The discussion doesn’t stop at the legal battles but extends into the realm of religious freedom and cultural issues. Hear from Rabbi Yaakov Mencken on his firsthand experiences with anti-Semitism and the broader implications for Jewish communities. Additionally, the episode highlights victories for free speech and religious expression, including a landmark case on academic freedom. All this is capped with a thoughtful exploration of the relevance of a biblical worldview in interpreting today’s complex social and political landscapes.
SPEAKER 17 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, good afternoon. Hope you’ve had a fantastic week and welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am Jody Heiss, a senior vice president here at the Family Research Council and president of FRC Action. We are deeply, deeply honored to have you joining us today. All right, we’ve got a lot to bring your way. First of all, we’ll begin with activist judges gone wild. Two judges in separate cases were arrested just a day apart for aiding illegal immigrants who were on the radars of federal authorities.
SPEAKER 18 :
some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law and they are not. And we’re sending a very strong message today. If you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are. If you are helping hide one, if you are giving a TDA member guns, anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, that was U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier today on the Fox News Channel. And I’ll discuss this in just a moment when I’m joined by Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman. She and I will also be discussing the flurry of court rulings that have come out in the past few days that are slowing down President Trump’s agenda, including a decision siding with sanctuary cities that want to protect illegal immigrants.
SPEAKER 20 :
Sanctuary cities are sanctuary for criminals. That’s what they are. They’re sanctuary for criminals. They protect criminals. And we should close them down. We want a safe country. You have to get rid of sanctuary cities.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow. Well, that, of course, was President Trump. He was speaking to reporters today while he was on Air Force One. That’s why it was a little bit muffled there. But we’ll be talking about that very important issue. And then also among court rulings that were handed down this week, that were handed down, was one dealing with election integrity. This is something that’s near and dear to the hearts of millions and millions and millions of Americans. But specifically, this one related to proving citizenship before registering to vote. Well, Cleta Mitchell of the Election Integrity Network will be joining me to discuss that a little bit later in the program. And then we have more disturbing numbers that were released this week by the Anti-Defamation League. And these numbers are the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in a single year since it began tracking 46 years ago.
SPEAKER 15 :
2024 indeed was not just the fourth year in a row, but the fifth time in the last six years we’ve broken a new record. ADL has been conducting an annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents since the 1970s, and we’ve simply never seen numbers like this.
SPEAKER 04 :
That was ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, and I’ll be discussing this with Rabbi Yaakov Minkin of the Coalition for Jewish Values a little bit later. And then to close out the program today, I’ll be joined by David Clausen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. A lot, a lot happening in the news today, and we want to bring it all your way into the lens of a biblical perspective. Among other things, we’ll be talking about a free speech victory involving a University of Louisville professor who was forced out of his job for speaking out on the harms of transitioning children. And now the university is having to pay deeply for that problem. So we’ve got a lot to cover with David Claussen as we wrap up this week from a biblical perspective. So as usual, we have a lot coming your way, a packed show. If you miss any of it, our website, TonyPerkins.com, and you don’t want to miss it, but if you do, you can catch up right there. All right, now let’s jump into our first guest for today, the problem of activist judges. This is a problem that’s been around for a long time. That in and of itself is not necessarily new. But the issue now seems to have reached new heights in ways literally that go beyond rulings from the bench. As I mentioned earlier just this morning, a judge in Wisconsin was arrested for allegedly trying to help an illegal immigrant escape ICE agents in her own courtroom. Additionally, parts of Trump’s agenda have been stalled due to rulings from federal judges, one after another after another. Have active judges gone off the rail? Are they literally, purposefully, intentionally trying to slow down the Trump agenda? If so, what’s the solution? Well, joining me now to discuss all of this is Congresswoman Harriet Hageman. She serves on the Judiciary Committee. She represents Wyoming. Congresswoman Hageman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you. Thank you, Jody. Great to be here. Okay, so let’s start with this Wisconsin judge. FBI Director Kash Patel literally tweeted today that this judge intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject. This is unbelievable.
