Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 396 ｜ Big Reasons to Rejoice： The People Push Back, Jesus Defeats Death

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:11.500 Happy Thursday.

00:00:13.440 Tomorrow is Good Friday.

00:00:15.080 This weekend is Easter.

00:00:17.240 So I thought it would be fitting to talk about good news.

00:00:20.720 Of course, the best news of all, the news of the gospel, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

00:00:27.540 what that all means.

00:00:28.420 That's how we're going to end the episode.

00:00:31.480 We're going to talk about less good news, but still good news, more temporally good news.

00:00:37.560 First, I asked you guys on Instagram what you preferred for this episode, and most of

00:00:43.260 you said that you wanted me to give you good news of things that are happening across the

00:00:48.740 country as far as legislation goes, as far as the organization of citizens go, and standing

00:00:54.320 up against the things that they don't believe in and standing up for the things that they

00:00:58.400 do believe in.

00:01:00.020 And so we're going to talk about that.

00:01:01.780 We're going to talk about really good bills that are coming down the pipeline in several

00:01:06.560 states, some bills that have been signed into law by particular governors.

00:01:11.060 We're going to talk about organizations that maybe you can decide to support that are, for

00:01:17.720 example, for protecting good and moral education for our kids.

00:01:25.040 And then we're going to talk about some feel good stories that just reminds us of our common

00:01:30.940 humanity and reminds us of the compassion that still exists out there, even in the craziness

00:01:37.060 of all of the news cycles.

00:01:39.740 And then we're going to end with just reminding us of what Easter is and why it's so encouraging

00:01:44.600 and why even in the midst of all the chaos that seems to characterize our world right now

00:01:51.240 in our culture, that we have every reason as Christians to rejoice.

00:01:55.260 And so I'm super excited about this episode.

00:01:57.400 There are a lot of bad things that I could talk about.

00:01:59.980 There are plenty of bad things that have happened this week.

00:02:02.680 There are a lot of things to be concerned about.

00:02:04.420 There are a lot of things to be anxious about.

00:02:06.680 There's a lot of terrible legislation, a lot of awful activism, a lot of just absolutely

00:02:13.800 horrifying moral changes, cultural changes, political changes that are happening.

00:02:19.600 And so if you just wanted to be anxious, if you just wanted to be worried about the country

00:02:24.700 in which our kids are going to grow up, I could definitely give you that episode.

00:02:30.780 And honestly, that's a lot of what we talk about, because I want us to be aware of the

00:02:35.680 things that are going on.

00:02:36.880 It's important to be concerned.

00:02:38.460 I do think that we have a responsibility as people living on earth in this time that God

00:02:46.680 has placed us in, in this country that God has placed us in with purpose.

00:02:51.280 I do think it's our responsibility to pay attention to the things that are going on and to infuse every

00:02:56.500 sphere that God has placed us in, every sphere that we occupy with as much light and wisdom as possible.

00:03:04.120 And so it's important to talk about the scary things.

00:03:06.340 Like it's important to talk about the concerning things, which we do very often.

00:03:09.600 But it's also important to celebrate the wins, big and small.

00:03:13.140 And of course, it is so important to remind ourselves of the transcendent good news of the gospel

00:03:20.560 always, and to set our joy, to set our sights, to set our hope on that.

00:03:25.460 So that's what this episode is.

00:03:27.980 Let's start with some temporal good news, with some earthly good news, by talking about a couple

00:03:36.740 organizations that have been brought to my attention.

00:03:39.940 Now, I don't know everything about these organizations.

00:03:42.700 I'm giving you the names of these organizations so you can look them up and you can research

00:03:47.740 them and you can decide if these are organizations that you want to support, if you like their

00:03:52.960 work.

00:03:53.340 I'm just giving you examples of different coalitions of parents that are trying to stand

00:03:58.280 up for the things that I know a lot of you guys care about, in particular when it comes

00:04:02.660 to curriculum in public education.

00:04:04.880 Now, you guys also know I've done a lot of episodes on the teachers unions, on the corruption

00:04:09.980 that exists in public education, and I have also advocated for if there's any way possible,

00:04:16.000 which I understand maybe not for everyone this is possible, but if there's any way possible

00:04:20.400 for you to get your kids out of public school and for you to homeschool or for you to send

00:04:25.080 them to a Christian school, then I highly recommend that.

00:04:28.680 I know a lot of people out there are big supporters of public school.

00:04:32.340 They say, oh, this craziness with critical race theory and so-called comprehensive sex education,

00:04:38.100 which is really just left-wing indoctrination in both of those cases, it's never going to

00:04:44.400 reach my school.

00:04:45.280 I live in a conservative suburb where I know my teachers.

00:04:48.620 They go to my church, and then every day I get a message from a public school teacher

00:04:53.900 who there's so many, so many wonderful and Christ-like public school teachers out there,

00:04:59.080 and many of you listen to my podcast, and I'm thankful for that, and yet you understand

00:05:03.480 what's going on, you messaged me and you said, you know, I never thought that this would come

00:05:09.260 to my county.

00:05:09.940 I never thought that this would come to my public school, but hey, the teachers are being

00:05:14.420 forced to denounce our whiteness or to categorize ourselves on tiers of privilege according to

00:05:22.620 our race, not actually according to our experiences, and we are being told to teach our kids from that

00:05:29.340 perspective, that is coming to your school, like that is coming to your school, it is coming to

00:05:35.320 your county, I don't care how conservative your county is, I don't care how Christian your county

00:05:39.660 is, how Christian the public school teachers are in your county, it is coming from the top down.

00:05:46.520 This is an orchestrated effort to fundamentally change even more our public education system so

00:05:52.600 kids primarily view the world and view themselves through the lens of race.

00:05:56.720 It's meant to divide, it's meant to tear down.

00:06:00.260 We've talked about, for example, woke math, where people of different races, students of different

00:06:04.640 races are held to different standards when it comes to math, where they're never, they're not

00:06:09.320 actually expected anymore to find an objective answer, a solid answer to a math problem, but you

00:06:16.740 actually have to do math according to your background and privilege and race and intersectionality

00:06:22.600 and all of that, I promise you, that is coming down the pipeline for your public school.

00:06:29.380 And private schools are not perfect, homeschool curriculum is not perfect, we live in an imperfect

00:06:34.940 world, but the thought that your public school, being a secular public school, is neutral is wrong.

00:06:43.640 Like there's no such thing as neutrality, you need to understand that.

00:06:46.880 Progressives are extremely dogmatic about their ideology, and they tell you, they try to shame

00:06:52.160 you as a Christian to not try to influence your child or not try to influence their education

00:06:57.040 with your Christian or conservative values, but they have no problem with influencing your

00:07:02.000 child with their progressive values.

00:07:04.820 Secularism is not neutral.

00:07:06.800 Public education is not neutral.

00:07:08.400 So do you want to have to fight against what your kids are learning from a secular perspective

00:07:14.840 eight hours a day when they come home at night?

00:07:17.220 And are you honestly really doing that?

00:07:19.920 Probably not.

00:07:21.080 I think it would be a lot easier if your child has an education that's incongruent with the

00:07:27.980 worldview that you would like them to hold.

00:07:30.100 Your child is not meant to be a missionary in third grade.

00:07:33.100 Your child is not meant to be on the front lines of the Christian battle when they are 10 years

00:07:38.060 old, your job.

00:07:40.200 And I'm saying this as someone who knows a lot of moms that are more experienced than I am.

00:07:45.240 And a lot of you who have way more years under your belt when it comes to education and when it

00:07:51.180 comes to raising kids, I'm not pretending like I'm the expert in all of this.

00:07:56.160 But what I've learned from people who are much older and wiser than me is that it is our job as

00:08:01.020 parents to raise our kids in the way they should go, to raise them to love God and to love their

00:08:07.120 neighbors with a biblical worldview for as long as we possibly can.

00:08:11.420 And then they go out into the world and they are on the front lines and they are salt and

00:08:16.620 light and they do become missionaries and evangelists and all of these things in the

00:08:20.540 different spheres that they occupy.

00:08:22.380 That's not their job when they're six years old.

00:08:24.240 They don't have the equipment to be able to fight against something like a curriculum that

00:08:31.780 says gender and sex are independent and that in seventh grade, you need to be able to decide

00:08:37.540 what identity you are when it comes to your so-called gender identity.

00:08:43.080 And I think it's cruel to put them in that position in many cases.

00:08:47.860 And so all that to say, while I do think it's important, if parents can, to try to give

00:08:55.700 your kids an education that is characterized by a biblical worldview, I also think it's important

00:09:01.680 for parents of kids who are in the public school system to try to influence that curriculum as

00:09:09.340 much as possible by pushing back against things like critical race theory, like the 1619 project,

00:09:18.100 which we've talked about so many times, how toxic and how dishonest this curriculum is.

