The World and Everything in It: October 28, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday: we’ll talk about Christian Nationalism and whether it’s a true ideology or just a political epithet.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Andrew Walker joins us and we’ll also talk about the Revoice movement.

Also today, WORLD Arts and Media editor Collin Garbarino reviews yet one more superhero movie that takes itself way too seriously.

And we’ll end the week with your listener feedback.

BROWN: It’s Friday, October 28th. 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: Time for news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: U.S. GDP » With Election Day less than two weeks away, President Biden is defending his handling of the economy. He told supporters in Syracuse, New York on Thursday that his policies have things heading in the right direction.

BIDEN: Real incomes are up and the price of gas is down. Folks continue to spend.

He also touted a new Commerce Department report showing the U.S. economy grew at a 2.6% annual rate through the last quarter. That was after the economy shrank in back to back quarters.

But economists remain concerned that inflation—and rate hikes designed to combat it—may still lead to a painful recession.

Polls show inflation is top concern » And a new poll reveals that inflation is the top worry on the minds of voters. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: President Biden has been campaigning hard on abortion access, hoping the reversal of Roe v. Wade will tip undecided voters toward Democrats.

But in a new poll from USA Today and Suffolk University twice as many Americans chose inflation and the economy over abortion as their top issue. Thirty-seven percent said inflation and 18 percent said abortion.

The poll of about a thousand likely voters also gave Republicans a 49 percent–to–45 percent lead over Democrats as Election Day draws near.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Mortgage rates » And speaking of inflation, the cost to take out a mortgage has more than doubled over the past year.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate this week topped 7% for the first time since April of 2002. 7.08 to be exact.

Last year at this time, rates on a 30-year mortgage averaged just over 3%.

Ukraine » The White House responded Thursday to threats by Russia to target US satellites in retaliation for arming Ukraine. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: Any attack on US infrastructure will be met with an appropriate response in an appropriate way.

Kirby also said President Biden has no intention of sitting down with Vladimir Putin at next month’s G-20 summit.

PUTIN: [Russian]

Putin on Thursday deescalated his nuclear rhetoric for the first time since the start of the war. He said he sees “no need” to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. 

PUTIN: [Russian]

He also painted Russia as the victim, claiming his country is defending its right to exist against Western aggression.

Meantime in southern Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces attacked Russia's hold on the city of Kherson on Thursday while fighting intensified in the country's east.

The battles came amid reports that Moscow-appointed authorities have abandoned the city, fleeing to other Russia-held areas.

Uvalde » The Texas state police chief faced a room full of angry families in Austin on Thursday. Parents of children killed in the Uvalde school shooting were allowed to attend a meeting of the Law Enforcement Commission.

In a heated moment, one parent told Dept. of Public Safety chief, Steve McCraw…

PARENT: If you were a man of your word then you would retire. But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you’re going to do that because you keep talking in circles and do all that mess. And listen, you can get irritated all you want. I lost my son.

McCraw previously told CNN that if DPS failed the families or community of Uvalde, then he should resign. On Thursday, he said he was not going back on his word.

MCCRAW: DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple.

McCraw said the findings of an investigation into the hesitant police response would be turned over to prosecutors within two months.

More than 400 officers waited well over an hour before confronting a gunman at Robb Elementary School in May.

State Dept. funds drag shows in Ecuador » Republican lawmakers are demanding answers about the Biden administration using U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund LGBT drag performances in Ecuador. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The State Department approved a $20,000 grant to a cultural center in Ecuador. The grant pays for several workshops and 13 drag performances.

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Michael McCaul, and other Republicans say the grant raises serious questions.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs said, “This initiative does not enhance national security … or support U.S. foreign policy."

The State Department responded, saying, “The program will advance key U.S. values of diversity and the inclusion of LGBTQI+ communities.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Andrew Walker.

Plus, a new superhero movie that takes itself too seriously.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 28th day of October, 2022.

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!

Joining us again today is Andrew Walker. He’s a professor of Christian ethics and apologetics at Southern Seminary and managing editor of WORLD Opinions.

Good morning, Andrew.

ANDREW WALKER, GUEST: Good morning. 

