Friday, October 31, 2025

Part I

The Christian Worldview Honors History: The Christian Understanding of History Contrasted With Recent Headlines

Dana Goldstein of the New York Times wrote an article recently entitled, “How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught.” Okay, so that’s a headline, it’s supposed to get your attention. I think should. I think, however, the interesting thing is that someone could think that politics wouldn’t change the way history is taught. So, this is a great opportunity for us to be reminded of the place of history in the Christian worldview, and how Christians should think about history. And that just means history as a discipline of trying to understand and interpret the past, to record the past, and to learn from it.

All right, so here’s the argument in the article, “In the Trump era, history and civics education are under a microscope.” Okay, so let’s just talk about the background. The educational establishment has been accustomed to decades upon decades in which there was basically no political oversight. And the inmates have been running the asylum, that’s the bottom line. And so, ideological agendas are just rampant throughout the world of education and that is perhaps most centered in places like the education schools on American university campuses, but also just throughout the entirety of the modern educational experiment. And that includes the vast majority of those who are on the production, the knowledge production side, the policing side of public education in America.

So, all right, The Reporter here tells us, “Several major curriculum publishers have withdrawn products from the market, while others have found that teachers are shying away from lessons that were once uncontroversial, on topics as basic as constitutional limits on executive power.” Okay, now wait just a minute, time out, time out. Are we supposed to be surprised that it would be considered political to talk about something such as, “Constitutional limits on executive power,” at the same time that is in controversial headlines all across America and even in the same newspaper? In other words, who in the world could look at this and be surprised that politics has become a matter of concern here, and that there are political motivations behind all of this? This article jumps into a current political dispute, and in particular basically takes on an argument coming from the political Left and acts as if it’s somehow artificially political for someone to ask about it or even for others to intervene.

“California, the nation’s largest democratic-led state has passed a law restricting what teachers can say in the classroom and has walked back an effort to require high school students to take classes in ethnic studies.” Okay, that’s also extremely interesting, because when you talk about the state of California, it’s not just, “The nation’s largest democratic-led state.” It has the equivalent of a democratic supermajority in the state legislature. It has not only a Democrat as governor, but a very influential and politically liberal governor, and that fits the state and it’s electorate. So, that’s what’s really interesting. In other words, we’re being told that California is now one of the bad guys interfering with what would be otherwise unrestricted freedom for teachers in the classroom, by, “Passing a law restricting what teachers can say in the classroom.”

Okay, so what would that be? Is this an argument over Christopher Columbus? That’s conceivable, given those debates over history. But the big issue here really has to do with antisemitism in the classroom. And so it’s very interesting that in the aftermath of the Hamas attack, that terrible brutal attack on October 7 of 2023, what you now have is the fact that many school systems and school administrators, and certainly, yes, politicians have weighed in saying it’s absolutely improper to allow antisemitism to appear in the public schools, particularly from a teacher. And by the way, as the article makes clear, the provision that basically some educators are complaining about, passed in the California Legislature unanimously. Okay? So that tells you something.

I want to point out that when you see something like that, you need to understand at least one dimension of what’s going on here. If in a democratic state, a measure passes unanimously, then that tells you that someone complaining about it positions him or herself outside the mainstream of the party that is in control. Okay, so that’s just helpful to know. What we see here is that you have people in the profession of teaching history, and in particular you could consider where the sources of that would come on American college and university campuses, but also people in the teachers unions and in the teaching profession. And they are claiming that the State of California is now infringing upon their free speech. And so, it’s coming from the Left, which means that just points to how further left so many in the teaching profession really are when it comes down to history.

The Christian worldview also reminds us that worldview has to be involved in teaching history. And that is simply because the Christian worldview, which acknowledges the reality of sin and the distortion field that is sin and depravity, it tells us that there is no activity human beings are involved in that is not susceptible to corruption, to distortion, to misuse, even to misunderstanding and all the rest. And nor for that matter, there’s no endeavor of human thought or academic life or something like education or teaching history that isn’t susceptible to ideological corruption.