SPEAKER 06 :
That is my understanding. And it is a shocking development that you now have judges on the bench who are attempting to shield the illegal aliens from being processed and being arrested by ICE. So it’s not just a matter of turning a blind eye or saying we’re a sanctuary city. It is my understanding that she intentionally acted to try to shield the illegal alien from federal officers. And I just find that to be a shocking development.
SPEAKER 04 :
I do, too. And, you know, it’s not that this is one case by itself. I mean, also this week we had in New Mexico a judge who had to resign because an illegal alien was found to be living in his home. What in the world is happening right now in our judiciary?
SPEAKER 06 :
So I think in those circumstances, what you’re looking at is the appointment process or election process for those judges. We’re getting very radical judges put on the bench, whether it is through an election process or an appointment, and every state is a little bit different. But I think that that’s part of it, is that you just have radicals that are taking over at least a portion of the judiciary.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think that certainly is it. I mean, there’s no question we’ve been watching radicals appointed. But don’t you think also that this has a political purpose to it all? I mean, we saw U.S. District Judge William Orrick deny the whole sanctuary funding issue this week.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think there’s absolutely a political component to it. These judges have made the decision that they are going to defy whatever agenda Donald Trump is attempting to pursue. They are blocking the will of the American public, and they are essentially acting as the gatekeeper, regardless of the legality of the decisions that he is making. When I look at the decisions, the nationwide injunctions that are coming out of this court, these courts, one of the first things that strikes me is that clearly the plaintiffs in these cases are judicial shopping. They are forum shopping, which in and of itself is inappropriate to do. But what you have is you have a situation where they’re going to judges that they know it doesn’t even matter what the issue is. They’re going to get an injunction because they are all in on it, if you will, to try to block President Trump, number one, from carrying forward his promise about securing our border and deporting criminally illegal aliens. They are going to attempt to stop any effort at shoring up our elections and pursuing election integrity. They are going to attempt to block and prevent him from carrying out the agenda that the American public voted for in November of last year.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, exactly. That is precisely what we’re seeing. And I think your description of these judges acting as gatekeepers for their own political agenda and their political preference is a great description of what’s happening. I wanted to play a clip for you. This is the city attorney for San Francisco, David Chu. And let me just play it and then get your response to that. This is amazing to me.
SPEAKER 08 :
There are hundreds of cities around the country, hundreds of police chiefs that support sanctuary policies, which are about building trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. When you have that trust, immigrant victims and witnesses of crime will lead to working with police officers to make sure that criminals are arrested, that folks are put in jail, and our communities are safer.
SPEAKER 04 :
Congresswoman, am I missing something? He seems to say to me that sanctuary cities are making America safer. I’m stunned by that.
SPEAKER 06 :
I was stunned by what he just said, and I had not previously heard that clip. What I would say is it is exactly the opposite of what he’s saying. The really sad part is that when we are not removing these criminal illegal aliens from their primary victims are the folks within that immigrant community. That’s what’s so stunning to me about this. When we hear about the 14-year-old girl that the Mayorkas administration released to a predator to be sex trafficked across the country, and this administration did nothing about it. When you talk about the 300,000 children that were lost by the Biden administration, and we know are being working in sweatshops or being sex trafficked. When you hear about these things and you realize that the people who are engaging in this behavior are the very criminal illegal aliens that the Trump administration is attempting to remove, And then you have somebody come along and say, oh no, it’s better to leave these criminals within that community. That makes that community safer. And you think it isn’t even possible to be that twisted in your thinking. It isn’t even possible to have thought that through even the tiniest little bit. The very victims of these folks are the people within those immigrant communities. They want rid of these criminal illegal aliens. And what you have with these sanctuary cities and these leaders is they’re saying, we’re going to victimize you yet once again because we’re gonna make dang sure that we are not removing the criminals among you because there’s a risk that they might be deported and we’re not going to allow that to happen. So we’re going to make you live in this environment where there are known criminal illegal aliens, gang members, terrorists living there. And the sanctuary cities, the leaders of those communities are saying, we’re not going to help you because of the Trump administration. It’s absolutely horrific. It is a terrible policy. And it doesn’t even take five seconds to realize all of the flaws in every single thing that he said.
