← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
8.5.25 U.S. maritime strategy, regulating digital currency, and teaching the Bible in a second language
00:37:24
Loading summary
Transcript150 lines
- [00:06]
Mary Reichard
Good morning. President Trump counters Russia with American nuclear muscle.
- [00:10]
Nick Eicher
We'll talk with a former advisor to US centcom. Also today, new laws on cryptocurrency and later, Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. Learning the Bible and how to speak up.
- [00:22]
James Drennan
In this class, I want you to feel very free to ask questions. This is like an American school, not a Chinese school.
- [00:28]
Nick Eicher
And why writing still matters in an age of AI.
- [00:38]
Mary Reichard
It's Tuesday, August 5th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.
- [00:45]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
- [00:49]
Mary Reichard
Time for the news now with Kent Covington.
- [00:52]
Kent Covington
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he may take steps to remove Democratic state lawmakers from office after they fled the state, flying to New York and Chicago to block a vote on a new congressional map. Their absence denied the state House the needed quorum to move forward. Democratic State Representative Gene Woo slammed Republican lawmakers, they have spent their entire time.
- [01:15]
Benjamin Eicher
Playing dirty political games that only help themselves.
- [01:20]
Kent Covington
But Governor Abbott countered, noting that Wu was speaking from Chicago.
- [01:24]
Benjamin Eicher
It's kind of like running to Wisconsin to protest cheese. Those are New York and Illinois are two hallmark.
- [01:31]
Nick Eicher
They've already done redistricting to eliminate Republicans.
- [01:34]
Kent Covington
As for the governor's threat, Democrats say he lacks the legal authority to remove them or to enforce subpoenas across state lines. Meantime, the walkout has delayed votes on disaster relief tied to recent floods in Central Texas. The redistricting plan could add five Republican leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Department of Justice is reportedly taking evidence to a grand jury that could eventually result in and criminal indictments of members of the Obama administration, potentially even the former president himself. This is all tied to what the current White House calls the Russia hoax. Fox News reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered a federal prosecutor to start legal proceedings. No comment from the DOJ on that. This comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced last month, the evidence.
- [02:25]
Benjamin Eicher
That we have found and that we.
- [02:28]
Mary Reichard
Have released directly point to President Obama.
- [02:32]
Ari Redboard
Leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment.
- [02:36]
Kent Covington
She said the Obama administration manipulated intelligence to craft a false narrative that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in 2016. And she referred former President Obama and several aides to the DOJ for prosecution. The Justice Department says it is taking those referrals very seriously. White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
- [02:57]
Benjamin Eicher
Remarked the new information that has been revealed by the Director of National Intelligence and by the FBI eliminates any scintilla of doubt about the intention, the premeditation, the planning and orchestration of this conspiracy. It meets all of the criminal elements.
- [03:17]
Kent Covington
To be clear, there are currently no indictments and no charges have yet been filed. It is very early in the process. A spokesperson for former President Obama has dismissed the accusations as bizarre and a weak attempt at a distraction. And speaking of Russia, President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected in Moscow this week. The president has set a Friday deadline for Russia to strike a peace deal with Ukraine or face severe economic consequences. Trump told reporters he may be going.
- [03:50]
Nick Eicher
Wednesday or Thursday, may be going to Russia.
- [03:52]
Benjamin Eicher
They would like to see him.
- [03:54]
Kent Covington
They've asked that he meet and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said his government welcomes the visit. He added that he considers the talk talks substantive and useful in that negotiations continue toward finding a settlement to end the war. But US Officials have seen no evidence yet that Russia is willing to do anything more than talk. As for those economic penalties, President Trump said while Washington is readying new sanctions, he admits he's not sure it will change anything.
- [04:23]
Nick Eicher
They're wily characters and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions.
- [04:27]
Kent Covington
The diplomatic stalemate remains, with Ukraine losing territory but showing no signs of a defense collapse or a loss of resolve. Protesters in the streets of Tel Aviv calling for the return of the remaining Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. That comes just after the terror group released graphic taunting videos of emaciated Israeli hostages. Shai Moses, nephew of Hamas hostage survivor Gaudi Moses, joined the demonstrators yesterday.
- [04:59]
Benjamin Eicher
We saw the videos of our hostages in captivity after 666 days looking like skeletons and we just couldn't stay home. We want to shout and remind the Israeli public and the whole world that these, our brothers, these hostages, need to come home as fast as possible possible.
