a growing number of critics are calling attention to the possibility of severe side effects.

EICHER: Now Kennedy’s HHS is pushing new guidance on how those drugs are prescribed—and how patients come off of them.

WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports from Washington.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: When Morgan Stewart was 26, a doctor put her on Prozac, a drug commonly used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety. But Stewart says those labels didn’t really fit her situation—she was just going through a hard time.

STEWART: I had a sick family member. It was just kind of like a tough time. And I was given an SSRI for that.

Prozac is an SSRI, or a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor. SSRIs elevate mood by increasing the hormone serotonin in the brain and preventing brain tissue from reabsorbing the serotonin.

Stewart was on Prozac for nine years. And in that time, she met her husband and started a family.

STEWART: So life looked very different. I was 35 when when I got off and it was a wild time.

Stewart says she started experiencing what she called “otherworldly” symptoms.

STEWART: It kind of started with really bad insomnia. I had fasciculations up and down my body or twitches.

Then, it got mental.

STEWART: I had violent intrusive thoughts that I had never had before—prior to the medication, on the medication—of harming myself, harming other people. They were very bizarre.

She says she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital during that time.

Once she got back on her feet following her withdrawal, Stewart founded an organization to raise awareness about SSRI side effects.

She was at the conference where Secretary Kennedy made his announcement.

KENNEDY: Patients must understand the benefits, the risks, and the consequences of long-term use before they start, while they continue and when they consider stopping.

Kennedy also said HHS would train doctors on how to taper their patients off antidepressants… and incentivize them to do it.

KENNEDY: The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, is issuing billing guidance that allows clinicians to get paid for deprescribing work for the first time. [Applause]. They'll be paid for care planning, for monitoring withdrawal, for coordinating treatment, and for tracking outcomes.

Both Kennedy and the APA, the American Psychiatric Association, agree that SSRIs have been important, even lifesaving for many people. But the APA criticized Kennedy’s assessment that there’s an “overmedicalization” or “overprescription” crisis in the mental health industry. They said that’s an oversimplification. The APA also said that psychiatric medications like antidepressants shouldn’t be stigmatized.

The organization says patient-by-patient treatment plans are important. Dr. Shannon Yarosz, a professor of pharmacy practice at Cedarville University, agrees.

She says everyone interacts with antidepressants differently.

YAROSZ: Some people have had success using antidepressants and SSRIs, and maybe with very little side effects, and it has worked well for them. And again, there's been other people I've talked to, they haven't worked as well for them, or maybe not to the extent that they were really hoping

Yarosz said she appreciated the way Kennedy’s new posture on SSRIs focuses on informed decisions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

YAROSZ: You know, your healthcare provider, your doctor, knows you personally. And they know what you need, and they want to make that shared decision with you, what would be best for you.

Morgan Stewart says the public at large needs to become aware of what they could be getting into by taking antidepressants.

STEWART: I think if they knew how serious withdrawal could be, and they could make an accurate informed uh risk-benefit assessment, I think they would opt out.

This summer, HHS plans to host seminars to train doctors and patients to better understand the possible risks of SSRIs.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher in Washington, D.C.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, May 14th. 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.

Up next, the rising cost of growing food.

Farmers depend on nitrogen fertilizer, which is produced using natural gas. Turmoil in the Middle East is pushing prices sharply higher.

That’s leaving many growers scrambling to adapt before crops go into the ground.

WORLD’s Emma Eicher reports.

EMMA EICHER: Lorenda Overman’s family has been farming the same land in North Carolina for almost 200 years. This spring, their input costs are the highest they’ve ever recorded—the result of conflict in Iran.

Overman spoke in an April 14th virtual meeting on fertilizer pricing and stability with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

LORENDA OVERMAN: Last year for nitrogen and fertilizer, we spent $139 an acre. This year, it's going to be $217 an acre just for those two products.

These increased costs are tied in part to higher prices of natural gas and supply disruptions.

The Strait of Hormuz is central to fertilizer transport. Iran holds some of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, and the Gulf plays a big role in global fertilizer and energy markets.

Natural gas is a key component in producing fertilizer, and this year, an estimated 70% of American farmers say they cannot afford what they need for spring planting.

Fertilizer prices operate on a global market, so any disruptions will have a ripple effect. Nitrogen fertilizer prices spiked within the first days of conflict in the Gulf.

OVERMAN: When the Strait of Hormuz closed, nitrogen prices went up $100 per ton within that first week.

That translates to a double-digit price increase for the main fertilizers used in the U.S. In one example, urea fertilizer went from around $600 per ton in late 2025 to $865 today.

Faith Parum is a Farm Bureau economist specializing in agriculture.

FAITH PARUM: We're seeing a bleak picture in the farm economy …

Many large farms pre-book fertilizer in the spring. This year, those that pre-booked locked in a lower price.

Parum says small farms typically don’t buy fertilizer ahead of time, so now, they’re the most vulnerable to the price hikes.

PARUM: Our farmers who didn't pre-book fertilizer are having to pay that higher rate, which means they're not able to afford as much as they would normally purchase.

