8.22.25 Culture Friday on eugenics repackaged, two global blockbusters, and the life of Dr. James Dobson

Summary

The World and Everything In It – August 22, 2025

Episode Theme:
Today’s Culture Friday explores the resurgent eugenics debate through genetic embryo screening technology, unpacks the meaning and impact of two Asian fantasy blockbusters now shaking up the global box office, and honors the life and legacy of Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson.

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Main Topics & Segments

1. Culture Friday: Eugenics Repackaged – The Ethics of Embryo Screening

[06:25 – 17:41]

Overview

Nick Eicher and Myrna Brown discuss Noor Siddiqui’s biotech startup Orchid, which aims to offer comprehensive genetic screening of embryos to prevent inherited diseases. John Stonestreet (Colson Center President) joins to analyze the ethical, historical, and cultural impacts of this technology and the broader implications for society.

Key Points & Insights

• Noor Siddiqui’s Motivation:

  • Siddiqui’s mother suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease.

  • Siddiqui saw the potential of genomic data and big data to “screen out random suffering” by preventing such conditions before birth.

    “It could be possible for us to use data at the earliest possible stage, before you’re even pregnant, so that you can identify an embryo that is free of these pathogenic, disease-causing mutations so that a baby has the maximum chance of being healthy.”
    — Noor Siddiqui, [07:48]

  • Siddiqui predicts this approach will become “the default way everyone has kids,” with sex reserved for pleasure and all childbirth handled through embryo screening and IVF.

    “Everyone is gonna choose to do embryo screening.”
    — Noor Siddiqui, [08:09]

• Ethical & Societal Concerns:

  • Stonestreet draws attention to IVF’s existing practice of discarding embryos with disabilities:

    “They’re just offering the same thing in a far more holistic and efficient ... way. … Iceland announced it had eradicated Down syndrome? It hadn’t — it eradicated all the children with Down syndrome in utero, in IVF.”
    — John Stonestreet, [10:33]

  • Stonestreet argues that high-tech eugenics is the logical extension of separating sex, marriage, and procreation—a process already normalized:

    “Babies from marriage, sex from babies, sex from marriage … now we’re separating baby-making from sex altogether.”
    — John Stonestreet, [09:28]

  • New technologies only accelerate and broaden these practices, making them more efficient and mainstream:

    “There is nothing different here except better technology.”
    — John Stonestreet, [11:47]

  • Stonestreet warns of the loss of the sacred origin of life—children as gifts born of love—and the commodification of embryos.

    “What will be lost if children now come into the world not out of an act of love, but an act of manufacturing?”
    — John Stonestreet, [12:09]

• Gene Editing Concerns:

  • The discussion expands to CRISPR gene editing and the prospect of designer babies in the U.S.

    “You have the ability to screen embryos, add in the technology of being able to genetically edit these same embryos, and now children are absolutely being made in a lab and not out of the activity.”
    — John Stonestreet, [13:46]

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Remarkable Quotes

• “By her own reasoning, her own mother … would have been, quote, unquote, discarded.”
  — John Stonestreet, [12:31]

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2. New Frontiers in Assisted Death: Grieving Without Hope

[13:46 – 17:41]

Overview

Myrna Brown reports on the case of Amanda Bloom, a healthy 65-year-old British influencer who chose euthanasia at a Swiss clinic solely due to grief, not physical illness. Stonestreet reflects on the ethical slide from limiting euthanasia to terminal illness to including emotional suffering, and the dangers of redefining what counts as “unbearable suffering.”

Key Points & Insights

• Expansion of Criteria for Assisted Death:

  • The line is shifting from “hopeless diagnosis” to any subjective, unhealable emotional state.

  • Emotional—not just physical—pain is the leading reason for assisted suicide, with social/familial burdens as major factors.

    “All the reasons they gave were emotional suffering, especially the ‘I don’t want to be a burden.’”
    — John Stonestreet, [15:54]

  • Stonestreet affirms the biblical call to endure together, echoing Stanley Hauerwas:

    “If Christians in 100 years are known as those who did not kill their elderly and did not kill their young, we will have done well.”
    — John Stonestreet, [14:38]

• Societal Consequences:

  • The normalization of euthanasia leads from “right to die” to “duty to die,” especially if financial or healthcare incentives align.

