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Walker Wildmon Welcome to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on the program. As a brief reminder, you can subscribe, not only can you, but we would greatly recommend subscribing to the podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts At the The Core, just type in the name of the program At the with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green and you can subscribe to the podcast. We queue it up there, in your podcast library each and every afternoon, the entire show. And if you also one of the draws to the podcast is there are no commercial breaks. Now we might drop in a 30 or 60 second quick promotional spot for pre born or for AFR, but you bypass the breaks and so we jump from segment to segment and the entire show is uploaded there in the form of a podcast [email protected] and wherever you listen to podcasts, let's turn our attention to the scripture.
Paul says he circumcised Timothy out of respect for Jewish traditions
Acts chapter 16 is where we are this week. Acts chapter 16. Then he talking about Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed. But his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were At Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region. For they all knew that his father was Greek. And they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders of Jerusalem. And so the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. Here we have At first glance, seems like a contradiction by Paul here, previous chapter, making the case that Circumcision isn't required for salvation, which was the debate in Jerusalem. Now here he is participating, in the circumcision of Timothy. The point here, when you read the text accurately, is that Paul aided Timothy in circumcision out of respect for the traditions in this culture, in this Jewish culture, but not because Paul thought it was necessary for salvation. And that's an important distinction here. There are things that we in modern society, in modern culture might do out of reverence or respect for others and their cultures and their traditions, but that doesn't equate to it being necessary for salvation. And there are different, for example, different tradition, different traditions within even various Christian denominations. But that doesn't mean that the tradition equals salvation. And if you don't do the tradition, you're not saved. Now, some might take it that far, but that's an unbiblical teaching. We as Christians must remain focused on what the saying is the main thing. And the main thing that Jesus teaches, not just the main thing. The tenet that Jesus taught about salvation is it is through Jesus, the Messiah alone, faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The word in the text is belief and faith. Very complementary words in Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. That is how one is saved. It's not the works that save them, as Paul writes. It's not circumcision and it's not extra biblical traditions that save them. Traditions are good. traditions can be good, but that doesn't mean that they save people. So it's very important as believers that we don't get sidetracked on practices that are not primary for salvation. And, that's what we can learn from Acts chapter 16. And that was the long way to get to my conclusion. Nonetheless, hey, speaking of Paul, we're going to be actually taking a trip to Greece coming up in March of 2027, covering part of the footsteps of Paul in March of 2027. And then the week after that. My parents are going to be in Italy taking a group through the Christian history and other history in Italy. And so if you want to go on one or both of those trips, you can go over to tours.afa.net tours.afa.net to check that out. Registration is going to close in December, but you don't want to wait until then to register because we might be full. We very likely will be, especially for Italy, that that, tour is very, very popular. My parents haven't been there in a while, so a lot of Folks are wanting to go to that, trip to Italy. You can go over to tours.aca. to check that out. Well, teeing up our discussion for the next segment, which we're going to have a guest on, from Texas Values.
The amount of money being spent to educate American schoolchildren is at historic levels
But teeing up this discussion, let's talk education in America. There's a lot of reports, throughout the year, annually that, give us a glimpse as to the trend in education in America, whether it's grade school K12 or whether we're talking higher ed. And the amount of money that states and the federal government are spending, per capita per student to educate America's school children is At historic levels. Yet we're not quite seeing historic levels of learning and test scores. We're actually seeing a precipitous drop in some of these test scores across the country. And so this, directly combats and contradicts this notion that we need to spend more money to educate America's school children. I think there's other reforms that need to take place to better improve America's educational environment. Nonetheless, we'll save my commentary for after the clip. Let's listen to clip 3.
A new report says reading and math test scores are dropping across the country
This is an ABC Good Morning America report on dropping reading and math test scores and some of the reasons why they think this is happening. Clip 3.
ABC Reports Researchers, Robin, are calling this both a reading and learning recession At schools across the country. This new report called the Education Scorecard found that reading scores are down in 83% of school districts in the U.S. in the past 10 years. Math scores dropped in 70% of districts. And this does transcend wealthy and poor districts. What's critical here is that the decline in scores started happening before the pandemic. This report says there are a couple factors to blame. One is social media. So according to Pew Research, nearly half of teens say that they are online constantly. About 1/3 of 17 year olds now say that they never or hardly ever read for fun. Researchers say that another factor is the end of that controversial no Child Left behind law that did threaten penalties on schools that didn't meet, national testing standards. critics did call it too rigid, but the data shows it did coincide with, with At least a rise in math scores. Now, the teacher shortage another issue here. This report does recommend identifying school districts that need more funding and encouraging coursework that keeps students engaged. And this is really key, keeping kids engaged, but also keeping them in class, because we know that a huge problem, especially with high schools, is those chronic absences among so many students are just not showing up in class.
Walker Wildmon All Right. So there's a couple of things we can talk about here. And I've got another clip to, to, to go with this here shortly.
Some research suggests technology in the classroom is hurting test scores
But, let's remember this precipitous drop in test scores. Once again, this is a national survey. This isn't necessarily indicative of every school district in every county and every city around the country. There's some, definitely, some anomalies, some outliers, some states, some municipalities are doing better than others, some districts are doing better than others because they figured out how to better educate children. So once again, we're talking nationally here and then I'll give some state specific numbers. But this is coming on the heels of the rise of technology in the classroom. All right, over the last, let's say, definitely eight to ten years, we've seen this surge in technology in the classroom. We've seen the deployment of laptops and tablets for every student. A lot of the coursework and homework is being done on a computer, on a screen. And so this is not boding well for those who have been pushing technology in the classroom. Now, obviously, in this technological era that we're in, again, technology ought to have some place in the classroom. So I'm not denying, that. But what I am suggesting is that this multi billion dollar rush to get a tablet in the hands of every student across America is probably going to be proven, if not already, to be a very unwise move because that isn't improving test scores. As a matter of fact, there's some research that suggests it's actually hurting test scores. So that's the first point. The second point that was alluded to in that clip is the amount of time that students are spending on social media for every minute and hour, and every day that they're spending on social media is one less minute and hour that they're spending doing homework, doing schoolwork and learning and reading. The number of students that just don't like reading is At record levels. Students are not finding interest in reading. That's a problem. And then lastly, the amount of money that we're spending per capita per student is At record levels and we're seeing very bad test scores. from a modern standpoint, so the solution isn't, well, we need to spend more money on education. That's just not going to fix it. And NewSong York is exhibit eight. So let's listen to this clip. This is going to be a representative, a spokesperson with the Heritage foundation, actually talking about how NewSong York school system has become what he calls, quote, failure factories, because they're spending $40,000 per stud in NewSong York for failing test scores. Let's listen.
It's the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again. Expecting Florida spends 27% less than the national average, the latest that I've seen. And Florida is doing a lot better, than the average, in some rankings At the top. NewSong York, they're spending 40,000 a k. I mean, come on, that's over half a million dollars for K through 12. If you gave parents half of that money and let them figure it out, they'd be much better off in NewSong York. They had a report that just came, came out showing that 43% of kids are in schools where fewer than half of them are proficient in math. So it's. These are failure factories. These are not public schools.
