Kresta in the Afternoon

Larry Nassar, the infamous doctor who sexually abused more than 200 female gymnasts, was stabbed in federal prison on Sunday. Upon hearing the news, most people’s immediate reaction was “good riddance, you monster.” Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse him of abuse, had a different reaction that reflects her deeply-held Christian faith. Al takes a closer look.

Data from the General Social Survey finds that the share of LGBTQ Americans under the age of 30 has risen from 4.8 percent in 2010 to 16.3 percent today. But rates of non-heterosexual behavioral experience have not risen nearly as sharply. Sexual behavior once comprised the key distinction to homosexuality – is that no longer the case? Mark Regnerus joins us.

From the days of the apostles, the Church's pastors and teachers have met, when necessary, to defend and explain the Catholic faith. From the "Council of Jerusalem" in the Acts of the Apostles, through the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Trent, and Vatican II, these meetings of the world's bishops are some of the most important events in the life of the Church and the most profound expressions of the Church's teaching authority. Paul Senz gives us a history.

Carl Sagan, the well-known astrophysicist and science popularizer, once declared, “I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules called Carl Sagan. You are a collection of almost identical molecules with a different collective label.” Strange as that assertion may sound, it expresses an idea that many of our contemporaries regard as so obvious as to be beyond dispute. The idea is called “physicalism” and holds that all of reality, including the human mind, is ultimately nothing but matter in motion and therefore explicable in terms of physics. We’ll talk more about it with Dr. Stephen Barr.

How can Aristotle help us understand the meaning of the Eucharist? We talk with David Sherwood.

Nearly every college and university in the country advertises itself as educating future “leaders.” But if everyone claims to be training “leaders,” it’s hard to believe anyone is. A system with a hundred leaders and no followers is like a hundred generals and no soldiers to do the fighting, or like a hundred administrators and no teachers. Randall Smith joins us.

The monastic lifestyle began spreading throughout the West a few centuries after Christ’s death, but it was not uniform. Each monk lived his own lifestyle and tradition. That began to changed when Benedict of Nursia became a hermit and authored his Rule, which would become the universal guide for Western monks. Bill Cook tells the story.

For most of recorded history, cultures and societies sanctioned differences among peoples. Slavery was almost universally accepted and legal distinctions based on race, gender and ethnicity were justified. How did religion help restructure society towards a view of all humans having inherent dignity? We talk with PJ Hill.

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” So says Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Al helps unpack the teaching.

On July 10, 1925, the Scopes Monkey Trial began. The state of Tennessee accused John Scopes, a high school teacher, of violating the Butler Act, which prohibited teaching human evolution in a state-funded school. The trial brought national attention to the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, a debate over the compatibility of Scripture and modern human science. We take a look at the trial and surrounding debate with Stephen Meyer.