EICHER: Andrew, you have a column up at WORLD Opinions, a piece you wrote on Christian nationalism that is getting quite a lot of attention. The term is not one you embrace or apply to yourself.

And part of the trouble here is we hear the term a lot but it’s kind of in the eye of the beholder as to what it means. You address your comments both to those who are comfortable with the label and those who use it as a pejorative. But what were you hoping to accomplish?

WALKER: Hey, that's a really good question. And it really strikes at a lot of the concern I have around this topic of Christian nationalism, this term is getting thrown around.

But what I'm noticing is that predominantly, its use in the hands of very progressive academics, and then in the hands of those in the media, Christian nationalism is just becoming this kind of convenient buzzword to just dismiss the concerns of conservative Christians within politics. So that if you just use this term “Christian nationalism,” you can therefore dismiss us as theocratic or illiberal.

And so what I'm wanting to hear from these critics of Christian nationalism, and I should add, I don't embrace the label of Christian nationalism myself. But what I'm wanting to hear from the critics is, what are those clear lines that differentiate Christians participation in the political order from those aspects of Christian participation in the public order that are incorrect or improper? So let's just take the issue of the sanctity of unborn life. I have heard individuals who are very, very critical of Christian nationalism, accuse pro life individuals of being proponents of Christian nationalism. And I find that to be utterly absurd, because to be pro life is to just simply be biblical. It's to be anchored in a 2000 year old faith. And so again, that comes back to this is just another convenient epithet to use against conservative Christians. So tell me if you're opposed to Christian nationalism, what are the valid expressions of Christian faith in the public square? Because my concern in this particular conversation, is that really it's any type of Christian articulation of morality that just offends kind of progressive understandings of morality and culture? And so this really isn't about Christianity proper, it's about biblical morality that offends progressive understandings of what they think is right and proper and good in society.

EICHER: So thinking more about what’s right and proper and good in society, let’s talk about the movement known as Revoice. WORLD had a 2,800-word reported piece by Mary Jackson and Todd Vician—very thorough, haven’t seen anything like it anywhere—as well as a commentary by Carl Trueman. But I think Jackson and Vician really summed up well: Society and law have changed in the years since the first Revoice and they write, “Revoice has changed, too. Speakers have always emphasized homosexuality as an identity, not just a behavior. But this year, such assertions from the dais seemed more insistent, with speakers assiduously using civil-rights language to present radical change as settled truth. That identity rhetoric extended to transgender ideology. Speakers frequently referred to “sexual and gender minorities” and used preferred pronouns, along with terms such as women “assigned female at birth.” The group’s reach and influence are growing, but leaders now emphasize parachurch activities. Speakers frequently referenced ongoing rejection within the church and encouraged attendees to form their own spiritual communities in local Revoice chapters.”

I’ll link to the piece in the transcript and you can read it at WNG.org, but doesn’t this confirm a lot of the concerns people had four years ago?

WALKER: Okay, sure. I've had concerns about Revoice from the start. When I was working at my previous organization in 2018, I wrote an essay talking about the collision course that Revoice was headed down. And I think, you know, now, four years later, that has been proven and come to fruition. And I think it all starts from this more problematic assumption that there is something positive from which to identify same sex attraction. And so when individuals begin to ascribe virtue to what the Bible considers vice, you've already gone beyond the categories of what scripture would countenance. And so it's completely unsurprising at this point, that we hear reports at Revoice of them adopting the language of sexual minority, of them using preferred pronouns, of using the terminology like assigned female at birth and assigned male at birth. This is just following downstream from kind of the broader cultural matrix that has, sadly, in the name of Christian theology, more or less tried to baptize secular ideology in Christian terms. And again, I actually don't think this is all shocking or surprising where Revoice has ended up. This was kind of baked into the very notion of what Revoice was doing four years ago.

BROWN: Andrew, I want to follow up. My question is not really about Revoice. It’s more about what I’ve heard a well known Christian apologist say. He says the Bible does not condemn homosexual thoughts.

From an ethical perspective, do the Scriptures make a distinction between homosexuality and homosexual feelings and thoughts and therefore should we?