    “Now you see this right to die become the pressure to die and the duty to die.”
    — John Stonestreet, [17:17]

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3. Culture Snapshot: Two Asian Fantasy Blockbusters

[19:13 – 24:43]

Overview

Colin Garbarino, arts and culture editor, reviews two globally successful, animated movies rooted in Asian mythology: China’s Nezha 2 and Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters. Both films reflect and subvert their cultural origins and are explored for content, themes, and their deeper cultural resonance.

Key Points & Insights

• Nezha 2

  • A Chinese blockbuster, now the fifth highest grossing film ever globally ($2.2B, mostly from China).

  • Inspired by "Investiture of the Gods," features mythological themes, supernatural battles, moral ambiguity.

  • Notable characteristics:

    • Lacks sensuality and foul language, but contains frightening scenes unsuitable for young children.
    • Characters are objects of religious reverence in China.
    • Possibly a metaphor for political change in China.

    “Both are animated adventures inspired by a 16th century Chinese story … Nezha is accidentally incarnated into a human baby ... must complete trials to gain immortality and save his friend.”
    — Colin Garbarino, [19:44]

• K-Pop Demon Hunters

  • Hugely popular on Netflix; now receiving a rare theatrical release.

  • Plot: Korean pop band Huntrix doubles as demon-hunting heroes, using music and mystical weapons.

    “The storyline isn’t strictly consistent with Christian theology. Humans can become demons in this film, and sometimes demons can be redeemed. But if you take ‘demon’ as a metaphor for ‘sinner,’ the movie offers some interesting insights.”
    — Colin Garbarino, [23:17]

  • The accuser parallels “Kima” to Satan, keeping demons enslaved by their shame and misery; confession and sacrificial love are redemptive themes.

    “The king of the underworld acts as an accuser, just like Satan of the Bible, keeping his minions in chains by reminding them of their own guilt.”
    — Colin Garbarino, [23:36]

  • The music is described as “catchy,” topping charts for weeks.

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4. Honoring Dr. James Dobson: Evangelical Leader and Family Advocate

[24:51 – 30:07]

Overview

The final segment commemorates Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and a transformative figure in Christian family ministry and advocacy, who passed away at 89.

Key Points & Insights

• Legacy and Influence:

  • Dobson’s unique ability to relate to both children and parents.

  • Created Focus on the Family, influencing not just through radio but also via books, teaching, and children’s programs (Adventures in Odyssey).

  • Played a pivotal role in the pro-family political movements of the late 20th century, and was a founding force behind the Family Research Council.

    “James Dobson is one of those names that will go down as indispensable in telling the story of evangelical Christianity in the United States.”
    — Albert Mohler, [25:26]

  • Famously said:

    “You do not need anger to control children ... It doesn’t work.”
    — James Dobson, [26:17]

• Advocacy & Policy:

  • Stood boldly for biblical marriage and pro-life causes.
  • Counseled five U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan:

    “As the family goes, so goes the nation.”
    — Ronald Reagan to Dobson, [28:31]

• Personal Remembrance:

  • Shirley Dobson shares gratitude and sorrow:

    “My heart is aching. Jim will always be the love of my life.”
    — Shirley Dobson, [29:49]

  • Albert Mohler concludes:

    “That parents take up the responsibility to raise their children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord, that Christian pastors make very clear a biblical theology of the family, and that Christians continue to contend for the things that uphold the family.”
    — Albert Mohler, [29:17]

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Notable Quotes

• “There is nothing different here except better technology.”
  — John Stonestreet (on embryo screening) [11:47]

• “If Christians in 100 years are known as those who did not kill their elderly and did not kill their young, we will have done well.”
  — John Stonestreet quoting Stanley Hauerwas, [14:38]

• “I think Dobson discovered he had a very powerful voice there.”
  — Albert Mohler, [26:50]

• “As the family goes, so goes the nation.”
  — Ronald Reagan, [28:31]

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Timestamps of Major Segments

• Culture Friday: Eugenics & Embryo Screening – [06:25–17:41]
• Assisted Suicide, Grief, and Hope – [13:46–17:41]
• Blockbuster Box Office: Nezha 2 & K-Pop Demon Hunters – [19:13–24:43]
• Life & Legacy of Dr. James Dobson – [24:51–30:07]

