← Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1152 | The Reason Christianity's Decline Is Slowing Down
00:53:30
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Allie Beth Stuckey
Headlines circulated last week that claimed that a young woman in Texas committed suicide because of Trump's deportations and the bullying that she had endured because of his immigration policy. But it turns out there was much more to this tragic story. And really good news. Christianity seems to be on the rise. I will talk about what is behind that, what we have to be careful about and what we should also be unable bashedly celebrating. We've got all that in much more on today's episode of Relatable. It is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to good ranchers.com code ally that's good ranchers.com code ally hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Thursday. Hope everyone has had a wonderful week. All right. There's so much that I want to get to today. These are stories that we have been hoping to talk about for the past couple weeks. But so many things have come up that we just haven't been able to get to them. And finally, we are. First, I want to talk about this amazing trend that we are seeing that has been chronicled by Pew Research, a pretty trustworthy research center, certainly not right wing, supposed to be nonpartisan, middle of the road, objective. I would even say in some of the language that they use that, that they're actually on the left side of things. Probably their principles and the guidelines that they follow follow kind of left wing language when it comes to gender, when it comes to race. And so when you see something like this that has anything positive to say about Christianity or conservatism, I would say it's pretty trustworthy, especially when you look at their methodology, no matter what language they use, that's really what matters. And the so this seems to be accurate. And that trend is the decline of Christianity in the United States has slowed or leveled off. So for decades, we have been seeing that Christian affiliation in the United States is going down. A new study from Pew Research, however, has found that the number of people identifying as Christians is ticking up just slightly. The same is also true for the share of Americans who attend religious services monthly. That's all kinds of religious services. While the percentage has decreased over the last 18 years, the rate of monthly service attendance has remained about the same since 2020. And so we'll pull up this graph right here. You can see back in 2007, really not that long ago, 78% of United States adults identified as Christians, 78%. It drops off by 2014. Seven years later, 71%. That's pretty significant, 1 percentage point a year. And then it goes down quite a lot by 2019, there's a pretty significant dip just five years later. And then 2020, it goes up just a little bit. Then, man, it really goes down in about 2022 and then back up slightly to 63%. And that is really the first time we have seen a steady rise, even if it's small, a steady rise for years in a row of affiliation with Christianity. So from about 2021, it looks like, to 2024, we have seen this slight uptick. Now it is still significantly down 15% down from where we were in 2007, which is troubling for a variety of reasons. But the fact that it's trending up when there is such an assault on the Christian faith, such an assault on truth, when progressivism, secularism is ubiquitous, it's almost seen as a given, especially in academia, it's seen as the smarter, more sophisticated option. This really is stunning. Against all odds, against the media onslaught, against the prince of the power of the air, as Ephesians 2 describes Satan, there is an uptick in Christian affiliation. Now, the religiously unaffiliated, this group, religious nones, they're typically called N o N E s, has increased also since 2007, from 16% identifying as this to about. It looks like 30% in 2021 again doubled in this pretty short amount of time. But then it went down in about 2022, went up just a little bit in 2023, and it went down again to percent in 2024. So again bigger than it was in 2007. Things have shifted so much, and yet it does seem to be decreasing, this unaffiliation and leveling off, really. If you look at any graph from Pew Research I used to, back in 2017 18, when this study was new, I would point to this partisanship polling that Pew Research had published around this time that showed the shift in perspectives on a variety of issues between the left and the right, Republicans and Democrats. And what you saw is that Democrats have shifted to the left. And I know this study that we're talking about is not really about Republicans and Democrats. And what I'm saying really isn't either. It's simply talking about the shift in perspective and our move to the secular left over the past 20 or so years. When it came to immigration, when it came to gender, when it came to a social economic policy, the left, the Democratic Party significantly shifted to the left during the Obama years on everything from marriage to immigration, all of that. Guns shifted to the left, whereas Republicans really stayed Steady. There was barely any movement on any of the significant issues. On some things they actually shifted to the left just a little bit. Like on immigration for example, Republicans kind of shifted to what would probably be called more like of a center position in some ways. Now I don't know if there's an update on this. I would say that the right has probably shifted back over to the right a bit in the past few years and the Democrats have probably stayed over to the left. But you heard so much when Trump was in office the first time that it was, it was Republicans, they were the ones who became extreme, they were the ones who adopted these fascist far right policies. It's not, it's really that Republicans remained the same and as Democrats moved to the left, normal common sense, conservative and even center right policies became extreme to them because they had changed. And really that marked, I think signified a significant cultural change. From Barack Obama's first term to the end of his second term. Everything changed in the culture morally. The sexual revolution quickened. We went from President Obama saying in 2008 that he believes in one man and one woman in marriage for life like he believed in the biblical definition of marriage. He said that in 2008 on the campaign trail to