SPEAKER 04 :
A great point. Extremely well said. And I think it really ultimately just emboldens those who are here illegally as well. Let me ask you, and our time is slipping away, but so many other court decisions slowing down Trump’s agenda and so forth. What do these rulings tell you? I mean, are we just watching activist judges? Are they following the rule of law or is there something else taking place here as we’re discussing, suggesting perhaps political motivation?
SPEAKER 06 :
So the problem with nationwide injunctions is that these district court judges who have limited jurisdiction are essentially acting as not only the president of the United States and usurping his role, but they’re acting as a super Supreme Court. At least with the Supreme Court, you have to have five of the people, you have to convince five of the people as to the correctness of the argument and the position that you’re taking. But in this circumstance, you have an activist federal district court judge out in the middle of, California or in New York City or in Washington, D.C., and they are making decisions not for the people in front of them or the parties in front of them, but for the entire country. So you have one man or one woman who is deciding policy without these issues ever actually being fully investigated, fully vetted, fully analyzed, fully discussed. It’s the example of what happened when they took the person down to El Salvador. You’ve got a judge saying, bring him back right now. Well, the Trump administration has a lot of information about the very kind of people that they are attempting to deport. They are addressing issues, everything from national security to international relations to all of the things that have historically been well within the jurisdiction and venue of the president of the United States. And you’re having federal district court judges say, no, I know better. And not only do I know better, I’m going to issue a nationwide injunction against you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much, Congressman Harriet Hageman of Wyoming. Always, always great to have you. Thank you for joining us today. All right, friends, coming up, we’re going to take a deeper look into Trump’s executive order on election integrity and how that is now being targeted as well. So stay tuned. We’ll be back.
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At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That’s why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone. The congressman also stressed that 89% of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
SPEAKER 14 :
Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. The Biden administration’s removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians.
SPEAKER 14 :
Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
SPEAKER 03 :
These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
SPEAKER 14 :
Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
SPEAKER 01 :
We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
SPEAKER 14 :
FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
SPEAKER 07 :
Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
SPEAKER 19 :
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We’ve created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. So glad to have you joining us today. All right. Yesterday, yesterday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Collar-Catelli, she’s in D.C., she issued an injunction blocking certain parts of Trump’s executive order that was intended, is intended, to block to secure and protect elections and the integrity of elections. Specifically, now catch this, specifically, this injunction affected the executive order’s provision that requires proof of citizenship before registering to vote in a federal election. You’re kidding me. Now, to back this up, the judge says that only Congress or Election Assistance Commission has the right to make those kinds of decisions. So is the judge right or is this yet another case of activist judges gone wild? Well, here to discuss this with me by phone is Cleta Mitchell. Cleta is the senior legal fellow at the Conservative Partner Institute as well as the founder of the Election Integrity Network. I don’t know of anyone who knows this issue personally. any better than she does. She’s been involved in dealing with election law for 40 years. Cleta, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you very much, Congressman. It’s so nice to be with you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, let’s start with this executive order. The title of it is Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections. I mean, this is what we all want. So what is it in this executive order? What basically does this do?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it does several things. And I think that the White House did a very good job of crafting it carefully and within the requirements of existing federal law. And the first thing it does is it says that, um, the federal, the election assistance commission, the EAC should amend the federal voter registration application to provide not just a box that you check to say that you’re a citizen, but documentary proof of citizenship. And it also has another set of – it says that the documents to be accepted are those that people provide at the DMVs in order to get a real ID. It’s very simple. I mean, the people have been taking those documents to the motor vehicle agencies for – 20 years. That bill was passed. The real ID law was passed in 2005. All states have been compliant with it since September of 2020, and it takes full effect on May the 7th. And all that means is you have to be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident legally in the United States in order to get a real ID. And that’s what you have to have to board a commercial airplane in order to enter a federal building. order to enter a federal military installation. And this would just extend that to saying that you have to be a citizen to register to vote. Now the judge, and there are other parts of it, but this was the most, the biggest part. And the judge says, oh no, the president has no authority and he’s changing election rules. What the judge does not pay any attention to is the fact that the federal statutes, there are five federal statutes that govern elections. And All of those federal statutes require and vest the Attorney General of the United States with enforcement authority. Well, the Attorney General of the United States is the president’s designee. So by congressional act, the Congress has said that the executive branch of the federal government has enforcement authority. This judge just pretends that those laws don’t exist. pretends that there’s no statute that makes it a criminal offense for someone to misrepresent on an official form their citizenship status, ignores the fact that it’s a criminal offense for an alien to register and vote in the United States in a federal election, pays no attention to the fact that the real ID law already requires that people provide citizenship documents in order to get an ID. I mean, it’s It just basically disregards – does not pay any attention to the fact that the attorney general – again, the president’s attorney general has responsibility under federal law for enforcing the National Voter Registration Act, which is in charge of – various provisions of law and disregards, utterly disregards the role of the executive branch of government that has been vested by Congress with the responsibility and enforcement power for these federal laws. And just says, well, the president is changing rules.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, Kalita, this is precisely why I wanted you to discuss this, because you just nailed it. I mean, that puts the whole case out here. Now, on the other side, and we’ve got less than two minutes here, but we do have the House earlier this month passed the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship before voting in federal elections. So there’s yet another bill coming. This is now in the Senate. What do you think is going to happen with that bill? Is that going to get across the finish line, do you think?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’ll tell you something. You know, I’m becoming pretty distressed at the fact that the Republican majority in the Senate is not figuring out how to start legislating again. They’re just rolling over and playing dead. And the Senate of the United States is not trying to figure out. John Thune needs to figure out how to get the Senate back to work. And they say, oh, well, we have the filibuster. Everything requires 60 votes. Well, no, actually, it doesn’t. There are things in the rules, and it’s time that the Senate started back to work. If they made the Democrats actually go and meet the requirements of the Senate rules for a filibuster, if they were there on the floor and they made them, they have a pretend filibuster because the Republican senators don’t want to stay in the in the chamber. They don’t want to stay in Washington. They don’t want to work. And I’m saying it’s time that all of us started saying, make the Senate, make the senators speak. You want to have a filibuster, make them speak, make the senators work, make the senators vote, because it is time that we were able to function again. And Congress needs to start legislating again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Amen, amen, and amen. Cleta Mitchell, so great to have you always. Cleta is the founder of Election Integrity Network and the senior legal fellow at the Conservative Partner Institute. Cleta, great to have you. Thank you for your insight.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, coming up next, another powerful segment. The Anti-Defamation League has released alarming new data on anti-Semitism around the world. And I’ll speak with Rabbi Yaakov Mencken to discuss this when we get back. And he personally went through some of this this past week. Stay tuned.
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Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It’s true that all ideas have consequences, but we’re less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release, and the forest from the trees.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back. Thank you so much for making Washington Watch part of your day. I’m your Friday host, Jody Heiss. All right, this week, the Anti-Defamation League published their annual report on anti-Semitism. And catch this, over 9,000 anti-Semitic incidents across the United States in 2024. over 9,000 to be exact, 9,354. That’s the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking anti-Semitic incidents 46 years ago. And most chilling, catch this, their report found an 893% increase over the last 10 years, nearly a 900% increase. That’s just unbelievable. So given what we’ve been watching so far just this year, I wonder how 2025 is going to look in the end. Well, joining me now to discuss this and to share about his personal most recent firsthand experience is Rabbi Yaakov Mencken. He is the founder… and he’s the founding and current managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values. This is an organization that represents over 2,500 traditional Orthodox rabbis in American public policy. Rabbi Mencken, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you, my friend.
