The World and Everything in It: May 3, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Susan Vician and I'm Angelique Worrell. We live in Schertz, Texas and we're at the First Baptist Universal Cities Women's Conference and excited to hear Katie McCoy, who is our guest speaker. We hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday, the arrest totals top 2-thousand! We’re talking about that anti-Israel wave on U.S. campuses.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And we’ll talk about what’s happening in United Methodism as well as a new federal action on recreational drugs the mainstream media say is aimed at the youth vote. We’ll talk it over with Katie McCoy in just a few minutes.

Also today: The Fall Guy. Ryan Gosling stars in the summer's first blockbuster.

AUDIO: He has fallen in with some shady people.

And later on: Ask the Editor.

BROWN: It’s Friday, May 3rd. 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.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Hanes testimony on global threats » A deepening alliance between China and other authoritarian regimes poses a growing threat to the United States.

That’s what Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a Senate panel.

HAINES: China is working to develop its own form of multilateralism while deepening its relationship with Russia and Iran in particular.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, told senators he shares Haines’s concerns.

KRUSE: There are a growing number of adversaries who are interacting and partnering in ways and toward ends that we have not seen before.

Intel officials expect China to strengthen its nuclear and cyber capabilities and keep working to divide the U.S from its allies.

Kirby on Russia/North Korea » And U.S. officials say there is one more actor in this coalition of dictatorships: North Korea.

The Biden Administration says Russia is sending alarming amounts of refined petroleum to Pyongyang raising new concerns about the North’s nuclear weapons program.

White House National Security Council spokesman Communications Advisor John Kirby…

KIRBY: Russia’s actions are unprecedented for a member of the P5 and break a longstanding effort by the United Nations Security Council to support denuclearization and nonproliferation efforts.

P5 is shorthand for the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

The U.N. caps the amount of refined petroleum that can be sent to North Korea at 500,000 barrels a year, but Kirby says…

KIRBY: In March alone, Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to the DPRK.

The White House says that Russia, in turn, is getting weapons and ammo for its war in Ukraine.

Kirby says the U.S. will impose new sanctions on any countries involved in the shipments of the weapons or the petroleum.

Hamas to continue cease-fire talks » Hamas says it's sending a delegation to Egypt for further talks about a possible cease-fire deal in Gaza.

U-S State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Israel has compromised on many of its long-held positions and met several demands by the terror group.

MILLER:  The deal that they demanded that has been offered, they should accept and move forward is Hamas. That is the only barrier to a ceasefire right now.

Israel says Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages. The proposal only calls for the terror group to release a third of those captives.

Campus unrest latest » Police have now arrested more than 2,000 Anti-Israel/Pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses across the country… over the last two weeks.

PROTESTERS: Free Palestine! Free, free, free Palestine.

Protesters heard there on the UCLA campus in California as police moved in to clear out their encampment Thursday.

That was one of several campuses where the protests turned violent.

At Columbia University in New York, where protesters took over and barricaded themselves in a building on campus this week, police now say more than 30 of the suspects arrested were not affiliated with the school.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams…

ADAMS: While those who broke into the building did include students, it was led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university.

Student organizers dispute Adams’ claim that outside agitators led the takeover of the building.

Biden addresses campus unrest » President Biden has broken his silence on the campus chaos after taking heat from Republicans for not speaking out sooner.

He told reporters at the White House that every American has the right to protest peacefully.

BIDEN: But it doesn't mean anything goes. It needs to be done without violence, without destruction, without hate, and within the law.

He also said that forcing the cancellation of classes or even graduation ceremonies infringes on the rights of other students.

And Biden added that destructive demonstrations are not only against the law, they’re also unpersuasive. One White House reporter asked the president …

 REPORTER:  Have the protests forced you to reconsider any of the policies with regard to the region?

BIDEN: No.

Trump on campus unrest, campaigning, trial » Meantime, Biden’s Republican rival Donald Trump once again denounced the unruly campus protests.

TRUMP:   These are radical left lunatics and they got to be stopped now because it's going to go on and on and it's going to get worse and worse and you know, they take over countries, okay? And we're not letting them take over the USA. 

He also praised police who have responded to the protests in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Arizona abortion » As expected, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed a measure repealing a law protecting unborn children from abortion in almost all cases.

HOBBS: This ban needs to be repealed. I said it in 2022 when Roe was overturned, and I said it again and again as governor.

The longstanding statute was dormant for decades after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide. However, the Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that the law could once again be enforced after the reversal of Roe v Wade.

With the repeal of the law the state will revert to another law protecting the unborn starting at 15 weeks.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, Ask the Editor.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday the 3rd of May, 2024.

