Explore the intersection of societal violence and religious freedom in this episode of Washington Watch. Jody Heiss, alongside influential guests like Maria Keffler and Ariel Del Turco, unveils the underreported realities of hostility against the church while advocating for a return to core values and principles. Through compelling narratives and expert dialogue, the episode challenges the cultural and political frameworks that contribute to these disturbing trends, aiming to inspire active participation in fostering a peaceful and respectful society.
SPEAKER 02 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 13 :
We currently have nine patients that were involved in the shooting yesterday. Six of those patients are in satisfactory condition. Five of those patients are children. We have two patients in serious condition, one adult and one child, and we have one child in critical condition presently.
SPEAKER 21 :
That was Dr. Thomas Clemon, interim CEO at the Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, giving an update on those who were injured in yesterday’s attack by a gender-confused gunman during a church mass. This is Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss. We’ll be discussing yesterday’s shootings from various angles today. My guests are going to include Kansas Congressman Ron Estes, Maria Keffler of Advocates for Protecting Children, Ariel Del Turco, she’s the author of FRC’s report on hostility against churches here in the United States, And then Dr. Ben Carson will be joining me a little bit later in the program. But first, let’s get the latest in regard to the details of what’s coming out from yesterday’s shooting. And I want to bring in right now Libby Emmons. She’s the editor-in-chief for the Postmillennial and Human Events. Libby, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. What more have we found out about the shooter from yesterday?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, so the shooter from yesterday, Robin, I’m sorry, I just had his name on the tip of my tongue. Robin Westman, he was a transgender individual, 23 years old. He had attended the school, the Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Also, his mother had worked there. We know that he killed two children and injured 14 children, as you were just mentioning, along with three adults. We know also that he left behind a manifesto about how much he hated God, and he was in you know, very anti-Christian in those messages. He was also opposed to Israel. He was very pro-Gaza. He had a message on one of his magazines that said, kill Donald Trump. And we know also sort of an interesting detail that emerged this morning that he had regretted his gender transition. He was gender transitioned in 2019 when he was about 17 years old. He changed his name. His parents had approved that name change and signed off on it because he was a minor. And in the notes that he left behind, he said that he regretted the transition, that he wanted to cut his hair because this was a vestige of his transition, and that he was ashamed and embarrassed to do so. And that’s pretty interesting, I think, him saying that he felt neither like a man or a woman. And there really is a lot of self-hatred in there. Also, in the notes left behind, we see a drawing of him looking into a mirror and having a demon look back at him.
SPEAKER 21 :
Wow. Incredible information. How is the legacy media treating the fact that the shooter was transgender, gender confused, however we want to phrase this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, that’s an interesting point as well. As soon as the—just within minutes, you know, of the shooting in Minneapolis, we saw Mayor Jacob Frey coming out on the scene. He was giving a press conference, and he was speaking about how important it is not to vilify the transgender community. He also, you know, had— had best wishes for the families and grief and all of that. But he spoke at length, not just at that press conference, but later in the day about how important it was not to vilify the transgender community, assuming that everyone was just going to pile on to, you know, all trans people everywhere. And that was his main focus. Jen Psaki was speaking about also how thoughts and prayers were not uh relevant at this time as had mayor frey and you also had jake tapper talking about um you know how it is important to stand by trans people you also had the new york times going at length to use female pronouns now what’s interesting about the media that has been going above and beyond to make sure they’re using female pronouns for this man is that he was saying himself that he regretted his gender transition so one wonders if he would have wanted that in the first place not that his preferences have any bearing on anything at this point because he’s this horrible killer but that’s that’s what’s that’s what we’ve seen is um you know them using these pronouns there’s some reporting that’s out there and you wouldn’t even know that it was a man because they’re using the female pronouns and not really addressing that he was trans. And also, media has not wanted to discuss that he’s transgender. That’s not something that they want to deal with. And it turns out that he is part of a short list of transgender individuals who have committed mass murders over the past several years.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, we’ve seen so much of this, and it’s becoming evident that these people have serious, serious problems on multiple fronts. All right, real quickly, I’ve got another guest I need to get to, but enough with the villain for right now. Let’s turn to the heroes. Yesterday’s shooting could certainly have been much worse. What details have come out regarding what happened on the scene?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, we’ve heard a lot about officers who were rushing in to save children, which was really a stark contrast to what we saw at the Uvalde school massacre a few years ago, where officers were holding back. And there’s been a lot of praise for the first responders on the scene. One thing that really struck me was there was a young boy who was talking about how when the shots rang out, He and his friends dove under the pews. This was just a fifth grader. And he said that his friend shielded him from the bullets. And his friend actually did take a bullet in the back and was taken to a hospital. Hopefully he will be recovering. But there was a lot of praise for the first responders there. And after that, too, I think that a lot of Catholic schools are probably going to consider having police officers on the scene maybe for the whole day to prevent these kinds of things from happening.
