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The World and Everything In It
3.10.26 Iran’s path forward, recent Supreme Court decisions, the Convention of States, and becoming a Christian in Thailand
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- [00:06]
Mary Reichert
Good morning. Iran appoints a new supreme leader. What does it mean for the war?
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Myrna Brown
We'll talk to an expert. Also the role states could play in amending the Constitution and the cost of conversion. In Thailand, to be Thai is to
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Abby Young
be Buddhist and to be Buddhist is to be Thai.
- [00:24]
Myrna Brown
And world commentator Kal Thomas on the Democrats new attempt to win the conservative evangelical vote.
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Mary Reichert
It's Tuesday, March 10th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.
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Myrna Brown
And I'm Erna Brown. Good morning.
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Mary Reichert
Up next, Mark Mellinger has today's news.
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Mark Mellinger
President Trump seems to be indicating the U. S. Israeli military action against Iran could be nearing a close.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
We wiped every single force in Iran out very completely.
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Mark Mellinger
The president talking to reporters Monday. They were asking follow up questions about a comment he made during an interview earlier in the day when he called Operation Epic Fury, quote, very complete. Yet he says there's also still more work to be done in Iran.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough.
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Mark Mellinger
That's the president talking Monday to a gathering of Republican lawmakers. Trump also says Iran is at the beginning of building a new country and he's threatened to take over the Strait of Hormuz. Those comments are feeding Democrat concerns of a prolonged conflict. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warns Americans don't want a repeat of the Afghanistan or Iraq wars.
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Jonathan Saya
Americans simply don't want that and the brutal Iranian regime knows we don't want it either.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
So they won't be incentivized to negotiate.
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Mark Mellinger
A group of Senate Democrats is now demanding public hearings on Epic Fury. Trump insists the conflict will be short term. He also gave new rationale for taking military action, claiming Iran otherwise would have attacked the US Within a week. Though other White House officials told congressional staffers privately that U.S. intelligence did did not suggest Iran was about to launch a strike. The military operation in Iran was also a topic of discussion during a phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin Monday.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
He wants to be helpful. I said you could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine Russia war over with. That would be more helpful. But we had a very good talk.
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Mark Mellinger
Putin has called for a ceasefire in the Middle east conflict. One of the Russian leaders aides called the hour long call businesslike and constructive Russian. Trump also said the leaders had a positive discussion about Russia's war on Ukraine, though the president says there is tremendous hatred between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding the two leaders can't seem to get it together. Iran's capital got hit hard overnight,
- [03:19]
Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
Though
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Mark Mellinger
that audio is from earlier in the conflict. Sounds around the city were similar as bombers and warplanes struck the city of Tehran with the heaviest air raids since the operation began. The barrage happened around midnight and lasted about a half hour. There were similar explosions around other Iranian cities reported on social media. No word on casualties. Meanwhile, newly publicized video is raising questions about whether the United States was responsible for for an explosion at an Iranian school. More than 160 people died in that strike. Video circulated over the weekend by Iran's semi official Mehr news agency appears to show a munition falling on a building, sending a dark plume of smoke into the air. The investigative group Bellingcat says the munition appears to be a Tomahawk cruise missile, suggesting the US Was responsible for the strike.
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Jonathan Saya
Range.
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Mark Mellinger
Republican Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon we should
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
investigate this fully, be transparent and if it was us, own up to it. And I know it wasn't intentional, but transparency is bust in this situation.
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Mark Mellinger
But based on what he's seen, President Trump insists the explosion was caused by Iran, which he says uses very inaccurate munitions. Wild turns for U.S. stocks and global oil prices Monday the Dow S and P and Nasdaq all had early losses turn into solid gains by the end of the day, buoyed by optimism that the conflict in Iran could be wrapping up soon in light of President Trump's comments to the media. And Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is working to tamp down concerns about rising oil prices.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
We are absolutely not dependent on oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East. We've never been more energy independent, Burgum
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Mark Mellinger
on Fox News Channel's the Story with Martha MacCallum. Echoing President Trump's reassuring tone, the president said Monday he won't let Iran hold the world hostage over oil. Oil prices had risen to almost $120 per barrel early in the day over fears of a drawn out conflict in Iran, but dipped back below $90 later on. Wyoming is the latest state with brand new protections for unborn babies. World's Travis Kercher has more.
