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JUNE 30, 2018 Radical monocracy

How California’s Democratic domination propels LGBT laws down the pipeline

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As of May 2018

Find more information at: samaritanministries.org CONTENTS | June 30, 2018 • Volume 33 • Number 12

32 19 38

42 55

FEATURES DISPATCHES 7 News Analysis / Human Race / 32 Follow the Assembly line Quotables / Quick Takes How one-party rule in California yielded draconian legislation against “conversion therapy” CULTURE 38 Cruel summer 19 Movies & TV / Books / Loneliness plagues our social-media-drenched society, and summer Children’s Books / Music is the season of greatest isolation NOTEBOOK SPECIAL SECTION: SUMMER READING 55 Lifestyle / Technology / 42 Thirty beach reads Politics / Sports Pack a suitcase and take your pick of these summer getaway books VOICES 48 Crime stories 5 Joel Belz Thrillers from here and abroad 16 Janie B. Cheaney 49 Staff picks 30 Mindy Belz Light summer reading selections from Worldlings 61 Mailbag 50 A novelist’s struggles 63 Andrée Seu Peterson Author Min Jin Lee says writing isn’t a career—it’s a vocation 64 Marvin Olasky

ON THE COVER: Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Give the gift of clarity: wng.org/giftofclarity

Notes from the CEO “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.” une 30 might come and go unremarked were it not for our fiscal —Psalm 24:1

year-end fundraising appeals and my occasional reference in this Chief Content Officer Nick Eicher space. Editor in Chief Marvin Olasky Senior Editor Mindy Belz J To WORLD’s staff, however, the fiscal year-end is in many ways more notable than is the calendar year-end. We make our Editor Timothy Lamer plans, finalize our budgets, wrap up major initiatives, and begin National Editor Jamie Dean new ones—all based on our fiscal year. We have a New Year’s Eve Managing Editor Daniel James Devine Art Director David K. Freeland and a New Year’s Day, with many of the accompanying goals and resolutions, right Associate Art Director Robert L. Patete Reporters Emily Belz • Sophia Lee • Jim Long here as summer just gets up and running. East Asia Bureau June Cheng • Angela Lu Fulton Ending the fiscal year on a strong note does more than just make the current Story Coach Susan Olasky Senior Writers Janie B. Cheaney year look good. It gives us what we need to start the new year, implement new Andrée Seu Peterson • John Piper Edward E. Plowman­ • Lynn Vincent ideas, perhaps hire new people, tackle new projects. The end of the current fiscal Correspondents Sandy Barwick • Megan Basham Julie Borg • Anthony Bradley • Bob Brown year sets the tone and the direction for the coming fiscal year. Michael Cochrane • John Dawson Juliana Chan Erikson • Laura Finch • Katie Gaultney Thank God, in several ways we are Kim Henderson • Charles Horton • Mary Jackson Jill Nelson • Henry Olsen • Arsenio Orteza ending the current fiscal year on a Jenny Lind Schmitt • Russell St. John Marty VanDriel • Jae Wasson • Emily Whitten strong note, and I’ll mention two: Mailbag Editor Les Sillars We just wrapped up perhaps the Executive Assistant June McGraw Editorial Assistants Kristin Chapman best World Journalism Institute col- Amy Derrick • Mary Ruth Murdoch Graphic Designer Rachel Beatty lege course—our 20th—we’ve ever Illustrator Krieg Barrie had. It certainly was the largest class. Digital Production Assistant Arla J. Eicher Many of those students soon will be fulfilling their calling in journalistic Website wng.org Executive Editor Mickey McLean roles all across America and the world. Managing Editor Leigh Jones Assistant Editors Kiley Crossland Then, last week, we brought our entire team of reporters and editors together Lynde Langdon • Dan Perkins from all across America and the world for the first time in many years. It is an Reporter Onize Ohikere Correspondents Gaye Clark • Samantha Gobba understatement to say that it was an encouraging week. It was a sensational week! Rob Holmes • Bonnie Pritchett • Julia A. Seymour Thank you for joining us in our mission this year. Thank you for helping us to Editorial Assistant Whitney Williams finish this fiscal year, and start the next one, energized and encouraged. Website wng.org/radio Executive Producer/Cohost Nick Eicher Managing Editor J.C. Derrick Cohost Mary Reichard Reporters Kent Covington • Jim Henry Sarah Schweinsberg Correspondents Paul Butler • Mary Coleman Kevin Martin George Grant • Cal Thomas Producers Johnny Franklin • Carl Peetz (technical) [email protected] Kristen Flavin (field) Listening In Warren Cole Smith • Rich Roszel

Chief Executive Officer Kevin Martin Founder Joel Belz CONTACT US: 800.951.6397 / WNG.ORG Development Pierson Gerritsen • Debra Meissner  Follow us on Twitter: @WORLD_mag Andrew Belz • Sandy Barwick Administration Kerrie Edwards  Follow us on Facebook: @WORLD.Magazine Marketing Jonathan Woods Advertising Partnerships John Almaguer • Kyle Crimi TO BECOME A WORLD MEMBER, GIVE A GIFT MEMBERSHIP, CHANGE Member Services Summer Dodd ADDRESS, OR ACCESS OTHER MEMBER ACCOUNT INFORMATION: KIDS’ AND TEENS’ PUBLICATIONS Email [email protected] Website wng.org/children Online wng.org/account (current members) or members.wng.org (to become a member) Publisher Howard Brinkman Editor Rich Bishop Phone 800.951.6397 (within the United States) or 828.232.5260 (outside the U.S.) Monday-Friday (except holidays), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. ET world journalism institute Website worldji.com Write WORLD, PO Box 20002, ­Asheville, NC 28802-9998 Dean Marvin Olasky Associate Dean Edward Lee Pitts FOR BACK ISSUES, REPRINTS, OR PERMISSIONS: BOARD of directors Back issues 800.951.6397 John Weiss (chairman) William Newton (vice chairman) Reprints and permissions 828.232.5415 or [email protected] Mariam Bell • Kevin Cusack • Peter Lillback Howard Miller • R. Albert Mohler Jr. WORLD occasionally rents subscriber names to carefully­ screened, like-minded organizations. If you would prefer Russell B. Pulliam • David Skeel • David Strassner not to receive these promotions, please call customer service and ask to be placed on our DO NOT RENT list. Ladeine Thompson • Raymon Thompson

MISSION STATEMENT Biblically objective journalism that informs, WORLD (ISSN 0888-157X) (USPS 763-010) is published biweekly (24 issues) for $59.95 per year by God’s World Publications, educates, and inspires. (no mail) 12 All Souls Crescent, Asheville, NC 28803; 828.232.5260. Periodical postage paid at Asheville, NC, and additional mailing ­offices.Printed ­ in the USA. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. © 2018 WORLD News Group. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORLD, PO Box 20002, Asheville, NC 28802-9998. VOICES Joel Belz

where their children will enroll. Will the U.S. Department of Homeland Security soon be offering new guides, annually ranking the schools in your town for the quality of military defense they offer? But don’t be sidetracked. A terrible result of all this focus on physical safety would be to ­forget the intellectual and academic devastation What kind of that has already been inflicted on our culture. SAT scores are full of bullet holes, and so are basic skill tests. The last generation’s misdirected safety? priorities are leaving us with a populace unable GUN VIOLENCE AFFECTS A FEW SCHOOLS; to read, unable to calculate, and unable to think critically or productively about the educational ATTACKS ON SOULS AFFECT MANY MORE mess they find themselves in. Ultimately, though, One of our readers ­parents should be most R called the other day, frightened about their chil- quite upset because he still dren’s spiritual and moral hadn’t seen in all our recent safety. “Do not be afraid of pages any evidence that those,” Jesus said, “who kill WORLD is editorially in the body but cannot kill the favor of spending substantial soul. Rather, be afraid of the federal money to arm and one who can destroy both protect our schools—with body and soul in hell.” It is military weapons. “If it were no accident that the first your kids who were being ­segment of the American shot and killed,” he said, “it population to desert the would have been a cover ­public schools in significant story.” numbers over the last 50 Well, yes indeed. I will years was made up of quickly acknowledge that as ­evangelical Christians who soon as any horror story sensed the spiritual violence invades my own personal and moral mayhem occur- space, both my interest and ring there. my involvement tend to So millions of Americans, accelerate. It tends to be that driven by these various fears way for all of us. I remember A group protesting school for the safety of their chil- safety in Laurel County, Ky. when Bill and Hillary dren, have sought to make a Clinton, just before he took prudent choice. The chal- office, traveled to Washington to choose a Ultimately, lenge now is that folks will be tempted to be pre- school for Chelsea. In spite of all their talk about occupied with the most colorfully dramatic of the virtues of public education, they signed up parents should the dangers rather than the threats that, while for an elite private school. “She could’ve got be most fright- less noisy, are potentially the most destructive. hurt or something,” said family spokesman ened about Only three or four schools in America (and I George Stephanopoulos, “because there’s a lot use the word only to make an important point) of pushing and shoving in the halls.” their children’s have been terrorized during the last few And now, a generation later, things are a lot spiritual and months by ultra-equipped gunmen. Those have worse than pushing and shoving. Which is why moral safety. been devastating events whose repetition we we now have so many people begging us to should do all in our power to prevent. But even ­listen to their crazy proposals to spend billions if that grim number were multiplied by 10 of dollars on lock-and-key systems, armed before the coming summer is over, the waste guards, and specially built desks designed to let and destruction would be nothing compared children hide underneath. A vast new array of with the profound losses we can accurately considerations will now face parents as they predict in the hearts and souls of students in

CLAIRE CROUCH/LEX18NEWS VIA AP seek to make wise choices about the schools America’s schools. A

 [email protected] June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 5 wng.org/podcast

See the world clearly

TWE-FullPageAd_clearly.indd 5 6/8/18 1:43 PM DISPATCHES News Analysis / Human Race / Quotables / Quick Takes

Singapore summit U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un exchange pleasantries during a ­historic meeting on Singapore’s Sentosa Island on June 12. During the four-hour summit, Kim agreed to work toward “complete denuclear- ization of the Korean Peninsula,” while Trump agreed to halt joint, large-scale military­ exercises with South Korea. The conciliatory ­gestures came a year after the two leaders exchanged bomb threats.

KEVIN LIM/THE STRAIT TIMES/GETTY IMAGES

Manage your membership: wng.org/membership June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 7 DISPATCHES News Analysis

Spade (left) and Bourdain

Some experts said that was likely because many people suf- fered from conditions that weren’t diagnosed before death. But others noted it’s important to address factors that confront almost every- one: stress, life-changing events, finan- cial distress, relational pressures, and other common anxieties that can become overwhelming. Journalist Kirsten Powers wrote in USA Today about her own past battles People in pain with suicidal thoughts, and she noted A PAIR OF HIGH-PROFILE SUICIDES BRINGS that many Americans suffer from SPADE: WALTER WEISSMAN/STAR MAX/IPX/AP • BOURDAIN: MATTHEW EISMAN/GETTY IMAGES ATTENTION TO A GROWING CRISIS by Jamie Dean despair brought on by a culture of ­shallow disconnectedness: “We need to help people craft lives that are more Summer dawned with cautious In 2016, nearly 45,000 people in the meaningful and built on a firmer R hopes for North Korean diplomacy United States ended their lives. That ­foundation than personal success.” and cheerful hurrahs (at least among means there were more than twice as That begins, Powers said, by being some Americans) over a Supreme many suicides as homicides. Anne honest about our struggles, and by lis- Court victory for Christian baker Jack Schuchat of the CDC called the data tening to those who need help: “People Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop. ­“disturbing” and said it suggests suicide on the edge need to hear stories that But sunny days also brought darker is “a national problem hitting most assure them there is a way through the news, with the sudden deaths of two ­communities.” Researchers pointed to all-consuming pain to a meaningful well-known public figures—fashion increasing social isolation as a signifi- life.” designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef cant factor (see p. 38). That’s a message pastor and author and author Anthony Bourdain. Both The New York Times noted the Rick Warren has shared since the 2013 had successful careers. Both committed report presented “a morbid puzzle. … suicide of his son, Matthew. Warren suicide. Rates have risen steadily in most age said his son battled mental illness nearly During the same week, the Centers and ethnic groups, even as rates of his entire life before his death at age 27. for Disease Control and Prevention ­psychiatric treatment and diagnosis In an online video, Warren offers a (CDC) released a distressing report: have also greatly increased.” gut-level, practical plea to those suffer- Over the last two decades, the U.S. Another puzzle: The data showed ing from despair: “Suicide is a perma- ­suicide rate has risen by 25 percent. that more than half of those who com- nent, irreversible attempt to solve a Among people ages 15 to 34, suicide is mitted suicide had no known mental temporary problem,” he says. “You the second-leading cause of death. health disorder. don’t have to die to end your pain.”

8 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 BY THE NUMBERS

Warren also urges those suffering to reach out to others for help, and he urges churches to encourage congre- $182.8 billion gants to talk about their struggles. He The brand value of tech giant Apple, a company that has topped Forbes’ reminds them of Biblical truth: “God’s annual list of the world’s most valuable brands for eight years. plan and purpose for you is greater than the problem or emotion you’re feeling right now.” It’s an important message, even as proponents of euthanasia have pushed to widen the legal parameters for ­ending a life. Last January in the Netherlands, Aurelia Brouwers became a temporary celebrity after authorities declared her eligible for euthanasia. The country’s 2002 law permits euthanasia when doctors deem there is “unbearable suffering” without hope of relief. But Brouwers didn’t have cancer The age former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger turned on May 27. or any other terminal disease—she suf- fered from severe depression, anxiety, and mental illness. She gained a wide 95 following of friends and strangers who cheered her decision to end her pain by ending her life. Some pain—whether physical, ­mental, or emotional—can be severe and chronic, but Christians know that avoiding suffering is impossible in a sinful world. Helping others endure means being mindful of the sufferings The number of pounds of black sea bass over the legal limit hauled in by one of Christ, who endured the cross to New Bedford, Mass., fishing group during a May 30 angling bonanza. accomplish redemption for our deepest needs, which are ultimately spiritual. 560 That reality wasn’t lost on Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet ­dissident who suffered in a gulag before fleeing to the United States. The first week of June brought the 40th anniver- sary of his famous 1978 address at Harvard. Solzhenitsyn surprised many by calling out the problems in the West. In an address that now seems pre- scient, Solzhenitsyn noted that for all the freedoms enjoyed, the West was fraying in ways that could prove The number of days it took the Italian Parliament to form a government after destructive: “We have placed too much the March 4 election, the longest amount of time since World War II. hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being 88 deprived of our most precious posses- sion: our spiritual life.” He called for a “spiritual upsurge,” and said, “The ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic $8.1 billion stage. No one on earth has any other The annual estimated cost of treating skin cancers in the United States. way left—but upward.” A

 [email protected]  @deanworldmag June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 9 DISPATCHES Human Race

past that the burqa and niqab are a symbol of oppression in opposition to Danish principles of free- dom. They have promised the press the new law is not intended to target any ­religion and helps protect against possible security threats. Anyone violating the law will be fined the equivalent of $156 for the first offense and a possible $1,568 for the fourth. France, Austria, and Belgium have similar laws. Jack Phillips (center) in front of the Supreme Ignite your prayer life Court with members of his Stopped family and legal team Jason Seaman, a middle- school science teacher in Noblesville, Ind., is being Vindicated faith as ‘one of the most he realized how many poor credited with saving his

Colorado baker Jack despicable pieces of rheto- people he could help with class from a shooter. CONROY/AP MICHAEL • SEAMAN: IMAGES RASMUSSEN/AFP/GETTY CLAUS MADS • DENMARK: IMAGES SOMODEVILLA/GETTY CHIP PHILLIPS: Phillips, vilified by LGBT ric that people can use’ is to $54 million. Duplantis Around 9 a.m. on May 25, forces and the Colorado disparage his religion in at already owns three jets that in the middle of a test, a government for years over least two distinct ways: by he said he has used up in student burst into the his refusal to bake a cake describing it as despicable, the service of spreading the room, firing two pistols. for a same-sex wedding and also by characterizing gospel, explaining that he A student in the class told event, won his case before it as merely rhetorical— can no longer fly nonstop the U.S. Supreme Court. A something insubstantial and the fueling costs are 7-2 majority ruled in his and even insincere.” The becoming expensive. favor on June 4, saying the ruling, however, was nar- Colorado Civil Rights row and noncommittal on Banned Commission had trampled the broader issue of reli- The Danish Parliament on Phillips’ religious beliefs gious vendors, citing the voted to ban the burqa and and tossing out the lower variety of circumstances niqab, traditional garb for court rulings against him. for each case. Muslim women covering “Jack is very relieved,” said the head and face. The law Kristen Waggoner, the Requested forbids all clothes covering CNN the story, anony- Alliance Defending U.S. televangelist Jesse the face in public, but crit- mously: He said Seaman Freedom lawyer who Duplantis has asked his ics have told the media it ran at the shooter and tack- argued the case before the ­followers for a fourth jet, seems to unfairly target the led the student to the high court, on the day of the Falcon 7X, with a price Muslim minority and harm ground, shouting for the the ruling. “It’s been a long tag of $54 million. In a women’s rights. Danish class to run out of the six-year battle, where his video posted to his website, officials have argued in the room. One female student family business, his Duplantis said God told was shot in the chest and is income, has been hanging him he didn’t need to buy in the hospital, in critical in the balance.” the plane himself, he just condition. Seaman was hit Justice Kennedy wrote needed to believe for it. three times but said in a I keep it on my table. I use it every night for my daily devotions. the majority opinion, stating Many followers reacted in statement that he is doing that the commission had anger, tweeting Bible well after surgery. Seaman’s DR. JOEL R. BEEKE PRESIDENT Begin your year of prayer demonstrated a “clear and verses about greed, calling heroic action has been PURITAN REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY impermissible hostility” him a fraud and a hypocrite praised across the country, toward Phillips and his who doesn’t understand including in an acknowl- “protected forms of expres- the Jesus he claims to edgment from President sion”: “To describe a man’s ­follow. Some asked him if Trump.

10 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 Visit WORLD Digital: wng.org

FullPageAd_SpringGiving_#.indd 4 6/8/18 9:53 AM Ignite your prayer life

I keep it on my table. I use it every night for my daily devotions.

DR. JOEL R. BEEKE PRESIDENT PURITAN REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Begin your year of prayer

FullPageAd_SpringGiving_#.indd 4 6/8/18 9:53 AM DISPATCHES Quotables

‘If you thought about it every ‘Vacationland is gone.’ single day, you’d WENDY STOVA, a vulcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, have a mental on the obliteration of the Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland subdivisions by the Kilauea Volcano as it entered breakdown.’ a second month of destruction. MELISSA MERU, wife of ­orthodontist Mike Meru, on the more than $1 million they owe in student debt for Mike’s seven years at the University of Southern California. At least 101 Americans owe $1 million or

more in student debt, and 2.5 CURRY/INVISION/AP CASEY • MAHER: HANDOUT MERU: & MIKE • MELISSA CNN • LARTEY: IMAGES GREEN/GETTY JAMES • FOUNTAIN: AP VIA SURVEY GEOLOGICAL U.S. KAPOHO: million Americans owe at least $100,000.

‘We’re cut out to do just what we’re doing.’ Blind gospel singer CLARENCE FOUNTAIN, founding member of the gospel music group Blind Boys of Alabama, on the group’s calling ‘I think one way to perform. “A long time ago, we came up with you get rid of the idea that we could do this God’s way,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Trump is a if you’re gonna do something, stick with it. crashing Do it well, and if you’re for real, faith economy. So will bring you through somewhere please, bring on down the line.” Fountain died the recession.’ on June 3 at age 88. Comedian and talk-show host BILL MAHER on his hopes for a U.S. economic downturn.

‘We got Scotch tape, the clear kind.’ SOLOMON LARTEY, former White House records management analyst, on putting back together documents that President Trump routinely ripped up but that by law the executive branch is required to keep.

