Mark Alford, Rich Baris, Tyler O’Neil, Dr. John Plake

From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, DC., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
The Democrats in the Senate are unwilling to do anything. We’ve had our appropriations bills ready for months. Chuck Schumer continues to just bring show bills and radical nominees in front of us.
He’s cruising toward a shutdown. And they don’t want to do anything to acknowledge what the real threat is at our southern border.
That was tennessee Senator Bill Haggerty earlier today on Fox business. Welcome to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins.
Well, as congress returns this week, they are less than 15 days away from the federal government running out of appropriated money. House leadership pulled back a vote at the end of last week on a short-term six-month continuing resolution with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, attached. Republican leaders continued to work over the weekend trying to gather the necessary votes to pass the measure before Senate Democrats set up yet another year-end massive spending bill that will increase government debt.
A six-month CR with poison pills is not going to fly in a narrowly divided government. CRs have always meant to be a short-term extension, funding, a short-term extension funding, to give appropriators more time to do their work. They’re not meant to be a substitute for congress doing its job.
That, of course, was Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer trying to set the stage for a year-end CR, which again would jam the House and allow Democrats to push forward with an omnibus bill, a massive spending bill. We’re going to talk with Missouri congressman Mark Alford in just a moment. And another attempt on president Trump’s life yesterday.
We’re going to talk about that as well. As the presidential race tightens between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, polling shows that control of congress is also becoming competitive. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s seeing good signs.
We’re doing very well. I’m very bullish about November. I’ve been traveling the country nonstop so far.
Done campaign events in over 204 cities and 40 states now. I can hardly keep track.
But everywhere we go, there’s an energy on the ground.
We’re going to defy expectations. This is going to be a good November for us.
That was Speaker Johnson on Fox and Friends earlier today. We’ll get a read on the race for the House with Rich Baris, Director of Big Data Poll. And here’s something very interesting.
The unionized workers of the infamous Southern Poverty Law Center have taken a vote of no confidence with the organization’s CEO, Margaret Huang. This, of course, comes on the heels of sexual harassment and discrimination claims against the previous leadership. Now, the question is, how in the world can the media continue to use the SPLC as a credible source?
We’re going to talk with Tyler O’Neil, managing editor of The Daily Signal. Finally, new research from the American Bible Society shows that Jen Ziers’ scripture engagement is lacking. But for those who do read the Bible, they are finding something that can’t be found elsewhere.
The antidote to anxiety. Dr. John Plake, the Chief Innovation Officer at the American Bible Society, is here with more a little bit later on this edition of Washington Watch. The website, tonyperkins.com, lots of resources there for you.
Be sure and check it out. Also, you can download the Stand Firm app, and you’ll have Washington Watch right there in your pocket. Let me encourage you once again to consider joining us here in our nation’s capital for the Pray Vote Stand Summit, October 3rd through the 6th.
You can find out more about the Pray Vote Stand Summit by going to prayvotestand.org.
Well, as the September 30th deadline for a government shutdown approaches, members of the House of representatives return to Washington tomorrow to resume the battle over extending government funding through a continuing resolution or what is called a CR. Now, in the coming days, House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to continue efforts to pass such a stopgap measure, though the specific details of any legislation have not yet been announced. Now, there is an effort to attach a measure, the SAVE Act, which would protect federal elections by making sure that those who are in this country illegally and are not citizens cannot vote in federal elections.
Well, joining me now with an update on the latest is congressman Mark Alford. He serves on the House Armed services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. He represents the 4th congressional District of Missouri.
congressman Alford, welcome back to Washington Watch.
Thank you, Tony. Good to be with you.
Well, after voting for a possible CR was delayed last week, there was talk among Republicans about building consensus. Are we seeing consensus yet? Are we there yet?
I certainly hope so, Tony. This must have attached to it, the SAVE Act. We have already passed this in the House, been sent over to the Senate side, but Schumer and his Senate shenanigans has shut this thing down as well.
And now we want to attach it to the continuing resolution for six months. And the reason we want to do that, we do not want to end up with an omnibus around Christmas and then something being shoved down our throat, we’re forced to vote on it. We do not need a government shutdown right now.
Let’s make that very clear. We could lose the presidency, we could lose control of the House, we could possibly lose the Senate over this. We have to regain control of the legislature and the executive, and we’ve got to make sure that we have a continuing resolution for six months with a save act attached to it to make sure that only US citizens vote in US elections.
