Emilie Kao is the director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. She is presenting at the Wilberforce Weekend. She will share her passion for protecting and defending the rights of children and how her campaign reflects the image of God. Emilie has defended religious freedom for the last 14 years. Kao has worked on behalf of victims of religious freedom violations in East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and South Asia at the State Depart...
May 18, 2021•14 min
Emilie Kao is the director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. She is presenting at the Wilberforce Weekend. She will share her passion for protecting and defending the rights of children and how her campaign reflects the image of God. Emilie has defended religious freedom for the last 14 years. Kao has worked on behalf of victims of religious freedom violations in East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and South Asia at the State Depart...
May 18, 2021•14 min
In 2018, comedian John Mulaney closed out his opening monologue as host of Saturday Night Live with this quip about one of the strangest new normals today which didn't exist just a few years ago: "You spend a lot of your day telling a robot that you're not a robot." Artificial intelligence is one of the new normals of contemporary life. Every time we access data on the web, every customer service call we make, every ordering process we start involves not just using, but communicating with, a mac...
May 18, 2021•4 min
This year marks the 150th anniversary of The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex . In this particular book, Charles Darwin addressed the questions he raised about human beings in his earlier book On the Origin of Species , specifically "whether man, like every other species, is descended from some pre-existing form . . ." Not surprisingly, Darwin's answer was "yes." At that time, in 1871, genetics as we understand it now was completely unknown. Even paleontology was still in its inf...
May 17, 2021•4 min
John and Maria discuss the rising tensions in the Middle East. They explain some of the finer points related to the conflict and why it requires sober thinking and a worldview big enough for the world. Maria then asks John for greater context on a number of stories from the week, and they discuss the sad state of many in the transgender community through the lens of a recent interview Ellen Page conducted with Oprah. John also provides additional commentary on a new movement calling some Christi...
May 15, 2021•58 min
For the last several years, China has become more aggressive to both the outside world and to its own people, particularly the people of Hong Kong , the Muslim Uyghur population , and, of course, Christians . While other countries may rank higher on Open Doors' "World Watch List," the economic might, global clout, and sheer population size of China make its treatment of religious minorities a matter of enormous concern. The history behind this growing and troubling reality was one that forged th...
May 14, 2021•4 min
Last fall, the Black Lives Matter organization quietly deleted a section of its website in which it professed an intention to: "disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement." The statement was removed after public backlash, but the sentiment behind the statement seems to endure among some activists. Earlier this week, The National Council on Family Relations hosted a webinar entitled "Toward Dismantling Family Privilege and White Supremacy in Family Science." According to ...
May 13, 2021•6 min
John and Shane field a listener response to a BreakPoint Shane authored last week. The BreakPoint discussed problematic points for Christians inside a new trend of casual sex in the Christian community. John and Shane go point-by-point to provide a strong Christian worldview foundation to the listener's concerns. Shane then presents a sobering topic from a listener who is looking for encouragement as her daughter is expressing gender dysphoria. John provides helpful resources for a growing commu...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 3 min
For the first time since the Gallup organization started to track the data, fewer than 50% of Americans now belong to a church, synagogue or mosque . Behind these numbers are, among other factors, the trendiness of not only leaving church, but announcing it on social media with a bit of shaming and blaming thrown in for good measure . And many are not only leaving a particular house of worship but joining a growing demographic known as the "nones," rejecting all religious affiliation. The Christ...
May 12, 2021•5 min
Given the global pandemic, this seems like a particularly bad time to run a survey on church membership. Nevertheless, Gallup recently released a poll suggesting that the number of Americans who belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque has fallen below 50 percent for the first time since 1937, when the organization began tracking those numbers. In fact, more than half the respondents to this poll didn't merely give up their church membership. They gave up their religion , and now identify as "no...
May 11, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet visits with Ryan T. Anderson on the image of God presented in the physical make up of male and female. Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Founding Editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey. He is the author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom. He is the co-author of What Is...
May 10, 2021•25 min
Mary Slessor was born to a Scottish working-class family in 1848. At an early age Mary joined her parents in the Dundee mills, working half a day while going to school the other half. By age 14, Mary was working 12 hour shifts. Ever an avid reader, Mary kept a book propped up on her loom so she could read while working. Mary's mother, a devout Presbyterian with an interest in missions, saw that her children were raised in the Faith. When a local mission to the poor opened in Dundee, Mary volunte...
May 10, 2021•4 min
John and Maria breakdown some trends in the news during BreakPoint This Week. They discuss how our response to the pandemic can cause us to despair. They discuss the importance of keeping our eyes on Christ and building our hope around a Christian worldview. Maria turns from a segment of looking to Christ to a segment looking at the challenges in our thinking about childrearing. John highlights two recent podcasts where the hosts share concern in birthrates and how that is impacting our culture....
May 07, 2021•53 min
More and more, we're hearing about the promises of gene editing. It's a scientific technology that literally allows us to rewrite our DNA. Still in the experimental stage, with technologies like CRISPR, we've seen how the technology can be used wrongly. It can put humanity at risk. Many Christians are not aware of the biological challenges until it's too late. In this week's What Would You Say? video, my colleague Brooke McIntire walks through how Christians can think about gene editing. Here's ...
May 07, 2021•7 min
The idea of a politically neutral Supreme Court is one of our nation's persistent and appealing myths. The Court's job, at least according to our founding documents, is to interpret existing legislation and arbitrate disputes about that legislation. In practice, especially over the past several decades, the Court hasn't always stayed in that lane. In a crucial chapter in his important book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self , Carl Trueman shatters the notion of political neutrality within ...
