World Tour: 2023 year in review

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 28th of December, 2023.

So thankful you’ve joined us for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. With a motherly, sisterly, friendly reminder for you to donate to our December Giving Drive. Maybe you spent more than you expected over the holidays, and that’s so easy to do! And you may be thinking, I can’t afford to give what I think WORLD is worth, so I’ll just skip it this year. But I’d like you to think a second time.

REICHARD: Right, the important thing is to resolve to give something. That’s the point we made yesterday. You and I and Myrna and all of us are part of the community of WORLD Movers who value biblical worldview journalism. The power of WORLD Movers is in how we band together as each one of us does what he or she can. Different people, different-size gifts, and what’s crucial is action, to carry it out.

BROWN: There’s today and tomorrow … then we’re into another busy holiday weekend … and you could put it off and do it then. But why not now, now that you’re thinking about it? Just visit wng.org/donate. And thank you, friend!

REICHARD: Yes, thank you.

Well, first up on The World and Everything in It: World Tour, year in review.

This year, wars and natural disasters dominated international news. In February, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey. Over the summer, the war in Ukraine continued and in October, Hamas’s attack on Israel triggered an ongoing war.

But there’s more to the story, and joining us now to talk about other headlines from the year are Global Desk Chief Jenny Lind Schmitt and Deputy Chief Onize Ohikere.

BROWN: Jenny and Onize, good morning!

JENNY LIND SCHMITT, REPORTER: Good morning!

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Thanks for having us!

BROWN: Well, what are some stories you’ve been following that may not have made the top story lists at other news organizations this year?

SCHMITT: Well first off, as Christians who are concerned about the freedom of Christians around the world, one of the issues we really follow hard, especially Onize, is persecution and the countries where that is a real problem.

OHIKERE: Yeah, so starting with one ongoing case that we're actually still following is the story of Rhoda Jatau. She's a Nigerian Christian mother of five, so backing up a bit to get the context of her story. Last year a Nigerian mob lynched Deborah Samuel Emmanuel, she was a Christian student in the Muslim majority Sokoto state. So Jatau allegedly shared a video about Deborah’s case on a WhatsApp group. And now she's facing blasphemy charges for that singular action. Jatau spent 19 months in prison, but her case received renewed local and even international attention last month, and that was because a High Court in the Muslim majority Bauchi state refused to dismiss her case. But then the court finally caved and released her own bail. But it's also helpful to keep the backdrop of religious freedom in Nigeria in mind. Christians across the north, and even in some central states continue to face attacks from Islamist insurgents, armed herdsmen and criminal groups.

BROWN: Yeah Onize that-that's great news about Jatau being released. But is that going to be the end of the story, you think?

OHIKERE: Unfortunately, no. I spoke with Sean Nelson from Alliance Defending Freedom International about her case. So he welcomed her unexpected bail and just the blessing to spend Christmas and New Year’s with her family. But he also emphasized that it doesn’t mark the end of her case.

NELSON: We’ll see what happens with the upcoming hearings. We'll see if the charges get-get dropped eventually. I'm hopeful and praying that they do. I hope everybody prays that they do and remembers the injustice that's been done.

REICHARD: A story worth keeping an eye on for sure. Jenny, what encouraging stories are you watching related to Christians in other parts of the world?

SCHMITT: Well, first off, I think we should acknowledge that God grows His church even under really difficult circumstances—and sometimes especially under difficult circumstances. And something that I kept coming upon this year were stories that can’t really be told yet because of safety issues, but where God is completely in action. I had the privilege of meeting a courageous couple who are working to evangelize the Fulani tribe, and that’s the tribe where some members have been attacking Christians in northern Nigeria that we’ve been hearing about in the news and Onize has told us. But they’re there working at the heart of the problem, and their story can’t be told yet, but we can certainly pray for them and we should be praying for them. And we need to be praying for others like them, like leaders I heard about in North Africa and Central Asian countries where the church leaders continue worshiping and preaching the gospel despite the laws that are forbidding that. So I think that's something to keep in mind as we hear these stories.

And then another really hugely positive development here in Europe was the acquittal of Päivi Räsänen. Räsänen is a medical doctor, she’s a member of Finland’s parliament, and she was a former Minister of the Interior. And she’s also a professing Christian and believes in the Biblical view of marriage and sexuality. And because of that, she was accused in 2019 of inciting hatred with statements that she had made on Twitter and on a radio program several years previous to that time. And in 2022, she was acquitted of all charges. But then earlier this year, the prosecutor appealed that verdict. So there was a new hearing this fall, and the her—the verdict, and that came out in mid-November. And again, Räsänen and her pastor were both cleared of all charges.

Here is Räsänen after her acquittal:

RASANEN: In a free society, faith is not meant to be kept hidden behind closed doors, and this is what happens in dictatorships, not democracies.