Walker Wildmon All right, this is, that was Corrie DeAngelis, by the way. He's a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation. He calls NewSong York school system failure factories. That was a good one. but here's the, here's the highest ranked states, per capita as far as, pupil spending. And wouldn't you know, my, query I was pulling up in A.I. just completely disappeared. But no, seriously, here's what I did see before it magically disappeared, which is quite interesting. New, York is At the top of the list. All right, NewSong York is spending the most per student compared to any other state. And so how do you rectify that? How do you look At spending $40,000 per student annually, which you do a K through 12 formula, you're At a half a million dollars per student to graduate them, but yet they're having just disastrous test scores. it just doesn't make sense. If money is the thing that they say fixes everything, which is the, pretty much the narrative out there with the teachers unions and the, big education lobbying is that, oh, we need more money, we need more money, raise teacher pay, we need more administrators, we need more superintendents. central office has to get bigger, we need more assistance, we need more non teachers, which has been the growing trend. folks, that just doesn't fix everything. Okay, NewSong York, by the way, the Democrat states are the top spenders on education. NewSong York, Vermont, NewSong Jersey for example, they're spending the most per student, upwards of 35 to $40,000 per student with failing test scores. And so I think it's safe to say that spending more money on America's education isn't going to fix the test scores. I'm pretty sure I can say that with like 99.99% confidence. How can I say that? Because we've tried it and we've been trying it for decades. Increasing spending on education without the results to follow it. And you look At what the private sector is doing with education, for example, I'll give you a very, good example that I'm intimately aware of where you can get a private education within a church centered school five days a week, seven to eight hours a day. So traditional school day, traditional hours, traditional product delivery, if you will, for like less than, less than $3,000 a year in some instances. In some states you can get a pretty private, traditional schooling education for less than $3,000 a year. But NewSong York is spending 40,000 a year and getting failing test scores. So you can't tell me that this is just about the money, folks. This is about way more than the money. We'll be back in a.
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Mary Elizabeth Castle is director of government relations at Texas Values
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Well, my computer decided to act right during the break, so I got my numbers back that I was researching and, it's funny when things just disappear, I mean literally disappear, and then they magically pop back up. so I did a page refresh and got the numbers I was looking for and I was correct. NewSong York spending the most, per student in the country. close to $40,000 per student. Now this year, NewSong Jersey's At number two, Vermont's number three. Connecticut and Pennsylvania fall At four and five. And then some of the lowest, per student spending comes from some pretty conservative states. Idaho, Utah, Mississippi, Oklahoma. And I would almost guarantee it if you run those test scores up against NewSong York's, they could compete any day of the week. But, let's talk more about education and what's going on in the state of Texas and Texas's classrooms. On with us now is Mary Elizabeth Castle. She's director of government relations At Texas values one of our allies in the movement there in the state of Texas. Mary Elizabeth, welcome to the program.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Thank you so much for having me.
The Texas State Board of Education has voted on a required Bible reading list
Walker Wildmon Well, Mary Elizabeth, tell us, for the audience, for our audience who's heard about the Texas, the new Texas law and integrating the Bible back in America's classrooms like it used to be. They've heard it talked about, they've read the headlines, but they don't really know the nuts and bolts how this is actually going to play out. What's some of the context? Give our folks, a little bit of an update on how this, new statute, this new Texas law came about.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Yeah, actually. So it's a new required reading list. So not just a law, that says that students, will have an opportunity to read the Bible, but the State Board of Education in Texas, which is a 15 member elected board, voted on a required reading list for grades K through 12. And on that required reading list, not only do they have some of the classics, some of Shakespeare and other readings that kids weren't getting in schools, but they actually have references to very important passages in the Bible, many that are often quoted in everyday life, and many important pieces of literature. And so we're very thankful that the board passed this required reading list and we expect that it'll be implemented starting the year 2030.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, this is a, very positive move here. And I like how they did this in the sense that it wasn't this broad, generic, students can read the Bible or should read the Bible. the state board actually got a little more down in the details to make sure it's maximally beneficial. And they actually, gave various approved reading lists, if you will, of, various biblical stories and passages throughout their school year. So for example, the story, the historical account of Noah's ark, David and Goliath, the, Exodus accounts involving Moses. I'm just reading off a few here. the Beatitudes, Matthew, chapter five. And so I like that even the board got more granular and more detailed in laying out for the school districts and in your case, these, what they call independent districts, the approved reading list. So let me ask you this. What does it look like for a district and for administrators and teachers? Is this required or can some opt out?
Mary Elizabeth Castle So this will be the required reading list, because of a law that was passed in 2023, House Bill 1605, it was decided by the legislature that there needed to be some required reading list or literary list for students. Because for some time, as it has been in many other states in the country. The reading rate in Texas were declining. And so they decided that there need to. Needed to be some kind of required reading list. So you're reading A Midsummer's Night Dream, and you're not reading genderqueer, that you're reading Charles Dickens and you're not reading All Boys Aren't Blue. So instead of reading some of these very explicit materials and kids walking away and not being able to even enroll in a college readiness class in English or be literate in everyday life, the legislature said it is, we must come up with the required reading list, of literary works that they must have read before they graduate From K through 12 school in order to make sure that they're competent in their classes. So this will be required. but like you said, a lot of these references are very important biblical references for historical and educational context. you mentioned David and Goliath. We actually know in literature, if you study literature, David and Goliath is a very famous trope. You even have movies that model after the David and Goliath trope. And you even have politicians saying, wow, this is a Goliath of an issue, or I beat my Goliath of an opponent. So, so many of these scriptures that are mentioned in these lists are everyday things that students just need to be aware of in order to Communicate daily. The 23rd Psalm, many people will go to a funeral and they'll hear, the 23rd Psalms quoted. And so these are very important pieces, in the Bible that relate to literature that they'll read and need to be able to understand to have greater reading comprehension.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And the fact that, once again, we're talking to Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas value. She's director of government relations there. The fact that we've excluded for so long, these passage readings and different portions of the Bible, and really the Bible more broadly has been excluded from America's classroom because there's been this false notion and stigma out there that, well, we can't have religion in our schools. That's been the kind of the talking point of the atheists and the agnostics and even some people who wouldn't classify themselves as atheist or hostile to faith in Christianity. They would even kind of parrot those talking points about, well, do we really want, you know, to be trying to make disciples in the classrooms? And that's really kind of a distracting talking point that misses the core thing that you're addressing here. And that is the fact that, number one, we should not, in this culture, have this particular disdain towards the Bible. I mean, we don't treat hardly any other, you know, general text or historical text in such disregard as we have the Scripture culturally. but nonetheless, the historical significance of the Bible on America and Western civilization more broadly, lends itself to the fact that the Bible really should be the central textbook of our educational institutions today, like it was when we first founded this nation. So my point is, this drawing of the Bible back into America's classrooms should be like the status quo. This shouldn't be an extraordinary effort to get the Bible back in America's classrooms.
Mary Elizabeth Castle You're absolutely right. since the beginning of public education in our country, there used to be a primer. And within that reading primer there were different references to Scripture and Bible verses that students had to read, in order to gain a better understanding of, different pieces of literature. It was always commonplace. like you said, we can draw so many things, historical facts and significance from biblical scripture. We know that in coming to the new land in the first place, that a lot of people came to America and founded America because they wanted to express their religious freedom. even when you think about, we are endowed by our creator, a lot of people argue that, oh, they, you know, left room for you to add who the Creator would be. But when you think about the different rights and inalienable rights that are listed and some of the principles that we have in our founding documents, documents, then you can very clearly see a Christian or biblical influence in those. like I said, so many of the pieces of literature that, from European authors and classical authors reference the Bible in some form. and even people on the everyday basis, even if they don't realize it, they sometimes do quote things that originate from the Bible. we are not asking teachers to give their thoughts or opinions on these scriptures, but when it comes to having knowledge of these scriptures, they should not be afraid or shy away from this or saying, we can't talk about that. Actually, you're doing students a disservice because the Bible is the most quoted piece of literature, or most quoted work that is out there that exists in the world. And so if it is the most quoted work, then students need to be familiar with it and other in order to understand different writings and pieces of literature. So it's very important they should not shy away with this. I absolutely agree with that. they should be free to learn about this so they can be prepared, like I said, for college and for life and just for daily, everyday speech.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And I try to. I think it's helpful for our audience and for the general public to think about some of these discussions and topics outside of the American context. And what I mean by that is, for example, when you go to the Middle east and you go to Saudi Arabia or you go to Egypt, or you go to any kind of more developed economically and culturally nation in the Middle east that is most likely Muslim majority, the vast majority of them are, even though they come from different, kind of wings, if you will, of Islam. But, the vast majority of those schools that they have are, number one, they're Muslim schools. But I guarantee you, they're reading the Quran, they're teaching the Quran. Why? Well, because that makes sense culturally for them, because that's all they've known. and you go to, let's say, Israel, and what do you got? Well, you have Jewish schools and they're reading the Old Testament, and then you go to, let's say, Russia, which there's a lot of orthodox Christianity there, and they're probably reading the Bible. And so I give that backgrounder to say that it shouldn't be odd or unique that a nation built on the Bible is actually studying the Bible in our classrooms. And if you want to set up some secular humanist utopia where you have dominant atheism and agnosticism, then go start your own country, but don't come into Western civilization, the greatest beacon of liberty and hope and prosperity that mankind's ever known, and say we want to ditch God, which is the whole reason we have this liberty and prosperity and human flourishing, it really doesn't make sense just mathematically, when you add it up, looking At how other cultures handle it.