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Episode Takeaways

• Eugenics via technology is not a distant threat but a present reality given advances in embryo screening and gene editing—raising profound questions about the nature of parenthood, suffering, and the commodification of human life.
• Society's approach to suffering and death is undergoing a seismic shift, with assisted suicide now increasingly framed as a solution for emotional as well as physical pain.
• Global culture is being richly influenced by animated movies rooted in Asian myth—and these narratives may convey messages that both parallel and diverge from Christian belief.
• Dr. James Dobson’s passing marks the end of an era in evangelical family ministry, highlighting the need for renewed commitment from parents, pastors, and communities to maintain biblical foundations for the family.

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For those who haven’t listened:
This episode is rich with thoughtful Christian cultural analysis on today’s most urgent bioethical issues, showcases a dynamic new global cinema, and closes with a poignant reminder of faith-led leadership in the family and public policy spheres.

Transcript

[Nick Icker]

Good morning.

[Myrna Brown]

Today on Culture Friday, designer embryos and screening out suffering.

[Noor Siddiqui]

It could be possible for us to use data at the earliest stage so that a baby has the maximum chance of being healthy.

[Nick Icker]

John Stonestreet standing by to evaluate the promise and peril, making perfection the measure of life. Also today, two fantasy blockbusters from Asia shake up the global box office.

[Myrna Brown]

And later, this is Shirley Dobson. My precious husband Jim is now with.

[Nick Icker]

Jesus Remembering Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Friday, August 22nd. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio.

[Colin Garberino]

I'm Myrna Brown.

[Nick Icker]

And I'm Nick Icker. Good morning.

[Myrna Brown]

Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.

[Kent Covington]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will immediately renew ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. He says the objectives are to secure the release of all Israeli hostages still held in Gaza and to end the war with the terror group on Israel's terms. But the prime minister also said he has approved plans to expand a military campaign to capture Gaza City and defeat Hamas. Thousands of demonstrators took to the street streets in Israel once again calling for a ceasefire and the release of all Israeli hostages. Lawrence Sargent was among them.

[John Stonestreet]

I think the world doesn't understand that.

[Myrna Brown]

The Hamas has the key.

[Colin Garberino]

He has the key of the end of the world.

[Nick Icker]

If you want to end the war.

[Myrna Brown]

The simple thing is to free the hostages.

[Nick Icker]

And the Israeli public won't let Netanyahu.

[John Stonestreet]

Continue to make war.

[Kent Covington]

I'm sure about that. Negotiators from Egypt and Qatar are now working to broker a 60 day ceasefire in Gaza. American and EU officials have released new details about a major trade deal that President Trump and European leaders announced last month. Senior trade advisor to the President Peter Navarro told reporters, we get Europe reducing all their tariffs to zero. We continue our global tariff to fight the trade deficit at 15%. That's a 15% tariff on most imports from Europe. The U.S. says it will cut its 27.5% tariff on European autos and auto parts to 15% if the EU takes steps to lower tariffs on American imports. The EU also agrees to spend $750 billion on U.S. energy. That's on top of another $600 billion in European investments in the U.S. members of the House Oversight Committee grilled another former Biden White House official on Thursday. They questioned Ian Sams amid an investigation surrounding former President Joe Biden's mental fitness while in office. Sams served as a spokesman for the Biden White House counsel's office and the committee's Republican chairman James Comer described Sams testimony as among the most revealing yet.

[Nick Icker]

This was a huge interview today and I think it contradicts everything that the former Biden people are saying with respect.

[John Stonestreet]

To the president's mental fitness.

[Kent Covington]

Comer stated that Sams, despite his key position, had only met with President Biden in person twice. Republicans on the committee said the investigation aims to find out if any former White House officials covered up Biden's mental decline and if anyone other than the president was making presidential decisions. An appeals court in New York has ruled that the penalty in a civil fraud case against President Trump was unconstitutional. World's Benjamin Eicher has more.

[John Stonestreet]

A five judge panel ruled on Thursday that the penalty imposed on Trump of nearly half a billion dollars was over the top, and the panel found that it violated the Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The panel narrowly upheld a finding that Trump engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. As such, the president and his two sons will still be barred from serving in corporate leadership in New York for a few years. Nevertheless, Trump praised ruling as courageous and remains adamant that he did nothing wrong. For World I'm Benjamin Eicher.

