The World and Everything in It: September 8, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Clay Layfield, and I am the associate pastor of music and senior adults at First Baptist Church in Eastman, Georgia. I always enjoy listening to this podcast, but I make extra sure to tune in at the end of the week for the insight of John Stonestreet on Culture Fridays. Hope you enjoy today's program.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning! Today on Culture Friday: a rush to judgment, a crime that’s not a crime when government does it, and Scripture on trial.

NICK EICHER, HOST: 

We’ll talk about all that with John Stonestreet here in just a few minutes.

Also, the high school football coach who won his case at the Supreme Court returned to the field for one last game.

And the characters of My Big Fat Greek Wedding are back … and …

TOULA: We’re going to Greece.

IAN: Oh, yeah!

BROWN: It’s Friday, September 8th. 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: Ukraine / Russia drones » In eastern Ukraine, the victims of a Russian missile attack on an outdoor market were buried on Thursday as Moscow continues to target Ukrainian infrastructure.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken toured northern Ukraine yesterday, telling reporters:

BLINKEN: Just yesterday, we saw the bombing of a market — a market! For what? This is what Ukrainians are living with every day.

The missile attack in Kostiantynivka killed 16 people though authorities initially put the death toll at 17.

And a day later, Russia attacked the Ukrainian port city of Izmail for the fourth time this week targeting Ukraine’s ability to export grain.

Meantime, the United States has announced it's sending anti-tank rounds made with depleted uranium to Ukraine’s military to help break through Russian lines in its counteroffensive.

Arms and disarmament researcher Elena Sokova explains:

SOKOVA: Depleted uranium metal is very hard and it penetrates the conventional armor better than regular munitions.

Depleted uranium rounds are controversial. Opponents say the rounds can spread toxic dust and poison groundwater and soil.

G20 » Air Force One circled half the globe overnight, touching down in India this morning.

President Biden will shake hands with many of the world’s top leaders at the G20 Summit in New Delhi today, though officially the summit starts tomorrow.

The president will look to persuade other leaders that the United States and its allies are better economic and security partners than China.

And defense researcher Happymon Jacob says the U.S. isn’t the only country competing with Beijing.

JACOB: From a geopolitical perspective, there is a competition between China and India for the leadership of the global south.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is skipping the summit. Premier Li Qiang is there in his place.

AI dangers hearing » Meantime, back in Washington, lawmakers in a Capitol hearing on Thursday warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence in the hands of China’s communist government.

Senator John Barrasso:

BARRASSO: China’s sustained interest in our intellectual property is a stark reminder of the intense global competition surrounding artificial intelligence. We can’t overlook the threat to our economic and national security posed by the Chinese government.

Sen. Joe Manchin said AI can be a force for good. But he also warned of its dangers. He noted that MIT students got AI to show them how to create a potentially pandemic-causing pathogen.

Dr. Rick Stevens with Argonne National Laboratory testified:

STEVENS: We’re going to have to build capabilities using the kind of supercomputers we have and even additional AI systems to assess other AI systems, so we can say, this model is safe. It doesn’t know how to build a pandemic.

Stevens said we have to create AI models that align with human values. But he said right now we don’t know how to do that.

Hunter charges » Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by the end of the month on illegal gun possession charges.

That’s according to court filings this week from the special counsel investigating the president’s son.

The younger Biden pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor tax charges in July when a Delaware judge rejected a plea deal between prosecutors and his legal team.

House Hunter probe » Meanwhile, House Republicans claim the National Archives contain evidence that Hunter and Joe Biden worked together in an alleged bribery scheme when the elder Biden was vice president.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer:

COMER: We believe there are more that the archives are sitting on where the Biden. The Hunter Biden legal team the Hunter Biden PR people that Hunter Biden's shot shady characters who were paying him were communicating through him to his father, back and forth.

Comer this week subpoenaed officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service.

Mexico abortion » The Supreme Court of Mexico has struck down a federal law protecting unborn children. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The ruling threw out all federal criminal penalties for abortion … and ordered the procedure removed from the penal code.

Pro-life advocates gathered outside the Supreme Court ahead of the decision to pray and speak out.

PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATOR: [Speaking Spanish]

One pro-life demonstrator said she’ll continue to fight for the right of every child to live.

Mexico’s public health service will now be required to offer abortions.

Twenty Mexican states still have pro-life protections on the books, but judges in those states will have to abide by the high court’s ruling.

Other Latin American countries, including Colombia and Argentina, have also legalized abortion in recent years.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Brazil cyclone update » A cyclone that slammed southern Brazil this week has now killed at least 39 people.

The death toll continues to rise as relentless rain triggered massive flooding, washing away houses, and leaving thousands homeless.

RESIDENT:  [Speaking Portugese]

One resident says his home is severely damaged, but he’ll have to repair it as best he can … because he and his wife have nowhere else to go.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, another big fat Greek wedding.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 8th day of September 2023.

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 now is John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint Podcast. John, good morning.

JOHN STONESTREET: Good morning.

EICHER: Let’s talk about the story in Canada about the purported mass graves of indigenous children. These were kids forced to attend Catholic-run residential schools across Canada going back to the 19th century and well into the 20th.

But more than two years ago a tribe in Western Canada announced that ground-penetrating radar had discovered anomalies in the soil around one of these schools. Then like wildfire, media stories proliferated about mass graves and Catholic complicity.

The prime minister ordered flags flown at half staff, the pope issued a formal apology, activists burned churches all over Canada in protest, statues were covered in graffiti and many were pulled down, and for two years, this was the going assumption: mass graves.

Actual evidence never turned up, just anomalies in the soil. Then, just last month an excavation was done around a school in the province of Manitoba. Let’s listen to tribal Chief Derek Nepinak.

DEREK NEPINAK: We are now concluding the excavation of the 14 locations under the church. The archaeological team we hired from the University of Brandon, which is the same archaeological team that was relied upon by regional police agencies when doing archaeological excavations, found no conclusive evidence of human remains in their excavation.

No conclusive evidence, but you had all these vigilante attacks on churches based on anomalies and a hunch.

STONESTREET: Well, I mean, to say that vigilantes attack churches is really an understatement. I mean, it was a widespread set of churches that were attacked - mainly Roman Catholic churches, but not just Roman Catholic churches. Look, the reason all this matters is because we immediately knew and by that I want to put the word “knew” in quotes, what the conclusion of this investigation would be, and we immediately knew, and again, I want to put the word “knew” in quotes, who the good guys and who the bad guys are in this story. This is another example of what we've called here, the critical theory mood where people are already good or bad, guilty or innocent, based on some predetermined conclusion.

Now, look, there's way more that we don't know, there's far more that we could come to learn. What happens at these stories, and you can kind of list a million other ones like, for example, that have, you know, that are far less dramatic.

Think, for example of that one image, that one picture of that young man from Covington Catholic school, who was at the March for Life, had an encounter with a Native American drummer or something. And it was very clear Oh, in fact, I had a friend tell me, “Oh, I have seen the look on those snotty nose white kids before.” It turned out not to be true. So when our vision of the human condition is shaped by bad ideas, that some people are good, and some people are bad, and we know who's good and who's bad based on non moral categories, but completely based on history and ethnicity, we're going to come up with faulty conclusions. And we're going to do things like, you know, indict entire groups of people and it's not going to, it is a form of partiality, which the Bible calls sin. And I think we're seeing that on a kind of a headline level. As soon as the initial reports of these schools came out, newspapers across the world ran the conclusion that children who died and maybe even were murdered. Remember that part of this story? were buried in mass graves at these schools. It may or may not be true. And it's going to be quite something if it turns out not to be true.

BROWN: Before we leave that part of the world John, I want to talk about the arrest of a man in Ontario who admits he sold more than 12-hundred suicide kits online.

British authorities are investigating Kenneth Law and believe as many as 232 people in the United Kingdom have purchased his suicide kits. They’re trying to confirm 88 people died using the lethal products, one as young as 17 years old.

That’s truly horrifying, but as you know John, this man went on to say he sold the kits, because he needed a source of income to feed himself.

What are the sad implications behind this kind of thinking?