SPEAKER 21 :
Thank you so much, Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief of the Post Millennial. I appreciate you joining us today on Washington Watch. I want to switch over. Joining me now to provide a congressional perspective on all of this and the broader issue of crime in our nation as a whole, Congressman Ron Estes, who represents the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us again on Washington Watch. Great to see you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, thank you, Jody. It’s good to be on again.
SPEAKER 21 :
All right. This tragic situation, let me first get your thoughts on the shooting that took place yesterday.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, it’s really a sad story that you see another story where children are killed and injured. There’s no place for that kind of violence in our schools or targeting elected officials or anyone from that. And it’s sad that there’s that kind of anger and hatred that would drive these individuals to go commit those heinous act of crimes.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah. And, you know, one of the reasons, Congressman, and all the love and respect in the world that I wanted you on with us today, this whole issue of crime has hit very close to your home earlier this summer. An intern there at your office was the victim of senseless violence here in our nation’s capital, and he was killed while he walked down the street less than a mile from the White House. And our continued prayers and thoughts to that family. But can you just take a moment to talk about that and to tell us a little bit about that intern?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, it really is a sad story. I mean, you know, Eric Tarpenian Jackham was a 21-year-old. He was about to be a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was serving as an intern in our office, and he was a great young man. And it’s a sad state that in our nation’s capital, there have been over 100 people killed on the city streets this year, that, you know, we should want to be proud of our capital. We should want to be able to have a showcase here. that we could have Americans come visit, or we could have foreign dignitaries come and visit. And, you know, Eric’s tragic death is one of those things that should never have happened. And, you know, as a parent, I want my children to have the opportunity to take advantage of some of these things. But, you know, for him to come and lose his life because of that is a sad state. And we need to make sure that we provide safe streets, that we protect Americans across the country Of course, Washington, D.C. is a federal district. It’s different than the cities in different states. And President Trump’s really stepped up in terms of saying the federal government has a responsibility to help maintain law and order in Washington, D.C. and helping make sure that that happens.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up because it really is, it seems to be making a drastic change in just a short period of time, what the president has been doing here in Washington, D.C. Your thoughts on that? What are you seeing and hearing from others here in Washington?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, it really stands out. I mean, there’s a stark difference now, you know, in the first 10 days or so that the enhanced law enforcement support from the National Guard happened. There weren’t any murders, unfortunately, in the last couple of days. There has been another one just because of the crime in the streets. But, you know, that offsets the first seven months of the year. There were over 100 people killed on the streets in Washington, D.C., which is which is, you know, worse than other capitals around the world, Bogota and Lima and Madrid and even Chicago. I mean, it’s worse, six times worse, the rate of murders per 100,000 citizens in New York City. So between the murders rate about 27 and a half per 100,000 people and the And the carjackings and car thefts, about 840 per 100,000 people. We want to make sure that the streets are safer. And the president’s been doing a good job. We’ve seen a marked decrease. I mean, violent crime’s gone down 40% in the last couple of weeks, which is important for Americans to feel safe and foreign visitors to feel safe as well.