All right, so let’s get to the point. You also have the complaint here about Brown University. Again, in the Ivy League, Brown is one of the most liberal of those institutions. It has offered a curriculum to public schools, it has been known as Choices. Now when you’re looking at history and you call the program Choices, that’s kind of reminiscent of the values clarification and all the similar things that came in the 1970s with progressivist education. And if you’re talking about a program teaching history, you wouldn’t think that the word chosen to encapsulate it would be Choices. Nonetheless, that’s where it is.

We are told, “Choices reached one million students annually and was especially popular in advanced courses and in independent private schools.” Read that, by the way, liberal independent private schools. “The program was known for bringing college level concepts into high schools and for lesson plans that were rich in primary sources.” “After the start of the Israel Hamas War in 2023 and the rise of the pro-Palestinian campus protest movement, which was heavily active at Brown, Choices was scrutinized by advocacy groups supportive of Israel. Critics argued that a unit on the Middle East fed antisemitism by focusing on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and downplaying Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.” “Now, Choices materials have been largely wiped from the internet.” So, political pressure has been brought on Brown University over this program. The universities just decided to stop the program. It has not allowed anyone else to pick the program up and use the materials. It is basically institutionally acting like the program never existed. They have made the choice about Choices just to hide it and to move on.

Now, let’s understand that this is coming from political pressure. All right, it’s coming from two dimensions of political pressure. The most important dimension that has the direct impact is the Trump Administration. And the Trump Administration is putting pressure on at this point, especially major colleges and universities. And the President and the Trump Administration have focused unusual attention on the Ivy League, and that’s because it’s such a juicy target when it comes to this kind of ideological demonstration.

All right, so there is also a second political pressure coming on here and that’s pressure from the American people. And I will tell you that the world of higher education is shaking a little bit because of the awakening of political power and energy coming from, well, let’s just say parents paying the bills, the outsized bills of horrifying tuition for their children to go to these schools. And donors, donors are now a huge influence, especially in these very elite institutions. And for one thing, shame on these donors, because they’ve been giving money, millions upon millions upon hundreds of millions of dollars to these liberal institutions because they’ve wanted the cultural capital that comes from being a donor to Brown or Harvard or Yale. But now they’re all of a sudden surprised, just think of the movie Casablanca, surprised to find out that gambling is going on here. No, that is Casablanca, to find out that ideological leftist corruption is going on here. Anyone who now claims to be surprised by this, was just hard to imagine that that’s being said entirely in good faith.

All right, so the important thing about this article is that it exists, and that you have the report that politics is changing the way history is taught. Now, let’s just as Christians ask the question then, let’s leave the article and let’s try to think biblically, theologically, rightly as Christians. How should we understand history? 

Well, the first thing to be said about history is that the biblical worldview validates it and honors it. The biblical worldview honors history. You look at the Old Testament, look how much of it is the history of Israel. Look at how it is presented. And the interesting thing about the Old Testament and what we learn about history from the Old Testament is that it is not a propaganda piece. The Bible is brutally honest. The Holy Spirit-inspired word of God is brutally honest, not only about the successes and the relatively rare faithfulness when it comes, for instance, to many of Israel and Judah’s kings. It is brutally honest about the depravity, the corruption, the idolatry and sinfulness that was evidenced by many of Israel and Judah’s kings. And so, that’s just a reminder to us that history is not supposed to be some kind of fantastic fairy tale, but it is to be an accurate representation of what happened and what that means. 

Well, if that’s true, then when we look at the field and the discipline of history, then a Christian understanding should be that to the greatest degree possible, it should be a reflection of what actually happened and why and what it means and where it led. That would at least be some of the most important issues that Christians would agree should be a part of history. We also understand because we do understand total depravity, and that doesn’t mean that every person is as sinful as he or she could be, but it means that sin has corrupted every dimension of what it means to be human, it corrupts everything humans touch. And so, we as Christians understand there’s not a perfect history other than the one revealed in scripture. There is no perfect way of doing history, but there are principles that are to be followed.