00:09:24.440 And there are parents, for example, in Defending Education.

00:09:29.640 It's Parents Defending Education is one organization.

00:09:32.980 They're a national grassroots organization working to reclaim schools from activists promoting harmful

00:09:38.200 agendas through network and coalition building investigative reporting, litigation and engagement

00:09:43.700 on local, state and national policies.

00:09:45.840 We are fighting indoctrination in the classroom and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political

00:09:52.340 education for our kids.

00:09:54.240 So even though I advocate for giving your kids an explicitly Christian education, if you can,

00:10:02.620 I also think it's important to make sure that the kids that are going to public school are

00:10:07.420 not being saturated with politics and activism on a daily basis, but are rather given a non-political

00:10:16.460 based in fact education.

00:10:18.980 I think our entire society benefits from that.

00:10:22.620 There's also another organization, No Left Turn in Education.

00:10:26.260 They say that their goal is to revive an American public education, the fundamental discipline of critical

00:10:33.540 and active thinking, which is based on facts, investigation, logic and sound reasoning.

00:10:39.220 So like I said, I think the entirety of society would benefit from things like that.

00:10:43.860 And these organizations, these kinds of organizations are popping up everywhere because the past year

00:10:49.200 has really given us a good look into the problems with our education system, how the teachers unions and some teachers

00:10:56.700 that are represented by the teachers unions really pit themselves against the well-being of kids.

00:11:02.480 It's really kind of taken the cover off of a lot of corruption that many people have known

00:11:07.960 exists within the public education system that works against the education of kids, in particular

00:11:14.780 in poor communities, which happen to be a black and brown communities.

00:11:18.540 I've talked about before.

00:11:19.480 If you really care about social justice, like if you really care about so-called equity

00:11:24.400 and you really want to try to close the gaps of success in outcome, you should be for school choice.

00:11:31.440 Like you should be for opportunities that help these kids who are in these failing public schools

00:11:38.780 with corrupt teachers unions working against them, who are only indoctrinating them with activism.

00:11:43.920 You should be for the opportunities for them to get a better education elsewhere.

00:11:49.280 And we'll talk a little bit more about school choice, but these organizations like Parents

00:11:53.140 Defending Education, No Left Turn in Education are popping up in particular this year.

00:11:58.620 Parents are joining these organizations in droves to try to push back against what they see

00:12:03.940 as anti-education measures in public school.

00:12:07.820 So even though I'm not the biggest fan of our public education system, I still think that

00:12:12.960 these reforms are very good for our whole country.

00:12:15.980 No Left Turn in Education, that organization is also trying to restore parental function

00:12:22.180 in public education and elevate the family as a core teaching unit of society.

00:12:27.540 They're trying to educate the public about the radical indoctrination in K-12 and its existential

00:12:32.800 threats.

00:12:33.920 It supports parents in trying to talk to their school board or talk to their administration.

00:12:40.320 They want to use all forms of media to expose this kind of indoctrination.

00:12:46.600 They have different chapters in every state.

00:12:48.460 So this could be a good organization.

00:12:50.120 A lot of you guys ask me, what can I do?

00:12:52.420 I don't know what to do as a public school teacher.

00:12:54.740 I don't know what to do as a principal.

00:12:56.060 I don't know what to do as a parent.

00:12:57.500 I want to push back against this stuff and I don't know how.

00:13:00.420 Um, and these organizations could be very good tools for you.

00:13:05.840 They could at least point you in the right direction.

00:13:10.040 I got a wonderful review the other day and I love all of your sweet reviews.

00:13:14.280 And if you love this podcast, I would love for you to give it a five-star review on Apple

00:13:18.620 Podcasts.

00:13:19.140 That would mean a lot to me.

00:13:20.460 I got one in particular that meant a lot to me the other day.

00:13:23.040 It was from a public school teacher who listened and said, hey, I really didn't like what you

00:13:28.280 had to say at first.

00:13:28.960 It was actually really offensive because I'm a public school teacher and it seemed like

00:13:32.880 you were railing against public school.

00:13:34.920 And then the review said, but as I listened more, I realized that the things that you were

00:13:38.540 talking about and that your guests were talking about were actually true and that a lot of

00:13:42.640 these problems, uh, or all the problems that you were talking about actually do exist.

00:13:48.060 And I'm so glad that I kept listening.

00:13:49.540 I'm so glad that you kept listening to those reviews always mean especially much to me when

00:13:55.100 someone says that I listened and I was mad, but I kept listening and I agree.

00:14:00.560 I just think that's awesome.

00:14:01.880 That just shows a lot about the listener and it just shows also that minds can change.

00:14:07.720 My mind has changed when I start listening to someone and maybe I'm mad at first, but I

00:14:11.560 keep listening and I'm like, oh, that's true.

00:14:14.500 That has certainly been the case about theological things in the past and maybe even political

00:14:18.560 things too.

00:14:19.500 And so thank you.

00:14:21.040 If you are listening to this, thank you for that review and for talking about how your

00:14:25.900 mind was changed and heart kind of softened through listening to this podcast.

00:14:30.400 Because when I talk about the problems with the public education system, it's not a knock

00:14:34.640 on, uh, a lot of public school teachers.

00:14:37.060 It's not a knock on every single school, but it is a knock on the system.

00:14:41.940 And in general, uh, the inaptitude of a lot of the schools that are, I think, underserving

00:14:51.340 students by not teaching them well.

00:14:54.360 There are a lot of wonderful, wonderful teachers out there.

00:14:57.720 So many wonderful teachers.

00:14:58.840 And there are a lot of bad teachers at private schools, by the way.

00:15:01.660 Um, but I, uh, I do think it's important that we look at the problems that we're facing

00:15:08.920 in the public education system and that we push for reforms and that parents are empowered

00:15:13.180 to speak up, uh, about these things.

00:15:16.280 There's also a Chinese American group that is coming out against critical race theory.

00:15:21.660 You guys know what critical race theory is.

00:15:23.440 If you've taught, if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time, it starts with

00:15:27.280 a fundamental premise that America is systemically racist, that every system, every institution,

00:15:34.260 almost every interaction between a white and a non-white person is steeped in racism, uh,

00:15:40.740 specifically anti-black racism, and that it's not enough to just be not racist, that you have to

00:15:47.140 actually be anti-racist.

00:15:48.780 And part of that is actually acknowledging, acknowledging your privilege as a white person,

00:15:54.120 how you have been at the very least complicit, if not active in oppression.

00:15:59.400 And we're talking about telling this to young kids as well, and, uh, having non-white people

00:16:05.480 understand that they are on the side of the oppressed and whatever can be done in order

00:16:12.580 to even the scales or equalize the outcomes has to be done.

00:16:18.300 Even if that means discriminating against, for example, through affirmative action, uh, white

00:16:24.420 and Asian students or changing the standards for particular races of students.

00:16:29.200 So everyone has equal outcomes.

00:16:31.800 This is toxic because it forces people to view people according to their race.

00:16:37.200 It muddies the definitions of oppressed versus oppressor.

00:16:41.640 It lays responsibility at the feet of people who have not been oppressive and who perhaps don't

00:16:47.460 have a whole lot of, of privileges themselves.

00:16:50.340 It, uh, creates resentment, it creates division, it creates self-loathing, it creates loathing

00:16:56.260 of other people, and it gives a false representation of what America is.

00:17:02.020 It's not an accurate assessment of real oppression that has existed in America.

00:17:06.880 It is the assertion that America is systemically, endemically, pervasively racist down to its core

00:17:13.860 and must be fundamentally revolutionized and done away with in order for things to get better.

00:17:21.240 That's a false premise that is, uh, not a good basis for change.

00:17:28.100 Those kinds of so-called liberation revolutions have always ended in death and destruction,

00:17:34.200 never liberation and equality for the people that it claims to be fighting for.

00:17:40.000 And so that's why parents are speaking against this, because it's harming how their students

00:17:45.700 see the world, see themselves, and see other people.

00:17:48.620 So this Chinese-American group called Chinese-American Citizens Alliance Greater New York, according

00:17:55.820 to Fox News, said that critical race theory, CRT, has predominantly entered workplaces and

00:18:01.520 educational institutions under the guise of anti-racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion

00:18:06.260 when it is, in fact, racist, oppressive, discriminatory, and divisive.

00:18:11.800 This doctrine teaches that people are inextricably linked to their race, that blacks are oppressed,

00:18:17.160 that whites are oppressors, and any unequal outcome is not only unjust, but also racist.

00:18:21.800 So that's a really good summary of what I just said.

00:18:23.900 The group cited examples of this doctrine seeping into workspaces and schools, instances where

00:18:28.720 white employees and students were subjected to diversity training seminars, or, and that's

00:18:34.140 in scare quotes, diversity training seminars, or curricula that essentially asked participants

00:18:38.480 to admit their complicity in an inherently oppressive system.

