Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Churches Are PACKED Again… Here's Why

00:00:00.000 What happened to her?

00:00:01.000 From the studio that brought you weapons

00:00:03.000 and producers James Wan and Blumhouse

00:00:06.000 What was our daughter doing in a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus?

00:00:10.000 Comes a terrifying new vision.

00:00:12.000 KT was meant to stay buried.

00:00:15.000 What really happened to her?

00:00:17.000 She's different.

00:00:20.000 I just want my daughter back.

00:00:24.000 Lee Crumman's The Mummy.

00:00:26.000 Only in theaters April 17th.

00:00:30.000 turns out the most counter-cultural move today might just be the oldest one

00:00:38.740 loving god telling the truth and refusing to apologize for it it is holy week in america

00:00:45.260 happy easter to you guys actually today happy good friday to you guys uh this day is special

00:00:50.800 of course just commemorating the crucifixion of christ uh and his death at calvary for us

00:00:57.600 sinners to be made new. And oh my goodness, aren't we so glad for it? Of course, undeserving,

00:01:03.680 but nonetheless, grateful. Look, I love this time of year. Obviously, the importance and the meaning

00:01:10.220 of Easter and just kind of relishing in the symbolism of our sins being washed away. But

00:01:17.120 also the weather, although I will say it's kind of getting me right now. So right beside me, I have

00:01:21.500 uh what is this nasal mist theraflu nasal mist and i have a theraflu drink here i'm dying i've just

00:01:30.140 been sneezing and and all the things that come with blooming of the flowers which i've talked

00:01:36.120 about this before but my husband and i we are flower farmers we live on a flower farm it is 12

00:01:41.240 acres of beautiful day lilies oh my gosh it is so amazing they're all starting to bloom

00:01:45.760 our tulips it is just remarkable and so i think that's contributing to the stuffiness that i feel

00:01:52.000 uh it's also close to my birthday uh actually my birthday has fallen on easter a few times

00:01:58.240 it's towards the end of the month and i think the uh just how special it is having margo now

00:02:04.740 of course this is her first easter uh our last episode we talked about how she's six months old

00:02:10.660 Now she has the cutest little Easter outfit. What are our plans this year? We plan on, of course, going to church. We have to go very, very early because there are absolutely no seats otherwise. I'll say my church in Tennessee, it's long hollow. It is fantastic. It is a Bible believing church with a Bible believing and preaching pastor, which is very, very rare. And what we plan on getting into in today's episode, the seats are filled.

00:02:39.120 So we're going to go to the early service, I believe, attend church, come home, we're going to have a big Easter lunch, we're going to have a egg hunt. We always do this. This is, you know, you kind of graduate out of it once you go to high school and college, and you don't get to search for the golden egg anymore. But now that we have Margo, we get to participate in the egg hunt again. And so I'm so excited about this.

00:03:04.060 So lots of fun traditions and things to look forward to this time of year.

00:03:08.140 And I hope you guys enjoy my, I guess, advice going into Easter is to put your phone down.

00:03:14.740 I promise you nothing is as important on that phone than spending time in reflection, spending time with family, understanding the purpose and the meaning behind Easter, how it shapes our life, not just here on this earth, but eternity, where we will spend the rest of eternity.

00:03:32.660 Really powerful stuff.

00:03:33.460 So put your phone down. As I talked about today, it's a faith-centric episode. I was doing some digging and some research onto what we're seeing across the board, whether that's domestically or globally, as it pertains to faith.

00:03:48.460 And I was astounded to learn that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are going to church more.

00:03:56.420 A growing number of young adults are turning back to their faith.

00:04:00.600 I've got a video on screen here.

00:04:03.900 There's B-roll playing of actually, I believe this is in Greenwich Village.

00:04:09.000 This is St. Joseph's Church.

00:04:11.240 Look at this.

00:04:11.840 You see lines outside of the door and standing room only for masses.

00:04:17.280 That's really powerful.

00:04:18.460 And I think we've talked about this again on the podcast before, but it's something that we saw really following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, how young people were turning out in droves, very clearly looking to fill a void that was there, I believe.

00:04:35.260 And so looking at some of these stats here, it says that two-thirds of Gen Z identify as spiritual, religious, and believing in a higher power.

00:04:45.320 Even 10% who rarely attend services still acclaim this.

00:04:49.460 A majority believe in the supernatural and report personal miracles in their own life.

00:04:54.780 Here it says that overall U.S. belief remains high.

00:04:57.720 86% in a soul slash spirit.