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Jonathan Saya
Wyoming governor Mark Gordon signed new legislation yesterday protecting unborn babies from abortion after a heartbeat is detected. That includes unborn babies conceived through rape or incest.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
The law does make an exception in
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Jonathan Saya
cases where the mother's life or health is threatened. Critics of the law call it an
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
attack on the rights of Wyoming residents to make what abortion advocates characterize as
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Jonathan Saya
their own health care decisions. A heartbeat is typically detectable at about six weeks gestation.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
Gordon's signature makes Wyoming the fifth state
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Jonathan Saya
to offer protections for unborn babies at that stage of the pregnancy. For world I'm Travis Kircher.
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Mark Mellinger
And I'm Mark Mellinger. Straight ahead, what Iran's choice for its new supreme leader tells us about the nation's posture amid its conflict with Israel and the US this is THE WORLD and EVERYTHING in It.
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Mary Reichert
It's Tuesday, the 10th of March. So glad to have you along for today's edition of THE WORLD and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Mary Reichert.
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Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Up first, next, Iran digs in. Ten days after US And Israeli airstrikes annihilated the regime, crowds gathered in Tehran on Monday to chant Death to America. They also pledged allegiance to the newly appointed supreme leader, Moj Tabah Khamenei, son of the late Ali Khamenei. This comes after President Trump insisted the US Would take a role in appointing the new leadership of Iran.
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Mary Reichert
What does the move signal for the conflict? Here to talk about it is Jonathan Saya. He's an Iranian American research analyst at the foundation for Defense of Democracies, and he focuses on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic's influence. Jonathan, good morning.
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Jonathan Saya
Hi. It's great to be with you.
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Mary Reichert
Well, how would you describe the phase of the war the United States is in currently?
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Jonathan Saya
We are swiftly arriving at the second phase. The initial phase that started on February 28th up until the second week of the war, more or less has been mostly focused on taking out the military installation. The main mission there was to ensure that the regime does not have enough retaliatory measures. So I think quickly after that, the pivot would be how we can leverage the momentum on the ground, whether it's going to be some ground operations. I know the administration hasn't ruled that out. There's discussions about arming separatist groups. So that in itself tells you where, you know, the war is headed. It's gone beyond just taking out military installations, and we're really getting into the weeds now.
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Mary Reichert
So let's talk about what's been accomplished so far. And then what are the challenges the U.S. faces? Let's start with what's accomplished so far.
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Jonathan Saya
Taking out, not necessarily all the ballistic missiles themselves, because you're talking about thousands, but taking out their ability to launch them has been really significant. Taking out the launchers, launch pads. So that's been on the military front. And of course, the decapitation of the leadership that has been effectively destroyed, the commands and structure of the Islamic Republic. But that said, the next phase, all right, what's really remainder of that is the personnel themselves. So we hear numbers estimates anywhere between 3 to 5,000 military officials dead, which is not that extensive because you're still talking about maybe 100,000 personnel remaining.
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Mary Reichert
And then what are some challenges the
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Jonathan Saya
US faces, it would be how they can leverage the momentum on the ground, because I don't think Trump is going to pursue boots on the ground, at least not in an extensive way. There might be some covert operations that they want to secure nuclear sites or certain areas. But when it comes to a large scale ground operation, that's going to be the main challenge because you can bomb the regime from the outside and they'll still remain intact in the long term. So it comes down to how we're going to signal to Iranians if we're going to use our intelligence services to somehow arm Iranian protesters or whether we think the repression capacity has degraded enough for us to move forward with messaging to the masses. So that I think is going to be the next phase that they should really look out for.
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Mary Reichert
And what do we know about Iran's military capacity right now?
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Jonathan Saya
We do know they're definitely running out of missiles. If we look at the trajectory of how many they launched as days have gone on, we see about a 20%, if not more decrease day by day. And as I noted, they've also taken out their launching capabilities. So we do know that they're increasingly losing their missiles, which means now they're switching to using more drones. They have plenty of more drones. They're cheaper to make and as they're very expensive to intercept because you'd be using the same air defense systems a lot of cases that you'd be using for missiles. But so far it seems like we're using Patriots to shoot down drones, which is really expensive, costly on us.
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Mary Reichert
Jonathan, I've seen reports that the US Is running through its supplies rather quickly. What do you know about US Ammunition supply?
