Point of View June 22, 2026 – Hour 2 : National School Chaplain Association

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second Hour today, we're going to spend some time first of all talking about school chaplains, a topic we've covered before but we'll revisit once again. In the bottom of the hour, we're going to get back into some issues in the news.

[00:00:32] The editors of Wall Street Journal lament the rise of democratic socialists. A columnist for the Washington Post nevertheless laments that socialism is back in vogue and wait for reality to set in. So whether you look at it from a conservative point of view or a liberal point of view, we'll get into some of that in the bottom part of this hour. But we wanted to, first of all, once again remind you of what you can do in your local school.

[00:00:58] Anytime you've listened to Point of View on Friday, we have Kelly Shackelford or others from First Liberty Institute reminding us that we have more freedom and more liberty than ever. And it has always been legal to have chaplains in school, but this is even easier. And so we thought we would bring back to the microphone an individual who's been in studio with us, Rocky Malloy, who is again the CEO of the National School Chaplain Association,

[00:01:24] which is a constitutionally compliant chaplaincy organization. He really has a vision of having a chaplain in every school. He serves also as the chair of the advisory board for the United States Family Chaplaincy Network. He has come from an interesting background of having ministered in the midst of a civil war among the Sandinistas,

[00:01:45] uprising in Bolivia, even dealing with rebel-held territory in Colombia on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. But in 2021, five years ago, the family returned to this particular state to expand its proven model of national and school chaplaincies in the U.S. public school system. So, Rocky, welcome back to Point of View. Thank you, sir. It's always a pleasure to speak with you.

[00:02:15] Well, last time we had you in here, we gave people an overview. But it's worth mentioning again because people come and go. And there is a link to NSCA, which stands for National School Chaplain's Association dot global. Or you can just simply follow the links that we have there on the website. They can see your picture next to it. They can follow your web page, Facebook page, as well as X.

[00:02:40] But this is an opportunity to bring faith, hope, and transformation to the public schools. Can you tell us more? Yes. You know, it's so important the way you've staged this because for about 50 years we lived under an illusion in regard to our religious liberty. As you said absolutely correctly, any school in the United States can hire a chaplain or allow a volunteer.

[00:03:10] So the laws that are being passed across the country in multiple states never put that in question. Those were laws that funded chaplains. And it seems to me that what we have are a series of articles there that answer many of those questions. But if nothing else, you know, do schools need help? Is this unconstitutional? Is there a way we can do this in our local school?

[00:03:36] So in some respects, there are going to be some people, I am sure, Rocky, that will say, I would love to have a chaplain in our local public school. And I need to figure out, first of all, what's the next step? And most importantly, how to answer any of the kind of objections I'm going to run into. And that's one of the reasons why we're pointing people to your website. Thank you. The first thing they can do when they go to our website, there's a free course,

[00:04:04] a free introduction course that will give them all the qualifications. There are some disqualifications, roles and responsibilities to give them a really good idea of what it's like to be the source of faith-based spiritual mental health care on a campus. Now, it does seem to me that once you, and I might just also point them, there is a short little video there. It's only about two minutes long to become a school chaplain. So that might be a good way to get started.

[00:04:31] But again, the argument I think they're going to hear is, well, separation of church and state. Of course, that doesn't apply as we've already dealt with. But I think the argument that you want to make is, whether it's release time, whether it's the fact that students can have a Bible club, or in this case, the public school can have an actual chaplaincy, there are so many needs that are existing in a typical school.

[00:04:59] And it's unrealistic to think that the teachers can deal with all of that. And it's best to have somebody who has been trained to actually be a chaplain who is available on call for all the kind of issues that young people and even families are going to be dealing with. You mentioned there's some great organizations that provide all campus, before school, after school, all types of things.

[00:05:25] But the advantage of a chaplain is during regular school hours campus-wide to help coordinate all those other great organizations working for the benefit of the schools. But one of the most important things that chaplain does is intercept bad behavior. Yes. Students hurting themselves or other people. Chaplains are specifically trained to recognize characteristics.

[00:05:56] And I can tell you that the federal marshals we've talked to in D.C. and other places have told us there's never been a surprise shooter. And people will go, oh, my God, why didn't they do something? They can't do anything until a law is broken. A chaplain is constitutionally privileged and protected to intercede.