12 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 Give the gift of clarity: wng.org/giftofclarity

BOMB: LONDON POLICE SERVICE • LECOMTE: MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • HOUSE: CHRIS CARLSON/AP • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE he Grand Forks Herald Forks Grand will wash up on the shores of San the shores up on will wash Going the distance lot more than what you think you can sometimes.” think you you than what more lot Ben Lecomte Ben to run a half-marathon, North Dakota resident Mike Mike resident North Dakota run a half-marathon, to already running, I’m already tired. Might as well try to try to as well Might tired. already running, I’m already finish it,” Kohler said. He did finish, with a respectable Kohler said. He did finish, with a ­finish it,” from his early wake-up call, Kohler said he missed the said he missed call, Kohler wake-up his early from time of 5:54:26. “This just kind of proves you can do a you “This just kind of proves time of 5:54:26. Call it a providential wrong turn. Despite his intentions his intentions turn. Despite wrong it a providential Call herd of runners. Kohler told the told Kohler of runners. herd runners at the May 19 Sanford Fargo Marathon. Groggy Groggy Marathon. Fargo Sanford 19 the May at runners Kohler, 26, accidentally joined in with the full marathon marathon joined in with the full accidentally 26, Kohler, of a half-marathon—he decided to keep going. “I’m just “I’m going. keep to decided of a half-marathon—he realized his mistake by mile 8. By mile 13.1—the distance distance By mile 13.1—the mile 8. by his mistake realized going to go for it, because why not? I’m already here, I’m I’m here, already I’m not? why it, because for go to going instructions and simply moved to the startinga line with to instructions and simply moved spent the rest of his time in an anchored boat. of his time in an anchored spent the rest Ocean journey Ocean plan, to according If all goes off near set resident, and Texas native a French Lecomte, 2018. in late Francisco across to swim person the first become 20 in a quest to on May Choshi, Japan, swirling him through to take promises voyage His monthslong Ocean. the Pacific on his 5,500- of boredom and a lot waters, shark-infested accumulations, trash in 1998. France Mass., to Cod, Cape from swam Lecomte 50, Now mile trek. and day every hours eight for swells ocean braved Lecomte During the attempt, . “However, I would assume I would . “However, Quick Takes

June 30, 2018 • Orange County Register County Orange cleaning out an apartment. cleaning Curbside shell Walking out of his home for a doctor’s a doctor’s for out of his home Walking almost stepped on the bomb,” Vellow, a Vellow, on the bomb,” almost stepped landlord placed the live shell there after after shell there the live placed landlord appointment on May 15, Canadian Danny Danny Canadian 15, on May appointment most buyers would do upgrades and modernize it to a degree.” it to and modernize do upgrades would most buyers blocks from the Pacific Ocean in high-priced Laguna Beach, Calif. Calif. Beach, Laguna in high-priced Ocean the Pacific blocks from Boisen Gary agent listing in,” be lived to ready “It is completely the told Tiny treasure? square of 595 and a total and one bathroom It has one bedroom of the listing price That’s $998,900. for And it can be yours feet. sits about five and that built in 1941 was that a small house upon in the curbside bulk trash pile was a pile was bulk trash upon in the curbside Vellow got quite a scare. What he stumbled What a scare. quite got Vellow London, Ontario, native told the CBC. “I was told native Ontario, London, in turn called in a Canadian Forces Explosive Explosive Forces in turn called in a Canadian Ordnance Disposal team. Police believe a local believe Police Disposal team. Ordnance World War I artillery shell filled with more than I artillery shell filled with more War World 22 pounds of high explosives. “Lo and behold, I “Lo explosives. of high pounds 22 like, ‘Holy heck, eh?’” Vellow phoned police who phoned police Vellow eh?’” ‘Holy heck, like, DISPATCHES WORLD Magazine 14 ALEXA USER: PETER MACDIARMID/GETTY IMAGES • AMAZON ECHO DOT: HANDOUT • STAMPS: US POSTAL SERVICE • WATER GUNS: HANDOUT • FEATHERS: HANDOUT • ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE Manage your membership: wng.org/membership pesky birds. customers fend offthe water guns willhelp ­service. Hehopes the the Reuters news cheekier,” Evans told getting cheekier and “[The seagulls] are dropped french fries. their questto eat and more aggressive in birds became more ery inMay after the at hisPerthtable eat guns to every outdoor its customers withwater guns. 3Sheets restaurant owner Toby Evans chained water Frustrated by dive-bombing seagulls, arestaurant inPerth, Australia, hasbegun arming birds for the is This prayers orexploring Christianity.” into dailylives, whetherfor daily people withGodandto weave faith the church theabilityto connect soon. “Platforms such asAlexa give on Google andAppleplatforms church plansto release similarapps England Head ofDigital AdrianHarris,the or even findanearby church. According to Church of computer to say adailyprayer, answer questionsaboutGod, application through Amazon that allows thevoice-activated to say grace. TheChurch of England haslaunched anew weather, now canaskthesmarthome device from Amazon Some Alexa users, besidesaskingfor movie timesorthe Praying by proxy - Lord’s Prayer of Englandtoread the Alexa, asktheChurch like “thesweet scent ofsummer.” by Margaret Berg andwillsmell watercolor illustrations ofice pops scratch-and-sniff willbear stamps According to theagency, thefirst scratch-and-sniff ­ debut afirst-of-its-kind lineof announced May 21that itwould pleasant. TheU.S. Postal Service ters could become abitmore Beginning thismonth,mailinglet Stamps to sniff the truckto hitaguardrail andoverturn. Thetruckwas enroute to Wash., onMay 23. Theproblem: Forty thousandpoundsofchicken reportedly told authorities that hefell asleep at thewheel, causing a company inVancouver, BritishColumbia, that uses thefeathers Traffic was backed up for 11milesonInterstate 5in Federal Way, postage stamps. feathers. Thedriver ofthetractor-trailer carryingthefeathers as aningredient insoap andother consumer goods. - A fluffy mess A fluffy Amtrak Station inElyria,Ohio, was infact apprehend what they thought would bea bar drunkorhigh. The unidentifiedman’s complaint: Hesaidapig was chasinghim. Police wrestled thepig into asquad car hallucinating manwalking homefrom a But thecaller’s story checked out.The and later that day were ableto reunite man, whowas walking homefrom an North Ridgeville, Ohio, police officers being harassed andchased by apig. were dispatched early onMay 19 to Angry swine Angry the pig with its owner. June 30, 2018 30, June • WORLD Magazine WORLD 15 SAVE VOICES Janie B. Cheaney % hormones and extreme workouts. We chip Expires 8/31/18 Use coupon code away at it with liposuction and skin tucks, or pierce and burn it according to current standards ABC2SR of beauty. In extreme cases, we mutilate it to conform to personal notions of our “true” self. We flaunt, mock, disdain, or objectify it. With the fall of that first man, the human body lost its integrity: forever after in an uneasy Beloved dust ­relationship with the mind, or consciousness, MAN HAS A LONG HISTORY OF HATING THE or whatever part of us that transcends it. Great Two current TV series show how technology for Sunday HUMAN BODY, BUT GOD CALLED IT ‘GOOD’ could, in time, accomplish a complete separation school  between body and soul. In small group Once upon a sunlit spot of ground, God Altered Carbon, produced by R bent down and shaped a mound of dust. Netflix, an individual’s study! The elemental particles that made up the ­memories can be saved on a ground were already in place, and so were the digital device and inserted into elements of a home: blue sky holding in a band new bodies (organic or of oxygen, springs of water welling up below, a ­synthetic) when the old ones sun making its stately march across the sphere. wear out. In HBO’s Westworld, “Dust” seems an odd medium for shaping, as it lifelike robots populate an doesn’t stick together. But by divine will it did; ­old-West replication, where its Maker considered it beautiful, like humans can live out their ­everything else. It was a new shape, never seen ­fantasies of unrestrained before—like everything else. At the end of His ­violence and sex. Both series work, God bent down even further and breathed include lots of nudity in a life into the form. ­deliberately unsexual context— “And man became a living being.” whether robotic or “altered,” Not like everything else. That breath made these bodies are mere contain- the vital difference, uniting biological life with ers for human will, whether soul; the immaterial that sets the material apart that will is exercised within or from every other form of animal life. But the imposed from without. They 2nd Edition body was equally vital, both to Creator and get no respect. ­creation. Spirit was not new; matter was. The technology for human- Matter was the thing declared “very good,” and Ancient like robots or downloaded personality may not the human body housing a conscious soul was ­philosophy be that far off, or so we’re told. When or if that its crowning achievement. happens, nothing will seem impossible. Once Take students on an exciting chronological journey through the Bible! And we’ve despised it ever since. saw the body we’ve mastered the material of our own bodies, Our popular Sunday school curriculum now features faith-building lessons for six age groups Ancient philosophy, both West and East, as an what’s to stop us from mastering matter itself? saw the body as an encumbrance, good for Maybe this: Think back to that cleared spot from Pre-K to adult. Available in ESV or KJV. Teachers and students will enjoy upbeat, catchy ­testing or training but not much else. In the encumbrance, of land, that handful of scraped-up dust. In memory verse music, new kid-friendly application stories, € exible scheduling, and lots more “Phaedo” dialogue, Plato describes Socrates good for medieval times, dust was a mysterious substance, crafts, games, and activities! facing death with unshakable calm, rejoicing ­testing or sometimes associated with the “fifth element,” that he will be freed from his pathetic body at training but or “quintessence,” that held everything last, to revel in his immortal soul forever. In a together. Out of some elemental particles that Powerful Core Features world without air conditioning, aspirin, and not much else. would not normally hold together, God shaped supermarkets it’s understandable how learned a body and breathed an immortal soul into it, men could come to that conclusion. But in a with the knowledge that He would one day world with all those things and much more, occupy something like this. learned men have come to an opposite conclu- Christ’s body would be unassuming, and not JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO sion: that the soul does not exist and the body is especially attractive. But His Father loved it Whole Bible in ˆ Focus on God’s plan Full of apologetics Posters, handouts, an accidental assemblage of nerves, cells, and then, as a vessel of His mercy. He loves it now, years for all ages of redemption and life application and other extras impulses. Either way, it’s despised. resurrected and glorified. And He will love it How? Let me count the ways. We abuse it through all eternity, surrounded by redeemed with alcohol or drugs. We indulge it with Evan Rachel Wood souls in material bodies of perfect integrity. cheap food and no exercise. We stress it with in Westworld The least we can do is love our own. A Learn more and get 1 month of lessons FREE at AnswersBibleCurriculum.com • 1-800-778-3390 16 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018  [email protected]  @jbcheaney SAVE % Expires 8/31/18 Use coupon code ABC2SR

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Take students on an exciting chronological journey through the Bible! Our popular Sunday school curriculum now features faith-building lessons for six age groups from Pre-K to adult. Available in ESV or KJV. Teachers and students will enjoy upbeat, catchy memory verse music, new kid-friendly application stories, € exible scheduling, and lots more crafts, games, and activities! Powerful Core Features

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Plan your visit at ArkEncounter.com Williamstown, KY (south of Cincinnati) CULTURE Movies & TV / Books / Children’s Books / Music

Movie mostly because, as one plan to bring superheroes character quips, “Politicians back into the public’s good don’t understand people graces. In any other Two as one who do good simply ­animated movie, this because it’s right. It makes ­slick-talking capitalist INCREDIBLES 2 HIGHLIGHTS FAMILY them nervous.” This (voiced by Better Call Saul’s EMPOWERMENT, NOT FEMINISM ­inherent suspicion is Bob Odenkirk) would be by Megan Basham ­exacerbated by a media that the obvious villain. But manipulates video to paint writer/director Brad Bird is supers in a negative light. far too creative for such a When The Incredibles kind of analysis that will So yes, our beloved Bob cliché. Instead, the first hint R first hit theaters in make non-movie-obsessed and Helen (once again of conflict comes because 2004, it earned nearly people say, “We’re talking wonderfully voiced by Winston wants Helen, not ­universal praise not only about a kids’ movie, right?” Craig T. Nelson and Holly Bob, to be the face of the for its excellent animation Not much has changed Hunter) are victims of fake pro-superhero lobby. but also for the way it for the Parrs since we last news. How’s that for A lot of critics are snuck provocative themes left them, but as their new relevant? ­hailing this so-called gender into a thoroughly enter- adventure progresses it Fortunately, just as swap as a message of taining storyline. Fourteen further explores some of they’re about to be home- female empowerment in years later, the Incredibles the ideological questions less, the Parrs cross paths the age of #MeToo. But are back and, once again, the first film introduced. with Winston Deavor, a look closer and you’ll see

DISNEY/PIX AR they’re sure to spark the Superheroes are still illegal tech billionaire with a PR Bird doing something far

 [email protected]  @megbasham June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 19 CULTURE Movies & TV

more interesting. Bob is Putting this extreme ­understandably envious, view in the mouth of an but he’s no backward, antagonist feels like Bird’s begrudging chauvinist. A way of answering charges loving dad, determined to that he’s a closet libertarian. step up for his wife, his Mr. In 2015 he tweeted, “I’ve Mom fumbles­ provide the always thought the Ayn ­movie’s biggest laughs. Rand comparison lazy and (Imagine not only trying to inaccurate at best.” And take care of a cranky, indeed, if the first ­high-energy toddler, but a Incredibles centered on cranky high-energy toddler how the fairness movement with superpowers.) hamstrings individuals Movie Meanwhile, as Helen from using their talents, dives into her high-profile Incredibles 2 offers a Ocean’s 8 role, Winston’s sister makes pointed rebuke to Atlas Of course you can’t unwitting accomplice comparisons between Shrugged. It contends, like R call a two-hour who will be wearing the Helen and Bob that subtly 1 Peter 4, that the highest timeout on the Eighth necklace at a gala. disparage the latter. Helen purpose for our gifts is to Commandment, but heist Ocean’s 8 (rated PG-13 is flattered to be thought so serve others. flicks are supposed to be for foul language, drug capable and begins to If there’s a drawback to fun. Not so Ocean’s 8. use, and some suggestive ­wonder if maybe the entire all of this heady content, Like the 6-pound dia- content) follows stan- superhero movement it’s that it’s a lot to cram mond necklace at the dard caper movie format: would have been better off into an all-ages movie. The center of the crime, this recruitment of partners, if she’d always been its younger children in my third follow-up to the casing the event, then leader. press screening were fairly 2001 hit Ocean’s Eleven theft and getaway. The As the plot speeds along squirmy before the almost (Twelve, Thirteen, and problem is that none of full of distracting action two hours were up. That, now 8) dazzles the eye these acts is overlaid with and fun, this division with along with a few uses of the but has no life in it. tension and twists. It’s all her husband actually leaves kind of four-letter words Debbie Ocean (Sandra too mechanical. Director Bullock) makes parole Gary Ross spoon-feeds Helen open to attacks. So that apparently pass PG after spending years each plot development to this isn’t a movie about muster, could make some behind bars, where she viewers, who, unbur- female empowerment so parents flinch. For this passed the time planning dened of having to figure much as family empower- ­cultural-analysis-loving a theft that would make anything out, are left ment. Helen is only really adult, however, Pixar has her wildly rich. More with little to do but ogle able to put up a fight created a worthy sequel to importantly to her, the glamorous sets and against villain Screenslaver the Incredibles’ story. A though, the scheme is hypercool outfits. when joined by her other designed for her Hathaway does a fine half and the two become a onetime boy- campy diva routine but much stronger one. BOX OFFICE TOP 10 friend, whose isn’t the film’s focus. And As the best movie FOR THE WEEKEND OF JUNE 8-10 betrayal landed while Rose’s own attire ­villains do, the marvelously according to Box Office Mojo her in jail, to take looks like the result of a named Screenslaver makes the fall. New Year’s Day parade- CAUTIONS: Quantity of sexual (S), violent­ (V), Debbie enlists route pileup, she doesn’t some credible arguments. and foul-language (L) ­content on a 0-10 scale, His first, that people substi- with 10 high, from kids-in-mind.com six women, includ- really get to be quirky. ing Rose (Helena Carter fans know that’s a tute virtual entertainment S V L Bonham Carter), a missed opportunity. What `1 Ocean’s 8* PG-13...... 3 3 5 for real experience, could INC. ENTERTAINMENT WARNER BROS. famous but broke could have been a juicy be Bird’s sly commentary `2 Solo: A Star Wars Story* PG-13...... 2 6 3 fashion designer; finale—the ex-boyfriend’s on his own industry. His `3 Deadpool 2 R...... 5 9 10 a dope-smoking downfall—is crammed in second, however, is even `4 Hereditary R...... 7 7 6 computer hacker; as an afterthought. more interesting—that `5 Avengers: Infinity and a pickpocket. Nevertheless, if I’ve superheroes teach people War* PG-13...... 2 7 4 Rounding out the done the math right, to be dependent on `6 Adrift PG-13...... 5 5 5 octet is movie star Ocean’s 9 and 10 will ­someone else to rescue `7 Book Club PG-13...... 5 2 5 Daphne (Anne come as surely as the tide. them rather than fend for `8 Hotel Artemis R...... 2 7 10 Hathaway), an —by BOB BROWN themselves. `9 Upgrade R...... 2 8 6 `10 Life of the Party PG-13...... 5 3 4

*Reviewed by WORLD 20 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 Movie First Reformed Paul Schrader’s new Um, we can. At least R movie First on this question, because Reformed (rated R for a the Bible answers it with disturbing scene of sui- absolute clarity. God can cide) is a rare film that’s forgive any destruction being praised far and of nature, just as He can wide for its thoughtful forgive our destruction depiction of Christian of ourselves and each Television faith. NPR hailed it as a other. Not surprisingly, “spiritually probing work the extremist begins to of art.” The Washington have more influence on The Dangerous Post described it as “a Toller’s thinking than the listening for God’s call.” other way around. And Book for Boys Most intriguing, the San this activist awakening is Francisco Chronicle presented as evidence of Get your head out cherished book prompts called it a “seriously the pastor’s spiritual R of your phone, and Wyatt to have dreamlike Christian movie.” growth. get your hands dirty! conversations with his Except it’s not. Ethan Hawke bril- The Dangerous Book for deceased dad in exotic What it is is a movie liantly captures the Boys, published in 2007, locations like an African that offers humanist phi- doubt many believers seems like a great start- jungle, a submarine, and losophy masquerading as wrestle with, but the film ing point for a TV adapta- the surface of the moon. Christian profundity. never seriously engages tion. Authors Conn and These scenes end up as Reverend Ernst Toller with the counsel the Hal Iggulden taught occasions for Dad to give (Ethan Hawke) is a for- Bible offers to deal with young men classic skills advice on girls, persever- mer military chaplain it. Toller is too despair- like building treehouses, ance, and other life who, after losing his son ing, too world-weary to skimming stones, and ­lessons. Where’s the to war and his wife to be subject to such making paper airplanes, adventure and danger the divorce, whiles away his ­childish restraints as and gave brief history book’s title promises? time playing caretaker to Scripture, as when he lessons on topics like the Some characters are a dying church. When asserts his sexual rela- Seven Wonders of the one-dimensional or parishioner Mary tionship with a choir Ancient World. objectionable. “Don’t call (Amanda Seyfried) asks director wasn’t “real sin.” Amazon’s TV series of me Grandma” Tiffany him to counsel her envi- It’s not intellectually the same name is a (Swoosie Kurtz) repre- ronmental-extremist serious, it’s not adult, you squandered opportu- sents a new stereotype husband who wants to see, to view sex outside nity—a mushy mix of viewers may recognize: abort their baby, Toller of marriage that way. modern clichés and New the single, aging baby betrays startling Biblical And this is a film entirely Age spiritualism that pays boomer who sleeps illiteracy. When the hus- populated by adults, all brief attention to its sup- around, makes foul jokes, band asks if God can for- of whom are too proud posed source material. and lives for self. In addi- give us for what we’ve of the maturity of their Recently widowed tion to her bawdy humor, done to this world, pain to turn, like Beth McKenna (Erinn Tiffany dishes out New Toller answers children, to the Hayes) desperately Age spiritualism, with vaguely, “Who comfort their misses her husband, tarot cards, hexes, and can know the Father offers. Patrick (Chris odes to the almighty Diamantopoulos), a Universe that she is mind of God?” —by MEGAN BASHAM ­creative inventor, great eager to share with her dad, and the glue that grandchildren. held their household My advice? Skip this together. The youngest TV show, but grab a copy of their three sons, Wyatt of the book for your kids (Gabriel Bateman), or grandkids. Make a few immerses himself in the paper airplanes together, book his dad left behind or take them fishing. for the boys, its pages full There’s a lot of fun and of adventures, stories, adventure to be had in and inventions. the great outdoors, and But rather than you don’t need this show ­inspiring real-life outings to help you find it. and explorations, the —by MARTY VANDRIEL FIRST REFORMED: KILLER FILMS • THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS: MOONSHOT ENTERTAINMENT