- [10:57]
Jonathan Saya
So there's a few angles of looking at us. One of course is the supply for our own naval force. The other one is allies and Israel. So the fact that it's been a coalition that's been defending the southwest and west of the Middle east, southwest of Iran against these regiments aggressions, that in itself makes it more promising. Once the protests happened in January, the US Military had some time to really deploy enough forces to the region. But that said, it's not going to be sustainable for us to have this cat and mouse in the next month or so. I do think it's a matter of time until they effectively ensure that the regime cannot have enough retaliatory measures that would not deplete our stockpiles either.
- [11:37]
Mary Reichert
Let's talk about this new leadership. Announced over the weekend, Iran introduced its new supreme leader, the previous supreme leader's son, Mojtaba Khomeini. What does this choice of leadership tell us about Iran's posture toward the war?
- [11:51]
Jonathan Saya
They could have went with other Ayatollahs because the supreme leader has to be clergy. But the idea was that Tehran would elevate a certain camp to signal openness to the west. But they didn't. And that in itself tells us that they're opting escalation over compromise. It would also tell us that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main ideological and military apparatus of the regime, has again prevailed to shape Iran's internal politics and its favor.
- [12:18]
Mary Reichert
Now, if the US And Israel say they cannot work with Mojtaba Khamenei, where do things stand?
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Jonathan Saya
Then I think Mojtaba is a dead man walking as we speak. The idea that somehow you're going to be able to work with someone within the regime is not going to be feasible. These are still ideological individuals and institutions. I think executing a Venezuela model in Iran is not going to be practical because there are multiple pillars, most of them are armed. So the idea that you can somehow use one against another, it's not going to play out as we want it to, which is why we need to be pursuing more of a systemic sweeping change as opposed to just playing the internal politics of choosing one ayatollah over another.
- [12:56]
Mary Reichert
Now, Jonathan, President Trump has called on the Iranian people to seize the opportunity and retake their country once the US Completes its airstrikes. Are we seeing anything on that front?
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Jonathan Saya
Momentum has not died. We see Iranians chant against the regime officials and against the supreme leader. Son. We saw security forces opening fire on them as they're in their homes. Now that the regime has lost a lot of its missiles, but still has thousands of personnel, now they're switching their focus to really go after internal repression, go after crackdowns. They fire at buildings that are chanting, they set up checkpoints. The regime is preparing for a major large scale uprising. That said, Israeli strikes and American strikes have really destroyed a lot of the repression infrastructure, but again, not the personnel. It's not going to be an easy task. Iranians know it, but, you know, they've risen up before and they have the willingness to do even more because for them. It is now or never, and there's no way out but through now.
- [13:53]
Mary Reichert
Iran has warned for years that an attack on that country would spill over into a broader regional war. We do know that they've struck other nations. Are those predictions turning out to be the case?
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Jonathan Saya
The prediction of the regime internationalizing the war was, of course, accurate, but the implications of that is not what the regime thought it would be. They thought by dragging in different neutral states into the war, they're going to somehow inflict more political cost against their adversaries. Whereas in reality, we've seen a coalition be formed. When you look at Turkey and Qatar, two countries that wanted to mediate between Tehran and Washington, not stuck in the crossfire, they're increasingly turning against the Islamic Republic. So instead of dragging neutral entities into the conflict in its favor, it's actually creating more enemies by its irrational of foreign policy endeavors.
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Mary Reichert
Jonathan Saya is an Iranian American research analyst at the foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jonathan, thanks so much.
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Jonathan Saya
Thank you for having me.
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Mary Reichert
Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, three Supreme Court decisions handed down last week. First, Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corporation. A unanimous court held that the public transportation system cannot claim sovereign immunity from lawsuits that arise from accidents in which it is involved. Two men in separate accidents in different states sued, and the transit corporation claimed immunity from the lawsuits as an arm of the state. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson hinted at the outcome during argument in January.
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Emma Eicher
New Jersey could have set this up as an agency and perhaps would have
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Abby Young
preserved the kind of arguments you're talking
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Mary Reichert
about, but instead it chose corporation, another reminder that the chosen legal structure of an entity matters. The two injured men may now proceed with their lawsuits.
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Myrna Brown
The second decision is in Mirabelli v. Banta, a win for parents and teachers of public school children. The court found that state policies requiring teachers to keep parents in the dark about their child's gender transition at school are likely to be unconstitutional. This one came to the court on an emergency basis, meaning the case isn't finally resolved on the merits. So the legal fight on the merits can now proceed.
