Point of View June 8, 2026 – Hour 2 : Young Washington (Film)

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Thank you for joining me, second hour today. I'm going to start off by saying that I have been really looking forward to a film. Just so I don't have to wait another three and a half weeks, but it is Young Washington.

[00:00:32] It is one that I've been hearing about and really looking forward to attending, try to see if I can get lots of people to come with me as we often times do with our Sunday school class. And of course, it is the story of the young George Washington. It is a phenomenal film directed by our friend John Irwin. We had the Irwin brothers on this program many times before. And of course, kind of a who's who of individuals, Ben Kingsley and Andy Shirkus,

[00:00:58] as well as Mary Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, the list goes on and on. You can find out some of that information by going to our website, pointofview.net. Of course, you can look up Young Washington. We also have the trailer under the individual I'm going to be talking with right now, who is one of the writers. And that's Diedrich Hoogstraten, who was born and raised in the Netherlands, settled in New York for school and his early career,

[00:01:24] then eventually ended up in Los Angeles, spent many of his years as a journalist writing about America, which he really fell in love with, became a U.S. citizen when he was in Los Angeles, became a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press. And most recently, he has, of course, worked with his writing partner, Tom Provost, as well as, of course, John Irwin, who I mentioned just a minute ago, to write the script for Young Washington. So, Diedrich, thank you for being with us today here on Point of View.

[00:01:54] It is wonderful to be with you. Thanks for having me today. Let's see if we can tell the story. I think most people know some of the story of George Washington, but before he was a general, before he actually headed up the Continental Army, before he was the president, he was a surveyor. And also, because he was an American and not British, found himself in some situations, which you describe early on in the film.

[00:02:20] But can you kind of give us an overview of how this film helped us understand from a young boy to a very dynamic leader he developed right before our very eyes on the film? Yes, sir. I'm happy to do that. It's such a privilege to talk to you about this film. It's been years in the making, and as you mentioned, the visionary filmmaker had this idea that he wanted to share, he wanted to make human, if you will.

[00:02:50] The great George Washington. He's done this with King David from the Bible, as you all likely know. Yes. The House of David show is also John Irwin's work. He loves the origin story. He loves to see these people who we think we know until we start to realize they were kids. They were boys. They went through a lot of turmoil in the case of George Washington. And so it was important to John to look at this man, look at this boy, see what we could find out about him, which is actually quite limited.

[00:03:19] People might know a few facts, but it turns out historians have settled on only a limited number of facts. And so that gave us good reason to, you know, to use creative license, to fill in the blanks, while always trying to be very truthful to the historical time we're talking about. This is a film that is meant to celebrate the life of this great man by shining a light on it more clearly, by understanding him better. And so we learned that he lost his father at a young age.

[00:03:48] He lost his half-brother, who had become his mentor at a fairly young age. He also goes to the battle for the British and loses his best friend and some other men because of mistakes that he makes. And so we try to, again, humanize this guy by really showing the messiness, the challenges, some of the failures in his early life. Because we do that always out of respect. We deeply respect this man for obvious reasons. Your audience will need to be convinced of that.

[00:04:18] But by seeing him more clearly, less of an enigma, less of a – people have said to me, oh, he's a statue. He's a painting. We don't really know much. The father of the country. But how can we get closer to him, if you will? And John Merlin always said, get closer, whether that's to King David, whether it's to the young George Washington, so that our respect and admiration for him can get even deeper.

[00:04:42] And that was a privilege to me to help do that and to hear someone like yourself say you've enjoyed this movie. That's a great reward for all of us, frankly. I might just mention, too, that, again, we're talking about violence. I always like to mention the fact that it will have a rating. But if you have a young boy, they will get so excited about this because there's a lot of action in the film.

[00:05:04] And, of course, you might think, well, if he was basically a surveyor and a draftsman, probably didn't have a rather mundane life. No, he had one. Of course, we'll talk about the bulletproof George Washington in just a minute. But there are interactions with the French. There's interactions with, of course, the Indians. There is, as you pointed out just a minute ago, his admitting to some of the British that he was a failure.

[00:05:31] And so in some respects, this sort of knocks some of the image off of George Washington and recognize that he was a living, breathing human being, not just the statue we see today in Washington, D.C. Correct. That's really well said. You know, as we settled in to write the screenplay, which, again, it came from the mind of John Irwin. He basically tasked Tom Provost and myself to go write it, to go write his vision, if you will.