- [05:30]
Kent Covington
Some protesters voiced anger at the Israeli government, demanding a ceasefire and accusing Israeli leaders of not doing enough to bring the hostages home. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday said the latest Hamas videos are further evidence that the terror group does not want peace. They want to break us using those horror videos through the false horror propaganda, but we will not break. The United nations responded to the videos demanding the immediate release of the hostages. But the UN and other world leaders also continue to pressure Israel to end its offensive against Hamas in Gaza amid a humanitarian crisis there. A Catholic clinic in Colorado will continue to provide abortion pill reversal treatments after a ruling in federal court. World's Benjamin Eicher has more.
- [06:21]
Benjamin Eicher
State lawmakers passed a law in 2023 that banned hormone treatments aimed at counteracting the effects of abortion drugs Pro life care providers say that treatment has saved the lives of numerous unborn babies. But pro abortion groups claim it is not backed by science. And state lawmakers used the same argument in banning the treatments. But U.S. district Judge Daniel D. Dominico said no one has been harmed by the treatment. Therefore, he ruled that the state has not shown a compelling reason for regulating or for burdening the plaintiff's First Amendment religious rights. The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by the operators of the Bella Health and Wellness Clinic in Denver. The decision only applies to this case, not other cases in the state. For World I'm Benjamin Eicher.
- [07:09]
Kent Covington
Actress Loni Anderson has died just days before her 80th birthday.
- [07:14]
Benjamin Eicher
Mr. Carlson, Mr. Travis is here to see you.
- [07:17]
Janie B. Cheney
Travis, I didn't know. He claims to be the new program director.
- [07:22]
Kent Covington
Anderson, heard there as receptionist Jennifer had a struggling radio station in the hit TV show WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran from 1978 to 1982. She earned multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in that role. She also starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace. The two later married, but a divorce years later became constant tabloid fodder. Her longtime publicist says Anderson died at a Los Angeles hospital following a prolonged illness. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, the latest on Russian and U.S. relations. Plus, federal legislation regulating cryptocurrency and what it could mean for the US dollar. This is the world and everything in.
- [08:29]
Nick Eicher
It'S Tuesday the 5th of August. Glad to have you along for today's edition of THE WORLD and Everything in it. Good morning. I'm Nick Iger.
- [08:37]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. Up first, strategy below the surface. Last week, President Trump reacted strongly to online jabs from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatening to move two nuclear submarines. Medvedev is a key figure in Russia's Security Council and has recently mocked Trump with posts about Russia's nuclear power. Here's the president outside the White House.
- [09:02]
Nick Eicher
He was talking about nuclear when you talk about nuclear, we have to be.
- [09:06]
James Drennan
Prepared, and we're totally prepared.
- [09:08]
Nick Eicher
All this comes as the US Increases pressure on Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or else face new sanctions later this week. Joining us now is retired Navy Lieutenant Commander James Drennan. He served four as a strategic advisor to U.S. central Command, ending his service last year.
- [09:29]
Mary Reichard
Good morning, sir.
- [09:31]
Benjamin Eicher
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for having me.
- [09:33]
Mary Reichard
Mary, I'm glad you're here. Commander Drennan, why do you think President Trump responded to the former Russian president's comments by promising to move nuclear submarines. I mean, why submarines as opposed to, say, destroyers or aircraft carriers?
- [09:48]
Benjamin Eicher
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, one of the inherent advantages of a submarine is that you never know quite where they are. And so by doing that, there's some strategic ambiguity, which I think is something that President Trump does very well. There's a couple pieces to it. I think choosing submarines allows him some flexibility in terms of it's not visible, so he can't really be fact checked. Now, I'm not, of course, I'm not saying that he's bluffing, but in terms of people might be watching the progress of destroyers or cruisers or an aircraft carrier versus you don't know exactly where submarines are, and that's by design. Also, the fact that he even said it in the first place is noteworthy because these kinds of movements are happening all the time. I think that's a something that's a key point is that naval movements are sort of always happening and they are being shifted from one region to another. They're just happening behind the scenes or under the surface, if you will. So it's important, I think, to note that we're moving the submarines, but also that he announced that we're moving the submarines. It adds a little bit of extra, extra element of deterrence, to put it that way.
