Friday, October 2, 2026

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[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second Hour today, Weekend Edition, and if you'd like to join us, 1-800-351-1212. Still with us is Claire Athen. I wanted to spend some time, Claire, really talking about two different organizations you're associated with.
[00:00:32] The first is Human Coalition. You can go to humancoalition.org and find out a little bit more. But I've always been so impressed with that organization for a number of reasons. As my wife will probably tell you, I probably speak at more Pregnancy Resource Center banquets than anything else. And I recognize how important it is to be standing for life. But I've also recognized over the years I've interviewed many people that have actually stood in front of abortion clinics.
[00:01:00] But now that we have chemical abortion, it seems to me that the ability to actually reach out to an abortion-minded woman as she goes to the clinic is changed because she may now be ordering those pills online, maybe going to the drugstore.
[00:01:19] And so in some respects, what you've put together there at Human Coalition is really a very significant and effective way to reach out to abortion-minded women with the message of life, isn't it? Yes. And working at Human Coalition for the past, I think at this point, three or four years, has been such a blessing in my life because we are really finding moms where they're at, which is online, looking for the chemical abortion pill.
[00:01:48] And so I'm sure probably you do a great job of educating your listeners and they understand that right now the majority of moms, some studies are showing up to 80% of women are getting the chemical abortion pill online. So when they're typing into Google, how do I get the chemical abortion pill? You know, where is the nearest abortion clinic to me? Planned Parenthood, Whole Women's Health, all of these pro-abortion groups,
[00:02:14] they are running targeted digital ads at these moms, which is something a lot of people don't realize. And so Human Coalition is in the fight as well. And they're running ads to these moms, giving them the opportunity to click on it, get on the phone with one of our nurses, and we offer them actual solutions. Whereas Planned Parenthood, they're just offering the death of their child. We are figuring out, you know, is it a housing issue? Is it a relationship issue?
[00:02:42] And we have social workers and nurses that walk with them during the pregnancy and as long as they need afterwards. Because what we find over and over again is the number one things mom needs is just support, is someone to talk to. And that's not what they're being offered by the abortion industry. One of the things I wanted to do is talk a little bit about the organization that you helped co-founded, Vita et Terra. You can go to vita et terra.org if you'd like.
[00:03:09] And I'll hold up our booklet that I did a while back on energy and the environment. And some of the things that you say there are really ones that resonated with me. And that is this whole idea of Christians being concerned about conservation, about God's creation, are really disturbing. Next week, as a matter of fact, I'll be teaching a week on creation at a Bible school. And I end by talking about the environment and care for the creation.
[00:03:36] Because I have found that this is something where the interest in the environment and attendance in church is inversely related. In other words, the more a person is going to church, the less likely they are interested in the environment. And you point out something I noticed. And that is some of that has been taken over by radical environmentalists, by people that are part of the new age. And that's one of the reasons why that organization exists, isn't it?
[00:04:08] Yes. And I think as Christians, one of the first things we do when we open our Bibles is we see Genesis. And it's where God tells us to keep and kill the earth. And that caring for creation is something that is so fundamental and a part of our faith. But the unfortunate reality is that for the longest time, and starting back in the 70s, the environmental movement has just become associated with being anti-life and anti-family.
[00:04:38] And so rightfully so, Christians have kind of recoiled and said, I don't want to be part of a movement that views abortion and population control as what's needed to, quote unquote, save the planet. But I would advocate that that means we need our own movement, one that's rooted in truth and rooted in scripture. Because the reality is we are called to care for creation, and we need to do it in a properly ordered way.
[00:05:04] Well, again, if you go to Genesis, have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on earth. But you might say, well, yeah, well, what about Psalm 24? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Or maybe you go to Leviticus, and it talks about the care for the land. Deuteronomy 25, care for animals and the wildlife. Isaiah talking about do not misuse the land.
[00:05:30] Even Jesus talks about the fact that God cares for even the smallest sparrow in Matthew 6 and other passages. And I had the same experience. Since I'm older, I'll use my example. When I was a senior in high school, we had what was called Earth Day. That was in 1970. And at the time, I had a relationship with some of the people at the Sierra Club. So I brought an individual over to speak in my high school from the Sierra Club. But then I'd become a Christian by that time.