00:18:44.580 Another part about critical race theory is its muddy definition of what morality and responsibility

00:18:51.140 is.

00:18:52.060 Responsibility and agency is never ascribed to people who are not white or seen as not privileged

00:19:00.040 or on the side of the oppressed, and all agency and all responsibility, collective responsibility

00:19:07.520 is given to people who are white.

00:19:10.440 So that means you've probably seen this when we see, for example, a person who is black commit

00:19:16.840 a violent crime against a person who is Asian.

00:19:19.860 You've probably seen a lot of these assessments and analyses from the media, from Blue Checks on

00:19:24.660 Twitter saying, this is still, white supremacy is still to blame.

00:19:29.260 Or when, for example, the Muslim man shot several people at the Colorado, at the Colorado grocery

00:19:40.640 store, still there was a way to try to blame whiteness and white supremacy.

00:19:45.600 That's what critical race theory does.

00:19:47.640 It prohibits us from actually seeing the world as it is.

00:19:51.300 And for us, it prohibits us from being able to assess things clearly, intellectually, and

00:19:58.180 morally because we are unable or unwilling, according to that worldview, to say that someone

00:20:03.840 is responsible for their actions based on their skin color.

00:20:06.780 Don't you see how that's a problem?

00:20:09.300 And don't you see how if you have a justice system that is based on that, then you're incentivizing

00:20:17.040 bad behavior.

00:20:18.100 You're incentivizing irresponsibility.

00:20:21.300 And it's unfair.

00:20:22.500 It's biased.

00:20:23.920 It's partial.

00:20:24.720 And as we've talked about so many times on this podcast, God hates partiality.

00:20:29.540 That is not his definition of justice.

00:20:31.340 Again, it only leads to more resentment.

00:20:35.820 This particular organization, this Chinese American organization, it notes that third graders at a

00:20:42.940 Northern California elementary school math class were told that they lived in a dominant

00:20:47.240 culture of white cisgender educated Christians, and this culture was created to hoard power.

00:20:52.800 The third graders were told to check themselves off victimization categories to see whether

00:20:58.360 they were oppressors or oppressed.

00:21:01.240 According to Fox News, this is what this organization is saying.

00:21:07.600 So you see how this only creates resentment.

00:21:10.740 This only creates hate.

00:21:12.900 And that's what progressivism is.

00:21:14.920 It only knows how to tear down that which it doesn't like.

00:21:18.240 It doesn't know how to build.

00:21:20.020 It's just not in its nature.

00:21:21.820 There is also an organization, it's actually a website called criticalrace.org.

00:21:27.480 It was started by a law professor that I've had on this podcast from Cornell Law School,

00:21:33.040 and it tracks critical race theory in colleges.

00:21:35.880 It's a free resource for parents and students concerned about the negative impact critical

00:21:40.040 race training has on education.

00:21:42.660 And so it has a database of over 200 colleges and universities to learn more about critical

00:21:47.300 race training on campuses nationwide.

00:21:49.680 So that's criticalrace.org.

00:21:51.260 I will link to the interview that I did with this professor in the description of this podcast.

00:21:58.160 And I will also link to all of these things in the description of this podcast.

00:22:01.520 And so you can read them for yourself.

00:22:03.740 But this is good.

00:22:04.840 This is very good that people are starting to understand the dangers of this and that

00:22:08.960 they are feeling empowered to take matters into their own hands and to be educated about it,

00:22:14.280 to educate other people about it, and to do something about it.

00:22:17.460 Because critical race theory started as this very academic, very esoteric idea that has

00:22:27.480 only now started to manifest itself in tangible ways and enter into the classrooms of your kids.

00:22:33.980 And so it is absolutely your right and your responsibility to know how this is going on,

00:22:38.280 where this is going on, why it's going on, and how to push back against it.

00:22:42.480 There's also a new organization called Fair for All.

00:22:46.200 It was started by Christopher Rufo, whom I've had on this podcast twice.

00:22:50.120 He has been leading the charge in a lot of ways against critical race theory.

00:22:54.140 And he is a wonderful journalist, and he has been wonderful in informing the public about

00:23:02.680 what's going on and the dangers of this.

00:23:04.920 And he helped start Fair for All.

00:23:07.800 It's an organization that says it defends civil liberties and rights guaranteed to each individual,

00:23:14.460 including freedom of speech and expression, equal protection under the law, and the right

00:23:18.640 to personal privacy.

00:23:20.360 They advocate for individuals who are threatened or persecuted for speech or who are held to

00:23:24.800 a different set of rules for language or conduct based on their skin color, ancestry,

00:23:29.220 or other immutable characteristics.

00:23:32.220 Fair for All also offers guidance to parents and educators.

00:23:35.600 It connects advocates across the country, develops curriculum, and works to make sure that your school

00:23:40.060 lives by values of fairness, understanding, and humanity.

00:23:44.440 So it advocates for true equality.

00:23:46.440 It advocates for seeing people as they are.

00:23:49.600 It advocates also for merit-based systems and structures that we're told are actually racist

00:23:57.280 because they could produce disparate outcomes.

00:24:01.080 But this is what it means to have a fair and truly equal society.

00:24:06.320 It's against discrimination.

00:24:07.780 It's against viewing people primarily by their race, which is something that's going to tear

00:24:11.840 our society apart.

00:24:13.400 So Fair for All is another good organization that you can connect to.

00:24:16.620 So many of you messaged me and say, I don't know what to say.

00:24:20.800 I don't know how to stand up.

00:24:22.280 These are all organizations that you should connect to that can hopefully provide you with

00:24:27.720 those tools.

00:24:29.080 There are also lawyers now and legal teams that are suing against critical race theory,

00:24:35.980 in particular when it comes to students or when it comes to employees being forced to say something

00:24:44.380 or being forced to, for example, denounce their privilege or say that America is systemically

00:24:49.600 racist in order to keep their job.

00:24:53.560 There are lawyers now that are going after companies that are forcing speech in this way.

00:25:00.520 And so this is a fight that people on the right are taking on.

00:25:03.520 And it's not just people on the right.

00:25:05.380 There are a lot of people in the middle.

00:25:07.180 There are people who are leftist, left wing in a lot of ways that I've had on this podcast

00:25:13.100 several times who are against critical race theory and the kind of victimization and cancel

00:25:20.620 culture that comes along with it.

00:25:22.580 And so this really is a very diverse and broad coalition of people that are coming together

00:25:27.260 and pushing back against this, even in legal ways.

00:25:30.340 And then we're also seeing this affect some state legislation and executive orders.

00:25:36.000 For example, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, he issued an executive order to block critical

00:25:42.280 race theory in a public school.

00:25:44.580 The New York Post says critical race theory will be explicitly excluded from Florida's new

00:25:49.200 statewide civics education.

00:25:51.400 The Republican governor addressed the academic study while discussing his proposed $106 million

00:25:56.540 initiative to support a new civics curriculum for students at a press conference Wednesday

00:26:01.560 afternoon.

00:26:03.020 He said that high quality education begins with high quality curriculum.

00:26:07.420 We are going to make sure that students have the best civics instruction standards possible.

00:26:13.620 And so they're going to incorporate the foundational concepts with, you know, the best materials that

00:26:19.440 they can that does not include this kind of divisive rhetoric and curriculum.

00:26:24.080 Texas is doing the same thing.

00:26:25.640 There is a bill that has been put forward by State Representative James White, HB 4093, an

00:26:33.720 education bill looking to end teaching of critical race theory in public schools throughout the

00:26:38.140 state.

00:26:38.960 It would make it illegal for any teaching administrative bodies, including school districts and state

00:26:43.720 agencies, to require teachers, administrators or employees to teach courses on concepts such

00:26:48.440 as one race or sex being inherently superior to another.

00:26:52.760 And this would have been so obvious.

00:26:54.960 A few years ago, we would have read that and we would have said, yeah, that's racist.

00:26:58.500 They shouldn't be teaching this.

00:27:00.360 So this is simply saying this bill is saying that an administration in a school cannot force

00:27:08.060 teachers or employees to teach this kind of stuff.

00:27:11.460 Oklahoma, they passed a bill, a state senator or is bringing forth a bill, Shane Jett, Senate

00:27:20.680 Bill 803 to ban critical race theory in school.

00:27:25.160 This is according to The Blaze.

00:27:26.680 It would explicitly prohibit the teaching of critical race theory and its components in the

00:27:31.780 state of Oklahoma.

00:27:32.860 Oklahoma, it's teaching divisive concepts and ideology to young people.

00:27:38.420 Jett told The Blaze it is Marxist in origin, true, and it's designed to cause children to

00:27:44.580 instead of looking at what makes us unique and special in American, it causes them to

00:27:48.500 pit themselves against each other based on the color of their skin.