See all our movie reviews at wng.org/movies June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 21 CULTURE Books Complicated histories RECOGNIZING ORIGINAL SIN AND THE FRUITS helped women to be able to choose their OF GRACE by Marvin Olasky own husbands. Missionaries were also America’s mid-20th-century foreign policy experts. Even W.E.B. Du Bois, an In April a wall in one Austin mid- did not have to be so blood-soaked. atheist, “reluctantly acknowledged that R dle school displayed 11 student Omer Bartov’s Anatomy of a by 1945, the missionary project was a responses to what they learned about Genocide: The Life and Death of a vital resource for good world politics.” America’s seventh president, Andrew Town Called Buczacz (Simon & Hollinger, of course, likes most what Jackson. Nine of them were hand-drawn Schuster, 2018) also complicates con- some left-leaning missionaries and their wanted posters for Jackson’s arrest ventional understanding. For children did in America. Some, like for murder: Some mentioned his four centuries Buczacz, Pearl Buck, were theologically liberal duels, but the students appear now part of Ukraine, was feminists, but many others in “the mis- to have learned that Jackson’s the generally harmoni- sionary-saturated progressive flank of biggest crime was his success- ous home of Poles, Jews, ecumenical Protestantism” tried to syn- ful push for legislation to and Ukrainians. cretize Christianity with other religions. force Cherokees out of their Then Nazis annihi- They brought to the U.S. a prescriptive Bartov homes in three Southern states lated the Jews—that multiculturalism that saw all cultures and move them to what is now part of the story is as equal, regardless of worldview. Oklahoma. known—but they didn’t work Eric Motley’s Madison Park: A That was evil and I’m glad students alone: Neighbors sometimes enthusias- Place of Hope (Zondervan, 2017) are learning some history, but I hope tically became murderers, as more shows how grandparents’ Christian they learn about lots of things America recently in Rwanda. Ukrainians and love and determination helped Motley, got right. I also hope some of them Poles killed each other as well. an African-American boy abandoned by eventually read Blood Moon (Simon & Protestants Abroad: How his parents, become an assistant to Schuster, 2018) and realize the story is Missionaries Tried to Change the President George W. Bush. Crucial sen- not so simple. Author John Sedgwick World but Changed America tences: Motley’s grandpa “was shaped shows how two Cherokee chiefs of the (Princeton, 2017) is a third book that by biblical teachings that prevented period had a long blood feud: “The two goes beyond the usual. Author David him from feeling resentful. Despite dis- men’s mutual hatred, while little Hollinger is clearly a liberal, but he respect and verbal abuse from Southern remembered today, shaped the tragic does not attack Christian missionaries, segregated society, he maintained a history of the tribe far more than any- for they “established schools, colleges, quiet decency and never lost hope that one, even the reviled President Andrew medical schools, … were especially someday this country would rise to a Jackson, ever did.” The Trail of Tears active in advancing literacy,” and level of God-inspired fairness for all.”

BOOKMARKS factory alternatives to Christian wisdom. Frederick Amy Knight’s Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime Buechner’s A Crazy, Holy Grace (Zondervan, 2017) and Political Murder (Thomas Dunne, 2017) includes some brilliant passages that show “Christ’s ­presents chapter by chapter Vlad the Impaler’s kind of life is the only life that matters” and all other attacks: Starovoitova, Kozlov, Politkovskaya, kinds are riddled with death. Litvinenko, Berezovsky, Nemtsov, and many oth- America in the Age of Trump (Encounter, 2017) ers. Ivan Eland’s Eleven Presidents (Independent summarizes national problems but offers inadequate Institute, 2017) criticizes Ronald Reagan and both prescriptions. Authors Douglas Schoen and Jessica Bushes for talking small government but presiding over Tarlov do call “religion” crucial in improving education, growth. encouraging marriage, and bolstering families, but their Sean Teuton’s Native American Literature (Oxford, specific proposals emphasize marketing—“churches must 2018) and Seneca’s How to Die, translated by James modernize—take to social media and technology”—rather HANDOUT Romm (Princeton, 2018), display interesting but unsatis- than revival and reformation. —M.O.

22 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 NOVELS FROM CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERS reviewed by Sandy Barwick

THE KREMLIN CONSPIRACY Joel C. Rosenberg The Kremlin Conspiracy is the first novel in a new series featuring Marcus Ryker, a former U.S. Secret Service agent. An international crisis develops when the Russian president imagines himself a ­modern-day czar and determines to elevate his homeland to world dominance. His son-in-law and closest adviser secretly contacts Ryker, and the two of them devise a plan to stop the delusional Russian leader before he can spark a nuclear war. Slow character development leads to page-turning action, and an abrupt conclusion leaves fans begging for book two.

BECOMING THE TALBOT SISTERS Rachel Linden AFTERWORD Showy celebrity chef Waverly Ross and her twin sister, down-to- In her new Dive Team earth international humanitarian worker Charlie Talbot, couldn’t Investigations series, Lynn be more different. Living on different continents, they’re worlds H. Blackburn assembles a apart physically and emotionally. When they reunite for an aunt’s refreshing ensemble of law enforcement co-work- funeral, Charlie offers to act as surrogate for Waverly, who has ers who understand the ­suffered several miscarriages. When Waverly travels to Budapest, world is broken but God is the real action begins. The twins embark on a crazy journey sovereign. They make no ­during which they restore their relationship and gain more than secret of their reliance on they ever expected. The story includes heavy topics like human God’s wisdom and protec- trafficking but offers hope and joy amid tragedy and sorrow. tion. The dive team captain prays aloud, Heidi Chiavaroli THE HIDDEN SIDE “Protect us as This book contains two storylines told in alternating chapters—one we seek justice … set in 2016, the other in 1776. The present-day story is a heart- comfort the wrenching (frankly, exhausting) tale of a high-school shooting, told ­families of the from the perspectives of the shooter’s mother and sister. The victims.” In ­concurrent narrative is about a spy working against the British to Beneath the gain America’s freedom. Although the author manages to connect Surface (Revell, the two stories, they would have worked better as separate novels. 2018), the action begins Both tragic stories draw the same conclusion: No matter how bad immediately when some- one finds a headless, hand- the circumstances, hope exists in Jesus. less body at the bottom of a lake. Homicide investi- WHERE HOPE BEGINS Catherine West gator Ryan Parker sus- pects it’s the work of a Kevin and Savannah Barrington’s marriage never recovered after serial killer. Meanwhile, their firstborn’s accidental death 10 years earlier. Kevin seeks solace old friend and secret crush in an adulterous relationship while Savannah retreats to her parents’ Leigh Weston is the target vacation home in the Berkshires. Their two surviving children of a stalker determined to ­struggle with the split. Savannah meets an attractive man with a kill her. Could the two cases child who looks hauntingly like her lost daughter. She’s tempted to be related? Although the reinvent her life with him until her estranged husband shows up stalker’s motive is flimsy, wanting to reunite. Forgiveness is easier said than done. The author the novel has steady action mentions church and faith, but they play minor roles. A surprise and will appeal to fans of

HANDOUT ­ending makes the journey a little sweeter. romantic suspense. —S.B.

To see more book news and reviews, go to wng.org/books June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 23 CULTURE Children’s Books Troubled times STORIES ABOUT THE STRUGGLES SOME KIDS FACE reviewed by Rachel Adams Did You Know? INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A • CACTUS Dusti Bowling More Muslims came to Christ in the last 50 years than Aven, born with no arms and adopted, must move to a new place when her parents take over a failing theme park full of secrets. in the previous 1400 years since Islam began. Without focusing primarily on Aven’s disability, author Bowling • emphasizes the bonds Aven creates with two other outcasts at her AFTERWORD school—one who is overweight and the other who has Tourette’s  e founder of Islam never read the Bible in his own language, John Green, author of the syndrome. Along the way Aven, who has a healthy relationship with best-selling novel The and the overwhelming majority of Muslims have never read the Bible. her parents, learns to set aside her own problems to help others. Fault in Our Stars, tackles Upbeat, funny, and touching, the story is about overcoming physical • mental illness for teens in difficulties and being compassionate with yourself rather than  ousands of Muslims are coming to Christ and eagerly asking Rev. Dr. Bassam Chedid becoming a victim of circumstances. (Ages 9-12) his latest young-adult book Turtles All the Way for Bibles, despite the con icts in the Middle East. President, Children Of Abraham Ministry Down (Dutton Books for FISH IN A TREE Lynda Mullaly Hunt Young Readers, 2017). The • Ally has spent most of her school-aged life fooling people so they plot revolves don’t know her secret: She can’t read. But the arrival of a new around You can make an eternal investment by partnering teacher who is determined to find a way to help her succeed shows 16-year-old Ally that with learning disabilities, knowledge really is power. This is Aza, who is with us to provide Bibles to Arabic speaking people. a sweet and encouraging story about the importance of having trying to solve education fitted to the unique challenges and strengths of particu- the mystery of lar students. By book’s end, Ally has learned that extending help to a rich neigh- ree Ways You Can Participate: others is as important as accepting it on the journey toward health e Word of God and bor’s sudden and success. (Ages 10-12) disappear- eological Library All In • ance, but falls Sponsor an Arabic Study Bible (ASB) to be placed in an One Volume. LARGER-THAN-LIFE LARA Dandi Daley Mackall in love with Arab/Muslim home each month for $50 a month. Unlike the rest of the class, 10-year-old Laney is relieved when Lara the son starts going to her school, because it gives her classmates some- instead. As the story • one else to pick on. But Lara surprises everyone when she doesn’t unfolds, Aza’s specific Purchase an Arabic Study Bible (ASB) and respond to bullies the way anyone expects, and her example turns mental illness is unclear, give it as a gift to your Arab friend. the school upside down. Full of redemptive themes, the book and the story centers less focuses on the choices and responses of Lara rather than her on whether she overcomes • ­victimhood. Mackall, who tells the story as if it is Laney’s writing it and more on how she Ask your church to partner assignment, is also honest about the unhealthy family situations learns to live with it. facing Laney and her classmates, but her discussion stays appropri- While Green’s portrayal with us. ate for younger readers. (Ages 10 and up) of Aza’s struggle is • ­compelling and moving, SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS Claire Legrand parents should note that When 11-year-old Finley’s parents encounter marital problems, as her thoughts spiral out of control, she seeks out they send her to stay with her dad’s parents, whom she has never Call us or mail your check to: met. She is afraid they will find out about her “blue days,” which odd and even dangerous she copes with by making lists and writing stories about a magical solutions to problems that Children Of Abraham Ministry forest called Everwood. When she arrives, though, she discovers don’t really exist. The story Everwood is a real place behind her grandparents’ house. As also includes teenage P.O. Box 63941, Colorado Springs, CO 80921 Finley bonds with her cousins and slowly starts unraveling a family ­sexual intimacy—touching 719-344-5020 (O ce) 601-966-2022 (Mobile) and kissing, although no mystery, she learns that the love of family is strong and neces- HAANDOUT sary, even when things are not perfect or beautiful. Note: The intercourse—and increas- http://coabraham.org http://arabicstudybible.net plot includes divorce, a tragedy, and weighty themes related to ingly explicit language depression. (Ages 12 and up) throughout. —R.A.  e Arabic Study Bible (ASB) text is based on the timeless Van Dyck faithful translation

24 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 To see more book news and reviews, go to wng.org/books from the original languages which remains the best and most loved translation. Did You Know? • More Muslims came to Christ in the last 50 years than in the previous 1400 years since Islam began. •  e founder of Islam never read the Bible in his own language, and the overwhelming majority of Muslims have never read the Bible. •  ousands of Muslims are coming to Christ and eagerly asking Rev. Dr. Bassam Chedid for Bibles, despite the con icts in the Middle East. President, Children Of Abraham Ministry • You can make an eternal investment by partnering with us to provide Bibles to Arabic speaking people.

ree Ways You Can Participate: e Word of God and

eological Library All In • Sponsor an Arabic Study Bible (ASB) to be placed in an One Volume. Arab/Muslim home each month for $50 a month. • Purchase an Arabic Study Bible (ASB) and give it as a gift to your Arab friend. • Ask your church to partner with us. •

Call us or mail your check to: Children Of Abraham Ministry P.O. Box 63941, Colorado Springs, CO 80921 719-344-5020 (O ce) 601-966-2022 (Mobile) http://coabraham.org http://arabicstudybible.net

 e Arabic Study Bible (ASB) text is based on the timeless Van Dyck faithful translation from the original languages which remains the best and most loved translation. CULTURE Music

Further validation of Mussorgsky’s art-about-art concept comes via the lat- est album by the American saxophonist Darryl Yokley (pronounced “yoke-ly”). Officially credited to Darryl Yokley’s Sound Reformation, Pictures at an African Exhibition (Truth Revolution) is, in Yokley’s words, “loosely based” on Mussorgsky’s Pictures. How loosely? The music is entirely original. Also the aural inspired the ocular instead of the other way around. A portrait of Upon completing his “pictures,” Yokley Mussorgsky commissioned the London-based artist David Emmanuel Noel to create visually and emotionally analogous paintings. Such a reverse-Mussorgsky approach has the advantage of freeing listeners from feeling obligated to listen for visu- als. It also more or less behooves them to look Moving Pictures for points of intersection between the paintings— NEW ALBUMS ARE STRONG EXAMPLES OF ART each of which is viewable ABOUT ART by Arsenio Orteza at darrylyokley.com—and the music. It’s said that art imitates life and of Maurice Ravel’s 1922 orches- If they do, they’ll R that life imitates art. tral arrangement. The chiseled notice that, in the major- But life has also been known to imi- severity of the former and the ity of instances, both tate life. And sometimes art imitates art. sumptuous majesty of the latter come media share a bright, swirling quality Consider, for example, Modest through with an arresting vibrancy. suggestive of spiritual vitality. Yokley’s Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. They also serve as a reminder that portion of this accomplishment derives Mussorgsky based most of the art about art can take on a life of its own from the augmentation of his quintet suite’s movements on paintings and apart from its source(s) of inspiration. with a 12-member wind ensemble that sketches by his late friend Viktor It seems unlikely that a listener hearing supports and enhances, without over- Hartmann. That one was a costume Pictures at an Exhibition for the first whelming or dissipating, Yokley’s bold design for a ballet based on a short story time nowadays would give much, if any, melodic through lines or the Sound actually makes Mussorgsky’s corre- thought to the music’s mimetic details. Reformation’s intuitive swing. sponding piece (“Ballet of the (The recurring “Promenade,” Not that Yokley’s music-first-paintings- Unhatched Chicks”) an for instance, is intended to second approach robs the former of example of art imitating art suggest a viewer’s perambu- mimetic properties. The titles alone of imitating art imitating art. lation through a gallery.) The compositions such as “Migration,”

Warner Classics has work, in other words, has “Stories from the Village Elder,” ILYA REPIN/PUBLIC DOMAIN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS recently released two not depended for its popu- “Ominous Nightfall,” “Genocide March,” ­striking new Pictures at larity on listeners’ being and “Echoes of Ancient Sahara” color an Exhibition recordings. familiar with art galleries or one’s perceptions. Still, the interplay And, conveniently enough, with Hartmann’s subjects for among dynamics-sensitive musicians they’re on the same album. quite some time. who’ve learned how to listen closely to Mussorgsky: Pictures at an It’s just as well. Some of Hartmann’s each other is fascinating in its own right. Exhibition by the Italian pianist and pieces are lost. And, their merits not- On the whole, Yokley’s Pictures conductor Filippo Arlia begins with a withstanding, the pieces that have seems less an homage to Mussorgsky solo performance by Arlia of ­survived lack the unity and dramatic than a tribute to the large-scale suites Mussorgsky’s original 1874 piano power of the music that Mussorgsky of Duke Ellington and Wynton ­version and concludes with an Arlia- based on them—and that Arlia, Marsalis. Only 36—a relatively young conducted performance by the whether as a pianist or as a conductor, age in jazz years—Yokley couldn’t find Orchestra Filarmonica Della Calabria has faithfully conveyed. himself in better company. A

26 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018  [email protected]  @ArsenioOrteza NEW OR RECENT RELEASES reviewed by Arsenio Orteza

LANDFALL Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet Anderson has never made a boring album, but with these Hurricane Sandy–inspired pieces, she comes close. Program music, which is what a good deal of this music amounts to, has never been her strong suit. And both in their subject matter and in their methods of ENCORE ­delivery, her too-few-and-too-far-between monologues The most succinct way of find her­trotting out by-now familiar effects and coming explaining why the Kronos off more style than substance. Never before has her Quartet’s May release, ­voice-deepening filter made her sound so much like Michael Gordon: Clouded Emo Philips imitating Ken Nordine. Yellow (Cantaloupe), is a better album than their KENNEDY MEETS GERSHWIN February-released Laurie Nigel Kennedy Anderson project Landfall is Hearing a classically trained violinist and his sympathetic that the latter sounds like a combo have fun with Gershwin’s melodies, especially warmup for the former. after that violinist has loved them for over 40 years While both draw upon the (after being introduced to them as a teenager by heightened emotions of Stéphane Grapelli), is to discover as much about loving high-profile catastrophes— and fun as it is about Gershwin and the aforementioned the 9/11 attacks in the case classically trained violinist. And speaking of Kennedy, he of Clouded contributes two semi-originals. In them he explores the Yellow’s inner lives of “Summertime” and “They Can’t Take That 28-minute Away from Me.” Bonus takeaway: He plays piano too. ­centerpiece, The Sad Park— the Quartet’s THE OLD GUYS Amy Rigby renderings of Subtract any one of its components—Rigby’s modulated Gordon’s empathy, her partially pulled punchlines, her husband’s aggressive minimalism just-reckless-enough production—and this album might ­recreates the visceral impact fall flat. But their presence and the fact that most of the of such shattering events songs aren’t about Rigby herself but about people and more affectingly than their places that enliven her imagination guarantee a renderings of Anderson’s ­meaningful time for many if not all. Critics have focused recollections in tranquility. on her impersonation of Philip Roth begrudging Dylan The Sad Park takes sen- his Nobel, but the Bob songs about a famous director tences spoken by 3- and and an old flame are pretty interesting too. 4-year-olds (e.g.,“There was a big boom and then there was teeny fiery coming out”) LAST MAN STANDING Willie Nelson and alters them electroni- The “respiratory issues” that had Nelson canceling cally into ghostly ciphers. shows earlier this year also had obituary writers The resulting eeriness­ is ­warming up. But if the feistiness of these sharp new heightened not only by the songs is any indication, they can cool back down. uncomprehending inno- Death’s on his mind, but from the serious reincarnation cence of the children song to the unorthodox heaven-hell song to the title ­themselves but also by the cut to the halitosis song that goes “Bad breath is better no-less-haunted choir that than no breath at all,” he’s chuckling in its face. The sings the Kaddish in the other seven songs prove that he also has not dying on piece that immediately

JAY BLAKESBERG JAY his mind. ­follows: “Exalted.” —A.O.