Canada is a major fertilizer supplier to the U.S., but many other countries rely on the Middle East for natural gas imports, and they’re scrambling for alternatives. More demand will continue to drive up global prices, including in the U.S.

Farmers are responding by buying less fertilizer, which will mean less crop production.

Overman says her farm is now growing soybeans, which don’t need as much nitrogen. As for the supplies they already have on hand …

OVERMAN: We're also going to spread that fertilizer a little bit thinner. But farming is all about pivoting, and you have to pivot to stay alive.

Tommy Salisbury is a farmer in Oklahoma. He’s seen an even higher price increase there.

TOMMY SALISBURY: We had closer to about $150 a ton increase of urea fertilizer.

He also had to pivot.

SALISBURY: We're going to plant less acres of Milo because we can't afford to try to put that higher input into the ground and make it work out.

The “Milo” he referred to is a grain sorghum. He plans the same strategic move as Overman, swapping the sorghum for a hardier crop.

SALISBURY: … transition to soybeans to try to make up that difference there.

In March, the Farm Bureau Federation asked the Trump Administration for help making fertilizer more available and affordable. On Tuesday, a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry held a hearing to discuss options.

Trent Kubik is president of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association. He raised concerns about the fertilizer industry’s increased profits …

TRENT KUBIK: Market power has allowed manufacturers to maintain higher prices at the expense of the U.S. farmer.

… and said that leaves farmers struggling to keep up with the cost.

KUBIK: Recent earnings reports indicate record profits for fertilizer companies. When my input price goes up, my profit margin shrinks.

Other discussions have proposed upping domestic production of phosphate and potash fertilizer.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump reiterated his commitment to ensuring safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but control of the Strait continues to be a sticking point in negotiations.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Eicher.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Got another crime story for you, this one from Florida.

Police say an 18-year-old boy drove a riding lawn mower straight into a Target store while his 18-year-old buddy shot video for social media and for giggles from the girls.

SOUND: Mower engine and giggling

They were clearly hoping for viral attention, and they got it along with mugshots and their names in the paper.

The internet is forever, and that ought to make those future job interviews really lively.

Police arrested both, for criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Turns out, chasing clicks can leave you bogged down in the tall grass.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, May 14th.

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

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Part 2 of our story on Christians training to live out their biblical worldview.

They’re called Colson Fellows, named for Chuck Colson.

The fellows spend nearly a year studying biblical theology and Christian worldview. They develop a personal plan of action, to engage their communities.

BROWN: I met Kris Smith last year, at the 2025 Colson Fellows commissioning ceremony. She’s a 70-year-old grandmother of eight from central California. She wanted to serve the middle school girls at her church, teaching them they are beautifully and wonderfully made.

I asked the retired first grade teacher to keep an audio journal. Here are excerpts of her months-long journey.

KRIS SMITH: Saturday, August 2, when we got back, I emailed the youth minister, asked questions, etc. He was getting ready for the youth camp. No answer. I wanted the names of the kids before camp to pray for them. Didn't happen. I just prayed. Left message at church to call me on his voicemail, no response. I went to one youth activity that was calendared before they left camp, connected with a few kids, parents and the host of the activity, but no real response from Sam.

PASTOR SAM: My name is Sam. I am the junior high pastor. We also have a high school slash overall youth pastor at our church. It's very confusing. His name is Sam as well.

KRIS SMITH: Wednesday, August 13, I got Sam's phone number and found out the best way to reach him is by text. He always returns texts. A very good thing to know.

Tuesday, August 19, finally made it to the first evening of the fall program.

PASTOR SAM: Like a regular Wednesday for me right now, I'd say I have 40 to 50 ish kids. 50 is usually on the higher end.

KRIS SMITH: Observation…more boys than girls. Lots of energy. When I was talking to Sam, I reminded him that I wanted, I needed to do four lessons for the Colson fellows. for teaching the kids. And didn't sound like it was going to happen this fall with what he had planned. So I asked him, I said, What about January or February?

PASTOR SAM: And I said, Yeah, I'd love to do that. And genuinely, that was always my answer. I'd love to do that.

KRIS SMITH: August 22. It's Friday. Interesting. I got a text from Sam, and he wants me to check the kids in. He's decided that could be a good job for me. Thursday, August 28 last night was youth group. We had, again, about 12 girls. I'm getting to know their names. Thursday, September 4, making connections and remembering prayer requests. We had 31 junior highers, 14 girls this week.

Tuesday, September 16, what a week? Heard about Charlie Kirk last Wednesday. Was shocked. We had just heard him at a pro life rally in Visalia on Tuesday, the week before.

While going to church, I found out a good friend of ours had died at 1:06 a.m.

As I walked into youth group, there were very few adults. Sam spoke to the kids and cautioned them to stay off of social media and not to watch the video of the assassination. He had inadvertently seen it and regretted it. And today, we're meeting with my husband's cardiac thoracic surgeon up at Stanford to see if the cancer is all gone from six and a half years ago, God is good, always.

Tuesday, September 23 Saturday, September 29 Monday, October 6, Tuesday, October 14. Gonna start checking in memory verses next week. Stood there. Tried to greet a few wondering why God had me there, and why am I here? Lord, am I really necessary? I registered three kids. We had 10/12, girls, getting more and more comfortable, and I'm relating better to the kids. And it's just gonna take a while.

