The World and Everything in It: October 23, 2024

PREROLL: More than a million Native Americans live on reservations. I’m Travis Kircher. This summer I visited The Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. In a moment, I’ll introduce you to a few of the people I met there. Stay with us.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

The balance of power in the Senate may come down to elections in surprising places.

OSBORN: I’ve always had an independent spirit, just like Nebraska does.

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

Also today, news from around the world on World Tour.

MAST: And WORLD’s Travis Kircher, as you heard, with his story on reaching Native America.

LUCAS: You see the trauma. You see the hurts, the pains, the addictions, the data. You can ignore it and say, you know what? It’s somebody else’s problem. Or you can carry the father’s heart.

EICHER: And the value of classical education.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, October 23rd. 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.

SOUND: [Lebanon building collapses]

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Blinken in Israel » Israeli airstrikes bringing down a 7-story building just outside of Beirut, which reportedly housed Hezbollah facilities. Israeli forces ordered evacuations of that and other buildings shortly before the strike. 

Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv, just days after the Israeli military killed terrorist Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Blinken told reporters: 

BLINKEN: I believe very much that the death of Sinwar does create an important opportunity to bring the hostages home, to bring the war to an end, and to ensure Israel's security.

And on that point, Blinken and Herzog were in lockstep. 

HERZOG: There is a unique opportunity to make a special effort to employ all tools necessary and possible to move forward and bring the hostages back home.

But it’s unclear exactly how that might play out. Following Sinwar’s death, Hamas would not release any more hostages until Israel ends all military operations.

South Korea warns it could send arms to Ukraine » South Korea is warning is sending a warning to Russia that it may consider supplying weapons to Ukraine. That in response to North Korea reportedly deploying troops to Russia to bolster Moscow’s forces.

South Korea is concerned about what Pyongyang might be getting from Moscow in return. Officials in Seoul worry that Russia could be giving North Korea high tech assistance with its nuclear and missile programs.

Campaign politics » Former President Donald Trump campaigned in Miami on Tuesday, holding a roundtable discussion with Latino voters and business leaders where he took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris about the border crisis.

TRUMP: She was the border czar for three and half years, and now she said — now, whether she is or not, she was in charge of the border. That’s loud and clear. She never once called the Border Patrol.

Trump has been working to make inroads with Latino voters. Fox News polling shows Trump is only down five points in that demographic which President Biden won 4 years ago by 30 points.

Meantime, campaigning in Wisconsin, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took a jab at Trump over his recent campaign stop at a McDonald’s franchise in Pennsylvania. 

WALZ: Being at McDonalds, he looks much more like Ronald McDonald than the clown that he actually is.

Former President Barack Obama also campaigned for Harris as early voting kicks off in Wisconsin. 

Texas doctor lawsuit » A doctor in Texas is suing the Biden administration over a change to HIPPA privacy rules which she says will bar doctors from reporting child abuse. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Dr. Carmen Purl filed the federal suit, taking issue with a new health-related privacy rule from the Biden administration.

The change would block doctors from reporting signs of potential abuse, like minors contracting a sexually transmitted disease or seeking abortions.

The new rule would also bar physicians from alerting authorities of minors receiving transgender procedures, like sex-change surgeries or cross-sex hormones, which are illegal under Texas state law.

Purl wants the courts to declare the federal rule change unlawful  and to reinforce the rights of states to balance privacy with protecting minors.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Former Abercrombie CEO charged » Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, his romantic partner and a third man have been arrested on sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace told reporters:

PEACE:  While Jeffries was the CEO of one of the most recognizable clothing retailers in the world, he was using his power, his wealth, and his influence to traffic men for his own sexual pleasure and that of his romantic partner, Matthew Smith.

The indictment accuses them of luring men into sex parties held around the world, sometimes by dangling the promise of modeling jobs.

The charges follow allegations from young people who say Jeffries pressed them into sex acts.

Attorneys for Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, say they will respond to the allegations in court.

Denny’s closures » An iconic chain of American diners is shuttering 150 stores nationwide.