00:27:51.940 Rhode Island might not expect this.

00:27:53.960 Rhode Island, there is also a bill in the state legislature to ban critical race theory

00:27:59.560 according to the Daily Caller H6070 introduced into the state's house in early March, seeks

00:28:07.600 to prohibit the teaching of divisive concepts and would mandate that any contract, grant or

00:28:11.220 training program entered into by the state or any municipality include provisions prohibiting

00:28:16.040 teaching divisive concepts and prohibit making any individual feel discomfort, guilty, anguish

00:28:22.380 or any distress on account of their race or sex.

00:28:24.880 Now, shouldn't that be obvious that any curriculum that intentionally tries to make a student feel

00:28:31.120 uncomfortable about their race, about their melanin count, about their sex, that that's bad

00:28:37.660 for students.

00:28:38.540 That's probably psychologically damaging.

00:28:40.780 That's societally damaging.

00:28:43.240 And yet the left says, oh, no, no, we actually want that.

00:28:46.360 Like we want that kind of discomfort because they see it as health.

00:28:49.400 They see that as doing the work.

00:28:52.040 Well, I'm not for it.

00:28:53.640 These legislators aren't for it.

00:28:55.060 There are a lot of parents that aren't for it.

00:28:56.820 And then when we look on the federal level, we will probably will probably remember that

00:29:04.600 President Trump had signed an executive order to make sure that this kind of divisive concept

00:29:09.460 is not going to be infiltrating our federal agencies.

00:29:14.000 And of course, Joe Biden quickly reversed it as soon as he became president.

00:29:18.680 But Tom Cotton has introduced legislation, the senator from Arkansas, to ban critical race theory

00:29:24.580 in the military, which, again, should be a given.

00:29:27.120 According to Chris Ruffo at City Journal, quote, the bill would prohibit the armed forces

00:29:32.920 from directly promoting the core tenets of critical race theory, that the United States

00:29:37.040 of America is a fundamentally racist nation, that an individual by virtue of his or her race

00:29:41.980 is inherently racist or oppressive.

00:29:43.800 All of that is what critical race theory teaches, and that an individual, because of his or her

00:29:48.340 race, bears responsibility for the actions committed by other members of his or her race.

00:29:53.180 That is what critical race theory teaches about white people.

00:29:56.460 The bill also includes a provision against segregating members of the armed forces by race, which has

00:30:01.040 become common practice in many CRT training programs.

00:30:04.320 Now, this legislation is probably not going to pass, but it's important.

00:30:08.820 I mean, Democrats often do this as well.

00:30:10.460 You put forward legislation to start a conversation, you hold on to it, you hope that it gets passed

00:30:15.120 at some point.

00:30:15.980 I think it's very important that he propose this legislation and we should be all for it.

00:30:21.460 Now, if we go across the pond, there are also efforts in Britain, for example, against

00:30:29.300 critical race theory.

00:30:30.760 According to the BBC, there is a race report UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities,

00:30:37.140 which is exactly what CRT asserts.

00:30:39.320 Of course, it's an American theory because we have so much luxury and privilege in this

00:30:44.880 country that we actively are thinking of ways to try to create and capitalize on oppression.

00:30:53.540 But this also exists in places like the UK, which would say that the UK is fundamentally deliberately

00:31:02.240 rigged against ethnic minorities.

00:31:04.560 And the UK is saying, no, no, no, we're not.

00:31:08.040 The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said family structure and social class had

00:31:12.640 a bigger impact than race on how people's lives turned out.

00:31:16.640 And of course, we absolutely know that that's true.

00:31:21.320 That doesn't mean that racism has never existed in people's past or that it doesn't exist right

00:31:26.240 now.

00:31:26.620 And America has been systemically racist in the past.

00:31:30.720 The question is, how do those horrors affect today?

00:31:35.020 How do those atrocities that America endured and perpetuated actually affect the outcome

00:31:40.480 of people's lives today?

00:31:42.840 And there is a narrative that the legacy of slavery is an unbroken thread that is still

00:31:48.440 plaguing particular communities today.

00:31:51.300 And the facts just don't back that up, probably not in the UK and not in the United States.

00:31:57.500 Again, that is not ignoring the atrocities of systemic racism that have existed here.

00:32:05.780 But there's not a lot of data.

00:32:08.240 And actually, there's a lot of counter data to there's a lot of data that pushes back against

00:32:16.280 this theory, against this assertion that every racial disparity or every bad circumstance

00:32:23.020 that is experienced by a non-white person today is because of slavery or because of systemic

00:32:30.120 discrimination.

00:32:31.280 As Thomas Sowell often points out, if you look, for example, at the 1950s, crime rates among

00:32:37.740 Black Americans, low.

00:32:39.900 Marriage rates among Black Americans, high.

00:32:42.120 There was a point in the 1940s and 50s where the fatherlessness rate among white families

00:32:48.360 was actually higher than that of Black families.

00:32:51.300 When did that change?

00:32:52.420 In the 1960s.

00:32:54.200 That is when these gaps started to grow even more.

00:32:57.200 And by the way, fatherlessness among white families also started to increase dramatically

00:33:02.680 in the 1960s as well.

00:33:04.220 You've got the sexual revolution.

00:33:05.800 You've got the welfare state.

00:33:07.060 If it was true that there is this unbroken thread of slavery that is still affecting just

00:33:13.840 as much people today as it did in the 1950s, and that's the reason for fatherlessness, that's

00:33:19.540 the reason for crime, that's the reason for broken families in Black communities, then that

00:33:24.860 would have been worse at the time of Jim Crow in the mid-century than it is now.

00:33:29.780 But the fact of the matter is, fatherlessness has gotten worse since the time of Jim Crow

00:33:35.820 in Black communities than it is today.

00:33:38.340 And so that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

00:33:41.500 There have to be other causes that are factored in there than historic racism.

00:33:49.300 And of course, we know if you look at, for example, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National

00:33:54.600 Center for Health Statistics, the median household income is correlated very strongly with the

00:34:04.080 fatherlessness rate.

00:34:06.640 So if you look at, for example, Asians, according to this study, their median income is $98,000.

00:34:15.320 That's a median income for Asian Americans, much higher, about $20,000 more than the median

00:34:21.220 income for white Americans.

00:34:23.300 And the share of birth to unwed mothers in 2019 was only 11.7% among Asian Americans.

00:34:33.160 And if you look at white Americans, the median income is $76,000, and the fatherlessness rate

00:34:40.460 is 28.2%.

00:34:42.580 So a lot higher fatherlessness rate, a lot lower median income.

00:34:47.580 If you look at Hispanic Americans, $56,000 is the median income with a 52.1% fatherlessness

00:34:57.140 rate.

00:34:57.600 And then if you look at Black Americans, $45,000 median income with a 70% fatherlessness rate.

00:35:06.600 And so we see a very strong correlation.

00:35:09.380 And we can't necessarily prove causation from this graph, but we can look at a correlation

00:35:14.800 and probably assume based on the context that there is a causal effect there.

00:35:21.660 So the UK coming out with the study saying, look, it's actually a family structure.

00:35:26.060 It's actually a lot of other factors that go into someone's life outcome that have a much

00:35:32.760 bigger impact than race.

00:35:34.620 That's also very likely true here.

00:35:37.420 It is true.

00:35:38.160 I mean, from every study that we see, even the Brookings Institute talks about this as well.

00:35:43.620 And so it's very good.

00:35:45.300 It's good that the UK is coming out with this kind of stuff and just is willing to say,

00:35:50.260 hey, look, this is not rigged against people of certain races.

00:35:54.980 I think it's important for the United States to also take that stand.

00:35:58.180 That is a direct assault on the assertions of the divisive critical race theory.

00:36:02.860 All right.

00:36:08.600 We've also got bills protecting girls sports in Tennessee.

00:36:11.820 According to CNN, Governor Bill Lee signed a transgender sports bill into law Friday

00:36:16.420 requiring students to prove their sex at birth in order to play middle school and high school

00:36:22.180 sports.

00:36:22.960 The bill states that a student's gender for purposes of participation in a public middle

00:36:29.260 school or high school, interscholastic athletic activity or event be determined by the student's

00:36:34.900 sex at the time of the student's birth, as indicated on the student's original birth certificate.

00:36:39.780 Again, this is just common sense.

00:36:42.700 The differences between boys and girls, as we've talked about many times, are fundamental

00:36:49.200 and they only grow more pronounced as kids go through puberty and it creates an unfair playing

00:36:58.480 field, literally playing field between boys and girls when girls are forced to compete against

00:37:04.660 boys who naturally have greater bone density, greater muscle mass, greater aerobic and anaerobic

00:37:10.380 capacity.

