More Blame

Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of PragerTopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives, as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. 2 days to Thanksgiving. I really hope you'll have a good one, given what went on in 2020 and 2021. I had Thanksgiving with family. I am in that minority, I believe, of having no— no, that's not true. I just, I just canceled my statement. You have just encountered self-cancellation. I was going to say I'm in that minority whose whole family, but I was thinking of my wife's family. My family's back east and I live in California. I can't say the same. My family did have people who did not have Thanksgiving. Hmm, all right, so much for that. The advantages of live radio outweigh the disadvantages, but the latter exist. I am now going to read to you— even the living martyr, my producer, does not know I'm about to do this. There was a piece What was the— it's a piece in the New York Times, and I don't even remember the subject, but I read the comments. I always read comments. Comments— see, comments, especially on websites that only subscribers can make comments on, are very revealing about the mentality, the outlook, the values of the people who read that website. So when I read comments on the New York Times website, I am reading comments by paid subscribers to the New York Times, which is not cheap. So, and so these are, these are serious leftists. In the vast majority of cases. So what was the New York Times piece you sent me? It's not— I want to read the first comment, and it's driving me crazy. What was the New York Times piece? No, no, last night, last night. Because folks, this is going to fascinate you. Yes. And what was that on again? That was the piece.

Blaming Republicans for Colorado Springs.