00:05:00.480 83% believe in a God or a universal spirit. And so outside of just looking at the attendance of

00:05:09.380 this, what I have noticed in my daily life, of course, it has been a passion, a priority of

00:05:15.060 mine. Actually, it's why I'm in Denver right now to put myself in front of young people going on

00:05:20.660 campuses, high school campuses, college campuses in Denver tonight. It's a collection of a bunch

00:05:27.600 of high school students in Denver who either have Club America chapters, Turning Point chapters

00:05:33.620 on their high school campus or high schools that have been denied by their administration to have

00:05:39.400 such. We're just going to have a big meeting with all of us. And so what I have noticed in doing

00:05:44.760 this, traveling the country coast to coast, border to border, you know, smaller private Christian

00:05:49.580 schools, but also going to Ivy Leagues, everything in between. What I have noticed is it's not just

00:05:56.320 the attendance or the showing up, there is a real deep set commitment. And we're seeing this,

00:06:03.540 what the statistics show us, especially highlighted and showcased by young men.

00:06:09.160 Young men are now out attending young women for the first time in decades. It's the widest gender

00:06:13.620 gap in 25 years. So I guess the bigger question here is why? Why are we seeing this heightened

00:06:19.180 attendance and commitment to practicing Christianity in today's political, social,

00:06:24.760 cultural climate, right? Very elite, very urban, very secular. AI is running rampant. Social media

00:06:32.240 usage by kids who should absolutely not be accessing or utilizing social media. I'm talking

00:06:37.480 middle schoolers. Why is this happening? My opinion here is that now practicing Christianity

00:06:45.920 is the counterculture, right? I think there's an innate desire, especially in younger people,

00:06:52.500 think high school, think college especially, to rebel, to go against the status quo. I think

00:06:58.780 that's a large part, truthfully, of why President Donald J. Trump is now in the Oval Office. We saw

00:07:04.540 Gen Z turnout for him, especially young men. It was going against the status quo. It was the

00:07:10.640 rebellious thing to do. And I think that's the same thing with young people now attending church.

00:07:14.880 They're rebelling against, I guess, our culture with tradition, against performative online life.

00:07:24.240 They're now rooting themselves in what is good, what is true, what is moral.

00:07:28.820 It's kind of like the whole it's cool because it's uncool type of thing.

00:07:33.000 And ironically enough, what I see on my algorithms, maybe it's because I typically engage with Christian, conservative content creators and things that are being put online.

00:07:47.020 But what I see in my algorithm is that TikTok and the likes thereof, they amplify this.

00:07:53.260 I see all the time this short form Christian content going viral.

00:07:58.400 It's drawing youth to in-person worship.

00:08:02.060 And I think Gen Z is a generation who is beginning to push back and ask questions, right? No longer going along to get along, whether that's vaccines. I think COVID was a large part in that we were pushed so far that now we're beginning to use our brains and to critically think. I saw it as a new mom with the newborn vaccines. Of course, that is the route my husband and I took.

00:08:25.060 we started questioning. We didn't go with what has been the standard for many, many decades now.

00:08:30.700 We push back. We're seeing a young generation of people willing to do that. Again, we're

00:08:35.820 critically thinking we have existential questions that we're realizing that no algorithm can answer.

00:08:43.180 AI can't answer these questions, questions about soul and purpose and consciousness and morality.

00:08:49.640 This world where everything can be so fake and generated and not authentic at all, that makes the supernatural feel more real. Miracles, again, whether personal or witnessed, they kind of become anchors in our life.

00:09:10.420 Let's kind of look at this post-Charlie Kirk assassination world, right?

00:09:16.380 You have A.D., you have B.C.

00:09:19.560 In my lifetime, I think we have pre-Charlie Kirk and post-Charlie Kirk assassination.

00:09:25.000 Barna actually found that 22% of Gen Z became more spiritually active.

00:09:30.080 Clearly, they were looking for, again, that void to be filled.

00:09:35.020 And I think a lot of that is dependent on social media.

00:09:38.500 It is no shock that social media, especially amongst usage of younger people, that correlates

00:09:44.940 with anxiety and depression and just feelings of isolation.

00:09:51.300 Well, faith communities, they deliver what apps cannot.

00:09:55.700 It is unconditional belonging.

00:09:58.100 It is accountability, which I think is really, really important.

00:10:00.560 People who can tell you where you're right or where you're wrong.

00:10:03.900 And these faith communities, they deliver hope and inspiration and encouragement about the future.

00:10:11.920 And when we're talking about the gender gap that I mentioned, in looking at young men especially, they seek structure.

00:10:20.300 They seek that biblical masculinity.

00:10:23.140 You have to remember that men are genetically encoded to be the protectors and to be the providers, which, of course, is a biblical role for men to fill.

00:10:32.000 And these young men, young men and women, but I think young men especially, they're searching for purpose amid these cultural narratives that often demonize it.

00:10:43.100 I don't know much about Gen Alpha.