WALKER: Well, there's certainly a distinction between desires, and action. But it's not a distinction that we can draw too much distinction from, because ultimately, desires are ordered towards actions. And so when we think about our desires, we always have to ask the question of in what direction are our desires being ordered to? In Christian ethics, we call that teleology that there's something that our desires are, are striving for in order to hope to accomplish. Now in the issue of same sex attraction, a same sex attractive person might understand that their actions following through from their desires are sinful. But I think we have to ask one question prior to the action itself, and ask the question, okay, well, if the action itself is wrong, why would the desire itself be right? And I think this simply follows from understanding kind of our doctrine of sin. Scripturally speaking, we are culpable for involuntary desires. That sounds controversial that you're saying that someone can be guilty for sins they don't commit. I'm saying that because of the noetic effects of sin because we're comprehensively fallen, there are involuntary desires, thoughts that well up inside of us that in a split second, we can understand are fallen and sinful and disordered and we should repent of them, but they're still nonetheless fallen disordered, and sinful and to be repented of. We don't get to say, just because I have these feelings, that's okay. Because we're always asking the question of what are our feelings and desires being directed towards? When Jesus talks about indicting heterosexual lust, it's not as though lust is okay. If it's heterosexual lust, it's the fact that the lust itself is problematic because the lust is giving direction to something that Scripture says is wrong. And it's, it's not that the heterosexuality is wrong, it's that you're lusting after someone who is not your spouse, because the overarching moral good in Scripture is the conjugal union of husband and wife together, and so any type of sexual expression outside those confines, the Bible considers sinful.

BROWN: Andrew Walker is professor of Christian ethics and apologetics at Southern Seminary and managing editor of WORLD Opinions. Thanks, Andrew!

WALKER: Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Myrna. 

NICK EICHER, HOST: Athlete Zion Clark of Los Angeles recently set a pair of new Guinness World records.

First, the record for diamond pushups: 248 in under three minutes.

But remember, I said he broke two records.

He also performed the highest box jump. Have you ever tried this?

Yeah, it’s just like it sounds. You start standing still and jump up onto stacked boxes.

Clark’s record-setting jump was 33 inches. And if you know anything about box jumping, you’d know 33 inches is good, but a record-setting jump would be more like twice that.

But there’s something you need to know about Zion Clark. He was born with no legs, so he did the box jump with his arms!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, October 28th. 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: a new superhero movie. Last weekend, Black Adam made $67 million.

It may be enough to revive the slumping box office, ​​but is it good enough to revive DC Comics' struggling film franchise? WORLD Arts and Media editor Collin Garbarino isn’t so sure.

Black Adam: My powers are not a gift, but a curse. Born out of rage.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Disney has had runaway success with its Marvel Studios superhero movies. Warner Bros. Pictures on the other hand? Their DC Comics franchise has languished, despite featuring fan favorites like Superman and Batman. DC films often suffer from self-importance—they just take themselves too seriously. Black Adam, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is supposed to help launch the franchise into a new era. But despite some attempts at levity, the movie feels a lot like DC's other dreary films.

Soldier: Let me see your hands.

[electricity firing]

Soldier: Open fire!

Black Adam is set in Khandaq—a fictional Middle Eastern country oppressed by a multinational criminal organization known as Intergang. Adrianna is an archeologist with anti-colonialism views. And she thinks she can free her country by digging up magical relics. Instead, she unleashes an ancient being with godlike powers, Black Adam. Adrianna and her son try to convince Adam to help Khandaq before their oppressors use those ancient relics to become all powerful.

Amon: We could really use a superhero right about now.

Black Adam: I’m no hero.

And then the United States government complicates the situation by sending the Justice Society of America to neutralize this new superhuman threat.

Amanda Waller: He’s been asleep for 5000 years.

Hawkman: You find a cell that can hold him, we’ll take care of the rest.

Amanda Waller: Who’s on the team.

Now don’t confuse the Justice Society of America with the Justice League of America. There’s no Batman or Superman here. Hawkman and Dr. Fate lead the Justice Society, and Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan give pretty solid performances in those roles.

