The World and Everything in It - September 10, 2021

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Good morning!

A video-game CEO voiced his support for the new Texas abortion law—and now it’s game over. We’ll get John Stonestreet’s perspective on that story and others.

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

Also a musical that pays tribute to Canadian hospitality in the days immediately after 9/11.

And Myrna Brown stops by with a review of Danny Gokey’s latest album: Jesus People.

BUTLER: It’s Friday, September 10th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

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

BUTLER: Up next, today’s news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans » Speaking from the White House on Thursday, President Biden announced sweeping new federal vaccine mandates.

BIDEN: I am announcing tonight a new plan to require more Americans to be vaccinated to combat those blocking public health.

The plan could affect as many as 100 million people.

The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require employees to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly. That could impact about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden is also signing an executive order to require vaccination for employees of the executive branch and federal contractors — with no option to test out.

He also said he’ll use the Defense Production Act to ramp up access to testing. And he said top retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger have agreed to pitch in.

BIDEN: And tonight, we’re announcing each of these outlets will start to sell at-home rapid test kits at cost for the next three months.

The administration will also send more federal support to schools, including more money for testing. And it will require vaccinations for workers in Head Start Programs, as well as schools run by the Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Education.

Biden said about three quarters of eligible Americans have had at least one shot, but some 80 million Americans remain unvaccinated.

Scores of Westerners, including Americans, fly out of Kabul » A commercial jet flew out of Afghanistan on Thursday with hundreds of foreigners on board, including Americans. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The Qatar Airways flight to Doha left the Kabul airport with an estimated 200 people. It was the first such large-scale departure since the United States cut off the evacuation more than a week ago.

The flight comes amid a days long standoff over charter planes at another airport has left many would-be evacuees stranded.

A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press that the Taliban’s new foreign minister and deputy prime minister helped facilitate Thursday’s departure from Kabul.

The flight reportedly carried Americans, U.S. green card holders and other nationalities—including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians.

A Qatari official said another 200 passengers will leave Afghanistan today.

It was not immediately clear how many Americans were on board Thursday’s flight.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Justice Department sues Texas over abortion law » At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland called the new pro-life heartbeat law in Texas—quote—“clearly unconstitutional.”

GARLAND: After careful assessment of the facts in the law, the Justice Dept. has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas.

The Justice Department will argue that the bill violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment.

The law, known as SB8, prohibits abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks. Courts have blocked other states from enacting similar laws. But the Texas law is different because it leaves enforcement to private citizens through civil lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutors.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week not to block the Texas law has ignited battles over infant life across the country.

Unemployment claims fall too new pandemic low » The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to a new pandemic low. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more on that.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The Labor Department reported Thursday that 310,000 people filed jobless claims last week. That was down about 11 percent, from 345,000 the week before.

But the spread of the delta variant this summer has put renewed pressure on the economy and the job market. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. economic activity “downshifted” in July and August.

Still, the ongoing drop in unemployment claims suggests most companies are holding onto their workers despite the slowdown. The drop in new claims also coincided with a decision by 25 states to end the enhanced unemployment program early. Those additional benefits ended nationwide this week.

Reporting or WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

More deaths attributed to Ida » The death toll from Hurricane Ida and its remnants has risen once again.

The Louisiana Department of Health verified 11 additional storm-related deaths. The victims died between Aug. 30 and Sept. 6. The Orleans parish coroner said nine of them succumbed to excessive heat.

Two others died of carbon monoxide poisoning. With power out, many residents used generators to provide air conditioning. The generators can cause carbon monoxide poisoning if not vented properly.

Within New Orleans city limits, the power grid is almost fully restored and curfews have been lifted. But hundreds of thousands of residents in nearby parishes still have no power or running water.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: relativism at work.

Plus, a new album from one of Christian music’s hottest artists.

This is The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: It’s Friday, September 10th, 2021.

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

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

It’s Culture Friday. I want to welcome John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. 

Morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: No doubt you heard this one: John Gibson, the CEO—now former CEO—of a tech company called Tripwire, maker of video games, opened up his Twitter app on a Saturday. Gibson tweeted the following:

Proud of #USSupremeCourt affirming the Texas law banning abortion for babies with a heartbeat. As an entertainer I don’t get political often. Yet with so many vocal peers on the other side of this issue, I felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer.

Then he hit send.

He didn’t make it to Monday. Tripwire let him go and apologized profusely for the tweet.

Of course, you’re tempted to say, Mr. Gibson, how could you not have predicted what would happen?

But it goes to show: opinions on the abortion issue may be roughly 50-50 in this country, it’s not that way at the elite levels of society.

STONESTREET: Not at the elite levels at all. And the elite in this society see this issue very, very differently, than I think everyday Americans, there's a real divide between particularly the way the media elite, and those that answer to them. And I think a lot of times corporate America largely answers to the Twitter mob and to the kind of the pop media mob, you know, which oftentimes get their outrageous reactions even from, you know, some mainstream media outlets. But that's not where most people are, most people very much have embraced a live and let live when it comes to abortion. But that also reveals something else that has to contextualize anytime we talk about the you know, the 50-50 number, you know, that really, Americans are roughly divided in half on this. They're divided in half on this, but swimming in a sea of relativism. It's one thing to think that something is wrong, period. It's another thing to think that something is wrong for me, but not for you. And we live in an era of relativism. And there's a big difference between those who say, I would never get an abortion and those who would say that abortion should be wrong in every circumstance with all the implications of that. And I think that's where a lot of people struggle to swallow the Texas law.

EICHER: Similar theme, different elite sector: academia.

Philosophy professor Peter Boghossian of Portland State University.

He didn’t get fired. He resigned in a letter published this week. A spirited letter of resignation.

Bari Weiss—late of the New York Times—also by the way the writer of her own spirited resignation letter, she posted the Boghossian letter on her Substack.

What he wrote is obviously particular to Portland State, but I do wonder whether it’s more broadly applicable.

Students aren’t being taught to think, he said, quoting here, “they’re being trained to mimic the moral certainty of ideologues.” This isn’t about him, he said, quoting again, “this is about the kind of institutions we want.”

He talked about the attacks on him, the investigations, the threats, the retaliation, and he’d just had it.

So what we have here is a fairly well-known professor basically giving up on the educational franchise such as it is. Do you think this move will spur reform or is this a one-and-done story and we just forget about the whole thing?

STONESTREET: I don't think it's the beginning of any sort of reform. I think that some of these faculty members with whom we disagree dramatically, but who have a you know, a good bit of honesty, at least honest dialogue and discussion like Peter Bogosian does. I think we're going to see more and more of these fall victim, I would love to see them stay in the game until they get pushed out, I just think there's a huge difference in the sort of impact you can have whether you're whether you're leaving voluntarily and writing a, a resignation letter that a few people will see or whether you actually make someone pay. That was the thing that I really appreciated about my late friend, Mike Adams is he was willing to, to push those lines. But you know, there was another story in the Wall Street Journal this week about how young men by and large and talking mainly about students here, but young men are largely giving up on college, that the ROI just isn't there for male and female students. But female students don't have to necessarily face, although they face different challenges in higher education environments, but in the classroom, you know, male students face this constant barrage, you know that they are misogynist, and what's wrong with the world and everything else? And so why would you stay in a environment, pay a lot of money, when you don't get the return and you're getting chastised non stop, not necessarily for what you've done, although that may be the case, but mostly just because you happen to have a particular gender identity, which then on the other hand, is said not to be real anyway. I mean, there's just not an ROI on this at any level. And I think we're seeing more and more honest brokers of education, you know, that are going to throw up their hands at the same time, here's where I'm hopeful, I guess I'm less hopeful that the institutional reform will take place. And I'm more hopeful in the institutional and para institutional innovation that is already taking place, although in a small scale, I think it's a golden opportunity right now for Christians in education, especially. And so maybe that's a topic for another day. But I think that you know, these crises means that there's tons of whitespace for Christians to be inventive and creative, and offer better alternatives.