Oh, that's right. Yes. So it was a piece in the New York Times, a column which essentially blamed Republicans for what happened in Colorado Springs, where a very sick dude, guy who— I'll comment on him and the DA in that area who has to be partially responsible for what occurred. This guy had threatened to blow up his mother a year earlier and somehow got a gun despite the fact that they have— what is it, red flag? Was that the name of it? So this was the— so it was a blame Republicans for what this guy did who shot up and murdered 5 gay men in a gay club and injured dozens of others. It's horrific. As I said yesterday, the irony is conservatives want this man executed and liberals and leftists want him to live. Well, it sounds ironic. It's not ironic. Here, so here, that was the column. So I click on readers' favorites. This is the way, one of the ways you can read comments on the newest by chronology, just, you know, the order of which they were written. Or what is the most popular? The most popular comment on that article, the number one comment, came from— you'll love it. It's like if I could have manufactured a stereotype, this would be it. Joe in San Francisco. Is that perfect? Here is the comment. 527 readers recommend this comment. That's a lot, folks. Most people don't even go to the comments section. The great irony here is that grooming— because the, the charge made is by the left that right-wingers use this term grooming inappropriately when they attack the early sexualization of children. And by the way, I have never used grooming, just for the record. I'm not sure why that term has been used at all. You never win an argument if you overstate your case. Just, just a good rule to adhere to. It's bad enough that they robbed hundreds of thousands of children, deliberately robbed them of innocence and sexualized them at a very early age and confused them as to sexual identity. Isn't that bad enough? Grooming is what these Islamic bands in England did to young women and to make them essentially sex slaves in a sex industry just for fun or for money. This is not what's being done here, so I don't use the word grooming. I just wanted to put that in context. Here is the guy's comment: The great irony here is that, quote, grooming, unquote, is exactly what the religious right does. Children are indoctrinated into religious beliefs from an early age by adults who wish to control their very thoughts. I'd rather send my child to drag queen story hour than to a Bible study class. At least she will learn to think for herself. The most popular comment in the New York Times on this article. Oh God, these things are precious. I know the left like I know my family. They hate the Bible. You get it? They hate it. They hate religious Christians. I mean hate. You are the lowest of the low. You are groomers. They would hate religious Jews as much, and they do, but there are so many fewer of them than religious Christians that they don't really appear on their radar screen. Interesting, they don't hate religious Muslims because religious Muslims hate the same people that the left hates. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This is really awesome. Children are indoctrinated into religious beliefs from an early age by adults who wish to control their very thoughts. That's so interesting. By the way, I want to analyze this, then we'll get to the other part here. That he'd rather send his child to a drag queen story hour than to a Bible study class, which I believe. That's the beauty of this comment. There's no doubt in my mind that Joe in San Francisco would much rather a child of his go to drag queen story hour than to Bible study class. I'll get to that in a moment, but I want to deal with this. Children are indoctrinated into religious beliefs from an early age by adults who wish to control their very thoughts. So this very odd thing to come from a leftist. A leftist, they don't want to control their children's thoughts. What if their child comes home and says, you know, I'm really a Trump supporter? They'll say, you know, that is a beautiful thing that you think for yourself. That is what we raised you to do. We are proud of you, Melissa, that you have decided to think for yourself. You think that they would— that Joe would react that way? Who doesn't want to, quote unquote, control their child's thoughts? Anyway, that's not even accurate. I think they want to control their children's values. They want to shape— I must say, I grew up in a very religious home. I have no sense that my parents wanted to control my thoughts. They wanted me to control my actions. As I've said so often, every leftist lacks self-awareness. Back in a moment. Hey folks, coming together again after 2 years of waiting. I'm going on a listener cruise again. It's called Gems of Southeastern Europe, May 31 to June 13. 13 days combined land and cruise on AMA Waterways. We are chartering our own ship for you and me. The cruise was just announced. It's already almost sold out. Book today at 800-345-2483 or click the banner on my website Go to CoastlineTravel.com. Again, everybody, we're chartering the entire boat. 800-345-2483. It will sell out. Or click the banner on my website, or go to CoastlineTravel.com. Listen, I'm Dennis Prager. The comment here on the article about how Republicans are ultimately responsible for the horror in Colorado Springs at a gay club where this lunatic— and if you threaten to blow up your mother a year before, I am proud of Tucker Carlson for naming the DA. Let's get the guy's name. I don't remember the name. Naming the DA involved here, a guy the police are called, he's threatening to murder his mother. and they throw away the whole thing so that he has a clean record and can then buy a gun. Okay, just for the record. So this guy writes here that the great irony here is that grooming is what the religious right does. Children are indoctrinated into religious beliefs from an early age by adults who wish to control their very thoughts. This is the view of religious people that they have, but it is an intellectual dishonesty here. I'm just curious, if this guy has— if Joe in San Francisco has a child, he does not— what is the word that he uses? Indoctrinate. He doesn't indoctrinate his children into leftist beliefs? As I said, if his child came home and said, "Hey, Dad," if he has a child, Hey Dad, I really think that Donald Trump has better answers for the country. Make America great again, Dad. And he'll go, you know, I am really