Mary Elizabeth Castle That's a very good point. You know, as much as, as you mentioned earlier, the flak or, uproar that we're seeing in the media about this reading list, when you go to other countries in the world, they tend to read the religious documents and the religious texts that align with that country, that culture, and it's not really, I don't think, debated. but I think there is a misunderstanding amongst some people, maybe especially in the media, that maybe America had no founding whatsoever on religion. And that just isn't true. And that's why we had to fight on another topic and social studies, to make sure that that wasn't erased. like I mentioned earlier, people came to this country for their religious freedom, specifically for their Christian faith, and have the freedom to express that. And as we see in so many of our Christian, so many of our founding documents, that the Christian influence was there. so to argue that, Christianity had no play or the Bible had no play in our history is incorrect. But because of that fact, because of that historical context, we should be able to be free to talk about it in the classroom so students can have an appreciation of even their freedom and their principles. I'm, sure in other countries, those texts, those religious texts reflect something that is in their government. And so the Bible reflects also some principles that we have on freedom, on individual liberty that students need to be able to understand and appreciate.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely.
Mary Elizabeth Castle is head of government affairs at Texas Values
We've been speaking with Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas Values. She's head of government affairs there At ah, Texas Values. Hey Mary Elizabeth, tell our folks what your website is over At Texas Values and how they can read more about your work.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Certainly our website is txvalues.org you can also follow us on social media. We're on Facebook X and Instagram. be sure to follow us on all platforms and be, be in tune for different things that are happening At the state Board of Education. We have a few more things happening this year, but please Follow [email protected] Excellent.
Walker Wildmon Hey Mary Elizabeth, thank you so much for your work. Appreciate you coming on the program.
Mary Elizabeth Castle All right. Thank you so much.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, absolutely.
Mary Elizabeth Castle: We need the Bible back in America's classrooms
That's, once again Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas Values. She heads up their government affairs division. There's. And they are doing phenomenal work in the state of Texas. I would say the leading, conservative organization, pro family organization in Texas. I'm good friends with their, president Jonathan Science, and they are just great, great partners, doing great work and pushing a lot of conservative pro family Christian policy there on the ground in the state of Texas. Once again, that's Texas Values. And this is a positive trend, folks. This is a trend that is positive, it's encouraging, and we got to keep it going and we've got to continue combating and dispelling of the myths that God doesn't belong in our classrooms, that the Bible has no place in our textbooks. And we've got to combat that and we've got to remind people through teaching America's true history that the Bible was the central textbook in America's first universities. All right. It was a primary central textbook in America's first universities. And the clergy and the public officials of the day, which were intertwined, knew that scripture reading, biblical text reading was very important for the common man to know the principles of liberty, the principles of human flourishing, the principles of justice, the principles of civil government, the principles of family, all of these core fundamental precepts to a flourishing society and civil government and economy. Our founders knew that the Bible had all the answers. The Bible had all the answers. And if we can ensure that the common man is knowledgeable on the Scripture, we can preserve liberty. But when you have an uneducated populace that doesn't know the teachings of God's word, what do you get? You get tyranny. Because we forget, the mistakes of the past. We fall away from God's truth and his teachings, and we begin to do things that man thinks is good, that man thinks is wise, but is actually unwise and foolishness. And if you're paying attention, I pretty much just summarized where we are today. That's why we need the Bible back in America's classrooms. That's my 62nd case for that. All right, folks, we've got a lot to talk about. In the next segment, we're going to talk about the Strait of Hormuz, what's going on with Iran, some of the latest economic developments as we head into the midterm election.
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The God who Speaks is a powerful message on the authority of scripture and the voices of some of the most respected theologians of Our day, the most historic formula for the Christian church has
Walker Wildmon been when the Scripture speaks, God speaks.
The God who speaks is a 90 minute documentary which can empower Christians to share our faith and defend the authenticity of the Bible. Available At thegodwhospeaks.org or visit stream.aca.net this is At the core on American Family Radio with your host Walker W.E. wildman.
Mary Elizabeth Castle talks about integrating Bible into Texas school classrooms
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on the program. Very good interview with Mary Elizabeth Castle. Last segment, she's with Texas Values, talking about integrating the Bible and scripture passages and historical readings back into America's classroom, specifically in the state of Texas. This is a trend that we must continue around the country in other states as well to re normalize the reading of the Bible in America's classrooms. And if the pagan atheistic secular humanists don't like it, well, they can run for school board or they can start their own schools like Christians do. And, that's that. But this, this notion that you get to hijack America's schools and push your pagan worldview, and then you get to ditch the Bible and all of our tax dollars have to go to subsidize it. That's a no go. That's a no go. And we need to change that. We need to reverse that and get back to the original, teachings in the original text of America's school system. And that is the Bible. So that's what's going on in the state of Texas.
Walker: Oil prices have gone up since beginning of Iran conflict
Well, let's shift topics and talk a little bit of economics. And what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz. Well, I've been wondering for the last several months why oil is not more than it is per barrel now. It's gone up and it's come down. And thankfully right now, as of the, date of this recording, it's down in the $70 per barrel range. But it's gone up. And we've all seen gas prices At the pump go up since the beginning of this Iran conflict. But I always wondered and speculated why didn't it go up more? Because if you would have talked to analyst and market experts, if you will, you leading into this conflict, they would have given you these apocalyptic numbers. They would have said barrel oil will be At 120, it'll be At $150 a barrel, it'll be the end of the world. we'll run out of fuel. I mean, I can tell you now what some of those projections were based on studying this leading up to it. But here we are and we're several months into this and those apocalyptic projections just haven't come to pass. And one of the reasons is because quietly behind the scenes, the US military, working with our Arab Gulf allies, they kept the energy flowing. They kept the oil flowing both through the Strait of Hormuz on the Oman side and through other means as well towards the west, if you will. And so that's what's starting to make sense. This is why you're beginning to see energy prices level out. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright, spoke on this earlier this week. We don't have a clip of Chris Wright, we have a clip of Scott Bessent. but this, and the American energy independence is also helping here. The fact that we are At peak energy production and refining in America and we have the Venezuelan oil market now unsanctioned and on the publicly traded energy market, that's helping alleviate some of this pain as well. But I just want to read what Secretary Chris Wright said and then we'll play a clip from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary, Chris Wright, over energy said this yesterday. Thanks to the coordinated effort of the US military and our Gulf allies, the seven day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up about 9 million barrels per day. When combined with the additional 5 to 7 million barrels per day leaving the region via newly upgraded pipelines and export facilities, total oil flows are currently averaging approximately 15 barrels per day. On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian Gulf region, which is above pre conflict averages. This is very important. Anyone watching the markets, watching oil, this is very, very important. So let's play a clip that was actually from two weeks ago of treasury, Secretary Scott Besant talking about how eventually, over the next 12 to 24 months, the Strait of Hormuz is not going to be a topic of discussion. Let's listen some who've speculated the strait will never go back to being the way it was before. What would you say? I would say, I would take. I think they're saying that in a doomsday sort of way. I would say it in another way.