To see more music news and reviews, go to wng.org/music June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 27 CULTURE Music

Beyoncé’s Lemonade— a look back AN AVANT-GARDE ALBUM CHRONICLED A BLACK WOMAN’S JOURNEY FROM ANGER AND PAIN TO FREEDOM by Hannah Phillips Beyoncé performs in 2016

Lemonade, the United States’ Shooting Us” graffiti and a young black Covenant College art history profes- R third-best-selling album of 2016 child dancing in front of police in riot sor Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt says and the year’s best-selling album gear. The song received both praise and Lemonade broke down the one-dimen- worldwide, should not be forgotten. criticism for its perceived political sional representation of black women From track to track, lyric to lyric, undertones. Saturday Night Live later in visual representation: “When we see Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter seam- parodied it, with white characters a black woman on the news portrayed lessly transitioned between different freaking out as they realized for the in a neat stereotype, well now we might layers of reflection. At surface level, the first time that Beyoncé is black. have a little more imagination to say, album chronicled the experience of a But in an interview with Elle, ‘[No,] she’s a fully embodied human woman scorned, walking the listener Beyoncé addressed how her message being with a story.’” from denial to self-blame to anger—and had been misunderstood: “Anyone who Lemonade celebrated those stories, ultimately to reconciliation—as the perceives my message as anti-police is using Beyoncé’s own story of betrayal singer dealt with the infidelity of her completely mistaken.” She expressed to reclaim both female and black husband, Jay Z. That story alone made her admiration and respect for police American narratives from the historical for a complex narrative, but the artist while insisting, “I am against police margins. The video for one of the songs, didn’t stop there: She crafted her story brutality and injustice. Those are two “Freedom,” drove this message home: It into a tightly woven tapestry involving separate things.” cut from Beyoncé singing in the center themes of family and feminism, the At the 2017 Grammy Awards cere- stage of an outdoor theater to images of black body, and the African-American mony, Adele’s 25 beat Lemonade in five the mothers of Trayvon Martin and experience. (Potential listeners should categories, including record of the year Michael Brown holding portraits of be aware that explicit lyrics and pro- and song of the year—but when accept- their late sons, who were shot and killed vocative dances also thread the songs ing one of her awards, Adele praised by a neighborhood watch volunteer and and music videos.) Lemonade for being “so well thought a police officer, respectively. The song The album’s first single, out, and so beautiful and soul-baring.” wove a personal narrative of freedom “Formation,” marked a shift for The visual album showed from the chains of anger and pain (“I’m the “Crazy in Love” singer. Beyoncé and other black telling these tears, ‘Go and fall away’”)

Filmed in New Orleans, the women placed in the garb with a call to societal freedom. It ended HARNIK/APANDREW song’s accompanying video and plantation settings of with a message of hope from the pop included a scene where 19th-century Southern star’s grandmother: “I was served Beyoncé straddles a sub- aristocracy, taking places ­lemons, but I made lemonade.” merged police cruiser. Other they were historically —Hannah Phillips is a graduate of the World images included “Stop denied. Journalism Institute mid-career course

28 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 FOUR PROVOCATIVE ALBUMS reviewed by Andrew Shaughnessy Cain and White

EXTRALIFE Darlingside The Boston-based band here sings songs of the ­apocalypse in stirring four-part harmony. The sound is soft acoustic folk with warm horns and banjo riffs inter- laced with violin and layered voices, but the words are of nuclear disaster: “As I begin to lose hold of / The fiery flowerbeds above / Mushroom clouds reset the sky.” The lyrics paint pictures—a solitary fawn eating clovers ENCORE in a wasteland, the last of the human race holding on to Of all the songs performed in hope in underground bunkers—yet the morbid subject the 20th century, Journey’s matter doesn’t keep Extralife from remaining upbeat “Don’t Stop Believin’” is the and leaving listeners wanting more. most downloaded—7 million times. Jonathan Cain, the NO STORY IS OVER Son of Laughter group’s keyboardist and Armed with a (Paul) Simonesque voice, an acoustic guitar, backup singer, was the and a penchant for storytelling, singer-songwriter Chris song’s prime writer, and his Slaten (aka “Son of Laughter”) delivers a thoughtful, autobiography, Don’t Stop bright, and theologically robust exploration of redemption Believin’: The Man, the Band, and brokenness. Slaten combines verbal virtuosity with and the Song that Inspired ambitious instrumentation: layers of strings and brass and Generations (Zondervan, multiple stylistic turns within songs. In “The Hurricanes,” a 2018), tells his story of narrative of suffering, he sings, “God, You are my rock, ­coming to Christ amid moral silent as a stone,” before returning to a refrain clinging to failures, broken relation- God’s promises. In “The Meal We Could Not Make,” he ships, disappointments, offers a captivating reflection on the hope of grace. struggles, and victories. Cain’s odyssey was a BLACK PANTHER THE ALBUM Various artists struggle with theodicy—the Pulitzer Prize–winning rap poet Kendrick Lamar produced problem of evil, pain, and this album, curated it, and wrote many of its songs, only a suffering. It few of which are in the film that set box-office records. launched with a The album is laced with profanity, references to violence, horrible Chicago and language disrespectful to women. It also explores grade-school fire Black Panther themes of racial justice, identity, reactive that claimed 92 violence, and the burden of leadership, and includes some of his classmates verses in Zulu. Lamar portrays himself as hero, villain, and and three nuns: flawed human being, allowing the listener to relate to each and to everyday hardships: “Trapped in the system, Where was this ­traffickin’ drugs / Modern-day slavery, African thugs.” good God when his classmates were either leaping ALL THE LIGHT ABOVE IT TOO Jack Johnson to their deaths or trapped in Master of mellow Jack Johnson returns to his mostly a classroom to be burned acoustic roots in this album, his first in four years: He alive? But his book, like his offers lovely, nostalgia-driven vignettes of seaside song promoting ninth- ­campfires under the stars (“Big Sur”), a sappy-sweet love inning rallies, teaches song to his wife (“Love Song #16”), and easy-grooving calls ­perseverance: “Hold on.” for kindness (“Gather”). But the Trump administration seems to have pushed Johnson from quiet environmental Cain is now married to activism to vigorous protest: In “My Mind Is For Sale,” prosperity gospeler Paula Johnson sings, “I don’t care for your paranoid / ‘Us against White, described on his them’ walls / I don’t care for your careless / ‘Me first, book’s back cover as “per- gimme gimme’ appetite at all.” sonal minister to President

ADMEDIA/SPLASH NEWS/NEWSCOM —Andrew Shaughnessy is a graduate of the World Journalism Institute mid-career course Donald Trump.” —Jim Long

To see more music news and reviews, go to wng.org/music June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 29 VOICES Mindy Belz Help Finish the Groundbreaking Film!

named Riven in a nearby village, looted homes, and killed anyone who resisted their advances. THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS FSA fighters also reportedly captured, raped, and murdered a woman, then sent a video to her husband. “We had to flee and we barely got out, going on foot day and night,” said Hamdoush, who is 18 years old. I reached him by phone 125 miles A grim rerun east of Afrin in Kobani, where he and his mother—both recent Christian converts— TURKEY USES TERROR GROUPS TO escaped along with Hamdoush’s sister, who is TARGET CHRISTIANS pregnant, and her husband. Hamdoush said he does not We’ve seen this episode before: Christians expect to be able to return to R and Yazidis captured, killed, or displaced Afrin again: “We need a miracle.” by Islamic groups in places where they have Despite pleas for help from lived peacefully for more than a millennium Syria’s church leaders, U.S. while Washington and U.S. military forces look ­special forces based in Manbij the other way. 70 miles away haven’t budged in It happened in Iraq in the summer of 2014, the face of atrocities. A State as ISIS fighters took over Mosul then wiped out Department spokesperson told the ancient Christian and Yazidi communities me, “The humanitarian situation of surrounding Nineveh Plain. and reports of abuses in Afrin remain a concern,” Now in Syria in 2018 Christians and Yazidis and said the United States has “repeatedly are fleeing again. Only this time Islamic militants expressed our serious concern to Turkish are working in tandem with Turkey’s military— ­officials regarding the situation in Afrin.” using American-bought air and ground weaponry Those close to the situation say leading with tacit approval from U.S. and European allies. nations could do more. “The Russians could In January Turkish forces crossed into Syria have stopped this tragedy and the Americans 60 miles to Afrin to attack Syrian Kurds holding as well if they had put real pressure on their the region—forces Turkey claims are terrorists, NATO ally,” said a European pastor who works Donate Today. Create a Legacy for Generations to Come. forces backed by the United States. The YPG, or ‘They attacked with the churches in the region (and asked People’s Protection Units, and Syrian not to be identified for security reasons). civilians, and Join RevelationMedia. Inspire our Children. Receive Free Rewards. Impact the World. Democratic Forces (SDF) are the same that Without taking direct U.S. military action, fought it out with ISIS in the Syrian city of killed babies he added, the United States could guarantee Make a donation today to help RevelationMedia With your donation you can receive FREE rewards. An Kobani and ousted ISIS from Raqqa in a grisly and women. ... Turkey’s security along the Kurdish-controlled complete the much anticipated animation of one of the exclusive preview copy of the film, DVDs, tickets to the U.S.-supported fight last year. border of Syria and prevent Turkey from (Based on contribution level.) By April Turkey defeated the YPG in Afrin They searched seizing territory. most inspired books of all time - The Pilgrim’s Progress. premiere, and even film credit. using Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters, a rebel every single The U.S.-Kurdish alliance appears to be Production is nearly complete. Your contribution will Once complete The Pilgrim’s Progress animated movie militia that’s spiraled into a menacing assort- house.’ taking a backseat to bolstering NATO ally ment of jihadist groups. While Turkish forces Turkey, while top U.S. and EU leaders have ensure it’s success and create a legacy for your children will be translated into top languages of the mission field (Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, etc.) launched air and ground assaults, the jihadists refused publicly to criticize Turkey. and for generations to come. went door-to-door in Afrin, attacking civilians. “I believe most European leaders are aware and offered free to the global missions’ community! The Residents report up to 3,000 Christians and of what’s going on in Afrin, but only a few View sample scenes and learn more at: film will impact the world with John Bunyan’s classic 35,000 Yazidis were forced to flee. In all, speak out against it,” said the European pastor. 200,000 mostly Kurdish residents have been “They worry about a new wave of refugees www.RevelationMedia.com/Pilgrims story of Christian’s journey to the Celestial City. forced out of the area, and government troops traveling to Europe through Turkey, and they HANDOUT • RIVEN: AP VIA SANA TRUCK: are blocking aid from reaching them. seem more concerned to try to keep Turkey “They attacked civilians, and killed babies and within the NATO fold than to address the women,” said Afrin resident Baran Hamdoush. terrible injustice going on.” Three Ways to Donate: 1. Online at: www.RevelationMedia.com/Pilgrims “They searched every single house for YPG sol- Abandoning SDF/YPG forces sends a signal: 2. By Mail: RevelationMedia - PO Box 141078 - Dallas, TX 75214 diers, and if they found anyone armed, they killed The United States will tolerate Islamic them or gave them to the Turkish government.” ­terrorism in the company of its friends. “If 3. By Phone: 800-820-0209 The fighters burned Afrin’s Church of the Americans fail to keep their commitment,” said Good Shepherd, spray-painting its walls with Residents flee Afrin the pastor, “they will lose all legitimacy, and the jihadist slogans. They shot dead a 4-year-old (top); 4-year-old Riven. fight against ISIS might have been in vain.”A

30 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018  [email protected]  @mcbelz Help Finish the Groundbreaking Film! THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS

Donate Today. Create a Legacy for Generations to Come.

Join RevelationMedia. Inspire our Children. Receive Free Rewards. Impact the World.

Make a donation today to help RevelationMedia With your donation you can receive FREE rewards. An complete the much anticipated animation of one of the exclusive preview copy of the film, DVDs, tickets to the most inspired books of all time - The Pilgrim’s Progress. premiere, and even film credit.(Based on contribution level.) Production is nearly complete. Your contribution will Once complete The Pilgrim’s Progress animated movie ensure it’s success and create a legacy for your children will be translated into top languages of the mission field (Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, etc.) and for generations to come. and offered free to the global missions’ community! The View sample scenes and learn more at: film will impact the world with John Bunyan’s classic www.RevelationMedia.com/Pilgrims story of Christian’s journey to the Celestial City.

Three Ways to Donate: 1. Online at: www.RevelationMedia.com/Pilgrims 2. By Mail: RevelationMedia - PO Box 141078 - Dallas, TX 75214 3. By Phone: 800-820-0209 FEATURES

A rally at the Sacramento State Capitol in support of gay marriage

RENEE C. BYER/ SACRAMENTO BEE/ ZUMA PRESS/NEWSCOM

Follow the Assembly line Follow the Assembly line How one-party rule in California yielded draconian legislation against ‘conversion therapy’ by JIM LONG

June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 33

hristians in China are used to living in a one-party ­dictatorship. Christians in the United States are not, so this spring many are gasping as the California ­Legislature moves toward passing Assembly Bill 2943, which makes “conversion therapy” illegal. Under the bill, which Gov. Jerry Brown expects to sign into law, it is likely to be unlawful to advise a same- sex-attracted adult on ways to fight his or her urges,

even though many wish to do so (see sidebar below). slightly amended the bill so that it now emphasizes commercial AB 2943 specifically bans “engaging in sexual orientation transactions: Someone who volunteered advice would not be change efforts with an individual,” defined as “any practices liable. On June 12, the committee approved the bill, 4-2, for that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This ­forwarding to the Appropriations Committee (a technicality, as includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or it is a non-spending measure). It then goes to the whole Senate, Cto eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings where Democrats hold a two-thirds majority, for a final vote. toward individuals of the same sex.” Stopping it will take a miracle. Victory for this gag law will Any counselor who receives any pay for such efforts would be no surprise to anyone who has followed the work of Equality be liable. It would not matter whether a consenting adult California (EQCA), a multimillion-dollar pressure group that requested such help. A therapist could be sued for millions of has corporate support from Microsoft, AT&T, Farmers dollars in punitive damages if a client later claimed psychological Insurance, Southwest Airlines, Uber Eats, and more. harm from the treatment. The bill does not ban just one kind of At the end of last year’s legislative session, EQCA boasted therapy: “Conversion therapy” is a broad term that could that California lawmakers had passed 127 of its bills. During encompass even the most basic of conversations between a this lawmaking term, EQCA is batting 1.000: Every bill it has counselor and the person seeking counsel. sponsored has passed. Gov. Brown and all but one of the 27 AB 2943 cruised through the Democratic-controlled Senate Democrats have a “100 percent equality score.” HANDOUT California Assembly (the lower house) on a largely party line EQCA is part of a pipeline. Two dozen staff members and vote, 50-18, on April 19. The Senate Judiciary Committee has visiting scholars at the Williams Institute (WI) at UCLA’s

­sexually abused children may develop other sexual propensities. ‘AND YET IT MOVES’ Nancy Pearcey, author of Love Thy Students who don’t know much “change and fluidity in same-sex Body: Answering Hard Questions About 0 about history may vaguely remember­ ­sexuality that contradict conventional Life and Sexuality, has tracked the gagging of Galileo in 1633: Told not models of sexual orientation as a fixed Diamond’s presentations at academic to say the Earth moves around the sun, and uniformly early-developing trait.” gatherings since publication of Sexual he may nevertheless have whispered in New Scientist headlined its interview Fluidity. At a Cornell event sponsored by Italian, “e pur si muove,” and yet it moves. with Diamond, “Sexuality is fluid—it’s LGBT and feminist groups, Diamond Almost four centuries later, California time to get past ‘born this way.’” reported that among those who identify legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown are on Conservatives may not like the verge of commanding counselors Diamond’s findings because they never to say sexual orientation­ in some ­indicate heterosexuality is not fixed, but LGBT persons is fluid—but my four-word fluidity is one reason why pederasty has summary of developmental psychologist long-lasting effects. Sexually abused Lisa Diamond’s highly regarded research children may have sleep disturbances, is: and yet it moves. eating problems, and a variety of psy- Sexual Fluidity, Diamond’s 2009 chological consequences. The National book published by Harvard University Center for PTSD notes that abused Press, won that year’s “Lesbian, Gay, ­children often exhibit post-traumatic Bisexual, and Transgender Issues stress, which includes showing sexual Distinguished Book Award,” presented behavior or seductiveness that is by the American Psychological ­inappropriate for their age. Humans are Diamond Association. She cited studies of overwhelmingly heterosexual, but

34 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 JEFF CHIU/AP sexual attractions change over time.” research indicates that for some ­ article in2014, “A growing bodyof and largest LGBT publication, began one tions. ­cognitive dissonance amonggay publica ­agitator, so herresearch provoked cannot bedismissed asaright-wing the course oftheirlifetimes.” their gender identity reports: “People’s understanding of Education Council ofthe United States, courses, theSexuality Information and liberal provider ofsex education fluidity tracks withwhat themost-used ­opposite sex duringthepast year. This ­having sex and 9percent oflesbiansreported previous year. attraction to theopposite sex inthe percentof women 48 reported sexual as homosexual, 40percent ofmenand eastern edgeofUCLA’s Westwood campus, WI’s goalisto­ Legislature applies pressure from within. of sympatheticjournalists. Agay caucusinCalifornia’s ­promote what the gay lobby wants. Theyspread itwiththeaid School ofLaw crank outpurportedlyscholarly research to Diamond isalesbianfeminist who Furthermore, 12percent ofgay men Using academiccover from anorange brickbuildingonthe The Advocate with someone of the with someone ofthe , America’s oldest may change people, people, over over - as well.” (TheApostlePaul inChapter 6 much fluidityand variability men report Advocate book was onwomen, butshetold of conversion therapy. the research was “not anendorsement” The Advocate variety ofmainstream approaches and all: “Alliance therapists practice from a since itsuggests that onesize may fit Scientific Integrity, doesn’t like the term, the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and those whobelieve change ispossible, casts awidenet. Oneorganization of the SpiritofourGod.”) name oftheLord Jesus Christandby ­sanctified, you were justifiedinthe But you were washed, you were of God. …Andsuch were some ofyou. those whowillnot “inherit the kingdom who practice homosexuality” are among of 1Corinthians observes that “men The research inDiamond’s Harvard “Conversion therapy” isaterm that conduct conduct she isnow “amazed by how thenhastened to say that law review articles; filed amicus briefs in key court cases; provided the public.” WIhasauthored “dozens ofpublicpolicystudies and parade inSan Francisco. shirts ataGay Pride Marchers wear EQCA The The cannot change— decree that LGBT sexual orientation back alleys. Government officials may it appears they willsoon have to head to want to change seek professional help, If gays orlesbians inCalifornia who to eliminate choice inLGBT counseling. abortion, butone-party rulers are trying ­personal orreligious values.” compatible withtheirfreely chosen ofcounselingsetting goals that are or distress, andto participate inthe lives that may becausing themconcern questions orissues intheir ­therapist, the assistance ofasupportive ­clients have theright to explore, with emphasizes choice: “Mental health self-determination ofourclients.” supporting theautonomy andthe and to scientifically confirmed practices models. What unites usisouradherence California isa“pro-choice” state on The Alliance’s first guiding principle legislators, policymakers, mediaand icy,” andthenpushitbefore “judges, gender identitylaw andpublicpol “research onsexual orientationand June 30, 2018 30, June and yet itmoves • WORLD Magazine WORLD —Marvin Olasky . 35 - Senate president pro tempore. Besides corporate sup- port and robust funding, WI and EQCA share a strate- gic personal­ nexus. Two of EQCA’s board members, Roberta Conroy and Laurie Hasencamp, are members of WI’s “Founders Circle.” A third EQCA “lead ­sponsor,” Mike Lurey, served on WI’s Legal Council. The pipeline has worked smoothly with AB 2943. Nine states had already told mental health professionals that they could not use conversion therapy for minors, but the campaign to prohibit it among consenting adults took a great leap forward on Jan. 24, 2018. That’s when a WI report declared “698,000 LGBT adults in the U.S. have received conversion therapy.” The report acknowledged that “conversion therapy” now emphasizes “talk therapy,” not physical pressure, but WI sensationally cataloged some past lowlights: electric shock, induced vomiting, and the snapping of elastic bands against skin. I don’t know of any group that still tries to torture gays, so WI seems to be doing a bait-and- switch when it minimizes the difference between failed past approaches and helpful current ones. When asked to respond to that characterization, WI declined to comment. On the same day WI released its report, The New York Times published a column that used WI numbers under the headline, “I Was Tortured in Gay Conversion Therapy. And It’s Still Legal in 41 States.” A week later, Teen Vogue relied on WI for an article titled, “New Report Shows About 77,000 Young LGBTQ People Will Be Subjected to Conversion Therapy.” Calling conversion therapy a “complete sham,” the Human Rights Campaign cited WI data, then asserted “this deceptive and dangerous practice” has led to a list of harms, including homelessness. The campaign rolled on through March, April, and May, with Time, The Washington Post, USA Today, Forbes, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, PBS, and NBC (at least three times) using WI research. EQCA was also busy, issuing a Feb. 16 press release arguing “‘Conversion Therapy’ is Consumer Fraud.” On that day a gay member of the California Assembly,