00:37:11.100 We've looked at these studies several times before as if we need studies to prove something

00:37:16.980 that has been obvious for all of human history, but we have looked at a variety of studies

00:37:22.680 that compare female athletes versus male athletes and how the non-androgynized body of a woman

00:37:30.860 just cannot compete with most men.

00:37:33.920 It doesn't mean that women aren't awesome athletes.

00:37:36.000 It just means that men and women are different and girls sports now have to be protected from

00:37:42.300 boys who were born boys who identify as girls competing against them and competing for their

00:37:48.340 scholarships and competing for their state titles.

00:37:51.000 And it just protects their safety as well.

00:37:54.160 We've talked about some of the injuries that have been endured by professional female athletes

00:37:59.220 who have been forced to play against biological men.

00:38:02.920 And I hate that phrase, but sometimes we have to say it for the for the sake of clarity.

00:38:07.480 Um, and so this is about protecting girls' safety.

00:38:10.900 This is about making it fair for girls.

00:38:13.300 This is about making sure that girls are still able to fairly compete for things like

00:38:17.160 scholarships.

00:38:17.940 So that's in Tennessee.

00:38:19.180 This is also happening in Arkansas.

00:38:21.420 Arkansas, according to Fox News, became the second state this year to ban transgender athletes

00:38:25.520 from participating in sporting events Thursday.

00:38:28.460 That's a very negative way to say that.

00:38:30.060 Fox News Governor Asa Hutchinson signed the Fairness and Women's Sports Act after the measure

00:38:36.300 passed through the state house with overwhelming support earlier this week.

00:38:41.000 The law simply states that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against

00:38:44.700 a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women's competition.

00:38:48.080 Hutchinson said in the statement on Thursday, proponents of the bill argue it will ensure

00:38:53.180 females have an equal playing field when it comes to sporting events as biologically

00:38:56.960 born males have a physical advantage over female competitors.

00:39:00.020 True.

00:39:01.180 And so it's good.

00:39:02.420 Again, parents are speaking up about this kind of stuff.

00:39:04.880 And this is not to say that transgender athletes can't play sports because you're going to

00:39:10.820 see the ACLU say this is a ban on transgender athletes playing sports.

00:39:15.860 No, it's not.

00:39:17.020 Everyone is allowed to play a sport according to their sex as long as they make that team.

00:39:22.560 So just like everyone else, they are able to play sports according to their biology.

00:39:29.500 That is what is fair.

00:39:31.440 It's not according to identity or declaration or feelings.

00:39:34.440 That doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you're talking about physical sports, especially

00:39:38.640 physical contact sports.

00:39:40.020 And so it's good that states are taking these measures.

00:39:44.720 Moving on to vaccine passports, which we're going to talk about more thoroughly next week.

00:39:49.160 I know a lot of you guys are concerned about that as far as privacy goes.

00:39:52.740 And there are a lot of states that feel those concerns and are hearing that those concerns.

00:39:57.700 Florida is one of them.

00:39:58.800 Governor Ron DeSantis said that he plans to issue an executive order forbidding businesses

00:40:03.580 from requiring so-called vaccine passports across the state, says Business Insider.

00:40:08.440 DeSantis said at a news conference on Monday that he would introduce an executive function

00:40:12.660 designed to prevent businesses from refusing to serve customers who are unable to prove they

00:40:17.840 had been vaccinated while seeking support from the Republican legislature to enshrine the

00:40:21.880 act into law.

00:40:23.400 Now, I will be surprised, honestly, if vaccine passports become as pervasive as we are afraid

00:40:29.360 that they are, because I've been listening to this and there are actually concerns from

00:40:33.500 the left, even from the ACLU, which I'll read in a second, about the equity of this and

00:40:40.260 how this is going to disproportionately negatively affect Americans that are living in poor communities,

00:40:46.080 which happen to be predominantly black and brown Americans in many cases.

00:40:50.640 And they're afraid that people without a vaccine passport are going to be treated like second

00:40:55.700 class citizens.

00:40:56.420 And that's especially concerning to these organizations if that includes black and brown Americans who

00:41:03.540 they who they would say are traditionally marginalized communities.

00:41:07.320 They are going to be further marginalized.

00:41:09.220 So because that there there is that concern, I'm actually interested to see if there's going

00:41:14.720 to be as much support from the left as Republicans think that there will be.

00:41:19.980 Ohio is another state that's coming out against vaccine passports.

00:41:23.900 Fox News says is America's mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 continues to hum along

00:41:28.660 to Ohio state legislators are planning to introduce a bill that will preemptively

00:41:33.080 ban vaccine passports over concerns about privacy and government overreach.

00:41:37.920 Rep Al Cutrona, a Republican who represents parts of eastern Ohio, told Fox News that vaccine

00:41:42.720 passports mandated by the government would create privacy concerns that should be startling to

00:41:48.200 anyone. A vaccine passport, a unified centralized system for providing or denying access to

00:41:52.920 everyday activities like shopping and dining would be a nightmare for civil liberties and

00:41:57.040 privacy. And it would exacerbate existing social disparities connected to wealth, privilege

00:42:02.220 and race, which is exactly what we just said.

00:42:04.620 Jay Stanley is a senior policy analyst with the ACLU Speech Privacy and Technology Project.

00:42:09.760 ACLU is very left wing, but sometimes sometimes they are on the good side of things.

00:42:18.400 Jay Stanley said that he fears that a vaccine passport would be overused.

00:42:22.640 While there are legitimate circumstances in which people can be asked for proof of vaccination,

00:42:26.760 we don't want to turn into a checkpoint society that outlasts the danger of COVID and that casually

00:42:31.900 excludes people without credentials from facilities where vaccine mandates are not highly justified.

00:42:37.460 He's absolutely right. And that, of course, is the concern with all of these restrictions,

00:42:43.480 all of these new developments that he says would be a checkpoint society that outlasts the danger

00:42:50.700 of COVID and actually exceeds the danger of COVID, I would say. And so it's good. We've got different

00:42:58.660 organizations on the left and the right that are coming out against this stuff. And the fact that

00:43:02.760 there are states, I wouldn't be surprised if other conservative and Republican dominated states

00:43:07.640 do the same thing. They're saying, look, you can't deny someone service just because they don't have

00:43:12.520 a vaccine passport. It goes along with this idea that if you don't have a vaccine, you automatically

00:43:19.620 are carrying that disease. I mean, that's just not true. That's not even logical. And if the point of the

00:43:26.680 vaccine is to create at least enough immunity for society to be safe, there's no reason to ban

00:43:31.520 everyone who doesn't have the vaccine, who is not even sick from entering a place of work,

00:43:37.500 especially as we have seen COVID cases go down so much, even in states that have lifted the mask

00:43:44.460 mandates and have lifted business restrictions and things like that. There's no reason. There's just

00:43:49.660 no reason for this. Moving on to abortion legislation, there is a fetal heartbeat bill in the state of

00:43:57.140 Texas that has been approved by the state Senate. It approved six anti-abortion bills, according to

00:44:03.940 USA Today, including a proposal, a proposal that would outlaw the procedure once a fetal heartbeat

00:44:09.980 is detected. The second measure would become law. Oh, there's another measure that would effectively

00:44:16.860 ban the procedure completely. The second measure would become law if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses

00:44:22.200 earlier decisions legalizing abortion. Abortion opponents have pledged to push an aggressive

00:44:26.880 agenda to severely limit availability of the procedure with an eye to the changing power dynamics

00:44:32.740 of the Supreme Court, where the conservatives now hold a 6-3 majority. That is untrue. USA Today

00:44:38.220 conservatives do not hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. At best, it is 5-4. Roberts is not

00:44:44.140 a conservative. Just because he was nominated by a Republican does not mean he's a conservative. He does not

00:44:49.800 have a conservative track record. But Texas is, according to USA Today, looking to the majority

00:44:59.040 that conservatives do mostly, in most perspectives, have on the Supreme Court to try to challenge

00:45:06.680 abortion as much as possible. Abortion is the killing of a human being. That's what it is. It can't be

00:45:12.020 described in any other way. You can try to euphemize it. You can try to sanitize it. You can try to

00:45:16.180 normalize it. You can try to glorify it. But that's what it is. It's the killing of a human being. And

00:45:21.540 Texas is trying to push back and trying to lead the way and banning that as much as possible to

00:45:28.580 protect life inside the womb. That does not mean that we don't care about the mom. That doesn't mean

00:45:34.540 that we don't care about the baby after the baby is born. That is a myth. That is a lie. Go visit your

00:45:39.580 local pregnancy center and see how many resources and how much love and how much help is poured out

00:45:45.240 for families in crisis on a daily basis by pro-life organizations. People who say this is about

00:45:50.620 controlling women's bodies. You don't know anything about pro-lifers. You don't know anything about pro-life