- [10:57]
Mary Reichard
Well, we can see the political aspects of calling Russia's bluff on willingness to use nuclear weapons if things in Ukraine do go south. But how could moving these subs help the US to be more prepared, as President Trump says?
- [11:11]
Benjamin Eicher
Right, That's a good question. Anytime you have four deployed naval forces, it allows you some flexibility in your, in terms of your operations. If you have operations in, for example, in the Middle east, which is sort of my area of expertise, you always, even if you have operations on land or in the air, you always want to have naval forces nearby in case of contingencies. The fact that these are nuclear submarines, it's important to distinguish between a ballistic missile submarine and a nuclear powered submarine. All of the US Navy submarines are nuclear powered. Only a fraction are ballistic missile submarines. He didn't specify. And I also think that was probably by design. No need to. And why would you so leave it to the Russians to sort of determine what he's really talking about. But it's possible, again, I'm not currently in, in the know, but it's possible that he's referring to fast attack nuclear powered submarines which do not carry nuclear missiles. Or he could be referring to ballistic missile submarines, which I think would be even more remarkable because those are very closely guarded state secrets in terms of the location of those submarines.
- [12:20]
Mary Reichard
All right, from submarines to American ships, then. President Trump has called attention to building American ships. Back in March, he visited a Wisconsin shipyard where a new generation of Navy frigates are years behind schedule, way over budget by hundreds of millions of dollars. And the Wall Street Journal reports that the US has fallen behind allies and adversaries in building warships. Commander, talk about some of the challenges facing the U.S. navy in building and maintaining the American fleet.
- [12:50]
Benjamin Eicher
It's a problem that's decades in the making and one of the big problems that we have a generation or more of a workforce that is not ready to jump in and start building more ships, both merchant and naval. Of course, we've always built our own warships, but we haven't really been building our own merchant ships. And so when you talk about shipbuilding and some of the attention that he's called to it, which is a good thing. And there's the executive order that he put out, sort of trying to revitalize our maritime industry. A big part of that is our merchant shipbuilding and in our merchant fleet. And very, very little U.S. goods sale on U.S. flagged merchants. We have over decades, sort of offloaded that, outsourced it to other countries in terms of ships built in other countries, ships owned and operated by companies in other countries, and ships flagged in other countries. And a lot of that is in China in terms of the building and the operating of the companies. And so I think President Trump and even the administration before him have started to come to realize that we've maybe put a little bit too much reliance in terms of our maritime industry on a potential competitor or adversary in China, their global power, for sure. And I'll just call out real quickly that the lcs, the Littoral Combat Ship Program, is one. It's not the reason, but I would say it's one of several reasons. If you look back on where we had maybe as a navy got off track in terms of building a ship that really never panned out for us. And I think that contributed to some lost time and atrophy in our ability to build ships.
- [14:33]
Mary Reichard
Well, let's talk more about China then.
- [14:35]
Bruce Hoyt
What?
- [14:36]
Mary Reichard
What do we know about China's Navy development and how it compares to the.
- [14:40]
Benjamin Eicher
US by the numbers? I think they have more ships in their Navy than we do, but that doesn't mean that they're more powerful or more capable. Maybe, but it is certainly something that a lot of naval experts have been sounding the alarm bells in at least the past decade. They are building ships at a breakneck rate. They used to not be an aircraft carrier navy, and now they are. You know, they have really caught up to us in terms of capability or at least gotten closer to us. I don't want to sit here and proclaim that they are as capable as we are in terms of a navy. But by the numbers, they have a lot of ships. They are moving fast. I think as a nation, they understand the importance of the maritime in terms of their national power. Because you look at things just outside of their true navy. There's things like the maritime militia, which is sort of a pseudo military fishing civilian fleet that does a lot of reconnaissance and other pseudo military activities in the South China Sea just occupying the territorial waters of neighboring nations. You've got the distant water fishing fleet, just thousands of large offshore fishing vessels that go all over the world and they fish inside of the economic exclusion zones of countries all around the world. And I think that it's not just naval power, it's maritime power for them. And they understand how important the sea is for their national power. So they're looking at it from a holistic perspective and they're moving fast.
- [16:15]
Mary Reichard
James Drennan is a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. navy. Commander, thank you so much.
- [16:21]
Benjamin Eicher
Thank you.