It’s very simple.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, but that’s probably why it’s not too accepted by Democrats in the Senate. Let me ask you this, congressman Alford, you’ve not been here that long, but you’ve already seen a pattern that has emerged, as you just described. We see the Democrats that they only want a short-term CR into December, year end, so that the members of congress, their back is up against the wall to get home for Christmas, and so they cobbled together a massive omnibus bill, and it’s filled with all kinds of goodies for the left, and it’s forced upon members, and we see that time and time and time again.
In fact, that’s been the process for nearly the last 20 years.
Well, the Democrats want to place Santa Claus around Christmas time, and they do, they want to give every one in America anything they can to gain power, to gain their votes. We’re not going to let that happen, Tony. This has got to end.
We have to start living within our means. We take in $5 trillion in revenue each year and spend $7.5 trillion. We’re gaining $1 trillion in debt every some 127 days, I believe, at this juncture, spending more on our interests than we are on our military.
This has got to end. I am helpful about one thing, Tony. You know, this time last year, we only had one of the 12 appropriation bills passed in the House.
Now we have five. Right. It’s not all 12, but it’s a good start.
And this is kind of like turning an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. It’s not a ski boat. But we are changing the way and getting back to regular order in the House.
Yeah, that’s a good point, congressman Alford, because that represents, even though it’s five of the 12, it represents about 72% of the government funding. The House has done that. The Senate has not.
The Senate has not approved any of the funding bills yet. They’re continuing to sit on setting up this scenario that we just described. Now, you serve on the House Armed services Committee.
One of the holdups here on this six-month CR have been kind of what we call the defense hawks. There are some who say this could harm military. And I was talking with Lindsey Graham over the weekend, who I don’t think there’s a bigger hawk than him when it comes to the military.
And he says, he doesn’t see that. He actually sees it, as you described, this is the best way to try to get a hold of the fiscal control of our federal government in the budgeting.
I like Lindsey Graham a lot. I know he’s very intelligent when it comes to military matters. Also like Mike Rogers, our Chairman of the House Armed services Committee, a friend of mine, and he has a lot of intelligence on this.
And look, the military will suffer. That is a hard fact. And if we do not increase our military spending, you know, with the way it is now, under the National Defense Authorization Act, a 1% increase, we’re only, it’s really about a 3% cut in spending.
And when Communist China, Xi Jinping, is ready to take over Taiwan, and under the Taiwan Relations Act of the 1970s, we have committed to help in their self-defense. And so we’ve got to be prepared. We’ve got to be prepared for the pacing threat of Communist China.
They are breathing down the necks. They have their tentacles in everything we do. We’ve got a madman named Vladimir Putin, who’s not only invaded Ukraine, but I think is ready to do some other dastardly things in Eastern Europe.
And we have the mullahs in Iran, which this failing president has funded through the release of $16.5 billion in frozen assets that they have now used to fund the Houthis, who have just fired more missiles at Israel. We’ve got to get a strong leader back in the White House. We’ve got to right the ship when it comes to our budget and get spending back on track.
Is this, when it comes to… Let’s talk about the military for just a moment, congressman Alford. Is it a funding issue or is it a focus issue?
I mean, the military… I just read this article over the weekend. The military celebrating the first co-ed submarine.
More of the DEI stuff that you have been so effective in pointing out. That’s what they celebrate. They don’t celebrate military readiness and being lethal.
We are changing that. rest assured. Every time we get the generals in front of us, we ask them pointed questions on this.
We have stripped out a lot of the DEI CRT programs, defunded them. In the latest NDAA, we have done that as well. It’s taken a little bit of time to do that, but we’ve got to realize we don’t need drag queens in the Navy trying to recruit.
The only thing we need dragging in the Navy is anchors. Until we get these, I think, woke progressive liberals out of the military, we’re not going to restore confidence in our military. We have a recruitment crisis in the military, where only 9 percent of America’s young people have any interest in joining the military.
Their fathers and grandfathers are saying, don’t bother joining the military, it’s too woke. We’ve got to change.
Well, you and I agree on this. We could go down the list of reasons for that. When you look at both the DEI, but then you look at the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades, there are those who are saying, I don’t mind serving my country, and I don’t mind making sacrifices, but it needs to be for something that we’re not going to walk away from like we saw in Afghanistan, where the latter is worse than the former.
We just have a couple of minutes left, congressman Alford. I want to get your thoughts on yet another assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.