proud of you, darling. You grew up to be a kid with independent thinking. I in no way want to indoctrinate you with left-wing thought. They indoctrinate kids in school on the left. Forget home. Oh God, the lack of self-awareness on the part of Joe of San Francisco. If a parent believes something about life, they want their child to believe it about life. It turns out that among those who believe strongly in anything, who have, who have dealt well with dissenting thought. I gotta hand it to America's Christians. They, they do a pretty darn good job of dealing, of dealing with, of not, of not hurting, of not dissociating themselves from people who differ, including children. But the left, the left can't deal with a parent who differs from them. They want to indoctrinate their parents on the left, not just their children. How many leftists have said to their Trump-voting father or mother, You can't see your grandchildren because you're toxic. I'll bet it's in the tens, maybe hundreds of thousands in America, just based on people who have called this show, which is a fraction of the population, obviously. Yeah, they're there. They don't indoctrinate on the left, only the religious right does. That's what I mean. The better you know leftists, the more you realize how unself-aware they are. We don't indoctrinate, only the religious right does. And then the rest of his comment, ah, it should be emblazoned by a skywriter. They still have skywriters? It's very rare. Very rare. It used to be more ubiquitous. Ah, yeah, interesting. I wonder if a kid listening would know what a skywriter is. I'd rather send my child to drag queen story hour than to a Bible study class. At least she will learn to think for herself. What a stupid comment. I'm talking about the last part, not just the first part. She'll learn to think for herself if she goes to drag queen story hour. What does that even mean? What do you mean, learn to think for herself? She's learning that men wearing women's clothing is completely normal. So what if she thought for herself? She'd say, you know what, to be perfectly honest, I don't think this is a healthy thing for society to conflate the two sexes. They're really distinctive, Dad. That's if she really learned to think for herself. The guy's kidding himself. They live in this make-believe world on the left. But that's the giveaway. And by the way, here's the giveaway of another example of a left-liberal difference. I would say that virtually every leftist would agree, I'd rather my child go to a drag drag queen story hour than go to a Bible study class. But I don't know about liberals. You have relatives, Mr. Producer. I won't say what, what relative. One you love very much. Would she— well, she doesn't have a child, but if she had a child, would she prefer that the child go to drag queen story hour or Bible study class? You can't believe, right? You'd be certain she'd say Bible study class, right? She— would you say she's a liberal and not a leftist? Yeah, exactly. So, so this is a good example of another distinction between liberal and left. I could put it on, on my list, like, do you believe in an all-black dorm? Left say yes, liberals say no, conservatives say no. Liberals and conservatives agree on almost every issue, but liberals, because of a lack of courage and because of emotional attachment and emotional hostility, vote for the people who don't hold their values. They vote for the left. That's the American tragedy. If liberals voted their values, No Democrats would be elected. Here's another one to ask. Really, it's a great one. If somebody asks you why you're asking, say that was the most popular comment in the New York Times on an article on the right wing and LGBTQ. Which would you rather your child do? 1-800-PRAGER-776. History repeats itself and we're seeing that play out with inflation. When Jimmy Carter took office in the late '70s, gold sold for $140 an ounce. By 1980, the price of gold topped out at $870 an ounce. If today's market performs like it did when Carter was in office, the price of gold could skyrocket from $1,800 an ounce to $9,300 an ounce. This is Dennis Prager for Ampfet Coin and Bullion. Don't miss out on a great opportunity to purchase precious metals while the prices are still stable. If history repeats itself, we'll see a run on gold, silver, and platinum that will certainly drive up prices. Be smart and buy now, as I am. At AmFed, you're dealing with specialists who provide you with personalized attention, honest information, and sound advice. You'll never be pressured into buying outrageously priced so-called collectible coins or anything that you don't need. Take advantage of today's prices. AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, AmericanFederal.com, AmericanFederal.com. Hi everybody, Hi everybody, you're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. The most popular comment in the New York Times on an article about how the right wing is to blame for the mass shooting at the gay club in Colorado Springs, the most popular comment is that a guy rather his daughter go to drag queen story hour than to Bible study class. Yes, if you understood the utter and total opposition of Judeo-Christian values and leftism, you would have a much clearer understanding of what is taking place in the Western world today. The Bible and the left are opposites. Simple as that. Opposites. Drag queen story hour. There's a verse in the Bible, in the Torah, the place where all the laws are, the first 5 books. And my commentary on 3 of those books are out. Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy. And there's a law in Deuteronomy that a man shall not wear women's clothing. You can say the Bible— and he does— the Bible is way worse than drag queen story hour for kids. He's a leftist, he's honest. And that would be one of the reasons, that law that would, that would render drag queens against the law of the Bible. That's it. You can say the Bible stinks, is wrong. That's right, it's a free country. All I'm asking is that you understand that the left and the Bible have nothing in common. That's all. They are mutual opposites, especially the Torah and the left. The first 5 books, which are the basis of both Old and New Testaments. It's where all the laws are found. God created the human being, male and female he created them. So you can take your lie about human sexuality not being binary and shove it. That's a free speech commentary on Genesis. Phoenix, Arizona. Glenn, hello.