SPEAKER 21 :
It really is. So I guess on the negative side of all this, it all comes to an end in 30 days. So what do you think needs to happen following that 30 days? What do you anticipate happening?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I think part of what we’ve seen is by having the National Guard available to help patrol the streets, the police department in Washington can actually focus on solving some of the cases that have been a backlog for them. They really have not solved yet Eric’s death and want to make sure that they have the time to do that. Ultimately, it also belies some of the discussion around defunding the police. Going back several years ago, the Washington DC local government, which had been granted some authority by Congress, But they decided to cut the funding for their police, and it’s nowhere near recovered the same trajectory it would have been on based on the growth rate and the inflation rate since that time. So I think that’s part of what needs to be addressed as well, is making sure that the adequate funding is provided to help make sure that we have safe streets for our Americans, whether it’s in Washington, D.C., or Chicago, or Nashville, or Minneapolis, or anywhere else.
SPEAKER 21 :
We’ve only got less than a minute left, but the president’s talking about a comprehensive crime bill. What do you think that should look like, kind of from a 30,000-foot perspective?
SPEAKER 18 :
I think a primary overall goal in looking at that is we want to make sure we protect Americans, protect them whether in Washington, D.C., whether they’re in Wichita, Kansas, whether they’re in New York or even in California with some of the riots that have been there in terms of the protest against illegal immigrations. We want to make sure that Americans are protected. So we want to make sure a crime bill actually focuses on the funding that’s being provided from the federal government is utilized to help support those law enforcement, help make sure that they do their role, that they can protect American citizens throughout their city or their state, wherever their area of responsibility is.
SPEAKER 21 :
Thank you so much, Congressman Ron Estes of Kansas. Always great to see you. We appreciate you coming on. All right, friends, coming up, the legacy media wants you to avoid what they want to avoid reporting. What was really behind the gunman yesterday and all the transgender confused aspects of it all. So what do we do with all this? We have a definite problem and we want to dive further into that issue. We’ll do so right after the break. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back right after this.
SPEAKER 12 :
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, a ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand, silencing voters and bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn’t outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now, 29 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there’s a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12% since 2020, climbing from 930,000 to over 1 million in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple, the abortion drug. Today, over 60% of U.S. abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 2021, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum longstanding safety protocols for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life-threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not enforce the Comstock Act, which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11% of women who take the abortion drug end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden-era policies, pro-life laws will remain largely symbolic. Without a full review and repeal of Mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger, and pregnant mothers will remain at risk. Let’s stand for life and end this mail-order abortion drug pipeline. Sign the petition urging the Trump administration to take action at frc.org slash stop chemical abortion.
SPEAKER 19 :
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Family Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the Word who dwelt among us. Come with us and discover the glory of the Word. Read the Gospels and witness the life-changing story of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of common people and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the new year. Find our Bible reading plan in daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us and stand on the word.
SPEAKER 21 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. So glad to have you joining us. All right. The left has been telling us for a long time that the solution for gender confused kids is to transgender them. So they’re saying that experimental drugs and irreversible surgeries are somehow the answer, but it’s obvious to everyone that certainly did not help the situation yesterday in the deadly church shooting in Minneapolis. So what could have potentially have helped the gunman? And what can help those other individuals who are struggling with gender dysphoria? Joining me now to discuss this is Maria Keffler, co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children and author of Desist, Detrans, and Detox, Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult. Maria, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you for joining us. Well, I don’t know if you heard a while ago, I had Libby Emmons on with me, and she mentioned that in the manifesto yesterday, the shooter actually regretted, wrote, had written that he’d regretted transitioning, saying that he was tired of being trans, that he wished he had never brainwashed himself and so forth. So the left is trying, I guess, probably to say that those comments are coming from an outlier in the trans community. But what can anyone honestly say in regard to medicating and mutilating children that somehow that’s the solution for gender dysphoria?