Did Voice of the Martyrs mishandle a Nigerian scandal? - HOW A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL RESPONDED TO TRAGEDY HOMESCHOOL ATHLETICS, HOMESCHOOL PIONEERS
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Did Voice of the Martyrs mishandle a Nigerian scandal?
SEPTEM B ER 1, 2018
HOW A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
RESPONDED TO TRAGEDY
HOMESCHOOL ATHLETICS,
HOMESCHOOL PIONEERS
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CONTENTS
| September 1, 2018 • Volume 33 • Number 16
34 40 46
52 59
F E AT U R E S DISPATCH E S
BACK TO SCHOOL
9 News Analysis / Human Race /
Quotables / Quick Takes
34 Responding to ‘the unimaginable’
When a trusted individual sins in a way that can ruin dozens of CU LT U R E
young lives, Christian groups and communities need to respond 21 Movies & TV / Books /
quickly. Here’s one case study of ongoing recovery
Children’s Books / Music / Q&A
40 Papered over NO T EBOOK
Biblical truth-telling at college newspapers can sometimes conflict
59 Lifestyle / Technology /
with the way administrators want to portray the school. Here’s a
case study of how Liberty University handled the tension last spring Medicine
46 Equal opportunity players VOICE S
Many U.S. homeschoolers want to participate in public school 6 Joel Belz
sports, but some states have resisted them 18 Janie B. Cheaney
32 Mindy Belz
52 Far away from home 65 Mailbag
A sex and financial abuse case in Nigeria raises questions of 67 Andrée Seu Peterson
accountability for U.S. groups funding overseas ministries 68 Marvin Olasky
ON THE COVER: Illustration by Krieg Barrie
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E S T. 1 8 5 9
Notes from the CEO “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof;
the world and those who dwell therein.”
—Psalm 24:1
ou may have heard in recent weeks of the impact of tariffs on
some newsrooms in America. Because of increased prices on
Y
Chief Content Officer Nick Eicher
newsprint paper produced in Canada, many newspapers, Editor in Chief Marvin Olasky
Senior Editor Mindy Belz
already operating on razor-thin margins, have reduced news-
room headcounts. At some newspapers, layoffs have begun Editor Timothy Lamer
already, and they’re blaming the tariffs. National Editor Jamie Dean
Managing Editor Daniel James Devine
Don’t believe it. Art Director David K. Freeland
Associate Art Director Robert L. Patete
I’m not necessarily defending these tariffs. Clearly, increased costs make it Reporters Emily Belz • Charissa Crotts
Sophia Lee • Jim Long • Harvest Prude
harder for businesses to operate profitably. And in businesses already struggling to East Asia Bureau June Cheng • Angela Lu Fulton
Story Coach Susan Olasky
be sustainable, such increases can have serious consequences. But the underlying Senior Writers Janie B. Cheaney
cause of economic distress in the newspaper industry—the whole news industry— Andrée Seu Peterson • John Piper
Edward E. P
lowman • Lynn Vincent
is diminishing demand for the content the industry supplies. Correspondents Sandy Barwick • Megan Basham
Julie Borg • Anthony Bradley • Bob Brown
Paper costs are increasing for WORLD Magazine (and our children’s maga- Michael Cochrane • John Dawson
Juliana Chan Erikson • Katie Gaultney
zines) too, although not because of the tariffs. The price of the paper we use in our Charles Horton • Mary Jackson • Sharla Megilligan
Jill Nelson • Henry Olsen • Arsenio Orteza
magazines—“coated” paper, not newsprint—is unaffected by the tariffs. For now. Jenny Lind Schmitt • Russell St. John
Marty VanDriel • Jae Wasson
But with paper mills consolidating and closing, demand for coated paper Mailbag Editor Les Sillars
Executive Assistant June McGraw
currently exceeds supply, leading to backlogs and likely to price increases. Editorial Assistants Kristin Chapman
Amy Derrick • Mary Ruth Murdoch
One other factor may add some unpredictability to paper prices in coming Graphic Designer Rachel Beatty
Illustrator Krieg Barrie
months: China-based companies now provide more than 25 percent of North Digital Production Assistant Arla J. Eicher
American paper production. That’s a large-enough share to allow those companies
the power to affect the entire market, should they decide to. Website wng.org
Executive Editor Mickey McLean
I probably pay closer attention to the paper markets than most people, since Assistant Editors Kiley Crossland
Lynde Langdon • Dan Perkins
paper costs do figure significantly in our budgeting at WORLD. But rising costs Reporter Onize Ohikere
aren’t leading to layoffs here, because you have made it clear that demand for Correspondents Gaye Clark • Samantha Gobba
Rob Holmes • Bonnie Pritchett • Julia A. Seymour
WORLD’s content is high, and increasing. Because of your increasing support for Editorial Assistant Whitney Williams
WORLD, you ensure an increasing supply.
Website wng.org/radio
Executive Producer/Cohost Nick Eicher
Managing Editor J.C. Derrick
News Editor Leigh Jones
Cohost Mary Reichard
Reporters Kent Covington • Jim Henry
Sarah Schweinsberg
Correspondents Paul Butler • Mary Coleman
Kevin Martin Laura Finch • George Grant • Kim Henderson
Cal Thomas • Emily Whitten
kevin@wng.org Producers Johnny Franklin • Carl Peetz (technical)
Kristen Flavin (field)
Listening In Warren Cole Smith • Rich Roszel
CONTACT US: 800.951.6397 / WNG.ORG Chief Executive Officer Kevin Martin
Founder Joel Belz
Development Pierson Gerritsen • Debra Meissner
Follow us on Twitter: @WORLD_mag Andrew Belz • Sandy Barwick
Administration Kerrie Edwards
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VOICE S Joel Belz
controllers and President Ronald Reagan’s firm
response. For that story, as for hundreds in the
issues that followed, we sought to pursue
fascinating coverage of current events, written
on an age-appropriate level, and always with
fitting Biblical truth in mind. Soon we were
Nose for news
doing five different graded editions, and
circulation soared to over 250,000 a week.