[00:06:01] And there was this strong conviction that some very fundamental values that George Washington represents, whether that's resilience, whether that's service, being a servant leader, serving others, whether that's integrity. Those values we wanted to encapsulate in a very compelling action adventure, as you say. He was a surveyor.

[00:06:25] But surveying back then meant going off into Ohio territory where very few people would come back from. When he asked Lord Fairfax if he can go out and get paid to survey the land that the Lord has purchased there, Lord Fairfax has purchased there, the cop can be found that most men who go don't come back. Yes. In other words, this was a risky proposition, but George was a risk taker. Yes, he was.

[00:06:53] He was always meant to advance his station, as we say in the film. The colonial America, of course, was a class system. It was British, right? And so all he wanted to do was become sort of part of the British elite. But the British kept telling him, you cannot. That's not how the world works. To which at some point in the film, the Lord says that someone should remake it. And that line, I think, is essential because it really foreshadows, of course, what he's going to achieve later in his life. Right.

[00:07:22] You are not British. You're an American. And that means you're a second-class citizen. You don't come from nobility and on and on. We do need to take a break. But when I come back, I thought we'd focus on a few things. And one of those is you sometimes in history say, what if? In a couple of weeks, we'll probably be talking with our good friend Eric Metaxas about his latest book, Revolution, which is on the American Revolution. You just sometimes say, what if, in terms of what if there hadn't been Trenton and Princeton?

[00:07:52] What if there had not been a victory in Saratoga? What if there had not been a victory in Cowpens, which eventually led to Yorktown? The same thing, as we'll come back from a break, what if the individuals that shot at George Washington actually had hit their mark? Because there's, of course, a scene there, which is something that used to be young children learned about, the so-called bulletproof George Washington.

[00:08:20] And so we'll talk about that and talk about some of the interaction. And this, I think, is, again, a film, which, again, it is involved with war and fighting. So, again, I'll give you that disclaimer. But I think a lot of young men would really benefit from watching this, and your families would as well. So we're going to come back and spend a little bit more time talking about the young Washington right after these important messages.

[00:09:00] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Biblical archaeology seems to be going through a golden age of apologetics. One illustration of the fact that over the last two months I've had the privilege of interviewing three authors on their newest books about archaeology. Dr. Paul Weaver was on my radio program to talk about his new book, Faith-Affirming Findings. It deals with 50 archaeological discoveries that validate the historicity and reliability of the Bible.

[00:09:29] Jericho is regarded as one of the oldest cities in the ancient world. The location of the site, as well as the archaeological details, affirm historical reliability of the Old Testament. The discovery of Solomon's fortified cities affirmed the location described in the Bible, and the form of the gates indicate that they were designed and built by one king. Hezekiah's tunnel was discovered in the 19th century and testifies to the history recorded in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

[00:09:56] Archaeologists theorize that it should point to the ancient Pool of Siloam. This pool was only discovered by accident in 2004. This confirms the Old Testament statements about it, but it also points to the miracle Jesus performed on the blind man who was able to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam. While we're talking about the New Testament, we have the synagogue in Capernaum, a limestone synagogue constructed on the first century basalt stone and the home of Peter.

[00:10:20] He also has a chapter on the Jesus boat, which was discovered in the mud and reconstructed. This first century fishing boat provides a glimpse of the type of boats described in all the Gospels. On my program, I praised him and his publisher for including so many color photographs. I'm sure that Bible colleges and seminaries will be using the book, but it is readable for the layperson. 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. For a few more minutes as we talk about this new film coming out July 3rd, and it is Young Washington. I really encourage you to go and watch it and to bring friends, neighbors, coworkers with you as well.

[00:11:19] And again, we're talking with Diedrich Hoogstraten, as he is one of the writers of this particular story of George Washington. And one of those is what oftentimes is referred to as the bulletproof George Washington. You know, as young children growing up in the United States, there were always a few stories you heard about George Washington. One that he chopped down the cherry tree, which is not true. It was actually invented by one of his biographers. If you've ever been to Mount Vernon, you see a lot of cherry trees.

[00:11:48] They actually like cherry trees. No, that is not true. But one of the other stories we used to hear was the story of the bulletproof George Washington, in which in a battle, even though bullets pierced his coat, killed horses that he was on, even though, if I remember right, in that particular battle, he was the only officer on horseback to survive without being shot. It brings us back to a word that George Washington used quite often, and that is providence.