[00:05:57] And as the 1970s unfolded, I began to recognize that more and more of it was, we didn't use the word New Age back then, but certainly Eastern emphasis. It also seemed to be anti-family and anti-life and the idea that we're going to have a population explosion and Paul Ehrlich and all those kinds of things.
[00:06:17] So when I read your piece about how, in some respects, the so-called environmental movement or the idea of wanting to care for the creation has been really taken over, co-opted, is probably a better word, by radical environmentalists and anti-family kind of individuals. I was just thrilled to see that you were able to start this organization and hope most people will check it out. Thank you.
[00:06:44] And I think the Sierra Club, that is actually one that always pops into my mind. I don't know if you knew this, but after the Dobbs decision, they were putting out statements talking about how abortion is needed and that this is such a horrible thing, that Roe versus Wade is gone. And it's just a very, very unfortunate reality that these organizations that claim to care about the planet, they are really against the dignity of the human person.
[00:07:14] Yes. And just to be clear, I haven't supported Sierra Club in 45 years, but back then, you know, that's what we had. And I've always looked at the need for Christians to address this issue. And one of the reasons I love to speak at Christian camps and at Christian schools is to talk about this, because you can go to a lot of Christian camps. They don't even have any kind of discussion about conservation. They don't talk about recycling. Oftentimes, you never have heard a message from the pulpit.
[00:07:43] Of course, you hardly ever hear a message from the pulpit about abortion and life, but you hardly ever hear one about the environment. And so we sort of let the other side have that particular platform. And I'm just thrilled that you have created that organization. So I encourage people to find out more about your organization. Of course, we also have a very significant link to Human Coalition. We come back, though. Let's get into that.
[00:08:06] Not only pro-life people are hard, find it hard to be in the Democratic Party, even if you're just sort of pro-family, you have trouble finding a home in the Democratic Party. My next article by Terry Jeffrey, Democrat Leaders vs. Biology. And I know that won't surprise you, but I thought this would be a great conversation we'd have with Claire today. And if you'd like to know more about her, you'd like to find some of these articles we're talking about, all available at the website pointofview.net. Let's take a break.
[00:08:36] We'll get into some of these issues right after these important messages. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.
[00:09:04] You know, Americans are starting to realize how much privacy they are losing. It isn't just the government through surveillance that is invading our privacy. Major corporations are collecting information on us, even when we aren't sharing it online. Here's a classic example of that. Twenty years ago, the Target Corporation was able to conclude that a shopper was pregnant and even estimate her due date. The story was written up in the New York Times and has become a classic example of targeted marketing.
[00:09:29] A data scientist at Target began to analyze this massive database that Target's source were amassing from the purchases of their customers. He began to mine the data and discovered a few interesting things about Target customers. He discovered, for example, that pregnant women are more likely to buy unscented lotion and that they start doing this at the beginning of their second trimester. This correlation between pregnancy and changes in shopping behavior was one of the two dozen data points he and other analysts were able to identify.
[00:09:58] When they combined all these correlations together, they were able to establish a pregnancy prediction score. This score told them two things. First, that the female consumer was pregnant. Second, it also gave them a good estimate of her due date. The value to Target was considerable. They were able to send coupons to the woman during different times in her pregnancy so that they would arrive when she was most likely to need them. The timing of the coupons brought more pregnant women into the Target stores to use them.
[00:10:25] You know, this marketing success story illustrates how big data and sophisticated data analysis can invade your privacy without you providing any information. Whether you click on a link online or buy a product in the store, somebody is watching. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.
[00:10:55] That's pointofview.net. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Colored Aft with us, and if you'd like to join the conversation, 1-800-351-1212. Let me come to this piece by Terry Jeffrey. We've, of course, known him for many years, and it's entitled, Democrat Leaders vs. Biology. Does 2 plus 2 equal 3, or can a man be a woman?