Two significant events followed. Parents of
AT WORLD, WE KNOW EVEN KIDS CRAVE our young readers more and more frequently
came back to us, saying: “We like this. We
A GOOD NEWS SOURCE read this with our kids. When are you going
to do an edition for adults?” Wisely or not,
Do you remember the name of the we listened. WORLD magazine appeared in
R very first daily newspaper you got
serious about reading? Or what prompted
1986—a child of our children’s ministry. No,
the God’s World News papers are
that behavior in the first place? not a junior version of WORLD.
The people who publish newspapers WORLD is actually, and histori-
might like to hear from you. Their ability cally, a senior version of the kids’
to convert young readers into loyal papers! Think it through, and
customers has hit hard, hard times. you’ll appreciate the difference.
For me, it was The Des Moines Register The second significant event
that first hooked me with a daily exposure was the advent of the internet.
to the fascinating size, variety, and color of Arriving through the 1990s—and
God’s great world—although it was certainly then with a vengeance through the
my parents who taught me to think of it all 2000s—digital publishing
in that God-centered way. From the Register, threatened the print media
I graduated to The Wall Street Journal. Both industry everywhere. Remember
Dad and Mom read it faithfully, and I was Weekly Reader’s circulation of over
intrigued that a newspaper with no pictures 4 million? Today, Weekly Reader is
could so unfailingly hold their interest. no longer in business, having been
Another newspaper, though, has shaped my bought by another company and
life more permanently. It was called My Weekly then closed down.
Reader, and although it wasn’t in the same But God’s World News, in God’s
journalistic league with the Register and the good providence, remains very much
Journal, its circulation (over 4 million at its in business! We publish at three
peak) easily topped both of them. My Weekly levels: Early readers will find God’s
Reader was distributed through schools across Big WORLD a good fit, elementary students
America, virtually free to the children and their
Our goal is to will enjoy WORLDkids, and young teens will
parents. Something like 90 percent of all be editorially appreciate WORLDteen. Stories vary among
American adults remember My Weekly Reader, ready with the three levels, covering progressively more
and for almost all of them, it’s a pleasant detailed topics and concepts, but not the sort of
memory. World news, written for kids. solid world “adult” news topics that parents or teachers
It was exactly such a memory in 1981 that news from a would have to censor.
prompted me to propose to the organization Biblical Of critical importance is the fact that each of
where I was working that we create a weekly the levels includes its own bimonthly print
newspaper for Christian children. World news, mindset. magazine, its own interactive website, and its
written for kids—but with an important own mobile app. Our goal is to be editorially
distinctive. This newspaper would come from a ready with solid world news from a Biblical
Biblical perspective. We could circulate it, I mindset, as well as with a technological package
suggested, through Christian schools, through that will challenge and involve tens of thou-
home schools, and among other Christian sands of inquiring minds.
families who might be interested. What’s your goal? Maybe you can think of a
Our first edition (called It’s God’s World) child, a family, or even a school classroom that
appeared as the 1981 school year opened. Our would benefit from your gift invested on their
lead story highlighted the strike of the air traffic behalf. We will welcome your involvement. A
6 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018 jbelz@wng.org
Five regional winners were
selected based on their
embodiment of effective
compassion. The overall
winner is selected by you.
Voting
ends Sept. 8th, so
VOTE NOW
at wng.org/compassionDISPATCHES News Analysis / Human Race / Quotables / Quick Takes
A home destroyed
Alyson Kohl of Redding, Calif., combs
through the remains of her home
after it was burned out in California’s
Carr Fire. “The joke used to be we
were going to have an earthquake and
California would fall into the ocean,”
Kohl said. “Instead of an earthquake
we’re just going to burn up.”
JOHN LOCHER/AP
Manage your membership: wng.org/membership September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 9D I S PA T C H E S News Analysis
Facing waves
EARLY AUGUST PROFILES IN COURAGE
AND COWARDICE by Marvin Olasky
The Pacific, contrary to its name,
R has violent waves, but the
smoothest boat ride I ever had was
crossing that ocean to Japan on a
freighter loaded with Canadian timber.
That’s because the ship had “bottom,”
as 18th-century mariners would say,
with all that wooden ballast keeping it
steady even during high winds and
waves. Journalists back then applied
the same word to leaders like George
Washington who showed steadfastness
amid adversity.
Google in 2010 showed bottom
when it pulled out of China to avoid
complicity in the Communist
government’s censorship of information
about freedom and democracy. But
money talks, and the goal of Google’s
new “Dragonfly” project is apparently a
return to China, this time as a lap dog
for China’s dictators. On Aug. 3 Marco
Rubio and five other U.S. senators sent
a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai
requesting Dragonfly details and
asking, “What has changed since 2010
to make Google comfortable represent in Washington. August Heng; Zion c hildren only toward
ZION CHURCH: NG HAN GUAN/AP • HENG: MARC BLAKE • ARGENTINA: NATACHA PISARENKO/AP
Church in
cooperating with the rigorous started off with Facebook discriminat- a homosexual
Beijing;
censorship regime in China?” ing against an ad for Heng that honors pro-abortion identity or a gender
Some on the front lines in China her parents, who survived the protesters in transition. The state
showed more bottom than Google Communist takeover in Cambodia that Argentina may yank the license
displays, even though the Goliath led to the death of one-fourth of the (clockwise of any professional
from left)
company has a safe haven in Mountain population. Facebook first said no to who thinks that’s not
View, Calif. In Beijing, 34 evangelical the photos of some victims, but the helpful and offers
churches called on the Chinese Heng campaign showed bottom by advice based on his beliefs.
government to respect the Chinese holding firm. After five days of protest, But Aug. 9 brought some good news:
Constitution’s clause respecting Facebook announced its approval of the Don’t cry for Argentina, because mem-
freedom of religious belief. The largest, ad, since the video “contains historical bers of its Senate displayed surprising
Zion Church, refused a government imagery relevant to the candidate’s bottom as they voted 38-31 against a bill
demand for surveillance cameras in the story.” that would have legalized abortion up
church’s auditorium. Police have shut It takes a lot of bottom to stand firm to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion in
down Zion’s six satellite sites and its against today’s LGBT+ steamroller, and Argentina is legal in cases of rape and
public WeChat site, which posted few politicians seem to qualify. health risks, but that wasn’t enough for
sermons, devotionals, and church Delaware became the 14th state—the protesters enraged by the vote: They
announcements. fifth this year—to ban any therapy that threw firebombs and glass bottles.