[00:12:18] And so just as you mentioned a minute ago, Diedrich, about this idea of resilience, you also, in a sense, get some of the story of providence, don't you? Because of the fact that he even survived to eventually become the commander of the Continental Army. Absolutely. Well said. Providence, destiny is another word that comes to mind. When we wrote this and started to really dive into the numerous biographies that talk about his early years,

[00:12:46] we learned, well, two things, two what-if scenarios, if you will. Well, the first, if I can backtrack for a second, is when he was young, George desperately wanted to go to England. He wanted to be educated there. He wanted to become British. He wanted to be a gentleman in London. And I've often thought, what if his mother and his older brother had let him go? What if they had set him free, if you will, to go to England? I believe he probably would have stayed there, and the rest of history, of world history,

[00:13:15] would have been quite different without Washington. Now, that's especially true when we get to the battle scenes that you're talking about. It is very clear from the research that all of this happened, that the bullet holes in his hat, in his jacket, the horses that were shot from underneath him, that all happened. Washington writes about it, and those letters have been preserved. And we try to really portray in vivid detail how that could have happened and how that might not happen and what that could have meant.

[00:13:43] And one scene that I want to point out, I encourage everyone, of course, to go see the movie, especially because at some point we have a Native American chief, and this is all true, address Washington and say, what is your name? I need to remember this name because he said, my man, three men shot at you at close range, which we will show in the movie. And they missed. And they never missed.

[00:14:09] And so this American chief says, destiny has a plan for you. There is a purpose to your life. You are under the protection of a divine hand. And it's, to me, a very powerful sentiment that is expressed by his nemesis, by this Indian chief who has one deep respect for Washington as a commander and as a soldier, and who voices something that we might all feel, especially we as Christians, right,

[00:14:36] that there is a sense of very clear divine protection, a sense of destiny, not just to the life of George Washington, but then to the origin of the country and the history that we all live in. So I love writing those scenes along with Tom and John Irwin because that's the deeper layer of meaning that we're trying to convey here by shining a light on the early life of young Washington. You know, when he did talk about providence later on, he talked about divine providence

[00:15:03] in terms of losing the Battle of Long Island and then escaping by boat in the fog across East River and many other examples. And later, when he was the president, calling for a national day of prayer and repentance and Thanksgiving and those kinds of things pointed back to that. But one of those that you do see here is the so-called bulletproof George Washington.

[00:15:29] One other one I thought I'd bring out, and it's not big in the film, but it's something that's worth mentioning. Anybody that's ever seen the rules of civility that he put together, he actually started combining and compiling many of those rules for social interaction back when he was a teenager. And in some respects, that is another part of his story. We know him as the general. We know him as president.

[00:15:57] We know him as the Indian fighter and all the rest. But also, even though he didn't make it to England, he really worked to try to bring a level of civility to the 18th century, didn't he? Correct. Yes, we had a great time writing that once we realized that he had really been self-educated. You know, once his father died, his mother had his farm to run. And she needed all the help she can get.

[00:16:23] So not only was he not going to England, he's also not going to school, period. He just needed to work. And that's where his half-daughter, Lawrence, says, you know what? Here's a pile of books. And let's get you to learn and study and learn how to fence and learn how to play chess. And so he became a very well-educated young man.

[00:16:45] But it was based on, like you said, like the one by Cato, where he had some fun having him quote them out loud and trying to remember all these rules, which later, of course, would help shape his character and would help him become his own type of gentleman, even though, you know, he never would be British, thank goodness. And he would turn against them. But he did sort of imbibe from the well of civility, if you will, from the ancient text.

[00:17:15] And it's beautiful to realize that even though, as famously, George Washington was quite insecure sometimes among his fellow founders because he didn't have a formal education, it can be encouraging to all of us, I believe, who might feel a little bit inferior at times that through achievement, through hard work, through being a didact, he really got to where he needed to be without having that formal education.

[00:17:42] Since we're almost out of time, let me just real quickly mention that you can, of course, see this trailer. It's about two minutes long, so I'd encourage you, even as we go to a break, you could watch it or certainly show it later. If you then follow the link back, it will take you to, of course, this is an angel film, angel.com. And I thought, Diedrich Hoogstraten, for just a minute, we might just point out how important it is to have people come and watch it 4th of July weekend. It comes out July 3rd.