Evan Low, D-Silicon Valley, introduced AB 2943. Four PEDRONCELLI/AP RICH • LOW: COOLCAESAR/WIKIPEDIA LAW: OF SCHOOL UCLA UCLA’s School of expert testimony at legislative hearings; days later EQCA said AB 2943 would be its leadoff hitter in a Law where the been widely cited in the national media; multi-bill legislative package for 2018. Williams Institute and trained more than 3,000 judges in the While many races for seats in the 80-member Assembly are is based (top); Evan Low (below). area of sexual orientation law.” small-budget affairs, Low raised more than a million dollars for The organization’s name comes from his 2016 campaign, per followthemoney.org. Low’s campaign UCLA alumnus Charles R. Williams, who donors included the California Association of Realtors ($37,700), bankrolled the think tank with initial and ongoing endowments AT&T ($27,500), Microsoft ($17,500), Chevron ($12,800), eBay of over $15 million. Williams also sits on the “OutGiving ($11,000), Facebook ($10,100), Comcast ($8,000), and Amazon Advisory Committee” for the Gill Foundation, one of the largest ($6,400). Low also took in $81,000 in donations from utility funders of gay lobbying efforts in the nation. companies and $58,100 from six tribal gambling groups. Other WI sponsors ($500,000 to $5 million) include Peter These funds were on top of the traditional layer of Cooper, secretary of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Democratic funding from union groups, which totaled tens of Conservatory; John McDonald, former CEO of Mullikin thousands of dollars. Low won 70 percent of the vote in that Medical Enterprises; and Mike Gleason, Wells Fargo senior race, handily beating Nicholas Sclavos, a Republican who raised financial advisor. Corporate logos rotate horizontally on WI’s a total of $6,316. home page every five seconds: Wells Fargo, Target, Merrill EQCA cranked up its campaign for AB 2943 with an LGBT Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Bolthouse Farms. “idea-sharing convention” at Paramount Studios on April 6. The EQCA’s “lead sponsors” include James Hormel, heir to the headliner, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., attacked those who Hormel ham fortune, and openly gay Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, criticized the bill for trampling on freedom of religion: She

36 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 called religious exemptions a license to discriminate that ran counter to the Constitution. Low and seven CALIFORNIA other members of the California Democrats’ LGBT Legislative Caucus pushed hard for the bill. MONOCRACY That caucus makes up 10 percent of the 80 legislators who are Democrats. Only 38 of California’s 120 legislative The WI/EQCA/legislator/governor pipeline is effective, and 0 most California voters seem to support it and the seats are filled by Republicans. Democratic Party. With the exception of two years (1995-1996), Since Gov. Brown took office seven years ago, the Democrats have controlled both legislative houses since 1970. Legislature has passed, and Brown has signed, 45 Democrats are also financially dominant: From 2011 to 2016, EQCA-sponsored bills. One of those was last year’s SB California Democrats received $200 million in contributions 171, making California the first state in which individuals and Republicans $97 million. The Democratic edge for the June or their parents could choose to have “male,” “female,” or 2018 primaries was 4 to 1: From Jan. 1 to May 19, the California a “nonbinary gender marker” on their birth certificates, Democratic Party spent $7.1 million, Republicans $1.8 million. driver’s licenses, and ID cards. State Democratic Party convention delegates resolved last EQCA calls Brown “the most LGBTQ-supportive year to “condemn corporations and lobbyists that finance governor in California history.” EQCA spokesperson Sam ­political campaigns, as they perpetuate a culture of corruption Garrett-Pate added, “Gov. Brown has been a strong sup- and cronyism,” but more than 25 percent of its 2016 state porter of the LGBTQ community throughout his career,” ­campaign contributions—$7.3 million—came from utility, and cited Brown’s signing of SB 1172, “the original­ legis- ­telecommunications, and healthcare companies. Tribal lation to protect LGBTQ minors from this practice.” ­gambling groups, oil companies (like Chevron), and insurance Before AB 2943 was passed by the Assembly, gay companies also contributed big money. State legislators also score freebies. In a March 2018 article, ­caucus member Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, referenced the Los Angeles Times reported that Senate pro Tempore her resumé in supporting the bill: “Rising as the only Emeritus Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, accepted tickets to licensed clinical practitioner in this house, I will just say events and expensive dinners from Planned Parenthood. that this is a practice that has long been discredited.” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, racked up She added, “And for those who are still worried about free tickets to the Grammy Awards, Dodgers baseball, and USC their First Amendment rights, you can still try to ‘pray Trojan games. Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, enjoyed a the gay away’ if you’d like, but it hasn’t proven to be $5,000 trip to Bonn, Germany, from renewable energy lobbyist effective.” Energy Foundation. Such statements reveal the “utmost of bigotry and These gifts came months after former California Sen. discrimination,” according to Brad Dacus, founder of Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, pleaded guilty to federal public Pacific Justice Institute. Is conversion therapy effective? corruption charges for taking over $150,000 in bribes. Calderon Dacus: “Countless numbers testified before the state pocketed money from a Long Beach hospital owner to prolong a healthcare fraud scheme. He also took payments from ­undercover FBI agents posing as independent filmmakers ­wanting changes to the state’s film tax credit program. ‘Countless numbers Calderon was the second state Democratic senator to wander testified before the state into the bureau’s public corruption net. Earlier in 2017, Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, was sentenced to five years in Legislature—ex-gays, ­federal prison for bribery and racketeering charges—including an offer to smuggle weapons from the Philippines for undercover ex-lesbians, ex-transgenders FBI agents. Yee’s arrest was part —telling their story of how of an investigation into a San Francisco organized crime group they received counseling, run by Yee’s longtime associate, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow. ­support, and were no longer One-party rule is a California bound by such feelings.’ problem, but Republicans also face unwelcome publicity —Brad­ Dacus about gifts received. The Los Angeles Times noted that Legislature—ex-gays, ex-lesbians, ex-transgenders— avid golfer and Assembly Minority Leader Brian telling their story of how they received counseling, Dahle, R-Bieber, allowed a ­support, and were no longer bound by such feelings.” prison guards union to pay his greens (See testimony in the June 16 Saturday Series article at fees at an exclusive course in Pebble wng.org.) Beach. The Times also reported that a Dacus said they were ignored. He called AB 2943 foundation financed by Chevron, Tesoro, “legislation that attempts to make it a scientific fact that and Shell paid for a $12,291 trip to England such transformations are simply impossible and that and Ireland by former Minority Leader Chad these people don’t exist”—but since they do, the bill is Mayes, R-Yucca Valley. —J.L.

MARVOD/ISTOCK & KRIEG BARRIE “ugly and so inhumane.” A

 [email protected]  @WORLD_mag June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 37 FEATURES LONELINESS PLAGUES OUR SOCIAL-MEDIA-DRENCHED SOCIETY, AND SUMMER IS THE SEASON OF GREATEST ISOLATION by JULIANA CHAN ERIKSON photo by Maryna Patzen/Superstock CRUEL SUMMER CRUEL SUMMER

This summer, as millions of Americans “minister for loneliness.” It’s easy to slather on the SPF and race for the dismiss such a title and such an idea: beach, many others will be stuck at How can a government bureaucracy home, feeling lonely and forgotten as possibly have success in dealing with they aimlessly scroll through your something so personal and private? But happy Instagram photos. Put “loneli- while solutions are not easy, the prob- ness of summer” into a search engine lem is real on both sides of the Atlantic. and you’ll find articles defining Nearly 33 million American adults ­summer as “a season of intense loneli- live alone, including a third of our ness and isolation. All your friends are nation’s elderly. Although living alone on vacation for weeks at a time. … is not the same as loneliness, modern Ecstatic Facebook updates about festi- technology and working patterns leave vals, BBQ’s and exotic holiday destina- some people depressed about their tions only seem to rub your nose in minimal interaction with other human the fact that you’re stuck at home.” beings—but too unhappy to do any- My pen pal Louise, who just went thing about it. Just last month, a survey through a bad season herself, is one of of 20,000 Americans by global health the 9 million lonely Brits who admit service company Cigna revealed that to having bad summers and other 46 percent confessed to feeling lonely. lonely seasons as well. The 55-year- Millennials report feeling the least old from London told me she has connected, but a 2010 AARP survey fought with her adult son, looked for showed over a third of adults over 45 love in the wrong places, and wrestled saying they were lonely: The survey with mental illness. Yet more than noted that lonely adults were less anything else, loneliness pains her likely than others to participate in most: “I crave company so much, but activities that would help build a when I’m with people I find it so hard social network, like volunteering or to talk. I could really use a hug.” attending religious services. So it’s That 9 million figure comes from worth considering the initiatives— the U.K.-based Campaign to End from 24-hour hotlines to befriending Loneliness, which took a big jump in classes to regular home visits—that recognition when Prime Minister the United Kingdom is churning out Theresa May recently appointed a to help its disunited residents.

June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 39 ‘The world is filled with people with hundreds of friends on Facebook and thousands of followers on Instagram who feel profoundly alone.’

­regularly met with people who strug- years later, the list of maladies grows— gled with distressing physical and increased rates of infection, cardio­ mental conditions—showed they didn’t vascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, significantly reduce feelings of loneli- dementia, and ultimately an early ness. Still, having someone nearby grave. A Harvard Business Review doesn’t hurt. Louise said having a ­survey of 1,600 workers published in befriender regularly visit her kept her March found that the loneliest employ- from sinking into sadness. ees performed poorly, quit more often, On this side of the Atlantic, and felt less satisfied. researchers believe as many as 60 million­ Americans are lonely. That’s no surprise given an aging population, later marriage, more divorce, and our addiction to social media. Gallup esti- Louise received visits from “befriend- mates that 43 percent of Americans ing” volunteers. She attended group have done some work remotely. Add in discussions at the local mental health smart devices that ironically obviate center and texted other lonely people the need to talk to anyone, bigger on social media sites like Reddit, which houses that keep neighbors at bay, is where I met her. She tried to cure declining civic participation, auto- her loneliness and found the therapies mated tellers, and online shopping— helped on some days. On others, she and before you realize it, required was back on the couch. human interaction is at an all-time low. Some U.K. groups are turning the When former U.S. Surgeon General Bringing back interaction isn’t so loneliness problem into a data-driven Vivek Murthy was a practicing physi- ­simple. Some American attempts: science. Dispatching volunteer cian, loneliness was the most common “LISTENforloneliness” (group therapy), “befrienders” to lonely, mostly elderly pathology among his patients. He sees “The UnLonely Project” (an outlet for residents still remains the gold stan- “a real increase in loneliness now com- creative expression), The Lonely Hour dard, but some groups have used survey pared to recent decades. … It is danger- (a story-sharing, stigma-minimizing data to develop heat maps that help ous to assume that online relationships podcast), and “Cuddlist,” which offers locate the loneliest neighborhoods. are equivalent to offline relationships. cuddles and other forms of nonsexual Rather than waiting for self-referrals, The world is filled with people with physical affection. But lonely people I the organizations target venues where hundreds of friends on Facebook and corresponded with online told me they they would most likely encounter thousands of followers on Instagram were not impressed. “David” wrote lonely strangers in need of support, like who feel profoundly alone.” about the cuddling service, “I ain’t pay- hospital discharge rooms. Then they Research is confirming that loneli- ing nobody for a fake hug,” and Ellen send in volunteers. ness weakens our bodies, ruins our did not “think a befriending service or Befriending programs haven’t productivity, and hurts our companies’ anything like that would help me at all. been around for a long time, so it’s bottom lines. Social scientists in 2001 It’s not real.” hard to know long-term benefits. One were the first to say loneliness had the Some healthcare providers are even 2017 study examining befriending same physical effects as obesity or beginning to treat loneliness as a medi- interventions—where volunteers smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Almost 20 cal condition. CareMore, a California-

40 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 ‘The world is filled with people with hundreds of friends on Facebook and thousands of followers on Instagram who feel profoundly alone.’

based subsidiary of healthcare provider befriend a man at a grocery store who Anthem, has started screening its often stood in the longest checkout line elderly patients for loneliness. Last just so he could talk to someone. A year, AARP set up Connect2Affect, an mother said she’d attended 10 churches outreach program to help identify in the last five years as she struggled to socially isolated seniors. So far, it only find authentic friendship. offers an online questionnaire and Lydia Brownback, the conference directs seniors and caregivers to type speaker and author of the book Finding in their zip code to visit civic organiza- God in My Loneliness, said what’s criti- tions nearby. cally missing in loneliness initiatives is Most of these small programs still Anti-loneliness organizers agree reli- a call for lonely people to switch their require lonely people to step forward. gious involvement and the social self-centered perspective to one of Only the group therapy service beck- aspects of church help lonely people, “curving outward” and finding a ons a lonely person to do a rigorous but none of their programs has signifi- deeper meaning in their life. She added self-examination and probe deeper cant participation from church or reli- it doesn’t help that Christians still have into the reasons for his loneliness. The gious organizations. A 2017 study by a stigma toward loneliness: “Everyone’s rest mostly put the onus on the lonely the AARP-sponsored Global Council lonely, but we call it different things, person to self-assess his loneliness, on Brain Health found the least-lonely anxiety, depression, mental illness. We determine what works best for him, individuals generally meet regularly need to call it what it is.” and seek it out for as long as he’s with friends in person, participate in Nobody has done studies on the interested. intergenerational activities, and have a effects of Brownback’s “curving outward” As I got to know lonely people like purpose in life. Church attendance idea, but it seems to have worked for at David and Ellen better, I started to would fill all the criteria, yet the study least one lonely person. After a month understand the solution runs deeper stops short of recommending religious of daily chats with me, Louise’s mood than just supplying a listening ear. participation or recruiting churches to started to lift. She now gets dressed, Ellen, a 24-year-old working in cus- help tackle loneliness. makes herself a breakfast of spelt toast tomer service in California, told me she On a brisk Friday night in March, I and smashed avocado, and gets out of the needs help getting past small talk: “I walked into Grace Presbyterian Church house to visit a friend—no easy task for a can win over an old lady ordering a in Vienna, Va., for its semiannual woman who regularly spent days at home cake, but I struggle with in-depth ­women’s conference. Women greeted alone. Where once she would write me ­conversations.” David, a 60-year-old me warmly, took my coat, and ushered each evening, these days I rarely get a writer in Illinois, longs for a companion me into the fellowship hall, where I saw note from her—and that’s OK. besides his dogs: “I miss my sons. I bright yellow daffodils, votive candles, Out of all the lonely people I wrote to, miss having something to do all the and a strong turnout of Christian women Louise was the most consistent and the time. I miss someone showing interest eager to talk about loneliness—and not most interested in the lives of others—me in me.” just in detached, hyper-spiritual terms. included. She credits her online friends Unsurprisingly, prisoners are lonely. One woman mentioned a brother and the local befriender for keeping her “William” told me he wants a hug and who always left a pot of beans on the afloat through the lonely stretches, but someone to write to him: “Letters for table every Sunday morning because still, it’s hard to explain what changed: me are nonexistent. They will bring joy he knew he’d never get a lunch invita- “It’s not that you feel happy or ecstatic, into my existence, and light to my tion after church. Another told me her you just feel normal, you know? And the ­otherwise miserable days.” own loneliness prompted her to feeling of loneliness is just—gone.” A

 [email protected]  @WORLD_mag June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 41 SUMMER READING

�irty beach reads Pack a suitcase and take your pick of these summer getaway books by Marvin Olasky illustration by Krieg Barrie

42 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 �irty beach reads

Pack a suitcase and take your pick of these summer getawayy prime recommendation books this year for beach, hammock, or air-conditioned ­treadmill is The Other Woman, Daniel Silva’s 18th novel starring Gabriel Allon, a thoughtful spy: Allon would prefer to spend more time with his ­family and in his initial calling as a world-class art restorer, but the Israeli intelligence service keeps calling him back for difficult missions. Publication date is July 17: I read the proof as soon as HarperCollins sent it to us and can say that it’s another masterwork of espionage, as Allon outthinks the Kremlin. Another plus with The Other Woman: It’s expletive-free (unless I’ve missed one). Those with zero tolerance for sexual situations will encounter one on page 10, but it would be a mistake to stop reading then, because the remaining 476 pages are chaste. (Last year I ­recommended a wonderfully written novel, Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, and noted that it contained occasional bad language—but one WORLD reader took me to task for forgetting to mention scenes of adultery on pages 46, 236, 374, and 429.) Other WORLD readers tolerate novels with some sex and bad language, but our reviewers should always give warnings. I ­apologized to one Pachinko critic for not doing so, and she replied, “My mother-in-law and I often read books recommended in WORLD and then recommend them to each other if we like them. I would be absolutely red-faced to recommend this to her.”

June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 43 WALLY NELL/GENESIS

Varina Cold Cold Vincent The Winds

will also enjoy will also enjoy Readers who liked Charles who liked Readers - European villain of modern European Stalin). with Josef times (tied best-selling Frazier’s Mountain focuses on 2018), which (Ecco, Richmond the 1865 escape from Happily, wife. Davis’ of Jefferson ethic is 19th century, the sexual not are which means characters but in other ways sex-obsessed, seems Davis Varina Frazier’s century in her 21st very ­emphasis on proto-feminist independence. damage regarding the greatest the greatest damage regarding Indianapolis by former WORLD Feature Editor Lynn Lynn Editor Feature WORLD former by (Deckle Edge, (Deckle Edge, combines survival story and courtroom drama. and courtroom story survival combines dropped off on a Pacific island thePacific off on a dropped Munich Mothers-in-law who are open to the beach reads of a open to the beach reads who are Mothers-in-law In come alive, and imagined characters historical makes Harris Indianapolis , crazed shark-hunter Quint (Robert Quint (Robert shark-hunter , crazed previous generation may fall back on the two great World War War World great fall back on the two may generation ­previous published in 1971 and 1978, Wouk Herman II novels understandable descriptions of descriptions understandable but the of bombs, the physics it a makes of humans interplay page-turner. the pulls off Harris 2018), Robert amazing suspense feat of creating concerning a well-known The two ­turning point in history. college characters, fictional key British and now friends who are with interact German diplomats, Adolf Chamberlain, Neville leaders during and other Hitler, that led to the infa the four days II. War World purportedly prevent that would mous agreement us and gives was, pacifism popular Chamberlain’s how shows “peace in ourpromised a piece of paper that his logic in waving pages in derogatory on two explode F-bombs Note: time.” acceptable collateral but that seems like to Hitler, ­references Indianapolis Jaws Indianapolis (Pegasus (Pegasus The Berlin The Berlin —so you can judge for yourself. yourself. for can judge you —so precisely because I because precisely (Simon & Schuster, 2017) (Simon & Schuster, Gregory Benford’s Benford’s Gregory The movement from 1447 to 1447 from The movement Facts: On July 30, 1945, the USS the USS 1945, On July 30, Facts: of 1975, movie summer In the big realizes that in marrying and ­realizes but one small fathering he “did thing.” truly great Project with time: Thealso plays States is that the United ­premise year a nuclear bomb a developed and records, earlier than history The Germany. used it on Nazi at times with brief, action slows John, dying in 1348 from the dying in 1348 from John, Then he bubonic plague. a great receives ­mysteriously in health for sixgift: can live He with each day days, more 99 years. ­jumping by and so on immerses1546 to 1645 in swirling social currents John but he and technological advance, (withinattempt his in frustrated is Catholic worldview) a medieval doing a truly by to earn salvation eventually good deed. He let’s note six historical novels novels note six historical let’s to that could be recommended Mortimer’s Ian mothers-in-law. Time The Outcasts of 2018) has its protagonist, Books, Pachinko Capt. Charles McVay III, survived. The Navy court-martialed McVay, and other survivors survivors and other McVay, court-martialed The Navy III, survived. Charles McVay Capt. for justice—so fight a 50-year began Simon & Schuster on July 10 is publishing on July 10 Simon & Schuster here so Lynn, friends like books by reviewing time objectively a hard Vladic. I have and Sara Vincent of publish a short excerpt plan to in July we that you the book is about, and tell what say I’ll merely Indianapolis Japanese Two on Hiroshima. fall soon would bomb that of an atomic components 900 went away, men died right hundred then struck the ship: Three torpedoes 600 nearly four days and nights five and during the following the water, into injuries, and insanity. sharks, dehydration, to ­succumbed men, including 316 But of the story. a version tells dramatically Shaw) June 30, 2018 •