Yes, sir.

By the way, when I called you a couple of weeks ago, I told you that I would ask my mother about Donald Trump. And to the extent, let's just say if it was Mike Pompeo, or if it was Ron DeSantis running against a Democrat, if she would vote for him. And she's on our position. She holds our position. She wants Donald Trump. But if it's anybody else, she thinks that any, any Republican is better than anybody on the left. So I'm happy to have you.

Yes, you made my day. You made my day.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

And then my other question is I called is I have family that hold the same position, although it really isn't about the transgender issue. Years ago, my uncle, in particular my mom's brothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. They, they've raised their children with secular progressivism.

And it—

the way I would, I would, uh, only— my only caveat with you is I don't— it is a religion to an extent, uh, but, but they don't believe in a God the way we do. So I, I classify it as a belief system. They have—

there's no— it's a difference without a distinction. I call it a secular religion, you call it a belief system. Doesn't matter.

Yes, sir.

Okay, yes, sir. But that's basically where they are, is they— it's an animus and a hatred towards the Bible.

That's right.

And, and, and that's what it is.

Okay, so you, you lived it. You lived what this guy wrote. I'd rather my daughter go to drag queen study hour than to a Bible study class. Yeah, she might learn love your neighbor as yourself. She, she might learn— oh, here's one that'll really drive the father crazy. She might learn the law, which is repeated actually. It's stated twice. You cannot favor poor people in a court. The Bible bans social justice. It's for justice. Justice and social justice have nothing in common. Social justice is a left-wing French Revolution perversion of the word justice, which is why the left doesn't use the word justice. They use the word always with an adjective, right? Isn't there— what is there? There's environmental justice, racial justice, social justice. Anytime you add an adjective to justice, you have ended justice. That's why they use adjectives. Otherwise, just use the word justice. Palatine, is that it? You're a Chicago man. Palatine? It's not Palatine. Well, it's got a T here. Uh-oh, uh-oh, somebody may end up in the punishment room. All right, we'll get to the Illinois call in a moment. A policeman about the term grooming. You all have helped build MyPillow into the incredible company it is today and have trusted in Mike Lindell to give you a great night's sleep. On top of the special available to my listeners on the Percale and Giza Dream bedsheets, marked down as low as $29.98, Mike is now changing the game with his 3-piece towel set. This set is made with USA cotton, making it extremely absorbent yet still providing the soft feel you look for in a towel. This set comes with 1 bath, 1 hand towel, and 1 washcloth, typically retailing for $49.99. For a limited time, you can get this 3-piece towel set for the low price of $19.98 with the promo code Prager. Don't miss out on these extraordinary offers. There's a limited supply, so be sure to order now. 800-761-6302. Use the promo code Prager or go to mypillow.com, click on the radio listener square, and use the promo code Prager. Hey, it's been a long time since I've thanked Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer, as they would have said in his German background. This theme is from Gladiator. I adopted it after 9/11, 20 years ago. Before then, I used a piece of classical music by George Friedrich Handel, another German. That's right, if you're not German, we don't use your theme. That's, that's the rule of the opening of the Dennis Prager Show. Hi all, I'm going to leave the news right now and raise a personal subject. I don't mean personal Dennis, but personal you. Something I ask virtually every person I meet. I'm not a big fan of small talk. I can do it, but I'm not a big fan of it. I love learning about people and their lives immediately. Something about me you may not know, which you may find of interest. When I am at a dinner party, I am much more interested in hearing others than in speaking. So what I do is I often will ask questions of people to learn about them, and that makes it interesting for me since I've heard me on many occasions I really want to hear them. So this is what I ask people within— well, sometimes within 5 minutes of meeting them, and I meet a lot of people. You have any kids? Usually they say yes. How many? They tell me. And then I say, because it's usually conservative parents that I meet, What's your batting average? And they'll either say, what do you mean? Or they will know exactly what I mean. In other words, how many of your children have maintained your conservative values? Which generally mean Judeo-Christian and American values like liberty and God we trust and e pluribus unum, the American trinity. I like the belief that there is a God who says that you shall love your neighbor as yourself, honor your father and mother, etc. What's your batting average? This is what I have gotten as a response over the course of years. About one-third say that all their children hold their values. About one-third say None of their children hold their values, and another third have a mixed record. So my question to you, and the reason I raise it is that it is so important, but there is an additional reason. If you answer this question, you may help people who are raising children today. Not to suffer the pain of a child who grows up into an adult who rejects their, their core values, the parents' core values. So looking at your child or children today, what would you do different if you could raise them again? 