[00:18:09] First of all, you can go to that angel.com website and then slash young-washington, but you'll find it very easily. And there is an opportunity there to find out which theaters it's coming to, what the showtimes are. There is an official store. There's a way you can get updates. And one of the things I try to encourage people to do is to really make sure that they show up on that first weekend, because what I think that does is it sends a signal, first of all, to Hollywood, to other film producers,

[00:18:39] and even to movie theaters, hey, there's a market for this. This is something we're interested in, because I'd like to see more of these films that you and John Irwin can put together, because we certainly have benefited from some of the things he's done in the past. And I'm looking forward to the next film that you're going to be writing about. Well, thank you so much. That's very well said. We, you know, we always say the faith and values genre is really not a genre. It's an audience.

[00:19:06] It's many, many millions of us in the United States, across the world. And when we show up on opening weekend, that's how Hollywood works. We do send that message. As you rightly point out, we need these stories. We will pay to see these stories. We love them. We encourage them. We embrace them. And so we would love to do more of it. But we as viewers, as people of faith, people who love this country, and that's especially true for an immigrant like myself, well, we need to make that point by showing up with our friends and our family and our kids,

[00:19:36] especially if they're 13 and over. I do want to put that in, as you did earlier, too. Well, again, you grew up in the Netherlands, and now you're a U.S. citizen. So, first of all, welcome to the United States. And we're grateful for the work that you've done so far. And I look forward to a future opportunity. So thank you for joining us today. I might see if we can come back as a little bit closer to July 3rd to do another interview, even if it's not with you, because I do want to have as many people show up as possible.

[00:20:04] These are stories we need to teach. We have missed opportunities. We have a whole generation of young people that don't know much about George Washington and don't know much about her history. This is a very significant way to get that into their hearts and minds, especially on this 250th anniversary. So, Dietrich, thank you for being with us, and I look forward to a future opportunity. Thank you very much for having me today. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll get back to some issues in the news.

[00:20:32] If you have been paying attention, you know that we have for some time really been spending time wanting to educate you, your children, and your grandchildren. First of all, as we are going to be coming very soon to our fiscal year end, that will be June 30th, we encourage some of you to even consider getting the resources that we are making available. As a matter of fact, our latest issue that will be coming out very shortly in July, Understanding America's Christian Heritage.

[00:20:59] I'll hold up the Outlook magazine there, and that's one of the benefits of actually supporting us on a regular basis. But one of the free resources we are making available to you still is what I'm holding up right now, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It is printed by Point of View. It's available free, and you can find out more about that by simply going to the website, pointofview.net. Of course, that's where you're going to find all the other information we've talked about. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.

[00:21:28] It was not that long ago that censorship appeared to be almost inevitable. Free speech was being attacked and strangled in many places. And some of us wondered if this was the end. But now, many feel a new sense of hope, a chance for a fresh dawn. Let me caution you. Now is not the time to relax.

[00:21:56] It's a time to press forward, to use this fresh opportunity to proclaim and learn how to apply truth to current issues. By the fact you're here, listening right now, that tells me that you recognize the vital role Point of View plays as a voice of truth. For more than 50 years, we've informed and equipped people who have made a real difference.

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[00:22:50] Point of View will continue after this. 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.

[00:23:17] Back once again, let me just as a program note, just mention what's coming down over the next couple of days. Tomorrow, we have Casey Luskin with us. And, interestingly enough, Liberty McCarter is going to be interviewing him because he's written a very good piece that even if we did find aliens, it would disprove evolution, which is kind of interesting.

[00:23:35] Leave it to Casey Luskin, who's been with us before, both in studio and by phone, to not only take the alien phenomenon right now, because, of course, Disclosure Day is another film coming out soon, but also tied into intelligent design. So, it should be a fascinating conversation. On Wednesday, I'm going to be talking first with Matthew Sorens about immigration, those who come here legally, and those seeking refuge, especially those who are seeking asylum legitimately. And so, we'll be talking about that.

[00:24:02] Second hour, as I've already mentioned, we're going to have in studio with us Gary Frazier and all the questions you might have about prophecy or the Middle East. It's an open forum for you to ask questions, make comments, and we're looking forward to that. Our good friend Bunny Pounds will be in studio with us, I believe, as we talk about her latest book. Of course, she was the one that had the read through the Bible at the Museum of the Bible, and, of course, has written some other things about Christian political activity.