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it’s not. There’s nothing healthy about the current path that kids are being put on if they express any kind of gender confusion. For decades, watchful waiting was the standard of care, where if a child thought they’d rather be the other sex, you’d wait. Help them get through puberty naturally. And the vast majority of these kids, when they go through puberty, they align with their birth sex. There’s no data supporting the affirmation model, which I don’t even like to call it affirmation. That’s too positive of a word. It’s really appeasement. And we see thousands and thousands of people detransitioning. I’m not even exaggerating. A few years ago, if you looked at the subreddit Dtrans, r slash Dtrans, there were a couple of thousand people in there, which is quite a lot. I just went and checked today and there’s 57,000. 57,000 Dtransitioners. So we know this is not a healthy path to put kids on. What we find is this really is cult-like, this practice. Man was correct that he was brainwashed. I don’t think he brainwashed himself. I think he was brainwashed by public schools, social media, smartphones. A lot of private schools, unfortunately, are doing it too. It’s throughout the culture. Any problem you have, they say you’ll be fixed by transitioning, which is not the case. We need to be speaking truth and love to people who have mental health issues. This is a mental health issue. Kids, even young adults, people who are doing this, they’re hurting. They’ve got something wrong, whether it’s autism, mental health issues, prior trauma, something’s wrong. And when they latch on to this idea of gender ideology, suddenly nothing else gets looked at. Nothing else gets treated. So they need to have their real mental health issues taken care of. They need to be told the truth. Hey, your body informs you. your sex. You’re male, you’re female. There’s nothing else. Doesn’t matter what your preferences are, what colors you like, what you like to do in your free time. You’re a man, you’re a woman, you’re a boy, you’re a girl. That’s truth. And then the love that comes alongside that is let’s Figure out what’s really hurting you and get that treated and fixed. So that’s really what needs to happen.
SPEAKER 21 :
So what do you say to those who would equate parents? And I’m going to use the same term you did with the same bit of dislike for this phrase. But what do you say to those who equate parents who refuse to be gender affirming that they’re bad parents or to do so is even child abuse?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that’s part of the cult, right? Cults do a number of things to recruit and retain their followers. And one thing is to vilify anybody who doesn’t agree with the cult dogma. And that’s what we see happening when you’re called names, transphobe, hater, bigot. Those are just thought stopping devices to try to get you to stop thinking deeply about what the cult is doing. It’s hard on parents. I talk to parents all the time saying, who are dealing with this the kids can be really militant really angry the the neighbors they you know sometimes are losing family members who disagree but i’d like to speak to parents who are going through this we’re talking about your child’s health we’re talking about their future we’re talking about their fertility as hard as it is to take a stand on truth It’s always the right thing to do as long as you are coupling it with, hey, I love you. That’s never going to change. The fact that I disagree with you about this is not evidence that I don’t love you. In fact, it’s evidence I love you so much. I’m not willing to let you hurt yourself. And so I’m going to do what I think is right to try to help you so that you can get back to good health, back to understanding what reality is.
SPEAKER 21 :
That’s very important points there. Let me ask you this. Moving on from the transgender issue itself, you’re talking about talking with parents. Would you have recommendations of perhaps how parents may need to or want to talk to their children about school shootings? What kind of advice would you give there?
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s really hard. And I would say it depends on the age of the child. The younger the child is, the more careful you need to be about not scaring the child. If we’re talking about a kindergarten, first grade, second grade child, if they don’t know about the school shootings, I think I would really hesitate bringing it up. If a child, a young child comes to you and says, you know, that they’ve heard about this with the younger kids, I’d say, you know, up to 10, 11, 12 years old, focus on the safety. You know, yeah, there are some people in the world who are really broken. And sometimes broken people try to hurt other people, and that’s awful. But your mom and dad and your teachers, we’re all doing everything we can to keep you safe. We’re going to keep you as safe as we can.
SPEAKER 21 :
Maria Keffler, co-founder of Advocates Protecting Children. By the way, I love the name of your book. Great job. Thank you for putting that out there for us. And thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks so much.
SPEAKER 21 :
All right, friends, we’ve got much more to cover as we try to bring all of this to you from as many angles as we can, trying to make sense and giving good advice through it all. Coming up, we’re going to deal more with yesterday’s attack. As shocking as it was, it may not be surprising, especially when you consider the rise in hostility against churches over the past few years that’s taking place right here. in the United States. We’ll discuss that right after the break. So stick around, we’re straight ahead.