00:10:45.400 Well, I do.

00:10:46.420 I have a younger sister.

00:10:47.740 She's 17.

00:10:48.900 She was born in 2008.

00:10:50.920 I don't know what that makes her.

00:10:51.820 I don't really know when Gen Alpha starts.

00:10:53.400 I guess I should have looked it up.

00:10:54.980 um i know that me and my sister are we're very similar in the things of course that we care

00:11:00.560 about and the beliefs that we have but we're very different uh even her attending high school now

00:11:06.140 she's a as i said a junior in high school uh oh my gosh she comes home and like the lingo and the

00:11:12.780 verbiage that she used it makes me feel so incredibly old i had this realization the other

00:11:17.500 day that i have been out of high school for eight years meaning i started high school 12 years ago

00:11:23.820 I feel like I'm too young to say I did anything 12 years ago.

00:11:28.000 Anyways, in looking at kind of the Gen Alpha angle to faith, I think these are kids who are like digital natives from birth, really the first generation to be that.

00:11:40.000 But even still, they're already showing spiritual curiosity, whether that's through parental influence, whether that's early exposure to trad aesthetics online.

00:11:51.520 And I think that's a pretty big mantle for Gen Z to carry. If we can be the ones to normalize

00:11:57.260 faith in public life, then maybe Gen Alpha will treat it as default rather than rebellion. I guess

00:12:05.340 in short here, secularism's grand experiment has failed my generation. We were promised endless

00:12:12.960 choice. We were promised self-expression and progress via technology and social media and

00:12:18.460 all these fantastic innovations. But really what it delivered was loneliness and comparison culture

00:12:25.080 that I think especially affects young women and our bodies and the lifestyle. And it's created

00:12:31.400 vacuums. Turns out constant connectivity really created profound disconnection, right? AI and

00:12:39.480 social media, they act as false gods, if you will, promising fulfillment, but really only delivering

00:12:45.420 fluff and emptiness. But Christianity steps in with timeless truth and ritual beauty and real

00:12:54.920 community, offering what the secular digital age just explicitly cannot. It's forgiveness,

00:13:04.640 it's grace, it's mercy, it's transcendence, it's righteousness and morality and eternal perspective,

00:13:11.840 which I talked about. We can't even wrap our minds around it as human beings, especially as

00:13:16.880 young people, what eternity looks like and the option of spending eternity with never-ending

00:13:24.260 suffering and punishment in a place, a very real place called hell, or the opportunity to stand

00:13:30.660 alongside Christ, our creator, in a beautiful and glorious place called heaven. I guess bottom line

00:13:37.780 here is we're witnessing in real time, not just a full-blown national revival, but a targeted,

00:13:45.360 committed resurgence among people who are seeking substance. Churches that lean into

00:13:51.580 liturgy and doctrine and community events and digital outreach, ironically, are winning.

00:13:58.100 The data shows it. Again, you saw the video that we put up, the lines at St. Joseph's. I have seen

00:14:03.160 in my own personal life. I would imagine many of you have too, how seats in your church's pews

00:14:08.060 are not empty. They're filled with people. All the spiritual stats really point to the same truth.

00:14:14.800 And it's that Gen Z, is it rejecting faith? They're rediscovering why humanity never really

00:14:22.320 outgrew it. So the need here is for pastors. I think a large part of where we are socially

00:14:29.080 is because pastors have become complacent. They have not been willing to speak to the cultural

00:14:35.920 issues of today. What I've noticed is that successful pastors in the year 2025, 2026,

00:14:42.940 really, I believe, post-pandemic, they're speaking to the issues that we care about.

00:14:49.240 Mental health and loneliness as core, sermons on identity and anxiety and biblical friendship

00:14:56.240 and purpose. At Gen Z, we don't just want the cool and trendy pastors. We want adults,

00:15:04.400 spiritual leaders who invest and create belonging, and they bridge this online discovery to

00:15:10.660 then offline community. Again, a perfect example of that is my church. My pastor's name is Robbie

00:15:17.340 Gallaty. Again, just so good. I would encourage you, if you don't have a good church that you

00:15:23.120 go to in person and you don't live around the Tennessee area, I would encourage you to check

00:15:28.040 out his sermons. Again, Long Hollow Church. He started a YouTube channel with his son maybe like

00:15:33.440 a month or so ago. It already has 30,000 subscribers. And he said online this was just a

00:15:39.780 way for him and his son to do something together. 30,000 subscribers in a pretty short amount of

00:15:44.780 time. People are desperate. Young people especially are desperate for truth and real and good. I hope

00:15:52.540 we see this momentum continue on down the road. And truthfully, I think we will, because for the

00:15:58.200 first time, based on what I'm seeing on the ground, and based on the stats that I've shared with you

00:16:03.020 guys, and many more that exist online, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, we are showing up, we are arriving,

00:16:08.040 sometimes for the first time in our lives, hungry, and pastors who listen and who read the Bible and

00:16:13.960 preach the Bible, speak the truth, live the truth, know the truth, they are the ones who are feeding

00:16:18.180 us. I want to tell you guys about cozy earth. If you're watching at youtube.com, which I hope you

00:16:24.440 are, you can see I've got their classic cuddle blanket right here. I tell you guys every Friday

00:16:29.780 that I have two of these. I really do. This one stays up here with me in this room because it's

00:16:34.400 cold in my house and I have another one downstairs on our couch in the living room. They are so soft.