STONESTREET: Well, you know, the sad implications are this man lived in Canada. And you know, maybe perhaps you could actually blame the government for him thinking that this was a legitimate business, right? I mean, now he's being charged and arrested out of the UK because he mailed these kits, quote, unquote, kits across the pond, so to speak. But you know, look, I mean, why would he have done anything wrong in his native Canada? You could say maybe that he violated, you know, regulatory practice, but not that he did anything morally wrong. I mean, you know, why is it wrong that he did it, but not wrong that the state does it or state funded medical boards recommend this and, and, by the way, make it more and more widely available, which, of course, has happened with the so called medical assistance in dying in Canada. So you kind of see these examples emerge, where people just kind of further commercialize life, and that has already been commodified in so many different ways, or commodify death, and it just, you know, further than it's already been commodified. And then there's an outrage and you got to stop and go, where's the outrage? Well, the outrage is only outrage as opposed to violating regulatory procedure. If you think life is sacred, and life is valid, but I think that's going to be a real problem.

You know, I remember the famous William Jennings, Bryan opponent. At the Scopes Trial. The atheist, one of the great atheist lawyers, who volunteered to be a part of that whole spectacle back in 1925, was an attorney named Clarence Darrow. And Darrow had made his career defending a pair of brothers who had murdered their parents. And they murdered their parents, he argued, because that's what they had learned when they went to university - they had read Frederick Nietzsche and had been exposed to nihilism as a life philosophy. And basically, he was able to get them off the death penalty, which of course back at the time was completely unheard of, because, as Clarence Darrow argued, they just got it on us. They just lived out what they had been taught at university. It was a remarkable moment in American history, that's long forgotten. This is kind of the same thing. It's like, if I were this guy, you'd be like, Well, I'm just trying to make money in the same way that the state is making money - or trying to save money. And why is it that what I'm doing is actually all that bad? I mean, one could make the Clarence Darrow argument in defense of this guy. But the fact is, we are all morally repulsed that someone would commodify someone's depression this way. And we should be morally repulsed, and we shouldn't let go of that moral repulsion. Even though government policy certainly blunts it, and many experiences including this guy.

EICHER: A trial just wrapped up in Finland, with a decision to come by the end of November, over a political leader, a member of Parliament there. She’s on trial for hate speech, specifically quoting the Bible and what it says about homosexuality. This whole thing started in 2019 when her Lutheran church sponsored a gay pride event. She disagreed, of course, but in quoting Bible verses, she found herself the subject of police interrogations and ultimately the charges that she stood trial for.

The woman’s name is Päivi Räsänen, and here’s a clip from an interview with her legal team.

RÄSÄNEN: I have heard about this kind of interrogations and hearings from Soviet times. I’m so old that I remember those Soviet times and I could never have imagined that that happened in Finland. The police asked also in every interrogation, ‘Are you ready to renounce your writings and take them away from your social media accounts …’. But I answered that I will stand on what I believe.

Yes, I’m old enough to remember Soviet times, too. And now everyone’s old enough to remember a Western parliamentary democracy behaving like the KGB, John, putting someone on trial for quoting the Bible.

STONESTREET: Well, she’s being put on trial for three incidents. One is a pamphlet that she wrote that was part of her church years ago, and then a tweet and then a media interview. And I think the most remarkable early headline from this recent chapter in this kind of long saga is what the prosecution is basically arguing, acknowledging that all she has done is quote the Bible, but that she needed to edit the Bible so that it wouldn't be hateful. You go back to what the other side is arguing on this and you're like, oh, okay, so that's really what we mean when we have what's called freedom of worship as opposed to freedom of religion as Chuck Colson made that distinction, or, you know, in other words, the freedom to believe what you want in your own head is not the freedom to speak it out loud. And that's really what this guy is arguing, like, she can believe whatever she wants. But if she's going to quote the Bible out loud, she's gonna have to edit it, because we now know better. And I think ADF International has done a terrific job keeping everybody up to speed on actually what's being said. And it's something that you need to know: really aggressive secularism is a remarkable squash, on religious freedom in any sort of real meaningful sense.