1-8-Prager-776. That's 8-Prager-776 or 877. Get ready with the jingle, Sean. Come on, Sean, look alive. You're looking live. 877-243-7776. What would you do different? You, you have a moral obligation to call. I'll tell you why. Because your answer might save another parent raising children now from the, the pain of a child who has departed reason and goodness and higher values that emanate from a love of the founders of this country, a love of God. Well, you forget love of God. I dropped that. Taking, taking the God of the Bible seriously. What would you do differently? I could— I think I can predict one potential answer. I would have homeschooled my kids. I am stunned at how many parents know the damage that schools are doing to children and continue to send their children there. Well, I take it back. I'm not stunned. For human beings to make, to make radical decisions, and it's a radical decision to homeschool your child, it becomes normal and beautiful over time, But the initial decision is a radical one. And you, all you have are fears. I don't know math, how am I going to teach my child math? Well, you don't have to teach your child anything if you homeschool your child, believe it or not. Or how will they have friends? I suggest to you that my experience meeting many, many homeschooled children is that they have at least as many friends as kids who go to regular school, but there's one big difference. Their friends have wholesome values. What would you do differently? By the way, I don't want you to obsess about this. I want you to just— in other words, I don't mean on the air, I mean in life. I am a big fan of the Serenity Prayer of— what was it— Reinhold Niebuhr. I live the Serenity Prayer. I don't remember it by heart. Well, I should get it. I should give it to you by heart. Take a moment to get it. It's very easy. I live it. I truly— I lived it before I even knew of its existence, and it has been such a help in my life. Okay, let's see here. This is weird. Okay. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr lived 1892 to 1971, major Christian thinker. Yeah, grant me the serenity to accept the change— the things I cannot change. And that, that may apply to mistakes you made in raising your children. You may simply have to have the serenity to accept the things you cannot change. Courage to change the things I can— that would involve homeschooling your children. And wisdom to know the difference. That's right. Wisdom to know which things I can change and which things I cannot. You can change if you're raising your kids. So that's the great question, 1-800-PRAGER-776. My guide— my guideline in raising my kids was that they knew I didn't care about their grades in school. Um, for a parent who went to an Ivy League graduate school. I am an outlier. In fact, I remember friends, friends who couldn't believe that that's how I raised my kids. I don't care if you go to college, and I don't care what college you go to. I care about your character, because the character of kids who get into prestigious school a prestigious school is, is not related to getting into a prestigious school. What does one have to do with the other? Getting good grades and having good character have nothing to do with one another. All right. Take your calls when we return. What would you do differently now that your kids are grown? Dennis Prager Show, back in a moment. Hi everybody, I'm asking you what you would have done differently If you could re-raise your children, 1-800-PRAGER-776, what would you do differently? Crown Point, Indiana, the famous Bill of Crown Point. Hello.

Yes, the one and only. Hi, good morning, Dennis. Regarding your comment about homeschooling, I'm a retired secondary Teacher, taught for 29 years. And granted, I taught in the inner city, so maybe my vantage point is a little bit different, but because the majority of my students came from single-parent homes, and unfortunately they tended to view school as a babysitting service. I had one instance where I wrote a disciplinary referral on a kid that resulted in him getting suspended for the day, and his mother came up and asked me to please rescind it. And she said right in front— when I refused to do it, she turned to him and said, well, I'm not going to leave you at home all day alone when I'm gone. She actually did not trust her kid. I guess she was afraid he was going to have his friends over and maybe she'd come home and something would be missing. But nevertheless, that was her— she did not view education, if you will, through the same prism or the same lens as Oh, I, I think she does.