[Kent Covington]

Illegal Immigration in the US hit a record high in 2023 of more than 14 million people. That's according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. It reported that the number of people in the country illegally was up sharply from just under 12 million in 2022, and few said the increase was driven by some 6 million people who are in the country with some form of legal protection under President Joe Biden. The Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at increasing safety measures at summer camps following last month's deadly flooding in Central Texas. Governor Greg Abbott.

[Nick Icker]

There's an attempt to meet both goals. One is to meet the needs and.

[Kent Covington]

The expectations of the families who lost.

[Colin Garberino]

A child, while at the very same.

[Nick Icker]

Time not putting these camps out of business.

[Kent Covington]

The bill would require camps to develop detailed emergency response plans and also bars licensing for camps that place cabins in designated floodplains. Additionally, the measure directs millions toward warning systems and emergency training. The State Senate will now take up the bill. At least 137 people were killed during the July 4th flooding, including 27 children and counselors at an all girls summer camp. I'm Kent Cuffington and straight ahead, our weekly conversation with John Stone street On Culture Friday. Plus remembering Dr. James Dobson. This is the World and everything in it.

[Myrna Brown]

It's Friday, August 22nd. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good Morning, I'm Myrna Brown.

[Nick Icker]

And I'm Nick Iker. It's Culture Friday. John Stonestreet joins us now. He's president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Good morning to you, John.

[John Stonestreet]

Good morning.

[Nick Icker]

Well, John, today let me start with a story. I read, a really pointed, powerful opinion piece. It sent me looking to find out more about this tech entrepreneur that it was criticizing. Young lady's name, Noor Siddiqui. She is founder of a biotech startup called Orchid. And she's got a personal story that explains why she started her company. Let's listen to that.

[Noor Siddiqui]

My mom has this condition called retinitis pigmentosa. So what that means is that she started progressively going blind in her 30s just because of a typo, a random letter change that she, you know, when she was being formed, she ended up having just totally changed the trajectory of her life. And it wasn't her parents faults, but just spontaneously, randomly, by just sheer horrible luck happened to her. And I think that just struck me as like, this is a huge unfairness.

[Nick Icker]

While in school at Stanford, Siddiqui realized that genetic science and big data were colliding and that in the future, parents might one day be able to avoid what she calls random suffering. In other words, avoid the blindness that afflicts her mother.

[Noor Siddiqui]

Now, it could be possible for us to use data at the earliest possible stage, before you're even pregnant, so that you can identify an embryo that is free of these pathogenic disease causing mutations so that a baby has the maximum chance of being healthy and she's not.

[Nick Icker]

Shy about where she thinks all of this is headed.

[Noor Siddiqui]

Yeah, I think maybe one of my spicier opinions is that I think that embryo screening is actually gonna be the default way everyone has kids. I think that sex is gonna be for, you know, connection and for fun with your partner and for something really important like having kids. Everyone is gonna choose to do embryo screening.

[Nick Icker]

All right, John, so there you go. That's the vision. Now the opinion column that I mentioned, writer Seth Trout lays out a clearly plausible scenario. So just imagine a couple using IVF and the services of this new tech startup, orcid. And then all of the genetics get mapped out for all of the embryos. The predictions are made, and I'll quote here from the column. This one has a chance of developing bipolar. This one has down syndrome. This one will need hearing aids. This one will need insulin injections. Pass, discard. So he goes on, here's the irony in this. Nor would not exist if the technology and plausibility structures that she's promoting existed before her mother was conceived. Her mother would have been one of the discards. So that's the vision, that's the critique. This is eugenics in high tech packaging. He says, what do you think, John, should be done? How do you think this through?

[John Stonestreet]

Well, you have to think it through historically, because honestly, this is a necessary consequence of a whole lot of, to use the phrase here, plausibility structures that have been in place for a long time. So you have this, what G.K. chesterton might have called a triangle of truism, sex, marriage and babies. And we're separating these things. And the final stage of that is the one that we're in right now. We separated sex from babies and sex from marriage, and marriage from babies and babies from marriage. And now we're separating baby making from sex. In fact, that's what the founder of this company so clearly has said. In fact, she said it even more succinctly than she did in the clip we played earlier where she says, sex is for pleasure. IVF is for babies. Now, one of the things I want to point out is that the discarding of babies based on certain conditions, this company is not offering anything new. They're just offering the same thing in a far more holistic and efficient. And they're promising a higher rate of success. Do we all remember just a few years ago when the nation of Iceland announced that it had eradicated down syndrome?