Well, look, I think it’s despicable that we cannot adequately protect, although the Secret Service did a good job this time. This guy was not, I don’t think, a true assassin. In effect, a true assassin with any smarts is not going to have his barrel sticking out through the fence like that.
I’m glad the Secret Service was ahead of president Trump, caught this guy, shot at him. He is going to be brought to justice. But, you know, we’ve got to have, we’ve got to make sure that the Homeland Security is doing his job.
They now have control over the Secret Service. I personally think we need to make this, move the Secret Service back over to the Treasury Department. I think they did a much better job under Treasury.
This Mayorkas character, the so-called Secretary of Homeland Security has not done his job. He hasn’t done his job at the border. I don’t think he’s even spoken out about this latest assassination attempt.
We’ve got to make sure that the programs are adequately funded and staffed to make sure that present, past and future presidents and executives are protected.
congressman, we really don’t have time to go down this path, but we’ve got 30 seconds left. I got to ask you this. Is this not a reflection of a much deeper problem in our society where we have such violence in our streets and attempts to kill our leaders?
Not only that, it’s the rhetoric coming from the left. Look, I know there’s a lot of harsh language coming from the right. We need to tone it down.
When you start calling a former president, calling him Nazi and Hitler and that he’s a threat to democracy, I’ve been called a threat to democracy. We just had Jim Jordan here in our district who went to the Chiefs’ Game and he gets death threats all the time. There are death threats of so many congressmen and leaders in our country.
We’ve got, they’ve got to tone it down. Let’s argue over the issues and win people over with argumentation, reason and logic.
I agree. And that’s part of the challenge that we’ve seen the left not wanting to have debates. And so we we no longer reach consensus through what historically has been very American.
That is debates. congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Always great to see you.
Stick with us folks. We’re back with more after this.
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Thank you so much and God bless you.
All of us are born with the desire to find truth and meaning.
While our answers to these questions may divide us, we are united in our need for the freedom to answer life’s biggest questions and make life’s biggest decisions for ourselves. That’s why religious freedom matters for everyone. Religious freedom matters because the powerful have long wanted to control those who are less powerful.
Religious freedom matters because the freedom of those who are different is often threatened by those who believe different is dangerous. At the Center for Religious Liberty at Family research Council, we promote religious freedom for everyone because the only alternative is religious freedom for no one. We encourage Americans and the American government to engage and advocate for the persecuted and they do.
We work every day to bring good news to the afflicted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. We do it because that’s what jesus does. We work to give freedom to others because we ourselves have been set free.
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins, your host. Good to have you with us on this Monday.
The website, tonyperkins.com. We now have fewer than 50 days until the 2024 elections. And while the presidential race has naturally grabbed most of the legacy media’s attention, polling experts continue to monitor shifting momentum in the races to control both chambers of congress, which will greatly affect the fortunes of either presidential candidate.
And increasingly, we find that the American public likes divided government. And, quite frankly, for good reason, because not much happens, which usually the only thing that happens up here is bad. Well, abortion referendums are on the ballot in 10 states in November.
Pro-life voters, even in states without a close presidential race, have extra motivation to cast their ballots. So turnout is going to be strong in those 10 states. But, there are just a handful, maybe two dozen or more congressional races that could decide control of congress.
Joining me now to break these numbers down is Rich Baris. He’s Director of Big Data Poll. Rich, welcome to Washington Watch.
Thanks for having me. It’s good to be with you.
So, Rich, you anticipate razor thin results across the board. What are you looking at down ballot in House and Senate races right now?
Yeah, we have an interesting environment, Tony, because usually, looking back in the modern era, really since the Obama era, we really for the US Senate have not seen a lot of ticket splitting during presidential cycles. You have Susan Collins, and that’s about it when you look at candidate for US Senate from one party that won their election when the other party’s candidate for president carried the state. So typically, we have not seen this kind of ticket splitting that the polls suggest really is what is coming.
I’m not sure that will last. That’s something we’re looking at. We just started to add what is called leaning to down ballot races as well.
So we always ask undecided voters for president. Well, if you had to decide today, who is it going to be? Democrats maintain a slight edge on our generic ballot for the House, and Senate by Senate, it really does go depending on the state we’re talking about.
But generally speaking, Republican candidates are running a couple of points behind Donald Trump, and that’s been the case in our polling for about a year. We’ll see if that changes.
So when you talk about the ticket splitting, do you see that trend where people may vote for, let’s say, Kamala Harris in the presidential, but a Republican in a congressional and maybe state legislative race and vice versa?