[00:06:15] So because a policeman or a sheriff or a safety officer, they're concerned about litigation if they try to intercede and they're wrong or somebody's misinterpreted what they did. But a chaplain can step into a situation to prevent harm. Every mother and father in the United States should appreciate that.

[00:06:36] I appreciate you using that example because some people tend to think, well, a chaplain would be there to hear kids that are dealing with anorexia or bulimia or bullying or whatever, all of which is true. But there is a much more serious issue, and that is individuals that are tempted to act out, whether they become the next school shooter, whether maybe at a lower level they are the vandal and destroy property or something of that nature.

[00:07:04] And a chaplain can intervene, as you just pointed out, when others cannot. True? That's correct. There's some very specific laws around that. One is a chaplain, if they work with us, they can be federally recognized. It doesn't mean the chaplain can break the law. But part of this thing is that people have confidence to talk to the chaplain because there's a thing called confidentiality.

[00:07:31] So other students and teachers tell the chaplain things that alert them to potential harm, and they can step in to prevent that. But if a student talks to a teacher, the teacher is required. We're not talking about mandatory report. We're just talking about things that go on their transcript. If you remember from high school, it was like the Holy Grail. Yes. So there's other things that police officers and things.

[00:07:58] You could tell a police officer, this guy's threatened to hurt people. Well, did he hurt anybody yet? No, can't do anything. Yes. So the idea of pretend, you know what, man? In the last few months, I've received so many phone calls from school districts whose six- and seven-year-old children are killing themselves. It's just unbelievable. It's hard to believe it.

[00:08:23] But when I was, first of all, I never heard about it when I was going to school, but it went from suicide to homicide. These kids are killing themselves at a record level. It's epidemic. Number one or number two cause of death in every state in the United States. We're going to take a break and continue our conversation with Rocky Malloy. Again, National School Chaplain Association. You can go to the website. We'll talk more about it right after this.

[00:09:00] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Former Senator Ben Sasse has been in the news recently because he's been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. But even with this diagnosis, he has been speaking and writing. His latest op-ed warns that the indoor childhood is bad for America. Now, we know that the current digital revolution is changing nearly every aspect of modern life, but the issue, he believes, is greater than screen time. He points to a larger problem.

[00:09:29] American children are being weirdly held hostage indoors. A recent survey from the Institute for Family Studies discovered that a majority of six-year-olds have unsupervised access to Internet-connected tablets, but that same majority are not allowed to play in their own yards unsupervised. It doesn't get much better for older kids. More than half of 14-year-olds don't have permission to leave their streets. He laments that we aren't introducing children to a world in an age-appropriate manner.

[00:09:56] Instead, we are preventing them from developing imagination, resilience, and grit. They can explore the dark corners of the Internet but cannot explore their own neighborhoods. Parents are ignoring one danger in one area and overprotecting in another. He reminds us that 11 of the 12 Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon were Boy Scouts who learned to live by the Scout's motto, Be Prepared. Unfortunately, we are not raising a generation of risk-takers today.

[00:10:23] Children need to learn from low-risk failures. Instead, they're being tossed into the deep end of adulthood with little preparation. The children aren't at fault. The parents are failing their children and the next generation. The solution starts at home. It's time to get children outdoors. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my Point of View.

[00:10:49] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Continue our conversation today about the National School Chaplain Association. Rocky Malloy with us. And, Rocky, for just a minute, let me just mention that if people want to maybe dip their toe into the water, there's a video that's about two minutes long.

[00:11:17] Of course, your book, which we've mentioned before, School Chaplain, there's a place where they can click to learn more. But then they might say, okay, what do I need to do next? And that is you have a free introductory course, which really gets you into what that would require in terms of skills. And that's step one. Then step two gets into, of course, more difficult things, certainly accreditation and certification.

[00:11:43] You have to complete the NSCA Academy coursework and gain a national-recognized chaplaincy certificate. And then eventually, step three, which is not necessarily going to take that long if you really are diligent, you can begin to serve in a public school, private school, charter school.

[00:12:04] And there's just some great opportunities, and I suspect this is a good example where you have more people looking for a chaplaincy in their public schools than you have recruits, which is one of the reasons we're talking about that today here on Point of View, isn't it? Yes, sir, it is. Because it seems to me. Yeah, go ahead. Oops, sorry. You perfectly outlined it. There is one caveat.