Walker Wildmon The strait is never going back to the way it was because the Iranians have used or tried to use it as, as a choke point. What we are going to see over the next two years, the strait is going to become irrelevant. It is going to become just another body of water. And I would say that more than 50 or 70% of the energy that moves through the Strait now is going to go through underground pipelines. All, right, here's my prediction. And always, Bobby, I always make these predictions and I forget about them until two years later. And then I say, don't you remember, Bobby, when I said that? And then we don't have enough time to go find the clip.
Bobby Roza Maybe Travis can keep us, keep track of us now.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, yeah. A list of Walker's predictions. That's actually not a bad idea. Let's see how many times I'm right. and then ask my wife. She'll tell you how many times I'm wrong. No, seriously, here's my, here's my projection just based on the, on what's publicly available now. I think, I think this marks an end to the Iran conflict as we know it. I think this marks a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict that will be noted in the history books. What do I mean by that? I mean this persistent nagging and this persistent fear factor that has been the Strait of Hormuz and that has been the energy sector for the last several months during the Iran war. Those days are gone. And the data backs this up. If you are averaging near, even close, if you're averaging near pre war energy output levels coming from the region and you still have Iran over there smack talking but actually doing nothing, then that's it, this thing's over. And this is why President Trump said just late last week and going into this week, he said, I'm low keying it and I've actually recommended he stop talking about it. If I were the President's advisors, I would tell President Trump to cut down on the questions and answers on Iran to like every other day, once a week, just stop talking about it. All right? Because we, if the US Military and our allies in the region have energy output At near pre war levels and averages, then this Iran is just a big paper tiger here At this juncture. Now, I'm not dismissing the threat that they've posed in months past. I'm just telling you where we are today. Because President Trump has virtually made no concessions. He's actually backed off of the memorandum of understanding because Iran broke it and we're back blockading their ships. So this isn't like things have gotten, quote, better from a relations standpoint. Things have actually deteriorated. There's even signs that they're not even talking anymore. And so if Iran and the US Pretty much aren't even talking anymore, Iran's throwing out all these bluffs. But the US Is securing near pre war levels of energy output in the region. Folks, Iran's threats are over. And so I could be wrong. I always reserve the right to be wrong. We could be sitting here in three weeks and the war has, quote, heated back up and something changes. But just what I'm seeing right now, this conflict is virtually over from a vantage point of it being a serious concern economically and otherwise.
Another thing that gives me confidence in this assessment is today's inflation numbers
Another thing that gives me confidence in this assessment is today's inflation numbers. All right? Now, we've had weaker GDP numbers. there's some explanation for that because of the war, and reduced government spending, which I view as a positive. and we've seen some weaker employment data. But once again, that's because that's 100% because of government layoffs, which, once again, I do not see that as a problem. The private sector's been doing okay, actually. But the inflation numbers today, just out, this morning, show, inflation, core inflation, excluding energy and housing, down At 2.5%. So we're only a half basis point, actually technically five basis points off of the Fed's target on core CPI, we're At 2.5. The Fed's stated target, although I think it's quite unreasonable, is two. And it came in flat. And this is after all of the Iran saga. And so, and by the way, in that core CPI number is factoring in last month, which had all the bombing, all the, the shooting At ships, the Jordanian missiles, missiles. I mean, all of that was factored in during that time frame. And we're At 2.5. We're flat. We came in At estimate. And so, with energy prices on the decline. And so if this is the case, and if, if we can continue these energy output levels within our Arab allies and their nations, meanwhile, they're building out more capacity to get energy out of the region, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, then Iran has no more cards to play here. And that's what Secretary Bessent is talking about, is that Iran has no more cards to play. So let's play this clip on CPI and how core inflation is actually back where it was before the Iran conflict, clipped to it.
Seems to me this is pretty good news. It is good news. And I could not help but note that the annual rate of core CPI inflation, that's excluding food and energy, you want energy out of it because of the matter in Iran, take that out. 2.5% in July. That's back to where it was prior to the start of the Iran conflict. This tells me that inflation is not spreading out beyond energy, beyond gasoline prices. Good news.
Walker Wildmon There you have it. So core CPI inflation reading, is back At pre war levels. So we have oil prices back At near pre war levels. And the, the translation over to the pump, by the way, for those wondering, that takes time. Okay. It doesn't. Even though the prices do fluctuate daily on the gas price, the gas pump price, when you're talking about oil per barrel cost and that translating over to savings At the pump, that takes time. That takes weeks. All right. That doesn't go up and down overnight, Bobby.
Yeah.
Bobby & Walker Not to mention we're still under, summer blend conditions as well, which, the price of gasoline, I think it's just something the industry does, because of more summer travel for vacations and so forth. Yeah. But it's a way for the industry to jack up the price, per gallon, based on summer, blends, which are to reduce pollution levels and so forth. Yeah. And to your point, we're basically on the tail end of peak travel season. That's correct. So prices being up this time of year is not unusual. Yes. so you could look At a pretty substantial relief coming up in the fall At the pump once again, barring something happening that I don't foresee, you know, something that is out of the ordinary with Iran or another geopolitical situation, you could see going into fall some pretty serious relief At the pump. you could see, core inflation continue to trend down. And as I have said before, the other side of this looks good. The market is virtually unfazed by the Iran situation, which is quite interesting. But the stock market and the market in general is quite unfazed by this Iran situation. But I think the reason that the market has virtually moved on from the Iran conflict is because they know what I'm telling you here, and that is the energy is flowing in the region. Now, the media may not tell you this. Iran is going to blow smoke, but the energy is flowing through the street. The energy is flowing through the West. And, that's what the energy market knows. That's why oil is At $70 a barrel, because these folks study this day in and day out. They eat, sleep, and breathe the energy markets. That's why they, know, and that's why energy prices, go up and down based on what's developing in the region. And so that's a positive trend. We'll see where this goes. We'll see if I'm right. But I think with the developments over the past couple of weeks, and the CPI number coming out today, I think this marks a pivot away from the Iran conflict. And President Trump, as I said he said earlier this week or late last week, I'm taking it low key on Iran. And that's exactly what I would do. I would just stop talking about it. I would talk about the economy, I would talk about inflation on the drop, on the decline. I would talk about manufacturing booming, which the number of manufacturing jobs and construction jobs is just historic. that's what I will be talking about. And as energy prices continue to drop, prices At the pump continue to drop. I would tout that as well. And that positions you for an October and November. That basically is the question is do you want to continue the American comeback, the American renaissance, or do you want to go towards the pitfalls of socialism and government run everything that leads to massive amounts of poverty and human suffering? That's what's on the ballot in November. Like it or not, that's what's on the ballot in November. Do we want liberty? Do we want. Do we want freedom? Do we want human flourishing? Do we want economic prosperity? Or do we want the Democrats same old government intervention approach? We'll see you next time.
The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
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we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character. This is At the core on American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon Welcome to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on the program. As a brief reminder, you can subscribe, not only can you, but we would greatly recommend subscribing to the podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts At the The Core, just type in the name of the program At the with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green and you can subscribe to the podcast. We queue it up there, in your podcast library each and every afternoon, the entire show. And if you also one of the draws to the podcast is there are no commercial breaks. Now we might drop in a 30 or 60 second quick promotional spot for pre born or for AFR, but you bypass the breaks and so we jump from segment to segment and the entire show is uploaded there in the form of a podcast [email protected] and wherever you listen to podcasts, let's turn our attention to the scripture.