And vice versa, we do. But it’s worth pointing out that we did see that in 16 as well. So Kelly Ayotte, for instance, for US Senate, looked like she was going to perform better than Donald Trump in New Hampshire.
And actually, they both wound up losing the state, but it was the flip side. So each individual state, when we’re talking about districts, it really gets very granular about who these people are and different cultures we have around the country. But we are seeing it in the polls, and we have seen this before, Tony, and that’s the thing.
At the end of the day, when we get close to the election, partisans do usually come home. So we haven’t seen a lot of it actually materialize in the vote. In midterms, yes.
But during presidential cycles, no. So this is interesting to watch.
Rich, what are you seeing in terms of intensity? Is there an intensity differential out there right now?
This is another, of course, this matters is another huge important question. Democrats were basically asleep or hiding under a rock for months after the debate with Joe Biden, where he just collapsed on camera. They all but vanished.
They were very difficult to poll. Those we did speak to said they were not enthusiastic at all. And Republicans had an edge in enthusiasm for about a year.
They, in the first poll we did after Harris became the nominee, that really came to parity. So certainty to vote, enthusiasm. It was basically they were, the two parties were mirroring each other.
Partisans were mirroring each other. This last poll that we sent to you, you know, that was released at the end of last week, Republicans retook a slight advantage, but it is slight. This will be, looks to us like it’s going to be a high turnout election, and it’s going to be close.
So let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about that closeness, because, you know, we saw in, you know, 2022, there was these predictions of a red wave, but there’s no water out there to create a wave. I mean, we see a very, very narrowly divided country.
And what I see from your numbers is that this thing is going to go one way or the other, just by a handful of congressional seats.
This is, if it’s happened before, it’s out of my memory. It happened so long ago that it’s out of my memory. But as you can see, when you include leaners, it was 50-50.
That’s how close it was. That has almost never happened to me in my career. But yeah, in the House, this will come down.
You’re looking at a little over 30 seats that people really do believe are contested and up for grabs. In a presidential cycle, it even reduces the possibility of a wave even more, because most elections, both sides are juiced and they’re ready to turn out. In a midterm, you can have that differential be much, much greater with one party over the other.
But this is not going to happen this time. This is going to be close, and they’re going to fight for every vote.
So that means for voters, their vote counts, especially when you look at these 32 races, Arizona, California, Connecticut, minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, I mean, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia. There’s a key race in almost every one of these states. Those voters, I mean, this could come down to a handful of votes in a congressional district that could determine the control of the United states House of representatives and, in some cases, the Senate.
these races are close. In the off cycle in Louisiana last year, of course, everybody paid attention to the gubernatorial election, and of course, that matters, but down-ballot, there were some contested ballots, judge wound up throwing out a few of them, and in one race, it was one vote that decided the outcome, the winner of that race. Your vote absolutely does matter now more than ever.
This country is split down the middle. It really is. And often, it really isn’t about persuasion.
It’s about turnout. It’s just the era we live in now, Tony. So it’s that much more important that you have to get out and you have to vote.
You have to get five friends to go out and vote and do your part. And that’s the side that does that more and wants it more is the side that’s going to win.
Yeah. And that’s why that intensity enthusiasm is so important. And we got to generate that ourselves, understanding that our lives are affected by the policies of those that we elect and put in place.
Rich, thanks so much for joining us. Very interesting conversation. I’m sure we’re going to check in with you some more over the next 50 days.
Looking forward to it. Thanks for having me. All the best.
Thanks, Rich. All right. There you have it.
Pray, vote, stand. There are some races, and he was right in pointing out some of those races in Louisiana, because I watched them in my home state. A single vote.
And we’ve seen that actually a few years back in Virginia, where control of the Virginia House came down to pulling a name out of a hat, because this race was tied, and that broke the party that controlled the house. All right. Don’t go away.
More Washington Watch coming up next.
Let’s go. I’m aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate.
Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our world view. Where did I come from?
Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently.
debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that.
They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all.
Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth.
But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war. The truth claims behind the press release in the forest from the trees.
This is Washington Watch, I’m Tony Perkins. Good to have you with us on this Monday. Pre-Vote Stand, all right, so a couple of things there.
You can come to the Pre-Vote Stand Summit October the 3rd through the 6th here in our nation’s capital. You can find out more about that by going to prevotestand.org. Also, you need to be registered to vote, and you need to be informed so that you can vote.