[Nick Icker]

I do.

[John Stonestreet]

It had not eradicated down syndrome. It eradicated all the children with down syndrome in utero, in ivf. This kind of screening already happens. In her podcast with Ross Douthat, she just clarifies she's just doing it better because of the technology of being able to screen the entire genome and to use AI in order to do these calculations in a much more fast and efficient sort of way. This is what she is promising. But make no mistake, we've already embraced this technology. Millions of Christians have already embraced IVF as it's currently practiced. All she's doing is two additional things. Number one, she's offering a more efficient way to do the screening with more categories screened. And number two, she's suggesting that it should apply to everyone, not just those who are trying to do a workaround to infertility in order to achieve a child, that all children should be made this way. This is the natural and logical consequence of what has already been put in place when it comes to artificial reproductive technologies. There is nothing different here except better technology. That's what Everyone needs to understand it's already been made commercial. It's already treated an embryo as if it's a commodity. It's already treated an embryo as if it is disposable. It's already separated the sacred act of sexuality from the child, and that's a part of it. No ethicist that I know has even really weighed in on. But Ross Douthat did ask this question in his interview. What will be lost if children now come into the world not out of an act of love, but out of an act of manufacturing? He didn't quite say it that way, but that's the question. What will be lost for the kids? What will be lost in terms of the sacredness of the sexual act? But this is just the train going down further, the same tracks that have already been laid.

[Nick Icker]

Do you recall, John, what the answer was? What did she say to that question? That's a great question.

[John Stonestreet]

Oh, I mean, it's the same stumble. It's basically, don't impose your religious values on me, which was essentially, no one has to do this, even though she argues everyone should do this, because why would you subject your kid to unnatural suffering? And it is fascinating that by her own reasoning, her own mother, which motivated this whole point process, would have been, quote, unquote discarded. But don't miss this part of the story. The same week that Douthat interviewed the Orchid founder, that's what sent my spidey sense tingling. There was an article that was published talking about the doctor in China who had created embryos and used crispr, the gene editing technology. Do you remember this story from a couple years ago? He was put in prison. I think it was a show just from China, but it didn't actually stop things. Well, this guy now lives, is out of prison, now lives in Austin, Texas. He married a woman and they got divorced. She's just as interested in it as he is. And now they have started competing companies to mainstream CRISPR technology in terms of gene editing. So let's do the math, kids. You have the ability to screen embryos, add in the technology of being able to genetically edit these same embryos, and now children are absolutely being made in a lab and not out of the activity.

[Myrna Brown]

Well, John, In Britain, a 65 year old woman named Amanda Bloom, a crafting influencer with a big following online, recently traveled to Switzerland to end her life at a clinic called Pegasus. She wasn't sick. She said she couldn't live with the grief of losing her only daughter to cancer several years ago. In a farewell video she posted to Instagram from inside the clinic. She said, by the time you see this, I'll be with my Jenny. And she's not the only one. Pegasus has also ended the lives of other people who were grieving but otherwise healthy, sometimes even without telling their families until after the fact. John we don't grieve as the world does. I mean, this is an example of why we as believers don't grieve as those without hope.

[John Stonestreet]