00:45:55.340 activists. You don't know anything about these pregnancy clinics that help women get the resources

00:46:00.380 and the connections and the education that they need in order to survive and thrive. Go check it out

00:46:07.680 before you launch that attack at pro-lifers for saying this is about controlling women's bodies

00:46:13.360 and this is about just being pro-birth. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love this from

00:46:19.340 the Huffington Post. 2021 is already the year of anti-abortion legislation. The Huffington Post is

00:46:25.880 obviously very mad about this. And they say, according to a report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of

00:46:31.140 America, who is responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands, about 300,000 unborn babies

00:46:38.340 every day, disproportionately black unborn babies, by the way, which I only note because the same people

00:46:44.680 who say that they care about inequality of outcomes don't seem to care about that disproportionate rate

00:46:51.060 among black Americans. And by the way, that disproportionality is, I think we talked about

00:46:57.260 yesterday, according to Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal, exists even when you control

00:47:02.380 for income and education and employment and things like that. It is disproportionately high

00:47:08.280 among black Americans, the abortion rate. And again, the same people who say that they care about

00:47:14.500 inequality of outcome in other ways don't seem to care about that gap there. That should tell you

00:47:21.060 something. So continuing legislation limiting abortion in 2021 has skyrocketed in comparison to

00:47:28.560 a similar time frame in 2019. Compared to bills introduced from January through mid-March 2019,

00:47:34.240 medication abortion restrictions and bans have tripled to 33. Anti-abortion constitutional amendments

00:47:39.620 have more than tripled to 14. And states have enacted 12 abortion restrictions this year compared to

00:47:45.040 just one by this point in 2019. Overall, state legislatures have introduced 516 abortion restrictions

00:47:52.340 compared to 304 mid-March 2019. Those pieces of legislation are clearly about power and control

00:48:00.020 over our bodies. Original talking point, President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson says, well, I'm saying

00:48:07.020 original talking point, but that was her talking point. Noting the bills disproportionately impact people

00:48:11.420 of color, people with low incomes and LGBTQ plus people. And get this, she says, these policies are

00:48:18.420 designed to make it harder for people to exist. That's what the president of Planned Parenthood says

00:48:26.460 about anti-abortion legislation. Let me repeat. She says, these policies are designed to make it harder

00:48:34.220 for people to exist. What does abortion do? It kills a human being. It makes it impossible for a person to

00:48:40.360 exist. Disproportionately people of color. Oh, my goodness. To live in this kind of cognitive,

00:48:46.340 moral dissonance. I don't know how people do it. I don't know. But like I said, like I've said,

00:48:53.100 postmodernism, godlessness makes hearts of stone and brains of mush so that this kind of dissonance can

00:48:59.520 just, I guess, exist there comfortably. Now, we've talked about how abortion rates go down under

00:49:07.840 democratic presidents and people say, well, this is why we need to elect a Democrat, because abortions

00:49:13.680 go down because of democratic policy. But Democrats don't, or not Democrats, but presidents don't set

00:49:20.520 policy. We've talked about this before. We did an episode and we'll link to it. Do Democrats decrease

00:49:25.980 abortions? No, that's not true. States have the most control over abortion law. And under Barack Obama,

00:49:35.640 when you saw a big drop off in or a big decrease in the abortion rate in America, state legislatures

00:49:44.080 were dominated by Republicans who were pushing anti-abortion, if you want to call it that, I'm

00:49:49.760 fine with that phrase, legislation. And I'm not even saying that was the cause of the decrease in

00:49:56.320 abortions. But nothing that Obama did as president, as part of the executive branch, could have had an

00:50:04.040 effect on the abortion rate. So that's just a, that myth is a fundamental understanding of how our laws

00:50:10.180 work and how, how policy works, in particular, abortion policy. Again, we'll link to that past

00:50:16.020 episode and you can go back and you can hear us bust that myth in full. There are also lots of school

00:50:22.680 choice bills that are being pushed in state legislatures. According to the Wall Street Journal,

00:50:26.980 nearly 50 school choice bills have been introduced this year in 30 states. The article says the

00:50:35.040 pandemic has been a revelation for many Americans about union control of public schools that refuse

00:50:40.360 to reopen that awakening is helping disperse some welcome reform progress as several state legislatures

00:50:46.440 are moving to expand school choice. One breakthrough is in West Virginia, where the legislature passed a

00:50:51.620 bill creating the state's first education savings program. Meanwhile, in Georgia, the House passed a

00:50:57.660 bill last week that would expand eligibility for the state's voucher program for special education

00:51:02.940 students. The Senate, which had already passed the legislation, voted to approve House amendments on

00:51:07.300 Monday. The bill is headed to Brian Kemp's desk. In South Dakota, Republican Governor Kristi Noem signed a

00:51:13.120 bill that expands eligibility for the state's tax credit scholarship program to students already enrolled in

00:51:20.320 private schools. Last school year, the program provided nearly 800 students with scholarships for about

00:51:25.200 $1,800. The teachers unions remain powerful, as demonstrated in Kentucky, where Democratic Governor

00:51:32.980 Andy Beshear vetoed a bill last week that would establish a new tax credit scholarship program. But the

00:51:39.580 state legislature voted late Monday to override the veto, meaning low and middle income families will have

00:51:45.720 access to a scholarship fund of up to $25 million financed by tax credit backed private donations.

00:51:52.180 Imagine being against something like that for low income students. Two Arizona bills to expand tax

00:51:57.900 credit scholarships and education savings accounts have passed this in it and are now in the House.

00:52:03.680 An Indiana bill created an ESA program passed the House as it has in Missouri. A Florida bill that would

00:52:10.260 consolidate state scholarship programs into ESAs for some 200,000 students is still

00:52:14.980 percolating in the Senate. So school choice advancements also happening in several states.

00:52:22.240 All of this legislation, by the way, if it not, if it has not been signed into law by the governor,

00:52:27.840 you still have an opportunity to call your state representative, to call your state senator,

00:52:33.940 wherever the bill happens to be, and make sure that they vote yes on the bills that you care about.

00:52:39.280 School choice is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time. Again,

00:52:44.000 mostly affecting middle and low income students to make sure that they have access to quality

00:52:50.700 education. The lack of the lack of quality in our education system has nothing to do with funding,

00:52:57.640 as we've talked about several times. That, again, is a myth. Funding to public education has only

00:53:03.000 increased since the 1960s, and yet teacher salaries have barely gone up and student outcomes really have

00:53:10.220 an increase. Under Barack Obama, billions and billions of dollars, according to the Washington

00:53:15.840 Post, were pumped in to failing public schools over the span of seven years. They saw no positive

00:53:23.280 changes, no positive results from the funding of public schools. It has to do with the corruption

00:53:28.120 and the bureaucracy and the administrative bloat of the public education system that does not allow

00:53:35.440 those dollars to actually influence the teachers and help the students and give them resources.

00:53:42.840 It's not a lack of funding issue that we have in our public education system. It's a corruption issue,

00:53:47.580 and school choice incentivizes higher quality in schools so they can continue to have students come

00:53:55.580 to their schools. When the money follows the child, all of a sudden you are creating a marketplace of

00:54:01.540 schools to be able to compete for education, to be able to compete for students, and that kind of

00:54:08.680 competition creates higher quality as it does in every part of the marketplace. Also, the Texas Senate

00:54:15.660 approves the bill to stop social media companies from banning taxes for political views. The Texas

00:54:22.560 Senate early Thursday approved a bill, according to Texas Tribune, that would prohibit social media

00:54:28.540 companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking, banning, demonetizing, or discriminating

00:54:33.920 against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas. So that's interesting.