You can get your own voter guide. You can go to frcaction.org, frcaction.org, and we’ve got lots of election resources there for you so that you will be, if you’re not registered, you can find out how to get registered. You can get a voter guide, personalized voter guide, so that you’ll be prepared to vote, because voting is going to be starting very soon in some places.
Last week, 90% of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Workers Union passed a vote urging the SPLC’s Board of Directors to fire the president and CEO, Margaret Hwang. While the union claims that she has been involved in union busting, the embattled CEO reportedly told the SPLC board that there has been a budget shortfall. Now, I have that hard to believe since they have almost a half billion dollars they are sitting on in offshore accounts.
Could there be more to this story? Joining me now to discuss this is Tyler O’Neil, who first reported this story. He is the managing editor of The Daily Signal and the author of the book, Making Hate Pay, The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
He is the expert on the SPLC. Tyler, welcome back to Washington Watch.
Thanks Tony, thanks for having me.
All right, so I recall our last conversation when there were layoffs at the Southern Poverty Law Center. And I asked you, is this a union-busting initiative by the SPLC leadership? And now we have the evidence that that is exactly what this leftist organization was doing.
That is exactly what the union claims. I am not entirely convinced that the union is correct, but many things seem to line up with that understanding. So the head of the SPLC union herself got laid off, as did a large number of the union members.
Of course, 90% of the union has now voted to oust CEO and president Margaret Hwang, but they don’t have any real decision-making power. And the board has kicked them to the curb and said, no, we’re keeping Margaret. We liked her from amnesty International, and we seem to like what she’s doing with the organization.
So we’ll have to see what actually ends up happening. But this does look like union-busting might be a major aspect of it. I also think the battle, the internal battle over Israel, is not something to be overlooked here.
Tyler, I find it almost comical, all right? That, you know, the left embracing everything leftist, and now they’re fighting themselves. I found this was very interesting in the release from the union at the SPLC.
And I’m quoting from this, In surveys conducted by SPLC’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Department, shortly before layoffs, most staff said they did not trust or have faith in SPLC leadership. In 2022, only 49% of the staff had confidence in leadership, which fell to 44% in 2024. They’ve got so many issues.
I mean, they’ve been discredited on so many levels over the last five or six years. But yet the media continues to hold them up as a source of credible information.
Well, the most interesting thing, you know, we had news of this break earlier last week. And then by the end of last week, Robin DiAngelo, you know, one of the premier anti-racist figures that the media loves so much, she pushed back against Matt Walsh’s new movie, Am I Racist? And at the very top of her article and her statement, she cites who?
None other than the Southern Poverty Law Center, as if this organization hadn’t just had, you know, I mean, the list goes on and on and on. They had the racial discrimination and sexual harassment, scandal in 2019, where their co-founder resigned, where one of their employees said that the hate accusations, of which, of course, FRC is a prominent target, are a highly profitable scam. Then, you know, they covered up that scandal, leading to the unionization in the first place.
And now the union, amid mass layoffs, is accusing them of union busting. Meanwhile, you know, the SPLC has had to stealth edit their own statement on the terror attacks from Gaza, from Hamas, where they falsely claimed that Israel had been targeting civilians. And it’s just one issue after another.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has zero credibility. And yet, legacy media outlets, and none other now than Robin DiAngelo, are just lining up saying, oh yeah, we think this is a credible arbiter of hate.
The other thing I find, again, comical here almost, is the fact that they had a $13 million deficit as justification for these layoffs. How much money are they sitting on in these offshore accounts?
yes, well, we’re talking more than $730 million. And this is their endowment. So maybe not all of their endowment is liquid, but you can see that the claim that a budget shortfall is leading to this restructuring in these layoffs is a rather laughable idea, because if they really wanted to keep everybody that they can keep, they would just take money from the endowment.
Instead, you know, they have this massive endowment. They have offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. They’re not touching any of that.
And they’re getting rid of about a quarter of their staff. And this is, you know, they’re getting rid of them, and then they’re shifting entire departments. So, I would hope that they’re moving in a direction away from the sort of smear campaigns that they’re best known for.
But I have no faith that that’s what they’re doing. I think they’re probably gearing up to be even worse, just taking more advantage of their employees along the way.
Yeah, but I just think it’s… that the hypocrisy is blatant here, and the media should see it. Tyler, always great to see you.
Thanks so much for joining us. All right, folks, stick around, more ahead.