BUTLER: John, tomorrow is the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our country. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years already. While there was certainly a season of cultural solidarity—you know: “we’re all in this together” sort of thing—that didn’t last very long. Why do you think that was?

STONESTREET: I remember a few months after 9/11 hearing from major Christian apologists who said that, because of 9/11, post modernism was dead, because no one could watch the evil that took place on 9/11 and still be a relativist. Instead, what happened is a large part of the culture looked at this act of evil and blamed it on people who believed in moral absolutes. And there was an inability to distinguish between what absolutes we believe in and which religious worldview those absolutes are grounded in and so to be a fundamentalist Muslim was no different than being a fundamentalist, whatever else confusing those categories of right and wrong, you know, add 15 years and a frustrating amount of cultural quagmire and political quagmire that we've had. Add in a couple disasters, add in a social media and a misinformation deluge. And it's been a small step from retreating to wrongly understanding what is right and what is wrong and the nature of good and evil to actually replacing the two In other words, calling good evil and evil good. And so here we are, where a new intolerance has now taken over Western culture. And the two stories that we talked about already, today are examples of that, aren't they? I think of last week when the Texas law came out. And it actually was a thinkable reality for people to associate, the Supreme Court and pro life lawmakers in Texas, with the Taliban. So an equivocation of this ideologically radical group capable of doing incredible evils to women, and to a culture and then equating that with saving unborn lives. A culture has to be in a real special place of confusion to get there, and, you know, you can trace it back to an initial confusion. And that's why some of the things that we miss - the moral clarity, the national identity, the patriotism, the unity that happened in those days after 9/11 and God forbid, we have to go through anything like that ever again in order to regain that stuff. But we've forgotten those lessons. We vowed that we wouldn't, and we did. So, you know, that's a lot of thoughts and there's more but it's hard to believe it's been 20 years.

BUTLER: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Elon Musk has conquered electric cars and space flight. But it appears his satellite internet service has hit a bit of a snag and it’s a problem he can’t really control.

Starlink is the internet-providing side-project of Musk’s SpaceX. To date, it has shipped more than 100,000 terminals providing high-speed internet beamed from a constellation of satellites.

But there’s one challenge that Starlink engineers didn’t anticipate. There’s nothing wrong with the tech. There’s a bug. Well, not a bug really, something a little bigger.

Customers of Starlink are reporting spotty service and some are blaming it on pigeons attracted to the rooftop satellite dishes.

While testing the platform, University of Surrey professor Alan Woodward said he experienced several outages—that he can only attribute to pigeons climbing on or into the rooftop dish.

He speculated the birds may be confusing the gray dish for a birdbath.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Friday, September 10th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: 9/11 on stage.

The events of that tragic day seem like an odd subject for musical theater. But reviewer Sharon Dierberger says the juxtaposition of sorrow and singing isn’t as jarring as you might expect.

SHARON DIERBERGER, REVIEWER: Many of us can picture exactly where we were when we learned two planes had crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center. Those terrible moments caused horror and sorrow worldwide. But in the town of Gander, Newfoundland, they also prompted acts of kindness. The entire community opened hearts and homes to stranded air travelers for five days following the attack.

In 2017, a musical about those five days opened on Broadway.

NARRATOR: “On the northeast tip of North America on an island called Newfoundland, there’s an airport. It used to be one of the biggest airports in the world. And next to it, is the town called Gander.”

Come From Away was nominated for seven Tony Awards the same year, winning Best Direction of a Musical. And today, Apple TV releases the filmed version on its streaming platform.

Come From Away tells the remarkable true story of how a town of 10,000 welcomed 38 diverted planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers and crew.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: “Ladies and Gentleman, please fasten your seatbelts. Looks like we’ll be making an unexpected landing in Gander, Newfoundland."

Gander’s airport lies between Europe and the United States, so for years it’s served as an emergency landing location. And on September 11th, 2001, it became part of Canada’s Operation Yellow Ribbon.