And again, this woman articulated a number of times that she believed in the inherent dignity and equality of all people, including members of the LGBTQ community. And basically what she's being accused of is that even if she said that she didn't really mean it. So think about that, so that the state can tell you what you really meant by your words. I mean, it's pretty remarkable what we're seeing. And we would all do well to kind of pull back the curtain and see what the other side is arguing. In this case. It's stunning.

EICHER: Alright, John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, September 8th. 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’re invited to a wedding. Another big fat Greek wedding.

EICHER: That’s right. More than 20 years after the original movie proved to be a sleeper hit, the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise is back with its third installment. And this time, the Portokalos family is heading to Greece. Here’s arts and media editor Collin Garbarino.

COLLIN GARBARINO: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 debuts in theaters this weekend, continuing the ups and downs of the quirky, boisterous Portokalos family. In the first movie, 30-year-old Toula Portokalos, the daughter of Greek immigrants, falls in love with the very non-Greek Ian Miller, much to Toula’s father’s dismay. The second movie is a comic look at how parents from different cultural backgrounds raise a teenager.

Most of the original cast is back in their familiar roles, with the exception of Michael Constantine who died in 2021. He played Gus, the beloved patriarch who solved the world’s problems with Windex.

Nia Vardalos who stars as Toula also writes the scripts. She explains the inspiration for this third movie.

VARDALOS: The original story was going to be, of course, that we go with Michael Constantine’s character back to his village because that’s all my dad ever wanted was for us to visit his village.

After Constantine’s death, Vardalos rewrote the script, making Gus’ absence the film’s emotional core.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 begins with Toula and the rest of the Portokalos family finishing a rough year. Gus has recently died, and his widow Maria suffers from dementia, sometimes forgetting her own children. Toula and her husband Ian need a break from the stress.

The Portokaloses receive an invitation to attend a reunion in the Greek village where Gus grew up. And Toula and Ian think this might be the vacation they need.

TOULA: We’re going to Greece.

IAN: Oh, yeah!

Accompanying them for the reunion are Toula’s brother Nick, Aunt Voula, and daughter Paris. Somehow the handsome young Aristotle, whom Aunt Voula hopes to set up with Paris, also ends up tagging along.

The small Greek village where the Portokaloses hail from isn’t what any of these Greek-Americans expected. Village life has changed for the worse since Gus left Greece. The mayor is a hip twenty-something woman named Victory who dreams of turning things around, but she doesn’t have much to work with. Toula and the gang also discover relatives they never knew they had. And, of course, the movie culminates with a big fat Greek wedding.

This film is rated PG-13 for some suggestive material and nudity. The language is pretty clean, and we don’t see anyone sleeping around. But the film contains some talk about “alternative lifestyles,” and alcohol is freely consumed.

PARIS: I have never seen my mom drink anything more than communion wine.

ARISTOTLE: They were thirsty.

TOULA AND VOULA: Whee!

The movie also contains scenes of partial nudity played for laughs. At one point, the family stumbles upon a nude beach where strategically placed bags and drink containers save the PG-13 rating.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 shares the same madcap tone as previous installments, with familiar scenes poking fun at what it’s like to live in a large close-knit family. Viewers who have had to navigate international travel with more than six other people, most of whom haven’t left the country before, will recognize some moments of truth within the jokes.

VOULA: Who wants souvlaki?

NICK: Paging Souvlaki. Anybody by the name of Souvlaki on this flight?

The movie strives for emotional depth as the family grapples with their late father’s legacy, while also worrying about how to love and support the next generation. Family with all its love and messiness remains the heart of this franchise.

TOULA: I promised my dad we would find his best friends.

VICTORY: I know them!

TOULA: Do they still live here?

VICTORY: No.

TOULA: How do we find them?

VICTORY: They will come for the reunion!

TOULA: Did they tell you they’re coming?

VICTORY: No.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 has many endearing and amusing scenes, but acknowledging the absence of Michael Constantine doesn’t make up for the hole he left behind. The original movie’s magic was due in large part to him.