SOUND: That’s why we always went to Lenny’s. Denny’s. Denny’s. Try our chicken fried steak specials for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, only at Denny’s.

The more than 70 year old chain is struggling to turn around lagging sales. And now Denny’s says it’s closing about 10 percent of its locations.

About half of the closures will happen this year and the rest in 2025. The company made the announcement during a meeting with investors Tuesday.

Denny’s says in some locations, sales that dropped off during the pandemic, never returned to normal.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the balance of power is up for grabs in the U.S. Senate. More on that in a moment on Washington Wednesday. And, WORLD Tour.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 23rd of October.

Thank you for joining us today. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

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

Election Day is now less than two weeks away, but something like 20 million votes are estimated already to have been cast. If The New York Times is correct, that number means more than 10 percent of the vote is in, meaning the changes brought about in the 2020 pandemic election may be a permanent feature.

MAST: So many changes last election cycle gave rise to concern about election integrity, around voting machines, mail-in voting, and ballot harvesting.

So this time around, WORLD’s Washington Bureau has created an encyclopedia for how not to steal an election. It explains how things are supposed to work and where the lines are, so that if there’s election fraud, at least you’ll understand what happened.

EICHER: It’s worth checking out in WORLD’s election center at wng.org/election2024. You’ll find a nice collection of news and opinion, podcast and magazine features, and about halfway down you’ll find WORLD’s 2024 Encyclopedia of Election Integrity.

If you’re a political junkie I think you’ll love it. Even if you’re not, I think you’ll come away feeling a little smarter. So do check it out.

MAST: Alright, well, now for today’s Washington Wednesday, the balance of power in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

There are 34 Senate seats up for grabs. Taken together, the Democrats and the Independents account for 23 of them. That’s more than two of three.

EICHER: But Republicans have to hold their own if they expect to take the majority, and they’re facing challenges of their own.

WORLD Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta has the story:

CAROLINA LUMETTA: The current Senate chamber is one of the closest in modern history. Democrats hold a one-seat majority, but only because four independents caucus with the party. With two independent senators on their way out and an almost guaranteed seat flip, the party is scrambling to hold its majority together. While the GOP defends 11 seats this year, the Democrats have 23 on the ballot, and four of them are in the danger zone.

MARK WEAVER: This was always going to be a difficult cycle for Democrats.

Mark Weaver is a Republican political consultant based in Ohio. He has advised several statewide and federal campaigns, and he says there are three kinds of strategies the Democratic Senate Campaign committee needs to consider.

WEAVER: Job one is hold all of our members who are incumbents. Job two is win every open seat. Job three is go against the other party's incumbents wherever we can.

This year the Democrats must do all three. And it’s a more precarious position compared to the past several cycles that favored the Democratic Party.

STEVEN SMITH: This particular class of Democrats in the Senate have had a lucky streak of facing election or getting initially elected at a time that was good for the Democrats. And 2024 is the first time where the playing field seems to be more even.

Steven Smith is a political science professor at Arizona State University. He says Republicans are not only in strong positions to defend most of their 11 seats, but they have also set up strong candidates to flip seats. In Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, Republican candidates are within the margin of error to unseat longtime Democratic incumbents. In Montana, Democrat incumbent Jon Tester is roughly five points behind Republican Tim Sheehy. Here’s Sheehy in a PBS debate with Tester back in September.

TIM SHEEHY: Senator Tester has been in office for many years, but… he voted with Biden and Harris every single time it mattered, voted against all Supreme Court judge nominees that came from the Trump administration… The very structure of our constitutional republic is at stake this November. Control of the U.S. Senate is at stake November 5th.”

Smith says that while most incumbents in purple states try to distinguish themselves from national party issues and candidates, very few Democrats are able to do that this year.

SMITH: The Trump candidacy and his contest with first Biden and then Harris has so dominated political discussion and coverage for so long that it's very difficult for candidates to break away from that.

Margins in the Senate are already extremely narrow. Vice President Kamala Harris has been called upon to cast a record-setting 33 tie-breaking votes in the past three years. If Republicans win both West Virginia and Montana, they can reclaim the majority.