SPEAKER 11 :
And always glad to be with you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let’s begin with what happened to you, what you experienced firsthand at California State University in Sacramento this week. Tell us what happened.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I was invited out there by Turning Point USA to talk about anti-Semitism. And to be honest, we went right at it. The title mentioned Hamas SJP, which is the Students for Justice in Palestine campus organization, and the rise of anti-Semitism globally. So they kind of knew it was coming. But of course, not only did they come out to protest, but many of the attendees were there, you know, not to question, not to learn, but to shout challenges. Even after I had walked through the biblical origins of… how we know what anti-Semitism looked like, they still wanted to come back at me with all their ridiculous stories about Palestinians and innocent Palestinians and Israel committing genocide as if it never happened. In fact, I asked them, who’s the genocidal actor between Hamas and Israel? And without question, the fellows who invaded, they answered Israel. Eventually, they were frustrated enough. They’d had too much truth delivered to them because I was answering all their challenges and all their questions. And they stormed out of the room. And of course, the Turning Point folks were delighted.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow. Unbelievable. And it’s unbelievable to me that this is happening all over the country. I mean, we have this, the Anti-Defamation League, the new report showing unbelievable heightened anti-Semitism across the country. I’m sure you would agree from your own personal experience with what you’ve seen, what you’ve witnessed, what you hear about on a regular basis. What do you think of this report?
SPEAKER 11 :
Sure. I mean, we’re following the community. So we know we have our ear to the ground and we knew this was true. You know, ADL, let’s understand this as kind of two components of the ADL. The ADL, when they do statistics on things like anti-Semitic attacks, they’re great reports. They have accurate data. When it comes to fighting antisemitism, unfortunately, the organization is very politicized right now. And what you hear from them is not really what you need to be hearing to fight the antisemitism. And by the way, I regard that as part of the problem, that there are certain figures on the Jewish left who can’t honestly and in an impartial way look at antisemitism in America, and they politicize it as a result. But as far as the stats, absolutely, they’re at a huge rise. And as far as what I think is going to happen this year, I think we’re already seeing some positive signs. You know, Colombia was supposed to have a new encampment this week. But Columbia put out a bulletin to students in advance saying there’s going to be consequences. You’re going to experience academic consequences and you may be arrested. And the entire thing was a dud. It stopped. That encampment, which would have blocked students from getting to class, would have yelled at Jewish students as they went by and made for an intimidating environment. It didn’t happen. And the reason why it didn’t happen is Donald Trump being president of the United States.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. In fact, I was going to say that, and I agree. I’m so glad you brought that up, that we are seeing a change in anti-Semitism right now because of President Trump and what he’s doing. So we’ve got less than two minutes. Real quickly, Harvard, he went after Harvard. Harvard now is suing him. Give me your thoughts on what’s happening there.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you know, look, this is pathetic. The university, their former president testified in front of Congress that whether calling for genocide against Jewish students violates their university policies depends on context. You know, basic fairness depends on context where Jews are concerned. That’s the university’s position. Absolutely, it is unconscionable to be giving federal money to a university doing scientific research, very valuable scientific research, but research from which Jewish students are being excluded. It’s a matter of racist bigotry that we should not tolerate today. any more than we tolerated in the 1970s. It’s time for total fairness, and that means not allowing bigots to march the campus.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you so much, Rabbi Yaakov Minkin, always, always. Great to see you, my friend, and have you on Washington Watch. We appreciate it. God bless.