- [16:26]
Mary Reichard
Coming up next on the World AND Everything Congress and crypto. For the first time, the US Government has passed a law regulating the cryptocurrency market.
- [16:36]
Nick Eicher
When the president signed that sweeping crypto bill into law, advocates praised it as a way to help American business compete. But critics fear it hands too much power to the wrong players. World's Mary Muncie reports.
- [16:50]
James Drennan
This could be perhaps the greatest revolution.
- [16:53]
Benjamin Eicher
In financial technology since the birth of the Internet itself.
- [16:57]
Ari Redboard
Last month, President Donald Trump signed legislation on stablecoins. That's a form of cryptocurrency that's backed by a stable currency like the US Dollar.
- [17:07]
Benjamin Eicher
The Genius act provides banks, businesses and financial institutions a framework for issuing crypto assets, backed one for one with real.
- [17:16]
Nick Eicher
US Dollars, treasury bills and other cash equivalents.
- [17:19]
Ari Redboard
The bill says any company that issues stablecoins must hold enough assets in reserve to cover the digital currency. It also clarifies which financial laws they're subject to. It passed with bipartisan support. Lawmakers were worried that other countries were beating the US in regulating stablecoins and the international businesses might start using other countries currencies to back their transactions instead of the dollar.
- [17:45]
Nick Eicher
This is really strengthening the dollar and.
- [17:49]
Benjamin Eicher
Giving the dollar great prominence.
- [17:52]
Ari Redboard
Large banks like Citigroup and Bank of America are planning to launch their own stablecoins. And companies like Uber and Amazon are considering integrating them into their systems.
- [18:03]
Benjamin Eicher
US Businesses have been looking for legal.
- [18:05]
Nick Eicher
Clarity and regulatory clarity for a long.
- [18:08]
Benjamin Eicher
Time in this space.
- [18:09]
Ari Redboard
Ari Redboard is the head of trm, a blockchain intelligence company. Cryptocurrency is not like putting money on a debit card or accessing money electronically. It's more like mining for precious minerals or metals. A person or group will tell a computer to solve a complex math problem and record the solutions in a digital ledger. That's called a blockchain. Then the company can trade those blocks like a less stable version of gold or silver. In other words, crypto itself is the thing of value and is not backed by anything. Stablecoins, on the other hand, are created in the same way, but are backed by a stable asset.
- [18:51]
Benjamin Eicher
The real key to stablecoins is why we've seen this enormous growth in the.
- [18:55]
Nick Eicher
Stablecoin ecosystem over the last couple years.
- [18:57]
Benjamin Eicher
Is they take out the volatility of Bitcoin and other digital assets and allow.
- [19:02]
Nick Eicher
Us to really use them.
- [19:04]
Ari Redboard
Proponents say stablecoins can be transferred quicker than cash and are easier to send across borders. So Redboard says the Genius act will have a stabilizing effect that grows the industry. He also sees it as necessary for national security.
- [19:19]
Nick Eicher
We need to leverage this technology in.
- [19:22]
Benjamin Eicher
Order to continue to have the dollar.
- [19:25]
Nick Eicher
As the reserve currency, right? If 90 plus percent of all stablecoins.
- [19:29]
Benjamin Eicher
Are US dollar based, then anyone using.
- [19:31]
Nick Eicher
A stablecoin today in the world is using US dollars.
- [19:35]
Ari Redboard
Plus, some people in countries without a stable banking system are starting to use crypto. The United nations and the International Rescue Committee also started sending stablecoins to people in Ukraine. But not everyone believes the new U.S. regulation covers the risks.
- [19:53]
James Drennan
It doesn't take into consideration the fact.
- [19:56]
Benjamin Eicher
That these can lose their peg and that people might panic.
- [19:59]
Ari Redboard
Hillary Allen is a law professor at the American University Washington College of Law. Another thing we should be worried about.
- [20:06]
Benjamin Eicher
With the Genius act is that it.
- [20:08]
James Drennan
Allows the largest tech platforms to launch their own stablecoins.
- [20:12]
Ari Redboard
She thinks this is one of the most likely outcomes of this legislation, that companies like Apple and Amazon create a stablecoin that customers can use in app to make their lives simpler. That in itself isn't bad, but she worries these companies will become too big to fail.
- [20:31]
Benjamin Eicher
And where I think that leaves us.