Saddleback Church in California. I mean California in 2008 passed Prop 8 which protected the sanctity of marriages between one man and one woman. California in 2008 and obviously now that is the hotbed of the gender insanity where you can literally lose custody of your children because they say that they are identifying as the opposite sex. Things have changed and moved so quickly in the past 15 or so years and certainly the loss of Christian affiliation plays into that. But what I think has happened is that things moved so quickly. The sexual revolution, the moral revolution, the degeneracy has moved so quickly over the past 15 years that the younger generations especially have started to see the consequence of that, have started to see how this chaos and confusion, this godlessness, this purposelessness in their friends lives actually leads to a lot of misery. I mean they Gen Z the most over medicated, over therapied generation in existence. They've really seen the destitution that this aimless, morally relativistic God of self ideology brings people to. And I wonder if this swing is in response to that. Now obviously in the spiritual sense, like this is the Holy Spirit. Now we can't see the hearts of the people who answered this poll and whether they are truly on fire for Jesus or if they're just identifying as Christian. But the reason why I am comforted by this, even if we don't know all the details of the spiritual lives of the people answering this poll, is that in 2007 it was simply more popular to be a Christian, like cultural Christianity still existed. And I'm not knocking cultural Christianity. It's not salvific to just call yourself a Christian. But there are benefits to it. There are benefits to when as a culture we share basic Christian values. There are benefits to the law, there are benefits to the most vulnerable in the social contract that we have, in the interactions that we have. It's better to have cultural Christianity than no Christianity at all. And so that could explain why almost 80% of people identified as Christian back in 2007. Again, benefit to that. But you do wonder how much of that is genuine, how many of those people are actually going to heaven because they truly believe that Jesus is the way of truth and the life that no one comes to the Father, except through Him. Now, it is not convenient to be a Christian. No one has to identify as a Christian to get a job, to be popular, to be accepted by society. In fact, it's the opposite. You might end up like Jack Phillips or Laurie Smith, losing your business or your business being threatened, your livelihood being threatened, simply because you stand up for the basic tenets of Christianity seen in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible that God made us. Male and female definition of gender in marriage answered right there. It's not popular. It actually comes at a cost, at the very least a reputational cost, if not a very real cost to your safety. I mean, we saw that Pizzeria and Chattanooga Cortile, I think is how you pronounce it, that they wouldn't cater a gay wedding. It's not that they won't serve gay people. They just said, look, we're not going to be a part of this, of a celebration of a union that God calls abominable. Those are my words, not their words. They very politely declined and they were threatened and they were lambasted. And they had people protesting outside of their restaurant, trying to literally cancel their restaurant, trying to take away their livelihood. This is a family owned company, small children, their safety, their lives threatened by people who were very angry that they were simply being Christian and dared to be Christian in the public square. So it's not convenient. So the fact that there are more people now than there were a few years ago willing to say against the tide, yeah, I'm a Christian, means to me probably that there is a level of sincerity here because of the sacrifice required that maybe we didn't see all the way back in 2007, 15 years ago. So I don't know. I am, actually, I'm. I'm really optimistic about this. And look, at the end of the day, like, God is going to do what he does and God is totally sovereign and he is going to find his sheep. He will leave the 99 every time in search of the One. And he knows who the One is. God is not sitting there waiting and wondering who is going to get saved, because he's outside of time and space. He's all powerful. He's all knowing. He knows who his people are. And there is nothing, no cultural movement, no social, sexual, moral revolution that can stop him. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. God will gather his flock. And so I'm never worried. I don't let my happiness or my hope, my optimism rise and fall on Pew research or any polling. But I love to see God's eternal plan of redemption bear out in statistics. And I love to see, to see statistics and science catching up to God and what Christians have always known. And so I wish it hadn't taken the full effect of the grossness of the sexual revolution, the promiscuity, the devaluation of marriage, the rampant divorce, the gender deception and mutilation. I wish it hadn't taken the elevation of all of those things to get people, especially young people, to say, yeah, I don't know what's right, but it's not that. And, oh, maybe Jesus was onto something. Like, maybe this good book. Maybe the, Maybe the guy by whom we still tell time is significant. Like, I wish it hadn't taken the worst to get to the best. But again, God uses all things to work all things together for the good of those who love him, that are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28. So I'm, I'm just very. I'm happy about this. I'm happy to see this, and I love to see what's going on on college campuses. I love to hear stories of you guys. I think 2020 was a really big turning point for a lot of Christians who just, again, just saw the chaos of the world and said, I need a respite from that. I want to be led by the shepherd who promises to lead us by still waters, even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that he will be with us. And some people have to get to our lowest. Maybe the country as a whole had to get to a very low point to see the goodness and the truth of God. There's been a lot of testimonies that have echoed that. Like, we see Nicole Shanahan. We see. We've seen Russell Brand, we've seen several others. It seems like even if we don't agree on everything they say or where, they