Facebook’s office on 1 Hacker Way offers options for minors struggling Doctors who show bottom by
in Menlo Park, Calif., is 170 miles from with same-sex attraction or gender refusing to do abortions are facing a
the 16th Congressional District, which dysphoria. Its new law says licensed threatening campaign from their
Republican Elizabeth Heng hopes to professionals may propel confused pro-abortion peers. Unconscionable:
10 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018BY THE NUMBERS
When Providers Deny Abortion Care, a
report of a conference in Uruguay with
participants from 22 countries,
contended that conscientious objection
$716 billion
The amount of military funding (though 2019) in a defense bill President
to abortion should be renamed
46%
Donald Trump signed Aug. 13. The act boosts military pay by 2.6 percent.
“dishonorable disobedience” and “a
violation of medical ethics.” Four new
articles in The American Journal of
Bioethics suggest that doctors who
won’t do abortions “avoid fulfilling
their moral duty” because they are
purportedly putting their own beliefs
ahead of their patients’ welfare. The
bioethicists also said religious hospitals
that won’t do abortions “can get out of
the hospital business.” The percentage of Americans in a new PRRI survey who said business
Here’s what took no bottom: About owners should be allowed to refuse to provide wedding services to same-sex
70 news outlets said they would join couples on religious grounds. Last year, the figure was 41 percent.
The Boston Globe on Aug. 16 in
editorializing against President Donald
Trump’s criticism of liberal press bias.
At a rally on Aug. 2 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
Trump had continued his attack on
“fake news” by asking, “What ever
$289.2 million
The amount a California state jury on Aug. 10 ordered Monsanto Co.
happened to the free press? What ever to pay a man who claimed the company’s Roundup and Ranger Pro
happened to honest reporting?”
301
weedkillers caused his cancer.
Those are good questions, but
instead of answering them, the Globe’s
Marjorie Pritchard wrapped herself in
the Constitution: “An attack on the
First Amendment is unacceptable.”
True, but decades of propagandistic
reporting by her newspaper and others
has done more to undermine public
support for the First Amendment than
any recent White House messages. A
The number of Catholic “predator priests” from six Pennsylvania dioceses
who are alleged to have sexually abused over 1,000 boys and girls since
VOTING FOR THE 2018 HOPE the 1940s, according to a Pennsylvania grand jury report.
AWARDS FOR EFFECTIVE
$3.3 million
COMPASSION ENDS ON SEPT. 8.
Please go to wng.org/compassion
and vote for whichever of the
Final Five moves you the most. To
nominate a Christian poverty-
fighting group in your own back- The amount earned by Chicago Airbnb hosts who rented out their homes
yard for the 2019 competition, during the Lollapalooza music festival in August, according to the company.
please email Charissa Crotts
$477,000
(ccrotts@wng.org) a brief descrip-
tion of why the ministry impresses
you, and include its name, address,
and website. To be eligible,
groups must offer challenging,
personal, and spiritual help, with The amount of lunch money police say two female public school cafeteria
funding from individuals and workers—sisters—pilfered from cash registers at the high school
churches, not the government. and middle school in New Canaan, Conn., from 2012 to 2017.
molasky@wng.org @MarvinOlasky September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 11D I S PA T C H E S Human Race
Austin and Geoghegan Hinted last year’s Thomas Fire,
Social media which burned 281,893
users on the acres in Ventura and Santa
popular Chinese Barbara counties. The
Sina Weibo blaze consisted of two dif-
microblog have ferent fires that met around
begun speculat- Clear Lake, growing for
ing at a possible days and destroying 75
loosening of homes. Firefighters across
their govern- California struggled to con-
ment’s restric- tain 16 different fires in the
tions on birth middle of a hot, dry sum-
control after the mer, including an Orange
release of this County fire where the state
year’s official ordered mass evacuations
zodiac stamps. and a blaze that has already
The govern- claimed eight casualties in
ment’s design for Shasta County.
the upcoming
Year of the Pig Sanctioned
shows a happy The U.S. Department of the
pig family with Treasury released a state-
Murdered Charged two parents and three ment promising sanctions
An ISIS-inspired terrorist Denmark has charged a piglets. Bloggers have con- for top Turkish officials
plowed into a group of woman for the first time nected the picture with a responsible for the arrest
seven bicyclists in under a new law banning similar design from two and detainment of
Tajikistan on July 29, killing full-face veils. She was years ago, a American Pastor Andrew
four of them. Two of the arrested after police sketch with Brunson. Brunson, who
four killed were Americans, were called to a fight two babies in had lived in Turkey for 20
Jay Austin and Lauren between her and the happy years, was arrested in 2016
BICYCLISTS: HANDOUT • DENMARK: MARTIN SYLVEST/AFP/GETTY IMAGES • BRUNSON: EMRE TAZEGUL/AP
Geoghegan, both 29, who another woman at the family. That and charged with aiding
had quit their jobs to top of an escalator in a stamp was armed terrorist organiza-
embark on a biking tour of Copenhagen mall. One released tions and stealing govern-
the world in July of 2017. early report suggested months ment secrets. If he is
Friends told the media that the fight began after one before the convicted, he could face
the couple wanted to meet woman tried to rip off government changed its life in prison. The Treasury
new people and see new the other’s face veil. Police infamous one-child policy Department said in its
places, and that they had a charged both with violating to permit families a sec- statement that
strong belief in the good- the peace and asked the ond child. According these charges
ness of human nature. woman wearing a niqab to to the BBC, many are not
“People, the narrative goes, take it off. She refused, and of the commenta- backed by
are not to be trusted. the police fined her under tors said they sufficient
People are bad. People are the new law on face would find more facts to
evil,” Austin wrote. “I don’t coverings. children to be warrant
buy it.” He called economically Turkey’s
evil “a make- unfeasible, even if it treatment of
believe concept.” was permitted. the pastor.