SMITH: If those two races, West Virginia and Montana, work out as expected, then the Democrats have to do exceptionally well everywhere else.

So in addition to defending toss-up seats, Democrats are targeting historically strong Republican seats to mitigate the damage, and they’re focusing on surprising areas.

DSCC: As an Emergency Physician I can tell you, Texas women are in danger because of Ted Cruz. I’ve seen 12-, 13-year old survivors of rape come in pregnant. … [Fade under]

This week, the Senate Majority political action committee made a multi-million dollar ad investment in Texas, where Senator Ted Cruz is running less than four points ahead of Democrat challenger Colin Allred. Vice President Kamala Harris is also planning to visit Houston on Friday to stump for Allred.

Arizona State professor Smith says while Democrats go after Cruz’s pro-life positions, the senator’s own track record may hurt his standing among moderate Republicans.

SMITH: Cruz has always been a bit of an outsider, bit of a firebrand, always trying to be a kind of anti-establishment, even at the expense of his own party. Well, that is testing his support among the more middle-of-the-road Republicans in Texas.

But Weaver says there are also demographic factors at play in both Texas and Florida that could make them more competitive this year.

WEAVER: Every month, thousands of Californians are pouring into Texas to move there for better government. And in reality, every month, thousands of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans are moving into Florida, as they have for decades, turning those states less red.

Republicans could also be facing a surprise in Nebraska, where both Senate seats are up for election due to a special appointment in 2023. Republican incumbent Deb Fischer is in a tight race with Independent candidate Dan Osborn, a military veteran and union leader. The Cook Political Report changed the race from “likely Republican” to “leans Republican” this week. Here’s Osborn at an ABC-affiliate townhall in Omaha.

DAN OSBORN: I’m frustrated with both sides catering to the extremes. We see them kick the can down the road on the farm bill recently, border bills. So it’s frustrating to me, and I think I’m really frustrated with the corporate agenda and the fact that Robin Williams, the late comedian, said it best when he said our politicians should be wearing Nascar jackets with patches of their sponsors, so we know how they’re going to vote.

The Republican Senate arm is now flooding the state with pro-Fischer ads and sending in colleagues like Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to stump for her.

Osborn has out fundraised Fischer four to one, and says that if elected, he won’t caucus with either party. He’s pro-abortion and also pro-Second Amendment. If he wins, it makes 2025 gridlock that much more likely.

SMITH: Imagine that the Senate stays Democratic, but Trump wins the White House. He's going to get very little legislation through the Senate as a result. It would require that at least some Democrats support a Trump program or a Republican-generated program that Trump is willing to support. And it's hard to know where those votes would come from. The two most moderate Democrats, Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are leaving the Senate.

While the House of Representatives controls the first steps for most fiscal matters for the country, the Senate has more influence over a president’s administration. The chamber is responsible for approving cabinet appointments, ambassadorships, and judicial nominations all the way up to the Supreme Court.

WEAVER: Whether or not a second term Donald Trump has enough votes in the Senate to confirm his nominees, particularly his judges, really matters to the future of this country. And the same is true for Kamala Harris, who is going to want to change the slow direction of towards the right of the Supreme Court. So the jurisprudence of the federal judiciary is squarely affected by whether or not there's enough Senate votes to get stuff done, and I don’t know anybody who predicts that either party is going to have 60 votes.

Sixty votes is the threshold required to overcome a filibuster. Neither party has secured that number since the Democrats controlled the chamber under Jimmy Carter in 1979. Since then, the margins have melted away, and that gives the minority party more leverage to slow down the majority party’s priorities. Smith says even a power shift this year won’t change that story.

SMITH: Whether the Republicans gain control of the Senate or the Democrats gain control of the Senate, what's fair to say is that the minority is going to be obstructionist. And it’s going to be very difficult to get anything through the Senate.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

AUDIO: [Clearing out water]

ONIZE ODUAH: DRC flooding aftermath — We start today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where some residents are clearing out pails of water from their homes and shoveling the streets.