[00:12:29] If you're already working in a school, you're the perfect candidate to become a certified chaplain because you're already there, you already have relationships, and we'd love to talk to you. That's a good idea because there are people that have been volunteers. That could be moms that are volunteers or dads that help coach or something like that. If you've already got a connection to your public school or your Christian school,

[00:12:51] then in some respects all we're doing is adding the various layers that give you the accreditation, the certification, all of that. And so that is something that comes together pretty quickly then if you already have that relationship and you've already used some of those schools, won't it? Yes, it puts you in a position that's accredited and trained.

[00:13:16] A lot of people are really already doing this kind of behavior, but the training gives them clear boundaries of what is and what is not constitutionally. And what we've seen is it's like a playground when there's a fence. Kids can play right up to the fence. If they're not, kids have the tendency to draw back. So this gives adult, qualified adults, the liberty to exercise their First Amendment right of free exercise. What are the limits to what can be done here?

[00:13:44] Because as I go to your website, we, of course, also are talking not only about public schools, but we could be talking about universities, organizations. I'm very familiar with the fact that there are a number of businesses that have chaplains. So, you know, what are the opportunities? It seems to me that even though we talk about what's happening in the public schools, it seems like the opportunities are even broader than that, aren't they? Yes, sir.

[00:14:09] Multiple federal organizations have talked to us, like when President Trump signed the Continuity Act for Children Aging Out of Foster Care, that deployed potentially chaplains in HHS helping children move to HUD communities. Right now that's not happening. Also, DHS, SBA, multiple organizations have reached out to us because finally there is a civilian chaplain's corps,

[00:14:38] which we were asked to create, which has been fully created and ready to operate. Let's talk about impact for just a minute since I was trying to talk about how big this is, because as I understand it, you have been able to develop this in a number of schools around the country and in a number of countries. So what are the latest numbers?

[00:14:58] We have, in round numbers, 50,000 chaplains working in 22 countries, 23 if we count the United States. That's about 41,000 schools or 37 million people in this being ministered to by chaplains. And the impact is phenomenal. Up to 80% reduction in teen pregnancies, 37% increase in graduations, dramatic reduction in violence at home and in school,

[00:15:28] reduction in bullying. In essence, everything you want good goes up and everything that's negative goes down because there's a person in school that represents God in the ethics and morals. And I think what is so exciting, as you pointed out, people tend to think about this in terms of suicide or acting out in terms of a school shooting, but lowering teen pregnancy, lowering bullying,

[00:15:55] lowering violence, increasing academic performance, graduation rates go through the roof, all sorts of things that you would want. And so sometimes you run into some administrator saying, I don't know about that. Start just listing all the positives there, and you can see, indeed, that is the case. But for just another few minutes, let's focus on the kind of person that would be good to be a chaplain. You have a whole section in your presentation about embrace your calling,

[00:16:24] because being a chaplain is a calling, and it does seem to me that this is a real opportunity. If you really love kids or you would love to get out into the community, you'd love to meet and minister to people's needs, you'd like to use your God-given gifts, this is just a great avenue on which you can not only do that, and of course you can do that as a volunteer, but to do that with some credibility once you are accredited and have certification.

[00:16:53] Trevor, you do such a great job. That's exactly right. Most people are drawn to ministry in this area because they don't want to be a pastor. I mean, the way we kind of look at it, well, you can only serve God if you're a pastor, kind of. And people are serving God in the marketplace. You're serving the Lord. So I want to try to take that away. The average school is 1,000 people. Day one, you step into that environment,

[00:17:22] you have 1,000 people that you can minister to the average church in the world. Even the United States is about 120 people. One of the other things I think is very exciting is if you're a chaplain in a local school, you might think, well, I feel like a Lone Ranger, but you have put together a network of others. So if you get into an issue where you feel like you're over your head or maybe you need to share it with somebody else, because you're part of a network,

[00:17:49] you can talk to other chaplains who either maybe have dealt with that or have some expertise or at least provide a listening ear, and that's something that works very well as well. Yes, we have local chapters for chaplains, and we have a senior chaplain board. Our chief of chaplains is the former chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army, a two-star general. So he's well-equipped to take care of people, and he's recruited a board of flag officers

[00:18:18] and senior field officers. So we can really support someone that's operating in this manner. Well, just again, remind people what they can do, how to get started. We have a link to NSCA, which stands again for National School Chaplain Association, NSCA.global. You can find, of course, the link on the website, pointofview.net. And tell them where to go, what to click on, and how to get started.