[00:11:23] Well, of course, the question was asked of the Supreme Court judge at the time, a nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and you didn't get a very good answer in that regard. I'm not a biologist, but since then, Claire, it's actually gone from bad to worse because you've had, for example, a representative introducing a piece of legislation, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
[00:11:49] This is one which just barely passed the House, and it passed 218 to 206, and of that, of the House members who voted for it, 216 were Republicans, only two were Democrats. Then you actually had a hearing that just occurred recently in the Senate Judiciary, and the chairman of that is Chuck Grassley. And again, the title of the hearing was Standing Up for Women in Sports,
[00:12:16] Ensuring Opportunity, Fairness, and Safety for Female Athletes. And this trans ideology, something else I'm going to be speaking at to second-year students in a Bible school next week, is really just taken over. And it's hard for those of us that are older even to imagine that people with a straight face are saying that men can become women, and there's nothing wrong with men playing in women's sports. And I know you probably have a lot of thoughts about this,
[00:12:43] so let me step back and let you talk about this whole issue of how, in many cases, leaders in the Democratic Party just simply want to deny basic biology. It is crazy to see what has happened, I would say probably over the past decade. And I know in reading that article, it talked about Justice Jackson Brown, who could not define a woman during her confirmation hearing,
[00:13:11] and had then defaulted to, I'm not a biologist. So apparently you have to be a biologist to understand the differences of men and women. But I think it just goes back to this fundamental point that we should not be afraid to acknowledge that this is a basic reality, that men and women are different, that those differences matter, and that those differences don't diminish anybody's dignity. I think that's a lot of times, unfortunately, those on the left will try to say, you know,
[00:13:40] Christians or people that just believe in biological reality that they're bigoted, or that this is a backwards way of thinking. But the reality is, as Christians, we believe everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and that we can treat everybody with human dignity and compassion without pretending that biology doesn't exist. And I think one of my biggest concerns is that, I'm trying to think of the organization, I think it was American Principles Project, they've done a lot of polling.
[00:14:09] It does say that the women's sports and biological truth is an 80-20 issue on the side of truth and sanity. But we don't see that in politics. It's that overwhelmingly, I would say nearly all of Democrats, elected Democrats, will tell you that trans ideology is real, that men can be women, and all these different things.
[00:14:35] And so it's almost as if they're trying to social engineer it and, like, push it on the American people when it's not something that we instinctively believe at all. And so that is one of my biggest concerns, if Democrats get back into power, is putting up these kinds of policies and bills that force the average American family to implement radical transgender ideology in their homes and in their schools and in their churches.
[00:15:02] Let's talk about the Supreme Court cases, because that I think illustrates a point a little bit, too, because 1973, and again, I'm old enough to remember that, you had a decision that was one that was obviously very controversial, and that was, of course, Roe v. Wade. But whether it's that or Doe v. Bolton or a variety of others since then, all the way into the 1980s, all sorts of decisions that were basically redefining life.
[00:15:30] And at the time, I said, you know, that's of concern, but I see eventually there was going to be an attempt to redefine marriage. And we, during the 1990s here on Point of View, talked about same-sex marriage and why that is not the same as the biblical view of marriage. But eventually we got a Bergerfell. And so then the idea that you could not simply say marriage is between one man and one woman. It could be a variety of different things. And so then after that decision comes down,
[00:16:00] almost the next thing that we were talking about was the transgender issue to redefine gender. And it does seem to me that in some respects, once you lose one battle and you lose a second battle, the third one almost becomes obvious. And so as a result, there's a real need for all of us, but especially your generation and the generation even beneath you, to begin to reassert some of these biblical values.
[00:16:26] And even though we've been able to overturn Roe versus Wade, we probably have more abortions taking place now than ever before. And so it just, I think, illustrates the issue of standing for life, standing for family, standing for, in a sense, common sense. And that's really what's at stake in these midterm elections, isn't it? You're exactly right. And I think it is truly kind of a snowball or a slippery slope or whatever analogy people like to use.