So, in our search for light but not lightweight summer fiction, for light but not lightweight in our search So, We’ll try not to put any of our readers in that situation again,in that situation of our readers any not to put try We’ll

WORLD Magazine Maritime and legal sharks legal and Maritime 44 with redemptive themes can be difficult these days, and yet, and I days, these can be difficult themes with redemptive this one to friends or in good conscience recommend can’t enough. Fair story.” ­family despite the great member “did go back to finish go member “did the found of the characters out if any to find wanted a good novel Finding for. … searching were they ­redemption but I also sympathize with authors who say completely clean completely who say with authors but I also sympathize I’m glad the WORLD world. in a dirty not realistic are novels KATY WINN/AP N judgment. Harry Dolan’s question theirson’s marrying would make mothers-in-law ­throat-slitting neartheend and heroine, but ample with alarger-than-life hero dramatic tale of buffalo-hunting Country come close. the mother-in-law test. Four publications butdonotpass been well-reviewed insecular and placesunlike ourhomes, perform agreat service. us empathy by introducing ustocharacters unlike ourselves, God gave usyearnings beyond facts, andnovelists whoteach you know whatahorseis.” But doesshe?AndGradgrind? and theteacher, Mr. Gradgrind, says, “Now girlnumbertwenty, ­incisive.” He goesonthatway, four eye-teeth, andtwelve namely twenty-four grinders, Graminivorous. Forty teeth, a boy does:“Quadruped. school cannotdefineahorse, so to them.” else willever beofany service animals uponFacts: nothing form themindsofreasoning everything else. You canonly Plant nothingelse, androot out Facts aloneare wanted inlife. and girlsnothingbutFacts. want is, Facts. Teach theseboys ­novels are inferior:“WhatI the insistence ofonemaincharacter, Mr. Bounderby, that on, but the 20thcentury.) Somenovels by CharlesDickens goonand matter butsex aprivate one. (Thereverse becamecommonin Victorians,to the19th-century forwhomdeathwas apublic Wouk Robert Olmstead’s One girlinafacts-only Hard Times (Algonquin, 2017) is a (Algonquin,2017)isa ­fiction thathave new works of ow let’s scrutinizethecoin’s othersideby noting11 (1854)isrelatively snappy, beginningwith Savage Savage The The ­sometimes requires alookback ­without sexual situations snarky fiction. and writtensnappy butnot because hehasloved America unappreciated by somecritics birthday onMay 15:He remains month, butWouk hadhis103rd and Tom Wolfe, diedlast superstar writers, PhilipRoth 1988 television series. Two Wouk alsoadaptedthemfora Remembrance of War To findbrilliantbooks and War and (Little, Brown). doesn’t dieasdoctorssaidhewould. Whenherecovers ina suffers amassive heartattack,hisfamilyisdistraught whenhe and herhigh-functioning autistic son.Whenthegrandfather grandpa, hisangrydaughter, characters anauthoritarian (Berkley, 2018)hasasitsmain ally gripping wife. ­murdered themaincharacter’s search forthemanwho detective story involving a pages becauseit’s awell-done but Ikept goingthrough 354 counted—and asexual scene, F-bombs—yes, thisyear I (Putnam, 2017)hasfive Man intheCrooked Hat Stanley Bing’s chock-empty lust. ofacting-out ­dishonesty,” but Iwishitwere turns, lust, greed, and calling it“chock-full oftwists, Lies ­suspenseful mended Peter Swanson’s ­clutter thattrueconclusion. explicit sexual situations work, butexpletives and ­supposedly scientificdoesnot that makingmarriage only “soulmate.” It turnsout test that shows notonlyancestry butanindividual’s oneand has anintriguingpremise: Acompany develops asimple DNA worthy. For example, praised by criticsdon’t comeclosetobeingrecommendation- occasionally usecrudespeech,includinganF-bomb.) because theprotagonist isanadulterer andothercharacters events anddocuments. (My mother-in-law cautioncomes ­detective story—who was thetraitor?—based ontheactual though, was innocent, andHarris gives usathoughtful Rebecca Brown’s emotion Library Journal If cleanlinessisnext togodliness, seven otherbooks (William Morrow, 2018), All theBeautiful Flying atNight Immortal Life recom The One

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by John Marrs (DelRey, 2018) takes adozenflights.) the rockiest four-letter word the rockiest ofsoils. (Too bad diminished state, love grows in South Americancoast. Dreyfus, named Devil’s Island offthe and shippedhimtotheaptly Dreyfus tolife imprisonment judges sentencedAlfred French military ­anti-Semitism, Dreyfus case:Fueled by France’s infamous1890s comes close. Thesubjectis author Robert Harris, also (Deckle Edge, 2014), by June 30, 2018 30, June An Officer and a Spy • WORLD Magazine WORLD Munich

45

JORDAN BAKER

Chicago playwright (Putnam, weaponized, weaponized, (William Morrow, 2018) is a Morrow, (William threatened by very bad guys. very by threatened Overwhelmed by obscenities, obscenities, I by Overwhelmed - metaphor will work well in the well metaphor will work will film I suspect this novel but I hope the director become, that an F-bomb-a-minute knows a big part of pace will discourage the potential audience. famous ­ reading stopped new novel, Mamet’s David page 49. 2018), on House, (Custom huge amounts of Whelmed by violence and bunches of expletives, Gregg recommend I can’t throughout the world lose their the world throughout later, days several shadows—and The physical their memories. Greeks Bearing Gifts Bearing Greeks You Think You (Minotaur, 2016), first of five books in of five a first 2016), (Minotaur, The Book of M The Book of One of the best writers in this genre, Philip Kerr, Philip Kerr, in this genre, writers One of the best (Random House, (Random House, detective novels filled with suspense, sadness, and sadness, filled with suspense, novels detective died on March 23, leaving behind hard-boiled leaving 23, died on March character, greatest Kerr’s German settings. largely ­decidedly not for mothers-in-law. Orphan X and some words resemble grunts. So, most are most So, grunts. resemble and some words Bernie Gunther, is a compassionate German forced to is a compassionate German forced Bernie Gunther, violence is inevitable, sex is sometimes ­ sex violence is inevitable, work with Nazis: He finds humane outs against all finds humane outs against He with Nazis: work Rob Smith. Their heroes are in an occupation where are Smith. Their heroes Rob ’ll confess here my favorite 10 p.m. to midnight reading: 10 p.m. favorite my ’ll confess here who must with protagonists novels or detective spy Along with Daniel or Islamists. Soviets, combat Nazis, odds, but is tagged after the war ends as one of them. but is tagged after the war odds, Adam Ford Adam 2018), takes the on-the-run detective back to Munich and back to Munich the on-the-run detective 2018), takes The 13th in the series, The 13th in the series, Matthews, William Ryan, Martin Cruz Smith, and Tom Cruz Smith, and Martin Tom Ryan, William Matthews, Curtis Sittenfeld’s Curtis Sittenfeld’s Shepherd’s Peng Hurwitz’s Hurwitz’s of a secret premise though it has the interesting even series, agent/killing compassion and gained machine who has somehow ­ his life to helping others devotes Charles Cumming, Berenson, include Alex authors I like Silva, Jason Furst, Alan Henshaw, Mark Dryden, Alex Downing, David (Simon & Schuster, 2017) shows 2017) shows & Schuster, (Simon when those whowhat happens a lower in God seek believe don’t in funny life: It’s form of eternal of foul parts but chock-full language. It It, I’ll Say 2018) contains 10 well-written problems that reflect short stories life. American of contemporary use of unreliable Sittenfeld’s Are as in “Volunteers ­narrators, us guessing, keeps Shining Stars,” pages and pos but adultery-filled that emphasizes of a worldview part LGBT depictions are itive than providence. chance rather people begins when most fantasy that postapocalyptic clever I (Axios, (Axios, How to Be a Be to How (Multnomah, - Joseph Epstein’s latest latest Epstein’s Joseph Perfect Christian Perfect satirizes delightfully 2018) evangelical current some and Ford Adam Authors trends. an Mann compare Kyle of statement ­unacceptable (“We church a hipster for faith be the the Bible to believe in all its of God, perfect Word truth without any parts, with an of error”) ­mixture locust one: “In the acceptable The Babylon Bee’s Bee’s The Babylon social landscape.” social essays, and book of columns Culture of The Ideal an intellectual like floats 2018), stings sometimes and butterfly he 75 age At bee. a Babylon like treated he had been thought long: “The rest so live to fairly say to used as people life, of my the worry before “Christianity should only be as it helps us win insofar valued and shape the political battles different different June 30, 2018 •

Not yet, because Epstein still has an eye still has an eye Epstein because yet, Not The Bee book also presents essential truths of the essential presents book also The Bee WORLD Magazine each other from their from other each agree. “will never ­apartments ­ from arguing are They premises.” razors, always “either in hot “either always razors, and said or scrapes,” water at screaming women two of one garrulous British lord British lord of one garrulous gorgeous “some contained Smith also flashes of silence.” like journalists are that noted for the wit of others, such as the such the wit of others, for Sydney clergyman ­19th-century Smith, who said the conversation stories and jokes: “Have I arrived at my my at I arrived “Have and jokes: stories decom of mental the stage anecdotage, dotage?” full precedes position that about cholesterol set in, is gravy.” Now in his Now in, is gravy.” set about cholesterol he is repeating that worries Epstein 80s, never do anything you would personally disagree with.” It with.” disagree personally would you do anything never who say, evangelicals Washington satirizes also really needs you on His team. … God is love and has … God is love on His team. you needs really … Jesus attributes. distinguishing no other ­absolutely … Did we and security. comfort temporary your died for of the Bible would … The God amazing? mention you’re you held to just 24 hours ago is an intolerable bigot.” is an intolerable ago hours just 24 held to you … God amazing. are “You gospel: megachurch mainstream wind comes a rattle and hum.” They offer marching marching offer They hum.” and a rattle wind comes offensive are beliefs your decides our culture “If orders: them and drop immediately tomorrow, and archaic belief system the to who still holds anyone that declare Fun withan edge 46 then on to Athens, where he brings another Nazi to justice—but­ not before lust and bad language­ play their usual malevolent roles. Kerr’s novels are not for readers who want clean thoughts and words from those with dirty hands. Octogenarian John Le Carré is still writing spy novels, but should have retired years ago. His A Legacy of Spies (Viking, 2018) brings back Peter Guillam, the ­disciple of Le Carré’s greatest character, George Smiley. Guillam is under fire as today’s spymasters review a Cold War scheme that went belly-up and left British agents sprawled that way with bullets in them. Smiley makes a cameo appearance at the end, Chinese equivalent of that sentence and sing-songs it. (They and wonders why he battled as he did: “For world peace, could be arrested for disloyalty, and Ching-ching’s permanent whatever that is? ... Or was it all in the great name of record could be marred.) capitalism­ ? God forbid. Christendom? God forbid again.” I’ll conclude with more praise for Pachinko (Grand That’s easy to say decades after the Cold War’s height, but Central, 2017), but this time link that with caveats about I’m thankful for brave people who stood up to Mao Zedong’s scenes of adultery. I’ve sadly found that most novels Chinese totalitarianism. This is the 40th anniversary of the ­recommended by secular reviewers are disappointing both in publication of Chen Jo-hsi’s The Execution of Mayor Lin, worldview and in specific detail, butPachinko surprisingly and Other Stories from the Great Proletarian Cultural became a National Book Award finalist last year. Revolution (Indiana University Press, 1978). One of the best I recognize our readers’ critiques but still like both the short stories, “Chairman Mao Is a Rotten Egg,” shows how book and its Christian author, Min Jin Lee: Please enjoy the parents panic when Ching-ching, their 4-year-old, hears the Q&A with her on pages 50-53. A Summer sports At the end of June we’re halfway through the baseball season, and half of major league’s general managers are looking to trade veterans on losing teams for young talent. Armchair GMs can learn a lot by reading In Pursuit of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball (University of Nebraska Press, 2015 with a 2018 epilogue). Authors Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt show how smart baseball execs gained an edge by pioneering with farm systems in the 1930s, integration in the late 1940s and 1950s, better Latin American scouting in the 1980s, and baseball analytics in the 2000s. David Rapp’s Tinker to Evers to Chance (University of Chicago Press, 2018) shows how the famous double-play trio helped baseball to dispel its reputation for “hoodlumism” and become more than a way to pass time. Ninety Percent Mental (DaCapo, 2018) by Bob Tewksbury, a former pitcher who is now a “mental skills” baseball coach, applies the prosperity gospel to baseball: Visualize striking out an opponent, then name it and claim it. Those who have moved from the national pastime to the international one may enjoy Laurent Dubois’ The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer (Basic, 2018).

 [email protected]  @WORLD_mag June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 47 SUMMER READING Crime stories Thrillers from here and abroad by Susan Olasky

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn The narrator of this thriller—an homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window—is an agoraphobe who watches noir films, snaps photos of her neighbors, and imbibes wine and pills throughout the day. She’s a psychologist who’s been reduced to practicing on an online forum for fellow agoraphobes. When she believes she’s witnessed War child a murder in the house across the park, the narrator can find no one You’ve likely seen Kim to believe her—and it’s not clear to the reader whether she’s Phuc Phan Thi before— ­hallucinated the events or been gaslighted by one of the neighbors. she’s the girl running Short chapters and a taut plot make this a good summer read. The naked from a napalm book contains a smattering of obscenities throughout. attack in the famed Vietnam War photo by Nick Ut. Phan’s autobiog- After Anna by Lisa Scottoline raphy, Fire Road: The This page-turning thriller begins with a happy family: a widower, his Napalm Girl’s Journey son, and the kind woman he marries. Then the woman’s long-lost Through the Horrors of daughter makes contact—and everything changes. The book War to Faith, ­alternates between the recent past when the daughter came into Forgiveness, and Peace their lives, and the present, with the father on trial for murder after (Tyndale Momentum, the daughter levels an accusation of sexual assault against him. Lisa 2017), depicts how that day changed her life. Scottoline is a lawyer by training, and her courtroom scenes snap. The napalm burns left She manages to write realistic dialogue while limiting her use of her with severe pain. obscenities. The book would be better without its too-tidy ending. Vietnam’s Communist government used her as a propaganda tool. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham The traumatic John Grisham’s legal thriller focuses on mediocre students who experience take on enormous debt to attend a third-rate law school. One left her mentally ill student can’t deal with the stress and kills himself. His ­feeling friends realize they’ll never land good law firm jobs. They may not angry and even pass the bar exam—so they set out to expose the rotten depressed. ­system, not bothering to graduate before beginning to hand out Yet legal advice. Like most Grisham novels, this one identifies a real Christians problem. Its language is cleaner than most, but the book lacks around the ­likable protagonists. Their cynicism, ethical corner-cutting, and world prayed for slacker mentality make the novel drag. that little girl in the photo, and Phan came to profess faith in Christ. ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/GETTY ROBIN She eventually Death Notice by Zhou Haohui escaped to Canada and According to the publisher, this thriller is China’s biggest-selling later forgave her govern- suspense novel. Set in Chengdu, it’s a complicated story about ment handlers, the sol- Eumenides, a vigilante who murders criminals who have escaped diers who bombed her punishment. He sends both victims and police notices warning of village, and others who the impending deaths. As the police investigate, they discover a had wronged her. ­connection to crimes 18 years earlier, but the special investigative Eventually her entire squad seems unable to put together the puzzle and stop the family (including her ­vigilante. This first book in a trilogy offers a peek into Chinese seven siblings) professed ­popular culture and issues of police corruption. Some graphic faith in Christ. —Angela Lu ­violence and language.

48 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018  [email protected]  @susanolasky Staff picks Light summer reading selections from Worldlings by the editors perfect with its big house and beautiful children in an affluent Lizzy & Jane by Katherine Reay neighborhood. The other, a starving artist and her independent (Thomas Nelson, 2014) is a novel about a teenage daughter, is less so. As their lives intertwine, the story burned-out chef named Elizabeth. Seeking illustrates how mother-daughter bonds transcend race, socioeco- rest to rekindle her culinary passion, she nomic status, and circumstance. Caution: some sexual references returns home, only to discover her and a plot point involving a realistically depicted abortion. —East estranged sister Jane is battling cancer. Asia Bureau Reporter Angela Lu Fulton While supporting her sister, Elizabeth must grapple with baggage from her past The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love to embrace a new vision for her future. Hardin (St. Martin’s Press, 2018) tells of Hinton’s nearly 30 years —Editorial Assistant Kristin Chapman on Alabama’s death row after his conviction in the murder of two fast-food managers, despite dubious evidence linking him to the The Day the World Came to Town crimes. A judge set Hinton free in 2015, but his account shows by Jim DeFede (ReganBooks, 2002) is the heartwarming account how prejudice and poverty can contribute to injustice. Caution: of how a tiny town on Newfoundland Island responded to the some obscenities. —Managing Editor Daniel James Devine tragedy of 9/11. When air traffic controllers diverted 38 American- bound jetliners to Gander International Airport, the town’s popula- Golden Hill by Francis Spufford (Scribner, 2017) is set in 1746 tion rallied with a display of hospitality to strangers that’s worth New York, pop. 7,000. When a young, handsome man hops off a aspiring to imitate. —National Editor Jamie Dean boat from London with a promissory note for 1,000 pounds—a fortune in those days—locals whisper and conspire: Who’s he? A We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by spy? Royalty? Con man? What results is a well-researched, Gillian Gill (Ballantine Books, 2009) offers a fascinating glimpse ­comical, lyrical, action-packed story of wit-sparring lovers, local into the lives of Britain’s famous queen and her husband. While politics, Shakespeare, and mysteries. —Reporter Sophia Lee focused on the 21 years of their marriage, the book also gives the context to the deep divisions among the royal family prior to We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Victoria’s ascension to the throne, helps connect the dots to her Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie by Noah and Albert’s strict moral code, and traces the mixing of the royal Isenberg (W.W. Norton & Company, 2017) was written for fans of bloodlines throughout Europe during the 19th century. —Editorial the film—and who isn’t one? Isenberg details the movie’s back- Assistant Amy Derrick story, sorts out rumors from facts (Ronald Reagan was never really considered for the lead), tells the Take Heart: Christian Courage in the Age of Unbelief by intriguing story of how European Matt Chandler and David Roark (The Good Book Company, 2018) ­refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in is an antidote for those who feel discouraged or fearful about our Hollywood played European refugees current cultural climate. This quick, readable call to action will fleeing Nazi Germany in North Africa, leave you encouraged and hopeful about what God is doing in and explains why the movie remains 21st-century America—and your role in it. —WORLD Radio ­relevant today, more than 75 years later. Managing Editor J.C. Derrick Caution: some foul language and sexual references. —WORLD Digital Executive Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press, 2017) Editor Mickey McLean is a quiet novel centering on two families: One seems picture-­ Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine Books, 2017) is an immersive story loosely based on a his- toric adoption scandal in Tennessee. The detailed narrative transitions smoothly between the past and the present as Rill Foss relives her dark time in an orphanage and Avery Stafford—a politician’s daughter- in-training—explores her family’s link to an illicit adoption in a quest for truth. Caution: references to abuse. —WORLD Digital Reporter Onize Ohikere

 [email protected]  @WORLD_mag June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 49 SUMMER READING