Join us, October 3rd through the 6th, as we gather with spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives from across America at the Pray Vote Stand Summit in Washington, DC. We’ll pray for our nation, engage in government and culture, and stand for biblical truth alongside Christian leaders, world-view experts, and government officials. We’ll discuss important issues like the sanctity of life, religious freedom, protecting students, strengthening families, praying for our nation, and how you can impact America’s future from a biblical world view.
Our nation stands at a critical juncture, and we must ensure that the issues impacting faith, family, and freedom are understood and advanced. Register now at prayvotestand.org. That’s prayvotestand.org.
jesus said in John 15, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. In 2024, in these divided and uncertain times, how can this be possible? By abiding in him through his word.
At Family research Council, we wanna help you do that, which is the reason for the stand on the Word Bible reading plan. In just 10 to 15 minutes each day, you will have read the entire Bible in just two years. But more importantly, you will be abiding in him daily.
Find our Bible reading plan at frc.org/bible. And join Tony Perkins each weekday for a 10-minute devotional, inspired by the daily reading and designed to encourage you on this journey through the Bible. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
And remember, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable word of God. But that’s not all.
They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections.
The problem is that a lot of them feel alone too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost.
If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage-cons yourself, join us. Go to frc.org/s-a-g-e-c-o-n, SageCon, to learn more. That’s s-a-g-e-c-o-n, SageCon, to learn more.
Welcome back, I’m Tony Perkins, your host, the website tonyperkins.com. Alright, also, again, let me remind you, because we’re just about two weeks away from the Pray Vote Stand Summit here in our nation’s capital, October the 3rd, through the 6th. To find out more, go to prayvotestand.org.
Our word today comes from Proverbs, chapter 28, verse 2. Because of the transgression of the land, many are its princes, but by a person of understanding and knowledge, stability will be prolonged. Well, in light of the recent threats on Donald Trump’s life, what can we learn from this moment?
Well, the Word of God offers a clear warning about the consequences of a nation and what they face when it chooses its own path instead of God’s. When a society elevates lies above truth, instability and chaos inevitably follow. Leaders are constantly shifting, driven by violence or the whims of a restless population.
these are signs of a nation that has lost its moral compass. It’s spiritual way. The warning signs are clear, my friends.
America is on a course toward greater instability and violence unless we return to truth. That journey back begins with repentance among God’s people. It starts when we as followers of Christ recommit to embracing God’s truth and boldly declaring it in a nation that is desperately in need of spiritual awakening.
Our future, our family, our nation hangs in the balance. To join us in our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742.
Well, speaking of the Bible, this month, the American Bible Society released the sixth chapter of their 14th annual State of the Bible Report. And this latest chapter focuses on the generational differences in people’s perceptions of well-being with an emphasis on data about Gen Z. The data presents us with a clear challenge.
Gen Z adults have more fears, greater anxiety, lower self-esteem, and less affirmation from peers than any older generation. But we also see something else. Members of Gen Z who are Scripture engaged, who interact regularly with the Bible, and apply it to their lives, that means they don’t just read it, but they apply it, well, they do better.
How can families use this data to reach Gen Z with the message of the Gospel? Joining me now to discuss this, Dr. John Plake, Chief Innovation Officer at the American Bible Society. Dr. Plake, welcome back to Washington Watch.
Always great to see you.
Thank you, Tony. It’s a pleasure to be back with you today.
All right, so let’s talk about number one. First off, let’s get the bad news first, then we’re going to get the good news. Let’s get the bad news when it comes to Gen Z.
Well, you’re right, it is bad news, and it hasn’t just been documented by the American Bible Society, but lots of outlets and major researchers have documented that Generation Z, the youngest adult generation in America, is really struggling with their emotional and mental health. They have really high levels of fear, very specific areas, and some that are quite unique. But also, I think the good news is that their engagement with the Bible, for those who do engage with the Bible, things are really, really different.
But I think, let’s start with the bad news, right? I think if you look at the overall level of anxiety among Gen Z, and you compare it to older generations in America, what you find is they have about twice the level of clinical anxiety symptoms. So when we talk about that, what we mean is, what are they experiencing?
What are they feeling on the inside? Those feelings of anxiousness, of difficulty with sleep, of difficulty with concentration, and all those things about twice as common among Gen Z adults as they would be among baby boomers, and then Gen X, and of course, the millennials in between.
So what are some of the factors contributing to that?