[00:16:54] But you look at things like Obergefell, and at the time they advocated that this was just about fairness. But I had seen just the other week in Seattle, they're now giving civil rights protections to polyamorous relationships and multiple partner couplings and things that are just devastating for young children and not good for the family. And so I think that it is very important that we speak biblical truths
[00:17:23] and these fundamental truths, because what we're also seeing is that unhappiness amongst young people and a sense of confusion and not having a sense of belonging are at all-time highs. So while the left may say, you know, we've had all these wins and people have the most choice that they've ever had, we're also seeing people have the most dissatisfaction they've ever had with their lives in recorded history. And that gets into something else, and that is,
[00:17:53] as the family goes, so goes the nation. And it does seem to me that when the family is strong, remember when I was at Georgetown, Michael Novak used that phrase, when the family's strong, the nations thrive. When the family fails, the life is not worth living. There's a sense in which we are already seen, and as a matter of fact, I'll let people know, our December issue of Outlook is all about this demographic nightmare that is unfolding before our very eyes. Fertility rates are dropping,
[00:18:23] and so you're having a real issue with even keeping the nation going. And so when you don't have an emphasis upon life and on family and family values, traditional families, and even hard work, you end up with a situation like we have right now where you have millions, literally millions of young men who are not working, not looking for work. We have, of course, millions of women that are saying, I can't find a man that's worth marrying.
[00:18:52] And even if they get married, they're deciding whether or not they're going to have children, which gets us back to the environmental issue you talked about and climate change and all the rest. And that's not the best way to build a country. If you want to have human flourishing in America, you need to come back to some of those biblical values, don't you? I completely agree. And that's why I think whenever we look at policies, I'm always someone that thinks we need to put people first and families first,
[00:19:22] and that's how we should be viewing success. We want to see the economy get good, and we want to see the GDP line going up, but we also want to make sure that our families are doing well. And right now, things aren't the greatest. Well, let's see if we can take some phone calls. And I'll go to, I believe it is Colleen in Arizona. What would you like to add to our conversation today?
[00:19:48] Well, I've been pro-life for a really long time, so that's an issue. You know, I even did Operation Rescue way back in the early 90s. And, of course, it's changed a lot since then. And now we have ultrasound, and that's, you know, they're pushing that, and that's great. Women can see that. We have a counseling center here where I, a small city where I live,
[00:20:14] and it's 100% when they see their baby on ultrasound, it's 100% that they keep their baby. Isn't that true? Yes. Which is great. But, yeah, we do have a population decline. But the thing that I like to see, and this brings back to voting, a lot of Christians, they don't want to vote because they say that it's not
[00:20:37] biblical and that we don't need, we're not supposed to be involved in government. We're just supposed to pray, and that's all we're supposed to do. And I ran into this years and years ago. And now it's again, I'm hearing it again, that, well, we don't need a king because God only gave them a king because they wanted one. Well, again, I'm coming to a break, but I think we got your point. And, Colleen, thank you for calling.
[00:21:07] When we come back, I want to get into that. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons we have a booklet on why it's important to vote is to talk about some of those biblical principles. And occasionally you do run into people who say, well, it's just politics and it's dirty and there's all sorts of compromise. We'll come back, and I'm sure Claire has some comments about that as well. So thank you for your phone call. We're going to come back and get into some other important issues and respond to that phone call right after this. I'm sure that you've noticed that social media is now filled with information
[00:21:37] generated by AI. AI, dramatic descriptions of politicians and music stars supposedly making statements about a current issue, leaning into the microphone, looking into the lens, opponents silenced. It's powerful. It's riveting. And it's all lies. Even several national television networks were recently found using enhanced pictures,
[00:22:02] meaning manipulated, falsified, literally not giving a true picture. So many liars. So much deception. Where can we turn for truth? Right here. From Kirby and the team at Point of View. We need your support. Please join the Point of View Truth team today with a monthly gift of $30 or more.
[00:22:26] Together, we can shine the light of truth and dispel the darkness and deception of this day. Give now at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151. Pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this.
[00:22:54] 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. Final half hour today, and we are still privileged to have with us Claire Ath with us.
[00:23:20] And again, we had Colleen calling in just a minute ago about the whole issue of voting. Now, one of the booklets we've made available, and I suppose we could still send those out, but I recognize that many of you are already in states where early voting is taking place. And I also recognize that some individuals have already decided they're not going to vote, and I'm not going to change their mind. But if you were looking for some biblical justification for voting,
[00:23:45] not the least of which is that this country was founded by individuals who saw how important the vote was. These were godly Christians. Not all of them, but most of them were. And there were individuals that were upset that all sorts of decisions were being made because they were not allowed to vote. No taxation without representation, of course, is one of the famous phrases. And so since the history of this country, there have been Christians who have felt it's important for you to cast your vote.