[00:18:47] Go to the website and go to the academy. There's where the free course is and the video. And we try to answer all of your questions, but as soon as you contact us, you'll be given access to a lady named Lorena who can answer all of your questions and walk you through the entire process. And, again, there's some buttons that you can click on there, chaplains, partners, getting involved, news, media, as well as some other things about us, which gives you a way in which you can contact those individuals.

[00:19:17] And all of that is available at their website, NSCA, which we've provided for you today. And, again, you can also, of course, find all of those links necessary by simply going to the website, pointofview.net. Rocky, it was great to have you in studio last time, and it was great to have you by phone. And let's see if we can encourage some more people listening to this to go out there and make a difference in their local schools and communities. So thank you for joining us today here on Point of View. Thank you, sir.

[00:19:45] You're helping change the culture of the United States to bring us back to the greatness. Well, again, Rocky Malloy, and, again, all that information is on our website. So if you're driving right now, don't have a chance to write it down, or you want to pass this on to someone else and you may know somebody, you think that would be a person that would be ideal as a chaplain, you can take this and pass that on to them, show them the link and all of the rest. Just before we take a break at the bottom of the hour,

[00:20:11] I did want to mention that we are coming to the end of our fiscal year, and that's an opportunity for us to see if we can balance our budget and move on into the rest of this year in good financial shape. And if you can help us out, we would greatly appreciate that. There's a couple of ways you can be involved. First of all, you can go to the website there, which has a link, which simply says Restoring America's Godly Heritage Give Now. Just click on the button that says Give Now.

[00:20:39] We give you a suggestion on what you might want to do in terms of being involved. You can give a one-time gift or an ongoing monthly gift. Whatever you do, we'll leave that between you and the Lord. But this is a way in which as we are educating you and your children and your grandchildren, your friends and your neighbors and all sorts of other individuals, certainly on this 250 years we thought that this would be very appropriate

[00:21:06] for as we talked in the first hour with Robert Morgan and as we've just now talked with Robert Molloy, we are certainly getting into some very important issues. So if you can join us, go to the website pointofview.net. If you'd like to give us a call, 1-800-347-5151. 1-800-347-5151. We'll be right back.

[00:21:33] America's founders called this nation an experiment. 250 years later, the question for us is, did the experiment work? Well, let's look at the history. Though not perfect, America has continued moving toward the promise of the Declaration that all men are created equal. Our nation has enjoyed amazing success and providential survival.

[00:22:01] So has the experiment succeeded? Well, yes. But will it succeed going forward? That depends on you. At Point of View, we know the American experiment owes its success to the biblical values upon which it was founded. Join Point of View this month as we work to restore a biblical worldview in American culture.

[00:22:26] Your gift will be doubled when you give by June 30th. Call or click today at pointofview.net and 1-800-347-5151. That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this.

[00:23:00] You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, let me just as a program note mention that Cindy Brinker Simmons will be with us tomorrow. We'll be talking about her book, Restoration. We've had her on before. Thought it'd be good to get an update on all the things that have happened since she published the book.

[00:23:27] And a lot of what we will be talking about now and we'll be talking about again in the second hour tomorrow has to do with socialism. Nothing like electing another democratic socialist for everybody starting to write about that. And it's something that we have been talking about for many years here on Point of View. And the first article that I have is from the Wall Street Journal written by the editors of the Wall Street Journal, which has the title The Rise of the Democratic Socialists.

[00:23:53] Because, as they've said, one of the stories of this year has been the rise of democratic socialists. Because the reason they point this out is you now have another one. And that is a vowed democratic socialist of America candidate Janice Lewis-George won the democratic nomination for mayor for Washington, D.C. last week. And, of course, it wasn't even close. And, essentially, that is it. Because once you win the nomination, especially in the D.C. area, that's it.

[00:24:22] So, she will be the next mayor, no doubt. And you add to her, of course, not only Zoran Mamdani, who is the mayor of New York City. You also, if you go to Los Angeles, have the person running against the current mayor, Karen Bass, is Nithya Rahman, who is also a democratic socialist. What I thought was interesting is they didn't mention our socialist up there in Seattle. But our second article gets into that as well.

[00:24:48] And so, it isn't just that they are winning these mayor's race. One in New York City, one in Seattle, one in the D.C. area, but even a potential one in Los Angeles. It is there's also an attempt to try to seek some other gains in Congress. Of course, you have AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders in the Senate. But there are some attempts to do that as well.