are different points in their doctrine that they've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. They've tasted the world. It's not good. They've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. So let us pray for this. Let us pray for this continued continued growth. When we break it down, we do see that, like Christians, that the affiliation with certain sects of Christianity, subgroups of Christianity have gone down. So, for example, all Christians, 78% again to 62% Protestant, went from 51% affiliation to 40% affiliation, Catholic 24% to 19%. And so really, the subsets of Christianity there are all kind of. And those are the two main ones. I mean, if you look at, like, any other people outside of those two, maybe like Orthodox, it's very small. So these are the two main ones. And so, I mean, we're seeing the same kind of decline, but also the same kind of trend of stability and even increase. What I also thought was interesting is that for other religions, the share of Americans who identify with a religion other than Christianity has been trending upward, though still in the single digits. So it was 4.7 in 2007 is. And it's now up to 7.1%. This includes Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu. I guarantee you that uptake of about 3% is almost all Islam because of mass immigration that has occurred, especially from the Middle east over the past few years. I mean, a lot of people feel that. A lot of communities feel that, that, oh, I have these Islamic centers that are now like, across the street from this church or that are close to our neighborhood that I did not have before. And Also, like the HB1 program, you got a lot of people from India who practice Islam, who are coming over here, the boom in tech and corporate America, trying to get that cheaper labor over here that will shift the demographics, which shifts the culture and the values of your country. And I just want to say it's okay for you to care about that. It is much better for a country to have shared values, a shared belief in where truth comes from, what right and wrong is, basic definitions of reality and morality. It is okay for you to want that. This pie in the sky idea of diversity being our strength and Us living in this, like, beautiful mosaic of pluralism. Yes, of course, that can work to a degree, but only if you agree on some basic fundamentals, like we were all created by a God who gave us inalienable rights, among them being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I mean, basic Western democratic principles. And if you don't believe that which are founded upon the Bible and biblical principles, then we're going to have a hard time. We're going to have a hard time having a cohesive country and a cohesive community. So anyway, it's a good thing. It's a good thing for everyone, no matter what your belief system is, that Christianity is on the rise. Because Christianity has been the greatest force for good for in all of history. I mean, Christians changed the world, forged Western civilization, conceptualized human rights. The Imago Day has been the most positive force, I think civilizational force, for all of time. And so we praise God for that and we hope for its continuance and we do our part in that. God has ordained us to use prayer and evangelism to accomplish his will. He doesn't need it, he chose it. And we get to play a part in that. So praise God. All right, I've been wanting to get to that story for so long and so many of you have sent it to me. So I just wanted to let you know that it's on my radar, give you my thoughts about it, and just praise God for it. All right, we've got some more things to talk about. Let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor for the day, and that is accu, America's Christian Credit Union. I love this company and what they're about. They're not just any bank or credit union. They are a grassroots movement of believers that pull resources together to support each other and a God glorifying worldview. ACCU offers financial solutions that empower Christians to reach their financial goals. 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You can get that new member certificate. There's a high rate that is locked in for a full 12 months. Plus, your money is federally insured for up to $250,000 through NCUA, with additional coverage for qualifying accounts. So check all of this out@americaschristiancu.com Ali America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA. Okay, let's move on to this story. It's a horrifying story, but it's got a lot of lessons in there for us when it comes to ensuring that we are not allowing the media to whip us up to determine our reactions to anything. So this is about a young woman. You probably heard about her a couple weeks ago. I shouldn't say young woman, a little girl, she's 11 years old, and she committed suicide. And we were told this. The reason why this became national news, because unfortunately, we have young people that commit suicide consistently. The reason that this went viral is because her parents said that she committed suicide because she was bullied over her immigration status. And of course, this was blamed on Donald Trump and Republicans because Donald Trump is deporting these criminal aliens, many of which are actually violent criminals, literally child rapists and murderers, that because he's doing that, there are Hispanic children in the United States that are being bullied to the point of suicide. Perfect example, very sad example of toxic empathy. So hoisting up a purported victim, creating a story around that to get you to ignore everyone on the other side of the moral equation. And so when we have two sides of the moral equation that are equally sad because Lake and Riley's, Lake and Riley's life counts just as much as this young girl's. When you've got two stories that are competing for your empathy, that's when your discernment has to kick in and you ask the important question in all issues, but what is true? What is factually true? What is biblically true? What is morally true, historically, scientifically, all of those things. But what is true? And whenever a story, this is a good rule of thumb. Whenever a story sounds too good or too bad to be true according to your own perspective, this sounded too good to be true for Democrats, too bad to be true for Republicans. In this case, you Ask yourself, what am I missing here? What's really going on? What are the details here and how do we know? That's