00:54:39.680 Florida is also taking a stand against big tech censorship. So legislation seeking to increase

00:54:45.240 transparency in big tech and fight back against social media censorship. It's moving quickly through

00:54:50.780 the Florida House. It would require social media companies to tell Florida residents why they were banned

00:54:55.700 within 30 days of it happening. It creates a path of legal action for Florida residents to sue social

00:55:01.160 media companies. And so that gives a lot of power in the hands of social media users when they feel like

00:55:08.020 they are being unfairly discriminated against in Texas and Florida. We'll see if that holds up. There's some

00:55:13.620 other good conservative news. For example, Nancy Pelosi and Rita Hart finally gave up on their power grab to

00:55:22.260 steal a house seat for Democrats amid pressure from Iowans. We've talked about this. Rita Hart actually

00:55:27.260 lost her her congressional race in Iowa by just a few votes. And so she asked the House of Representatives

00:55:36.680 under the control of Nancy Pelosi to investigate into this because she claims that there's fraud, even

00:55:41.880 though the state election board in Iowa already said that there's no fraud and that the Republican

00:55:48.240 candidate actually won fair and square. Nancy Pelosi said that she was actually considering unseating the

00:55:54.960 certified legitimate winner of the Iowa election and giving that seat to the Democrat Rita Hart. I think maybe

00:56:01.460 they realize that that's the exact thing that they criticize Republicans for doing in regards to the

00:56:07.240 presidential election back in January. They said those people were actually encouraging terrorism by

00:56:15.420 questioning the results of the presidential election. Nancy Pelosi was literally just because she wanted

00:56:20.640 to about to take away a seat from a Republican, give it to a Democrat in Iowa. Thankfully, she has backed

00:56:27.260 off on that. So that's no longer going to happen. Things are looking good in the places that have opened up

00:56:33.060 like Texas. Their rates have gone down even after the mask mandate has been lifted, even after businesses are no

00:56:40.300 longer restricted. Same thing in Florida, even though places like California, Gavin Newsom called this

00:56:46.960 absolutely reckless, but it has not been reckless. The results actually have been very good. The rate of

00:56:54.360 infection and the rate of death in Florida, for example, per 100,000 people is much lower than, for example,

00:57:02.040 in New York, in California, in Massachusetts, in various states that still have those restrictions. And so

00:57:09.400 that's really good news. OK, now I want to get into just one like feel good story and then we'll end

00:57:16.340 with some gospel truth. I know this is a longer a longer episode. I ended up having more commentary

00:57:21.240 than I thought. All right. I want to talk about this sweet story that I saw in CBS News. A 19 year old

00:57:32.040 with autism pins cover letter to future employers. The article says a young man recently pinned an honest

00:57:38.000 cover letter to his future employer and posted it on LinkedIn, where it eventually went viral.

00:57:42.420 My name is Ryan Lowry. I am 19 years old. I live in Leesburg, Virginia, and I have autism.

00:57:47.460 In his letter, Lowry goes on to explain that he has a unique sense of humor. He's gifted at math

00:57:51.260 and technology and is a quick learner. He wrote the letter with one goal to get a job in animation or

00:57:56.300 IT. I realize that someone like you will have to take a chance on me, he says in his letter.

00:58:01.020 I don't learn like typical people do. I would need a mentor to teach me, but I learn quickly.

00:58:07.120 Once you explain it, I get it. I promise that if you hire me and teach me, you'll be glad that you

00:58:12.820 did. Lowry then assures his future employer he will show up every day and work hard and his sincerity

00:58:18.840 and determination. In this letter, it touched many people. The article says the post received more than

00:58:24.240 180,000 reactions and more than 6,000 comments on LinkedIn. One of the people who saw the post was a man

00:58:30.340 named Aaron Perry, an executive at a 3D and animation studio. Perry brought Lowry's story

00:58:34.900 to Exceptional Minds, an academy and studio for digital artists and animators with autism.

00:58:39.400 David Siegel, executive director at Exceptional Minds, knew Lowry was a perfect candidate for the

00:58:45.460 academy, which trains people with autism in the art of animation and helps them with job placement.

00:58:50.940 Lowry will now take virtual classes for eight weeks of summer through Exceptional Minds.

00:58:55.520 While the animation classes are usually held at Exceptional Minds studio in California,

00:58:59.160 the classes are virtual due to COVID. He gets to do that, which is one of his dreams. I love that he

00:59:07.760 was so honest about this. I love his cover letter and just how transparent he was and how sincere he

00:59:14.060 was and that he just wanted to be able to work hard and prove himself. He wasn't looking for any kind of

00:59:19.080 special treatment. And I do love one good thing about our society is that I think that we have become

00:59:26.420 more understanding and in some ways, not in enough ways, but in some ways have become more

00:59:32.840 accepting and compassionate towards people with special needs. And we absolutely need to highlight

00:59:39.780 and continue to reward people who simply want to work hard and want to be rewarded based

00:59:45.820 on their merit. And so I just, I applaud this young man for his cover letter. I know it can be hard.

00:59:53.700 I know a lot of people, I've known a lot of people throughout my life who have autism and it can be

00:59:58.820 especially hard for them to put themselves out there and for them to articulate and communicate

01:00:05.260 their thoughts in some situations. And he was very articulate and was able to very honestly

01:00:10.940 give an assessment of what he brings to the table. And I love that it went viral, that someone reached

01:00:16.520 out to him. And now that he's connected to an opportunity, I just hope it goes well for him.

01:00:21.560 I truly think that as toxic as our current culture is, we are always looking for ways to bring joy to

01:00:30.360 people. Like I do think that essentially our neighbors want to do well for each other. Like it brings

01:00:37.020 you joy. It makes you happy to help someone else, to connect someone else to something that they need.

01:00:43.720 I think that we need to run after that high that generosity and charity gives us rather than trying

01:00:49.720 to push it down and find ways to be divided. I think we need to remember that most of our neighbors

01:00:55.280 and most people in everyday life aren't thinking about politics. They're not thinking about our

01:00:59.080 differences. Most people that I interact with on a daily basis are very kind, especially if I can tell

01:01:05.900 that they're in a bad mood maybe or they're not having a great day. If I'm kind to them, my tone

01:01:11.760 or my smile, depends on if you're wearing a mask or not, it can change their tone. A kind word turns

01:01:19.780 away wrath, as the Bible says. And I think it's the same for you, the same for everyone. When I'm in a

01:01:24.420 bad mood and someone's tone is kind and I can tell they love their job and that they're working hard,

01:01:30.540 that can make all the difference in my day. I still think most people are committed to those kinds

01:01:36.400 of interactions and relationships. I still think most people want that to be the characterization

01:01:43.580 of our country. There's one other feel-good story that I wanted to point to. This is according to NBC.

01:01:51.320 A couple adopts seven siblings in foster care after their parents die in a car crash. This is devastating,

01:01:58.720 but also redemptive. Pam Willis was scrolling through her Facebook feed in 2019 when she

01:02:04.260 landed on a news story about seven siblings in need of a permanent home. The children who range

01:02:08.940 from age one to 12 have been in foster care for more than a year after losing both parents

01:02:12.920 in a horrific rollover crash. Pam couldn't stop staring at their faces. I can't explain it. I just

01:02:18.680 knew I was supposed to be their mom, Pam 50 told today parents. Pam and her husband Gary have been

01:02:25.240 fostering kids for years and they share five adult children. They called the number listed at the

01:02:29.880 bottom of the story and they were matched two months later to these seven siblings. They adopted them

01:02:38.580 all. In August, the emotional ceremony was attended virtually by Pam and Gary's biological children.

01:02:45.840 And so I love stories of people purposely running into discomfort and running into pain simply for

01:02:55.820 the sake of helping someone else. Again, I think there are more people like this in our country,

01:03:01.860 which I still believe, by the way, is the greatest country in the world. There are more people like

01:03:06.880 this than there are people who want to do harm. There are a lot of bad people out there. There are a lot

01:03:11.280 bad things out there, but there's also a lot of good. There's a lot of compassion. There are

01:03:15.700 image bearers walking around that reflect God's love and God's charity and God's kindness to other

01:03:24.080 people. And I think that we as Christians have the utmost responsibility to not just emulate that and

01:03:30.300 to not just represent that in the world, but also to see that in other people and to highlight the

01:03:37.220 ways that we see that in our communities. And so I'm so thankful for these sweet parents who decided

01:03:42.400 to go out of their way to make sure that these kids were cared for. I can't imagine what these

01:03:47.200 kids have gone through over the past couple of years. And so thank the Lord for Pam and Gary for

01:03:52.900 doing that. There are a few other feel good stories that I could get to, but I already I know that this

01:03:57.760 is already long. So I want to end with the best with the best news of all. And that is the news of the

01:04:03.400 gospel. That's what we're celebrating this weekend. Of course, as Christians, that's what we celebrate

01:04:07.640 every day. Every day that we're reminded of our sins, we're reminded of our failures, we're reminded

01:04:12.320 of our fate if it had not been for Christ. We talk a lot about Ephesians 2, how we are either dead in

01:04:22.160 sin or alive in Christ. And Ephesians 2 says that we used to all be under the influence of the prince of

01:04:29.080 the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience and were by nature

01:04:35.280 children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love

01:04:42.320 with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ, by grace we have been saved. We talk

01:04:47.380 about that passage in Ephesians 2 so much because it's the perfect depiction of the gospel. We have

01:04:53.120 been made alive together with Christ. And the way that we can say that we've been made alive together

01:04:58.280 with Christ is because Jesus himself died and rose again, and he has become our resurrection

01:05:04.420 and our life. And that's exactly what he says in John 11, 25 through 27. This is in the midst

01:05:12.100 of mourning over Lazarus's death. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me,

01:05:19.740 though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

01:05:26.120 Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ,

01:05:31.540 the son of God who is coming into the world. So what's the difference in Jesus, in any other prophet,

01:05:38.400 any other teacher, any other religious leader who has died? The difference, well, there's many

01:05:44.180 differences, but one of the differences, the biggest difference is that he came back. He didn't

01:05:50.060 just die. He's not just gone forever, is that he actually, he was actually raised again. He actually

01:05:56.260 became our resurrection when he was resurrected from the dead. And let's read that story a little

01:06:02.520 bit, and we'll talk about why we can be so confident in that and why that resurrection gives

01:06:07.500 us confidence and should give us every reason to rejoice every day, but especially as we go into this

01:06:12.540 weekend. Matthew 28, 1 through 6. Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the

01:06:18.120 week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. I don't know why I just, that phrase

01:06:24.860 tickles me. The other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel

01:06:31.180 of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance

01:06:35.380 was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became

01:06:39.960 like dead men. But the angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus

01:06:45.800 who was crucified. He is not here. This might be the greatest, most consequential verse in the entire

01:06:51.640 Bible. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. So Jesus was

01:07:00.920 resurrected from the dead. Mary and the other Mary went to go see him, to visit him in his tomb. An angel

01:07:07.420 came to him, came to them and said, no, no, no. Remember, he said that he was going to rise again.