And by the way, one of the most revolutionary those principles was the use of what are called primary sources. So for instance, in the professionalization of history as a discipline in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at least a large part of adding credibility to the discipline of history was going back to looking at primary sources. That is, what would be the actual data accessible to us? Where are the documents? And sometimes, and I’m speaking right now from Istanbul, Turkey, sometimes you’re looking at monuments carved in stone, sometimes you’re looking at other records. Those are all primary materials for understanding history. We’re not just again making it up.

But the Christian worldview also says that what we should attempt as history can never be value-neutral, and that’s because human beings are never value-neutral. And this is one of the problems that came with the definition of the so-called social sciences. And it’s because when you had the rise of the modern university, which happened first of all in Germany, you had a bifurcation of the curriculum. And that bifurcation of the curriculum meant that you have a subject such as, well, the sciences and especially the hard sciences, and supposedly they’re beyond ideology. And then you have the other disciplines, and that would include literature and the interpretation of texts, it would include history and so many other things in arts and sciences. And so, the claim would be that they need to be scientific too. And so, you had this kind of thing that came up.

But what happened in the 20th century is that about the midpoint of the century, so many of these things, especially in the so-called social sciences, which by the way, really weren’t accountable in the same way other sciences were, they were claiming the credibility of science but they were largely infused with ideology. So for example, in the field of sociology, it’s hard to imagine an ideological discipline, a scholarly discipline or specialization in the American academy, the American university, that is more ideological and more ideologically driven than sociology. So anyway, history has also been redefined and one of the ways it was redefined is by the ideology. And one way to put it is to say critical theory. Now, that’s not all that was going on, but that’s an accessible way of saying, that’s not wrong.

And so the point is that the argument is that history is, well, one of the things I was told as a college student is history is written by the victors. Well, that’s somewhat true, right? I mean, it’s the people who win. Rome wrote the history, not the enemies of Rome because they weren’t around to write the history. On the other hand, the argument that all history that is received is oppression. Well, that’s a big ideological problem, but it’s fundamental to so many in the academic Left, and especially in the most prestigious position. So, you can look at the presidential addresses from groups such as the American Historical Association, and quite honestly, you can just see the infusion of ideology over these decades. So, all I’m saying is that when you see a headline like this, that politics is supposedly now intruding on history. It’s actually false to think that history has ever been devoid to politics.

It’s a healthy thing, by the way, to ask the question, what kind of politics is showing up and what difference would it make for history? And why would say, a lesson over this historical event be so controversial with different positions taken by people who, by the way, are quite ideologically predictable? So, I think the recovery of history, by the way the Trump Administration has leaned in here on this issue, just making very clear that whatever is taught as history in America’s public schools and should be taught as history in America’s universities, is not to subvert the very idea of the American experiment. That would at least I think we should agree, be a good place to start.

Part II

Is It Hypocritical to Read Harry Potter and Not Celebrate Halloween? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing

Okay, now let’s turn to questions. And of course, today is Halloween, and that raises a host of worldview issues. For one thing, let’s just state that Christians have to be very, very concerned about any kind of celebration of the dark side, let’s just put it that way. Or of the very things that are often a fascination at Halloween. Evil spirits, ghosts, you just go down the list, Christians should be very concerned about anything that celebrates that and should also be very concerned about anything that makes light of the dark side, of the demonic, of evil for that matter. But I get some interesting questions along these lines. They’re predictable with Halloween bringing some of them, and some of them come from parents and others to saying, “How in the world do we handle this?”