- [20:32]
Ari Redboard
Is that even if we never use.
- [20:34]
Benjamin Eicher
Stablecoins, we'll probably be on the hook to bail them out.
- [20:37]
Ari Redboard
The Federal Reserve says about 7% of Americans hold any crypto, and only 2% of them have used it for transactions. Allen thinks that legislators are not concerned about crypto because everyday Americans are, but because their donors are.
- [20:54]
Benjamin Eicher
The crypto lobby is very strong with its political spending.
- [20:59]
Ari Redboard
In the 2024 election, the cryptocurrency political action committee Fairshake PAC contributed over half of the corporate PAC spending. That's just under $200 million, a drop in the bucket of the $15 billion raised by PACs as a whole. But still, it's more than big pharma or defense. Then last fall, Trump started his own digital assets company that distributes stablecoins. Now his sons run it.
- [21:28]
Benjamin Eicher
These types of conflicts of interest issues shouldn't be dealt with in kind of a one off situation.
- [21:35]
Ari Redboard
Jennifer Schulp is the director of financial regulation Studies with the Cato Institute. These questions have come up with stock trading too.
- [21:43]
Benjamin Eicher
How do we handle conflicts of interest in our both executive and legislative branches?
- [21:49]
Ari Redboard
Shulp says these questions are important to answer, but she is more worried that the law opens the door for the government to track crypto transactions.
- [21:59]
Benjamin Eicher
Unlike when we use cash and it's very difficult to tell where cash goes once you withdraw it from the bank, stablecoins live on the blockchain and you can kind of pseudonymously track the instances.
- [22:13]
Bruce Hoyt
Of stablecoin movement from kind of cradle to grave.
- [22:18]
Ari Redboard
Under current law, banks have an obligation to report any suspicious activity, and the Genius act puts stablecoin issuers under that law as well, shulp says. What you spend your money on says a lot about who you are, which charities and political groups you donate to, or what kinds of things you buy.
- [22:38]
Benjamin Eicher
And having financial privacy is key for us to be able to live our lives freely, even if we're not doing anything at all that implicates illicit activity.
- [22:50]
Ari Redboard
Schulp thinks the bill could provide the start of a framework for the market, but it's such a new industry that it will take several tries to get it right. At the moment, there are two bills moving through Congress that are intended to give more clarity to anyone trying to use crypto in the short term. Shulp thinks allowing stablecoins and crypto into the digital transaction space could be helpful. They add more competition to the market and could bring down costs overall. Reporting for World, I'm Mary Muncie.
- [23:38]
Kent Covington
Additional support comes from Cedarville University, Equipping Students for Professional Excellence and Gospel Impact Cedarville Edu World and from Asbury University. Students who visit campus qualify for a $1,000 scholarship. Asbury EDU visit.
- [24:18]
Nick Eicher
In York County, Pennsylvania. The Friday morning commute was no picnic. Though you could could be forgiven for thinking it was, given the cause of the traffic jam.
- [24:27]
Benjamin Eicher
Truckload of hot dogs.
- [24:28]
Nick Eicher
Yeah, truckload of hot dogs. That's right, Interstate 83. A tractor trailer blew a tire and tipped over and emptied 1000 pounds of frozen franks north and south.
- [24:40]
Benjamin Eicher
Look at them all. You want a pack of hot dogs, guys, come to South 83. Got a bunch of them just for free.
- [24:45]
Nick Eicher
Yeah. State workers had to shut the road down for several and PennDOT workers used snow shovels to contend with the Franken spill. The local fire chief was on scene. He told a reporter, I can tell you personally hot dogs are very slippery. Now that would seem to go without saying. Slippery does seem to be a key feature of the uncooked hot dog and they don't stand a chance in highway traffic.
- [25:10]
Benjamin Eicher
We're just destroying all this pork product. They're everywhere. That is insane.
- [25:17]
Nick Eicher
The carnage was clear by dinner time, but may have spoiled some appetites. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Tuesday, August 5th. Thank you for turning to world Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Nick Eicher.
- [25:46]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. Coming next on the world and everything in it, teaching English as a second language and using the Bible to do it. New Zealand has one of the world's highest concentrations of foreign born residents with more than a third coming from overseas. Increasingly they're coming from China.
