Kresta in the Afternoon

A recent piece in Slate magazine claims that the religious right did not originally form around the pro-life cause; it formed over support for segregation. But if you examine the early years of the pro-life movement, long before Roe was settled, you see just how ridiculous this is. We talk more with Daniel Williams.

Why does God allow us to feel pain? It’s a demanding question, and one that Philip Yancey has explored thoroughly in his work with the late Dr. Paul Brand, whose work as a leprosy surgeon gave him a unique perspective on the matter. We talk with Philip about the issue of pain and the marvel of how our bodies bear God’s Image.

You can’t have a kingdom of God without citizens. The whole process of discipleship is to render us fit to be disciples of that kingdom. Al takes a look.

Though she didn’t have any kind of religious formation growing up, by the time she’d reached middle school, Leah Libresco Sargeant was interested in philosophy and virtue, specifically stoicism and the thought of Immanuel Kant. As she got older, she found that pieces of her ethical orientation seemed to match up with the Christians she was meeting. She admired the internal consistency of Catholicism, but didn’t yet believe in God, until a breakthrough in a late-night conversation with a friend that seemed to put all the pieces together for her.

There’s a popular phrase from the feminist movement of the mid-20th Century: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle!” Both sexes suffer when the functions, values, and truths about one of them are put down. When men are not allowed to be men, then women are not allowed to be women—and neither can flourish.  Anthony Esolen joins us.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns us “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Have you ever wondered how the people of Noah’s day could be so clueless? He warned them of what was coming, and they did nothing to change their lives. What lessons can we learn from Noah as our own culture descends into madness? Al discusses.

New data from the United Nations projects that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation by 2023, and that the total global population will top 8 Billion late this fall. With this news will come the usual calls for increased birth control access to combat overpopulation, especially after the Dobbs decision. This effort goes back to the years after World War II, when US policymakers initiated federally-funded family planning. Donald Critchlow tells the story.

The Diocese of Lansing is leading efforts to help equip you to educate others about Proposal 3. This weekend there will be training sessions at the diocesan high schools, and next week there will be a statewide webinar. Richard Budd has the details.

Over the last year, Archbishop Samuel Aquila has been corresponding with Bishop Georg Batzing to voice his concerns over the German Synodal Way. He joins us today to share why he decided to reach out. Join him and Al on the Good News Cruise!

The interreligious conference Pope Francis attended in Kazakhstan last week adopted a resolution that religious pluralism is an expression of “the wisdom of God’s will in creation,” prompting one alternative news site to proclaim that “Chrislam” has been confirmed. We look at what was said with Matthew Bunson.