Paul says he circumcised Timothy out of respect for Jewish traditions
Acts chapter 16 is where we are this week. Acts chapter 16. Then he talking about Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed. But his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were At Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region. For they all knew that his father was Greek. And they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders of Jerusalem. And so the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. Here we have At first glance, seems like a contradiction by Paul here, previous chapter, making the case that Circumcision isn't required for salvation, which was the debate in Jerusalem. Now here he is participating, in the circumcision of Timothy. The point here, when you read the text accurately, is that Paul aided Timothy in circumcision out of respect for the traditions in this culture, in this Jewish culture, but not because Paul thought it was necessary for salvation. And that's an important distinction here. There are things that we in modern society, in modern culture might do out of reverence or respect for others and their cultures and their traditions, but that doesn't equate to it being necessary for salvation. And there are different, for example, different tradition, different traditions within even various Christian denominations. But that doesn't mean that the tradition equals salvation. And if you don't do the tradition, you're not saved. Now, some might take it that far, but that's an unbiblical teaching. We as Christians must remain focused on what the saying is the main thing. And the main thing that Jesus teaches, not just the main thing. The tenet that Jesus taught about salvation is it is through Jesus, the Messiah alone, faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The word in the text is belief and faith. Very complementary words in Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life and the forgiveness of sins. That is how one is saved. It's not the works that save them, as Paul writes. It's not circumcision and it's not extra biblical traditions that save them. Traditions are good. traditions can be good, but that doesn't mean that they save people. So it's very important as believers that we don't get sidetracked on practices that are not primary for salvation. And, that's what we can learn from Acts chapter 16. And that was the long way to get to my conclusion. Nonetheless, hey, speaking of Paul, we're going to be actually taking a trip to Greece coming up in March of 2027, covering part of the footsteps of Paul in March of 2027. And then the week after that. My parents are going to be in Italy taking a group through the Christian history and other history in Italy. And so if you want to go on one or both of those trips, you can go over to tours.afa.net tours.afa.net to check that out. Registration is going to close in December, but you don't want to wait until then to register because we might be full. We very likely will be, especially for Italy, that that, tour is very, very popular. My parents haven't been there in a while, so a lot of Folks are wanting to go to that, trip to Italy. You can go over to tours.aca. to check that out. Well, teeing up our discussion for the next segment, which we're going to have a guest on, from Texas Values.
The amount of money being spent to educate American schoolchildren is at historic levels
But teeing up this discussion, let's talk education in America. There's a lot of reports, throughout the year, annually that, give us a glimpse as to the trend in education in America, whether it's grade school K12 or whether we're talking higher ed. And the amount of money that states and the federal government are spending, per capita per student to educate America's school children is At historic levels. Yet we're not quite seeing historic levels of learning and test scores. We're actually seeing a precipitous drop in some of these test scores across the country. And so this, directly combats and contradicts this notion that we need to spend more money to educate America's school children. I think there's other reforms that need to take place to better improve America's educational environment. Nonetheless, we'll save my commentary for after the clip. Let's listen to clip 3.
A new report says reading and math test scores are dropping across the country
This is an ABC Good Morning America report on dropping reading and math test scores and some of the reasons why they think this is happening. Clip 3.
ABC Reports Researchers, Robin, are calling this both a reading and learning recession At schools across the country. This new report called the Education Scorecard found that reading scores are down in 83% of school districts in the U.S. in the past 10 years. Math scores dropped in 70% of districts. And this does transcend wealthy and poor districts. What's critical here is that the decline in scores started happening before the pandemic. This report says there are a couple factors to blame. One is social media. So according to Pew Research, nearly half of teens say that they are online constantly. About 1/3 of 17 year olds now say that they never or hardly ever read for fun. Researchers say that another factor is the end of that controversial no Child Left behind law that did threaten penalties on schools that didn't meet, national testing standards. critics did call it too rigid, but the data shows it did coincide with, with At least a rise in math scores. Now, the teacher shortage another issue here. This report does recommend identifying school districts that need more funding and encouraging coursework that keeps students engaged. And this is really key, keeping kids engaged, but also keeping them in class, because we know that a huge problem, especially with high schools, is those chronic absences among so many students are just not showing up in class.
Walker Wildmon All Right. So there's a couple of things we can talk about here. And I've got another clip to, to, to go with this here shortly.
Some research suggests technology in the classroom is hurting test scores
But, let's remember this precipitous drop in test scores. Once again, this is a national survey. This isn't necessarily indicative of every school district in every county and every city around the country. There's some, definitely, some anomalies, some outliers, some states, some municipalities are doing better than others, some districts are doing better than others because they figured out how to better educate children. So once again, we're talking nationally here and then I'll give some state specific numbers. But this is coming on the heels of the rise of technology in the classroom. All right, over the last, let's say, definitely eight to ten years, we've seen this surge in technology in the classroom. We've seen the deployment of laptops and tablets for every student. A lot of the coursework and homework is being done on a computer, on a screen. And so this is not boding well for those who have been pushing technology in the classroom. Now, obviously, in this technological era that we're in, again, technology ought to have some place in the classroom. So I'm not denying, that. But what I am suggesting is that this multi billion dollar rush to get a tablet in the hands of every student across America is probably going to be proven, if not already, to be a very unwise move because that isn't improving test scores. As a matter of fact, there's some research that suggests it's actually hurting test scores. So that's the first point. The second point that was alluded to in that clip is the amount of time that students are spending on social media for every minute and hour, and every day that they're spending on social media is one less minute and hour that they're spending doing homework, doing schoolwork and learning and reading. The number of students that just don't like reading is At record levels. Students are not finding interest in reading. That's a problem. And then lastly, the amount of money that we're spending per capita per student is At record levels and we're seeing very bad test scores. from a modern standpoint, so the solution isn't, well, we need to spend more money on education. That's just not going to fix it. And NewSong York is exhibit eight. So let's listen to this clip. This is going to be a representative, a spokesperson with the Heritage foundation, actually talking about how NewSong York school system has become what he calls, quote, failure factories, because they're spending $40,000 per stud in NewSong York for failing test scores. Let's listen.
It's the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again. Expecting Florida spends 27% less than the national average, the latest that I've seen. And Florida is doing a lot better, than the average, in some rankings At the top. NewSong York, they're spending 40,000 a k. I mean, come on, that's over half a million dollars for K through 12. If you gave parents half of that money and let them figure it out, they'd be much better off in NewSong York. They had a report that just came, came out showing that 43% of kids are in schools where fewer than half of them are proficient in math. So it's. These are failure factories. These are not public schools.
Walker Wildmon All right, this is, that was Corrie DeAngelis, by the way. He's a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation. He calls NewSong York school system failure factories. That was a good one. but here's the, here's the highest ranked states, per capita as far as, pupil spending. And wouldn't you know, my, query I was pulling up in A.I. just completely disappeared. But no, seriously, here's what I did see before it magically disappeared, which is quite interesting. New, York is At the top of the list. All right, NewSong York is spending the most per student compared to any other state. And so how do you rectify that? How do you look At spending $40,000 per student annually, which you do a K through 12 formula, you're At a half a million dollars per student to graduate them, but yet they're having just disastrous test scores. it just doesn't make sense. If money is the thing that they say fixes everything, which is the, pretty much the narrative out there with the teachers unions and the, big education lobbying is that, oh, we need more money, we need more money, raise teacher pay, we need more administrators, we need more superintendents. central office has to get bigger, we need more assistance, we need more non teachers, which has been the growing trend. folks, that just doesn't fix everything. Okay, NewSong York, by the way, the Democrat states are the top spenders on education. NewSong York, Vermont, NewSong Jersey for example, they're spending the most per student, upwards of 35 to $40,000 per student with failing test scores. And so I think it's safe to say that spending more money on America's education isn't going to fix the test scores. I'm pretty sure I can say that with like 99.99% confidence. How can I say that? Because we've tried it and we've been trying it for decades. Increasing spending on education without the results to follow it. And you look At what the private sector is doing with education, for example, I'll give you a very, good example that I'm intimately aware of where you can get a private education within a church centered school five days a week, seven to eight hours a day. So traditional school day, traditional hours, traditional product delivery, if you will, for like less than, less than $3,000 a year in some instances. In some states you can get a pretty private, traditional schooling education for less than $3,000 a year. But NewSong York is spending 40,000 a year and getting failing test scores. So you can't tell me that this is just about the money, folks. This is about way more than the money. We'll be back in a.