SPEAKER 17 :
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I’m defending the family by working in the Center for Biblical Worldview to provide cutting edge research and resources for pastors, ministry leaders, and Christian parents.
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Through my work at the Washington Stand, I passionately defend what God has defined for marriage and family. I don’t see the Washington Stand as just a place to talk about cultural events. It’s a place to share biblical truth with the perfect outlet to advance and defend what God has defined as good, true, and beautiful.
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SPEAKER 21 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. I’m Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. Well, we’re covering a lot of the news regarding yesterday’s deadly shooting and cowardly shooting, the attack at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Well, long before yesterday here at FRC, we’ve been calling attention to multiple acts of hostility against churches in the United States. And in fact, earlier this month, FRC released the newest edition of the Hostility Against Churches Report. So as shocking as yesterday’s shooting was, in many regards, it’s not a surprise we are seeing the rise of this type of violence. And joining me now to discuss this is Ariel Del Turco. She’s the director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty and author of that Hostility Against Churches report. Ariel, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you coming in here to the studio.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good to be with you.
SPEAKER 21 :
Okay, so we’ve got Kash Patel over the FBI now looking at what took place yesterday and calling it an act of domestic terrorism. But when we look at this, according to the report that you came out with, this certainly is shocking. But is it that surprising to you that we’re seeing yet another attack?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, in our report this past year in 2024, which is the most recent year we have data on, we found 415 incidents of hostility against churches. And compared to 2018, when we found 50, that is a massive increase over a small amount of years. And we really think that this just represents the tip of the iceberg because we are only identifying incidents that have already been publicly reported. And we know that there are so many that churches just don’t even bother to report. So many acts of vandalism, arson, destruction of church property, and in a worst case scenario, a shooting like this.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, so let’s go into that. I don’t think there could be any better timing for your report to come out than right now with what we’re seeing and particularly what we saw yesterday. And we’ve been seeing a rise of this going up and up and up. So when you’re talking about all these hundreds of incidents, you just mentioned a few of them. What are some of the biggest incidents? What are we seeing happen the most expressing hostility and kind of lay out for us what’s taking place against churches?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, certainly the worst case scenarios are incidents like we saw this week with the shooting at Annunciation Church and School. It’s interesting that the FBI is investigating this as an act of anti-Catholic bias, and I think that’s a really encouraging sign that The administration is paying attention to this issue. They’re recognizing there’s hostility against Christianity, and in this case, Catholics in particular, and they’re taking that very seriously. In this case, we saw, obviously, it’s targeting children during prayer, during their mass, for their school day in a Catholic church, shooting through a stained glass window, just as horrific as you can possibly imagine. But this shooter was very openly disdainful of Christianity and Christian symbols. He had a picture of Jesus attached to a shooting target in his room, and he was posting videos about this. He had a magazine for one of his rifles that tauntingly said, where is your God? So there was so much animosity in this case against Christianity. So this is, I think, one of the worst incidents we’ve seen.
SPEAKER 21 :
So do we have any idea, Ariel, what the – we see the trend, and the trend is frightening. I mean, it’s just on the rise exponentially. What is behind that? Do we have any clue?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s hard to know what’s going on in the hearts of all of these people. I think at the very least, if we’re drawing the most modest conclusion, we have to conclude that there is a severe disrespect for Christianity in our culture. The most mild incident in our report might be someone’s walking down the street and throws a brick through a stained glass window at a church. Even that shows a severe level of disrespect at minimum or hostility. And the fact that we’re seeing more incidents of these acts of hostility against churches seems to indicate a rise in this sort of animosity towards Christianity in our culture.
SPEAKER 21 :
Darrell Bock Well, you mentioned specifically that this seems to be more directed towards the Catholic Church. But it’s broader than that. It’s against Christianity as a whole and the disrespect that’s out there. That seems to point to me that really what we’re dealing with is a spiritual issue.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. And so many of these attacks on churches outlined in the report just seem to make no sense. People breaking into a small Baptist church in a rural area and just raiding and destroying the entire sanctuary. And when these attacks make so little sense, I think it’s a reasonable conclusion that there’s a spiritual aspect here. So we definitely don’t want to ignore that. And for us, all of us, it’s a call to prayer.