AUDIO: "Anyone in the business knows when you sit down in Gander, it’s for an emergency. Now, we don’t know what’s going on, but the captain tells us to keep everyone from panicking.”

It is pretty bizarre to imagine singing this story. But as the show’s many accolades attest, the format actually works. The fast-paced tale is chock-full of mostly endearing characters who bend over backward to help—especially when they realize the full impact of the terror attack. And thankfully, the lyrics are clear—the audience can easily understand the purposefully strong Canadian accents and phrases like “come from aways.” That’s what Newfies call anyone not from the island, or from the Rock, as they like to say.

AUDIO: “Welcome to the wildest weather that you’ve ever heard of. Where everyone is nicer but it’s never nice above. Welcome to the farthest place you’ll get from Disneyland. Fish and chips and shipwrecks. This is Newfoundland. Welcome to the Rock….I’m an Islander. I am an Islander. I’m an Islander. I am an islander….” 

Stage scenes change rapidly, drawing the audience into the frenzy of those days. We feel the stress of passengers, some of whom sat in planes on a runway for 28 hours still unsure of what happened on American soil. We enjoy the quick-thinking solutions of town residents as they open their homes, churches, gyms, and hotel rooms to shelter passengers. We see them generously empty grocery shelves, donate diapers, medicine, clothes, toiletries, food—lots of casseroles—and pitch in however they can. Here’s the new local reporter making announcements:

NEWS REPORTER: “The Baptist church needs a hand moving their pews. Dr. O’Brian down at the pharmacy is ready to fill any prescriptions. Oh, and the Lions Club is looking for some toilet paper—if ya have any extra.” Singers: “Medicine, toothpaste, underwear, aspirin, jackets our kids grew out of last summer.” Reporter: “ I’m down at the station. We’re takin donations out by the door….”

We get caught up in the personal stories, too—like Hannah who’s longing to hear from her fire-fighter son in New York City. And the nervous foreigners who speak no English but understand when a Newfie opens a Bible and points to Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing.” We wonder if a relationship will blossom between the London executive and the Texas woman seated next to each other on one of the planes.

And it feels good to see the man who was worried a stranger would steal his wallet in Gander, learn to trust. When his dad asks whether he’s OK, the man thinks aloud, “How do I tell him I wasn’t just OK, I was better.”

We also hear the perspective of American Airlines’ first female commercial pilot. She landed her Boeing 777 at Gander and knew one of the pilots who died that day.

FEMALE PILOT: “Charles Burlingame was the captain of Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon. I just saw him at a pub in London. You can’t imagine. A pilot will fight to the ends of the earth to save his airplane. He just will…” 

The story does have some drawbacks. One subplot follows a gay couple and the way the town affirms their lifestyle. The film is rated TV-14 and includes occasional profanity.

It’s a shame because Come From Away can help us remember both the horror and grace of that awful day. It’s emotional watching stranded passengers try to reach loved ones to assure and be reassured. It’s hard to hear suspicions over whether any passengers disembarking in Gander might be security risks. And ever-looming are the senseless deaths of almost 3,000 Americans.

But Come From Away ultimately reminds us that even the darkest days can provide reasons to sing.

AUDIO: “Welcome to the Rock! I’m an islander. I am an islander!…” 

I’m Sharon Dierberger.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Before we end our program today, three-time Grammy nominee Danny Gokey recently released a new recording project. WORLD’s Senior Correspondent, Myrna Brown gave it a listen and has this review.

MYRNA BROWN, REPORTER: When your last name is Gokey, some things are just inevitable.

DANNY GOKEY: Yep, I get a lot of that…. Okey Dokey Mister Gokey. I got that a lot, especially when I was younger.

PAULA ABDUL: What’s your name? My name is Daniel J. Gokey...

But in 2009, 28-year-old Danny Gokey became a season-eight contestant on American Idol. Millions cheered when they heard his name and his voice.

GOKEY SINGING AT AMERICAN IDOL AUDITION: It took me by surprise when I say, how I found out yesterday...I heard it through the grapevine….

Twelve years later, Gokey is now a 41-year-old Christian singer and songwriter who just released his latest album: Jesus People.

