Dr. Carol Swain talks about the beauty of the hymns of the 17th, 18th, and 19th century, and shares her memories of growing up in poverty in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
00:12:38.480I was not a threat to anyone because I believed in good scholarship.
00:12:44.760And my first book won three national prizes, including the highest prize a political scientist can win.
00:12:51.880It was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and many lower court decisions.
00:12:57.220And so for a while, I basked in a lot of accolades from many of the people who were elites.
00:13:10.860The black faculty and black people have always had problems with me and my research because I didn't go through their ranks.
00:13:19.380So they, I don't know what Princeton would have done if they would have tenured me if I had been openly Christian.
00:13:28.440I like to believe that if my scholarship was the same scholarship, it would not have mattered because many of the people making the decisions were classical liberals.
00:13:37.460And classical liberals believe in free speech and thought.
00:13:41.540So I like to believe that they would have.
00:13:44.220But later, when I had my Christian conversion experience, that was towards the end of my time at Princeton.
00:13:53.320And as I grew in my faith, I became more and more conservative.
00:13:56.720And as you become more and more conservative, you become more and more obnoxious to the left.
00:14:02.760But by then, they had given me, they had given me that.
00:16:45.660Silence now as you come in the cradle, lest you awaken, little Jesus, ah, ah, beautiful days the mother's love, ah, ah, beautiful days the child.
00:17:01.960Skies are glowing, the heavens are cloudless bright, the path to the major bend.
00:17:08.220Face and follow and see little Jesus, shining bright as round and star, ah, ah, ah, ah, beautiful day is the child.
00:17:23.700Welcome back. It's Saturday, the eve of Christmas Eve.
00:17:41.540We're doing a Christmas Eve special as everyone will get off on Sunday this year, the traditional Christmas Eve.
00:17:48.920We'll have our Christmas special. Remember, every year we do the combat history of Christmas.
00:17:53.700We'll talk about American patriots that gave the ultimate sacrifice, whether Trenton with General Washington in 1776 or 1944 at Bastogne, the Battle of the Bulge, or at Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War and others.
00:18:09.900We'll also go to the Civil War this year. All of it. Patrick K. O'Donnell will join me.
00:18:16.380So, Dr. Swain, tell people about your Christian conversion, because you've been raised, I think, by a religious mother and you were spiritual, but then you rose to the top of academia on your own merits.
00:18:30.360But talk about your Christian conversion, and did that affect, did that impact the way that you were accepted in kind of the secular world of academia?
00:18:38.260I was actually raised in a home that we would consider unchurched.
00:18:46.680We only went to church, I can only remember, two or three times in my early life.
00:18:53.240But I had a grandmother who was a pastor's daughter, and I believe that she taught us, you know, the Lord's Prayer.
00:19:01.760I knew certain things about Christianity, and I got involved for a while with Jehovah's Witnesses, and then I left religion for 20-some years.
00:19:11.400So when Princeton hired me, I was more of an agnostic.
00:19:16.960I eventually studied New Age and Eastern religions, and I was kind of out there until I had a Christian conversion experience late in my life.
00:19:28.420By late, I mean it was in my 40s that I started having experiences that led me to seek again, and it culminated with the Christian conversion experience probably around my mid-40s.
00:19:48.960And I used to be painfully shy, so shy that if someone asked me my name, I'd forget it.
00:19:54.340I had an opportunity to be on Good Morning America.
00:19:56.840I turned it down because I was afraid.
00:19:59.960And after I had the conversion experience, God impressed on my mind that he had given me a message bigger than me and that he was the only person I had to please.
00:20:12.720And Lou Dobbs, at the time, Lou Dobbs Tonight, he was the one that gave me my first national TV break in 2007.
00:20:23.220I was a paid contributor for CNN, and Lou said he would give me a megaphone for my voice.
00:20:31.060I was not very good, but I was saying things that no one else was saying.
00:20:35.620What was it about Christianity coming into your life and accepting our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as your Savior that changed you as a person in the outside world?
00:23:03.440And I want to thank you so much for sharing Christmas Eve or the Saturday before Christmas Eve, but for a special.
00:23:10.180After you were a child, because you came from hard poverty and so just had these very simple things of Christmas.
00:23:16.480But later on, when you were successful in the material world, how is Christmas today different now that you've been saved by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and you've accepted him into your heart than it was when you were materialistically very successful, but living in the living with a different center of gravity?
00:23:35.680I mean, I did not do a lot of celebration of Christmas until after I had my Christian conversion experience and I became involved with the church and when my mother came to live with me because that was her holiday.
00:23:52.120And I like the fact that the season forces us to think about Christ, his birth, his coming into the world and how he changed the world.
00:24:03.140And it gives us an opportunity to pause for a few days.
00:24:08.880And that is something that is important to me.
00:24:12.800All of us are so busy, but to take the time to pause.
00:24:16.860And then as far as people out there who watch your show and some of them, I'm sure, conservatives who are atheists or secular humanists, they don't believe that there is a God.
00:24:28.020I really hope that those people will actually give themselves an opportunity to reflect on Christianity and how it's impacted our lives over the centuries.
00:24:41.640And I have always challenged unbelievers to for them to just ask the simple question, to ask God, to give them, if you're real, sincerely ask this question, if you are real, then give me what I need to believe, because God has a way of getting your attention.
00:25:06.180He gets your attention in dramatic ways if you're sincere.
00:25:39.400And, you know, click on the book book link.
00:25:41.780Or if you want to know more about me, read the bio.
00:25:44.100And then I have BBE, thepeoplenews.com.
00:25:48.960And I post my media appearances, such as this interview will be posted there at some point.
00:25:56.400And I am very, very active on Twitter.
00:25:59.240Today, well, I'm just active on Twitter.
00:26:02.740And so if people want to know what I'm up to, they can go there.
00:26:06.900During the holidays, I plan to limit myself, hopefully, to my daily devotionals.
00:26:12.840About six weeks ago, I started posting daily devotionals.
00:26:17.880I plan to do that throughout the holiday.
00:26:20.820And I believe that that is my ministry now, that I just don't want to focus on politics.
00:26:28.140Because if you just focus on politics, it's so distressing.
00:26:32.040I also don't believe that politics alone can solve our nation's problems or the world's problems, that we really do need a spiritual revival.
00:27:25.920Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
00:27:52.520Born a king on Bethlehem's plain, call I bring to crown him again.
00:28:00.780King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.
00:28:07.840Oh, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding,
00:28:18.260Are you tired of progressive corporations and exhausted trying to keep up with all the virtue signaling when you're simply trying to buy products?
00:28:28.220Progressive corporate America continues to push messaging that further alienates conservative Americans, all while eroding the future of the American dream.
00:29:24.900Public Square is an app and website where you can get connected to tens of thousands of businesses from all different industries that share your value for life, family, and freedom.
00:29:35.720Whether you're looking to buy coffee, find a new athletic clothing that knows what a woman is, and shop for clean skin care,
00:29:42.900or simply find a new restaurant in your community that won't lecture you about your political views, publicsq.com is your resource.
00:29:50.880Public Square also offers discounts to many high-quality businesses on the platform so that you can actually receive incentive for spending money with companies that don't hate you.
00:30:02.300Public Square is free to join as a consumer or a business owner, and you can get started today at publicsq.com.
00:30:10.480Remember, either as a consumer or a business owner, download the app now.