00:16:39.840 They're perfectly weighted. We have one of their comforters on our bed, uh, breathable. Um, they

00:16:44.980 help you actually rest at night and i am wearing this is another product placement um unintentional

00:16:52.780 by the way i am wearing cozy earth essential socks that are so comfortable from your very first step

00:16:58.120 in the morning to your last at the end of the day they have thought thought through every single

00:17:02.160 detail um so if you want to check them out which i hope you do again look my feet are on screen

00:17:09.100 i hope you're not one of those weird feet people they're covered up in cozy earth socks you should

00:17:13.900 go to CozyEarth.com. You can use my code GAINS, G-A-I-N-E-S, for up to 20% off. And if you take

00:17:21.000 the post-purchase survey, make sure you mention that you heard about it here at the Riley Gains

00:17:25.700 Show. I believe they also have a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty. Promise you,

00:17:31.420 you will not need it. Again, CozyEarth.com, code GAINS. If you needed another example about how

00:17:38.280 an open proclamation of faith is actually desired and profitable at that, then look no further than

00:17:44.600 American Idol, which is streamed by ABC, by the way. They just had their second annual Songs of

00:17:50.760 Faith Night, a full-themed faith episode on primetime network TV. What this consisted of

00:17:58.000 was contestants and judges, actually, performing personally meaningful songs tied to belief and

00:18:05.940 to spirituality, and to the inspiration that they draw from their faith.

00:18:11.000 The episode, we're going to play a few clips.

00:18:13.500 It featured just unapologetically Christian music, including even modern worship tracks.

00:18:21.060 Songs like Gratitude was sung by a boy from my hometown.

00:18:25.460 I was actually good friends with his sister growing up.

00:18:27.840 His name is Lucas Leon.

00:18:29.280 This is the top 14 now.

00:18:31.320 So we are cheering for him.

00:18:32.740 Let's watch a little clip here.

00:18:34.000 from executive producer taylor sheridan try to keep up let's go a new era of yellowstone begins

00:18:41.160 welcome to the u.s marshals casey dutton is back on paramount plus i'm changing paths

00:18:47.280 try to find a new beginning and with an elite unit of u.s marshals he's bringing range justice

00:18:52.660 to montana yellowstone might be gone there's still some landmines left behind spinning already cowboy

00:18:59.180 Luke Grimes stars in Marshall's new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.

00:19:04.460 So good.

00:19:13.820 They also played the song, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, other classics.

00:19:17.460 There was a child preacher who even opened with prayer, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.

00:19:23.860 They opened the show by performing Jesus is Love.

00:19:27.920 Carrie Underwood, she closed powerfully with How Great Thou Art.

00:19:32.560 She is so good.

00:19:34.180 And her legs, her legs, come on, Carrie Underwood's legs.

00:19:38.160 I aspire to look like her, have the muscle definition at the age.

00:19:43.560 She's not old, but she's incredible.

00:19:45.800 And you have to remember Carrie Underwood, she also sang at President Trump's inauguration.

00:19:51.400 She took a lot of backlash for that at the time.

00:19:54.740 But anyways, nonetheless, this display from the judges that marked the first time that judges took the stage this season, of course, signaling bold buy in from the panel.

00:20:07.340 And what we saw following this was an unprecedented audience response and just voting overload.

00:20:14.340 overload. It was the first time this season that voting went fully live with, I think,

00:20:19.360 five different ways to vote, including a new social media voting system. So commenting on

00:20:25.000 Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, plus websites and texts, Ryan Seacrest announced that tens of

00:20:31.840 millions of votes flooded in at a rate they had never seen before, which he said was truly

00:20:36.760 unprecedented. The volume was actually so massive that producers couldn't tally the results

00:20:43.300 accurately in real time. And so for the first time in the show's 24-year history, eliminations

00:20:50.140 were delayed, meaning that no one was sent home that night. It shocked Ryan Seacrest visibly. It

00:20:55.940 shocked the judges. It shocked the contestants. It shocked the public watching. So voting will

00:21:01.060 be continued, I think, into the next episode. I mentioned this today because, again, number one,

00:21:08.600 And to highlight, I guess, the juxtaposition from the single network ABC itself, on one

00:21:14.980 hand, you have Jimmy Kimmel, whose ratings and viewership is down the tank.