always really important when you hear things like, oh, transgender kids are killing themselves because they can't, you know, get on cross, sex hormones or something like that. The question is, how do you know? How do you know that? I mean, is there a note that is left for, like, by these children that are doing this act? Do the stats actually bear that out when the Trevor project says that you have to affirm kids who say that they are the opposite sex or else you're going to have a dead daughter, a living son, that kind of thing? There are no stats that actually bear that out because we don't actually know always the reason why people kill themselves. And that was my first question that I had when I saw this horrifying headline, these stories going around that this young girl killed herself because she was bullied. How do we know that? How do we know that that's the case? And so I waited. I didn't say anything. I got some messages from you guys saying, can you respond to this? And, you know, I'm sure your Democrat friends are sending it to you saying, don't you think this is too far? I know you said you're for deportations and enforcing the border, but don't you think that this is too far? And it's so tempting because we are compassionate people, because as Christians, we want to be loving to say, okay, yeah, you're right, it's, it's too far. We shouldn't do that without even getting into specifics like what exactly, what policy is too far? What's going on here? So I waited. I didn't say anything. And obviously I'm very glad about that because it seems like we have more details. So this is. According to the New York Post, the family of an 11 year old girl in Texas who committed suicide claimed the girl was being bullied over her immigration status, while other children came forward to say the girl had also confided in them that she had been inappropriately touched. So sexually molested by a family member. So Jocelyn Rojo Carranza was found unresponsive. This is so sad. So sad. Unresponsive in her family's Gainesville home on February 3rd. Died in the hospital after five days in the ICU. The girl's mother claimed her daughter was being bullied by students over the family's immigration. Immigration status and the school district investigated confirmed that a student was making comments about ICE and deportation. And the Girl was close to that. It said the girl was an earshot, didn't say that the girl, that this was directed at the girl. The girl was in earshot. We also don't know what comments the student was making if it was actually bullying. These things can really spiral out of control and snowball. We don't know what the kid was saying. He could have just said I saw this on the news or my parents were talking about this. He might not have been mocking anyone, we have no idea. But somehow the snowballed into this idea, I guess via her mother and her family that she was being directly bullied for this. After Karanza's hospitalization, students came forward to school. Officials said that the girl had been victims of bullying. But then multiple students told administrators that Jocelyn had been sexually abused and that she had been telling them to keep that a secret. The district also found that the girl had previously expressed thoughts of self harm to her cousin. So before Donald Trump was in office, before any of this happened, she had been talking about hurting herself. Then this person allegedly whom she confided in told the girl's mother, but the mother claimed that was not true. So let me just show you and we'll put up some of these headlines how the media and the left framed it. So CNN an 11 year old girl in Texas died by suicide after she was bullied about her family's immigration status. Her mother says even after, even after. I just want to note this. The investigation showed sexual, the sexual abuse allegations. Cnn the headline doesn't mention it. School district confirms bullying occurred after investigation following Texas girls death by suicide. And again, at least from what I see, that's not, that's not actually what was confirmed. It wasn't even confirmed that the bullying happened. Joaquin Castro, he is a politician from Texas, a Democrat. I think he ran for president also maybe in 2020, ran in the primary. He was talking to Jim Acosta, RIP Jim Acosta, he no longer has a show on CNN. So Joaquin Castro said this. 11 year old Jocelyn Rojo Carranza endured months of bullying about her family's immigration status at her Dallas area school before she took her own life. As I said to Jim Acosta, Trump has created a culture of cruelty and meanness that is infecting American society and our kids. My staff and I are reaching out to San Antonio schools to ask them how they're protect against bullying in his hostile environment. I guess he represents San Antonio. Okay, so here's what we made the jump here. First of all, we have facts that are apparently not True. At the very least, they're unsubstantiated, uncorroborated. And you are using this girl's body, which isn't even fully cold yet, this tragedy, to point fingers at Trump. I mean, this is the cruelest and worst thing that you can possibly do. These are the same Democrats that locked kids inside, kept them out of school for months, that it was for their own good. You know what we saw during that time period? Child abuse go up. Child neglect go up. Suicide, depression and anxiety among these same kids go up. This post went viral. 10.1 million views on this post. 340,000 likes. This person says a sixth grader in Texas took her life because she was getting bullied by kids, telling her that they're going to call ice on her parents and that she would end up alone. Y'all are raising hateful children. So none of these people, by the way, Joaquin Castro is not going to correct himself. I hope that I'm wrong. If I am wrong, that he will not correct himself. I will happily correct the record on that next week. But they don't care. They want to put it out there. We see this over and over again with every single instance that they can use for their own purposes. They actually are glad and giddy when something like this happens. I truly think, in a way, now, maybe you think that's too harsh, but truly, they love leveraging dead people in tragic situations to point fingers at Trump and Republicans and try to whip people up to inflict violence against the Republicans. But again, the reality is that simply wasn't true. Here is a short clip of a local news report interviewing Jocelyn's mom.