[00:24:15] I do believe that certainly we have in our hands some great resources. You have certain gifts and talents that God has given to you, certain opportunities that you are given. And I believe that someday you're going to stand before God and he's going to say, how did you use the gifts that I gave you? How are you going to use the opportunities I gave you? And one of those opportunities is we have a privilege here in America to vote.
[00:24:41] And I think that we should be held responsible not only on this earth, but in heaven for how we handle that. We're citizens of heaven, but we're also citizens of earth. And if we're going to be, I would have to say, Claire, the salt of the earth and the light of the world, which is what we see in the Sermon on the Mount, certainly casting your vote for who is going to be in positions of authority over you.
[00:25:06] And those positions of authority we read about in Romans 13, our divinely ordained organizations and institutions are ones that we should support. So I think you can make a lot of good arguments for why Christians should vote. But again, I can't do anything other than give information about that and then let individuals decide whether they're going to vote in this next election. But as we pointed out before, Claire, this is perhaps one of the most significant midterm elections I've ever seen. What are your thoughts?
[00:25:39] Yes. And Kirby, it's so funny that you talked about being the salt and light of the earth because immediately when I heard Colleen speaking, I thought of Matthew 5, 13, 14, and that this is something that we need to do as Christians. And I just wanted to stress that prayer and voting are not two things that should be viewed in competition. I think that prayer is a very, very important part of this entire conversation and that it's prayer that informs our conscience.
[00:26:09] And then our conscience that is an afforbed conscience that's formed well from prayer that empowers us to vote and to be able to elect leaders who hopefully will uphold our biblical worldview. But as we've mentioned in the past hour and in this hour, it is just very important that as Christians we get involved in this election process because elections and the results are going to affect our day-to-day lives.
[00:26:36] And we want to make sure that the family and that life are issues that are being prioritized. Let's take some more phone calls. We'll go to Carrie in Missouri. And Carrie, thank you for being with us today here on Point of View. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you for taking my call. Go ahead. My husband and I are Missouri Master Naturalists. And we joined when we moved to Missouri.
[00:27:01] We endeavored to plant organic vegetables, care for the land, pretty much get back to basics. And when we joined Master Naturalists, thinking that they would echo our beliefs. Well, they echo our practices that I just mentioned. But they are extremely liberal, if not leftist or Marxist.
[00:27:28] And they are very, very pro-abortion. And somehow, I guess they have missed the idea that conservative and conservation come from the same root world. They should. Yeah. Claire, let me come to you for just a minute because I've been encouraging people to go to your website, Vida et Terra.
[00:27:55] And one of the things that I think we are missing sometimes is that even in the church, sometimes people say, well, I'm a conservative, so I'm not a conservationist. And really, the two come together, both in terms of the words and the commitments. What are your thoughts? I think that you're exactly right. And that's one of the things I'm excited that Vida et Terra is working on in the spring is coming out with some study guides. Like, why should Christians care about conservation? You know, what does that look like?
[00:28:25] And it's things that inherently actually align with a lot of conservative viewpoints because it's day-to-day changes and things that we can implement at the local level that we'll want to be seeing. And I think that that's why so much of these big movements have gotten it wrong is because they've wanted top-down mandates and they want to force people to do things. When really what we need to look at is small incremental changes, that you go shopping locally,
[00:28:52] that instead of buying clothes every single season and throwing them away, that you're buying quality pieces that last. And I just think that as conservatives and as Christians, conservation is something that should come naturally. It shouldn't be viewed as, oh, it's a leftist kind of hippie thing to do. Sure. And again, Carrie, let me just commend you for what you're doing.
[00:29:15] Let me also mention, I said this a minute ago, but the Ausable Institute, A-U-S-A-B-L-E, was the one that did the study years ago because some people are wondering, okay, where'd you get that? That was a study which they found that church attendance and interest in the environment were inversely created. In other words, the more likely you are to be a church attender, the less likely you are to be interested in conservation. And, Claire, you are on to something, and I'm hoping that you'll produce some of those resources.