I think that the wealthy regard schools as a, as a, uh, babysitting service just as much as the poor.

Right. Well, she probably would not have the means though to—

Okay, no, I agree with you. Yes, she— if there was a one-day suspension in a wealthier home they might have a housekeeper to supervise. I agree with that. But generally speaking, why is it— why do people not take their kids out? Conservative people, why do they not take their kids out of schools that are having drag queen story hours, that are teaching the kids that America is a moral cesspool, that Washington was basically a piece of crap. Why, why do they keep their kids in such schools? Because it's a babysitting service. That's exactly why. It liberates them to do what they want during the day. This is not even stated as a criticism, just a fact. Doesn't matter what socioeconomic status it is. Let them raise my children is the attitude of as many conservative parents as non-conservative parents. Let teachers raise my kids. I will provide dinner. Everything else will be done by school. People do not understand. It's just human nature. People don't understand the sea changes that take place, and people get used to it within a generation. If you'd have told people 150 years ago the state will educate your child, they would have thought you're out of your mind. That's the parent's duty. They may hire teachers to come into the house, or they may send their kids to a mutual destination for some time, but the idea that the state will educate my child was completely foreign throughout most of history, certainly American history. All right, I thank you for calling, Bill. And let's see, Woodland Hills, California. Kim, hello.

Hello, Dennis, it's wonderful to speak to you.

Well, that's kind.

Um, I, I cannot tell you how much I respect you, and, uh, thank you. Everything you have to teach.

You are—

like you were talking about Hillsdale— learning is wonderful, and listening to you is learning.

That's what I hope it is. Thank you.

Uh, the reason I was calling is, um, I loved your question this morning, and I found it very interesting. I have a daughter and a son. My daughter has, uh, held on to my beliefs. My son has not. Um, but my son, uh, my daughter is from a prior marriage, uh, and it was hers. My son is an adoptee from mine, from my side. Anyways, uh, so we have a blended family. And my son, uh, I brought up Christian and brought up, uh, he, he was trained up from, from very young. And the thing that he tells me, and I find very interesting, is that he tells me, I hate what you did to me. It's like, what did I do? And he says, you put this thing in me that never lets me go. It convicts me all the time.

And the this is religion?

Yes.

That's interesting. So does he say this with, with any ambivalence, or he's really angry?

He's really angry.

He's, um, so what is it? You instilled guilt?

Yes, I, I instilled— what I instilled was a faith in God, and since he rejects God, um, he has this thing that convicts him all the time for everything he does. And he hates it.

That's an interesting call. Uh, well, it certainly plays to one of my passions. I have this fantasy that PragerU rent some billboards, different highways in the country, and the billboard says something like, reminder, God judges. I think God judges would have a more salutary effect on society than God loves you. God judges you. That's, that's the biggie. I think people have been love bombarded. I know this sounds bizarre. As much as I love love, and I do, it isn't everything. We'll be back in a moment. Hello all, I'm Dennis Prager, leaving the news and talking about Really important subject. What would you do differently if you could raise your children again? All right, that's the subject. Even though the lines are taken, I remind you it's worth trying. 818-PRAGER-776. What would you do differently? All right, let's see what you folks have to say. Southport, North Carolina. Sandy, hello.

Hey Dennis, ditto to you. I have a scenario.

I don't get that. That's funny. That's, that's rarely stated to me, ditto to me, but I— we all know the reference to Rush Limbaugh. Thank you.