May 06, 2021•5 min
John and Shane field a question on adoption. A listener wrote in to ask if adoption to a homosexual couple is better than a child being parentless. They then work through a question on if a Christian should marry if the marriage looks to be childless. John and Shane close the question and answer time looking at immigration. A listener asks for a worldview perspective on a topic that has become strongly politicized.
May 05, 2021•53 min
John and Shane field a question on adoption. A listener wrote in to ask if adoption to a homosexual couple is better than a child being parentless. They then work through a question on if a Christian should marry if the marriage looks to be childless. John and Shane close the question and answer time looking at immigration. A listener asks for a worldview perspective on a topic that has become strongly politicized.
May 05, 2021•53 min
John and Shane field a question on adoption. A listener wrote in to ask if adoption to a homosexual couple is better than a child being parentless. They then work through a question on if a Christian should marry if the marriage looks to be childless. John and Shane close the question and answer time looking at immigration. A listener asks for a worldview perspective on a topic that has become strongly politicized.
May 05, 2021•53 min
May 05, 2021•5 min
The term "political football" is a perfect descriptive for how the executive branch of the federal government handles abortion. There are two "teams," pro-life and pro-choice, who toss the issue back and forth from administration to administration. Neither decisively win, at least in the long run. While state level legislation and federal court decisions have moved the ball in real ways, executive orders and legislative rules are barely temporary, depending entirely on who is in the White House....
May 04, 2021•5 min
Recently, researchers at State University of New York determined that descendants of immigrants to the United States from places such as Asia typically lost the ability to speak their mother tongue by the third generation. Something similar, but more serious, seems to be happening with Christians in an increasingly post-Christian culture. Each successive generation is losing the understanding of, not to mention the will to live by, Christian sexual morality. Two years ago, a Pew Research survey ...
May 03, 2021•6 min
John and Maria review President Joe Biden's speech to congress. They discuss the role of government and the stretch it has had into our lives. The two share how government expansion creates thin fabrics in society, trying to hold weight it was never intended to hold. Maria shares a story from Seattle, where staff and faculty at Seattle Pacific University vote no confidence in their board. The vote was made due to frustration with the school's hiring policies that uphold a traditional Biblical et...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 12 min
When John McCain was running for President in 2008, Saturday Night Live ran a recurring skit about his running-mate, then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Tina Fey, playing Gov. Palin in her trademark red suit, delivered the memorable line, "I can see Russia from my house!" It was pretty funny. It also wasn't real. Sarah Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. Today, however, a surprising number of people believe she did. This is a testimony to the power of lies. A few weeks ago, Georg...
Apr 30, 2021•4 min
Most people (at least those paying attention) expect quarterback Trevor Lawrence to be the first player selected in this year's NFL Draft. Frankly, his draft stock has been a foregone conclusion since his heralded arrival at Clemson in 2018, and was only strengthened after he led the Tigers to the National Championship as only a freshman. He's a team leader who can read a defense and flat out throw the ball. In fact, the only doubts that exist about Lawrence's potential in the NFL have nothing t...
Apr 29, 2021•4 min
John and Shane field a sobering question from a ministry-minded family. A daughter informed her mother that the daughter identifies as pansexual. John and Shane provide a host of resources and encouragement for the mother and her family as they walk a road of love, support, and guiding their family to hope in Jesus Christ in the midst of confusion. Another listener seeks insight on what they're seeing as an agenda play out in the business community. Specifically, the listener identifies shifts i...
Apr 28, 2021•47 min
Scripture says woe to those who say that good is evil and that evil is good. That's a culture-wide feature of our world. Each day, it seems, brings new and audacious ideas aimed at unravelling and mis ordering God's very good creation. Our first impulse might be to "blame the culture," but it should be, instead, to take a hard look in the mirror. If the Church exists to proclaim and bear witness to the rule and reign of Christ, we may find that our culture's woes aren't as much the result of a s...
Apr 28, 2021•5 min
Last fall, California governor Gavin Newsom signed The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act , a bill which, among other things, would " allow incarcerated transgender, non-binary and intersex people to be housed and searched in a manner consistent with their gender identity ." Since this law went into effect back in January, in a new case of " rapid onset gender dysphoria ," over 200 prisoners have requested to be transferred from men's prisons into those detaining women. As of April 6th,...
Apr 27, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet visits with Monique Duson about the image of God and how it is challenged inside critical race theory. Monique spent 2 decades advocating for Critical Race Theory (CRT), but through a series of events began to see the contradictions of CRT with the historic Christian worldview. She is now convinced that CRT is not the best way to achieve racial unity and actively speaks out against the use of CRT within the church. Monique's vision is to promote a vision for racial healing based...
Apr 26, 2021•14 min
On April 19th, the Biden administration filed an appeal in a case that could force "religious doctors and hospitals to perform potentially harmful gender-transition procedures against their conscience and professional medical judgment." The case involves an Obama administration rule interpreting the Affordable Care Act . The rule was issued in 2016, and prohibits insurance companies and health-care providers from discriminating against people on the basis of sex. The rule anticipated that discri...
Apr 26, 2021•5 min
John Stonestreet and Maria Baer recount the challenging aspects of what happened in America this week. After recalling the details of the events surrounding the Derek Chauvin verdict following the death of George Floyd, John and Maria discuss a recent shooting in Ohio. They close with the challenging situation Planned Parenthood finds itself in as the organization works to distance from racist roots and the current reality that their abortion services overwhelmingly impact people of color....
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr 1 min