According to a President Donald Trump
friend, Austin Burned has frequently voiced
had ridden a The Mendocino Complex displeasure at Brunson’s
scooter across Fire has become the big- continued imprisonment,
America in 2013. gest in California history, tweeting that the pastor is
He nicknamed Veiled women destroying over 336,000 a “great Christian” and
protest arrest
the scooter acres across several north- should be released
in Denmark.
Rousseau. ern counties. It outstripped immediately.
12 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018 Visit WORLD Digital: wng.orgOnline Christian Education
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Call 800-682-7396 or visit
aoacademy.com/free-consultation to learn more!D I S PA T C H E S Quotables
‘I’ve been a cop
for 30 years.
I’ve never seen
anything like
this.’
‘Liberals Taos County (N.M.) Sheriff
JERRY HOGREFE on rescuing
can’t
11 malnourished children at a
squalid desert compound.
Police arrested two men—Siraj
bully me.’
Wahhaj and Lucas Morton—
and three women at the scene.
WEST: JAMES DEVANEY/GC IMAGES • RYAN: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP • CHICAGO: JOSHUA LOTT/GETTY IMAGES • COMPOUND: TAOS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE • MOORE: HANDOUT
Police described the men as
“heavily armed and considered
extremist of the Muslim belief.”
Rap star KANYE WEST on being
told that openly supporting
President Trump would
ruin his career.
‘I didn’t realize.’
House Speaker PAUL RYAN, R-Wis., on
President Trump’s past nickname for ‘Maybe it’s time
him: “Boy Scout.” Ryan only realized it
was an insult after the president
we got in one
announced he would stop using it, another’s
following passage of the GOP tax business.’
reform bill last December. Author BETH MOORE in a
series of tweets urging
Christian leaders
to be more
accountable.
‘It’s a war The tweets
came after
zone going on reports of
former
right now. Chicago Chicago mega-
church pastor Bill
is just crazy.’ Hybels’ alleged sexual miscon-
duct over several decades. Lead
Pastor Heather Larson and the
DONOVAN PRICE, a pastor in Chicago, entire elder board at Willow
after 11 people were killed and 70 were Creek Community Church have
wounded over a three-day span said they will resign. Elder Missy
during early August in the city. Rasmussen said the elders had
been “reflexively protective” of
Hybels.
14 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018 Give the gift of clarity: wng.org/giftofclarityD I S PA T C H E S Quick Takes
Browsing burglar
A California teenage burglar’s thievery plot was spoiled when he woke up the
owners of the home he had entered illegally. But the awakening wasn’t an
accident; he reportedly woke them up to ask for the Wi-Fi network password.
One of the homeowners told police he got out of bed after being awakened
and pushed the young intruder down the hall and out the door. After the victim
called police, authorities arrested the 17-year-old suspect just a block away.
Police say two knives were missing from the home’s kitchen and that the
intruder’s motives weren’t clearly known.
Valuable pawn
You wouldn’t normally find a $250,000 violin at
LBC Boutique and Loan, a pawn shop in
Somerville, Mass. But in July someone sold a
Ferdinando Gagliano violin, handcrafted in 1759, to
the shop for $50. Police say the violin had been
stolen and that they have returned it to its owner.
Dylan McDermitt, manager of LBC Boutique and
Loan, told Boston 25 News that the store will from
now on require sellers of musical instruments to
prove ownership by playing them.
A nose for crime
ILLUSTRATION: KRIEG BARRIE • SOMBRA: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP • MCDERMITT: HANDOUT • CARTER: LOUISE CARTER/SWNS.COM
It’s not surprising that a veteran Colombian cop has two armed bodyguards
and travels in a van with tinted windows, given that the police veteran has a
bounty on her head. The surprise is that the object of all this security is a
6-year-old German shepherd named Sombra. Colombian police say Sombra
has sniffed out 2,000 kilos of cocaine hidden in suitcases, boats, and shipments
of fruit and helped lead police to make 245 arrests. Her success has reportedly
caused the Gulf Clan drug cartel to offer a reward of $7,000 to anyone who
kills or captures the dog. Sombra’s handler, Officer Jose Rojas, says Sombra
has both the obedient temperament and natural talent required for the job:
“Her sense of smell is far beyond that of other dogs.”
No horsing around
You can’t walk through a drive-thru lane, but at
one U.K. McDonald’s, you can’t even trot through.
Louise Carter tried proceeding through a
McDonald’s drive-thru lane in Worcestershire
while riding her horse Oliver in July. According to
a social media posting made by Carter, a
McDonald’s employee refused to take her order
because she wasn’t in a car. According to
McDonald’s website, the company only serves
drive-thru customers in motor vehicles.
16 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018Center-field surprise
Some fans may have made fun of his headgear. But Chicago Cubs fan
Kyle McAleer must be happy he chose to wear a bucket on his head
during a baseball game at Wrigley Field on July 24. During the Cubs
game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a metal pin fell out of the
center-field scoreboard and struck McAleer in the head. The plastic
bucket afforded some protection, but McAleer, 20, still needed staples
in his scalp to fix the cut. Club officials say the loose pin fell when a tile
was being changed.
MCALEER: HANDOUT • PESKIN: ERIC RISBERG/AP • OHIO BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES: RONI ZEMELMAN/FACEBOOK • PETKOV: OGNEN TEOFILOVSKI/REUTERS/NEWSCOM • WILSON: NAM Y. HUH/AP
Eat out or else Bound for the record books
Elected officials in San Francisco are mulling The quest for a record led a 64-year-old Bulgarian man to swim 2 miles while
an unusual move designed to prop up local enclosed in a sack. Yane Petkov completed the 2.1-mile swim in Macedonia’s
eateries. Supervisors Ahsha Safai and Aaron Lake Ohrid on July 24. Along with swimming while enclosed in a sack, Petkov
Peskin unveiled a measure on July 31 that was also bound by chains on his feet and hands. The Bulgarian man originally set
would ban local companies from providing food the record for bound swimming in 2013. That record—nearly 1.3 miles—stood for
to their employees. According to Safai and just three months until an Indian man broke it. Petkov says he trained for only
Peskin’s logic, corporate cafeterias like ones at two weeks to retake his record.