This is Wednesday, October 15. I'm not going tonight. Coughing and hacking would have been my last night before we leave. We leave for Ohio on Sunday. But anyways, I asked him to save all the prayer requests for me so I can pray for the girls while we're in Ohio for a month.

January 15, 2026 I don't know what Sam was thinking, but he took me off the text list. So the next time I'm gone, I'm going to say, Sam, keep me on it. So if there's a prayer request shared, I can pray while I'm not with the kids.

PASTOR SAM: Some people don't appreciate when people are squeaky wheels. I love people like Kris, because I need that.

KRIS SMITH: So February 18, 25th 4th and 11th of March, I'm going to be doing my four lessons for my Colson Fellow Program, and I think I'm going to use, what would you say?

PASTOR SAM: Check, check. Hey, Kris, do you mind talking into the microphone?

KRIS SMITH: Hello… can you hear me?

PASTOR SAM: Allright, guys, we're recording. Kris has the floor.

KRIS SMITH: The last statement was taken out of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. You have three choices. Jesus said, I’m God. He’s either a liar, or He’s a lunatic… He’s crazy. Or He is God.

PASTOR SAM: The wheels were turning and so I think it was probably one of the first times some of our kids had heard that.

Wednesday, February 25 I gave my second lesson. I had two girls. All the rest were boys. Tonight's topic is going to be about the problem of evil. Next week ought to be really interesting. It'll be the question of suffering. My goal for the last session, which is going to be the one on freedom, I want more Scripture

STUDENT: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God.

KRIS SMITH: Who's the word? Guys?

STUDENT: Jesus.

KRIS SMITH: One of my goals was wanting to do gender talk with the girls. I wasn't able to do the gender talk. My talks were co-ed, but I gave my testimony. I did my apologetic training. I didn't feel a failure.

BROWN: And According to Colson standards, Smith is hardly a failure. Micahel Craven, Dean of the Colson Fellows Program:

S. MICHAEL CRAVEN: Chuck, in fact, he had a placard on his desk that said, faithfulness, not success. So what we’re driving people toward is to be faithful to their calling in Christ and trust the results to him.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: 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.

It’s a pattern of bias many suspected, but now, a Justice Department task force says it has the proof. A new DOJ report labels anti-Christian sentiment a “recurring theme” within the Biden administration—and it wasn’t just an attitude; it resulted in direct government action. Officials say they’re moving to ensure it never happens again—but how did it start? Here is WORLD Opinions’ commentator David Closson.

DAVID CLOSSON: When the Justice Department released its report on anti-Christian bias at the end of April, much of the attention focused on the past—on what federal agencies did during the Biden administration.

But the more important question now is what comes next. Camille Varone is deputy assistant attorney general and a member of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. She appeared on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch.

VARONE: This is a first step … there is another year of the task force, and there’s also ongoing effort within all of our different agencies to continue to look at what happened, to try to figure out if there were further injustices.

The task force says it found examples across multiple federal agencies where Christians faced discrimination or unequal treatment. Especially Christians holding traditional views on abortion, sexuality, and gender.

One major focus involved the Justice Department’s use of the FACE Act against pro-life demonstrators.

According to the report, federal prosecutors sought significantly longer prison sentences for pro-life defendants than for abortion-rights activists accused of similar conduct.

The report also describes coordination between federal prosecutors and abortion-industry groups.

VARONE: We found that within the Department of Justice, prosecutors and investigators were working hand-in-hand with these outside pro-abortion non-governmental organizations, particularly the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood.

Varone says those organizations compiled dossiers on pro-life Americans—including social media activity, travel details, and even information about their children.

VARONE: They compiled all of this to give it to the Department of Justice … in case something might happen that DOJ may view as a potential crime.

The report also revisits the FBI memo linking so-called “radical traditionalist Catholics” to possible extremism, and it cites pressure placed on Christian foster families and faith-based agencies over gender and sexuality policies.

At the task force launch, then–Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration viewed these cases not as isolated mistakes, but as evidence of a broader problem.

BONDI: Protecting Christians from bias is not favoritism, it’s upholding the rule of law and fulfilling the constitutional promise.

The report runs nearly 200 pages, with hundreds more pages of exhibits and supporting documents.

But the administration insists the goal is not merely retrospective. Todd Blanche is the acting Attorney General.

BLANCHE: This task force was created to make sure this never happens again in America. We will investigate what went wrong, uncover facts, and ultimately chart a path forward.

You don’t have to agree with every conclusion in the report to see the larger warning: Government power rarely stays confined to one administration—or one ideology. A government capable of punishing disfavored religious beliefs today can punish different beliefs tomorrow.

That is why religious liberty matters, not merely as a protection for Christians, but as a guardrail for all.

For WORLD, I’m David Closson.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet will be along for Culture Friday. And, the 40th anniversary of an action film worth revisiting. Steve Limkeman will have a review of Top Gun. 

That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

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 Bible records the words of Gamaliel: “‘So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!’ So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” —Acts 5:38–42

Go now in grace and peace.

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