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Unnamed Speaker
It's been two days since I've spoken to an investigator. They told me they haven't found anything yet. They had an authority open Jocelyn's phone, but they have not had any access to it. They're telling me to hold on. And that the Gainesville ISD police had just closed the case after taking charge of it.
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Allie Beth Stuckey
Now, I believe that Jocelyn's mom is truly hurt about this and she might not know everything that is going on. And again, it is also possible that bullying played a part in this. But let me read you what was reported by people magazine on February 4th. The school district said they were informed by a member of Jocelyn's family that the girl had been hospitalized due to an accident. The next day, students began reporting that Jocelyn and her brother had been bullied. That prompted the internal investigation by the school on February 6th. During those interviews, that's when, quote, unquote according to the school. Additional concerns surfaced according to the school district, which reported that multiple students claimed Jocelyn had been inappropriately touched and wished to keep this a secret to avoid getting them in trouble. Given the presence of four other school age children in the home, GISD Gainesville ISD was legally required to report this to cps. The CPS investigation is ongoing and so we don't know what happened, but we do know that CPS is actually investigating what was going on here. Furthermore, the district said it was disclosed that Jocelyn had previously expressed thoughts of self harm to the Cousin who informed JRC's mother, as we already noted. And then when the mother was informed that hey, there are also allegations of molestation, according to NBC, the mother said, well, I talk with my daughter about that. Always I ask, nobody can touch your body. Nobody. I really hope that's true and I hope that it's true that the mother did not know that this was potentially going on. So the school district also released a statement that it said that Jocelyn had a one on one meeting with a school counselor on October 16th. So again, this is before Trump was president where she quote, shared concerns about getting in trouble at home and mentioned that her siblings called her names. According to the district at this time she did not report any bullying. The district also claimed that she participated in a social emotional learning group led by a counselor. That's not always healthy by the way. While her mother initially stated that she was unaware of her daughter's participation, the district district has signed a permission slip authorizing her in her involvement. So Jocelyn attended a number of these sessions. The school district said that they concluded their internal bullying investigation on February 12th. The following day, Jocelyn's mother was notifying that bullying by another student was confirmed. This is according to the school district. The student was disciplined in accordance with the student code of of conduct. Again, we don't know how direct that was. We don't know what was actually said. We don't know the impact that was had and we don't know if what Jocelyn said about her experiences are true. But it's hard to believe that she would go around telling her friends that she had been molested if that weren't true. And obviously the school as they took seriously apparently had an obligation to report that to cps. And so all this to say investigations are ongoing. There are a lot of questions. The truth is this poor young girl killed herself. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Trump had anything to do with it, that Republicans had anything to do with it, that deportations had anything to do with it. And like, what is actually the position here? Is the position here because this girl tragically took her life, that we shouldn't deport people? Like, is is. Is your position that we shouldn't have borders, that we shouldn't have immigration policy, that we shouldn't kick people out who have murdered, who have raped, who have stolen? Like, try to tell me what's going on here because it really just looks like emotional manipulation and propaganda at the expense of the peace of her family and justice for this little girl. And so let us be very careful on both sides of the aisle. When we hear anything that so squarely confirms our priors, again, that sounds too good or sounds too bad to be true, let us dig in and ask the question, what is actually true? And if there is doubt that comes up about the veracity of a claim, we should dig deeper into those doubts and ask really good questions because lives are on the line. And by this way, by the way, this family has raised like tens of thousands of dollars at this point. And I think before donating, like, you gotta ask some questions about, like, what is the truth that really went on here? Because if the family victimized this poor girl, then I don't think that we should be donating our dollars to them. Um, all right, let's move on to the next story. We've got a couple other things I want to respond to. Let me tell you about our second sponsor. It is Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. They offer a way to vote with your wallet. You don't have to wait to vote every four years. You can vote with your wallet without compromising on quality or convenient. Patriot Mobile isn't about just providing exceptional cell phone service. It's a call to action to defend our rights and freedoms. You get outside outstanding nationwide coverage because they operate on all three major networks. If you have cell phone service today, you can get cell phone service with Patriot Mobile with a coverage guarantee. The difference is every dollar you spend supports the first and second amendments, the sanctity of life, our veterans and first responders. Switching is really easy. You can keep your number, you can keep your phone or you can upgrade. They have a 100% based, US based customer service team that can make it really simple. Go to patriot mobile.com/ally. You'll get a free month of service. When you do, that's patriot mobile.com ally. Okay, didn't get to react to this on Tuesday. I want to. Now, this is a video that was going around on X an actress named KJ Smith, best known for starring in Tyler Perry movies, she suggested on the red carpet of the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday. So this is the day before the Oscars. It's a pre Oscar ceremony. She said that due to the political climate, black people should leave. Sat 9 thing that you wish was.