Twitter or Uber steal potential customers from
local businesses. The law
would not allow a firm to
have an “industrial
kitchen in your office
building,” Peskin
said. “People will
have to go out and
eat lunch with the
rest of us.”
Creative license
An inventive Ohio bureaucrat has devised a
method of convincing Clevelanders to pose
properly for driver’s license photos. Beneath
the camera at an Ohio Bureau of Motor
Vehicles office in the Cleveland area, an
employee taped a picture of former Cleveland
Cavaliers star forward LeBron James in a Los
Angeles uniform. James left Cleveland by sign-
ing as a free The Windy City way
agent with the Willie Wilson’s campaign strategy could be
Los Angeles called bold and without pretense, but it can’t be
Lakers on July called illegal. The Illinois State Board of Elections
9, a move that said Wilson, a candidate for mayor of Chicago,
gave Cleveland broke no rules when he handed over $300,000
sports fans in cash and checks to parishioners of New
the blues. Covenant Missionary Baptist Church on July 22.
Many driver’s Critics accused Wilson, who is also a millionaire
license agen- businessman, of trying to buy the votes of the
cies discour- 2,000 attendees. An aide to Wilson told WGN
age people the money came from Wilson’s charitable orga-
from smiling nization and called the giveaway a property tax
when taking relief effort. An official with the Board of Elections said the event didn’t violate
their license campaign laws because the money came from Wilson’s organization. Illinois Gov.
photo. Bruce Rauner joined Wilson at the event.
Manage your membership: wng.org/membership September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 17VOICE S Janie B. Cheaney
nrealistic than a caricature. But an unwary or
u
inattentive viewer could easily be fooled.
Digital imaging technology, from CGI to
motion capture to human image synthesis to
“deep video portraiture,” is now available to any
tech-savvy tinkerer able to appropriate the
In too deep?
lingo and software. Only last winter, so many
fake-but-convincing celebrity porn videos were
showing up on Reddit that the website had to
ban them. But any savvy browser can find them,
THE MANIPULATION OF IMAGES AND VOICES along with software downloads and countless
IS MOVING OFF THE SIDELINES web forums trading tips and how-tos.
What this means
In the last week of 2016, I lined up at the is, anyone with
R box office to see Rogue One, the Star Wars
prequel. I had not heard much about it
knowledge, pretty
good hardware, and a
beforehand, so I was startled by the appearance few hundred images
of Grand Moff Tarkin (villain of Star Wars: A of you could produce
New Hope), played by the original actor from a video of you saying
1977. Peter Cushing had been dead for 22 years, whatever the engineer
but his head was masterfully superimposed on wants to hear. The
the body of a live actor. The appearance of a quality would vary,
young Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the last and the voice, at least
moment of the film enhanced the creep factor, so far, would depend
as her death on Dec. 27 was still headline news. on a talented
Digital facial manipulation isn’t new; it impersonator. But
made a notable appearance in The Crow, a 1994 voice tech is catching
martial-arts movie featuring Brandon Lee. up—in a few years,
When Lee was accidentally killed during Digital improved sound could match improved video
filming, the remaining footage had to be shot in a product that looks entirely convincing. At
with a body double and some seat-of-the-pants imaging that point, “fake news” moves off the sidelines
computer-generated imaging (CGI) techniques. technology of political theater and becomes a major player.
Since the 1990s CGI has made massive strides in is now In a speech to the Atlantic Council last July,
verisimilitude, and with Rogue One we haven’t Sen. Marco Rubio warned about the potential:
seen the end of it. Reviving Carrie Fisher was available “People are doing it for fun with off-the-shelf
impressive—and disturbing—enough, but to any technology. Imagine it in the hands of a nation
computer imaging is just getting started. In tech-savvy state.” A frightening thought indeed—but does
fact, we’ve entered the age of “deep fakes.” it really put truth at risk?
Where technology is concerned, when it tinkerer In the last volume of C.S. Lewis’ Space
comes to deep anything I’m in deep as soon as I able to Trilogy (That Hideous Strength), the hapless
step off the Wikipedia ledge. But “deep fake,” a appropriate protagonist is persuaded to write misleading
product of deep learning (that is, the ability of editorials to advance the power-mad dreams of
artificial intelligence to improve itself by trial the lingo and his corrupt organization. His protest that
and error) is an obvious danger sign on the software. educated people will see through the ruse is
frontier of computer science. That’s because it’s met with scorn: “It’s the educated reader who
no longer on the frontier. Last spring, comedian can be gulled. … When did you meet a workman
Jordan Peele released a video of Barack Obama who believes the papers? He takes for granted
warning about manipulated images of real that they’re all propaganda.”
people saying things they never actually said. The genuine truth-seeker is rare: People
Only it wasn’t really Obama in that video; it was tend to believe what they want to believe, and
Peele imitating his voice, with the visual image conviction precedes evidence. Deceptive tech-
of the president synchronized to the lip nology may increase gullibility, but it’s more
movements of the comedian. The voice wasn’t likely to increase skepticism. That makes God’s
LUCASFILM LTD.
quite right, and the visual sometimes wobbled Word even more precious. Our safeguard is not
toward uncanny-valley territory, where an A CGI Princess Leia outlawing deep fakes, but holding fast to deep
image that’s close to real can seem more in Rogue One truth. A
18 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018 jcheaney@wng.org @jbcheaneyCOAH COME OVER AND HELP
CULTURE Movies & TV / Books / Children’s Books / Music / Q&A
Movie maps of constellations you
Becoming best friends
can use to find your way
home. And the fearsome
black paint smeared over
ALPHA HAS STRONG ELEMENTS, BUT IT COULD HAVE faces and chests? That’s
bison dung. Because smell-
BEEN BETTER by Megan Basham ing like bison makes it
easier to hunt them.