00:21:21.980 I think a lot of that stems from really, again, from what I have noticed, I could be wrong

00:21:27.500 here, but just based on what I have seen following COVID, where we lived in this super hyper

00:21:33.860 politicized time, we saw the response that Jimmy Kimmel gave following the assassination of Charlie

00:21:39.860 Kirk, saying that his assassin was a MAGA voter. And of course, with Trump in office, Jimmy Kimmel

00:21:47.340 just can't resist himself. So to see ABC doing this, I was pleasantly surprised. Just a few years

00:21:54.260 ago, overt faith content on major network TV risked backlash or being labeled controversial. But

00:22:02.260 what we saw based on the voting and the viewership is that people want this. They responded with

00:22:08.580 record engagement. Producers realized that embracing the audience values instead of talking

00:22:14.080 down to them delivers measurable proof of demand. And again, that's ultimately what is profitable

00:22:22.640 to the network. It is so beautiful and meaningful. And it all like truthfully, like brings tears to

00:22:28.660 my eyes, partially because of how good their voices are. Anytime I hear someone even singing

00:22:34.040 the national anthem, who is just like incredible, it like, I can't help but have tears. If I could

00:22:41.140 sing like that, I would never speak again. Actually, I would just sing everything. This

00:22:46.920 show every Wednesday and Friday at 10am Eastern, you would hear me singing it, I would not be

00:22:52.060 talking it. So there's a part of me that is envious of their beautiful voices. And it brings

00:22:57.360 tears to my eyes, but more so you see how moved they are individually by singing, declaring,

00:23:05.460 worshiping in the way that they were on stage. And the symbolism of this being during Holy Week

00:23:10.120 and at a time when worship music, music in general, but especially worship music is reaching

00:23:15.180 more Americans than ever. Really awesome to see ABC not shying away, but instead leaning in.

00:23:22.360 You could ask yourself, are they doing this because they know they could profit from it?

00:23:27.360 Probably just as any business operates, it's about the money and it kind of has to be again

00:23:33.120 to operate as a successful business.

00:23:35.520 To a degree, you do have to create profit, generate revenue.

00:23:40.260 I understand that.

00:23:41.140 So maybe, but nonetheless, it's what the audience wanted.

00:23:43.820 It's what people wanted.

00:23:45.540 I wish the judges and the producers of American Idol could sit down and talk with the women

00:23:49.620 of The View, who insist on this incessant narrative that it's reckless to tell people,

00:23:59.300 young women, to have children. They came after this week, Isabel Brown, who has been on the

00:24:04.940 show before. If you haven't seen that episode, you should go back and watch it because a lot

00:24:09.040 of what we talked about pertaining to family, the beauty of it, the necessity of it, the urgency

00:24:15.540 of it. We talked about in that episode, that's what The View came after her for. Specifically,

00:24:21.700 it's for this clip of her on CPAC, the speech that she shared there. Let's watch it.

00:24:25.840 If you're not encouraging your children to grow up and have the courage to get married and have

00:24:30.800 kids, more kids than they can afford before they think they're ready, it is high time to start.

00:24:35.820 The controversial take, Isabel shared, of rejecting anti-family propaganda and to embrace

00:24:42.060 traditional values. The values that were default, by the way, for the majority of America's 250

00:24:48.200 years, I would say bar the last two decades, like the default position by both political parties and

00:24:55.260 getting married and having children. Isabel talked about ditching the dating apps and ditching birth

00:25:02.120 control, slow release poison, having more kids than you can afford before you feel financially

00:25:08.080 ready, which I would imagine there are many of you who can attest to this because it's pretty

00:25:12.720 standard across the board. You're never really ready to have kids. There's never a perfect time.

00:25:18.940 You can wait and wait and wait and get older and older and older and climb the ladder. There's

00:25:21.780 never a perfect time to have children. And she framed it as courageous, the courageous path to

00:25:27.680 save the country and find real meaning and purpose. But the views attacks, of course,

00:25:34.920 they're relentless. Sonny Hauston called it really reckless amid the affordability crisis.