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Unnamed Speaker
Talked about more within our community, understanding our roots, I think it's really important. I think we're not trapped here with the political climate that's going on in the United States of America. We are not trapped here. There are places that we can go there. There are countries that are receiving us back citizenship back and I think with open arms. And I think that it's time for the black community as a whole to start looking into those resources.
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Allie Beth Stuckey
Okay, what are we talking about here? Are you talking about can Canada like you're talking about Greenland? Are we talking about Ghana? Are we talking about Nigeria? I just, I don't know. I don't know that she said. Oh, actually, no, she actually did respond to this specifically to Fox News Digital. She said, I believe that more Americans are recognizing that conditions in the United States are not improving for us. In fact, they seem to be deteriorating. That's simply not true. The statistics don't bear that out. It's not true. You've imbibed the 1619 lie that there is this unbroken thread of racism, white supremacy and slavery that has taken on different forms since 1619, and that you're under the thumb of white oppression. It's literally a lie. You are wearing a much more expensive dress, I'm sure, than I have ever purchased. You have a lot of good things, I won't even call them privileges, probably things that you've earned, that you've worked very hard for. But you have worked hard to earn more things than the vast majority of Americans, white, black or brown, have ever been able to earn. How can you stand there as a movie star on the red carpet, as a black woman and actually say that you and other black Americans are oppressed? So you were able to do that, but other black Americans can't? Because why, like people laugh and say, oh, you can't point to Obama, you can't point to Oprah. You can't point to Kanye, you can't point to Beyonce. You can't point to Letitia James or Ketanji Brown Jackson or Thomas Sowell or Clarence Thomas. You can't point to any of those people to try to prove your point that black Americans have upward mobility in the United States for some reason like all of those people are just outside of the reality for black America, which is that they are under the iron fist of white supremacist oppression when it's just not true. Again, like read Thomas Sowell, read Discrimination and Disparities, read Quest for Cosmic justice. And you will see that just looking at the numbers, looking at the stats, black Americans were doing better economically when racism, which was much more institutionalized and pervasive than it is today, in the 60s and 70s. And then things really started to decline after the 60s, after the 70s, as the welfare state grew, after the passage of the Civil Rights act, actually, we saw fatherlessness increase. We saw crime incarceration among black Americans increased. We saw economically, black Americans struggling, really, in several ways. Not in every way, but in several ways, black Americans were actually doing better. When you look at fatherlessness rates, when you look at employment rates, when you look at crime rates, when you look at marriage and divorce rates in the 50s and the six 60s, when racism was actually more institutionalized and pervasive than they are doing today, really what we see is a steep decline across all of these categories in black Americans and white Americans too, but especially among black Americans in the 60s and 70s, after the passage of the Civil Rights act, after the growth of the welfare state. And so really, you can't blame this unbroken thread of slavery when really things have gotten worse since Democrats have implemented policies that are said to help black and brown minority communities. Um, and plus, again, I just don't think that what she is saying is actually true, that this political environment is uniquely bad for black Americans. I mean, Trump got a pretty good share of the black American vote. Obviously, Democrats are always going to run away with the black vote. Maybe not always, but they do right now. But Trump got an increased share of black men. I think they're doing fine. And, but again, when you imbibe this propaganda, this victim mentality, even as you were standing in a very expensive dress on the red carpet, like, you're just unable to see things clearly. But she is literally saying that black Americans should go back to Ghana, for instance, that they offer a right of abode policy allowing people of African descent to live and work indefinitely in the country. There's another country that has introduced a law granting citizenship to descendants of enslaved Africans who can prove their ancestry. Yeah, well, that's the issue is that a lot of black Americans today are not ancestors of slaves. Their parents came here after they're Jamaican. They're not actually from the lineage of African slaves. They actually might have ancestors who were enslavers. And so that's an inconvenient reality. When we talk about reparations and any of these things, who's oppressed, who's the oppressor, it