While it’s a visually Think of the storyline as (Jóhannes Haukur Not that there isn’t a
R stunning movie that’s
sure to please plenty of dog
a reverse Call of the Wild,
providing an origin myth for
Jóhannesson) teaches Keda
the basics of survival.
minor pagan element—this
is pre-Christian Europe,
lovers, you can’t help feeling the puppy love humanity Seeing elements other and it would be strange if
like Alpha missed an oppor- has enjoyed for millennia. historical dramas use to up there weren’t some refer-
ALAN MARKFIELD/COLUMBIA PICTURES
tunity to be great. What’s Young Keda (Kodi Smit- their edgy pagan cred ence to native beliefs. But
there is good enough to pro- McPhee) is about to embark explained as mere expedi- they’re presented in the
vide an afternoon of family on his first hunt with his ency will give older view- most restrained way possi-
fun—and that alone is some- Ice Age tribe. Like any boy, ers a chuckle. Are tribal ble, like vague references to
thing to celebrate given it’s he’s anxious to prove him- tattoos just being “guided by ancestors.”
one of the few non-animated self, all the more so because supposed to The more forceful theme,
Kodi
movies appropriate for his father, Tau, is the chief. Smit-
look cool and as Tau voices it, is that “life
most ages—but it could As they progress on McPhee druid-y? is for the strong” and you
have been so much more. their journey, Tau as Keda Nope, they’re have to “earn” your right to
mbasham@wng.org @megbasham September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 21C U LT U R E Movies & TV
it. It’s clear that Tau loves whether to eat the dog.
his son and is trying to Again, for many a modern
prepare him for hard reali- Western mind it would be
ties, so the theme offers an unthinkable, but we’re Lynskey (left)
interesting discussion point supposed to be seeing and Holland
with children on why this is Cro-Magnon wheels
the world’s logic without turning. How much more Television
Castle Rock
God. And Keda’s later moving would it have been
experience presents a to see Keda planning to do
subtle contradiction to it. what should have come
When the bison hunt naturally to him—that is, Shawshank State Maine hometown after
goes awry in a jaw-dropping killing and eating an animal R Prison hides an
unregistered inmate.
receiving a cryptic call
from someone inside
scene, it isn’t being strong to stay alive—until some-
that saves Keda. It’s being thing in the encounter “Warden Lacy told me Shawshank prison. Most
merciful to an injured wolf convinces him not to? the devil was a boy, and Castle Rock residents
Old Dale caught him and aren’t happy to see
that would have happily But I don’t want to be
locked him in a box.” Thus Deaver, though, and that’s
made him its lunch. too hard on Alpha. Along
retired sheriff Alan not because he’s an
With zero foul language with showing a loving Pangborn (Scott Glenn) African-American in the
and no romance save that father-son relationship and warns Shawshank’s new “lily-white” town: They’ve
time-honored affection a strong traditional family warden, who has replaced long suspected him in the
between a boy and his dog, model, it offers some truly Lacy (Terry O’Quinn), death of his adoptive
the only thing that makes spectacular scenery that recently dead by suicide. father 25 years earlier. As
PG-13 Alpha unsuitable for refreshingly doesn’t shield Yes, it’s that a preteen, Deaver disap-
the youngest viewers is the kids from the harsher Shawshank: Hulu’s peared for 11 days in the
realistic peril a variety of elements of nature. And if popular new series Castle dead of winter, but
ferocious animals pose. those moments where dogs Rock (rated TV-MA for returned without a trace
That, and the fact that the first learn to fetch or come occasional foul language of hypothermia. At the
under-6 crowd might when called seem a little and scenes of violence) same time, his adoptive
struggle with the subtitled too cute for reality, try borrows many of horror- father, a local pastor and
fictional language. tapping into your inner fiction master Stephen Shawshank chaplain,
King’s settings and suffered a serious injury
Unfortunately Alpha’s 10-year-old. He or she will
characters. Viewers have and died.
failure to fully buy into the buy every second of it. A
taken a shining to Yet it seems everyone
mind frame of its setting a complex mystery in town is hiding some-
eventually undermines it. that, true to King, thing. Each episode floats
Keda occasionally feels too BOX OFFICE TOP 10 straddles the psy- more information about
naïve to be credible. His FOR THE WEEKEND OF AUG. 10-12 chological-super- increasingly puzzling
according to Box Office Mojo
struggle to kill animals at natural fence, characters. Realtor Molly
the outset is intended to CAUTIONS: Quantity of sexual (S), violent (V), even if it explores Strand (Melanie Lynskey)
explain his reaction to the and foul-language (L) content on a 0-10 scale, (as of Episode 5) has an unusual psychic
with 10 high, from kids-in-mind.com
wolf he names Alpha, but it no serious world- connection to Deaver.
S V L
mostly just comes off as view questions. Deaver’s adoptive mother
1̀ The Meg PG-13.......................................... 1 6 4 Executive pro- (Sissy Spacek) is shack-
implausible. How could any
2̀ Mission: Impossible— ducer J.J. Abrams ing up with Pangborn.
child raised in a hunter Fallout* PG-13............................................ 1 6 5
culture where killing would sustains a good And Lacy’s captive, now a
3̀ Christopher Robin* PG.............. 1 2 1
be constant be squeamish riddle through young man (Bill Skarsgård),
4̀ Slender Man PG-13.............................2 6 5
flashbacks, high- has spent years locked
about stabbing a boar? By 5̀ BlacKkKlansman R......................... 1 5 10
budget visuals, inside a bear cage in an
the same token, Keda shifts 6̀ The Spy Who Dumped
and a top-notch unused wing of the prison.
a little too easily in trying to Me R...................................................................... 7 7 10
cast. Castle Rock portrays
turn what up to that point 7̀ Mamma Mia! Here We
The story Christianity—including
Go Again* PG-13......................................4 2 1
in human history has been a revolves around believers and Scripture—
8̀ The Equalizer 2 R.............................. 1 8 7
PATRICK HARBRON/HULU
bloodthirsty predator into a Henry Deaver as quaint but apparently
9̀ Hotel Transylvania 3:
pet, seeming no more afraid Summer Vacation PG..................2 4 1 (André Holland), an no match for evil. If the
of it than a child today might 10 Ant-Man and the
` attorney for Texas “boy” is the devil, then,
be of a boisterous Yorkie. Wasp* PG-13................................................2 5 4 death-row inmates what can be done?