SPEAKER 21 :
It really is a call to prayer, and I hope everyone who’s watching and listening right now will be involved with that, particularly with the beginning of a new school year. All the more we have Christian schools out there, and they certainly would fall in that category. Ariel, before we wrap up, let me just give you an opportunity, if there’s any final words, final thoughts that you want to put out there for our viewers and listeners.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I am just thankful for FBI Director Kash Patel investigating this and the religious aspect of it. We did see earlier this year with President Trump’s executive order on anti-Christian bias. He is keen to address this issue, and he specifically mentioned the rise in attacks on churches. So while we are turning to prayer and turning to the Lord for help, We also are encouraged when our leaders are taking this seriously and taking the protection of Christians and our houses of worship seriously. So I think there are some encouraging signs on the political front.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, I certainly agree with you there. Ariel Del Turco, I want to thank you so much for joining me today. It’s an honor to have you on. And thank you so much for putting forth this incredible report. And I’m so grateful for the traction that it has gotten. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 21 :
All right. We’ve got more coming up after the break. Dr. Ben Carson is going to be joining me to give his perspective on what’s driving the violence around our country. And from his perspective, what kind of solutions could there be in the horizon? So much more coming your way here on Washington Watch. Stick around. We’ll be back right after this break.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
There are so many different audiences that can benefit. The first one are counselors themselves, because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God’s design for their life.
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This is really magical to have the therapist and the individual who suffered come together and write about why this is happening and why we’re seeing this.
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And we brought all of that experience to the table. We want to see people walking in the fullness of who God has called them to be and not a false identity.
SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 21 :
You’re tuned in to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for joining us. I am Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. Just a real quick reminder before I bring on my next guest. We want to make sure that you are aware and that you are registered to join us for the upcoming Pray, Vote, Stand Summit. It is going to be taking place October 17th and 18th in Chino Hills, California this year. You can learn more, and you can even register by visiting PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org. And while I’m at it, I also want to encourage you, if you don’t already have it, be sure to download our Stand Firm app to get it. You can go to the App Store or go to Google Play, wherever it is that you get your apps, go there and get the Stand Firm app. You can also do it a simple way by texting the word APP, A-P-P, To close out today’s program, I want to dive deeper into the roots of the issues that we’re talking about today. When we look at events like what took place yesterday, when we look at events like that superficially, we come up with superficial solutions. And we’ve got to have more than that. We need to look at these issues more deeply. So joining me now to kind of look at all of this under a microscope, so to speak, is Dr. Ben Carson. He’s the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute, a name that’s familiar and loved to all of us. Dr. Carson, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thank you, Jody. It’s very nice to be with you.
SPEAKER 21 :
Okay, I want to bring this issue up first because this was offensive and yet it is very enlightening. When you have, say, former Biden White House Press Secretary Jean Psaki yesterday, she drew attention negatively for the most part, but she put out a tweet saying that people need to stop it with all the thoughts and prayers. And then Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made a similar remark. Let’s start with this. What’s your response to the belief out there that we don’t need to be praying and we don’t need to be calling on people to pray?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, if you were Satan, isn’t that what you would say? I think the lack of decency and faith is manifesting itself very strongly now. But when we look at what’s going on in our cities, it’s not hard to understand why we have so much violence going on. Obviously, the key to all of it is faith in God and the relationship with Him. But let’s put that aside for a moment and just talk about human nature. Little children, when they aren’t disciplined, they become monsters. And basically, that’s what they’re doing with things like cashless bail. People are doing horrendous things, and they’re back out on the street before you can get the paperwork done. Well, needless to say, it’s encouraging people to act in a way that is creating a great deal of havoc in our cities. And it doesn’t need to be that way. If it were run well, if the city were run well, though, guess what? there wouldn’t be a reason to try to fundamentally change it. And there are