[00:29:44] Of course, I mentioned one of the booklets we have here, but when some of those are available, you have an invitation to come back on and talk about that because, obviously, you hit a very significant chord with one of our listeners and won't have time for too many more phone calls because I want to leave time, Claire, to talk about the Hyde Amendment. You were the one that first pointed that out. And, of course, I'm old enough to remember when Henry Hyde, back in 1976,
[00:30:10] in the aftermath of the, of course, now defunct Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, instituted what was called the Hyde Amendment. And there is very clear evidence that it actually has saved millions of lives. And we've got a very good quote here from our good friend Marjorie Dannenfelser, who I've known for decades now as head of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
[00:30:36] So let's talk about that for a minute because your generation may have heard about the Hyde Amendment, but some of us that are older remember when it came about, and it was kind of the only way to kind of push back on the Roe v. Wade decision, but it has certainly been very significant all these years, hasn't it? Yes. So the Charlotte Lozier Institute, who's kind of the research arm of Marjorie's group,
[00:31:04] they have said that they think roughly 2.6 to 2.68 million abortions have been prevented because of the Hyde Amendment. And so what this did was it placed restrictions on federal funding like Medicaid from being able to be used for abortions. And now there's all these other concerns and side issues with money being fungible and different kinds of things. But it is a very important amendment, and it has saved lives.
[00:31:31] And this year and this past week marks the 50th year that we've had this. But one of the things, and I know in the Breitbart article it brought up and something I talked about earlier this week on Newsmax, was on the day of the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, Democrats unveiled an 84-page plan on what they're going to do in their first 100 hours. So not 100 days. They're like 100 hours if we win, get the majority in the midterm.
[00:32:00] We are going to come in and do away with the Hyde Amendment. And they are going to put up two bills. One is the Women's Health Protection Act, which sounds great, but it's not. And each act. And so with both of these laws that they are saying they would pass if they had the majority, it would make it that taxpayer funding would go towards abortion. We would no longer have the Hyde Amendment. And the abortion, you would have it up until the moment of birth.
[00:32:30] And so this is something that, polling-wise, the American people do not want. As Christians, we definitely do not want it. And it's the reality of what will happen if Democrats win in the midterms this November. Well, again, one of the reasons I posted this was for people to read it. I think our sixth article there is you have to scroll down to find it. Hyde Amendment turns 50. But if you go down to the second to the last paragraph, again, as Claire just mentioned,
[00:32:58] and Democrats unveiled their 84-page agenda of what they want to implement. And the first thing they want to do, well, there you go, get rid of anything that could be pro-life, including get rid of the Hyde Amendment. And that's not in the first 100 days. It's in the first 100 hours. So anybody that says, well, I don't really care what's at stake in this midterm election, just read this piece or the piece that we already talked about just a minute ago by Lauren Hollis about, yes, you must vote.
[00:33:28] And I think it really makes the case. We come back. Just some final comments about not only one other article I've posted, but also Pentadexter's commentary. We oftentimes talk about that at the end. And for those of you listening on computer, you'll hear it, and we'll get some comments about that. And then we'll be done for the day. All that coming up right after this.
[00:34:01] Society needs more kids. The U.S. birth rate has dropped to a record low. The feminist script, a big career and then maybe childbirth, needs tweaking. Joy Pullman, managing editor for The Federalist, published a still timely article in 2016, 10 top reasons you should have kids before 30. Get married. Have babies. Go boldly into your career when the kids go to school. Society, she wrote, should encourage women to have children at the optimal biological time,
[00:34:29] both for women and children's health and for their happiness. This is counterintuitive when the average age of marriage is 28.6. Couples are marrying past the peak age for human biological fertility, which is 22 to 24. And people who start having children later in life usually have fewer of them. A woman's body is at its peak development and strength when she's in her 20s. It's the best age to physically bear a baby, heal after birth, and continue to physically sustain a baby through nursing.
[00:34:58] In her 20s, a woman has less risk of miscarriage and birth defects. Her eggs are at the best quality they will ever be. As couples age, eggs degrade, and so do sperm. After age 35, there's a higher risk of premature birth and several conditions, including Down syndrome. Many young marrieds look at the cost of raising kids and put off having children. Some never get around to it, and some face the heartbreak of having waited too long.