[00:25:15] Zoran Mamdani has picked an individual who is also a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, an attempt to defeat an existing individual who is, interestingly enough, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And the particular platform has everything from abolish ICE, create a four-day, 32-hour work week, universal basic income, free government child care,

[00:25:44] free pre-K, free college, Medicare for all, including abortion, on and on and on and on and on. Again, one thing we've said about people that believe in socialism is they are absolutely convinced that money grows on trees. Just even to begin to think about what it would take to fund all of this.

[00:26:07] Everybody's for free until they realize that being free makes it really expensive because somebody has to pay for it. And I will get into the fact that this argument, which is a fallacious argument, that will just tax the rich, doesn't work for a variety of reasons. And we'll get into some of that today, and we'll cover some of it again tomorrow because it is more important, I think, than ever for us to take seriously this issue.

[00:26:37] Some of you might say, well, do you have resources at point of view on the subject of socialism? Well, yes, we do. Years ago, I did a booklet on a biblical point of view on capitalism and socialism, which primarily was looking at the socialist arguments against capitalism. So then I produced another one, a biblical point of view on socialism, which looked at all the flaws of socialism.

[00:27:02] And then I thought, well, we need some other booklets, but these seem to have covered the waterfront. And then I said, well, wait a minute, let's take another one. And that is to look at the road to tyranny, the road to socialism, and begin to evaluate it using some of the key books that have been critiquing it as well.

[00:27:23] Because, as you well know, the younger you are, the more likely you are to believe that socialism is preferable to capitalism. Also, if you're a Democrat, more likely to believe that socialism is preferable to capitalism.

[00:27:39] So there is a real need, first of all, to talk about the value of private property, the value of certainly freedom, and the particular very sad record of socialist experiments in other countries. And it, again, is kind of intriguing because another one that is being proposed is an individual that is running for the state assembly in New York.

[00:28:05] And, again, this individual, Nidia Velasquez, once in national rent control, again, a four-day, 32-hour work week with no change in payer benefits, abolishing ICE, passing Medicare for All, passing the Green New Deal, a federal freeze on residential electricity bills, and the list goes on and on and on. And if you are convinced that money grows on trees, well, then that works for you.

[00:28:30] But if you are convinced that you have to come up with the funds to make that work, that brings me to my next piece. And this one's written by an individual who's really writing columns for The Washington Post. So looking at it from a different point of view, but even so, the title of this particular piece, which comes from Megan McArdle, is socialism is back in vogue. Wait for reality to set in.

[00:28:56] Because she says it has never been a better time in America to be a socialist. She says we aging Gen Xers who thought that socialism had been refuted by the fall of the Berlin Wall have also been refuted ourselves. Democratic Socialists now run Seattle, New York City, and come January, the District of Columbia, with the election, as she points out, of Janice Lewis-George.

[00:29:18] But she also points out that fully two-thirds, that would be 66% of Democrats, have told the Gallup poll they view socialism favorably, while only 42%, less than half, of Democrats say the same thing about capitalism. So you can see where the trend is going. The challenge, she says, is that socialism's rise is spiky, concentrated in blue cities where affluent,

[00:29:45] but often downwardly mobile college graduates cluster. And, of course, points out that is a difficulty for the Democratic Party. But then she gets into the fact that, yes, you would like to have all these free programs, but somebody has to pay for it. And here she says, Many of these services are often absurdly expensive for what they deliver. American infrastructure costs, for example, are a scandal.

[00:30:12] But every excessive cost is someone else's income, and that someone will fight like a cornered tiger if you try to reduce their income by one thin dime. This eats up fiscal capacity that might otherwise be used to fund new services. New York City, Seattle, Chicago, the District of Columbia are wrestling with major structural budget gaps. She is probably less critical of socialism,

[00:30:41] but she's trying to at least help some of her fellow Gen Xers and Gen Y individuals that this doesn't work very well. And she goes on to say that the progressivity of the tax code also complicates things on the reverse side. She says, Socialists may wax lyrical about a Nordic-style welfare state. That's why in one of the booklets I even answer, Really, is Sweden a Swedish socialist state? It's not, by the way.

[00:31:11] But those states are paid for by heavily taxing what? The middle class. That's you. An idea that is unlikely to gain much purchase, she points with the educated base of the Democratic Socialists of America. Today's college-educated elite is voting for more public services, not less disposable income. But she says, Unfortunately, New York City already gets roughly a third of its income revenue from millionaire filers.