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 is time for Culture Friday. And joining us now is author and speaker Katie McCoy. Katie, good morning. 

KATIE McCOY: Good morning, Nick, and Myrna.

EICHER: All right. Well, let's talk about these campus protests, Katie. We have discussed this on Culture Friday at different levels over the last few weeks. And frankly, I think I misjudged. I thought it'd be over by now, but it's just continued on. And we know now that the number of arrests have exceeded 2,000 as of this week, and it's really been something. 

But let me call special attention to a young man who tried to stand in the way of a mob. This was a sea of anti-Israel activists. They were intent on seizing a building on the Columbia University campus. I happened to notice that this was the son of the author N.D. Wilson, the grandson of theologian and pastor Douglas Wilson. Now I looked at a video of that on social media. You saw it to Katie. Right now, we're hearing some audio from that video. But it really is all about the video. Wilson's friend was pretty quickly moved out of the way. But you'll see this one single kid making a stand against the mob. And it just looked terrifying to me, especially in the United States of America. The building, it eventually was taken over and then taken back by New York City's finest. But what in the world do you think is going on here?

McCOY: Yeah, that young man just had pure courage to do what he did. And thank God that he's okay. It could have gone very badly for him. And we're hearing some other stories of young people standing up to these mobs. It's really unfair to even call the ones that we're seeing on TV at places like Columbia and UCLA a protest because of just the the degree of violence and destruction that's happening there. In terms of why, that brings up two very interesting points. So let's talk about how we got here and then let's talk about why it's so familiar. 

So in terms of how we got here, we are living in the age of identity politics. And scholar writer Mary Eberstadt wrote in her book, Primal Screams, that part of why we have people acting so irrationally when you disagree with them, is because identity politics has taken the place of one's center of self-understanding, and one's place in society. Eberstadt chronicles how, with the decline of family life of religious life, those aspects of how we organize our understanding of who we are and our place in society, have been replaced by political ideas and political beliefs. So if all that sounds very familiar to things that you hear in the public square today, that's why. 

But then there's another factor to this, Nick, and here's where it gets really interesting. Now, in 1930s Germany, that country was being overrun by one extreme political idea on the political right. Now, that's very different from what we're seeing, we're seeing an extreme on the political left. However, there are some fascinating points of commonality. And I think we would do well, to pause and take note of them. You know, we come to important dates like Holocaust Memorial Day. We say never again, and well, we should. But as much as we are aware of the atrocities of the Holocaust, we're not always aware of the years of cultural shift that produced a nation that went along with those atrocities. For instance, the Nazi Socialist Party started off as a fringe ideological group, one that gained influence in a very culturally vulnerable nation. They disseminated misinformation about history. They had a lot of propaganda that was very divorced from facts. Everyday citizens, they looked the other way because it was politically expedient. And it was socially expected. Even evangelicalism in Germany had been eroding and being deeply affected by not only the political life, but it ended up really abdicating its moral authority. And on top of that, if I can just step on all the toes while I'm here today, you know, when we hear about Christian influencers and evangelical thought leaders who have been nothing short of scandalized in recent years, by political influence from the right when it produces certain forms of Christian nationalism, but then they have been relatively silenced by the political influence from the left when it produces anti-semitism. I take note of that, Nick, and I hope your listeners do, too.

BROWN: Okay, you mentioned stepping on toes. Let me stir the pot a little more here. Just this week at the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, delegates removed—with no debate, mind you—a long-standing rule that for decades forbade self-avowed practicing homosexuals from being ordained or appointed as ministers. The vote was 692-51. Apparently the conservatives who had upheld the ban in the past, you know, left the denomination, making it easier for the conference, at least here in the United States to move in this direction. I'd like to focus on this statement, Katie. The change doesn't mandate or explicitly affirm LGBTQ clergy, it just means the Church no longer forbids them. You know, I've heard that so-called distinction used before in the culture. What does it even mean?

McCOY: Yeah, I think the best explanation of that likely is a distinction without a difference, because certainly it is opening the door to an increasingly progressive mainline Protestant denomination to move towards LGBTQ affirming lifestyles and choices. You know, Myrna, even this I think we can connect this to the upheaval that we're seeing nationwide. It all fits in the same cultural moment. And lest you think that I might be exaggerating this, consider that in pre-Nazi Germany, evangelicalism had been eroding and becoming a version that was culturally acceptable, but biblically unsupported, and at that time it was arguing for things like Jonah in the whale was just a myth, or Jesus didn't walk on the water, it was a sandbar. So to de-mythologize, or take the miracles out of the Bible, in that time, was perceived to make Christianity more culturally acceptable.

