The Briefing with Albert Mohler, January 21, 2026

Cultural Commentary from a Biblical Perspective

Episode Overview

In this episode, Albert Mohler examines two significant current events through a Christian worldview:

1. The demographic crisis of plummeting birth rates in China (and globally) in light of recent official Chinese government reports.
2. The ongoing debate within the psychiatric community about postpartum depression and the politics of diagnostic categories.

Mohler connects both issues to deeper questions of worldview, the consequences of government social engineering, and the societal results of abandoning traditional creation order values.

Segment 1: China’s Demographic Catastrophe

Timestamps: 00:00–40:25

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Historic New Lows in Chinese Birth Rate

  • China has reported the lowest birth rate since the Communist Party’s takeover, with only 7.92 million births in 2025, down from 9.54 million in 2024. (07:22)
  • For the fourth consecutive year, China reported more deaths than births, shrinking and aging the population. (08:00)

• Failed Attempts to Reverse the Decline

  • Despite campaigns urging childbirth as patriotic, nagging newlyweds, and even taxing condoms, government efforts have failed to increase the birth rate. (07:00)
  • No nation has successfully reversed a sustained low birth rate, including China, Japan, Taiwan, and Western nations. (10:50)

• Historical Roots: From Overpopulation Fears to Birth Dearth

  • Western and global elites in the 20th century feared a “population explosion.” Major foundations and organizations aggressively supported family planning clinics, contraception, and abortion. (04:57)
  • The Chinese government’s infamous 1979 “one child policy” resulted in forced abortions, sterilization, and infanticide, particularly harming baby girls due to cultural preference for boys. (15:06)

• Social Consequences of the Birth Policy

  • China now faces a “radical imbalance” of men to women, with millions of men unlikely ever to marry—referred to as “broken branches” in the Chinese family tree. (22:50)
  • The regime’s attempt to reverse the birth decline includes increasing allowed children per family (from one child to two in 2016 and three in 2021), but societal norms have already shifted towards smaller (or no) families. (24:10)

• The Limits of Government Power over Family Life

  • Even totalitarian regimes find they “can’t make couples have babies” once societal priorities change. (27:10)
  • Attempts to tax contraception as a disincentive for childlessness have become an object of ridicule among Chinese citizens. (29:36)
  • A quote from NPR highlights skepticism:

    “A decade ago, when the one child policy was scrapped, some Chinese jokingly wondered whether after decades of limiting births, sometimes through forced sterilizations and abortions, the government would now force them to have children. But a government statistician says that coercion will not work. But what will work is a puzzle no country seems to have solved.” (30:37)

• Wider Global Patterns, Female Education, and Family Decline

  • As one journalist points out:

    “We can expect the current female generation to be the most educated cohort of women probably ever in China’s millennia of history. And so they have other things to do with their lives, right? Stuff like careers and studying.” (Cindy Yu, Times of London, 32:15)

  • Higher female educational attainment worldwide strongly correlates with lower birth rates and changed life priorities. (33:40)
  • Similar demographic patterns are emerging without totalitarian coercion in countries like Japan, Taiwan, and parts of Europe—driven instead by modern secular values and individualism. (35:00)

• Religious Worldview, Marriage, and Birth Rates

  • Mohler notes that for the first time (as of 2025), more young men than women (ages 15–25) are attending church and are more interested in marriage and children. (36:55)
  • He suggests evangelical Christianity may provide “a family advantage,” contrasting secular societies’ declining family formation. (38:05)
  • Mohler’s core analysis:

    “When people stop believing in God and start believing in some secular alternative, one of the signs of that happening is they also stop having babies.” (39:40)

  • China’s leaders, despite their secularism, now recognize a collapsing birth rate threatens both prosperity and society’s future. (40:05)

Notable Quotes

• On the gravity of the crisis:

  “What we’re looking at in China right now is what can only be described as a demographic catastrophe.” – Albert Mohler (01:25)

• On the “one child” policy and its aftermath:

  “Government coercion, government abortion, sterilization, infanticide—it’s just horrible… [the] policy they adopted was disastrous. But being the Communist Party, it took them 15 years to figure out they had to stop the policy.” – Albert Mohler (19:16, 21:55)

• On deeper worldview issues:

  “There are few things sadder than the subversion, but more tragic or more sinful than the subversion of creation order, to the extent that the very first command given to human beings—to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth—is actually reversed by official government policy.” – Albert Mohler (23:32)

Segment 2: The Politics of Psychiatric Diagnosis—Postpartum Depression in the DSM

Timestamps: 40:25–46:00

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Current Controversy over Postpartum Depression Diagnosis

  • Psychiatrists are debating whether postpartum depression should be recognized as a standalone diagnosis in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), which drives what is treated and billed for in psychiatry. (41:10)
  • Some argue postpartum depression is distinct; others assert it’s a subset of bipolar disorder.

• Underlying Politicization of Psychiatric Categories

  • Mohler contends that psychiatric diagnostic shifts often reflect political activism and worldview changes more than objective science.
  • He draws historical connections to the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality as a disorder—a change he attributes to social and political activism during the early stage of the LGBTQ movement. (43:20)
  • He underscores that diagnosis shapes both clinical practice and billing structures, creating financial incentives for category-making.

• Worldview Battle beneath Medical Debates

  • Mohler highlights the article’s argument that classifying postpartum depression within the bipolar chapter is justified on treatment and genetic overlap, but observes:

    “All this comes down to a battle over a diagnostic category. But Christians understand... there’s a lot more going on here, most fundamentally, a battle of worldviews.” (45:20)

  • He urges listeners to see psychiatric debates as reflecting deeper cultural and philosophical shifts.

Notable Quotes

• On the DSM and its power:

  “This DSM—Diagnostic and Statistical Manual—in its latest edition, it not only says what is and is not recognized as a psychiatric disorder, it also establishes what clinicians can charge for.” – Albert Mohler (41:55)

• On the politicization of psychiatry:

  “It was political activism—no one denies that at this point—that led the psychiatric association in 1973.” – Albert Mohler (43:25)

• On the deeper issue:

  “Christians understand. We just have to understand there’s a lot more going on here, most fundamentally, a battle of worldviews.” – Albert Mohler (45:20)

Memorable Moments & Tone

• Mohler’s analysis is sober and deeply critical of both coercive government social engineering (as in China) and the secularization of Western society, often pointing out how worldview shifts lead to profound demographic and cultural consequences.
• He intersperses detailed recounting of history, media headlines, and global trends with reflections from a Christian, creation-order perspective.
• Mohler calls secular attempts at reform “anti-human,” “anti-birth,” and “a disaster in every single case,” while affirming the biblical mandate to “be fruitful and multiply.”
• The summary is punctuated by his signature blending of current headlines and theological reflection.

Final Thoughts

This episode is an in-depth meditation on how worldview, state power, and social expectations shape family, population, and even medicine. Mohler ties together global news and Christian teaching, emphasizing that when societies “subvert creation order,” the consequences are severe and often irreversible—whether in the birthrate freefall of China or the shifting definitions of mental health in Western medicine.

For those seeking to understand the headlines through a biblical lens, this episode is both a warning and a call for Christians to affirm family, marriage, and the dignity of every human being as central and countercultural values.