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Mary Elizabeth Castle is director of government relations at Texas Values
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Well, my computer decided to act right during the break, so I got my numbers back that I was researching and, it's funny when things just disappear, I mean literally disappear, and then they magically pop back up. so I did a page refresh and got the numbers I was looking for and I was correct. NewSong York spending the most, per student in the country. close to $40,000 per student. Now this year, NewSong Jersey's At number two, Vermont's number three. Connecticut and Pennsylvania fall At four and five. And then some of the lowest, per student spending comes from some pretty conservative states. Idaho, Utah, Mississippi, Oklahoma. And I would almost guarantee it if you run those test scores up against NewSong York's, they could compete any day of the week. But, let's talk more about education and what's going on in the state of Texas and Texas's classrooms. On with us now is Mary Elizabeth Castle. She's director of government relations At Texas values one of our allies in the movement there in the state of Texas. Mary Elizabeth, welcome to the program.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Thank you so much for having me.
The Texas State Board of Education has voted on a required Bible reading list
Walker Wildmon Well, Mary Elizabeth, tell us, for the audience, for our audience who's heard about the Texas, the new Texas law and integrating the Bible back in America's classrooms like it used to be. They've heard it talked about, they've read the headlines, but they don't really know the nuts and bolts how this is actually going to play out. What's some of the context? Give our folks, a little bit of an update on how this, new statute, this new Texas law came about.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Yeah, actually. So it's a new required reading list. So not just a law, that says that students, will have an opportunity to read the Bible, but the State Board of Education in Texas, which is a 15 member elected board, voted on a required reading list for grades K through 12. And on that required reading list, not only do they have some of the classics, some of Shakespeare and other readings that kids weren't getting in schools, but they actually have references to very important passages in the Bible, many that are often quoted in everyday life, and many important pieces of literature. And so we're very thankful that the board passed this required reading list and we expect that it'll be implemented starting the year 2030.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, this is a, very positive move here. And I like how they did this in the sense that it wasn't this broad, generic, students can read the Bible or should read the Bible. the state board actually got a little more down in the details to make sure it's maximally beneficial. And they actually, gave various approved reading lists, if you will, of, various biblical stories and passages throughout their school year. So for example, the story, the historical account of Noah's ark, David and Goliath, the, Exodus accounts involving Moses. I'm just reading off a few here. the Beatitudes, Matthew, chapter five. And so I like that even the board got more granular and more detailed in laying out for the school districts and in your case, these, what they call independent districts, the approved reading list. So let me ask you this. What does it look like for a district and for administrators and teachers? Is this required or can some opt out?
Mary Elizabeth Castle So this will be the required reading list, because of a law that was passed in 2023, House Bill 1605, it was decided by the legislature that there needed to be some required reading list or literary list for students. Because for some time, as it has been in many other states in the country. The reading rate in Texas were declining. And so they decided that there need to. Needed to be some kind of required reading list. So you're reading A Midsummer's Night Dream, and you're not reading genderqueer, that you're reading Charles Dickens and you're not reading All Boys Aren't Blue. So instead of reading some of these very explicit materials and kids walking away and not being able to even enroll in a college readiness class in English or be literate in everyday life, the legislature said it is, we must come up with the required reading list, of literary works that they must have read before they graduate From K through 12 school in order to make sure that they're competent in their classes. So this will be required. but like you said, a lot of these references are very important biblical references for historical and educational context. you mentioned David and Goliath. We actually know in literature, if you study literature, David and Goliath is a very famous trope. You even have movies that model after the David and Goliath trope. And you even have politicians saying, wow, this is a Goliath of an issue, or I beat my Goliath of an opponent. So, so many of these scriptures that are mentioned in these lists are everyday things that students just need to be aware of in order to Communicate daily. The 23rd Psalm, many people will go to a funeral and they'll hear, the 23rd Psalms quoted. And so these are very important pieces, in the Bible that relate to literature that they'll read and need to be able to understand to have greater reading comprehension.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And the fact that, once again, we're talking to Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas value. She's director of government relations there. The fact that we've excluded for so long, these passage readings and different portions of the Bible, and really the Bible more broadly has been excluded from America's classroom because there's been this false notion and stigma out there that, well, we can't have religion in our schools. That's been the kind of the talking point of the atheists and the agnostics and even some people who wouldn't classify themselves as atheist or hostile to faith in Christianity. They would even kind of parrot those talking points about, well, do we really want, you know, to be trying to make disciples in the classrooms? And that's really kind of a distracting talking point that misses the core thing that you're addressing here. And that is the fact that, number one, we should not, in this culture, have this particular disdain towards the Bible. I mean, we don't treat hardly any other, you know, general text or historical text in such disregard as we have the Scripture culturally. but nonetheless, the historical significance of the Bible on America and Western civilization more broadly, lends itself to the fact that the Bible really should be the central textbook of our educational institutions today, like it was when we first founded this nation. So my point is, this drawing of the Bible back into America's classrooms should be like the status quo. This shouldn't be an extraordinary effort to get the Bible back in America's classrooms.
Mary Elizabeth Castle You're absolutely right. since the beginning of public education in our country, there used to be a primer. And within that reading primer there were different references to Scripture and Bible verses that students had to read, in order to gain a better understanding of, different pieces of literature. It was always commonplace. like you said, we can draw so many things, historical facts and significance from biblical scripture. We know that in coming to the new land in the first place, that a lot of people came to America and founded America because they wanted to express their religious freedom. even when you think about, we are endowed by our creator, a lot of people argue that, oh, they, you know, left room for you to add who the Creator would be. But when you think about the different rights and inalienable rights that are listed and some of the principles that we have in our founding documents, documents, then you can very clearly see a Christian or biblical influence in those. like I said, so many of the pieces of literature that, from European authors and classical authors reference the Bible in some form. and even people on the everyday basis, even if they don't realize it, they sometimes do quote things that originate from the Bible. we are not asking teachers to give their thoughts or opinions on these scriptures, but when it comes to having knowledge of these scriptures, they should not be afraid or shy away from this or saying, we can't talk about that. Actually, you're doing students a disservice because the Bible is the most quoted piece of literature, or most quoted work that is out there that exists in the world. And so if it is the most quoted work, then students need to be familiar with it and other in order to understand different writings and pieces of literature. So it's very important they should not shy away with this. I absolutely agree with that. they should be free to learn about this so they can be prepared, like I said, for college and for life and just for daily, everyday speech.
Walker Wildmon Yeah. And I try to. I think it's helpful for our audience and for the general public to think about some of these discussions and topics outside of the American context. And what I mean by that is, for example, when you go to the Middle east and you go to Saudi Arabia or you go to Egypt, or you go to any kind of more developed economically and culturally nation in the Middle east that is most likely Muslim majority, the vast majority of them are, even though they come from different, kind of wings, if you will, of Islam. But, the vast majority of those schools that they have are, number one, they're Muslim schools. But I guarantee you, they're reading the Quran, they're teaching the Quran. Why? Well, because that makes sense culturally for them, because that's all they've known. and you go to, let's say, Israel, and what do you got? Well, you have Jewish schools and they're reading the Old Testament, and then you go to, let's say, Russia, which there's a lot of orthodox Christianity there, and they're probably reading the Bible. And so I give that backgrounder to say that it shouldn't be odd or unique that a nation built on the Bible is actually studying the Bible in our classrooms. And if you want to set up some secular humanist utopia where you have dominant atheism and agnosticism, then go start your own country, but don't come into Western civilization, the greatest beacon of liberty and hope and prosperity that mankind's ever known, and say we want to ditch God, which is the whole reason we have this liberty and prosperity and human flourishing, it really doesn't make sense just mathematically, when you add it up, looking At how other cultures handle it.