01:07:12.120 He did exactly what he said he was going to do. And he has defeated death by walking out of this

01:07:21.020 tomb, which was guarded by this heavy stone. How the heck did that happen? Because he is the God of

01:07:24.960 the universe. First Corinthians 15, three through nine says this, for I deliver to you, this is Paul

01:07:31.540 speaking to the church in Corinth, for I deliver to you as a first importance, what I also received,

01:07:36.360 that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and he was

01:07:41.600 raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. So this is not random. It was to

01:07:46.260 fulfill prophecy. And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12, then he appeared to more than 500

01:07:52.880 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. So you see that claim?

01:07:59.700 It's not just that Jesus rose from the dead. It's actually that he appeared to people, that he appeared

01:08:04.480 to not just the 12, but he actually appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom

01:08:10.780 are still alive. So why do we trust this testimony? Vodibachum talks about this a lot because it's a

01:08:16.460 collection of eyewitness testimonies, in particular of the resurrection, what is, to many people,

01:08:24.220 understandably, the most unbelievable part of the gospel, and therefore the most essential part of the

01:08:29.140 gospel. He's saying, look, I don't just believe this, but I saw it, and over 500 people saw it,

01:08:35.380 and some of them are still alive as I am writing this. That's what gives this so much credibility.

01:08:40.620 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and then Paul says, last of all,

01:08:44.820 as to one untimely born. I love that humility. He appeared also to me, for I am the least of the

01:08:51.120 apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. And yet, as he also

01:08:58.720 says in 1 Corinthians 1, God chooses that which the world would scoff at, that which the world would

01:09:05.260 reject, to bring to nothing the things that the world regards as wise and powerful. God uses the

01:09:13.100 unexpected all of the time in order to bring himself glory and to achieve his purposes. And Paul

01:09:19.200 is a perfect example of that. Now, in Acts, we see and hear the gospel so perfectly coming from

01:09:26.880 Peter in particular, when the Jews are given the gospel and the Gentiles are given the gospel. I'm

01:09:34.380 going to read you parts, not the whole passage because it's a little long, but parts of Acts 2, 22 through

01:09:41.940 37. So, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty

01:09:50.540 works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. And by the way, that's an

01:09:56.080 authentication of Jesus's divinity, the mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him.

01:10:03.880 As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge

01:10:09.440 of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the

01:10:16.720 pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And then he says that David

01:10:22.520 actually prophesied to this in, he quotes Psalm 16. Then he goes on, brothers, I may say to you with

01:10:30.440 confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this

01:10:35.000 day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set

01:10:40.460 one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw, David foresaw, and spoke about the resurrection of the

01:10:45.740 Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. That's what Psalm 16 says.

01:10:52.020 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Let all the house of Israel therefore

01:10:58.860 know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

01:11:05.940 And I love this passage. I've always loved this, these two verses. Now, when they heard this, this,

01:11:10.760 this audience, now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the rest

01:11:16.120 of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one

01:11:22.120 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the

01:11:27.500 Holy Spirit. That's what happens when you hear the gospel and God has made your heart ripe and made your

01:11:33.820 heart soft and good soil for planting the seeds of the gospel. What happens is you are convicted. You're cut

01:11:42.220 to the heart. You want to know, what do I do with this news? What do I do with this knowledge that this Jesus

01:11:47.680 died for my sins and then was raised again by God? What do I do? You worship, you repent, you turn to God.

01:11:55.060 Acts 10, the Gentiles get to hear the good news. So this is great for all of us who are not Jewish,

01:12:00.400 that Jesus also means reconciliation to God for Gentiles. So this is Acts 10, 34.

01:12:07.620 So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality,

01:12:12.500 but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word

01:12:18.560 that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all,

01:12:23.240 you yourselves know what happened. Throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism

01:12:28.660 that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power,

01:12:34.340 he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.

01:12:39.260 And we are all witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

01:12:44.440 They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to

01:12:50.660 appear not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses. He commanded us to

01:12:58.040 preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and

01:13:05.360 the dead. So if you ever hear, by the way, someone say that Jesus isn't about judging people, doesn't

01:13:11.620 judge. Jesus is the judge. First Corinthians 1, 22 through 24. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek

01:13:20.260 wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those

01:13:28.200 who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. That's who Jesus

01:13:35.080 is to us. That's what his resurrection means for us. It means eternal life for us. That's why we get

01:13:41.400 to rejoice at Easter. We should be praying also. Remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in

01:13:47.880 Christ around the world, because there are unfortunately attacks that happen throughout the

01:13:56.900 world, especially in the Middle East that target Christians on Easter weekend. We've unfortunately seen

01:14:02.900 that in the past. And so just be praying for the protection of saints throughout the world and be

01:14:09.380 rejoicing that we have hope, not just in this life, but also in the next. We talked about all these

01:14:14.980 political victories, which I think are good, these cultural victories, these good news stories,

01:14:19.900 and all of those are wonderful. And we can focus on changes that are being made in that way. But

01:14:24.820 ultimately, we know the world as it is, is going away. It's going to pass. And so while I think it's

01:14:31.000 important for us to care about what's going on in the here and the now, to be involved in what's

01:14:35.000 going on in the here and the now, to look after the welfare of the places in which we dwell, to care

01:14:41.160 about the future generations and the burdens that they're going to carry, to make sure we are infusing

01:14:45.680 light and truth and wisdom and goodness into every sphere we occupy. Ultimately, our hope is not here

01:14:52.720 because our home is not here. Our hope is in heaven because our home is in heaven. And that has been

01:14:57.980 accomplished to us through the reconciling death of Jesus Christ and his conquering resurrection that

01:15:05.240 we celebrate this weekend. What sets Jesus apart is not just that he is a very smart guy. It's not

01:15:13.180 just that he died, although, of course, that is part of the crux of Christianity. And it's not even just

01:15:19.820 that he rose again, although that is what sets him apart from all of the prophets and all of the

01:15:25.540 teachers and all the other religious leaders. What really sets him apart is that every other

01:15:29.600 religion tells you how to get to God. It tells you here's the mountain that you have to climb. Here's

01:15:34.520 the rules that you have to follow. Here's the way that you have to make yourself clean and make yourself

01:15:39.740 right before God. Here's how you earn God's affection. Here's how you earn acceptance, except for

01:15:46.500 Christianity. The gospel says something different than every other religion. The gospel of

01:15:52.580 Christianity says you can't get to God. There's nothing that you can do. There is nothing that you

01:15:59.640 can do to make yourself right or clean or acceptable to God. And because of that, because God loves you

01:16:07.420 so much, he is going to come down for you. So you don't climb up the mountain. He gets off his throne.

01:16:15.000 He comes down the mountain to rescue sinners, to save the lost sheep, to find the lost coin,

01:16:22.200 to chase after the prodigal son. The difference is that God is pursuing us in Christianity. God is

01:16:30.140 making us right. He is making us acceptable. He is making us pure. He is making us clean. He is

01:16:38.740 providing the sacrifice on our behalf. There is nothing we can do to become acceptable to God. God has made us

01:16:47.340 acceptable through his son by grace through faith in Christ. That is the freeing, liberating,

01:16:57.500 um, exceptional reality of Christianity and of the gospel. And that is what we cling to. That's the

01:17:05.180 best. That's the best and most eternal news of all. I know this was a very long episode. Uh, that's

01:17:11.460 because I had a lot to say. There's a lot of good news and we could have gone on for a lot longer than

01:17:15.220 that, but I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. Have a wonderful Easter. We will be back here on

01:17:21.400 Monday. So I will see you guys then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 01, 2021

Ep 396 ｜ Big Reasons to Rejoice： The People Push Back, Jesus Defeats Death

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