[00:24:33] And, of course, then we finish off with Jeff Mateer and Liberty McCarter on our roundtable on Friday. So, that gives you a pretty good idea. And speaking of Friday, last Friday, you might remember we had Jeff Mateer and Dr. Merrill Matthews, and we talked about the editorial by our good friend Jason Riley, in which he was pointing out that about one out of every three men in America are not working and not looking for work.

[00:25:03] If you look at what happened in April, and I don't think it's changed because we've talked about this before with the book by Nicholas Eberstadt, who I first began to be more aware of. I kind of heard of him before, but interesting enough, Mike Rowe is actually the one that was quoting from Eberstadt in his book, Men Without Work, pointing out that you just have a very significant number and, unfortunately, an increasing number of men who are not only not working,

[00:25:32] but they're not looking for work. And that is a very troubling set of circumstances. So, I wanted to come back to that because some of that has to do with what's in the heads and in the minds of these young men. And this piece by Nicole Russell, which appeared in USA Today, and we've posted it. It's one of our articles that you can read. It's entitled, The Left Fueled the Male Crisis, Now It's Shocked.

[00:25:58] Nicole Russell points out that as a mom of two boys who've lived through the Me Too movement, she was concerned about how that's affecting her boys. And then quotes from a feminist, and I didn't remember Camille Paglia saying this, but apparently she did, if civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts, which I thought was kind of an interesting comment. But nevertheless, she has pointed out something we've talked about many times.

[00:26:27] Heather MacDonald, of course, Pentadextra, she's been the co-host, has talked about it and much more. And that is, as she says, a culture that repeatedly devalues men should not be surprised when so many struggle to find purpose, confidence, and direction. That's her argument. So then she uses a particular opinion podcast that was done on the New York Times. And this included a couple of individuals.

[00:26:54] And the introduction starts with, young men are in crisis. While the left tells men to stay in their lane, members of the manosphere and the far right are welcoming them with open arms. Now the argument is, well, we maybe need to lighten up a little bit, because those of us on the left are really driving people into the right, and that's not good. And, of course, if you have been looking at voting patterns, we'll get into this again in future programs,

[00:27:24] women are turning more left, men are turning more right. No real surprise, but the degree to which that is happening is very significant. So, as Nicole Russell, writing in USA Today, says, one of the takeaways is the right, that is conservatives, offer young men a clearer identity and community, while the left berates and smears them. And that is, in some respects, become, if you will, their safe space.

[00:27:53] She's having a little fun with the idea of safe spaces and all that. And then points out the fact that one of the individuals around the table who had said that is saying, you know, we're seeing a widening divide in politics. New York Times acknowledges that men are moving right, women moving left, and wonders how the left can bring the men back. And, of course, you've seen all the attempts. Well, let's see if we can have somebody that looks like, well, I don't know,

[00:28:21] the vice presidential candidate for Democrats last time was kind of like a football coach and then later governor. So, would that work? Well, it didn't seem to work quite so well. Let's see if we can see some of these men having tattoos. We just, of course, talked about Maine. We're going to talk about, in Texas, eating barbecue, whatever it might be. And it's more than just optics. There's some other things going on. And this is where Nicole Russell, writing for USA Today, says,

[00:28:50] look, conservatives have seen this coming for years. She says, our left-leaning educational system, mainstream media, and Hollywood embrace the feminist mantra that men are no longer needed. Women can do and have it all. And now a generation later, they're surprised that men have been sidelined and are struggling. And I don't know what the theological background is of Nicole Russell,

[00:29:17] but she's obviously familiar with the Christian writer C.S. Lewis, because C.S. Lewis is famous for one of these great statements. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. A very famous C.S. Lewis quote, and that is the case. If you make men without chests, then guess what? They don't have virtue and enterprise.

[00:29:45] If you make fun of honor and virtue and integrity, then you're surprised. You shouldn't be surprised by what you've ended up with. And so, again, Nicole Russell says, whatever its origins, these men are struggling, and that's not in dispute. Men are now much less likely than women to earn a college degree. Their suicide rate is four times higher than women.

[00:30:13] They struggle more with drugs, more with gambling, and more with pornography addiction. And so then she moves not only from the fact that men are struggling, but that we have a culture that is said that male traits are toxic. And this is where I would point you to the interview we did with Nancy Piercy. She had a book that came out a while back called The Toxic War on Masculinity,

[00:30:42] because she was answering some of the arguments coming from the feminists about masculinity being toxic masculinity. And she says this is now, again, Nicole Russell saying, while the left has worked to twist masculinity, often calling it toxic, the right honors male traits as natural and positive forces in society, the kind of thing that keeps us from living in grass huts.