Mary Elizabeth Castle That's a very good point. You know, as much as, as you mentioned earlier, the flak or, uproar that we're seeing in the media about this reading list, when you go to other countries in the world, they tend to read the religious documents and the religious texts that align with that country, that culture, and it's not really, I don't think, debated. but I think there is a misunderstanding amongst some people, maybe especially in the media, that maybe America had no founding whatsoever on religion. And that just isn't true. And that's why we had to fight on another topic and social studies, to make sure that that wasn't erased. like I mentioned earlier, people came to this country for their religious freedom, specifically for their Christian faith, and have the freedom to express that. And as we see in so many of our Christian, so many of our founding documents, that the Christian influence was there. so to argue that, Christianity had no play or the Bible had no play in our history is incorrect. But because of that fact, because of that historical context, we should be able to be free to talk about it in the classroom so students can have an appreciation of even their freedom and their principles. I'm, sure in other countries, those texts, those religious texts reflect something that is in their government. And so the Bible reflects also some principles that we have on freedom, on individual liberty that students need to be able to understand and appreciate.
Walker Wildmon Absolutely.
Mary Elizabeth Castle is head of government affairs at Texas Values
We've been speaking with Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas Values. She's head of government affairs there At ah, Texas Values. Hey Mary Elizabeth, tell our folks what your website is over At Texas Values and how they can read more about your work.
Mary Elizabeth Castle Certainly our website is txvalues.org you can also follow us on social media. We're on Facebook X and Instagram. be sure to follow us on all platforms and be, be in tune for different things that are happening At the state Board of Education. We have a few more things happening this year, but please Follow [email protected] Excellent.
Walker Wildmon Hey Mary Elizabeth, thank you so much for your work. Appreciate you coming on the program.
Mary Elizabeth Castle All right. Thank you so much.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, absolutely.
Mary Elizabeth Castle: We need the Bible back in America's classrooms
That's, once again Mary Elizabeth Castle with Texas Values. She heads up their government affairs division. There's. And they are doing phenomenal work in the state of Texas. I would say the leading, conservative organization, pro family organization in Texas. I'm good friends with their, president Jonathan Science, and they are just great, great partners, doing great work and pushing a lot of conservative pro family Christian policy there on the ground in the state of Texas. Once again, that's Texas Values. And this is a positive trend, folks. This is a trend that is positive, it's encouraging, and we got to keep it going and we've got to continue combating and dispelling of the myths that God doesn't belong in our classrooms, that the Bible has no place in our textbooks. And we've got to combat that and we've got to remind people through teaching America's true history that the Bible was the central textbook in America's first universities. All right. It was a primary central textbook in America's first universities. And the clergy and the public officials of the day, which were intertwined, knew that scripture reading, biblical text reading was very important for the common man to know the principles of liberty, the principles of human flourishing, the principles of justice, the principles of civil government, the principles of family, all of these core fundamental precepts to a flourishing society and civil government and economy. Our founders knew that the Bible had all the answers. The Bible had all the answers. And if we can ensure that the common man is knowledgeable on the Scripture, we can preserve liberty. But when you have an uneducated populace that doesn't know the teachings of God's word, what do you get? You get tyranny. Because we forget, the mistakes of the past. We fall away from God's truth and his teachings, and we begin to do things that man thinks is good, that man thinks is wise, but is actually unwise and foolishness. And if you're paying attention, I pretty much just summarized where we are today. That's why we need the Bible back in America's classrooms. That's my 62nd case for that. All right, folks, we've got a lot to talk about. In the next segment, we're going to talk about the Strait of Hormuz, what's going on with Iran, some of the latest economic developments as we head into the midterm election.
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The God who Speaks is a powerful message on the authority of scripture and the voices of some of the most respected theologians of Our day, the most historic formula for the Christian church has
Walker Wildmon been when the Scripture speaks, God speaks.
The God who speaks is a 90 minute documentary which can empower Christians to share our faith and defend the authenticity of the Bible. Available At thegodwhospeaks.org or visit stream.aca.net this is At the core on American Family Radio with your host Walker W.E. wildman.
Mary Elizabeth Castle talks about integrating Bible into Texas school classrooms
Walker Wildmon Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us on the program. Very good interview with Mary Elizabeth Castle. Last segment, she's with Texas Values, talking about integrating the Bible and scripture passages and historical readings back into America's classroom, specifically in the state of Texas. This is a trend that we must continue around the country in other states as well to re normalize the reading of the Bible in America's classrooms. And if the pagan atheistic secular humanists don't like it, well, they can run for school board or they can start their own schools like Christians do. And, that's that. But this, this notion that you get to hijack America's schools and push your pagan worldview, and then you get to ditch the Bible and all of our tax dollars have to go to subsidize it. That's a no go. That's a no go. And we need to change that. We need to reverse that and get back to the original, teachings in the original text of America's school system. And that is the Bible. So that's what's going on in the state of Texas.
Walker: Oil prices have gone up since beginning of Iran conflict
Well, let's shift topics and talk a little bit of economics. And what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz. Well, I've been wondering for the last several months why oil is not more than it is per barrel now. It's gone up and it's come down. And thankfully right now, as of the, date of this recording, it's down in the $70 per barrel range. But it's gone up. And we've all seen gas prices At the pump go up since the beginning of this Iran conflict. But I always wondered and speculated why didn't it go up more? Because if you would have talked to analyst and market experts, if you will, you leading into this conflict, they would have given you these apocalyptic numbers. They would have said barrel oil will be At 120, it'll be At $150 a barrel, it'll be the end of the world. we'll run out of fuel. I mean, I can tell you now what some of those projections were based on studying this leading up to it. But here we are and we're several months into this and those apocalyptic projections just haven't come to pass. And one of the reasons is because quietly behind the scenes, the US military, working with our Arab Gulf allies, they kept the energy flowing. They kept the oil flowing both through the Strait of Hormuz on the Oman side and through other means as well towards the west, if you will. And so that's what's starting to make sense. This is why you're beginning to see energy prices level out. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright, spoke on this earlier this week. We don't have a clip of Chris Wright, we have a clip of Scott Bessent. but this, and the American energy independence is also helping here. The fact that we are At peak energy production and refining in America and we have the Venezuelan oil market now unsanctioned and on the publicly traded energy market, that's helping alleviate some of this pain as well. But I just want to read what Secretary Chris Wright said and then we'll play a clip from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary, Chris Wright, over energy said this yesterday. Thanks to the coordinated effort of the US military and our Gulf allies, the seven day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up about 9 million barrels per day. When combined with the additional 5 to 7 million barrels per day leaving the region via newly upgraded pipelines and export facilities, total oil flows are currently averaging approximately 15 barrels per day. On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian Gulf region, which is above pre conflict averages. This is very important. Anyone watching the markets, watching oil, this is very, very important. So let's play a clip that was actually from two weeks ago of treasury, Secretary Scott Besant talking about how eventually, over the next 12 to 24 months, the Strait of Hormuz is not going to be a topic of discussion. Let's listen some who've speculated the strait will never go back to being the way it was before. What would you say? I would say, I would take. I think they're saying that in a doomsday sort of way. I would say it in another way.
Walker Wildmon The strait is never going back to the way it was because the Iranians have used or tried to use it as, as a choke point. What we are going to see over the next two years, the strait is going to become irrelevant. It is going to become just another body of water. And I would say that more than 50 or 70% of the energy that moves through the Strait now is going to go through underground pipelines. All, right, here's my prediction. And always, Bobby, I always make these predictions and I forget about them until two years later. And then I say, don't you remember, Bobby, when I said that? And then we don't have enough time to go find the clip.
Bobby Roza Maybe Travis can keep us, keep track of us now.