[00:31:38] Those individuals who are considered to be millionaires who have filed their taxes face a combined state, local, and federal marginal personal income tax that exceeds 50%. Do you think that's going to keep going for very long, especially since some of them have decided to leave? And I think you know what's going to happen there. The other thing is they say, Well, we just need more federal funds.

[00:32:04] Well, if you've not noticed, the federal government is $40 trillion in national debt. So it is not likely that you're going to get new federal funds, she says, given the national debt is around 100% of gross domestic products, more than that. And a Republican president sits in the White House. And so as a result, New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson,

[00:32:32] and the future, if you will, individual that will be the mayor of the D.C. area, Janice Lewis-George, are already struggling with these issues. And she says, Ironically, these dismal fiscal realities are part of what is boosting the fortunes of many of the socialists because they're arguing, well, that's why we need more money.

[00:32:55] And yet there isn't any more money to obtain unless you start coming up with some very creative taxation strategies, which we've talked about before. Well, this deserves more attention, and we will give it tomorrow in the second article because there are other articles I have found on socialism that are certainly relevant to this conversation. And it's not a conversation we're going to abandon anytime soon. We recognize that the trend is going in the wrong direction.

[00:33:25] There is a need for us to give very concrete and biblically-based answers, and we will do so here on Point of View. But if you'd like to read two articles, one from the Wall Street Journal, one from an article, an op-ed in the Washington Post, they're on the website, pointofview.net. We'll be right back.

[00:33:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes. Let me just mention that tomorrow we will have Cindy Brinker Simmons in studio. We'll talk about her book, Restoration, which I think is really a very good book and a very needed one, and we'll talk more about what that means. We will get back to this issue of socialism and a variety of others, but I thought I'd wind down today by talking about sports. For just a minute, it would be, I think, appropriate to talk about the fact that this World Cup,

[00:34:28] which has come to North America, most of the venues are in the United States, but some in Mexico, some in Canada, have really changed the European and Asian experience in America. Many of them even come away saying, I think we've been lied to, because when they come here, they say, why can't our country be like this? They go to Bucky's, and they can't believe a gas station looks like this. They go to Texas Roadhouse, and they can't believe the size of the steaks. They go to barbecue and can't believe how good it tastes,

[00:34:57] and they can't believe the experiences they're having at Chick-fil-A, and the fact that they get free refills. One person, especially at Texas Roadhouse, said, well, I didn't order any bread. Oh, no, this comes free. And they're going, what? And now they're starting to say, can we bring bottles of ranch dressing back to Europe and other places? It's been, I think, encouraging, if nothing else, to see other countries,

[00:35:24] people from other countries come to this country and be amazed at its abundance, to be amazed at the freedom that we have, to be amazed at how friendly Americans are. There have been a few exceptions, but very, very few, and they all talk about it, and I think it's been a great coming-out party for the United States on our 250th anniversary. So, anyway, while we're talking about sports, those are all positive,

[00:35:50] not to mention the fact that the U.S. soccer team is in the knockout round, so we will get to that. But I did post this because the other aspect of sports, which we talked about on Friday, was the reaction, the overreaction, I might say, to the fact that the San Francisco Giants, and I've always been a San Francisco Giant fan growing up there, watching Willie Mays and Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda and on and on and on.

[00:36:18] I mean, that's always been a great place. But at the same time, of course, we also recognize the emphasis on pride. And this particular article by Beckett Adams shows, if nothing else, the hypocrisy of the sports establishment. And in particular, he says sports journalists jettison their affection for silent protest because they point out that when Kaepernick, Colin Kaepernick, kneeled, he was a hero.

[00:36:46] But when a few Giants players quoted the Bible, well, that's another story. And you may know that they were to wear these pride hats that have the rainbow. So their decision was, well, why not then put a Bible verse next to it, which, of course, is the rainbow that you actually read about in Genesis. And, of course, they get a tremendous amount of heat for that. And so, again, as he points out, the San Francisco Giants held a pride night recently

[00:37:15] in which players were expected to wear ball caps featuring the team's logo and the colors of the current rainbow pride flag, which includes the colors of the trans movement, by the way. That's why it looks so odd anymore. And they're supposed to put those along with their peanuts and Cracker Jacks and all those kinds of things. But, nevertheless, what you see is that you get in trouble if you don't wear the right hat, you don't wear the right ribbon, then you decide not to do something.