SPEAKER 11 :
Great to be back. Thank you for this opportunity. You bet.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, friends, I told you, it’s just one issue after another today. There’s so much, not just today, this week, so much happening. And on the other side of the break, we want to try to help you filter all that’s happening this week and what’s happening on a daily basis. And we want to deal with it through a biblical lens, through a biblical worldview perspective. David Claussen will join me after the break to do just that. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
What is God’s role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today’s most pressing debates. From the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the immigration crisis of America, we’ll uncover the foundations of our nation’s history and why it’s relevant for today. Defend God’s plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742.
SPEAKER 13 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture. and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good afternoon. Happy Friday to you. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. All right, before I dive into our final segment for the day, I just want to sincerely, again, encourage you to sign our petition, which is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center, the SPLC. We’re calling for all ties to be severed. We are calling for an investigation into the SPLC’s role in influencing federal agents and federal agencies under previous administrations. And this includes, so important, the attempt to silence political opponents. Folks, this is an important petition. I want to encourage you to sign on to it. You can do so by simply texting the word SPLC. Text SPLC to 67742, and we’ll right away send a link to you to the petition. You can also find it at TonyPerkins.com. All right, as we come to our final segment, Congress is out. Probably some of you are thinking that’s usually good news. Congress is out right now, but nonetheless, there is no shortage of news this week. There are so many headlines coming at us that it can be easy for us just to hop from story to story to story. it would be easy for us sometimes to miss the significance of this avalanche of news that continues to come. So as Christians, we want to be very careful to pause, to step back, to analyze, and to evaluate the news as best as we can through a biblical lens. And that’s why we like to conclude each week here with a biblical worldview conversation on some of the news items that have popped up. So joining me now for that discussion is David Claussen. David, of course, is the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at the Family Research Council, and he’s author of the brand new book, Life After Row, equipping Christians for the fight for life today. David, thanks again, as always, for joining me. Always an honor. Happy Friday.
SPEAKER 12 :
Great to be with you, Jody.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, there is just seems like a wave of headlines that just demand our attention and the attention of believers across the board. So let’s just jump right into this. I want to start with one that we actually hit on earlier in the week and we dealt with. That has to do with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. oral arguments in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor. This is the case involving some Maryland parents who are pushing back against their children being required to participate in LGBTQ type instruction in public schools. So David, let’s begin with this one. Why is this such an important case? I think at least on the surface, we get it, but let’s go a
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, Jody, this is such a critical case because it goes to the very heart of parental rights and religious liberty. I think the oral arguments were on Wednesday, Wednesday morning, and actually Tuesday evening, I happened to be by the Supreme Court. I was leaving the Library of Congress, and a line was already beginning to form to go in the next morning. So there were people literally waiting 14, 15 hours, spending the night outside the court to get a seat. And I think that speaks… to the understanding, Jody, that this really is potentially a groundbreaking case here, the implications here for parents. And so like you said, this case originates not too far from where I am right now or where I live in Maryland out of Montgomery Public Schools. And these are parents of all faiths, Muslim, Jewish. We have Catholic and Protestant parents who have pushed back and have sued the school district for requiring, in the curriculum, these LGBT books. And you know what’s interesting, Jodi? Initially, the school district allowed an opt-out. They allowed the carve-out. But then they realized, in their view, that this might be stigmatizing to people who identify as LGBT. So then they got rid of the carve-out. And I think this is just so important, Jody, because we need to realize this isn’t just like high school sex ed. There are books that were being required to be read to three-year-olds, Jody. One of the books, and this was brought up in the oral arguments, is a book called Pride Puppy. Again, being read to three-year-olds. So again, this is just sinister indoctrination at such a young age. There’s a lot of precedent. Think about 50 years ago, the Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder, which allowed Amish parents rights over their children, recognizing that parents have rights over to direct their children’s lives and education. And so the decision that is expected in the next coming months, Jodi, this could be a game changer for parental rights and religious liberty. It’s something we all need to be paying attention to.