Fast forward to here we are in the 2020s. In America, we are in a very similar moment where we see mainline denominations and popular personalities adapting Christian doctrine to fit what is culturally acceptable. Now, however, it's not so much about whether the virgin birth or the resurrection actually happened - today, it primarily means denying a biblical sexual ethic, and then also importing different cultural progressive ideas into our doctrine. I think, one that I heard recently was the idea that the Tower of Babel was actually about anti-colonialism. And so here we have another trend in evangelicalism trying to import and introduce political ideas into our doctrine rather than allow our doctrine to inform our political ideas.

EICHER: Well, Katie, last item. A decision by the Biden administration this week to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug. Now, I'll not go into the legal particulars. It's pretty technical, but the Associated Press had a completely political take on this. Let me read a bit from the story. “Facing softening support from a left-leaning voter group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election year moves, intended to appeal in particular to younger voters. His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest coming weeks after he canceled student loans for another 200,000 borrowers. He's also made abortion rights central to his case for re-election.” Now there's more to the story. But I think that's basically the gist. And maybe the AP is right, but I'm just thinking that the one thing we know is this generation of young people is highly stressed. And given what's been called a mental health crisis, among lots of young people. Is it really a good idea to make pot easier to get?

McCOY: Oh, my goodness, I'm so glad you brought this up. Because when you think about the last four years, all of the significant learning loss that students have endured after COVID and school shutdowns, the epidemic of anxiety and depression. I have even heard it said that today's average teenager has the same mental health issues as the average psychiatric patient did in the 1950s. We are not an emotionally or mentally healthy society. And so certainly we can look at it with the cynicism of an election year to say, “Oh, they're trying to drum up support from some other faction of the population,” but if we really start asking about whether law should be reflecting the common good, this is quite disappointing. I just can't imagine a world where we have the headlines about lower math scores and reading levels and people thinking, "I know what we need to do: let's make pot easier to find."

BROWN: Katie McCoy is an author and speaker. Her most recent book is titled To Be a Woman: The Confusion over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond. Thanks so much, Katie.

McCOY: Always good to be with you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, May 3rd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: we take a look at what’s on at the movies.

Usually moviegoers get a superhero film to start off the summer blockbuster season, but not this year. Labor strikes and lack of audience interest have sidelined the comic book franchises, so this season kicks off with a different kind of bang. A movie about stuntmen.

EICHER: Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino with a review of The Fall Guy.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt might have played second fiddle in last summer’s blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer, but this weekend, they get their time in the spotlight in the new romantic action-comedy The Fall Guy.

Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a down on his luck stuntman who gets a shot at redemption when he’s given the chance to work on a major blockbuster action movie. And Blunt plays Jody Moreno, the neophyte director of said blockbuster action movie. The two have a past, and Colt’s hoping Jody’s willing to give romance another try.

JODY: Why are you here?

COLT: I think there’s been a misunderstanding.

JODY: Clearly.

COLT: Because I was under the impression that you did want me here.

JODY: That’s a delusional thought. We haven’t spoken in a year.

While Colt’s just trying to impress Jody, Jody’s worried about directing the biggest action star on the planet, Tom Ryder, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. She’s already over budget. And then things go really wrong.

GAIL: Ryder’s missing. He has fallen in with some shady people.

If Jody’s going to finish her movie before the studio pulls the plug, someone needs to find the wayward star. It falls to Colt to track him down.

GAIL: No one’s going to notice whether you’re here or not. No offense.

COLT: I mean… some taken.

The Fall Guy is rated PG-13 for action and violence and some coarse language that’s about on par with what you might expect in a PG-13 movie. One scene in which Colt tracks the missing Ryder to a night club includes some suggestive dancing in the background, but the movie has less innuendo than most romantic comedies.

COLT: Is that Jody?

DAN: Yes, it’s Jody.

COLT: She say something about me?

DAN: Stop with… your face. Stop it.

The Fall Guy gets its inspiration from The Fall Guy TV series from the 1980s that starred Lee Majors as the original Colt Seavers. But the movie and the TV series don’t actually have much in common other than action, stunts, and a dose of comedy.

David Leitch directed The Fall Guy. He himself is a veteran stuntman, with a storied career in stunt performance and coordination. With this movie Leitch pays tribute to the community that gave him his start in Hollywood. Watching Jody make her film, which seems to be an awful sci-fi mashup of Mad Max and Dune, we get to see the behind the scenes and the tricks of the trade of stunt work. We even get to see the stunt team break a world record when they manage eight and a half cannon rolls in a car.