MUSIC/ MAKE A DIFFERENCE: We can make a difference. We can do our talking with our hands and feet...

DANNY GOKEY: I ask God to write through me. He’s the greatest writer there ever was. He’s the greatest lyricist of all time. I’m not saying I am. I’m saying I want to pull from that.

Kicking off his 12-song album, the feel-good song, Make a Difference. Gokey seems to have a knack for creating catchy tunes. This one is the kind of finger-snapping, toe- tapping melody you might blare on a church bus, filled with volunteers, headed to serve. While the celebratory anthem is a battle cry for Christians to join hands in unity and change the world for the better, the song isn’t explicitly Christian. There are no references for instance to God or Jesus in the lyrics and even the “L” in the word light is written in lowercase. The song’s bridge is also worth noting.

MUSIC/MAKE A DIFFERENCE: If we can change a heart, we can change the world...

A changed heart might be accep table to man, but God’s standards are higher. It’s a NEW heart He’s after and that can only come from the Father.

If Gokey’s Make A Difference is ambiguous, his ballad, All Are Welcome is just the opposite, an indisputable invitation to follow Jesus.

MUSIC/ALL ARE WELCOME: Come, Come the Spirit and bride say come. He’s calling his daughters. He’s calling his sons to return to the Father’s great love. So come, yes come, there’s room at the table for everyone. And all are welcome.

DANNY GOKEY: This is the basis for our being welcome is that He paid a price. That He paid a price that we couldn't pay. And because it’s already paid for, it’s like, hey come on in. But it’s based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

In music circles, Gokey is known as the blue-eyed soul singer. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native is not afraid to experiment with different styles and beats. Songs like Peace, with it’s thumping bass, driving keys and gospel-infused choir, along with the syncopated Do For Love, make it easy to understand why. Gokey’s eclectic musical roots run as deep as his love for different cultures.

DANNY GOKEY: It’s just, that’s how I grew up. My parents raised me right. They raised me in culture. I’m married to a Latina. I’m a white boy who speaks Spanish.

In the song Agradecido, awh - graw-di-cee-do which means grateful in Spanish, Gokey masterfully shows off his bilingual chops. He does it again on the album’s last track, Cristo Es Necesaio, (Creesto- Es Nay say sio) or in English, We All Need Jesus.

MUSIC: CRISTON ES NECESARIO

With his trademark tenor voice, Gokey hits all the right notes in the powerful ballad, He Believes In You. But what does that mean exactly? The Holy Spirit fills us and God’s fruit grows in us. So, instead of He believes in you, how about he’s at work in you? Now that’s a worthy thing to say!

MUSIC: HE BELIEVES IN YOU: When the waves and the wind push harder, when you feel like you can’t get through. He is there with you in the water. And He believes in you.

Also worth noting, Gokey pushes the analogy button a little too hard in this song, a common occurrence I find in Contemporary Christian Music: Too many references to the big three...waves, wind, and water.

MUSIC: JESUS PEOPLE

Jesus People, Gokey’s sixth album, brings a nice balance between upbeat and toned-down tracks, so you’ll feel at home, no matter which beat you prefer to clap on. And if you’re a lover of hymns like me, pay close attention to the chorus of the album’s title track. The lyrics just might remind you of an old classic with a timeless message.

MUSIC/JESUS PEOPLE: Jesus people all around the world stand up. Let it be known, let it be known….

I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It is time to thank our team.

Mary Reichard, Kristen Flavin, Katie Gaultney, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Bonnie Pritchett, Emily Whitten, Steve West, Kent Covington, Onize Ohikere, Kim Henderson, Janie B. Cheaney, Anna Johansen Brown, Sarah Schweinsberg, Sharon Dierberger, and Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are our audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Leigh Jones is managing editor. I’m executive producer, and Marvin Olasky is editor in chief.

And thank you—because your giving makes possible independent Christian journalism.

May your heart be open and ready to hear from God’s word this weekend as you gather together with His people.

Lord willing, we’ll meet you back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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