00:25:41.340 You have Sarah Haynes, who said that Isabel's mindset was, it wraps a woman's worth up in her

00:25:48.980 ovaries. Oh, now suddenly they know that women have ovaries. That is a pretty telling revelation

00:25:55.720 from Sarah Haynes. You've got Whoopi Goldberg, who slammed the hypocrisy of targeting Family

00:26:01.680 foundation who tried to paint isabel as a racist i i don't honestly understand the connection here

00:26:07.300 let's watch that clip they used to come after women of color and accuse women of color of doing

00:26:15.280 this very thing this is what they do they call you some sort of derogatory term such as a racist

00:26:21.360 which is an objectively horrible thing to be called uh they call you a racist for suggesting

00:26:25.800 that marriage and having children and building your legacy out in that way is actually a good

00:26:31.260 thing. You have Whitney Cummings who took, I believe the lowest blow and mocking Isabel who

00:26:37.760 has a one-year-old by saying, just wait until your kid is up and walking and you spend most

00:26:41.900 of your day trying to get your baby's shoes on. Then she goes on to say, maybe let's check in

00:26:47.140 with your boobs in a few years and see if you still want a lot more kids. Oh my gosh, what an

00:26:53.340 raging narcissist you have to be for that to come out of your mouth. Let's check in with your boobs

00:26:59.160 to see if you want more kids. Maybe a joke. Even still, that panel, what they did was they

00:27:04.320 painted traditional motherhood as regressive and outdated and dangerous for women. They said it

00:27:10.480 several times on the panel saying, you know, this is taking us back in time. This is outdated. We've

00:27:14.940 worked past this. But the irony in the hypocrisy of this is that every single host on that panel

00:27:21.040 has children. Sunny has two. Sarah has three. Whoopi Goldberg has one child. Whitney has a

00:27:26.960 child. Anna Navarro has four stepchildren. They're telling young women, don't do what we did while

00:27:33.200 enjoying the very families that they now are discouraging. And if you know Isabel and you

00:27:38.780 know her takes, then Isabel very much is of the stance of you can do both. She's not telling women

00:27:43.720 they shouldn't have a career. She's saying that you can prioritize your family, have a family,

00:27:48.240 start it young while also enjoying a career, especially when it provides flexibility and

00:27:53.960 support to where you can enjoy your family. The view understands that because they're doing it

00:27:58.180 too. I think they agree on that aspect, maybe. But actually, based on their comments, it seems

00:28:04.880 that the panel only supports choice when it aligns with their secular worldview, which it should be

00:28:11.940 a pretty good litmus test. Anything that the women of the views say, consider doing the opposite,

00:28:18.260 right? I don't like to take that hard line approach, but just consider it. Use your brain.

00:28:22.740 Think about what the opposite may be and the outcome that it may provide, because they tend to be on the wrong side a lot of these issues, especially as it pertains to women.

00:28:32.740 And I will say Sonny Haas in saying that, you know, economic fears, sure, inflation and housing, absolutely, they are real. And I'm not here to discount or discredit that. But the view, what they did there was they used that as a cover to push the same cultural script that has fueled the loneliness epidemic, an epidemic that, or an entire generation of young women, especially, that are riddled with depression and anxiety and attention disorders, right?

00:29:01.120 delay your marriage. Kids are for self-actualization. Treat motherhood as

00:29:05.940 optional or oppressive, even. They fame faith and tradition, such as traditional families,

00:29:12.900 as the enemy. But I guess here's my hot take. And specifically, I want to speak to Whitney

00:29:19.260 Cummings here, talking about, you know, Isabel's, her one-year-old sleep schedule and boobs in a

00:29:25.140 year. Guess what? That hits a little different when you're a mom yourself. Shout out.

00:29:31.120 To Margo, can you hear her over there? I've been through the early motherhood trenches. I'm here to say that those days, yes, exhausting. Yes, they are tiresome. Yes, they're hard. But they're the exact season that builds that unbreakable bond and purpose and joy.

00:29:52.440 Dismissing young moms as naive, it's not empowerment.

00:29:55.760 It's elite condescension from women who have already reaped the blessings of family.

00:30:02.300 These ladies had their kids, and now they want to gatekeep that joy for the rest of us.

00:30:06.920 That's what it seems like.

00:30:08.000 The women of The View scream, my body, my choice for abortion, but they flip to it's a reckless choice the second that a young woman or a mom chooses marriage and motherhood.

00:30:19.360 And Isabel, I believe she nailed it.

00:30:20.680 she came back and said, they're only pro-choice when it fits the anti-traditional script.

00:30:25.640 This is the same liquid modernity exhaustion that is driving Gen Z to church. Screens promised

00:30:34.900 freedom, but they delivered emptiness. Faith and marriage and motherhood and tradition,

00:30:41.420 it offers the counter, again, community and legacy and meaning beyond career metrics.

00:30:48.600 And for the record, Gen Z is done being lectured by elites, especially when talking about motherhood

00:30:54.120 and marriage, childless elites who talk about oppression while sitting on a stage and raking

00:31:01.100 in millions of dollars. We are choosing faith. We are choosing family. We are choosing fruitfulness.