Well, it’s up for some debate. I mean, clearly the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the social changes that took place around the pandemic have been really important here, but most scholars believe that it’s the fact that they grew up with screens in their face, and rather than interacting one-on-one with others and working out their challenges and their difficulties in face-to-face relationships, the intermediation of smartphones and other digital devices has not really helped them, and it’s forced them to grow up in ways that maybe I didn’t have to, or you didn’t have to when we were younger, and maybe when they weren’t yet equipped for all of that.
All right, so that’s reality, all right? We’ve got, but this has been, and correct me if I’m wrong, John, but as you’ve gone through this, and we’ve been talking about this for a number of years now, because this is something the American Bible Society has been tracking, each successive generation seems to have less engagement in scripture. I mean, we seem to be slipping away from it.
So that’s the bad news, but the good news is for those who find it and are drawn back to it or pointed to it, they’re finding that the word of God is true. Be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. And that’s what the Gen Zers who are engaging with scripture are actually finding.
That’s exactly right. You know, only 11% of Gen Z adults qualify as really being scripture engaged. They’re consistently interacting with the Bible in a way that’s shaping their choices and transforming their relationships.
But if you look at them and you look at their levels of clinical anxiety symptoms, what you notice is that for scripture engaged Gen Z, their levels are comparable with the oldest Americans. So it wipes out this generation gap. There’s something that happens when we begin to hear God speaking to us through His word that takes all of the anxieties and quiets them.
And as you quoted from the Apostle Paul, the peace of God that passes on understanding does in fact, guard their hearts and their minds in Christ jesus. And instead of having, you know, anxiety levels of 7.1 on this 10 point scale, they’re at 3.4. So it’s like less than half of what they were seeing from their compatriots.
And that is really amazing.
So, Dr. Plake, let me ask you the $64,000 question. Well, I guess with inflation, that would be the half billion dollar question. How do we get the Gen Z generation and others, for that matter, into the Word of God?
You know, there’s some wonderful work being done on this by folks like the Trauma Healing Institute. We have a resource both for Gen Z adults and for their parents to help them engage in conversation, but what we asked Gen Z adults is we said, look, when you’re struggling with these issues, where do you go for help? And what we discovered was that the top three answers were really pretty fascinating.
The first is that a large percentage of Gen Z adults actually go to a mental health professional. About 57 percent of them said, hey, that’s where we would turn. But online search was actually the second most popular option.
So when Gen Z adults are struggling, they turn to Google. And I think that’s interesting because it provides those of us who are, who care about Gen Z to be there to meet them when they’re searching for these things. And then the third thing is they would talk to a trusted family member.
And so I think we can equip the church to know how to help young people understand the anxieties and the fears that they have in light of God’s word. But we can also equip families and we can be present in that online world when they’re searching so they can find biblical answers to their genuine searches.
And for those that might be challenged on the breakdown of the generations, we’re talking of those 18 to 27 fall into that Gen Z category. But this is relevant to all the generations. I mean, we’ve seen, as I mentioned earlier, a slippage.
And I think part of that is because we’ve seen religion, Christianity, the Bible kind of marginalize in the public square. And so kids tend to stay away from it because it’s no longer like, you don’t see it in the schools. In fact, if it’s mentioned, it’s in a negative context.
So introducing them to back to this concept that this may very well be what they’re looking for, to the antidote to their anxiety, does come with some opposition.
You know, it can come with some opposition, but these kinds of struggles also present opportunities. And we find this again and again, as people are disrupted in their lives, they experience some kind of an emotional challenge, or maybe they’re just moving from one community to another, or they’re graduating from high school or college. these sorts of disruptions present an opportunity for us to communicate the gospel in a way that’s meaningful and relevant.
In fact, the data that we’ve tracked on the U-version application finds that people who are struggling with anxiety, or they’re struggling with certain kinds of mental health behaviors and feelings, they often turn to, hey, does the Bible say anything about that? And so, will we get everybody? No.
But if the Bible speaks to these issues, then for someone who’s searching, we can be there to help them find the answers to their search in the pages of scripture.
So, similar, I mean, our conversations go back to before COVID, but I remember having a conversation during COVID that the Bible reading actually went up as people were looking for answers and solutions. In this problem can be the opportunity to, as you just described, for those that are searching for something that they can’t find anywhere else, this could be it. This could be the door that the church has been waiting for to introduce this newest generation of adults to the Word of God.
I mean, isn’t that really what we do, right? We listen to the challenges that people are experiencing in the culture and society all around us, and we provide biblical answers. And in this case, they’re clinically proven biblical answers that actually do help.