- [26:03]
Nick Eicher
It's a steep learning curve for them. New language, new food, new climate, new culture, new everything all at once. World correspondent Amy Lewis recently met a retired pastor helping these Chinese speaking immigrants start their new lives.
- [26:20]
James Drennan
Okay, let's begin. Hebrews, chapter one, the first three verses.
- [26:25]
Bruce Hoyt
Bruce Hoyt is tackling the book of Hebrews with a group of Chinese immigrants.
- [26:29]
James Drennan
Remember, in this class I want you to feel very free to ask questions. This is like an American school, not a Chinese school.
- [26:37]
Bruce Hoyt
His Sunday evening Bible class is filled with 30 and 40 something university grads not used to asking questions. In China, it's discouraged. But some of the students who have been in his classes for a few years jump in.
- [26:49]
James Drennan
They know the kinds of questions that the other Chinese people probably have and don't ask. And so they'll ask a question for, you know, other people in the class.
- [27:00]
Bruce Hoyt
One student wonders if what was written so long ago is still true.
- [27:04]
Nick Eicher
My question may be a little bit naive. How can we make sure Jesus is the only son of God?
- [27:15]
Bruce Hoyt
Another student's English is Not yet strong enough for the theological truth she wants to convey.
- [27:20]
Benjamin Eicher
I have to speak in Chinese.
- [27:29]
Bruce Hoyt
So a translator steps in to help.
- [27:31]
Benjamin Eicher
She was sharing, she said question she's already struggled with about the Trinity of God. And she said that she read an article from Pastor Stephen Tang from Indonesia. The articles about why Jesus is the only son of God.
- [27:48]
Bruce Hoyt
Hoyt and his family moved from the United States to New Zealand in 1981 so he could pastor a small church. He's retired now, but he still spends most of his week living and teaching the Gospel to Chinese speaking immigrants.
- [28:01]
James Drennan
Because they come, it's a new culture, very new, very different from China. And it's a new language, which for them is quite difficult because Chinese is nothing like English.
- [28:13]
Bruce Hoyt
It all started eight years ago with three Chinese women in his congregation who faithfully attended services every Sunday.
- [28:20]
James Drennan
But they didn't really understand very much.
- [28:22]
Bruce Hoyt
So the pastor would send Hoyt his sermon on Saturday. Hoyt would then go over it carefully with the women. He defined words that were new to them. He explained ideas. He patiently taught Word.
- [28:34]
James Drennan
We did that for six months or so and then they said we would like to have more teaching. So that's when I started a very small class.
- [28:42]
Bruce Hoyt
His few students told others and it.
- [28:44]
James Drennan
Just grew by word of mouth.
- [28:45]
Bruce Hoyt
Now he has a class of 70 or so. 20 to 25 people show up in.
- [28:50]
James Drennan
Person and then there are a few families that have small children and we minister to them on Zoom. At the same time there are a couple also in China that come in on the Zoom link.
- [29:01]
Bruce Hoyt
Hoyt grew up in a Christian family.
- [29:04]
James Drennan
Here come these Chinese people. They have been taught from primary school right on through, from an atheistic, communistic Chinese communism now worldview.
- [29:18]
Bruce Hoyt
He doesn't always understand where they're coming from, so he asks them lots of.
- [29:22]
James Drennan
Questions and they're usually happy to tell me on a personal level. But of course the shoe is on the other foot for them. They don't understand me and they don't know my background or the way I think. So that's one of the reasons why it's important to encourage them to ask questions.
- [29:41]
Bruce Hoyt
When he first started the class, he spoke simple English. When they found an interpreter, he could use more challenging vocabulary in sentences. But he had to chop his thoughts into small pieces for translation. Now they use real time translation. For those who are still working on.
- [29:57]
James Drennan
Their English skills, we have an automatic translation system using AI. But the person will sit beside me and make sure that it's working properly and if it's not, interrupt me and make some corrections to the AI procedure.
- [30:14]
Bruce Hoyt
Many of the people in the study come with little or no background in the Bible. About 10 of them are not yet believers. Others have been baptized in a church in China where the teaching was very weak. So they don't understand much doctrine. Despite their limited background, they're all hungry for the truth.
- [30:31]
James Drennan
It's been interesting to me to work with this Chinese community that are largely quite academic and they appreciate an in depth, logical presentation of what the Bible's all about. They lap it up even though they're not Christians.