Heavy rainfall over the weekend caused rivers and sewers in the capital city of Kinshasa to overflow. Authorities confirm at least one child died in the floodwaters.

Officials expected more damage and loss of life, but residents are still grappling with the aftermath.

KAYIBA: [Speaking Lingala]

Maguy Kayiba says she’s lost everything as she stands in her flooded home.

Authorities warn that littering waterways increases flood risks.

The country’s northeastern neighbor South Sudan is experiencing its worst flooding in decades. Heavy rains have forced more than 200,000 people from their homes and hindered aid delivery to hundreds of thousands more. In other continents, parts of France, Italy, and Bangladesh have also reported severe flooding.

AUDIO: [Sound of cheering]

King Charles in Australia — We head next to cheering crowds in Australia’s Sydney, as King Charles the Third and Queen Camilla wrap up a six-day tour.

The international tour is the first for the 75-year-old since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

He gifted an hourglass timer to the parliament and later attended a Sunday service at the St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney.

Lynton Martin came from Melbourne to catch a glimpse of the royals.

MARTIN: My grandmother loved the Royals. She saw Charles and Diana in the early 80s when they came to East Gippsland. So this is sort of a round circle moment - a full circle moment.

During a stop in the capital city of Canberra, King Charles paid respect to indigenous people.

KING CHARLES: Because we are all connected, both as a global community and with all that sustains life, that is the timeless wisdom of Indigenous people throughout the entire world, from which each one of us can benefit.

But an indigenous senator chimed in just after his speech…

AUDIO: [Shouting “give us our land back”]

Australians are divided over retaining the British king as Australia’s monarch and adopting a republic system that will have an Australian as head of state. A 1999 referendum kept Queen Elizabeth the Second as head of state.

The royals also visited a war memorial in Canberra and greeted fans outside the Sydney Opera House.

They are arriving in Samoa today where King Charles will attend his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

AUDIO: [Salute]

Indonesia’s new leader — And in Indonesia, a former general assumed office on Sunday as the country’s new president.

Prabowo Subianto clinched a landslide victory in a February election.

SUBIANTO: [Speaking Indonesian]

He says here that he will fulfill his duties with fairness and will uphold the constitution.

Subianto assumes office with a record of rights abuses during his time in the military. He was accused of ordering the abductions of democracy activists in the late 1990s—an allegation that led to his discharge from the military.

AUDIO: [Cheering and applause]

Guatemalan journalist released — We end in Guatemala, where a journalist who spent more than two years in detention is on his way home after a judge approved his request for house arrest.

Authorities detained Jose Ruben Zamora over money laundering charges two years ago. He was sentenced to six years in prison last June.

In 1996, Zamora founded the now-shuttered El Periódico daily newspaper, which focused on anti-corruption.

Zamora says he believes authorities will try to arrest him again.

ZAMORA: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that he has the spirit, the courage, and the faith to continue.

Eight journalists and columnists working with the newspaper have left the country since the prosecutor’s office launched its investigation.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: Anyone who’s dropped off a friend or loved one at the airport should relate to this one.

In New Zealand somebody’s doing something about a real problem: Loooong goodbyes. They put up a sign with a graphic of two people hugging, with the words: “Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells, please use the car park.”

Well! The airport’s chief executive Dan De Bono got an earful over that. Audio here from Radio New Zealand:

DE BONO: People going, “Oh, you can’t tell us how long we can hug for.” It’s really about enabling enough space for others to also have hugs, right?

Right! I’m with you, friend.

The idea is to keep the traffic flow going and not impose more drastic measures like fines for lengthy P-D-A. And the airport boss has science to back him:

DE BONO: It turns out you need 20 seconds to get the oxytocin and serotonin release from a hug. Anything less you don’t get the heavy hormones, and anything longer, I guess maybe get into the awkward territory.

Those in the awkward territory will get a gentle reminder to take it elsewhere.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, October 23rd.

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: reaching Native America.

The Wind River Indian Reservation makes up more than 2 million acres in central Wyoming. It’s shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. Many say it’s also a place of spiritual darkness. WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher introduces us to missionaries working there.