actually all is very complicated. And you end up seeing that every single person, no matter their melanin count, no matter their background, has been a part of the or their ancestry has been a part of the oppressor and the oppressed, the conquered and the conqueror. That's just the reality of human history. And so when you try to make it literally black and white, as critical race theory tries to do, you paint a binary that's just not real. It's just not true. It doesn't have a grounded in reality. And you can't have justice without truth. Kamala Harris, she also was there. She accepted the chairman's award, delivered her first major speech since her election, lost last November. I had no idea about this. She said that she was inspired by the work of the naacp. She's asking the question, what do we do now? And she said, we do what we have always done, to which we always will do and have done. She didn't actually say that, but I bet you thought that I was telling the truth because that sounded just like her. She basically said that. She said, we know exactly what to do. Like those who forged the NAACP and those who carried his legacy forward. We use our power. What does that mean? I don't know. We organize, mobilize, educate and advocate. I think that means raising your cane at the president when he is giving a speech to congress. I think that means holding up little signs that say elon lied. You use that power. You use that power. Either you have power and you have leverage and you have all of these things and you're going to stay here and you're going to help make America better. I won't say great again, but make America better or you're going to flee to Ghana. I think another question in all of this is like what non white majority country is a better place economically? Is a better place opportunity wise for black people? I, I mean I, I would want to know, is it Ghana, is it Zambia? Are these places actually freer and economically more advantaged, Offer better opportunities and more freedom and more rights and more justice for black people than say, the United States? If so, okay. If I were a black person, I would probably want to leave there too, or leave here and go there too. I'm just not sure that is the awakening they will have if they, if they arrive there and it's really sad. I don't think that she even represents the majority of how black people feel whether they voted for Donald Trump or whether they voted for Kamala Harris. It's just a lot of virtue signaling. All right, a couple other things. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor. Well, it's actually not a sponsor, it's just an announcement. Make sure that you get your tickets to share the arrows October 11, Dallas, Texas. This is only for women. It is a one of a kind conference for Christian and conservative women. We had it last year. It was absolutely amazing. 4000 of you were there. Just the fellowship, the friendship that was created, the awe inspiring holy spirit filled worship, the hard hitting clear teaching. So many conferences focus on women's emotions and focus on our self esteem. I just wanted to focus on the Bible and so I wanted to bring in the best and clearest and most solid and most dynamic speeches, speakers to give the women the meat that they need when it comes to theology and apologetics and how we think about culture and the world that we're in from a Christian perspective. That's what we're doing again this year. Go to share the arrows.com all different kinds of levels of seats that you can get. All different kinds of packages that you can get. Make sure that you bring your friends, bring your small group, your mom, your daughter, your sister, everyone that you can. Share the arrows.com okay, I don't know how many of you guys are watching White Lotus. I'm not watching White Lotus. I have seen White Lotus before but it's just too much. It's just too degenerate. It's too much. It's too much. It's too much. I don't recommend it. Okay. And we are not watching this season. However, this clip has been going around and I think it is probably pretty true to conservative people's experience. Not my experience because I literally mostly, yeah, I have pretty much only conservative friends now. I have some friends that we just don't talk politics but they're not full on lips. Like we agree on the basics of everything. So I wouldn't have a conversation like this. However, I could see this happening and I've talked to people who live in California and elsewhere who have had this kind of conversation and you tell me if you think it's realistic. Here's thought 10.
- [45:22]
Unnamed Speaker
I didn't know you went to church. Oh yeah, we go every Sunday. Yeah, ever since we moved to Austin. Is it like a real text in church? Like with Bible thumpers and. Well, the People are, you know, more conservative than like LA people or like New York? Is that weird for you? Why would it be weird? I, I don't know. If I was just around a bunch of Texans who voted for Trump, I guess I just feel a little alienated. They're nice people, really good families. Cool. But do you ever talk politics with them? Sometimes I'm going to get awkward. Why would it?
- [46:11]
Allie Beth Stuckey
Because.