- [30:47]
Bruce Hoyt
He says there would be even more interest among the immigrant community if he chose to teach straight ESL classes.
- [30:53]
James Drennan
But I didn't feel I wanted to give my energies to that. I wanted to teach the Bible. That's what they need to know God and to know his Word. And so I've just made it clear that this is a Bible class.
- [31:06]
Bruce Hoyt
The class grew and so did his church.
- [31:09]
James Drennan
And so over the last five years or so, we've added 20 or so members to the church that are Chinese, and we have another 25 or so that are regularly attending who aren't yet members. So a quarter of our congregation now is Chinese.
- [31:26]
Bruce Hoyt
The growth is phenomenal, but it comes with growing pains.
- [31:30]
James Drennan
I think the biggest challenge, however, is to help the pastor and the elders to understand the particular needs that the Chinese people have. Needs that involve family life, marriage. There are quite a few divorces.
- [31:45]
Bruce Hoyt
But Hoyt is committed to helping his church grow in that by meeting regularly with the elders and being a bridge with the Chinese believers. He has seen people find Jesus. When people in their newly adopted country love them and help them and teach them God's word in season and out, even in retirement, it's been a great.
- [32:06]
James Drennan
Opportunity that the Lord has just dropped in my lap.
- [32:08]
Bruce Hoyt
Reporting for world, I'm Amy Lewis in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand.
- [32:36]
Mary Reichard
Today is Tuesday, August 5th. Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.
- [32:43]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Long before AI could write a single paragraph, students had to figure things out one sentence at a time. World commentator Janie B. Cheney. Now on what we've gained and what we are at risk of losing.
- [32:59]
Janie B. Cheney
While sorting through old papers last week, I came across exam questions dating back to my sophomore year in college. The class was New Testament epistles, And the teacher, Mr. Kendrick, was known for short finals. Short, that is, in the number of questions, long in the execution because they were all essay questions printed on one mimeographed. Sheet, which will give you a hint how long ago this was. They were Develop Paul's major ideas as presented in the doctrinal section of the ephesian letter. Chapters 13 comment on the nature of the Colossian heresy and relate this to the person and work of Christ as developed in chapter 1 1520. Compare and elaborate upon the teaching of Paul on the social order of the Christian household, as developed in both Ephesians and Colossians. The essays I wrote are long gone along with the grade. Even if it wasn't an A, I'm still rather impressed that I could tackle those topics in some logical fashion. At the age of 19, writing was my strong suit, but I'll bet most of my classmates were able to turn in something more or less coherent, even if light on content. Essay writing was just something you did in college because you'd already done lots of it in high school. Over the last decades, college instructors have noticed a decline in the quality of student composition, along with a rise in plagiarism and online essay peddling. Now, with Easy access to ChatGPT and other large language models in the classroom, many teachers are rethinking the academic writing process altogether. Maybe essays aren't that important. Maybe they're an outmoded relic from the days of hardcover books and print journalism. Maybe they showcase skills that aren't needed as much in the age of AI. National Review intern Moira Gleason interviewed a handful of humanities professors on the use of generative AI in the classroom, generative referring to using large language models to create new content from scraps of information. Answers ranged from no tolerance to cautious incorporation. But all agreed on the importance of writing as thinking and that the real purpose of a writing assignment, such as a formal essay, is not the finished product but the process of discovering what you think about a topic. An essay should make sense, first of all, to the writer who has come to certain conclusions based on facts and logic rather than memes and TikTok videos. Teachers know AI is here to stay. The challenge is teaching students what it's for. But what is it for? The technology is so new there's no consensus on that, only individual preferences. Should it be used as a research assistant or a first edit? Is it best for generating ideas or testing them? As it turns out, the bottom line is the same bottom line it's always been. Students must be convinced of the importance of thinking. That's always been a hard sell for kids who are maneuvering to get through school as painlessly as possible. AI just makes it a lot harder. I'm Janie Buccaney.
- [36:36]
Nick Eicher
Tomorrow, Hunter Baker is back for Washington Wednesday. Also, a special world tour on the surge of violence in Columbia and a report on helping victims of the Texas floods. That's tomorrow. I'm Nick Eichert.
- [36:49]
Mary Reichard
And I'm Mary Reichard. 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 says, many are the sorrows of the wicked. But steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Verse 10 of Psalm 32. Go now in grace and peace.