It is. I just want to remind everyone of a quote that should haunt our days, probably until at least for the rest of our lifetimes, from Stanley Haueroas, that If Christians in 100 years are known as those who did not kill their elderly and did not kill their young, we will have done well. This story is a story about grieving as without hope and then what that looks like when it's actually enabled by technology and it's encouraged by state forces. And when that becomes possible, it becomes thinkable. And when it becomes thinkable, then it just takes little nudges here and there. And this story out of Switzerland is an incredible example, right, because what does it mean, for example, to justify doctor Assisted death on a hopeless diagnosis. But suddenly in the middle of the game, the language changes and then it's like, well, no, this is not a terminal condition, but it's a hopeless condition. It's a condition from which the person will never heal. Well, that includes almost all of us. I mean, all of us have some sort of thing that we'll have to live with, you know, for the rest of our lives. But then what's that line between that and what allows someone to kill themselves? Well, it has to do with unbearable suffering. You know, some people can bear up under all kinds of suffering. I think of Joni eareckson Tada, for example. Some people, you know, are hypochondriacs and can't deal with anything. And then. But are we just talking about physical suffering? Are we talking about emotional suffering? I mean, I watched this happen in Colorado where the whole thing was sold on alleviation of physical suffering. And then I saw the stats from Oregon, which had had doctor assisted suicide at the time for 20 years. And all the reasons they gave were emotional suffering, especially the I don't want to be a burden. And that's why I appreciate so much Gil Mylander's piece years ago. I want to be a burden because that's the sort of thing you should be able to rely on your family about. And that's the sort of love we should be able to give each other. And here you have someone who's struggling, you know, with a deep set of grief. There's nothing physical at all. And then all of a sudden it should be left up to the individual. Well, but what about an individual that can't give consent? And what about consent for minors? Like, we haven't even figured out whether minors can consent to sex or not or mutilating surgery. Are we talking about minors being able then to consent to death? And then what if they can't? Can someone consent on their behalf? And I think that this story is only outpaced by the stories we're seeing out of Canada just because medical assistance and dying only got legalized like yesterday. And now you see this right to die become the pressure to die and the duty to die. And then you have financial incentives being worked in where, you know, oh, yes, the state health care will pay for these medications that'll kill you, but they will not pay for these medications that will treat your pain. These sorts of of ethical problems are unavoidable if you do not keep straight the doctor's profession. This is not the doctor's profession, but it's what the doctor's profession is being made to be.

[Nick Icker]

All right. Sobering. John Stonestreet, president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. John, thank you.

[John Stonestreet]

Thank you both.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from Cedarville University equipping students for professional excellence and gospel impact cedarville.edu world from eyewitness powerful audio dramas bringing faith, courage and history to life in unforgettable ways. At the letter I witnessed pod.com and from ambassadors impact network inviting entrepreneurs to access faith friendly financing [e-mail].

[Myrna Brown]

Today is Friday, August 22nd. Thank you for turning to world radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Mona Brown.

[Nick Icker]

And I'm Nick Iker. Next up on the world and everything in at the biggest animated movies of the year, both of which take their inspiration from Asian folklore. Here now is arts and culture editor Colin Garbarino.

[Colin Garberino]

The global box office is usually dominated by Hollywood, but you might be surprised to find out that this year's most popular movie worldwide is one most Americans have never heard of. With global box office receipts of a staggering $2.2 billion, Najatu has become the highest grossing animated film and the fifth highest grossing film of all time. Of course, more than 1.8 billion comes from its home country of China. This weekend A24 Films is releasing a version dubbed in English for the American market.

[John Stonestreet]

Take a look for yourselves.

[Colin Garberino]

Naja 2 is the sequel of 2019's Naja, which also performed well in China. Both are animated adventures inspired by a 16th century Chinese story entitled the Investiture of the Gods. Understanding the events of the earlier movie will keep viewers from feeling lost in this one.

[John Stonestreet]

What's this?

[Noor Siddiqui]

Huh?

[John Stonestreet]

He says.

[Kent Covington]

You're on your own.

[John Stonestreet]

Fine. Want something done right?

[Myrna Brown]

Then you better do it yourself.

[John Stonestreet]

This could take a while.

[Colin Garberino]

In the first movie, the Lord of Heaven subdues the Chaos Pearl, splitting it into a demon orb and a spirit pearl. The demon orb is accidentally incarnated into the human baby Nezh, while the spirit pearl inhabits Ao Bing, the son of the Dragon King. Both children lose their lives performing heroic deeds at the end of the 2019 movie. In the sequel, N' Jah gains a new body and he must complete three trials set by the Court of Heaven to gain immortality and save his friend Al Bing. But things get complicated because he must complete his tasks without letting the immortals see his demon nature.

[John Stonestreet]

Death may come, but I'm not scared what Kvate says.

[Nick Icker]

I've never cared.