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Mary Reichert
Lastly, Urias Orellana Vibandi, a unanimous decision that strengthens decisions of the Board of Immigration appeal in asylum cases. In this case, a Salvadoran national claimed grounds for asylum in the US but an immigration judge found his story did not meet the legal threshold for persecution. Chief Justice John Roberts said as much during oral argument in December.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
The sort of findings that we typically leave to a district court or another fact finder involving credibility weighing of facts and all that sort of things to reach a particular determination. It seems to me a prototypical case for the bia.
- [16:50]
Mary Reichert
This ruling limits the scope of federal judicial review over BIA decisions with regard to persecution.
- [17:02]
Jonathan Saya
Additional support comes from Dort Discovery Days, an academic summer camp for sixth through eighth graders to grow in their faith and build friendships.
- [17:12]
Mark Mellinger
Dort.
- [17:13]
Jonathan Saya
Edu Discovery from Pensacola Christian College Academic Excellence Biblical Worldview Affordable Cost Go pcci
- [17:25]
Mark Mellinger
Eduardo
- [17:28]
Jonathan Saya
and from Ambassadors Impact Network.
- [17:31]
Mark Mellinger
Their report shows how Christian entrepreneurs advance
- [17:34]
Jonathan Saya
the gospel through business.
- [17:36]
Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
Ambassadorsimpact.com reports.
- [17:41]
Myrna Brown
Up next checking the Power of the Federal Government the movement for convention of states is picking up across the country. The goal is to amend the Constitution through a convention of state legislatures rather than Congress. The idea is to give power back to the states and to the people. World's Emma Eicher has the story.
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Emma Eicher
In January this year, the Kansas House of Representatives passed a resolution to join the Convention of states. It's the 20th state so far. We are calling for a Convention of
- [18:15]
Abby Young
States to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit power and jurisdiction of
- [18:21]
Emma Eicher
the federal government, and limit the terms
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Abby Young
of office for members of Congress and federal officials.
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Emma Eicher
A Convention of States is an alternative way to pass constitutional amendments. The concept relies on Article 5 of the Constitution, which allows either Congress to pass amendments or 34 state legislatures can apply to Congress to call a constitutional convention. The group Convention of States Action is spearheading the movement. Billy Knorp is the Idaho Director.
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Jonathan Saya
Article 5 of the Constitution allows two different ways for an amendment to be proposed to the Constitution. If you can get two thirds of the states to sign or to pass exactly the same resolution that calls for a convention of states, then a Convention of states would be called.
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Emma Eicher
The organization wants a convention of states in response to expanding federal power. Norp says one item on the agenda for a possible amendment is term limits on Congress.
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Jonathan Saya
Many of the senators and representatives have spent their whole lives in Congress.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
Our founders never intended it would be a lifetime job to be a senator
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Jonathan Saya
representative for the country.
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Emma Eicher
Another priority is the nation's $38 trillion of national debt, a number that ticks higher every second. Dan Foreman is a Republican Idaho state senator.
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Jonathan Saya
We're on a collision course with financial destruction, so we need to do something.
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Emma Eicher
The US has never held an Article 5 Convention of States. The closest historical parallel is the 1787 Constitutional Convention. There, state delegates took the opportunity to write the Constitution as we know it today. It's the best example of states convening to place guardrails on federal power.
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Jonathan Saya
They gave us Article 5 as part of the Constitution. They wouldn't have done that if they hadn't envisioned someday that we would need to use it.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
And we do need to use it.
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Emma Eicher
Last year, Idaho legislators tried to pass a resolution to join the convention and met strong pushback. Idaho is a deep red state, but there isn't a united front on this issue within the Republican Party. Idaho is a microcosm of challenges the convention faces in other Republican led chambers where disagreement stretches across both sides of the aisle.
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Jonathan Saya
Some of the concerns are legitimate. They're voiced by patriotic citizens that are genuinely afraid of a convention.
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Emma Eicher
Forman says the biggest pushback against the convention is that it could go beyond its intended scope. Opponents worry that a so called runaway convention might result in radical political agendas being pushed all the way through to a constitutional amendment. Another concern is that Americans aren't united enough to produce meaningful change. But director Billy Knorp says the ratification of amendments is a strict process.
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Jonathan Saya
The convention can only propose, not ratify, and nothing becomes part of the Constitution unless 38 states ratify it.
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Emma Eicher
State delegates at the convention must also stick to a predetermined agenda with penalties in place if they exceed it. But legal scholars are uncertain whether those restrictions would actually be enforced.
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Jonathan Saya
The states determine the agenda. The states select and instruct and limit their delegates. The states retain reinforcement power they can
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
recall, replace and penalize their delegates.