Walker Wildmon Yeah, yeah. A list of Walker's predictions. That's actually not a bad idea. Let's see how many times I'm right. and then ask my wife. She'll tell you how many times I'm wrong. No, seriously, here's my, here's my projection just based on the, on what's publicly available now. I think, I think this marks an end to the Iran conflict as we know it. I think this marks a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict that will be noted in the history books. What do I mean by that? I mean this persistent nagging and this persistent fear factor that has been the Strait of Hormuz and that has been the energy sector for the last several months during the Iran war. Those days are gone. And the data backs this up. If you are averaging near, even close, if you're averaging near pre war energy output levels coming from the region and you still have Iran over there smack talking but actually doing nothing, then that's it, this thing's over. And this is why President Trump said just late last week and going into this week, he said, I'm low keying it and I've actually recommended he stop talking about it. If I were the President's advisors, I would tell President Trump to cut down on the questions and answers on Iran to like every other day, once a week, just stop talking about it. All right? Because we, if the US Military and our allies in the region have energy output At near pre war levels and averages, then this Iran is just a big paper tiger here At this juncture. Now, I'm not dismissing the threat that they've posed in months past. I'm just telling you where we are today. Because President Trump has virtually made no concessions. He's actually backed off of the memorandum of understanding because Iran broke it and we're back blockading their ships. So this isn't like things have gotten, quote, better from a relations standpoint. Things have actually deteriorated. There's even signs that they're not even talking anymore. And so if Iran and the US Pretty much aren't even talking anymore, Iran's throwing out all these bluffs. But the US Is securing near pre war levels of energy output in the region. Folks, Iran's threats are over. And so I could be wrong. I always reserve the right to be wrong. We could be sitting here in three weeks and the war has, quote, heated back up and something changes. But just what I'm seeing right now, this conflict is virtually over from a vantage point of it being a serious concern economically and otherwise.
Another thing that gives me confidence in this assessment is today's inflation numbers
Another thing that gives me confidence in this assessment is today's inflation numbers. All right? Now, we've had weaker GDP numbers. there's some explanation for that because of the war, and reduced government spending, which I view as a positive. and we've seen some weaker employment data. But once again, that's because that's 100% because of government layoffs, which, once again, I do not see that as a problem. The private sector's been doing okay, actually. But the inflation numbers today, just out, this morning, show, inflation, core inflation, excluding energy and housing, down At 2.5%. So we're only a half basis point, actually technically five basis points off of the Fed's target on core CPI, we're At 2.5. The Fed's stated target, although I think it's quite unreasonable, is two. And it came in flat. And this is after all of the Iran saga. And so, and by the way, in that core CPI number is factoring in last month, which had all the bombing, all the, the shooting At ships, the Jordanian missiles, missiles. I mean, all of that was factored in during that time frame. And we're At 2.5. We're flat. We came in At estimate. And so, with energy prices on the decline. And so if this is the case, and if, if we can continue these energy output levels within our Arab allies and their nations, meanwhile, they're building out more capacity to get energy out of the region, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, then Iran has no more cards to play here. And that's what Secretary Bessent is talking about, is that Iran has no more cards to play. So let's play this clip on CPI and how core inflation is actually back where it was before the Iran conflict, clipped to it.
Seems to me this is pretty good news. It is good news. And I could not help but note that the annual rate of core CPI inflation, that's excluding food and energy, you want energy out of it because of the matter in Iran, take that out. 2.5% in July. That's back to where it was prior to the start of the Iran conflict. This tells me that inflation is not spreading out beyond energy, beyond gasoline prices. Good news.
Walker Wildmon There you have it. So core CPI inflation reading, is back At pre war levels. So we have oil prices back At near pre war levels. And the, the translation over to the pump, by the way, for those wondering, that takes time. Okay. It doesn't. Even though the prices do fluctuate daily on the gas price, the gas pump price, when you're talking about oil per barrel cost and that translating over to savings At the pump, that takes time. That takes weeks. All right. That doesn't go up and down overnight, Bobby.
Yeah.
Bobby & Walker Not to mention we're still under, summer blend conditions as well, which, the price of gasoline, I think it's just something the industry does, because of more summer travel for vacations and so forth. Yeah. But it's a way for the industry to jack up the price, per gallon, based on summer, blends, which are to reduce pollution levels and so forth. Yeah. And to your point, we're basically on the tail end of peak travel season. That's correct. So prices being up this time of year is not unusual. Yes. so you could look At a pretty substantial relief coming up in the fall At the pump once again, barring something happening that I don't foresee, you know, something that is out of the ordinary with Iran or another geopolitical situation, you could see going into fall some pretty serious relief At the pump. you could see, core inflation continue to trend down. And as I have said before, the other side of this looks good. The market is virtually unfazed by the Iran situation, which is quite interesting. But the stock market and the market in general is quite unfazed by this Iran situation. But I think the reason that the market has virtually moved on from the Iran conflict is because they know what I'm telling you here, and that is the energy is flowing in the region. Now, the media may not tell you this. Iran is going to blow smoke, but the energy is flowing through the street. The energy is flowing through the West. And, that's what the energy market knows. That's why oil is At $70 a barrel, because these folks study this day in and day out. They eat, sleep, and breathe the energy markets. That's why they, know, and that's why energy prices, go up and down based on what's developing in the region. And so that's a positive trend. We'll see where this goes. We'll see if I'm right. But I think with the developments over the past couple of weeks, and the CPI number coming out today, I think this marks a pivot away from the Iran conflict. And President Trump, as I said he said earlier this week or late last week, I'm taking it low key on Iran. And that's exactly what I would do. I would just stop talking about it. I would talk about the economy, I would talk about inflation on the drop, on the decline. I would talk about manufacturing booming, which the number of manufacturing jobs and construction jobs is just historic. that's what I will be talking about. And as energy prices continue to drop, prices At the pump continue to drop. I would tout that as well. And that positions you for an October and November. That basically is the question is do you want to continue the American comeback, the American renaissance, or do you want to go towards the pitfalls of socialism and government run everything that leads to massive amounts of poverty and human suffering? That's what's on the ballot in November. Like it or not, that's what's on the ballot in November. Do we want liberty? Do we want. Do we want freedom? Do we want human flourishing? Do we want economic prosperity? Or do we want the Democrats same old government intervention approach? We'll see you next time.
The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon welcomes Mary Elizabeth Castle, Director of Government Relations at Texas Values, to break down Texas's bold new public school curriculum that weaves in Bible passages and stories, and what it means for families and the classroom.
Walker also covers Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's claim that the Strait of Hormuz is becoming irrelevant as Gulf allies find ways around Iran's favorite choke point, along with fresh inflation numbers that have cooled back to where they stood before the Iran conflict began.
Rounding out the show, Walker digs into troubling new reports on collapsing reading and math scores, rising social media addiction, and chronic absenteeism nationwide, plus a Heritage Foundation breakdown of New York's costly failure factories, where taxpayers spend forty thousand dollars a year per student.
💬 Show Notes
(00:00) - American Family Radio thanks its sponsor, Preborn
(02:09) - Paul says he circumcised Timothy out of respect for Jewish traditions
(06:22) - The amount of money being spent to educate American schoolchildren is at historic levels
(07:24) - A new report says reading and math test scores are dropping across the country
(08:54) - Some research suggests technology in the classroom is hurting test scores
(16:12) - Mary Elizabeth Castle is director of government relations at Texas Values
(17:29) - The Texas State Board of Education has voted on a required Bible reading list
(29:06) - Mary Elizabeth Castle is head of government affairs at Texas Values
(29:47) - Mary Elizabeth Castle: We need the Bible back in America's classrooms
(32:35) - The Ministry of Preborn helps rescue babies in high abortion areas
(35:01) - Mary Elizabeth Castle talks about integrating Bible into Texas school classrooms
(36:26) - Walker: Oil prices have gone up since beginning of Iran conflict
(43:56) - Another thing that gives me confidence in this assessment is today's inflation numbers
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