AUDIO: [Dancers with singing and narration]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: It’s a cool August evening outside The Museum of the American West in Lander, Wyoming. As Native American singers pound drums and chant tribal songs, about a dozen performers with the Eagle Spirit Singers and Dancers leap and skip before a crowd of onlookers. Their figures cast long shadows in the grass as they perform native dances in brightly colored shawls, feather headdresses and moccasins. Eventually, the audience is invited to join the festivities and take part in a native dance contest.

But not everything is as cheerful at the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation.

SILAS: The people are dying left and right. There's no change.

Silas Condon and his wife Melissa are Native Americans who grew up on reservations. They proudly recite their bloodlines. Both have ties to the Northern Cheyenne tribe, but Silas also has Cheyenne River Sioux blood and Melissa has ties to the Northern Arapaho and Oglala Lakota tribes.

Both came from a life of addiction.

MELISSA: I was heavily addicted to methamphetamine. I was an alcoholic. I drank every single day.

Silas rode with gangs.

SILAS: I was out there robbing people. I've been in shootouts. And I hurt a lot of people. And that's how that lifestyle is down there. All we do is drink, fight, party, violence—all of it.

Historically, the reservation has had a crime rate 5-7 times the national average. Life expectancy is less than 50 years. Unemployment hovers at around 80 percent. Drug abuse, sexual assault and teen pregnancy are far more prevalent here than elsewhere.

LUCAS: We’re on a mission to see a nation come to know Jesus.

Sarah Lucas and her husband run a ministry on the reservation called Foundation for Nations. They’re both white, with no Native American blood. Originally from Indiana, Sarah’s parents were missionaries to Native American people, so she grew up on the reservation.

LUCAS: You see the trauma. You see the hurts, the pains, the addictions, the data. You can ignore it and say, you know what? It’s somebody else’s problem. Or you can carry the Father’s heart.

AUDIO: [Climbing up steps]

The ministry consists of a church, a food pantry and youth programs—and there’s plans for a women’s shelter.

Lucas says it’s about loving the local community and introducing them to Christ. But it’s not easy. Anyone who ministers on the reservation must walk a delicate line between honoring Native American heritage, while at the same time pointing people away from spiritual darkness.

LUCAS: There's things we cannot compromise on. It's like, you cannot go to your medicine man and believe for healing and be doctored up and, you know, into witchcraft and then go to Jesus.

At the same time, Lucas says those who do respond to the Gospel are often ostracized from the rest of the indigenous population. They’re called apples.

LUCAS: The term apple means, “Red on the outside, white on the inside.”

But she admits history has given Native Americans reasons to be distrustful of whites. Broken treaties. Children being forced into white boarding schools. But Jesse Arthur, Melissa Condon’s brother, blames those scandals on what he calls the white Jesus and says that has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible.

JESSE: The white Jesus caused pain, caused hurt, caused division, caused chaos—all this stuff. But when you tell people Jesus wasn’t white, he was Jew. And you can see the eye—it’s like, relating. Because now it’s like, ‘He was Jew? That means he was of color!’ And that breaks down the barrier.

Today, both Silas and his wife Melissa are committed Christians who credit Christ for freeing them from drug and alcohol addiction.

MELISSA: I've been set free ever since and I give my life to Him and I’m committed to serve Him.

They both attend Foundation for Nations and Silas is involved in open-air preaching. He says he has to be because Native American spirituality has done nothing to help his people.

SILAS: Over there, they don’t really have a book. They don’t have nothing to live by there. It’s word-of-mouth, so it can always change.

He points to his Bible. It’s ragged, worn through, with highlight marks and notes.

SILAS: Right here, we have standards: How to live and how to be!

He admits it can be hard to face opposition from his own people, but now he responds to confrontation differently. He points to scars on his knuckles.