The first film had plenty of zany gags, but it also had an overarching story that audiences instantly recognized as being part of the American experience. Sometimes individuals from different ethnic backgrounds fall in love, and sometimes families feel that love threatens group identity.

This movie had some promise. It seemed positioned to tackle how second- and third-generation Americans relate to the family’s homeland.

ALEXANDRA: Pick the one we have for dinner.

IAN: Oh, thank you. Uh. I’m a vegetarian.

ALEXANDRA: No.

But the story never really congeals. Vardalos strings together scenes, and while each might be amusing in its own way, they don’t support a larger narrative. The setup and storyline don’t have the ring of truth that the first movie had, and by the end, the Portokalos family feels like a spoof of itself.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Next up on The World and Everything in It: one last game.

Yesterday, we reported that the high school football coach who took his case to the Supreme Court and won in 2022 resigned on Wednesday.

Before he resigned, he coached Bremerton High School’s first game of the season a week ago today.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: What did it take for Coach Kennedy to get to this point, and what’s next?

WORLD Radio intern Noah Burgdorf has the story.

NOAH BURGDORF: High School football games are loud. Marching bands. Cheerleaders. And of course, players. But for Bremerton High School Assistant Coach Joe Kennedy, the football field is also a place for silence.

Coach Kennedy was inspired by the movie “Facing the Giants” to kneel on the 50-yard line to pray after every game. Something he’s done since he was hired in 2008.

In September 2015 the school district investigated Joe Kennedy over concerns that his midfield prayers violated the school's policy on “Religious-Related Activities and Practices.” According to their logic, Kennedy’s prayers were a personal display of religion, rather than an objective, educational one. Kennedy explains.

KENNEDY: This was a question that I asked, am I allowed to pray after a football game, that's how this all started. And they put their heels in and wanted to fight this fight. I didn't want this at all. I just wanted us to be able to work it out. And it just ended up going sideways, and this was a fight that needed, or a question that needed to be answered.

The district concluded his public prayer violated the state's policies and asked Kennedy to discourage students from joining, and the coach complied by kneeling alone. Even so, the school district eventually placed him on administrative leave.

KENNEDY: No American should ever have to worry about their faith and their jobs intersecting and competing with each other.

First Liberty Institute took up Kennedy’s case in 2016. Four years later, the District Court of Washington ruled in favor of the school, as did the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later in 2020. Kennedy’s legal team lost their appeal in five different courts before the Supreme Court accepted the case in January 2022. Hiram Sasser is Kennedy’s lawyer.

SASSER: Zero and Five going into the Super Bowl. And it was a difficult road to hoe. I thought this in 2015 was going to be a three-week project. And the school district would agree.

Five months later, the justices ruled 6-3 in Kennedy’s favor—ensuring he would be permitted to return to the field and allowed to kneel after nearly seven years of sitting in courtrooms.

KENNEDY: I feel like I've been fighting and battling the giant for years and years and years. And it's one giant after another. Each time we went to court, it felt like a new giant was forming.

Kennedy versus The Bremerton School District effectively overturns the precedent of Lemon versus Kurtzman. That case set a standard that made it easy to challenge religious expression in the public square. Not anymore. Requiring students to pray with coaches and teachers is still not allowed, but the Kennedy case clarifies that educators retain the right to pray privately in the presence of students.

SASSER: You have an old Supreme Court decision that had been cited thousands of times, and now has a big red X next to it. And so, it's a bit like it's a brand-new day in the law, and the old regime of censoring religious speech in public schools is over.

During the seven-year legal battle, Kennedy and his family relocated to Florida and didn’t go unnoticed. Earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis asked Kennedy to join his presidential campaign as a part of his faith advisory board. The coach declined.

Instead, he focused on returning to Bremerton High School. While Kennedy was technically reinstated in late 2022, both he and the coaching staff agreed that returning in the middle of the season might negatively affect team chemistry. So he waited until this Fall.

This past Friday marked his official return to the gridiron. Bremerton High defeated Mount Douglas Secondary School, 27-12. After the victory, Kennedy made his way out to the 50-yard line by himself, knelt, and prayed.