Hawkman: Fate and I will take the lead. Listen, you two hang back till we call you. We’re the anvil. You’re the hammer. You’re ready.

Atom Smasher: Um. He just dropped them.

Dr. Fate: Be prepared.

Black Adam is somewhat entertaining, but the movie feels like a missed opportunity. There’s a good film hiding in this mess somewhere, but Warner Bros. just couldn’t find it.

The movie falls into the same trap as earlier DC films. It wants to say something important—never a good idea when it comes to the superhero genre. We get rhetoric blaming the world’s problems on colonialism. Good characters say Khandaq needs freedom, especially in the face of what’s portrayed as police brutality. The villain says Khandaq “used to be something better than free”—he wants to make Khandaq great again. And The Justice Society and Adam have to work through their own moral quandary about the proper use of force.

Hawkman: I know it got lost in all the confusion, but we still got some issues to settle here. There are only heroes, and there are villains.

Black Adam: You think yourself a hero, but you would let these criminals go free.

Hawkman: Heroes don’t kill people.

Black Adam: Well, I do.

Adam’s body count gets pretty high—for a PG-13 movie there’s a good bit of gore and violence. But Adam intervenes on behalf of the oppressed. The Justice Society doesn’t. The movie tries to offer some political lessons, but the moral gets muddled in the clumsy script.

The inept political subtext isn’t the only thing that hurts Black Adam. Despite the action, the movie gets boring. It spends too much time on lore and backstory with tedious voiceover-laden flashbacks and exposition. And the action sequences sound only one note—big. The big battle at the end isn’t really any bigger than the big battle at the beginning or the big battle in the middle. But I guess the battles have to be big because when the hero has unlimited powers, it kind of lowers the stakes in fight scenes.

Dr. Fate: Black Adam.

Hawkman: We’re here to negotiate your peaceful surrender.

Black Adam: I’m not peaceful, nor do I surrender.

I hate to say it because I’m a fan of The Rock, but the biggest problem with Black Adam is probably Dwayne Johnson. This movie has been something of a passion project for him. Johnson wants Adam to be the complicated character who can carry the weight of the struggling DC franchise. But Johnson is a bad fit for the part. He’s spent his entire film career crafting the image of a likable, good-natured hunk who spouts witty one-liners. In this grim, pretentious movie, he makes a few feeble attempts at humor, but they fall flat.

Hawkman: I told you, stop killing people.

Black Adam: They look alive to me.

Hawkman: Because I saved them.

Black Adam: That’s why I waited until you were there. I got the information I needed. No one died. I did it your way.

Dr. Fate: He does have a point.

Johnson growls and glowers throughout Black Adam, and it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe The Rock can lighten up in the next installment—because of course there will be a sequel. The DC franchise needs someone to save it.

Black Adam: The world needed a hero. Instead it got me.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, October 28th. 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. Time now for Listener Feedback.

We begin with a correction. During last week’s Listening In interview with Katelyn Beaty, we included a list of Penecostal and Evangelical leaders. Some of the men in that list have been publicly disgraced—caught in ministry-ending sin. Others have only faced questions about certain practices. As the list made no distinction, we decided to clarify by removing the entire list—as there was an absence of differentiation. We have edited, and reposted the program and transcript.

BROWN: Now onto some feedback! We begin with David Jamison. He appreciated a recent History Book segment on the history of the BBC. But he sent us this voice memo about an important detail we left out.

DAVID: The first director of the BBC in 1922—John Reith—was a strong evangelical Christian, and was determined to use Sunday programming to sow the Word of God. In the entrance of the broadcasting house is the statue by the well known sculptor Eric Gill, depicting the sower, in the gospels casting his seed abroad. Above the sculpture of the sower is a Latin inscription: this temple of the arts and muse is dedicated to Almighty God by the first governors of broadcasting in the year 1931. It is their prayer that good seeds sown may bring forth a good harvest, and that all things hostile to peace or purity may be abolished from this house, and that the people inclining their ears to “whatsoever things are beautiful and honest, and a good report” may tread the path and wisdom and uprightness. Thank you. God bless.