I received one letter from a listener, “I really enjoy reading the Harry Potter books, but I’ve learned some of J.K. Rowling’s research for the books was in Wiccan history.” She went on to say, “I don’t think celebrating Halloween aligns with Christian values whatsoever.” And I’ll just interject, I basically agree with you. “And I don’t want to be contradictory in my beliefs. Is it hypocritical to read Harry Potter and not celebrate Halloween? Thanks.” Okay, well, thanks for the letter and I think it’s a good question.

And I think for instance, one of the issues about Harry Potter is that very few of the people at the time who were reading Harry Potter, and I frankly do not have the latest publishing data on Harry Potter, but it has an enormous tenacity as a literary project, as a media project, and as a brand. And by the way, an interesting little footnote to that is that J.K. Rowling has been canceled by so many on the left for the fact that she has identified as a T-E-R-F. I’m not saying she identifies herself that way, she’s identified that way as a trans exclusionary radical feminist, which is to say a feminist who thinks being a feminist means being able to identify a female. Radical as that is, J.K. Rowling is now considered on the wrong side of history. And as a matter of fact, the ideological Left tried to cancel a recent project, but it is interesting to see that the big company behind the project has decided to go ahead with it because as it turns out, there are more people who like the Harry Potter series than are mad at J.K. Rowling.

Okay, so I understand the question. Did she do research in Wiccan history in writing the book? It is very clear she did a lot of research in terms of some of the history of witchcraft, and you could look at all kinds of practices going back to medieval Europe and of course there in medieval England. And so I think the easy answer is yes, she did raise a lot of issues of Wiccan history. Let me just put it this way.

In asking the question about Harry Potter and the Christian worldview, the big issue I try to raise is that it is really is an introduction into the occult for many people. Now, I want to be careful. I think there are many Christians who could read that without being seduced by it. The problem is, there are some Christians who would read that and be confused by it. And so I’m less concerned that somehow there’s going to be a cultic seduction through Harry Potter. I think the bigger issue is that there could be worldview confusion. But insofar as anything, any product, any book, any brand, any movie, anything, celebrates the dark side as opposed to God and light and truth, then we have a problem.

Now, I’m not saying that Christians shouldn’t be drawn to literature that realistically portray good and evil. The issue is, it can’t be presented as if good and evil are equivalent, and it can’t be presented as if good and evil are a fairy tale. It has to be presented in such a way. And here you look at a counter example to Harry Potter would be J.R.R. Tolkien’s entire series, The Lord of the Rings. Okay, so, good question and I think a good impulse coming from this listener. And I love it when listeners ask a question and then demonstrate they’ve gone a long way themselves in answering it.

Part III

How Should I Respond to Gruesome Halloween Decorations as a Christian Father? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing

Okay, second question about Halloween, is coming in from a father and he’s asking about gruesome Halloween decorations. And I like the way he asked it, he says, “I’ve noticed recently in my suburban neighborhood an uptick in the celebration of Halloween, particularly it’s incredibly gruesome stuff. As a dad to small girls and another child on the way, it’s difficult to walk the neighborhood as my family is fond of doing with some of the extreme decorations. How should we think about this sort of celebration of evil? What does it mean for our culture?”

Well, let me just say that this would be seen in a historical context. I want to say to this Dad, this would be a recent development and it’s a commercial development. Many people don’t know that Halloween is now one of the economically most powerful holidays on the American calendar. It has been transformed into a huge retail opportunity. There is a huge upsurge in spending and that’s been at the expense of some other things as well. This dad goes on to talk about these decorations saying that there are very disturbing scenes and he mentions one that had babies in cages, and I’m not going to read the rest, it’s too gruesome. And he means to point to a particular neighbor. He says he doesn’t know this neighbor very well, “But I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to witness to him. I told him I’d be careful inviting an evil and demonic spirit into his home as he has done.” He responded that it’s just Halloween, and he’s a, “Full-fledged Christian.” This writer says, “I encouraged him to examine his heart and that my small children and others see this, but he wrote me off.”