[00:35:24] But Joy Pullman learned, and many parents report, that kids make you more efficient with time and money. The data shows that fathers in particular are more likely to achieve more in their careers and earn more money than their childless peers. Other reasons include more energy for playing and avoiding creating the sandwich generation, adults who must simultaneously care for aging parents and very young kids. Instead, younger, healthier grandparents can help you.
[00:35:52] For Point of View, I'm Penna Dexter. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes. Again, Claire is with me, and I might just point out, Claire, that you have three young boys and one on the way. So when we talk about be fruitful and multiply, you certainly believe in that.
[00:36:17] And one of the things that Penna Dexter's commentary is, kids before 30, society needs more kids. As a matter of fact, like I said, our upcoming issue is about this demographic winter that not only the United States is facing, but, boy, I write an article about what's happening in Japan and South Korea and places like that, which is worse. Birth rate has dropped to a record low. But at the same time, Joy Pullman points out, writing for The Federalist, that the top ten reasons you should have kids before age 30,
[00:36:47] get married, have babies, go boldly into your career. Of course, you can do two at the same time. And I think it's just an illustration of we do need to encourage individuals, especially our traditional families in our churches, to see that this is a very significant issue for the culture. And we should be pro-life and pro-family. And, of course, that's what you've been talking about all these years, both as an advocate for various organizations.
[00:37:16] I know, of course, you've worked in various congressional offices and the rest, but also with, of course, what you do through Human Coalition. Yes. And when I had read the article, it just really spoke to me because I actually turned 30 earlier this year. And as you mentioned, I'm pregnant with my fourth. But I think the article really speaks to the importance of kind of ordering your life around your family
[00:37:45] and setting what your priorities are. And I think that one of the unfortunate realities of our culture right now is that we're putting kind of markers of success as financial things or career items rather than getting married and having children. And I just look at my own life, and when my husband and I first got married, we both came from cultures that really valued family. You know, my dad's from Ireland, and my husband's family is from Cambodia.
[00:38:13] And so they were two kind of more traditional cultures that really placed children at the center. And so when we got married, we knew that having a family was something we wanted, and we made the sacrifice of instead of living in Washington, D.C., we actually moved all the way out to West Virginia, which is where it was a lot more affordable to purchase a home. And I had worked remotely, but my husband took the train from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, into Capitol Hill,
[00:38:41] and it was about an hour and 45 minutes each way. But it gave us the opportunity to purchase a home and be able to raise a family. And it was something that was more of a sacrifice to do, but ultimately has the greater payoff in my mind, because now we have young children, and it's what we have wanted for our life, and it's something that we were able to obtain by making those sacrifices. I remember that.
[00:39:10] I lived in Falls Church when we went to Georgetown University in graduate school. And, of course, I know people that used to catch the train in Manassas, and, of course, you mentioned Harpers Ferry. And sometimes you do have to, if family's important, make some sacrifices, make some choices. And I think this is something we need to communicate to the next generation. There were people long before they came on the scene who were making choices during the Roaring Twenties, during the 1930s, Great Depression, during World War II.
[00:39:37] So sometimes having a family does require very significant and sometimes difficult choices. And certainly that is the case. So I think that was just a very good piece by our good friend, Penna Dexter, who used to be co-host here on Point of View. Let me just real quickly mention, before I let you go, that one of the other articles we have here is America.gov. And, Claire, yesterday did talk about the fact that you have this kind of symposium of AI tech titans at Washington, D.C.
[00:40:06] in the Oval Office with the president. And instead of saying, well, yes, AI is really dangerous, they do acknowledge that they want to pursue artificial intelligence, or now he wants to call it superintelligence, with safety, but also use that to say we can maybe also bring all this together. So all these, and you've been in Capitol Hill well enough, you've worked with Ted Cruz, and you've worked with the Heritage Foundation and First Liberty and all that,
[00:40:33] you know all these different organizations, all these different websites. Eventually, the goal is to be able to go to America.gov, and I even have a video that people can watch where you see Dr. Oz talking about how you can get Medicare and Medicaid funds. Even Marco Rubio talking about how you can get a passport, and you can take your own picture for the passport. And it seems to me that we are starting to turn a corner, Claire,
[00:40:58] and actually starting to say maybe we can put government into the 21st century, which we learned, especially when Elon Musk was finding out how antiquated some of the information was in the government. Maybe we can eventually be a 21st century culture and government. And so I was just wanting people to learn a little bit more about America.gov, and there's a great video for them to watch, find out more about that.