[00:37:45] And, as a result, that gets you into trouble. And even if you just wear the normal hat, one of the players was his pitcher, I think it was a relief pitcher, Sam Hinkes, actually said, well, I'll just wear the normal hat. And he gets lumped in and criticized, not because he defaced the hat, which is the argument being made here, but that he just wore the normal hat.

[00:38:10] So, any time people say, well, this pride-themed gear is optional, just look what happens to you if you decide, because it's optional, not to wear it, and you can get yourself in trouble as well. Well, Beckett Adams says, you know, recall the Colin Kaepernick phenomenon, which this mid-tier NFL quarterback was declared a civil rights hero for refusing to stand for the national anthem. He says, no one has yet explained how kneeling before the flag is an act of defiance

[00:38:40] rather than reverence, but we're long past that point. Since I don't have Steve Miller here today, since he's at his son's wedding, that's a conversation we've had off-air. But, nevertheless, the point is, he was seen as a hero. Unless you forget, those of you that get Sports Illustrated, I don't, they actually gave him the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, and he also won the GQ Citizen of the Year.

[00:39:07] So, obviously, if you kneel to protest something, well, that is a hero. But, again, you can't do that for any other reason that might necessarily resonate with sort of Bible verses or the rest. And so, again, the report that has come out more recently is efforts by the major league baseball teams to promote LGBTQ+,

[00:39:36] inclusivity during Pride Month, haven't been embraced with open arms by some of the rank-and-file players, and the league's response is prompting criticism from prominent Republican politicians. If you haven't followed this, Senator Josh Hawley, our senator Republican from Missouri, has already suggested maybe we should bring the MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, before Congress

[00:40:04] to discuss potential antitrust violations by the league, which currently enjoys an antitrust exemption. After all, if you're going to get upset about somebody putting a scripture verse on their hat next to a gay pride flag, maybe we should reevaluate what kind of benefits we give to you in that regard. And so, as some self-described gay Giants fans, they were evidently not going to be even happy

[00:40:33] if the offenders were fined or severely punished, but merely reprimanded. As somebody pointed out, the Giants' milquetoast response about pain and anger just doesn't cut it. So, there are those who are not only willing to turn a blind eye to what actually took place with the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, but also to say that if you refuse to wear the hat

[00:41:03] or you put a Bible verse on the hat, you can't just be told that we are concerned about this and are going to look into this in the future because this might cause some pain or anger, we want to make sure that you get punished, maybe even get fired. And so, the protest on both sides is pretty significant. But I thought it was a very good piece to remind you that all of a sudden,

[00:41:32] there is a real sense of outrage when somebody engages in what might be called a silent protest. What was sauce for the liberal LGBTQ individuals and for the BLM individuals with Colin Kaepernick is not sauce for the conservative gander in terms of those who felt that maybe putting a verse from the book of Genesis

[00:41:59] talking about the real significance of the rainbow is enough. But I just thought we would post that for you. We won't spend a lot of time talking about sports, although it is, back to our favorite topic, fascinating to watch the reaction of so many who have come to this country and been surprised in so many different ways during the World Cup. So, we'll continue watching the World Cup. It'll be on for some time and it will be a topic we'll address from time to time as well.

[00:42:28] If you find yourself saying, well, I'd like to know a little bit more about that first interview you did with Robert Morgan on his book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. You can go and listen to that interview again. You can pass it on to others. You can order a copy of the book, paperback or a Kindle or even hardback. And I think there's even an audio book. So, there you go. We've made it pretty easy for you. If you'd like to know more about the National School Chaplaincy Association, we have that information there as well.

[00:42:57] Most importantly, I want to thank both the producer and the engineer, both named Megan, making this program possible. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View. Freedom is a fragile thing. And it's never more than one generation away from extinction. Not my words. That's Ronald Reagan. And he was right.

[00:43:25] We can't take our freedom for granted. For 250 years, those words in our Declaration of Independence, acknowledging the human rights granted to all of us by our Creator, have guided and inspired generations of Americans to protect the torch of freedom and pass it on to us. But will we pass that torch to the next generation? You can join a team dedicated to doing just that.

[00:43:55] In fact, Point of View has been passing on freedom and the biblical values that support it for over 50 years. Join us this month, and any donation you give will be doubled. Give at pointofview.net or call us toll-free at 1-800-347-5151. That's pointofview.net

[00:44:22] and 1-800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.