- [46:14]
Unnamed Speaker
Wait, are, are you a Republican? No, no, I'm an independent. But David's an independent. Since when? You didn't vote for Trump though, did you? Are we really going to talk about Trump tonight?
- [46:43]
Allie Beth Stuckey
Just shocking. You know what? If she were my friend, I would say good for you for standing Firm girl, because some people would have lied in that position. I want to know, do you think that is accurate to the independent woman's, maybe newly conservative woman's experience, especially those who voted for Trump because of the Maha movement? I think that that is probably an accurate representation because a lot of people move from California to Austin, their husbands, who are already conservative, but especially after everything in 2020, they started going to church, they started seeing, oh, these Trump supporters, they're not these like deranged Neanderthals that the media tells me they are in a. Huh. They have a point about things. They voted for Trump, maybe reluctantly, maybe they don't love everything that he supports, but they did. And then they get this kind of reaction from some of their friends who have been distanced from them. I don't think it would come as a surprise though, something like this. They definitely have already talked about the election. Something that's interesting about White Lotus, which again, I don't recommend. There has been a piece in the past of White Lotus that is making fun of liberals, at least that I've seen. It is. It's. They're strange. They're strange shows. There's like bits of satire in there and certainly cultural critique. And sometimes it's hard to tell like what is being made fun of from the bits of pieces and pieces that I've seen. But it's also a little self reflective. I'm sure most people on White Lotus are truly progressive themselves, but it makes fun of these kinds of elite progressives for sure. And there is a critique of lavishness in here and all of that, but I just wanted to see what you saw. So interestingly, actress Leslie Bibb, who plays Kate, and Kate, I, I guess is the person who is the conservative in that group. Bri, okay. She told Variety that the scene was actually written back in 2022 since the season was originally set to be filmed in January 2023 before the SAG strike happens. Now that the episode dropped after the 2024 election, it takes on a new significance. When we were filming it, she said it actually felt like it was going to be irrelevant, bib said of the scene. Everything feels so divisive, yet we're not. I mean, they're all sort of passionate women and have all these feelings with all these different stances. Oh, this is conservative coded. This is conservative coded language right here to say that there are all different kinds of women with all different kinds of stances. It's only conservatives who talk like that, especially when you're in Hollywood. But there is some tether between them. You don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater just because of their political views. Liberals don't talk like that. So I don't know, maybe this is also true of her own life. I'm just saying. Interesting to see like something like this in the media. I know it was filmed previously, but it also just seems a part of this cultural shift that it's kind of like okay to not depict Trump supporters as stupid and ugly all the time. All right, let me tell you about our last sponsor, then we'll get out of here. That's Jace Medical. You don't want to be in a situation if disaster strikes, some kind of calamity supply chain issue where you don't have the medication that you need. You want to make sure that you have an emergency supply kit of two things. You want to make sure that you've got a year long supply of the prescriptions that you and your family rely on, hopefully you'll never need that. But if you rely on something that your body really needs to survive, whether it's seizure medication, thyroid medication, you want to make sure that you've got extra on hands. You don't want to rely on the pharmacy or even your doctor every month. Anything could happen. But you also need a Jace case and this is a stash of antibiotics that you could need for a life threatening infection. You can even even add on things like Tamiflu Ivermectin that can also be life saving, or an EpiPen that can be life saving. And so it's just better to be safe than sorry. They also have a Jace Go case. You can take all of this stuff on the go. Make sure that you go to jace.com you can enter their giveaway. They're giving away a Jace Go case right now. If you Enter you can win it. Go to jace.com use code ally for a discount on your order. That's jace.com code ally all right, guys, we've got some fun things coming up, some exciting things coming out. The relatable team is actually traveling a bit this month for a really fun exclusive interview that I am so excited to reveal to you. We've got some behind the scenes content that will also be coming out. We filmed two relatable at home sessions episodes last week about parenting. We get into all of the questions about parenting and also another one about how to set rhythms for your home. I love talking about the slower paced, not dependent upon the news cycle or algorithm subjects with y'all, especially to the subscribers who love it so much. If you go to blazetv.com you can use or is blazetv.com ally I think that's where you go. You can get a little discount on your subscription. When you subscribe you get access to all of my stuff but also access to share the arrows 2024. You can watch that if you haven't seen it and get a taste of it there and access to all of the other hosts. Really good exclusive content that we just can't put in front of the paywall. Some of it is like a prime target for censorship so we have to be careful about that. But we want you to be able to see it. So go to Blazetv.com Alli all right, that's all we got time for today. We will be back here on Monday.