[00:31:11] Back to the comment from that feminist. And she says the crisis has many causes, economic shifts, family breakdown, social media. But one is deliberate, the left sustained message that men are interchangeable with women, if not less valuable. After the Me Too saga, if you will, men were broadly vilified as sex-obsessed predators.

[00:31:38] So she points out that for years our culture treated masculinity as something to apologize for, rather than to cultivate. And again, if that feminist Camille Peglia was right, that men help build civilizations, we shouldn't be surprised at a society that devalues men struggles to produce the very qualities that keep civilizations standing. And so that's kind of her perspective. She has four kids, and at least two of them are boys.

[00:32:08] She's kind of concerned about the future and the kind of message that we are sending. In the piece, of course, that we talked about last Friday, and in a piece that I have coming out in a commentary next week, which I called American Idol, I-D-L-E, the idleness of America among men, is not so much due to the fact that we have de-industrialized, though we have,

[00:32:33] but now we have just come into a situation where there is an increased number of jobs available. So it's not like the jobs aren't available. As a matter of fact, one of the most striking things that surfaced just the other day was the fact that the economy in May, we see, created 172,000 jobs, more than twice what the economists expected. So it's not the lack of jobs. It's the lack of a work ethic and a lack of motivation.

[00:33:03] And so some of this has to do with economics. Some of it has to do with politics. Sadly, a lot of it is something the church can address by talking about the importance of work and a work ethic. And certainly the Bible speaks to that issue as well. But nevertheless, if you'd like to read this piece about the male crisis, we do have a crisis, and it's about time that we would acknowledge that we do and maybe point to some of the reasons we have it in the first place.

[00:33:32] So three cheers for Nicole Russell for being willing to point to some of those reasons. So now it's up to us to see if we can turn that around. We'll take a break. Come back with more right after this.

[00:34:00] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. As we're writing down the program today, I thought I would point to one other place where you maybe shake your heads and say, is this really true? And I first heard about this from our friend Nathan Sheets. He now goes by Nate Sheets. And he is a Christian that's been on the program talking about evangelism and church planting and everything. Yet he also has been very significant in the agricultural field,

[00:34:28] so has run and won his primary to be the Agricultural Commissioner of the state of Texas. And he posted something the other day saying they're trying to ban hunting and fishing in Oregon. And I go, I can't believe that. But I also have respect for him. And you know as well as I that sometimes we talk about some things here on the program. You have to say, are we sure of that?

[00:34:53] Just a while ago we were talking about an individual that got more than one out of every four votes in a Democratic primary and went to a runoff because she was saying that they should use the local immigration detention center and turn it into a prison for American Zionists. Seriously? Of course, Friday we talked with Jeff Mateer about the fact that in Michigan,

[00:35:17] one particular township told the church that they couldn't have religious activities inside the church. What? And here, if you know anything about the West, even if you've never been to the state of Oregon, just think California, Oregon, Washington, think Alaska, think Western Canada, think Colorado, Montana, Idaho.

[00:35:40] There is really no way you would think that there would be a ballot initiative on November that would prevent hunting and fishing. And you would be wrong because hunting, trapping and fishing will be a thing of the past for Oregonians, says this article, if a group of animal rights activists gets their way.

[00:36:03] So far, the activists have amassed 720,000 signatures, almost three quarters of a million signatures, on a petition to advance a ballot measure that, if approved, would criminalize hunting, trapping and fishing in the state. Now, you only have to get 117,000 valid signatures. So, of course, the state officials haven't validated them.

[00:36:28] But if you've got almost six times of what you need, I think it's going to be on the ballot. And just think about this for a minute. Looked it up. Oregon has 330,000 licensed hunters. It has 500,000 licensed anglers. And it has 37,000 farms and ranches, according to the Oregon Hunters Association.

[00:36:55] And this initiative, Petition 28, which is known as the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, Peace Act, would amend Chapter 167 of the Oregon Revised Statutes. Activists claim that the current statute provides unnecessary exemptions for laws governing animal abuse, animal neglect, animal sexual assault. Thus, the only exceptions would be for self-defense or veterinary care.