50 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 FRANK McGRATH/THE IRISH INDEPENDENT/EYEVINE/REDUX Korea: bananas. My uncleboughtusanenormoustubfilledwithbananas—now Iknow it’sa peanut butter. things thatwe didn’t have inKorea whenIwas growing up, like peanutbutter. Delicious. Ilove and peoplewearing partydresses. But Americawas alsowondrous becauseithadallthesecool because IthoughtAmericawas goingtobelike Cinderella, withstagecoaches andballgowns airport, anditlooked exactly like SeoulbutwithoutKorean people. Iwas really disappointed wanted tointerview herinfront ofsomePatrick Henry Collegestudents whoare aspiringwriters. Book Award finalist last year forhernovel career—it’s avocation Author struggles novelist A gone there. If hehadnot,Iwould nothave applied.Totally true. paper foldedtogetherwithstaples andsay, “I’manauthor.” Ididn’t have thatliberating feeling. ­kindergarten kidscome homeandsay, “Ipublishedastory today.” show you fourpiecesof They’ll I didn’t thinkpeoplelike me(working-class, Korean-American) becamewriters. Today, thought Iwas goingtobeawriter. I’magoodreader—quick, thorough, understanding plot—but ­peanut butter and banana. cheap fruit—and said,“Eatasmany asyou’d like.” I’m thinking, “What agreat country.” what thatis. Maybe you shoulddefine whatthatisforthe reader whodoesn’t know.” Allthe kids that mentionedStonehenge. Iraised my handlike anidiotandsaid,“Stonehenge? Idon’t know I’m therubeinroom—and alsotheonlynonwhite person. Oneday we were critiquingastory itself very quickly. There were allthesethingsIdidn’t know. You’re sittingatabigoval tableand a seriousliver disease, persevered through writingdisappointments, andbecameaNational Amen. America? called place amazing this to reaction initial your was What How did you start writing? start you did How there. awards writing You two won Yale? to go you did Why stories? writing and scribbling starts who kids those of one you Were is pairing best the but wines, certain and foods certain pairing of dream people Some Yes, hallelujah,peanutbutter. Americaalsohadsomethingrare andexpensive in behind thecounterofherfamilyjewelry store. Shegraduated from Yale, survived years old.Shegrew upinQueens, New York City, went tochurch, andworked in Jin Lee, borninSouthKorea, cametotheUnited States in1976 whenshewas 7 MIN JIN LEE JIN MIN Absolutely. Couldn’t getany better. BecauseIgotinandbecausemy favorite writer, SinclairLewis, had Iwas inawritingseminarwhere my socioeconomicclassrevealed Yes, by afluke. Pachinko . It’s really well-written, asisherfirstI novel, so says writing isn’t a by Olasky Marvin June 30, 2018 30, June We the cametoJFK, Not atall.Inever • WORLD Magazine WORLD ’ s 51 EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP - It I I’m I lose every I lose every furniture: “Isn’t “Isn’t furniture: capital “G,” it’s not it’s capital “G,” cannot move that sofa, cannot move I love being a mom, I love I am convinced. This is I am convinced. Yeah, for me, this is it. I’m for me, Yeah, God tells Hosea, a perfectly God tells Hosea, God tells Hosea, “Marry the And you’re reading Hosea now? I had cirrhosis of the liver. From the From liver. I had cirrhosis of the ­prostitute.” really admire because it’s so troubling. because it’s admire really You don’tYou say “I quit” because God always reading the Bible. Hosea is a book I Hosea the Bible. reading always I’m the kind of gal who asks that all the You stillYou believe? what I believe. funny. I think God tolerates us like we look we us like I think God tolerates funny. ­ at puppies trying to move So you are Jacob wrestling with God. You God is really angry. I think of God as very I think of God as very angry. God is really doesn’t quit on us. that cute? That puppy ­ that cute? That puppy of personal relationship. Most people think Most of personal relationship. in it. an equal relationship—but sense I do feel the time. If you believe it’s God, ­ it’s believe you If time. horrible things are happening all the time and I horrible things are horrible. all pretty we’re know wrestle a lot. Then what happens? people, but I have this “Ugh!” When I read the When I read this “Ugh!” but I have people, angry because such I’m always newspapers, everything. I try hard not to share it with other not to share I try hard everything. mad at the sofa.” is really and the puppy time. I always feel whiny in my head, irritated at head, irritated in my feel whiny I always time. Were you starting to ask at this point, “Why me, Lord?” So, financial problems, health problems, and and problems, health problems, financial So, It’s still going through my head. I could’ve stayed stayed head. I could’ve my going through still It’s was terrible. was ­writing problems. first Your novel was turned down. wrote a secondYou novel and decided it’s no good. You hadYou cirrhosis of the liver without ever drinking. still don’t drink. don’t still You foundYou you liked being a mother? rather income one had you law, corporate left you When problems: health had you problems financial the Besides diagnoses I had surgery, and my doctor put me on an experimen and my diagnoses I had surgery, I became cured. months. for six with interferon-b treatment tal been cured. people haven’t Many a miracle. like was It a nice person and he’s very principled. I thought, “He’s more more “He’s I thought, principled. very he’s person and a nice I had a child, So this could work.” I am. Maybe patient than 29. when I was Sam, It done. ever thing I’ve the hardest It’s humbling. really but it’s a joke. writing look like novel makes than twoin New City, York a very expensive place to live, and then came financial problems involving relatives.Was the through going from?” coming money the “Where’s question head? your I but the work money, a lot more have and we’d being a lawyer year about it last worried really I was is important to me. produce so we’re got a job, but then he his job, husband lost because my the two and huge, again, which is health insurance We have fine. future. in my that someone believes shows which fellowships, hadYou only a couple of hours of energy and a day, you wanted to save those for Sam. level energy my about 3, son until he was my moment I delivered and if I my wrists, inflammation in both of I had terrible. was hurt. After different tendons really my up the stairs, going was The The A lot of those A lot My mother, who mother, My No. I “I quit. New York New Lee at the Lee Are you stupid? you Are ceremony in ceremony Book Awards Book Awards 68th National National 68th No—I didn’t think I could make a make think I could No—I didn’t The month that I quit, I billed compliant. If you tell you compliant. If attractive. I attractive. June 30, 2018 • I have no idea, but I did get two fellowships fellowships no idea, but I did get two I have where four little girls had attempted suicide four little girls had where Two for two, I know. And still I thought, “I’ll And still I know. for two, Two It was exactly that. I was a very good a very that. I was exactly was It husband is such diligence report. After 300 hours I had diligence report. At thisAt point you’re married, and you Actually those words: “I quit?” Was there a certain breaking point: 300 hours You graduatedYou from Yale and then Georgetown Law You’re a National Book Award finalist. What does it take to Two for two. Parental pressure there? But your story, not theirs, won Yale’s writing award for WORLD Magazine that my ­ that my 52 out. This year is our 25thout. This year I wouldn’t anniversary. had kids except have married at 24 because my husband asked husband asked married at 24 because my ­ really me to and he was I guess I’ll thought, “OK, worked It get married.” growing up, I didn’t want to get married and want I didn’t up, growing The fact that children. to have want I didn’t I gotit has happened to me is a marvel. go home planning to write. Were you also interested in having children? When I was about kids. thinking wasn’t I can’t do this anymore.” Once I said it, I do this anymore.” I can’t go back. knew I wouldn’t finished the task. I went to the partner andwent to the ­finished the task. I go home to rest. tell me to thought he would got another assignment. I said to I just But him, “I quit.” me, “Min Jin, read 12 boxes of documents,” I’ll of documents,” 12 boxes read Jin, “Min me, page and write the every OK and will read say due ­ and I’d come right back. and I’d a month? because I’m ­ lawyer baby 300 hours. If you’re an honest person, you’re actually in person, you’re an honest you’re If 300 hours. dayevery single was there I the office about 350 to 360. on Sunday— to go to church and the only time I left was School. went into You corporate law. How many billable hours did you accumulate? get a fellowship? I But anymore. for two two Not the eight I applied for. from is good. so two one, only needed to have successful writer, and it’s really hard. I was just turned down down turned just I was hard. really and it’s successful writer, this get four fellowships I didn’t teaching positions. for two finalist. Award Book right after the National That was year. go to law school because that’s a real job.” a real school because that’s go to law a 50 and considered I’m almost now, Even living as a writer. younger brother had money for school fees. The teacher gave The teacher gave school fees. had money for brother younger write you don’t news and said, “Why me this little piece of a prize. won I did and submitted that. It something about it?” name down. It won and I thought, “Maybe I’ll do that again.” I again.” I’ll do that “Maybe and I thought, won It name down. article from cut out a tiny The teacher took a fiction class. Times York New their sure so poor: They did it to make because they were best nonfiction story. What was it about? was It about coming to America. things so many endured your put didn’t so you blind admissions, it was ­personal but turned around and looked at me: at and looked around turned Stonehenge. kids had visited ‘You [write] because you love it, but don’t do it because you think it will deliver something in your life. Your book is not redemption. … If you don’t feel called to write that story, don’t write it. Do something else. Take up golf.’ nice guy, go marry the town slut. That’s pretty much what it is. Bible like that five or six times. It’s such a foundational, We shouldn’t use that word, but she’s very promiscuous. He incredible, beautiful work of art. It has helped me to understand knows she’s going to hurt his feelings, and God says, “I want story better, and I feel very inspired by it. Now that I’m older you to do it, Hosea, so you’ll know what it’s like when you and have cataracts, I even bought the large print. cheat on me.” What an interesting, very troubling idea. Lots of Christian aspiring writers enter the Christian God composes very interesting stories. I always think ­subculture: “Christian” fiction, “Christian” movies. You about God being a writer because the Word is so important, don’t live in that world. No, I don’t. Most people are really and whenever I’m in this whole publishing world, I think of surprised when I tell them I go to church. They’re like, “You?” God as a writer and a publisher. How many people read The Hobbit and refuse to believe When your health gets better and you’re able to write, Tolkien is Christian? That’s what’s interesting about art: you’re struggling. I’m still struggling. Writing is really hard. Multiple audiences can perceive­ it. At the same time, I do Fiction students or earnest fiction writers come to my readings know that the Christian ­publishing market is a very big one. It’s and go, “What do I do? How do I get published?” I say, “Forget probably more lucrative than literary nonfiction, where you’re that it’s a career. It’s a vocation. It’s really, really difficult. Earn lucky if you sell 2,000 copies. a living somewhere else.” I know very successful writers, and Sometimes “Christian novels” means they don’t make money from selling their books. You do it “clean novels”—but some WORLD readers­ because you love it, but don’t do it because you think it will didn’t like my recommendation of deliver something in your life. Your book is not redemption. It Pachinko because it includes F-bombs. Yes. will not redeem all the pain and suffering in your life. It’s A lot. And there’s sex. ­something you feel called to write. If you don’t feel called to Some readers ask, “Why are you write that story, don’t write it. Do something else. Take up golf. ­recommending to us a book with bad When you look back at your two published novels, do you words and sex?” How would you respond think all the struggles were worth it? I’m proud of my work. to complaint letters? Well, I am a It’s really cool in the Old Testament where Bezalel and others Presbyterian and Presbyterians are probably craft parts of the tabernacle. I like the idea of being a the dullest Christians—but we’re pretty ­craftsperson. I don’t think of myself as this big intellectual or accurate textually. The Bible has explicit artist. I want to make something really beautiful. I want it to sex. There’s prostitution, illegitimacy, murder. shimmer and to stand the test of time, but do I think it’s really And in Jesus’ family line. In Jesus’ family line. If you are a worth all that? I’m really not sure. Last year was really not Christian and believe in God, there’s a lot of room for pretty—and that was considered my best year. So I don’t know. ­discussion. You can’t seal yourself off from everything that you You wrote a story in which your main character reads a disagree with. chapter from the Bible every morning. In “Axis of Should novels leave us feeling happy, with things working Happiness,” one of my very few first-person stories, I had my out so the world makes sense? I don’t believe in the pursuit main character do that because I thought it was so weird. In of happiness. I always tell students, “I want you to be good, to my world of New York writers nobody reads the Bible. do the right thing. I want you to learn as much as you can. Did you decide to start your day that way? For a time I Happiness will come now and then, but the pursuit of it will read The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and make you miserable. The idea that everybody’s always happy Financial Times every day. I would think inspiration will all the time, and if you’re not, there’s something wrong with come. It did not come. I was writing every day, but it wasn’t you, makes so many of you miserable. So try to be decent.” really good. Then one day I read that Willa Cather, a fiction How do the students process that? They always go “ugh.” writer I love, read a chapter of the Bible every single day But I tell them there are seasons in your life when you’re not before she began work. I started to do that. Later on, my going to be happy. People get sick. People lose jobs. People get mother’s best friend from childhood­ gave me a study Bible at injured. They have every right to be grieving, and it may take a my wedding. long time for them to heal. There’s a lot of evidence in the Great wedding gift. I didn’t think so at the time: Great, a Bible where people aren’t enjoying God at the moment. Bible. I wasn’t a grateful person. I told you there’s something They’re throwing things at Him. wrong with me. But I had time, I didn’t have a job, so I would He doesn’t zap Abraham for giving Him some back talk read the chapter, then read the commentary, then read the and asking questions. I love the story of Job so much because chapter again. Then I’d pull a verse that sometimes consoled, Job gets to do this and Job is constantly saying things like, but most likely troubled me: Why is that in there? I would “Just curse me and let me die,” and I think, “Sure. I would say write it down in a notebook. I’ve done that since 1995, read the that, too, if I was covered in boils. Sure.” A

 [email protected]  @MarvinOlasky June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 53

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Lifestyle The sun is rising over Clean Slate nonsense. R south Fort Worth. employees She’s The tinny “clink” of soda at work easy to cans hitting the pavement, spot in her Let’s clean jettisoned from trash in a day-glow yellow work vest; dumpster, and the thunder- I follow her through the ing sound of trash bins humid streets surrounding up this town! ­rolling across asphalt make Presbyterian Night Shelter, HOMELESS RESIDENTS PICK UP it hard to hear Nicole, the picking up fast-food wrap- litter crew supervisor for pers, cigarette butts, dis- TRASH—AND LIFE SKILLS—IN TEXAS Clean Slate. Nicole is quiet, carded grocery sacks, and

JENNIFER SMITH/UNEARTHED PHOTOGRAPHY SMITH/UNEARTHED JENNIFER CITY by Katie Gaultney in Forth Worth, Texas serious, and reserved—no the like. Unopened boxes of

Visit WORLD Digital: wng.org June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 55 NOTEBOOK Lifestyle

raisins, sleeves of crackers, manages the contract with the case of Clean Slate, the ‘How can we be more and feminine hygiene Clean Slate. company bids on contracts, socially responsible and do products pepper the Besides Nicole, my co- offering litter, janitorial, or it at as low a cost as possi- median, castoffs from well- workers for the morning other staffing services—­ ble?’” Bennett said. intentioned care packages are Alan and Donny, ex- primarily hotel maids—and Clean Slate employees for the homeless. cons who are dealing with is able to reinvest some of start above Texas’ minimum “Don’t mess with Texas” homelessness and serve on its profits into its parent wage; those on the litter isn’t just a catchy slogan. litter duty three days a organization, the homeless crew earn between $8 and Wide open spaces that week, four hours a day, to shelter. In 2017, Clean Slate $10 an hour. They also ­collect debris and wind earn meals and a bunk at donated 7.5 percent of its receive life skills training, that blows trash out of the shelter. Unlike Alan revenue to Presbyterian job training, and housing at dumpsters and trash cans— and Donny, who are part of Night Shelter; the remain- the shelter. For employees not to mention people who the vocational program of der went to paying employ- working more than 30 throw trash out of cars as Presbyterian Night Shelter, ees and covering operating hours a week, Clean Slate they drive down interstates Nicole and other employees expenses. subsidizes benefits, includ- that crisscross the city— of the shelter’s Clean Slate But Clean Slate wasn’t ing healthcare. make litter a real problem program earn cash for their Fort Worth’s first foray into The Fort Worth con- working with people deal- tract stipulates Clean Slate ing with homelessness. will receive $50,000 annu- Budget cuts during the ally to pick up trash twice a recession led Fort Worth to day, seven days a week, in get creative. The city began the area around several partnering with Goodwill homeless shelters, where Industries to employ loitering often occurs. The ­homeless people—who, as city is planning to expand Brandon Bennett puts it, the territory—at a cost of “sometimes take better care up to an additional of their pets than them- $300,000—into urban selves”—to staff animal neighborhoods. shelters for a modest but Several cities, including fair wage, along with job Albuquerque, Denver, and training. The success of Chicago, have rolled out that arrangement prompted similar programs. Fort Bennett to approach Clean Worth’s sister city, Dallas, Slate when litter pickup looked into hiring the was moved under his homeless for litter pickup, ­purview. Bennett put out a but according to Wayne request for a proposal, Walker, who has worked to in this area near downtown work. Nicole has been with knowing that some private disciple the homeless in Fort Worth. And litter is a the program for a year and contractors would come out Dallas for 17 years, the lot like graffiti; if it’s not a half and has moved into with lower bids than Clean incentive for the would-be addressed quickly, the her own housing, but many Slate, but working with a workers wasn’t there. He problem will grow. employees stay at the shel- shelter would support a said panhandlers in Dallas “Every day we’re picking ter for a period of four to social good by providing an make an average of $50 an

up tons—literally tons—of six months, until they’ve avenue out of homelessness. hour, so taking a significant JENNIFER SMITH/UNEARTHED PHOTOGRAPHY litter that is illegally saved enough to find an “[Fort Worth’s contract pay cut for an honest day’s dumped. Like 4,000 tons of apartment of their own. with Goodwill] was moti- work is a hard sell. miscellaneous litter, so if Clean Slate is a for-profit vated by saving money and “In the Christian world you weigh out a potato chip business operating within implementing a socially of discipleship, we teach bag, and you equate out the nonprofit Presbyterian responsible program, but accountability and integrity how much a potato chip Night Shelter. It falls under saving money came first. and character,” Walker bag weighs to make 4,000 the umbrella of “social What we decided with the said. “Discipleship is the tons, that’s a lot of litter,” enterprise,” a growing Clean Slate program was way you help someone said Brandon Bennett, ­segment of businesses that that we wouldn’t have keep a job, not only teaching director of Fort Worth donate a portion of revenue money as the first criteria. them job skills and how to Code Compliance, who into charitable efforts. In We flip-flopped it and said, build a resumé.” A

56 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 Give the gift of clarity: wng.org/giftofclarity NOTEBOOK Technology

they’re still using electricity.” The advantage of switching to a biological Trees as streetlights? system, he said, is that plants and RESEARCHERS HOPE GENETIC ENGINEERING WILL algae need only CO₂, sunlight, and water. CREATE BIOLUMINESCENT TREES by Michael Cochrane Along with the technical ­challenges involved in getting a gene found in Trees planted along busy city algae to produce bioluminescence in a R streets can provide shade by tree, the project’s proposed use of day, but could they also provide light genetically engineered trees raises at night? Researchers in Denmark ethical and environmental want to isolate the genes that cause questions. ocean algae to glow and insert them “What happens to the animals and into trees, creating natural plants that surround them, cross-­ streetlights. fertilize with them, or feed on them?” “We could try to change some of asked Dimitri Deheyn, a researcher at that lighting from conventional, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, ­electricity-consuming lights to a according to Fast Company. more natural way of creating light,” If successful, the glowing trees Kristian Ejlsted, CEO of Allumen, a would have an advantage even over startup based near Copenhagen, told lights powered by renewable energy Fast Company. sources, said Ejlsted. He pointed out Ejlsted’s research into creating that algae are naturally very effi- ­bioluminescent trees, which began cient at capturing sunlight: when he was a student at the “We can’t really recreate Technical University of Denmark, is that yet in solar panels.” in the early stages. But he believes the payoff could be a huge electricity ­savings for cities where street light- ing consumes much of the energy costs. “In Denmark, almost all street- lights are now being replaced by LED lights,” Ejlsted said. “That’s a huge deal right now, and it’s going to save a lot of energy. But the fact is that

FLIGHT OF THE ROBOFLY Drones keep getting smaller and smaller. You can buy one today that fits in the palm of your hand. Engineers have even created insect-sized drones that fly using flapping wings instead of propellers. But these devices must still be tethered to an external power source because current batteries are too heavy for them to carry. Now engineers at the University of Washington have created the first wireless flying insect robot. Powered by an invisible external laser, the “RoboFly”—slightly heavier than a toothpick—converts the laser energy into electricity using a tiny photovoltaic cell. RoboFly is currently limited to operating within a direct line of sight of the laser beam, which has a range of about 7 feet. Future versions might be battery-powered or harvest energy from radio signals. The research team believes swarms of insect-size drones could be useful for tasks such as surveying crop growth on large farms or detecting gas leaks. “I’d really like to make one that finds methane leaks,” said Sawyer Fuller, an assistant ­professor in the UW Department of Mechanical Engineering, according to UW News. “You could buy a suitcase full of them, open it up, and they would fly around your building looking for plumes of gas coming out of leaky pipes.” —M.C. TOP: KRIEG BARRIE • BOTTOM: HANDOUT