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Jonathan Saya
That go.
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Emma Eicher
14 states will consider passing a resolution on the convention of states this year. And seven states have already passed the resolution in one chamber but not the other. Here's Senator Forman again.
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
I think the American people today are
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Jonathan Saya
of the same bloodline that the founding Fathers were. I think we're equal to them in
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
every way because we're Americans and because we do care about our country.
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Jonathan Saya
And I think we'll rise to the challenge and do just as good a
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
job as they did.
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Emma Eicher
Foreman says he's optimistic that more legislatures will join the movement, making the states a substantial force in the bid to check the federal government's power. Reporting for World I'm Emma Eicher.
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Myrna Brown
Well, here's something that may remind you of the heart tugging theme running through the Toy Story movies. We found it at a zoo near Tokyo. It involves a young macaque by the name of Punch. As a baby, Punch was abandoned by his mother. Zookeepers gave Punch a stubborn orangutan for comfort, and he rarely let it go. Photos of the tiny monkey clutching the toy spread online with the hashtag hangintherepunch. But lately Punch has Been hanging in there just fine. He's spending less time with the stuffed animal and more time with the other monkeys. The zookeeper is saying here that Punch is gaining confidence every day and learning how to fit in. Which means even a young monkey eventually learns there comes a time to put away childish things. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Tuesday, March 10th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Myrna Brown.
- [23:51]
Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichardt. Coming next on the World and everything in it, becoming a Christian in a Buddhist country. Thailand's population sits at just over 70 million people and fewer than 1% are evangelical Christians. World associate correspondent Abby Young spoke with one Thai woman about her path to Christianity and the channel challenges she's faced. We've chosen to use a pseudonym for her protection.
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Abby Young
As a young girl, Ploy felt alone and afraid in her bed at night. She would cry and pray to whoever out there was listening. And I, I prayed to the holy things that I want to go to the heaven. Chloe is from northern Thailand and grew up in a Buddhist family. She went to temples and prayed to golden statues of Buddha. Buddhists believed that to get good things in the next life, they must earn merit by doing good deeds. For Ploy, that never made much sense. There was no way to know if she'd ever earned enough. She wasn't a well behaved child and figured no amount of merit would save her. Some night I cry a lot and I don't want to die because I think after I die I will go to the hill for sure. Most Thai people live their entire lives as Buddhists. There are temples on every corner. Homes and businesses display spirit houses for offerings to guardian spirits. They say to be Thai is to be Buddhist. To be Buddhist is to be Thai. Lori Taylor also grew up in northern Thailand. So just the spiritual reality of like, wow, this is really sad that 95% of the country is praying to spirits and just praying. They have a peaceful life and not really living in hope, but more of living fear. Taylor and her husband now serve as missionaries on a college campus there. We work on the college campus because we believe that the future is the college students. Those are going to be the next leaders of the country of Thailand. When Ploy was a freshman in college in 2006, she heard the gospel from a similar campus ministry worker. Ploy said it was easy for her to understand that humans are sinful, but she couldn't fathom that God loved her until she heard about Jesus. Jesus Died at the cross for us. And he is the real man. He came to the earth. It's 2,000 years ago. Check and think, oh yeah, it's the real man. It's not the story, it's the history. When Ploy heard the gospel, she realized what she had never believed about a life of earning merit. Faith based salvation was the missing piece. She became a Christian that day and her whole life changed. People who knew her before told Ploy she became kinder and gentler. But her parents weren't happy. They urged her not to go to church or join the campus ministry, but she didn't listen. Soon they stopped paying her tuition and my mentor encouraged me to follow Christ. She said that if you think that God is true, please continue to follow Christ. Floyd said it was difficult, but she prayed God would work in her parents hearts. Although it's legal to evangelize and be Christian, converts can pay a heavy social price. Friends and family may disown them and parents sometimes kick their kids out of the house. Ploy said the gospel arrived in Thailand over 200 years ago. But according to the evangelism tracking organization, the Joshua Project, there aren't enough Christians in Thailand to reach all the others without outside help. Without the Gospel, most Thai people will continue making merit and praying to Buddha, hoping to live good enough lives. Thais live in fear as Buddhists, but you share with them, you know that Jesus, they don't have to like do anything and they don't have to live in fear and it's not by works but Jesus did it all and many times they're just like kind of just in awe of this hope that they could have in somebody. Though there are few Thai Christians, Ploy and Taylor both hope to see Thailand go from receiving missionaries to sending them. After Ploy graduated college, she joined staff with the campus ministry. Today she continues to meet with students to share the gospel the way a staff member did for her and leads worship at weekly events. Here's Taylor again. The spiritual