those who want to fundamentally change who we are. They don’t like the system that we have. They don’t like our Constitution. They don’t like our Bill of Rights, our Declaration of Independence, our faith, our sense of community, our sense of liberty. They want to control everything. That can’t happen if things are running smoothly. So stir the pot, give people license to go out and do all manner of things. I’ve got a list here of ridiculous things that people have done and been right back out on the street the same day. And that frightens everybody. It certainly does. But the other thing is, why are these young men so easily manipulated into doing bad things? Well, you know, God created us. He gave us the plan for families, a mother, a father, and children. A large number of people, particularly in inner cities, do not have a father. They do not have an authority figure. The first authority figure they run into is somebody who’s badder than they are or the police. In many cases, it doesn’t turn out well for them, and they become hardened. And you’re not going to solve this problem with any kind of Band-Aid. We really need, as a society, to start thinking about how do we substitute or encourage the development of complete families with fathers included. That means that some people might want to become foster fathers and become role models and figures for some of those children. I was talking to a police officer in Baltimore, which has a severe crime problem, and he said he walks the same beat every day, knows everybody, they all know him by first name, He says he never has to buy lunch. People are always inviting him in for lunch. But they tell him when things are going on. He knows when there’s something that’s amiss and can take care of it. And that neighborhood has a much lower crime rate than any of the others. That’s something that we can learn, relationships, developing those relationships, and particularly for those families who have an absent father.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, I’m so glad you brought that up because going back and looking into the research here, it appears that this shooter’s parents actually got a divorce back in 2012, 2013, some of that time frame. And that had a pretty significant impact on his life. There is no doubt. aren’t I correct, that there is a correlation between fatherless homes and children who get involved in criminal behavior and all sorts of mischief, if we’ll just put it that way. There is a relationship there, isn’t there?
SPEAKER 16 :
There is definitely a relationship there. And I don’t want people to get discouraged and say, well, you know, 70%, 80% of the homes are broken now. There’s no hope for us because – There’s a new movie that was just released about the children in the college campuses, revival generation, and how they are flocking in droves to Christ. And no matter how tormented a childhood one has, accepting Christ and allowing Him to become the center of your life will solve the problem. There are two things we need to be concerned ourselves about. How do we create an environment that helps to foster the development of families again? And how do we stand up for our Christian beliefs? You know, for too long a period of time, people have stood in the corner and let the left dictate everything, and just sort of kept their mouths shut. It’s time to open your mouth. And, you know, that will encourage other people to get involved too.
SPEAKER 21 :
Amen and amen. Extremely well said, Dr. Carson. You know, we hear a lot, and I kind of intro’d this time with you, we hear a lot about superficial solutions. to many of the issues that are facing our country. But in this particular topic, the superficial solutions of medication actually mutilating children who are suffering from gender dysphoria. We talk about on a broader scale gun control to stop shootings, but there’s not enough attention to what you’re talking about right now, which is the root of the problem. That which is driving violence around the country and at the heart of it, it’s a spiritual problem and it must be dealt with spiritually. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, unless that happens, we’re dead in the water. You know, our country is much too strong to be overcome militarily. But the Marxists and those who want to fundamentally change us have a secret weapon. and that is division, divide and conquer on the basis of race, age, income, gender, political affiliation, religious affiliation, have each other at each other’s throat, canceling each other. And when we do that, obviously we make ourselves very vulnerable. That’s why Jesus said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. So we have to realize that we’re being manipulated. And all you have to do is go back and look at things like the congressional record, January 10th, 1963, where Congressman Herlong of Florida read in the 45 goals of communism in America. You’ll see all the things that are happening now, gaining control of the school system so you can indoctrinate the kids, gaining control of the news media in Hollywood so you can change the culture, destroying the family, particularly the role of fathers and families, taking God out of everything, changing the real gospel to the social gospel, and making sexual perversion normal, natural, and healthy. The list goes on and on. This is the way that they’re trying to conquer us. And unless we wake up, which I am encouraged, particularly what I’m seeing on some of the college campuses, I think we have a fighting chance. Wow.