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, so you hit it. That is the issue, and that’s the issue that I want to try to drive a little bit deeper here. What are some of the biblical principles, David, that are at stake when the state steps in and starts mandating moral instructions that contradict the convictions of Christian parents? What are the biblical principles here that we need to hang on to?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, Jody, this is fundamentally a question of authority and discipleship. As Christians, we believe in something that Abraham Kuyper articulated over 100 years ago, this idea of sphere sovereignty, that the way God has ordered the universe, that there are certain institutions that have delegated authority from God. Of course, you have the government, which has its sphere of authority. You have the church, which has its sphere of authority. But then also the most fundamental kind of building block of society is the family. And from a biblical worldview, we understand that the family is most foundational and the authority in that family is given to the parents for the upbringing and discipleship of their children. Deuteronomy 6 is the famous passage on this where it talks about the task to parents to teach their children God’s moral instruction when they rise up, when they walk along the path, when they lie down. It’s the parents’ responsibility. And then the New Testament, Ephesians 6, 4 is another important verse that talks about how parents are to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So again, as parents, we have that chief disciple-making responsibility. And I think, so this gets to the question, ultimately, who is sovereign over children? Who is sovereign over what they’re going to be taught is right and wrong, what is morally permissible and morally praiseworthy, what is morally forbidden? And I think this case gets to these questions, Jody, because is it allowable for a public school administrator and a teacher to be teaching things that are in direct violation of of the parents’ religious beliefs and moral opinions. And frankly, let’s just be honest, Jody, three-year-olds shouldn’t be reading Pride Puppy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, it’s insane. Absolute insanity. Well, there’s no doubt this is such a major issue for parents. It’s a major issue for religious liberties. And we’re going to be following this with a… hard grip very much. If I can, David, let me switch gears. I mentioned this as we were beginning the program about an hour or so ago, but there was some victory this week, a religious victory, a religious liberty victory with a professor from University of Louisville, Dr. Alan Josephson, who was awarded $1.6 million after being forced out, losing his job for his views on gender issues. identity. So it’s a little bit of good news coming out here. What does this say to others that may be finding themselves challenged with their positions that goes against the grain of where it is, wherever they may be working?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, Jody, this is eight years in the making. This goes all the way back to 2017. This is a really respected psychiatrist, someone who has won multiple awards in their field. And back in 2017, this doctor was appeared at an event with the Heritage Foundation, so one of our allied organizations, where they were talking about gender dysphoria and how to treat it, and especially for young children. And here’s the quote that got him in trouble. And again, this is a respected, articulate, very thoughtful person. This is not an agitator. This is not an activist by any means. On that panel, he just simply said, gender dysphoria is a sociocultural psychological phenomenon that cannot be fully addressed with drugs and surgery. Now, Jody, that is just patently true. And what was interesting, though, and I was living in Louisville at the time when I was finishing the coursework at Southern Seminary. This provoked an outrage on campus. The LGBT student group just kind of went crazy. You had other faculty members looking for ways to get their colleague in trouble. And ultimately the university didn’t renew his contract. And this was one of the first doctors to really publicly questioned gender identity for kids. And again, this, you know, Jodi seemed to be kind of mainstream, this idea that it was okay and permissible for gender transition surgeries and puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones And over the last couple of years, you’ve seen a significant pushback. In large part, this doctor helped get the ball rolling. We owe him some credit for this, Jody. And I think this just shows that when you push against the natural law for too long, it’s going to push back. And I hope this case will give encouragement to others who are thinking about speaking out. Because again, ultimately, as Christians, we know truth is on our side on this issue.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, great stuff. And, you know, I just commend Dr. Josephson’s courage, stepping up for the tenacity, sticking it out for eight years, and it’s proven right all along. So great. great victory there. Now, I want to shift yet again to something. You know, every week, David, there’s so much news that happens every week and more that we can ever get to, but there seems like there’s always something that’s just kind of riding under the radar, and this one is one of those. It deals more specifically with church news more broadly. The Presbyterian Church USA announced this week that it’s ending virtually all of its foreign missions, and they’re citing financial strain, declining membership. But from a theological perspective, what does this say about where the denomination stands, really? I mean, missions is like a pretty major part of Christianity.