SILAS: These are all teeth marks. I’m used to violence. I had a violent life. But when I came to Jesus, it’s different! You can’t be beating ‘em up! You have to love them! [LAUGHS] It was like UGHHHHH! [LAUGHS]

Silas, Melissa and Jesse are proud of their native heritage…

AUDIO: [Drums and singers]

…but they also know they’re now part of a stronger bloodline: the family of Christ. And just as they were set free from addiction, they’re looking to Him to rescue others from their tribes who are still trapped in bondage.

MELISSA: We serve a mighty God and the Lord is still moving, and I would just ask that everyone pray Isaiah 59:1 for everybody where it says "His hand is not shortened where he cannot save." And that the Lord is going to move in the Native American people and that there is hope.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher on the Wind River Indian Reservation, in central Wyoming.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, October 23rd. 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, classical education. WORLD Opinions contributor Timothy Paul Jones says teaching Western Civilization and the great classics is good for everyone—no matter a student’s background.

TIMOTHY PAUL JONES, COMMENTATOR: According to a recent investigative report in my local newspaper, classical Christian education promotes white supremacy. One of the articles suggests that the terms “Western” and “Western civilization” are “euphemisms for whiteness.” A professor quoted in the report declares: “You hear Judeo-Christian or you hear Western and it is a very thinly veiled dog whistle term for white.”

Augustine of Hippo, whose works make appearances in almost every classical school, would be shocked by the news that classical education promotes white supremacy. After all, Augustine was a North African Berber. He was also the towering theological influence of the Christian Church, even as Rome and its empire were in decline.

The news that classical texts are Trojan horses for whiteness would have surprised Frederick Douglass. The great orator studied the speeches of Cicero so he could speak more eloquently in defense of equality for African Americans.

Anna Julia Cooper would have been equally shocked to discover that classical education is a dog whistle for whiteness. Newly emancipated after the Civil War, this young African American woman received a classical Christian education at Saint Augustine’s Normal School. By the time she started college, Cooper had read works by Caesar, Virgil, Sallust, and Cicero in Latin, in addition to her studies in Greek. She went on to become the president of Frelinghuysen University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C. Cooper’s experiences reveal, in the words of professors Anika Prather and Angel Parham, that “classical Christian education is also part of Black history.”

Classical Christian education stands in a long tradition that emphasizes seeking truth, goodness, and beauty through the diverse corpus of texts that have shaped Western civilization. Classical education does not merely prepare students for professions; it equips them to live as free people who know the purpose of their labors.

What the texts that form the framework of classical education promote is not ethnic supremacy but shared humanity.

Introducing children to classical works consistently contributes to academic success in ethnically and economically diverse communities. The Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy Charter Schools in New York City are promoted by Barack Obama as models for inner-city educational reform. He praises them for eliminating racial achievement gaps and enrolling nearly all of their graduates in college. One key component of the Promise Academy curriculum has been “early exposure to literary classics,” particularly the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Despite the proven value of classical schools, many children in low-income families have no access to such education. One way that some states have reduced this barrier is by allowing school tax dollars to follow students into the schools that their parents choose. Another way to provide broader access to better education would be to follow the pattern of Hope Academy in Minneapolis, where income-adjusted tuition rates and private donors combine to make classical Christian education available to children in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

I do not deny that some individuals have attempted to smuggle reprehensible ideologies into classical education. Yet, any attempt to tie classical Christian schooling to white supremacy reveals deep ignorance of the sources that sustain such education. The texts of classical antiquity emerged from diverse contexts around the Mediterranean Sea at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Adoption has blessed our household with children from four different ethnic backgrounds. My wife and I have sent them to classical schools to prepare them to take their place in a perennial conversation that crosses cultural boundaries so each one of them might become “a citizen of the world” for the sake of the gospel. Training in classical texts is no dog whistle for white supremacy. Done well, classical Christian education can be a trumpet call of liberty, inviting students to see the common humanity in every ethnicity.

I’m Timothy Paul Jones.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: coverage of a couple of state ballot initiatives, one on homelessness and crime, another on legalizing marijuana. And, we’re heading to main street, where mom-and-pop shops vie for customers with the big-box stores. Can they all just get along? 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: “[God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” —Romans 2:6-8.

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.