DAN: You got this. You’re the one.

COLT: Why you gotta say that? Why you gotta say that?

DAN: You’ve done this a million times.

COLT: And so have you. Now you just jinxed it. You just jinxed it!

Filming a movie within a movie and having actors play actors gives the film an amusing meta quality. There’s some sly commentary on the overall movie business here. Parts of the movie-making process don’t seem to make any sense, but I think Leitch is trying to say, “That’s Hollywood for ya’.” But don’t go into this movie expecting too much realism. Colt Seavers might seem like a bit of a goof, but he turns out to be omnicompetent, doing the work of five stuntmen.

COLT: Sound like a plan?

JODY: It’s a better plan than this. Please, please be careful!

But really, the best thing about this movie isn’t the incredible stunt work or the glimpse behind the curtain to see how they pull it off. Despite all the gunfire and explosions, The Fall Guy is an old-fashioned romantic comedy. And the stars’ chemistry carries the film. Gosling and Blunt are two of the most likable actors in Hollywood, and in this movie they give adorable performances. From the first scene to the last, the audience is pulling for them to straighten out this mess and live their happily ever after.

MUSIC: [All Too Well by Taylor Swift]

JODY: What are you doing?

COLT: Just chilling down.

JODY: Have you been crying to Taylor Swift?

COLT: Doesn’t everyone?

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, May 3rd. 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.

First Friday in the month means “Ask the Editor.” Today, a listener on the difference between journalism that discourages and journalism that builds up. But first, a stylebook change. Here’s WORLD Radio executive producer Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER: A year ago I told you in this space that our Editorial Council agreed that we would limit the use of the term “progressive” across our platforms. Limit, not prohibit—as sometimes we need to use the term as a shorthand ID of a position or worldview. But we always strive for more description and less labeling.

Over the last year we’ve seen the term more widely used in our culture, especially in politics. So a few weeks ago the Editorial Council amended that policy once more. We recognize that so-called progressives are not hiding behind the nebulous term. They are not trying to replace a negative descriptor with one that seems less objectionable. When someone today calls himself a “progressive,” he almost always does so proudly: declaring a commitment to overthrow convention and tradition.

We will still be intentional in how we use the term and how often. We will work with our editors and producers to be consistent in how we use it. But I did want you to alert you to the change so that you are not surprised if you hear it or read it here at WORLD.

—

Now a note that came in last month from a listener in Phoenix, Arizona. She told us that she was coming out of a particularly stressful and painful time that has left her discouraged. Yet she says that she’s been encouraged as she listens to The World and Everything in It. Even when some of the topics we have to cover are not particularly uplifting. Here’s what she writes:

“I think the difference is that your reporting is just that. Reporting. Relaying what has happened without added opinions or anything else. There's a peace that seems to be with your news.

I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you. That you share God's truth and that you have the ability to share news without adding drama and fear.”

I’m so glad to hear it. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do. We want to shine light, not just generate heat. We have a motto that we like to use around here: “sensational facts, understated prose.” Flames that illuminate, not conflagrate.

Way too much modern journalism wants to burn things down. It emphasizes the fury of the world but often signifies nothing. Sensationalism doesn’t point people to God. There are times when we have to raise our voice in order to wake people up to what’s at stake, but when we do we try to do it in a way that points to the one who holds the world and everything it contains in the palm of His hand.

Our listener ended her note thanking us for the closing Scripture each day. Some have wondered how we choose those. The selections come from an ESV reading plan. And it’s amazing how often God will have just the right verse to respond to some of the craziness of the world we’ve had to cover in a particular program.

It’s our prayer that as we end each day that God has the last word.

I’m Paul Butler.

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

Mary Reichard, David Bahnsen, Emma Perley, Leah Savas, Mary Muncy, Onize Ohikere, Janie B. Cheaney, Cal Thomas, Katie McCoy, and Collin Garbarino

And two new voices on the program this week…WORLD Opinions Commentator, Emma Waters, and WJI Mid-career graduate Jen Curtis.

Special thanks to our breaking news team: Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Travis Kircher, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

Thanks also to our breaking news interns: Tobin Jacobson, Johanna Huebscher, and Alex Carmenaty.

And the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Our producer is Harrison Watters.

Our Senior producer is Kristen Flavin and Paul Butler is Executive producer.

Additional production assistance from Benj Eicher, Lillian Hamman, Emily Whitten, and Bekah McCallum.

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, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” —I Corinthians chapter 3 verses 6 and 7

Worship with brothers and sisters in Christ in church this weekend. And Lord willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.