SPEAKER 12 :
You’re right, Jody, and you would think so. And if you’re thinking about missions through a biblical worldview, it absolutely is. Christianity is inherently a conversionistic religion. We believe that you need to convert to the Christian faith, and that comes through evangelism. It comes through spreading the gospel, the good news that sinful men and women can be reconciled to a holy God through faith and repentance. This is a cautionary tale, Jody, what’s happened here with the Presbyterian Church USA. This is a denomination that kind of came together in 1983, united different factions of the more theologically progressive, theologically liberal wings of the Presbyterian Church. And what’s really interesting is this is a denomination that in the early 20th century, so I think 1920s, this is one of those mainline denominations that was one of the first to get embarrassed by some of the supernatural elements in the Bible. So think things like the virgin birth or Jesus’s miracles or a little resurrection. This is, think German higher criticism, things like this that began to downplay and then actually just reject whole cloth. any claims of supernatural authority. And what’s interesting, Jody, is the further that logic began to work itself out into the theology of this church, you can begin to downplay things like hell. Well, ultimately, if you don’t believe there’s hell, if you ultimately don’t believe that people are gonna be separated from God if they don’t repent of their sins, guess what? The impulse to go share the gospel, that’s increasingly not going to become a priority for your denomination or your church. And so it’s interesting, by the way, this is a denomination that has hemorrhaged over two million members in just the last decade or so. So it is true, they’re declining in numbers, they don’t have the budget that they used to. But what’s interesting, by the way, the missionaries they’ve had over the last decade or so are not kind of the missionaries I think most of our viewers on Watchers would assume. These are folks who have been sent out by the denomination to do things like interfaith dialogue facilitation or to promote social justice. So frankly, they haven’t been sharing the gospel for a long time. But I do think when this is a parable for us, when you as a denomination or a church begin to lose the authority of Scripture, you’re no longer going to see it as important to actually go share the gospel. And so missions is going to seem, you know, it’s going to be a peripheral thing to what you’re actually all about.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and when you come down to it, I mean, we all understand this. As you mentioned, Christianity is a conversionistic belief system. We must share the gospel, and we are commanded to share the gospel. The Great Commission is… heavy on our understanding as Christians that we must take the good news across the world. And to have a denomination like this, it’s a pretty dramatic departure from the Great Commission.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, Jody, it’s a massive departure from the Great Commission. But again, this is what mainline Protestantism has, this has been the story of multiple, really all seven major denominations in mainline Protestantism kind of reached their height in the 1950s. This is what happens when you disconnect from scripture. You eventually disconnect from Jesus’ mission that he gave the church. You become all about social justice. You become all about this other work that is actually not the primary focus that the Lord entrusted to the church. I think it is a cautionary tale for us because theological liberalism and the theological drift that comes, it doesn’t happen overnight. It is subtle. In some places, it’s imperceptible. But the consequences of it are very, very real. And so for those of us who go to churches that hold to the authority of Scripture, we need to continue to hold on to that because if you let the Bible go, pretty much you don’t have Christianity anymore. You have an entirely different religion.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And there are warning signs, warning signs of departure from biblical truth that we all need to be aware of because the consequences of those are enormous and eternal. David Claussen, Director at the Center for Biblical Worldview at FRC. As always, my friend, thank you for joining us and for putting a biblical perspective on the news of the week. Hope you have a great weekend.
SPEAKER 12 :
You too. Thank you, Jody.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, that wraps up yet another week of Washington Watch. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Shine brightly, and we’ll see you next week here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 17 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