SPEAKER 21 :
Great news. Let me throw this out to you. And I wanted to give this question to you just because your background as director of all your medical background and your expertise in so many areas and your service at Johns Hopkins. But you know a lot about medication. Is there a possibility or could the drugs, the hormone treatments that are being prescribed to these gender confused patients, could all of that in and of itself be further complicating the mental instability of people like the shooter that carried out the acts of violence yesterday?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, we certainly have not done any controlled studies on that, but one would have to be thinking about that, particularly since there’s been two mass shootings of this nature that have been carried out by transgender people, which comes first, the chicken or the egg. But it is definitely something to look at, the way these people are being manipulated. And I’m not sure that the majority of people who think that they’re transgender are actually transgender. But if you start taking someone who is very suggestible, like a child, and very vulnerable, and tell them, you might not be a girl, you might not be a boy, and not having their parents’ input, it’s not going to be long before they start thinking, you know, now that you think about it, I think I am a girl. That’s the boy thing, or vice versa. That’s really nothing short of child abuse that’s going on in our society. And we have a responsibility to do everything we can to stop it, and not being afraid, not being intimidated, because that’s one very successful tactic of Marxists. Intimidate the opposition into silence while you carry on your nefarious purposes. That’s what’s going on in our society.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, and what you just described, I think we see a lot of that. The shooter yesterday was obviously depressed, has been for years, and had some exceedingly disturbing thoughts that have been taking place for years. And clearly, transitioning was not the solution, as those, many at least, on the left have been claiming. And so the left comes in a situation like this to the parents many times. We’ve heard this over and over. And they will say that the choice is between having a dead son or a living daughter or something along those lines. What about having a living son? What about really helping these children rather than transgendering them? Your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 16 :
And it’s not necessarily the parents’ fault. I know a lot of people say, well, if you had the right kind of environment for them, they were growing up properly and you were praying with them and reading the Bible, that wouldn’t happen. That’s not necessarily true. Teachers, educators have an enormous influence upon a child. And, you know, they can very easily plant those seeds. You know, it was… It was Lenin, Vladimir Lenin, who said, give me your children to teach for four years and the seed that I sow will never be uprooted. They realized that if they could get in there early while the ground is fertile, they can sow all kinds of seeds in there and you can have the most beautiful home environment, but it’s gonna grow like a weed. And that’s why it’s so important Parents and guardians know what’s being taught in those schools. Go to the meetings. Talk to the teacher. Get elected to the school board. Take responsibility. Don’t just complain and hope that somebody else will take care of the problem for you.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, and, you know, it looks to me, I mean, you say the parents, you don’t blame the parents. I don’t either. I mean, there are many instances just taking the information that they are being given. But even the shooters, like in the case yesterday, and others like them, in some regards are also victims themselves. and perhaps victims of medical malpractice. I mean, we’ve got to look at this whole scenario of what’s taking place, and doctors who have vowed to do no harm, are they in fact doing harm by pushing transgender surgeries? We’ve got about a minute left.
SPEAKER 16 :
They’re doing a great deal of harm, and I’m not exactly sure how they can do it, having taken the Hippocratic Oath. But by the same token, how can they kill little babies and do all manner of horrible things? It’s because they have a heart problem. They need to let love into their hearts so that they care about their fellow human beings. Because many of the doctors, they totally know that shooting up these children with all kind of hormones and changing their natural growth patterns… is not a good thing, and yet they make a lot of money. If you took the money out of it, guess what? It would stop. Nobody would be taking that risk if they weren’t making a ton of money. And I hope that that’s gonna change in the near future because there’s been enough light shined upon it And there’s been some professional shaming of people who actually do that. And I think that’s helpful for us as a nation.
SPEAKER 21 :
Wow. Dr. Ben Carson, always an honor to speak with you, sir. And thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. That’s a powerful point right there that also is not being brought up very much. You follow the money trail, and a lot of times you’ll get to the bottom of a lot of things.
SPEAKER 15 :
The love of money is the root of all evil. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 21 :
Dr. Ben Carson, founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute. Thank you. That’s all we have for today. Hope you have a wonderful evening. We’ll see you tomorrow here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 02 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