[00:41:27] Well, the first thing that jumped into my mind when I was watching, kind of seeing the rollout yesterday, is that making government easier to navigate is always a good thing. I think speaking for myself and most Americans, nobody wants to spend an afternoon figuring out, you know, which federal agency or website has the information I need, and then half the links are broken, and they reroute you over here. So I do, I think that America.gov is a great example of how we can make government smaller,
[00:41:56] but also work for us at the same time. With all of the kind of AI and superintelligence discussions, though, I do get cautious of a lot of the people that are running these kinds of organizations. Me too. I don't know if you've seen, there were headlines today talking about Anthropic, that they are really gung-ho on this idea that AI has moral agency, which as Christians, I believe that's something that we wouldn't agree with.
[00:42:25] And I had even seen that there are now something, and I didn't even know this existed until this week, they're calling them AI ethicists, and they are concerned about, like, AI's feelings and the moral worth of AI. And so while I think the AI can be used for good and can be a tool, and something like America.gov is great, like, I just want to go on a website, type in what I want and get the answer. But when you get into more of the philosophical and kind of theological discussions,
[00:42:55] I do think a lot of these kind of industry leaders raise some red flags for me. Oh, I think so. Dario Omodai is, again, one of those individuals, but most of them are in the Silicon Valley, or, of course, Anthropics right there by the baseball field there in San Francisco. And we have even done a booklet on transhumanism and some of those worldview issues. So that's something we'll continue to watch. And, of course, that's one of the topics that Liberty McCarter has been delving into
[00:43:24] and learning more about, so we will certainly cover that in the future. But, Claire, I want to just say thank you for spending two hours with us today. Let me encourage people to find out more about you, Human Coalition, Vita et Terra, and a number of others, and it's been great to have you on the program here on Point of View. Yeah, thank you so much, Kirby. Listen, we can, just before we say goodbye, encourage you to get a couple of things. First of all, you can go to the website,
[00:43:53] and what you will find are many of the articles we've mentioned today about the economy, about the midterms, about the importance of voting, even the ones on Democratic Leaders vs. Biology, the Hyde Amendment, even this one on America.gov. More and more. Of course, there are a couple of viewpoint commentaries. Mine today on privacy. Pentatextures on kids before 30. Yesterday, the one was on liberal dissatisfaction, which I think helped you understand why some of these very liberal programs are being promoted
[00:44:22] because of some of the worldview of people that have a liberal mindset. Of course, we have a booklet on a biblical view on the liberal mind to help you understand that as well. So all sorts of great material on the website at pointofview.net. As you go there, you can also click on that search engine and find other articles we've posted. And, of course, if you'd like to listen to any of this interview again, you can do that on the website at pointofview.net. Don't forget that we also have a link to that as well as to our phones.
[00:44:51] So if you have not downloaded the app for Point of View Radio Talk Show, it's there as well. Just before I say goodbye for Friday, let me first of all thank our engineer, Megan, for the work that she does behind the scenes and my producer, Derek. Enjoy the weekend. See you back here on Monday right here on Point of View. Where does moral truth come from?
[00:45:19] According to 58% of Americans, individuals determine moral truth. A quarter of Generation Z says society determines moral truth, and morality can even change over time. Only 42% of Americans believe that truth comes from God. I don't know about you, but I find these numbers extremely troubling. It really is a crisis of truth, and that crisis has consequences. Look at society. Evil is called good. Good called evil.
[00:45:48] People with biblical beliefs are called bigots. Or worse, they're canceled. But there is hope. The Bible promises the truth will set us free. And that's why Point of View is relentless in our commitment to the ultimate source of moral truth, God's Word. At Point of View, we know that God's truth is eternal. And if we stand together, we can help more Americans apply His truth in their daily life.
[00:46:14] Help Americans find truth again by giving at pointofview.net. Or call 1-800-347-5151. That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.