Okay, so you can see this happening and I love the way this dad wrote this. I can pretty much envision the conversation with the neighbor who says he’s a full-fledged Christian but has gruesome Halloween decorations out front celebrating things of darkness that would include dismembered babies. I mean, just thinking about this, you realize we are looking at a of secularization, for one thing. People who are actively involved in a local church preaching the gospel are not going to think and do such things. So, this is a post-Christian culture showing its gruesomeness in the celebration that comes down to Halloween decorations.

My wife and I often note about one street in Louisville that has now attracted national attention because of the gruesome Halloween decorations that are now a part of both sides of the street for longer than a city block. And it really has become a tourist attraction that is of such significance it has created traffic problems leading up to Halloween. And you look at it and you recognize, this is just sick stuff. I was taking someone in my car to a lunch appointment and we drove down this road and that person from another institution had never seen anything like this before, and he said, “My goodness. What is going on in this community?” Well, sadly, I think what’s going on was all too evident.

And I appreciate the way this father has written this piece asking, “Was I wrong to speak out? Emphatic no. He went on to say, “I’m a conservative and believe in property rights and freedom of expression, but I felt compelled to speak.” Then he asked, “How are we to think of something like this?” Well, let me just say, I think you’re right to believe in property rights, and that’s probably why you didn’t call the police and have them arrest the person with these Halloween decorations. But you are absolutely right to raise the issues. And by the way, if that neighbor is not concerned about your young children, that is an evil neighbor, not a good neighbor. That tells you a lot about that person, especially when the issue is raised and he simply dismisses it.

Part IV

How Should Christians Think About Using A.I. Technology to Portray a Person as Communicating From the Dead? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing

All right, along these lines, a very interesting question sent in by a listener, and it has to do with the use of artificial intelligence to bring someone like Charlie Kirk back to speak from the dead. And this has happened, I’ve known of several occasions in which it has happened. This listener writes in, “We recently heard of a church using an AI voice of Charlie Kirk to address and encourage the congregation concerning his death and legacy. The question comes, how should a Christian view using the voice and image of the dead to communicate with us in light of the new AI capabilities?”

So let me just say that asking the question, you clearly understand we have a big problem here. And the big problem is not the interest in Charlie Kirk. And the big problem is not in say, taking the words of Charlie Kirk very seriously. And his assassination tragically robbed us of his voice, but thankfully there is a continuing evidence of what he said when he was alive and made those statements in his embodied self. It’s quite a different thing to use artificial intelligence to create a message from someone who is now dead. And in the Old Testament, conjuring up the dead was understood as one of the cheap preoccupations of the Pagans, not of God’s people.

And so, I understand that sometimes things can happen without a lot of forethought. So I want to be careful and say, I’m not condemning persons who did this without thinking it through. I am saying, think it through. And also understand just how horrifying this technology could be used, because so far as I know the things that Charlie Kirk was brought up by AI to say, at least as far as I know, they weren’t inconsistent with what he said in this life. However, they’re put into a context in which you can’t say, “Charlie Kirk said these things.” Now you have artificial intelligence, Charlie Kirk. And by presenting him coming back from the dead, that just raises all kinds of issues. So again, you look at this and recognize, Christians should have a pretty good meter, an alarm that would go off the moment you get towards bringing up someone supposedly from the dead with a message. And even if it’s just AI and not the witch of Endor, check your Old Testament, we still have a problem.

All right, how did we know that having this program arrive with this Friday on Halloween would bring some interesting questions? And I think Halloween is a great opportunity for Christians to understand that there are things going on in our culture with which we can have nothing to do. Our culture is going in some directions we simply cannot join. And so I want to say tragically, I think walking your children in some neighborhoods as your neighbors are celebrating Halloween, that’s no longer an advisable thing, but it’s also a great opportunity at the right age to talk with your children about why that is so.

By the way, final thought, this man said that he bore witness to his neighbor. That is always the right thing, any day of the year.