[Colin Garberino]

N' Zha 2 might be a cultural phenomenon in China, but the film isn't likely to become a favorite with American families. The film contains no sensuality or foul language, but it has bathroom humor and some truly horrifying scenes of destruction. Some of the action sequences will be too intense for small children, and even though the word demon has more neutral connotations in Chinese folk religions, I think many parents will find the antics of a child with a demon soul off putting. It's also worth considering that some of these characters are still worshipped in modern day China.

[John Stonestreet]

In your training, only through sacrifice can.

[Nick Icker]

You become an immortal.

[Colin Garberino]

But for older moviegoers wanting an authentic cross cultural experience, Nujatu might be worth their time. It's interesting how the film simultaneously affirms and subverts traditional Chinese mythologies, and one could even read this story as a patriotic metaphor for the overthrow of the Imperial Chinese government that led to today's communist regime. The other big movie steeped in Asian myth is Netflix K Pop Demon Hunters.

[Myrna Brown]

The world will know you as pop stars, but you will be much more than that. You will be hunters.

[Colin Garberino]

Demon Hunters came out earlier this summer and it's on track to become Netflix Most watched Movie ever. The film has been so popular that Netflix has decided to put it in theaters this weekend, something the streaming giant almost never does. This movie follows the adventures of the Korean pop band Huntrix, but the three girls who make up the band aren't just singers. They also, you guessed it, hunt demons. Their positive songs weave a protective shield over the world. But if any demons slip through from the underworld, these pop stars destroy them with mystical weapons.

[Nick Icker]

Not our fans.

[Myrna Brown]

When you mess with our fans, we need to make it hurt.

[Colin Garberino]

Things appear to be going well for Huntrix until a new boy band shows up to woo away their fans. A boy band that's made up of demons in disguise.

[John Stonestreet]

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

[Colin Garberino]

K Pop Demon Hunters is rated pg. But when the girls slice and dice their way through demonic hordes, the visuals include some bubblegum inflected gore. On the surface, this film has some commonalities with Nejja too. But K Pop Demon Hunters is much more accessible for western audiences. The storyline isn't strictly consistent with Christian theology. Humans can become demons in this film, and sometimes demons can be redeemed. But if one takes the idea of being a demon as a metaphor for being a sinner, the movie offers some interesting insights.

[Myrna Brown]

Demons don't feel anything.

[Colin Garberino]

Is that what you think?

[John Stonestreet]

That's all demons do feel. Feel our shame, our misery. It's how Kima controls us.

[Colin Garberino]

The king of the underworld acts as an accuser, just like Satan of the Bible, keeping his minions in chains by reminding them of their own guilt. We also see a character freed through the act of confession. And we also see love in the form of sacrifice, coupled with the idea that we are strengthened by being part of a community. I was honestly surprised at how well the entire movie was executed. Also, the music is pretty catchy. Songs from the soundtrack have been topping the charts for almost almost two months now. Be warned, if you start listening, you might find it hard to stop. I'm Colin Garberino.

[Nick Icker]

Today is Friday, August 22nd. Good morning, this is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Nick Iger.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. We end the week remembering a familiar voice.

[John Stonestreet]

You're listening to Family Talk, the radio broadcasting division of the James Dobson Family Institute.

[Myrna Brown]

For decades, God used that folks style to help strengthen families around the world.

[John Stonestreet]

What amazes me about children is that they know precisely where your action line is.

[Myrna Brown]

From books to radio programs, his teaching on the family was a blend of his Christian roots as well as his training as a child psychologist.

[Nick Icker]

James Dobson is one of those names that will go down as indispensable in telling the story of evangelical Christianity in the United States. Albert Moeller served on the Focus on the Family board for a decade beginning in 2004. I don't know anyone who had a greater gift for being able to speak to children. It was very honest. You could tell he was a professor of pediatrics at one point. And that was translated into the ability to talk to moms and dads and parents. In 1977, Dobson founded Focus on the Family, the daily broadcast, as well as children's programming like Adventures in Odyssey and a Flood of Books. Books and teaching Tapes made him widely known.

[Myrna Brown]

Here's an excerpt from one of the teaching videos Dobson produced back in the 1970s, this one on how to raise a strong willed child.

[Nick Icker]

You do not need anger to control children. That teacher who said, I have to stay mad all the time to control.