KENNEDY: What do you say to the one who got me here to begin with? It was just thank you. And I had nothing else to say to him. I’ve never been great at prayers, but I was just so thankful for being part of this. It was just awesome.

Happy ending? Well, not exactly.

On Wednesday, Kennedy handed in his resignation, igniting a firestorm of questions about his motives, the school’s response, and what comes next.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Noah Burgdorf.

EICHER: In Coach Kennedy’s resignation letter Wednesday, he gave three reasons he was leaving: one, the failing health of a family member, two, responsibilities in Florida, where he’s been living, and three, feeling that the school was still trying to retaliate against him.

BROWN: But Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, doesn’t buy it. In a statement, she said, and I’ll quote her words directly: “For years, Kennedy and his lawyers have said all he wanted was his job back. We were skeptical. And now, here we are, right where we warned the Supreme Court we would be.”

EICHER: Tensions remain high between Kennedy and the school. In addition to his job, Kennedy was awarded a 1.7 million dollar settlement to be paid over the next three years. So for many it’s not a surprise that Kennedy resigned.

WORLD sports writer Ray Hacke he attended the game last Friday. He’s here to tell us a bit more about it. Ray, tell us what it was like.

RAY HACKE, REPORTER: Well, it definitely wasn't a usual high school football game. In fact, Bremerton High actually had a media tent because they had so many media there. Both local, regional, and national. Usually they're just happy when the local newspaper comes out and covers them, like once or twice a season. But Friday night, they had at least 20 media outlets there. That’s just a testament of how many people were interested in this story.

BROWN: Take us back to the moments just after Friday’s victory. All eyes were on center field. What did coach Kennedy do and how did the fans respond?

HACKE: Well, after the game, there was the usual postgame handshake for both teams. Then, basically, Coach Kennedy just waited until both teams had headed back to the locker room and then you know, he just kind of wheeled around, marched out to the B in the middle of the field, faced the scoreboard in the north endzone, and he knelt down on one knee. And as soon as he did that, you know, cheers arose from the grandstand on the home sideline.

EICHER: When you interviewed Coach Kennedy after the game, he hadn’t yet announced his resignation. Now that he has, some suggest Friday’s game was nothing but a publicity stunt … and you heard what the opposing side in the legal fight had to say. What do you think about the idea that it was a publicity stunt?

HACKE: I don't know that it was, I think, first of all, Bremerton had to take him back, even though it didn't really want to, you know, there's certainly some tension. And basically, you know, with him being there, I don't think he wanted to be a distraction. I do know that after the game, that was one of the first things reporters asked about is like, are you going to be here on Monday?  He's like, I'm going to do whatever God wants me to do. But I do think that since he fought for the right to go and pray legally, on the 50 yard line after games, you know, he had to kind of fulfill his end of the bargain and actually do it. But you know, it's definitely kind of sad that he's leaving because I would have liked to have seen him get one last full season under the lights at Bremerton.

BROWN: So then, from your perspective, what do you think was the larger point of the whole exercise?

HACKE: The Supreme Court said what has been obvious to quite a few lawyers, which is that religious expression is free expression. And you know, what coach did after his games was meant to be a private act. He wasn't trying to call attention to himself. It's just he's out there by himself and people notice. So. So he fought for the right to pray in public. And now I think, you know, a lot of coaches are going to be able to go and do that. And a lot of players are going to be able to do that, without fear of punishment.

EICHER: One more thing before you go. I’d like to know a little more about the star running back for Bremerton, Oliver Christian, and how he figures in.

HACKE: It had to be divinely scripted that the guy who delivered a victory for Bremerton was named Christian. I mean, he scored three touchdowns in the second half: 60 yard punt return and a 70 yard carry from scrimmage and according to Coach Kennedy after Christian scored on a 70 yard run in the fourth quarter, Oliver Christian came to him and said, that one was for you, Coach, welcome back.

It's like, okay, you've got a Christian delivering the victory. And basically, that's what that night was. They're celebrating a Christian victory. Coach Kennedy said, it's just a coincidence, I'm sure. But I think most Christians recognize that, you know, God's hand was at work in that.