He doesn’t even consider *Reviewed by WORLD who returns to his —by BOB BROWN
in the worst of his starvation
22 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018Movie
Dog Days
Do we love our pets audience is never quite
R more than we love
people? Are canines and
sure if she or her dog is
the subject of the
Victoria Chilap
as Sophie Scholl
felines more important to counselor’s questions
21st-century North and advice.
Americans than fellow Tara, a barista (played
humans, created in God’s by Vanessa Hudgens),
image? The previews for thinks the handsome but
Dog Days had me worried slightly self-centered
that this would be yet veterinarian across the
another movie where road is her perfect match.
dogs and cats are por- But her work in a dog
trayed as so much wor- adoption center helps
thier than their masters. her meet the less confi-
Surprise! While dent but more caring
certainly awash with cute director of the animal Documentary
Death of a Nation
rescue dogs and frisky shelter. Which one will
pets, Dog Days focuses she choose?
on human friendships A husband and wife
and relationships, with are excited and nervous as Al Gore did not The 20th century’s
animals playing an impor-
tant but supporting role.
they bring their adopted
daughter home for the
R invent the propa-
ganda film. Fake-news
worst villains, D’Souza
also alleges, took their
(Parents should note pre- first time. A husky stray flicks date back at least cues from Democrats.
marital sex is implied, but dog they bring home to The Birth of a Nation, For example, the Nazis
not shown, in the PG film, helps their daughter the 1915 racist drama modeled their exclusion-
and several characters become more comfort- that conservative pundit ary Nuremberg Laws on
able with her new Dinesh D’Souza credits southern Democrats’
life. But when they with revitalizing a nearly segregation policies. In
find the canine’s kaput Ku Klux Klan. fascism, the state tightly
real master, will President Woodrow controls industry and
she be willing to Wilson, a Democrat, commerce, and is the ulti-
give up her new screened the silent pic- mate arbiter of the rights
friend? ture at the White House, of individuals. D’Souza
Overgrown D’Souza points out in his maintains the Democratic
adolescent Dax new documentary, Death Party and its influential
has few responsi- of a Nation (rated PG-13 allies (Margaret Sanger,
bilities besides for thematic material and George Soros) have
showing up to his language). voiced similar principles.
musical gigs on As one-sided as “How do we fight the
time. Now his Michael Moore, but more tyranny of the left?”
sister, pregnant solemn, D’Souza aims to D’Souza asks. Trump is
Hudgens
with twins, needs prove the political left’s not D’Souza’s savior.
him to dog-sit. favorite labels for Rather, D’Souza expresses
casually use the Lord’s Finally, an opportunity President Donald his answer through a
name.) for him to do something Trump—“fascist” and short dramatization of
The story follows four for someone else. “racist”—come closer to the life of Sophie Scholl,
sets of characters in and Each of these scenar- describing the political whom the Nazis guillo-
THE BIRTH OF A NATION: THE BIG LIE/D’SOUZA MEDIA
around LA, with dogs ios could be cliché. And left. And always have. tined in 1943: It was her
bringing people together, the script does stick to Drawing on historical strong Christian faith that
DOG DAYS: JACOB YAKOB/LD ENTERTAINMENT
sparking friendships, and fairly safe ground, with records, interviews with guided her anti-Hitler
helping families adapt to few twists that the audi- academics, and material activities.
new circumstances. TV ence couldn’t predict. from two of his recent A gospel choir closes
news host Elizabeth Yet, by focusing on books, D’Souza explains the film with the final
(Nina Dobrev) has human relationships that racism has existed at verse of the “Battle
dumped her cheating rather than canine, Dog the Democratic Party’s Hymn of the Republic”:
boyfriend, and her dog Days is an enjoyable, core since its founding, “Christ … died to make
seems to be grieving humorous, and at times, and remains entrenched men holy / Let us live to
along with her. She visits genuinely moving film. in progressive politics make men free.”
a pet psychiatrist: The —by MARTY VANDRIEL today. —by BOB BROWN
See all our movie reviews at wng.org/movies September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 23C U LT U R E Books
Human rights
he acknowledges that
Aristotle “shared his con-
temporaries’ expectations
and wrongs that the state should
coercively shape the
character of citizens.”
THE NEED FOR MORAL INTEGRITY That’s one reason Tertullian
(c. A.D. 155-240) was wise to
AND BIBLICAL CLARITY by Marvin Olasky ask, “What does Athens
have to do with Jerusalem?”
Aaron Rhodes begins vidual rights.” For decades Rhodes examines the
R The Debasement of
Human Rights (Encounter,
the emphasis was on
economics—everyone has
work of Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804), who “showed
2018) with a strong sen- the right to a guaranteed how moral and ethical
tence: “The international income—but recently it has questions can be solved by
community’s concept of switched to sex: The Furthermore, the reason” and wanted a
human rights lacks intellec- International Sexuality and UNCRC says “no child shall society “in which individu-
tual and moral integrity.” He HIV Curriculum Working be subjected to arbitrary or als employ reason in making
shows that expansion of Group has declared that we unlawful interference with moral and political deci-
“human rights” from an have a right to sexual his or her privacy”—which sions.” Rhodes shows G.W.F.