00:31:06.520 And it is working. And one more story I wanted to touch on that happened over the weekend

00:31:10.240 talking about faith is Jaden Ivey. So for context, I'm sure you heard the story, but for context,

00:31:15.840 the Chicago Bulls, they waved guard Jaden Ivey on March 30th, citing conduct detrimental to the

00:31:23.500 team. This was just weeks after trading for the former, I think, fifth overall pick from Detroit.

00:31:30.200 Reports detailed his, what they say, preachy behavior post-conversion to Christianity,

00:31:35.740 like asking reporters if they had fornicated before marriage, labeling teammates as righteous

00:31:40.940 or unrighteous. He had been on Instagram lives, criticizing NBA's Pride Month as promoting

00:31:47.080 unrighteousness. The coach, Billy Donovan, he emphasized professionalism and respect amid

00:31:54.420 Ivy's season ending knee injury and knee injury and post waiver live where he questioned the move

00:32:03.240 and mentioned suicidal thoughts. So it seems to be that this is someone who struggles with

00:32:07.580 mental health. But anyways, that decision that we have seen to waive Ivy, a devout Christian,

00:32:13.820 based on what we can concur online and the actions and the words that he says,

00:32:19.080 this decision, it fueled splits with some seeing anti-Christian bias. Other people are noting,

00:32:27.160 I guess, devout NBA players succeed without disruption. Let's watch a quick video here.

00:32:32.920 For me, as a Christian, as a born-again Christian who believes in Jesus Christ, right, I can proclaim the truth.

00:32:43.480 So my conduct was not detrimental to the team.

00:32:47.160 It's strictly because I spoke the truth of the word of God and was preaching the gospel.

00:32:55.680 So you heard him. He says they proclaim Pride Month in the NBA.

00:32:58.560 They show it to the world.

00:33:00.060 They say, come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.

00:33:03.580 He says they proclaim it on the billboards and they proclaim it on the streets.

00:33:07.780 And for that, for that stance, he was labeled as anti-LGBTQ, which bothers me because why

00:33:14.480 is it always these comments are anti-LGBTQ as opposed to pro-Christian, pro-Bible-believing

00:33:23.280 Christian comments?

00:33:25.260 And again, to hear that he was waived for, as described, conduct detrimental to the team,

00:33:31.920 which is so rich considering the league is filled with players.

00:33:35.200 I can think of many.

00:33:36.600 I've actually done some research.

00:33:37.640 I'll share with you guys many players who have charges of domestic violence and child

00:33:43.120 abuse, yet they weren't waived from their team.

00:33:46.040 Let's take Miles Bridges, for example.

00:33:47.920 The incident, he was arrested in June of 2022 on felony domestic violence charges.

00:33:53.360 So he injured the mother of his children while his children were present in front of them.

00:33:58.960 So he also had two felony counts of child abuse after this alleged assault.

00:34:03.480 He pleaded no contest to the felony domestic violence charge.

00:34:07.460 The child abuse charges were later dropped.

00:34:10.400 He did not suffer a contract being waived.

00:34:14.660 He had a short suspension, but is currently fully active and playing regularly for the Hornets in the 2025-2026 season.

00:34:24.200 Kevin Porter, he was arrested.

00:34:26.120 He plays for the Bucks now.

00:34:27.800 He's a guard or forward.

00:34:29.240 He was arrested in September of 2023 on felony assault and strangulation charges after an alleged domestic violence attack on his then girlfriend, who is also a former WNBA player in a New York hotel.

00:34:41.680 He pled guilty to this misdemeanor assault and harassment in 2024.

00:34:46.580 He went through his court-ordered treatment.

00:34:49.480 He had his criminal record cleared in early 2025.

00:34:53.240 He had a four-game suspension.

00:34:55.260 That said, he's active now on the Bucs roster.

00:34:57.920 Actually, I think he's in a multi-year deal.

00:35:00.560 He's been a productive player this season,

00:35:03.520 but I think he's sidelined now with a knee injury.

00:35:06.560 One more to share with you.

00:35:07.520 Jackson Hayes, he's the center for the Lakers.

00:35:10.140 He was arrested in July of 2021 on domestic violence charges. He had an altercation or alleged altercation with his then girlfriend. Video surfaced. He was pushing and spitting. No contest plea to misdemeanor, false imprisonment, imprisonment and resisting an officer.

00:35:26.500 he had three years probation he had to participate in weekly domestic violence classes there was a

00:35:33.000 civil lawsuit but was ultimately dismissed he had no additional suspension or discipline beyond the

00:35:39.220 criminal plea he did have a it was a total separate incident he had a one-game suspension in

00:35:45.800 February of this year 2026 for shoving a mascot but not for shoving his then girlfriend he's still

00:35:54.040 on the LA Lakers roster and is active in this season. So I guess the point that I want to make

00:35:59.460 here is that proclaiming the word of God, what the Bible says, it's not what Jay Nivey says.