BROWN: It was indeed. Well, if you’d like to read Ray’s digital story online, we’ve included a link in today’s show notes and our program transcript. Our thanks to Ray for recording the interviews and game sound used in today’s report.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday September 8th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next: news for children.

Several times in the last couple weeks, we’ve included parental warnings about stories with details too heavy for younger listeners. You might be wondering what options WORLD has for your kids. You know, news that informs, educates, and inspires in an age-appropriate manner?

EICHER: Well, WORLD has just what you’re looking for.

My colleague, Rebecca Cochrane, is managing editor of God's World News entering a new school year. So Rebecca, how many years is it now? I know it actually predates WORLD Magazine.

REBECCA COCHRANE: Yes, we are now in our 42nd year. It was founded in 1981.

EICHER: Well, hey, compliments to the chef on the redesign of your products and the new website. It looks terrific.

COCHRANE: Thank you. We're very pleased with it and think it's much easier to use than our older site.

EICHER: I think so too. Hey, I figure you may be talking to a listener with school-aged kids or a grandparent with school-aged grandkids who's never heard of God's World News. Talk to that person about what God's World News offers to students.

COCHRANE: Sure, well, we are a full range of children's publications, we actually have three different print publications, each with their own website. So we have age-appropriate content, beginning as young as three years of age. Our God's Big World publication is geared toward three to six year olds. So those are your beginning readers or pre readers, even the youngest ones who are just beginning to discover what God's world has to offer. Then we have our World Kids publication, which is selected and designed for children ages, about seven to 10. These are the ones who know a little bit about the world, but they need a lot of context. And they're eager to explore and find out more. And finally, we have our World Teen publication, which is for students who are about 11 to 14 years old. So our young teens and our tween agers, and its focus is taking them a little bit deeper, where they're beginning to ask questions and form opinions of their own. And we're helping them see the news again, through a biblical worldview, a biblical perspective. But prompting them to dig a little deeper and start to discern the why of things. Why is it important that I know about the world? Why is it important that this particular issue has an impact on anything in my life? And how is God at work in it even in some of those news stories that are a little more challenging and difficult to kind of unravel? see both sides or multiple sides of an issue. We help guide them through that with a gentle application of Scripture and a positive approach to everything that we do because we know who is in control.

EICHER: Amen. Well, Rebecca, you're now offering the most generous discounts we've ever offered on God's World News tell about how to take advantage of this really excellent limited time offer.

COCHRANE: Yes, we're really excited to be able to bring this sale to new members. It's the first time we've ever offered anything quite like this. Right now, a year subscription to our magazines is half off, that's 50% off our normal price. And that brings the cost down to just under $18 for an entire year, or a little less than $1.50 a month. And for that you will receive six print issues in the mail plus full access to our websites. On the website, our World Kids and World Teen levels get a new fresh news story every single day. You get all of our teacher resources, parent tips and guides and supplemental activities. We've got some videos on there. There are places where children can submit their own content, whether maybe they've illustrated a story or written a letter to the editor. And so anyone who wants to pick up this offer as a new member can just visit gwnews.com/podcast to get the 50% off price.

EICHER: Outstanding. Rebecca Cochrane of God's World News. Thanks so much.

COCHRANE: Thank you, Nick.

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

Mary Reichard, Jeff Palomino, David Bahnsen, Steve West, Leo Briceno, Emily Whitten, Brad Littlejohn, Carolina Lumetta, Onize Ohikere, Mary Jackson, Janie B. Cheaney, Leah Savas, Jenny Lind Schmitt, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, and Collin Garbarino.

Plus, two new voices on the program this week: WORLD Radio intern Noah Burgdorf, and sports correspondent Ray Hacke.

Thanks also to our breaking news team: Kent Covington, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, Lauren Canterberry, Christina Grube, and Josh Schumacher.

Plus, breaking news interns Tobin Jacobson and Johanna Huebscher.

And thanks to 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 production team includes Kristen Flavin, Benj Eicher, and Lillian Hamman, and Mary Muncy.

Anna Johansen Brown is features editor, and Paul Butler is 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.

So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

John chapter 5, verses 19 and 20

Be sure and worship with your 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.