emphasis on liberty to expression and the pursuit means that parents are out- Hegel (1770-1831) reasoning
include government provi- of sexual pleasure. of-line to seek information his way to calling human
sion of food, housing, and Children’s rights are also about a daughter’s abortion. rights “empty abstractions”
healthcare kills the term’s at the forefront: Nearly 200 The United States is the only and arguing that “true free-
essential meaning and moral countries have signed the UN member that has not dom could be realized only
power, and even becomes United Nations Convention ratified the UNCRC—which through the state.” That
“moral justification for on the Rights of the Child means we don’t believe that opened the door to Karl
strong states to restrict free- (UNCRC), which says a government officials out- Marx’s linking of progress to
dom in return for security.” child has the right to rank parents, and we don’t the seizure of governmental
Rhodes traces the “receive and impart infor- want American parents sent power.
decline of the term to the mation and ideas of all kinds to jail for protecting their Much of history demon-
Universal Declaration of [in] media of the child’s kids from propaganda and strates that two Biblical
Human Rights following choice”: Governments porn. teachings offer the only
World War II. Soviet func- should ensure that a child Rhodes says the basis for consistent path to human
tionaries and American “has access to information real human rights is “the rights: Political power
progressives led the way to and material from a diversity moral teachings of should never be absolute,
a document “emphasizing of national and international Jerusalem and the rational and the sacredness of each
collective rather than indi- sources.” philosophy of Athens,” but human soul is absolute.
BOOKMARKS flesh.” Kuyper understood the logical outcome of belief in
evolution: a bsolute nihilism. In From Broken Glass
Craig Bartholomew’s Contours of the Kuyperian Tradition (Hachette, 2018) Steve Ross tells how he survived the
(IVP, 2017) is a scholarly introduction to the work of the applied nihilism known as Hitler’s death camps.
great Dutch theologian/editor/prime minister. He shows Jay Stringer’s Unwanted (NavPress, 2018) examines a
how Abraham Kuyper opposed Friedrich Nietzsche by key childhood driver of unwanted sexual behavior: Three-
emphasizing Christ: fourths of the 3,800 sexually struggling men and women
“Certainly if there is he surveyed report having “rigid” parents and almost 90
anyone who is a radical percent say they grew up with “disengaged” parents:
protest against the Clearly, the overlap can be particularly toxic. Nearly half
very idea of evolution, reported that their mothers had confided in them frustra-
it is he who came down tions concerning their fathers. Stringer argues that those
from the Father of with porn problems need more than exhortation to cease,
lights to manifest admit, and join an accountability group. They need to
himself as God in the recognize and end generational curses. —M.O.
24 WORLD Magazine • September 1, 2018SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
reviewed by John Ottinger III
THE STORY PEDDLER Lindsay A. Franklin
Franklin, a Christian and homeschooling mom of three, believes
art that expresses truth is powerfully subversive in an age
when representing truth can invite society’s ire. In this novel,
protagonist Tanwen’s magical ability to weave words into glass AFTERWORD
sculptures is too unrestrained, and her personality too contrary,
David Walton’s The Genius
to accept the king’s edict allowing only crown-approved stories.
Plague (Pyr, 2017) won this
So when she’s labeled a criminal, she joins a band of rebels
year’s Campbell Memorial
seeking to overthrow the king. Despite its stock characters,
Award for best science
the story explores important truths in a fast-paced plot with
fiction novel. In it, two
surprising twists. This clean, light, and enjoyable read is perfect
brothers—a mycologist and
for a rainy afternoon. an NSA analyst—investigate
a pandemic fungal
RELIC Alan Dean Foster infection that
Relic explores the culture shock, loneliness, and personal transfor- leaves its
mation inherent in the immigrant experience. How would the last survivors
human alive in the entire universe act? Wallow in despair? Seek to smarter, a
overcome the tides of fate? Or join, as a sideshow and museum result that is
piece, the peaceable alien race that fosters him? Main character miraculous
Ruslan’s philosophical musings on life in an alien culture are so but dangerous.
emotionally absorbing that readers’ hearts will ache for him. At the
In a page-turner
same time, this well-paced story delights with bouts of action and
reminiscent of Michael
Crichton, Walton’s well-
surprise twists. Foster’s high-concept novel is a gripping tale of
researched near-future
serenity amid sorrow.
thriller turns the two broth-
ers into adversaries seeking
TERRA NULLIUS Claire G. Coleman answers to age-old moral
This debut novel follows the dreary and dry experiences of an and political questions:
escaped slave, an outlaw, a free woman, a nun, and a church inves- What is the value of free
tigator barely surviving Australia’s blighted desert. At first glance, will? Can a free society
Coleman seems to be constructing straw-man arguments that balance individual rights
demonize imperialist settlers and idealize primitive cultures. To and the collective good?
some extent that’s true, but a crucial revelation in Chapter 9 In his award acceptance
reveals a more nuanced treatment of the settlers. Coleman, an speech, Walton said,
indigenous Australian, transposes her people’s history of despair, “Science fiction can take
fear, and longing into humanity’s future in an intelligent and what it means to be human,
provocative sci-fi tragedy. and tear it apart, and put it
back together again, and
make you see it in a new
FRANKENSTEIN IN BAGHDAD Ahmed Saadawi
way.” The Campbell
Set in 2005 Baghdad, this novel uses Shelley’s monster—reimagined Memorial Award (not to be
as the accidental creation of an Iraqi junk dealer—to mirror the confused with the Campbell
patchwork society of once-dead desires, beliefs, and cultures revivi- Award for Best New Writer)
fied in post-war Iraq. In a style reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor, has been given by the
this moving and shocking tragicomedy weaves together the stories University of Kansas since
of a naïve journalist, a Christian mother mourning a lost son, two 1973 and is named for John
merchants in a commercial war, the monster “Whatsitsname,” and W. Campbell, the former
its creator. Farcical, fantastic, and darkly humorous, the stories renowned editor of Analog
HANDOUT
embody the rejuvenated but insecure new Iraq. (Cautions: sex Science Fiction and Fact
and violence) magazine. —J.O.
To see more book news and reviews, go to wng.org/books September 1, 2018 • WORLD Magazine 25You can also read