This is a huge win for freedom of speech in Europe and sets a very good precedent for freedom of speech and freedom of religion around the world.

But still, there-there's a possibility of another appeal. But she says that she is willing to go all the way to the European High Court of Human Rights and even if if her case isn’t appealed there will be other ones and this fight for freedom of religion is going to continue.

BROWN: Yeah so—wow, just hearing that lots of places where we can certainly praise and give thanks to God but also many places where we can continue to support our brothers and sisters in prayer so we will do that. Let's talk now about the political situation what kinds of trends do you see there and-and Jenny you've-you've seen some interesting election results recently in Europe, haven't you?

SCHMITT: Yeah, we really have. Overall the trend in Europe has been to continue this movement to the right. And just to jog memories in 2022, the conservative parties had a really big win in Sweden, in Italy, and also big gains in France. And then in 2023, we saw three European countries where conservative parties won national elections.

In April, Finland, conservative parties won control of the government. In July in Spain, conservatives won the national elections, but they did fall short of the absolute majority. And were and so they weren't able to form a government outright.

And then in the Netherlands in November, there was a huge upset with Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party winning, and there mainly voters were frustrated with unchecked immigration and EU policies. And so I think that the point is, we're seeing in those countries there's a sense with rising inflation and strains on social systems that-that people in European countries are just-are just fed up. They don't like where the EU is headed, whether it's social policy, economic policy, and they want to send a really strong message.

BROWN: So much going on. Let’s move now back to you Onize, turning to your continent, there’s been movement of a different kind there, right?

Indeed, we also had some elections here, in Nigeria here, in Liberia, and this month in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But one ongoing trend we continue to follow this year is the democratic backsliding in some countries. In July some mutinous soldiers from Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum. And then the next month, soldiers in Gabon put the just-reelected President Ali Bongo Demba under house arrest. There were some other attempted coups that didn't exactly pan out as planned, at least for the coup leaders. Authorities in Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso detained suspects too after similar attempts to grab power.

BROWN: Okay, what other issues should we be watching going into 2024, guys?

SCHMITT: Well, here in Europe there, there's an ongoing push for legalization of assisted suicide. And we really want to watch that. Currently, there's 46 member nations of the Council of Europe, but only six have legally assisted suicide. But that's becoming a big debate in several countries like France and Hungary and also at the Europe-wide level. The good news in that bad news is that there-there is a push back and there are now sadly, there are case studies to point to, for example, in Belgium, in particular of where the vagueness of a euthanasia law has led to uncertainties about what has happened in instances of doctor-assisted suicide and very sadly now there are-there's evidence of cases of abuse of the law where persons were euthanized possibly against their wishes. So those who are advocating for life have some ammunition to fight with but it's still a huge battle legally but even more importantly in the minds of of the citizens.

BROWN: Onize, how about you…what stories will you be watching going into 2024?

OHIKERE: We've still got eyes on the what I would call the anti-democratic situation in Hong Kong. Crack-down there has really only worsened each year for pro-democracy groups, especially since the Beijing imposed controversial National Security Law. One ongoing case we've followed especially in recent weeks is that of Jimmy Lai. He's an activist who's currently facing multiple charges, I mean, including colluding with foreign forces. We're also still watching to see how the international bounties that Hong Kong announced this year on activists abroad will play out in the coming year.

BROWN: Onize, Jenny, you know just hearing you talk about all of these things, conflict, things that are are happening just makes me so thankful that you two are doing the good work that you're doing there. As we wrap up here, what were some highlights of the year for the global desk?

SCHMITT: Well, for one thing, we officially organized our international reporting into the global desk. We also held the Second World Journalism Institute in Europe. And that was held in Brussels, Belgium, yeah, this this past summer.

And then lastly, we got into covering Latin America on a regular basis. Javier Bolaños helped teach our first WJI en Espanol, in Spanish, in Asheville, North Carolina, and he's a journalist in Costa Rica. If you've been listening regularly, you've heard his voice as he's helped us cover stories like Hurricane Otis that hit Acapulco, Mexico in October and then he's also reported on the big elections in Guatemala and Argentina so you'll be hearing more from him. That's a big part of the world that we really have been wanting to do a better job covering. So it's been an exciting year for us.

BROWN: Right—definitely exciting and I love hearing Javier’s voice, a new voice on WORLD, so we-we’re grateful for that. Well, Jenny Lind Schmitt and Onize Ohikere lead the Global Desk for WORLD and you can keep up with our coverage in the World Tour Newsletter. We've included a link in today's show notes. And also in the current issue of World Magazine. We've got a rundown on international news from all of 2023. So you may want to have a look at that.

Well, Jenny and Onize you play an important part in helping us cover the world and everything in it, for real [laughter]. So thank you for your work this year, and all the best in the year to come to you both

OHIKERE: Thank you!

SCHMITT: Thank you, Myrna.

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