[00:37:25] And so, again, this is just beyond the pale. What is so interesting is if you then look on the website, you can realize that this could adversely affect, and again, let's just be honest, it's not going to happen. I still believe in the common sense of people in Oregon. At least I hope I do. This could affect farming, fishing, scientific research, even tribal rights, they pointed out here as well.

[00:37:54] And so the National Wildlife Federation has kind of jumped in as well. And one of the writers there said, what we've seen throughout the history on a lot of these ballot initiatives is they're getting the signatures from population centers, such as urban areas. And these people really are not directly impacted by a lot of those decisions and aren't even familiar with fish and wildlife,

[00:38:22] not familiar with livestock operations like ranching, farming, and other kinds of things. And if you dig into this a little bit more, you can see how they might have got some of these signatures because for first-degree animal abuse, that would be, you know, where it leads to physical injury or death. But, of course, that's hunting and fishing and things like that.

[00:38:47] People convicted of that, of abuse, which is the way they define it, abandonment, fighting, whatever, would have to complete 100 hours of supervised community service. But if you look at one of the other things in the list here, there are very significant penalties for things which I think we would all agree with. Dog fighting, cock fighting, aggravated abuse of animals, things of that nature.

[00:39:13] And so perhaps some people thought what they were trying to do is prevent any kind of abuse of animals. But the bottom line is, this isn't going to get too far. As a matter of fact, one of the writers in this article said, look, there's 11 million people who go out and hunt every year. There's millions of Americans who fish every year. We know young people are getting more attached to screens and less time outdoors.

[00:39:43] You keep cutting them all away from contact of nature. And then sometimes they come up with these things. Now, again, you've got to recognize that even though we have 50 states, I did not know this until this article, hunting and fishing are actually constitutionally protected in 24 states. That means, of course, the others are not. And so I will be the first to admit, probably this goes nowhere.

[00:40:11] But just, again, come back to the numbers. So far, 720,000 signatures to advance a ballot initiative to criminalize hunting, fishing, and trapping. And read in the broadest way could even affect farming and other kinds of things as well. So you can begin to understand that we are no longer a people of the land.

[00:40:41] We're kind of a people of the city. And if you ask young people where milk comes from, they think it comes from milk bottles in the grocery store. And I think we need to get some people off the screens, out of the house, touching grass, going to maybe farms, going to the communities, going into the rural area. Because, again, to make the case that I made in the first hour with Victoria Churchill,

[00:41:07] we are seeing some pretty crazy things showing up in terms of the kinds of things being said by politicians and candidates. Things ending up is ballot initiatives. And it is just, I think, incumbent upon us, back to the very first article I posted by Brian Gardner, we need some kind of critical thinking skills. We need cooler heads.

[00:41:33] We need to begin to think biblically about each one of these very important issues. So I hope as we're winding down for today, you might find yourself looking at a few of these articles, passing them on to some of your friends with maybe the statement, you won't believe what we found today and heard on point of view. Maybe they'll start listening to us, and maybe we can begin to educate a nation in some of these very important issues.

[00:42:00] Just before we end today, let me mention again that we are making available this free booklet. It's the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It's one of the many ways we want to say we want to congratulate America for 250 years. We want to educate America to understand what our rights are and how to stand for those and how to actually have a functioning republic. We also, of course, have my Viewpoints commentary, which is based on this interview that I did with our good friend,

[00:42:29] Dr. Paul Weaver, Faith Affirming Findings, this new book on this issue of archaeology. And we will certainly come back in time again to talk about some of the evidence for apologetics, the defense of our faith, evidence for archaeology, and even tomorrow, the evidence for intelligent design as we talk about aliens. A very interesting discussion that will be taking place as well. So I hope you'll join us every single day here on Point of View.

[00:42:58] I hope you'll take the time to find out more about the books, the video, the film, and all the resources all available at the website pointofview.net. One last time, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. Steve, thank you for producing the program. See you back here tomorrow right here on Point of View. The Bible tells us not to worry. And yet, there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today.

[00:43:24] Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry. God gives us a next step. He says we need to pray. But sometimes, even knowing what to pray can be difficult. And that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement, a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation. Each week, you'll receive a brief update about a current issue affecting Americans,

[00:43:53] along with a written prayer that you can easily share with others. We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email so you can learn more about the issue at hand. Will you commit to pray for America? Go to pointofview.net. Click on the Pray for America banner at the top of the page to subscribe. Again, that's pointofview.net.

[00:44:22] Click on the Pray for America banner. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.