June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 57 NOTEBOOK Politics

Votes are the aftermath of the counted in Brexit vote. Amnesty Dublin. International poured funds into the country in favor of repeal. Up to the day of the vote, polls predicted an almost even split, making the subsequent 2-to-1 margin all the more disappointing for the No side. The day after, the Save the 8th organization vowed to fight on and posted on its website: “What Irish voters did yesterday is a tragedy of historic proportions. However, a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it.” Spokeswoman Mary Kenny—who credits the 8th Amendment with saving her own daughter’s life—said Irish eyes are crying pro-life organizations realize their PRO-LIFERS REGROUP AFTER IRELAND ABORTS voice is now needed more than ever. PROTECTIONS FOR THE UNBORN by Jenny Lind Schmitt They are already making plans to make crisis pregnancy counseling available in each county. Ireland voted May 25 to repeal 2014, pro-abortion groups quickly As he campaigned, Irish Taoiseach R the 8th Amendment to its consti- politicized the tragedy for the cause of (prime minister) Leo Varadkar tution, effectively paving the way for liberalizing abortion access. ­promised to bring legislation before legal abortion in the traditionally Independent investigations found Parliament before year’s end, but in Catholic country. With voter turnout hospital malpractice—not lack of the days following the vote Health up to 70 percent in some counties, access to abortion—caused Minister Simon Harris vowed to two-thirds of voters said “Yes” to Halappanavar’s death, but the case introduce the new laws before the repeal the amendment, returning garnered public sympathy for “hard summer vacation. The proposed power to legislate on abortion to the cases” that heavily influenced the May ­legislation would allow abortion on government and stripping the unborn vote’s outcome. Another highly publi- demand up to 12 weeks, and up to six of their rights. cized case involved a minor rape months in cases of rape, incest, fatal In 1983, as many Western ­victim restricted from traveling to fetal abnormality, and the “health of European countries were legalizing England for an abortion. the mother.” Because the definition abortion, Ireland passed the 8th Grassroots pro-life efforts faced an of “health” remains vague, Irish pro- Amendment by a two-thirds majority. uphill battle, with a Yes campaign led lifers fear it eventually may include The amendment, which embedded by the government and heavily sup- mental health and depression, equal legal rights for an unborn child ported by the media. The No side also ­widening the door to a more liberal and her mother into the republic’s suffered from vandalism of posters abortion policy. constitution, was an example and and took a heavy blow a few weeks While The Irish Times said that the BRIAN LAWLESS/ PRESS ASSOCIATION VIA AP IMAGES inspiration to pro-life movements before the vote when Facebook and Yes victory was definitive and called worldwide for 35 years. Google banned referendum ads. for an end to the fight, pro-life legisla- While many Irish women “traveled” Television ads were not permitted. tors vow to fight the abortion laws in to the U.K. for an abortion, pro-life Media in Ireland and abroad, Parliament. groups said the 8th Amendment had meanwhile, portrayed the Roman In the wake of Ireland’s vote, pro- saved over 100,000 Irish lives by giving Catholic Church as archaic and its abortion forces demanded that a mother time to rethink a decision to influence as waning, especially in light Northern Ireland also legalize abor- abort and find needed support. Pro- of sexual scandals involving clergy in tion. While politically part of the U.K., abortion forces lobbied since 1983, but recent years. The church, while offi- Northern Ireland has pro-life laws. In the last 10 years saw an even greater cially against abortion, was not a early June the U.K. Supreme Court push to legalize abortion. After Savita strong voice in the debate. Many saw a dismissed an appeal to overturn the Halappanavar died of pregnancy- yes vote as a means of more closely laws protecting Northern Ireland’s related sepsis in a Galway hospital in aligning the country with the EU in unborn children. A

58 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018 Manage your membership: wng.org/membership NOTEBOOK Sports Trans-forming record books WILL THE SUCCESS OF TWO TRANSGENDER SPRINTERS IN CONNECTICUT SPUR LEGAL CHANGES? by Ray Hacke

The fastest times ever run in the Neither Miller nor Yearwood “The optic isn’t good,” Niehoff R girls’ 100 and 200 meters at has begun transitioning from male admitted. “But we really have to look Connecticut’s State Open high-school to female. The Connecticut at the bigger issues that speak to civil track and field championships now Interscholastic Athletic Conference rights and the fact this is high-school belong to a boy. (CIAC) does not require them to do so. sports.” Coaches, athletes, sportswriters, One need only self-identify as a partic- The question is, whose civil rights? and even the head of Connecticut’s ular gender to compete as a member Congress enacted Title IX in 1972 prep sports governing body recognize of that gender. This explains why to ensure that women—that is, biologi- some injustice in that. Still, perhaps Miller went from competing as a boy cal women—receive the same educa- fearful of being branded bigots, many during Connecticut’s indoor track tional opportunities as men, including seem unwilling to fight back against ­season in winter to competing as a girl participation in interscholastic sports. More than one court has recognized that interscholastic sports are typically sex-segregated for good reason: Physiological differences give boys a significant competitive advantage over girls in athletics, and if boys were free to compete against girls, athletic opportunities for girls would all but perish. The Obama administration ignored those courts’ rulings in 2016, issuing a national directive to public schools interpreting the word “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity.” That interpretation conflicts with Congress’ intent in passing the law, and the Terry Miller Andraya Yearwood Trump administration has since rescinded it. Still, 17 states, including what is becoming a trend in high-school during the outdoor season in spring. Connecticut, have laws requiring sports. Miller ran in two relays, but no transgender “females” to be treated no Terry Miller of Hartford’s Bulkeley individual events, at Connecticut’s differently from biological girls, High, who is biologically male, set state indoor meet for midsized schools regardless of whether they’ve under- State Open records in the 100 (11.72 in February. Miller may not have been gone hormone treatments. seconds) and the 200 (24.17) at fast enough to qualify in individual This means runners who are physi- Connecticut’s all-school outdoor events when competing against other cally male can win state titles at actual championship meet in early June. boys: The sophomore’s times at the girls’ expense. Miller went on to win both events at state outdoor meet would have placed Glastonbury’s Selina Soule placed the more prestigious New England him well behind the pack in the boys’ sixth in the 100 at Connecticut’s State Outdoor Championships on June 9. 100 and 200. Open. Her mother, Bianca Stanescu, is The runner-up in the girls’ 100 at CIAC Executive Director Karissa circulating a petition asking the state Connecticut’s State Open is also Niehoff expressed sympathy for Legislature to pass a law requiring ­transgender: Cromwell’s Andraya ­biological girls who were denied the athletes to compete based on their Yearwood, who won the 100 and the opportunity to advance to the New gender at birth unless they’ve under- 200 at Connecticut’s state meet for England championships due to their gone hormone treatments. smaller midsized schools last year transgender competitors’ success. At “Sports are set up for fairness,” (see “Boys against girls,” July 1, 2017), the same time, she was unwilling to Soule said. “Biologically male and ran the 100 in 12.29 seconds at this state that Miller and Yearwood should female are different. The great majority

MILLER: RUNNERSPACE.COM SCREEN CAPTURE YEARWOOD: • WTNH SCREEN CAPTURE year’s Open. not be competing against girls. is being sacrificed for the minority.”A

June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 59

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‘Martin or Matteo?’ MAY 12 This is an interesting contrast between two philosophies of aiding the poor. It is important to help the poor so their needs are met in this world, but the next world will last forever. Those who are to live eternally with God must hear the gospel and accept Christ’s atoning sacrifice, as Luther preached. —JOHN COGAN on wng.org

Ministries that focus on enabling the and evolution. It’s impossible that poor to improve their situations do a ­adding billions of years of random- great deal more good (for those who chance processes would produce the apply the programs) than a simple complexity and design we see every but they lack the perspective to see handout. But giving unconditionally to day in the world around us. that they are not the only ones upset. the needy helps those who “fail” or fall —DEBBY SAINT / Wellington, Ohio Christians can offer the gospel, for through the cracks of even the best- the solution to brokenness is not in designed programs—and isn’t that Thank you to Peterson for noting her politics but in Christ. how God works with each of us? granddaughter’s question at the —PAULINE MARIE FERRILL on Facebook —JENNYBETH GARDNER on wng.org museum. We are in a fight for our ­children’s minds, and belief in Biblical Those who attack these kids are play- Many Catholic ministries around the creation is a front-line issue. ing right into their hands. The stu- world do more than feed the hungry. —JORGE A. VELEZ / Long Beach, Calif. dents are taking their grief to the The Capuchins running Detroit’s Soup streets. If we listen and let them know Kitchen, for example, do job-training ‘An FBI story’ God loves them more than they can through their bakery and urban farm MAY 12 Jim Long’s inside look at the imagine, it will produce more change while offering substance abuse coun- training and practice of an FBI agent than any criticism. seling and other programs. was one of my favorite pieces ever. It’s —DANIEL MacLEAN on Facebook —CAROL TARDIFF / Troy, Mich. comforting to know that agents are trained in moral principles such as ‘Scientists say …’ ‘Welfare and work’ truth. I truly wondered if such things MAY 12 The irreproducibility crisis in MAY 12 I agree with Marvin Olasky’s mattered anymore at the agency. science is old news but little has been point about connecting work and —LYNN BARTON / Medford, Ore. done about it, so thank you for bringing ­welfare, but we need to remember that it up. The emphasis on statistics is even well-intentioned changes will Thank you to Long for joining extremely important; it teaches people likely leave some broken and hurting WORLD. I look forward to his investi- to ask hard questions about, for exam- people with no way to get by. gative reporting. I pray for FBI agents ple, research methods and whether —ELIZABETH COLE on wng.org in this dark time, and may the Holy the results indicate causation or Spirit light the way and expose the merely correlation. To paraphrase ‘Irreconcilable differences’ dark dots. Lewis, “Why don’t they teach them MAY 12 I thoroughly enjoyed Andrée —BEV ROE on wng.org statistics in these schools?” Seu Peterson’s column on theistic evo- —ADRIAN KEISTER / Raleigh, N.C. lution. The concept makes no sense, How reassuring to hear that our FBI yet at my Christian college I sat under team in the trenches is still committed We should keep in mind the fact that several science professors who to protecting Americans. 73.29 percent of all statistics are made believed it. How sad that they ignored —TOM MAXWELL / Boonville, Mo. up. the simplest of Biblical truths in order —BOB GUTJAHR / Cary, N.C. to stand with the world. ‘Lead us not’ —ASHLEY YOUNG / The Woodlands, Texas MAY 12 This column sums up how I feel ‘Awaiting a verdict’ about the Parkland protesters. Their MAY 12 Mindy Belz’s writing has long Thank you for clearly stating the sense of security, already fragile by been one of my strongest arguments incongruity between the words theistic prior shootings, has been shattered, for subscribing to WORLD. I have

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deeply appreciated her reporting on bail so high that he can’t get back to success rate might be higher with Iraq and the larger Middle Eastern his job and loses it. proper procedures. conflict, which enables me to pray —LAURA WELENETH on wng.org —REE MEHTA / Sunnyvale, Calif. with insight for the region and to inform others. I have noticed in the last several issues Correction —ALAN AMAVISCA / Placentia, Calif. what a broad range of subjects, The Boy Scouts of America will regions, and styles of articles you’ve change in February of 2019 the name ‘Miracles and myths’ been publishing. You’re living up to of the program known as “Boy Scouts” MAY 12 Good piece. I struggle with the the WORLD name! to “Scouts BSA”; the organization’s uncritical support of evangelicals for —ERIN LONG / Egg Harbor Township, N.J. name will remain the same (Human Israel, some equating national Israel Race, May 26, p. 10). with spiritual Israel, and to under- ‘By the numbers’ stand how it all lines up with MAY 12 You cite a study that found pro- Read more Mailbag letters at wng.org prophecy. gesterone is 48 percent effective in —ROSA EDWARDS on wng.org counteracting the mifepristone ­abortion pill. At a group of four small LETTERS and COMMENTS ‘Bail burdens’ pregnancy clinics where I volunteer, Email: [email protected] MAY 12 Most government institutions progesterone has helped seven of nine Mail: WORLD Mailbag, PO Box 20002, are inefficient, but taking hours to bail women have healthy births, including Asheville, NC 28802-9998 Website: wng.org one person out of jail is ridiculous. It two sets of twins. Dedicated staff and Facebook: facebook.com/WORLD.magazine does sound like a mess. And if the nurses came in during off hours to give Twitter: @WORLD_mag accused person has a job, unless there injections at the right times. That’s a Please include full name and address. Letters is a very good reason, it’s cruel to set small sample size, but it suggests the may be edited to yield brevity and clarity.

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you never had to worry about your cell phone being turned off.” You get the drift. At this point the instructor tells the white kids at the head of the group to turn around and look back at the starting line. He begins ­lecturing them: “Every statement I’ve made has nothing to do with anything any of you have done. … We all know these people up here have a Standing in place better opportunity to win this hundred dollars. Does this mean these people back here can’t A VIRAL VIDEO ABOUT PRIVILEGE ISN’T race? No. We would be foolish not to realize LOVING TOWARD ANYBODY we’ve been given more opportunity. We don’t want to recog- Loving your neighbor, and thus fulfilling nize that we’ve R the Great Commandment, requires the been given a proper diagnosis. If your neighbor is hungry, head start. But give him food (James 2:15-16). If he is idle, the reality is we admonish him (1 Thessalonians 5:14). If he is have. … Whoever fainthearted, encourage him (5:14). If he is wins this weak, help him (5:14). If he is doing good, ­hundred dollars, ­commend him (2 Corinthians 12:11). I think it would I rehearse these basics as a preface to be extremely ­discussing a four-minute viral video sent to me, foolish of you which at first blush seems like love, until you not to utilize question the diagnosis. At first blush that in learning more about somebody else’s “Life of Privilege Explained in a $100 Race” story. Because the reality is, if this was a fair will choke you up with tears. But caution: The the video’s race … I guarantee you some of these black late Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan message dudes would smoke all of you. And it’s only rightly noted that the medium is not neutral; seems because you have this big head start that you’re the medium itself plays a role in the message possibly going to win this race called life. and shapes the message in subtle and powerful like love, Nothing you’ve done has put you in the lead.” ways. Everything about this short production is until you But who is this man to say to any student calculated for a particular effect. This is not a question the that “nothing you’ve done has put you in the controversial observation: Why else would the lead”? And who is he to judge anyone’s heart creator create if not to produce a desired effect? diagnosis. and assert, “We don’t want to recognize that The morning after, if your abiding desire is to we’ve been given a head start”? And what kind think Biblically and to “test the spirits” (1 John of divisive racism is it to say that some of the 4:1), you will ask yourself if the video has the black students would “smoke all of you [white proper diagnosis on two fronts: First, does it students]” if it were a fair race? analyze the problem correctly? Second, does So the white students are made to feel guilty its widespread dissemination tend to heal or and ashamed. And the black students are made tend to exacerbate our nation’s societal to feel forever the victim who cannot possibly problems? be expected to do anything. And how, pray tell, The setting is a college foot race, in which does this love anybody well? students are lined up and offered a $100 bill to One commenter posts: “Take two steps for- the winner. But before the signal to go, the ward if you grew up in a two-parent ­household. instructor reveals that this race will proceed Take two steps backward if your parents fought according to specific instructions, which he every night. Take two steps forward­ if your now begins to announce: “Take two steps father didn’t abandon you. Take two steps back- ­forward if both your parents are still married.” ward if he set forth unreasonable, unattainable, (A winnowing­ begins, as a handful of students, and demoralizing expectations.” Everyone has notably dark-skinned ones, stay put.) “Take two obstacles. steps forward if you grew up with a father What I personally take from the video is that ­figure at home.” (More fragmenting of the line if you want your kids to flourish, work hard, save after some take giant steps and others, mostly A scene from childbearing for marriage, and stay married.

YOUTUBE black, don’t budge.) “Take two steps forward if the video Whether you’re black, white, or green. A

 [email protected] June 30, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 63 VOICES Marvin Olasky

Then silence returned. Khan grabbed the loaf and staggered back to the hospital, ­wondering if he was going crazy. The head ­doctor paused from amputating a leg and said, “Where have you been? A reporter from People Choose from 50+ courses magazine is waiting for you.” Work at your own pace The next month, when Khan wearily ONLINE COLLEGE stepped off the plane in New York City, he saw Select your start date Mike Khan, social his photo on the cover. He was leaning against a chest-high wall, his arms extended to left and Complete course in 4 months right, with a tall post behind him—almost as if Save at $200 / credit hour justice warrior he were being crucified. The story about his COURSES FOR HIGH NEW DIRECTION AFTER A BRUSH WITH DEATH self-sacrifice in voluntarily risking his life to Enroll online beat ISIS couldn’t have been more adulatory. I didn’t lift a finger to get this, Twelfth in a series of short short fiction. For other he thought: Who’s orchestrating online.taylor.edu stories in this series, visit wng.org/shortstories. this? SCHOOL STUDENTS It got better. When his plane Mike Khan had indeed had a vision on the arrived in Austin on a warm R road to Damascus, as he wrote to Rachel Saturday, an applauding crowd Auerglas (see story No. 10, “Khan unchained,” fronted by several Texas Dec. 30, 2017). He was driving a rebel truck, ­cheerleaders greeted him, and chasing retreating ISIS fighters near Raqqa, a complimentary room at the and hit a mine. The blast blew him out of the Four Seasons awaited him. truck, and as he fell to the ground a light Mike’s brother, Pastor Mark flashed around him and a voice said, “Mike, Kahn, called to say he and his Mike, why are you persecuting me?” family were on vacation, but Khan, lying in the dirt as he wondered how they’d get together the following many of his bones were broken, groaned out a week. Mike was disappointed­ question: “Who are you?” The response came From the that neither of his former girlfriends, Rachel back: “For now, just call me Legion. Heal Auerglas and Esperanza Ortiz, showed up at ­yourself, and I’ll be back.” Then Khan’s ­circle came a the airport (or better yet, the hotel), but that ­concussion took charge, and when he woke up, voice: ‘If you evening Rachel emailed him: Hope to see you at he lay in a hospital ward and wondered what are a god, the Church of Adullam tomorrow morning. was real and what imagined. He spent the next Khan had had time in the hospital and on 40 days and nights lying on a pallet in a command his lengthy trip home to think of his next step ­primitive hospital with inadequate food—but this first occupationally: Church was as good a starting his body healed, and the emaciated frame of the stone to point as any. He purposely arrived early and ex-pro wrestler showed he had suffered. shook hands with half the congregation. With On Day 41 Khan was able to walk 2 miles become a loaf a People cover star in their midst, excited into the silent Syrian wilderness: ISIS had lost, of bread.’ ­members of the congregation asked the and he wanted to think about what to do next. A ­awestruck assistant pastor if Mike could say a hot, dry wind blew across the arid plateau. Near few words during announcements time. Mount Bishri he came to a circle of stones that When the invitation came half an hour later, had probably been an ancient altar. From the Mike ran up onto the stage. He said, “Over the ­circle came a voice: “If you are a god, command years, Mark and I haven’t always fired our guns this first stone to become a loaf of bread.” Khan at the same targets, and we even spell our names thought it was his imagination, but he grinned differently. But now we are together. I fought for and said, “OK, I’ll play along: Bread.” human rights in Syria against vicious tyrants. He blinked, and there it was: not just pita or When I was wounded, I came to see that life is some other kind of flatbread, but his favorite, spiritual, not just material. I come back thinking sourdough. Suddenly he was on full alert: “Who that protecting all those created in God’s image are you?” The voice replied, “The important is not just something to fight for abroad. We also KRIEG BARRIE question is, ‘Who are you? Are you ready to need to fight for it at home, and I look forward take power in the kingdoms of the world? Are to talking with all Adullam members who want you man enough for glory?’” to be social justice warriors alongside me.” A Questions? Chat with our HS advisor, Noelle Brennan! 260-399-1672 [email protected] 64 WORLD Magazine • June 30, 2018  [email protected]  @MarvinOlasky Free TU t-shirt with WSUM18 code! Choose from 50+ courses ONLINE COLLEGE Work at your own pace Select your start date Complete course in 4 months COURSES FOR HIGH Save at $200 / credit hour Enroll online SCHOOL STUDENTS online.taylor.edu

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