[John Stonestreet]

My class, you see, was using anger to control. It doesn't work.

[Myrna Brown]

Mohler pointed out that in the heyday of Dobson's public life, everybody knew who a boy was and who a girl was. All 50 states defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. But cultural forces were tearing at family life and the abortion battle was raging. And that drew Dobson into activism.

[Nick Icker]

It was a revolt in the entire civilization that called forth a conservative Christian response. And a part of that was a response in politics and public policy. I think Dobson discovered he had a very powerful voice there.

[John Stonestreet]

He leveraged that.

[Nick Icker]

Dobson got involved with the Family Research council in the 1980s. He tells the story of being invited to speak at a conference on the family where his conservative views stood out. So much so one of the conference leaders suggested his perspective was missing and needed in the nation's capital. Here is Dobson recalling what happened next. The audio courtesy of the frc.

[Kent Covington]

And I went back. I had seven buddies. There were eight of us there that night. And I told them what he had said and we all agreed we have to change that. The voice of biblical truth as related to the family must be represented in this town. We got on our knees that night and prayed and we asked the Lord to bless what we were going to try to do because it was not going to be easy. And that was the beginning of the Family Research Council. That's what was organized that day.

[Nick Icker]

Dobson served as an advisor to five U.S. presidents, including Ronald Reagan. Heard here in a 1985 conversation with Dobson, the audio from the Reagan Library.

[John Stonestreet]

Would you express your views on the degree to which healthy individual families are related to a strong and healthy nation? Is there a connection between those things?

[Kent Covington]

Yes.

[John Stonestreet]

I don't believe you can have one without the other. A strong, healthy nation without that. The family unit is the very base. And I just finished saying a little while ago to another group that as the family goes, so goes the nation.

[Myrna Brown]

Dobson publicly criticized Republican leaders for not standing firmly enough for pro family policies. In 2009, Dobson resigned from Focus and ended his broadcasting career there, citing significant philosophical differences. Not long after, he began his own nationally syndicated show, Family Talk. The New York Times once called him the nation's most influential evangelical leader. So who is to follow him again? Here's Mohler.

[Nick Icker]

I think it would honor God in a way that would honor Jim Dobson as well to say that parents take up the responsibility to raise their children in the nurtured admonition of the Lord, that Christian pastors make very clear a biblical theology of the family, and that Christians continue to contend for the things that uphold the family. Dobson leaves behind two children, a daughter in law and two grandchildren and his wife of 64 years, Shirley.

[Myrna Brown]

My heart is aching. Jim will always be the love of my life.

[John Stonestreet]

I want to thank you and millions.

[Myrna Brown]

Around the world for opening your hearts to Jim over the decades.

[Nick Icker]

James Dobson was 89 years old.

[Myrna Brown]

Albert Mohler has a personal remembrance ad World Opinions. You'll find a link in the transcript.

[Nick Icker]

All right, time now to name the team who helped to make things happen this week. Colin Garberino, Josh Schumacher, John Stonestreet, Cal Thomas, Mary Muncie, Hunter Baker, Elizabeth Schenck, Janie B. Cheney, Will Fleeson, Lauren Canterbury, Maria Baer, David Bonson, Emma Eichert, Lindsay Mast and Mary Reichert. Thanks also to our breaking news crew, Kent Covington, Mark Mellinger, Travis Kircher, Christina Grube, Steve Klosterman and Lindy Langdon. And thanks to the moonlight maestros, Benj Eicher and Carl Peetz. Paul Butler is executive producer, Harrison Waters is Washington producer, Kristen Flavin is features editor and Les Sillers is editor in Chief. I'm Nick Iger.

[Myrna Brown]

And I'm Myrna Brown. If you enjoyed the program this week, continue, would you take a moment and share it with a friend? Send a link to a particular story or from your podcast player share the link to the whole thing. Thanks. 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. Someone saying to Jesus teacher, tell me my brother, to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man who may be a judge or arbitrator over you. And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Verses 13 through 15 of Luke chapter 12. Well, here we are at the end of another week. Be sure to go to a Bible believing church this weekend and give praise to the Lord. Encourage others and let others encourage you. And Lord willing, we'll be right back here on Monday. Go now and grace and peace Sa.