So we can’t control, we don’t want to control when someone’s experiencing a mental health crisis. We don’t want that for them. But when they do, can they find help from the church?
And the answer is clearly yes, according to the data. If we can provide them with what the Bible says and help to engage them in it at their point of need, not just at our point of reference, then we find that God meets them and he helps them. And they do experience the peace of God.
And that’s what we want for all of our fellow Americans.
Dr. Plake, as you go back, as you mentioned, there’s those three areas where they’re most likely to turn to when they’re faced with dealing with trauma, the anxiety. They’ll search online. They’ll talk to a trusted family member.
In your research, did you find that maybe another genzir, a peer who has found the solution, who is walking in that sense of peace that comes from an abiding relationship? That’s what we’re talking about. Scripture engages abiding in Christ.
Do they have greater influence with their peers?
You know, the gospel is always communicated best in the context of relationship. It’s not an abstract idea that God has helped me. It’s a relational idea.
And so for those who are close to me, who are my friends or my neighbors or my coworkers or people that I interact with from day to day, they’re interested actually and quite open to hearing the story of how God has worked in my life. And we actually see that more and more among Gen Z. I think there’s an urban legend that maybe started in the baby boomer generation in the 1960s that talking about anything spiritual was sort of forbidden.
But what we see among Gen Z is a new openness to the gospel, an openness to hearing about how the Bible has impacted someone’s life or how God has touched them. But it’s important that that happened in the context of a relationship and that it come from someone that they trust and that they see as trustworthy.
Right. stories are powerful. When you can talk about what God has done in your life and the struggles that you’ve had and how the Word of God has been a source of strength, of hope, of peace, of joy, I mean, that carries a lot of weight with someone that you’re in a relationship with.
But I think it goes to while they’re open, we’ve got to have the boldness to share that story.
I think that’s exactly right. I think we have to have the proper resources. One of the things I’m most excited about is that the Trauma Healing Institute has come out with a new resource, they call ReConnect.
That ReConnect resource can be accessed by someone if maybe you’re watching and you’re like, I’m really struggling emotionally, does the Bible have something for me? You can go to traumahealinginstitute.org/reconnect and you can download that resource. It’s absolutely free.
On that same page, maybe you’re the parent or a grandparent of someone who’s struggling emotionally. There’s a five-part conversation guide and Bible study that can just walk you through what the Bible says about the hurts or struggles that you may be experiencing. We just encourage you to do that.
It’s absolutely free and it’s exactly the kind of resource that’s been shown to help people overcome these difficulties that are so prevalent in America’s youngest adults.
Speaking of that, we just have a couple of minutes left, but you’ve been tracking these trends where there’s heightened stress for younger generations. This continues, apparently, evidence suggests, with Generation Alpha. How do we prepare and how do we counter this growing sense of anxiety, oftentimes driven by trauma?
What do we need to be doing to not just putting band-aids on this, but go to the source and begin preparing for these next generations?
Well, I think one of the things that really startled me was that the youngest Americans aren’t only anxious and feeling anxiety, but they’re actually afraid of a great number of things. They’re not just afraid of the things that maybe older people are afraid of. They’re not just afraid of grief or they’re not just afraid of loss, or they’re not just afraid of economic problems, but they’re afraid of school shootings.
They’re afraid of being sexually assaulted. They’re afraid of being victimized in their own culture. I do think that it’s incumbent upon us to find ways to make safe spaces for these young people and to help them know that they are protected so they can have an opportunity to hear God speaking to them.
Then for those who are caring for them, for their teachers, for people who are in government, for people who are parents and grandparents, to provide them with resources so they can talk well about what the Bible says about how we live in a broken world.
Yeah. So, so, so important. Dr. John Plake, always great to see you and always great to look through the research and encourage people to apply it.
So thanks for being with us.
Thank you, Tony.
Dr. John Plake with the American Bible Society. You can find out more, go to tonyperkins.com. And I would say the front line of that, just to put an exclamation point on what Dr. Plake said, it begins with parents.
Parents, we’ve got to do our very best understanding of the world. Our children live in much different grandparents. We need to provide that safety and that protection.
But also, we’ve got to do everything we can to walk them through an understanding of the Word of God. So important. I mean, as you see in the evidence here in this research, it is the antidote to the anxiety that is gripping a nation.
All right, folks, out of time for today. Thanks for joining us. Check out the website, tonyperkins.com.
Until next time, I leave you once again with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, Founder of ephesians 6, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, when you’ve prepared, and when you’ve taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.