reality of Thailand is the Buddhist Mecca of the world. It's just really cool to think about how reach Thailand and the world will be reached because Thailand will go to the rest of the world. Taylor says Thai Christians can do substantial work, including outside the country. Thai missionaries can travel to places missionaries from the west can't. Ploy is passionate about missions to closed countries too, which means she must be careful to keep her religion off the radar of hostile governments. She recently went with a group of college age Thai Christians to a closed country where they shared the gospel with people who may never have heard it otherwise. And when we shared the gospel for them, to them, they oh, it's the first time that they heard about the gospel. Five years after becoming a Christian, Ploy visited home for Mother's Day. She followed her parents around town, praying for them constantly. That evening she shared the gospel and after that God gave me like special gift. They become a Christian. Ploy's parents told her that seeing how her life changed when she began to follow God helped them accept the faith. It brought Floy back to those moments when she was a little girl, alone and afraid. And remind me, I think about when I was young that I prayed to the holy things, that I want my parents to go to the heaven that night. Over a decade after she first prayed for her parents, God answered her prayer with a yes. Reporting for world, I'm Abby Young in Northern Thailand.
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Myrna Brown
Good morning. This is the World and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio, I'm Myrna Brown.
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Mary Reichert
And I'm Mary Reichard. Texas Democrats have their nominee for the US Senate seat up for grabs this fall. State Representative James Talarico won his party primary last week. He'll face either Senator John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who still have to settle the Republican race in a runoff.
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Myrna Brown
Talarico frequently touts his Christian faith and uses it as a frame for his progressive political vision, though many of his interpretations of scripture have drawn scrutiny. Here's where world commentator Cal Thomas Democrats
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Reporter/Correspondent (Various)
have struggled for decades to win conservative evangelical voters. Most evangelicals vote Republican, and attempts to speak the language of faith have often backfired. In the 2000 presidential campaign, for example, Al Gore tried to draw his environmental policy from the Bible. He pointed to the time Abel's blood cried out from the ground after his brother Cain murdered him. Gore said this was the first example of pollution in scripture. Now another Democrat is trying a different approach. Texas State Representative James Talarico is running for the US Senate seat currently held by Republican John Cornyn. Talarico often talks about his Christian faith. He studied at Austin Seminary, affiliated with the Mainline Presbyterian Church usa. Some of his interpretations of scripture are unusual, to say the least. In one speech opposing a bill that would keep boys and men out of girls and women's sports, Tallarico argued that the opening lines of Genesis point to a modern view of God. The first two lines in Genesis use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity. The second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine, and everything in between. God is non binary. In another discussion he calls modern gender theory scientific. Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six. Talarico has also attempted to ground abortion rights in biblical themes. Before God comes over Mary and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary's consent, which is remarkable. I mean, go back and read this in Luke. I mean, the angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do. And she says, if it is God's will, let it be done, let it be, let it happen. So to me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create. Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings. But that has to be done with consent. It has to be done with freedom. And to me, that is absolutely consistent with the ministry and life and death of Jesus. Jesus did warn that teachers should be evaluated by the fruit of their teaching, which raises a practical question for voters. What difference does a candidate's professed faith make in his political views on policy? Talarico's positions largely mirror those of the progressive left. He opposes school choice programs that allow parents, especially low income parents, to send their children to private schools. Teachers unions strongly oppose those programs and contribute heavily to Democratic candidates who share their position. Talarico also supports government action to address economic inequality and backs many of the Democratic Party priorities on climate and social issues. None of those positions require a theological explanation. A secular progressive who never attended seminary could hold them all. For 2000 years, Christian doctrine has centered on claims about sin, redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ. Political platforms are something different. That distinction may matter as Texas voters consider a candidate who frequently speaks the language of faith while asking voters to accept his unorthodox interpretation of it. Texas voters should not be fooled because not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven or perhaps the U.S. senate. For World I'm Cal Thomas.
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Mary Reichert
Tomorrow, changes at the Department of Homeland Security. We'll discuss them with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday. And a special needs church ministry meets a pressing need. That and more tomorrow. I'm Mary Reichert.
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Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible records the Lord's blessing for the people of Israel. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Verses 24 through 26 of number 6. Go now in grace and peace.