00:36:06.920 He is the messenger. He's proclaiming what the Bible says. That results in ultimately your

00:36:12.360 contract being terminated. But beating and abusing your family, no problem. I guess this is what is

00:36:18.980 expected to happen when, to morality, when it's not based on God. I put up a tweet online following

00:36:26.440 this news and I said, we live in a world that hates Christ and those who believe in him and

00:36:29.980 that's to be expected just as he was persecuted, so will we be. Consider me a Jaden Ivey fan.

00:36:35.520 The comments on this tweet alone, I got over three million views. I don't know why I just like

00:36:39.940 attract controversy and anger. That's like a seemingly uncontroversial tweet, right? Like

00:36:45.220 the Bible says, as we were persecuted, so will we be for declaring his name and his work. And

00:36:51.100 the comments on my tweet alone proved that. Oh my gosh, I had like nearly 3,000 comments of people

00:36:55.960 telling me, you know, this isn't persecution, it's accountability. He wasn't fired for believing in

00:37:00.360 Christ. You're just a grifter. He's a grifter. The First Amendment protects your right to believe.

00:37:04.800 It doesn't give you the right to force your beliefs on others or to make a workplace hostile

00:37:09.340 for people who are gay.

00:37:11.860 Jaden Ivey was not forcing his beliefs on others.

00:37:15.020 And if we're going to talk about

00:37:16.160 forcing your beliefs on others,

00:37:17.700 what do you call wearing that little rainbow armband

00:37:20.700 and gear for a whole month?

00:37:22.260 Is that not forcing your religion or beliefs on others?

00:37:28.580 Anyways, closing out here,

00:37:30.900 kind of the full circle message

00:37:32.400 is that these stories,

00:37:33.960 they're not isolated headlines.

00:37:36.160 They form a very clear pattern.

00:37:37.820 Gen Z is packing churches. We are turning out. We are dedicated to our faith. We are rejecting

00:37:44.760 the anti-family script that we want to get married. We want to have children. We want to build

00:37:50.140 a legacy. I see it daily. I live it out daily. I'm a wife. I'm a mom. I'm a woman who has stared

00:37:57.680 down these elite institutions. What grounds me isn't the trending algorithms. It's not the

00:38:06.280 praise or the hatred that you receive online, any sort of performative outrage. It's the steady

00:38:12.060 rhythms that have anchored people, young people, I think, especially young women for generations.

00:38:18.720 Faith that reminds you that your worth isn't in performance or public battles, but in

00:38:23.580 being fearfully and wonderfully made. It's discipline routines. I love my discipline routine.

00:38:29.220 Early morning, training, eating right, training my body and my mind, by the way, protecting my time

00:38:34.460 with my family, and just the quiet refusal to let noisy culture dictate my priorities.

00:38:42.260 We are witnessing a generation waking up to what humans have always needed, meaning that

00:38:49.540 outlasts the feed, community that meets you in person, and as Isabel said, the bravery

00:38:55.660 and the courage, because in today's world it does require courage, to go against the

00:38:59.880 status quo and to build families, even when elites like Sonny Haas did call it reckless. So speak

00:39:06.940 plainly, live faithfully. I hope you guys enjoy your Easter. Enjoy your Good Friday today. Spend

00:39:11.720 some time reflecting in what this means. Get off your phones for the weekend. Enjoy time with your

00:39:15.720 family and understanding that Christ walked this earth. He was sent by our creator. He lived a

00:39:21.280 perfect life. He was crucified on the cross for us, for our sins. He died, rose again three days

00:39:27.900 later with the hope and the promise of eternal life. See y'all soon. Thank you guys for tuning

00:39:33.640 into the Riley Gaines show. Be sure to follow us here on youtube.com slash Riley Gaines. You can

00:39:38.660 subscribe that way you never miss an episode. You can follow us over on Instagram at Riley Gaines

00:39:43.380 show. We'd love to hear from you. You can leave comments here. You can DM us over on Instagram.

00:39:47.800 We want your feedback. We want to know what you want to hear about. We want to know what guests

00:39:51.380 you want to see on the show. Be sure to share these episodes far and wide. It helps tremendously

00:39:56.560 when you do, you can share it with your friends or your parents or your neighbors. Heck, why don't

00:40:02.200 you share this with that liberal in your life? You know the one I'm talking about. Share it with

00:40:06.780 the person who needs to hear this message the most. We'll see you guys later.

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - April 03, 2026

Churches Are PACKED Again… Here's Why ｜ The Riley Gaines Show

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