David also reminds us that if it weren’t for the BBC’s recruitment of C.S. Lewis to give his Sunday talks, we wouldn't have Lewis’s classic book: Mere Christianity.

EICHER: Next, another listener named David left us this message…

DAVID: I really enjoy The World and Everything in It podcast. I listen to it every morning. I appreciate your recap of the news. The Monday Money Beat Washington Wednesday, Culture Friday. But call me shallow. I kind of look forward to hearing…[HUMS KICKER THEME] your kicker stories about pythons in pants and big pumpkins and the like. It's a nice counterpoint to the heavier stories of the day. Keep up the good work.

We enjoy them, too, thanks! I think the best ones go under the general category of “you can’t make this stuff up.”

BROWN: Listener Todd from Chandler, Arizona, had this to say in response to last Monday’s Legal Docket segment on California and the pork industry.

TODD: I grew up on a small family farm and one of the many things my dad did to keep our family fed was raising hogs. We never had more than a few at a time, and they all had a huge barnyard to roam in. However, when it was time for a sow to give birth, she was confined to a gestation crate. Now, this was in no way meant to save space or inflict cruelty on the pig. In fact, it was actually done for compassionate reasons guided by my dad's Christian values and his degree in animal husbandry. You see, mama pigs are very large and their piglets are very small. So it's quite easy for sows to accidentally lie on or roll on a newborn piglet. The other unpleasant truth is that sows sometimes attack and even eat their own babies. And this is where the value of a gestation crate comes in. The whole point is to constrain the sow while she's giving birth so as to increase the survival rate of baby piglets.

Now your analysis didn't really question the premise of California's law, which assumes that the restraint of hogs in a gestation crate is cruel. And you closed your Legal Docket segment with an admonition for Christians to be concerned about animal welfare. Now, I agree with that, but I think the California law did the opposite—being driven by uninformed animal rights activists and politicians. A better approach might be to trust the faithful men and women in the agriculture industry who actually see their calling to be stewards of the world and everything in it.

Todd, thanks for that added context to the story and shining a light on your experience. We appreciate that.

EICHER: Well, speaking of Legal Docket, one more comment today, this time about our Legal Docket Podcast—Season 3—which Mary and Jenny wrapped up last week.

SCOTT: Hi. This is Scott Roberts from Branson, Missouri. I just finished listening to the last Legal Docket Podcast. And I have to tell Jenny and Mary, thank you so much for all your work. I was so moved by your running the race analogy. Really moved to tears just listening to that. I do work overseas training pastors, and it just gave me a push to just keep going. And this season has been amazing…And I just appreciate all the work of all of you at World Radio. Thanks for all your hard work, and know that you're making a difference. Not only in bringing the news but encouraging people to live their life in a way that is significant. Thanks so much.

Thanks Scott! It’s been a privilege to work with Mary and Jenny and the whole team. I have to say, I love all the episodes, but this season I thought was our very best and we’re grateful for the team and grateful to listeners who support the program, support all of our journalism in all its forms. Because of that extraordinary support, we were able to invest in this season with travel and technical support we’ve never had before. So if you ever wonder whether your giving makes a difference, trust me on that, it does!

BROWN: Well that’s it for this month’s Listener Feedback. Thanks to everyone who wrote and called in. If you have comments to share with us you can send them to editor@wng.org. And if you’re writing, why not take a moment and record your comments on your phone and send that along as well. We’ve included instructions on how to do that on our website: wng.org/podcasts. Or you can phone it in. Our listener line is ‪(202) 709-9595.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who put the program together this week: Mary Jackson, Todd Vician, Anna Johansen Brown, Cal Thomas, Kent Covington, Onize Ohikere, Janie B. Cheaney, Lauren Dunn, Jenny Rough, Steve West, Mary Reichard, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Mary Muncy, Josh Schumacher, David Bahnsen, Andrew Walker, and Colin Garbarino.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And thanks also to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz. Production assistance this week from Lillian Hamman and Benj Eicher.

Kristen Flavin is our producer. Paul Butler is our executive producer.

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: The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. Hatred stirs up dissension; but love covers all wrong. (Proverbs 10:11-12 ESV)

Remember to worship in your local church alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ.

God 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.