It's, it's a complete honor. So I have something that supports your two-thirds, one-third scenario. Where in fact I have triplets, two girls and a boy. We raised them very conservatively. Mother taught Sunday school, raised them in scouting. Both of them succeeded, Eagle Scouts and Silver Award winners in Girl Scouting. We put them in a liberal high school, not really understanding that it was liberal, but they did have some strange thoughts in high school and did very well. But we early on put up, put money away for their college and then allowed them to select their college. May have been a big mistake. They came back from college with the two-thirds, one-third scenario that one of the girls is conservative and the other two are quite liberal. I say that they hung with different friend groups, but don't know what stemmed that.

So they all went to college with wholesome beliefs and came back— give me 2 or 3 examples of beliefs that they came back with.

Well, abortion for one. For one of the girls, she's okay with abortion. Um, the boy is actually a flat-out socialist.

So he— uh-huh. So has this caused a rift between the two of you?

No, we're doing the best to, to show our love for our, our, our kids. And we understand that hopefully by raising them—

Do they reciprocate?

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

We're doing pretty well in that regard. A little bit of a little bit of strife, but we do believe and hope that they'll turn around the conservative values that were taught to them from an early age and that eventually they'll see the light. I mean, that's what we pray for.

But so I'm curious, did you happen to hear my first hour?

No, I think I missed it.

Right. That's okay. I'm only asking because I want to know whether to repeat the theme. So I read the most popular comment on an article in the New York Times, and in it, this man, a subscriber to the New York Times, otherwise you can't comment, who said, because the article was about the drag queen story hours and other stuff taking place in schools, and said, I'd much rather my daughter go to a drag queen story hour than to Bible study. So if my take from that, among my takes, was I'd like people to ask that of their friends who are to the left of them. Would you rather your child go to Bible study hour or drag queen story hour? So if you asked your son that, what would he rather his child go to? What would— what do you think he would answer?

Interesting. I would hope he would say—

Oh, well, we all know what we hope. Okay, so it's fine if you don't know, but that the fact that you don't know proves how much he has gone leftward. But it is a very good question to pose to him. You might want to give him the 32 questions that I wrote up about a couple of years ago, questions you should ask friends to find out if they're liberal or leftist. And it's, it's not, it's not an attack. It's not a judgment. It's nothing. It's just a curiosity quiz. Like, would your son be in favor of black graduation exercises and black dormitories? So, uh, what college did he go to?

Uh, University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, which is quite liberal.

That's where my living martyr went. Yeah, but he—

the other girl, yeah, who was liberal went to the University of Tampa, quite liberal. And the more conservative girl went to North Carolina State University.

So, and that's not liberal?

Uh, you know, that, that separation comes down to, I believe, friend groups.

Yes, it's a big deal. No kidding, no kidding. That's right. Boy, would I like to talk to your son. Anyway, you should give them those questions. How to find out if you're— if a person is a liberal or a leftist. You could look it up on Google. 32 questions. But I've now— I now have one I would add. Would you rather your child go to drag queen study hour, story hour, or Bible study? Hello everybody, it's the Ultimate Issues Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. You might call it the Wisdom Hour, but it sounds too pompous for me to say that, because wisdom is everything. You can't be a good person if you're not wise, because good intentions don't mean anything Sorry, very few people have bad intentions. All right, welcome to the Ultimate Issues Hour. So I've been thinking about this question now for 3 years. You'd have thought I would have thought about this all of my life, given how much I've talked about religion and written about it. But it really started when I asked Jordan Peterson at a PragerU gala— he's now been to two of them, we have these great dialogues in public— I asked him if he was, if he believed in God, and he said something to the effect that how could I say I believe in God, or how could anybody say it It entails so much if you do. It's so hard to actually do what God wants. And to— I'm really paraphrasing in my own language. Somewhere I have the direct quote, but I can't— I don't know where I put it. He made me think tremendously. How many people who say they believe in God believe in God? So that's my ultimate issues question, and it, it was exacerbated by what I consider the abject failure of most churches and synagogues over the course of the lockdowns. You know, I put so many of my chips on the religious numbers. If you use a roulette wheel as a metaphor for life, if religious Jews and Christians fail, there's no hope. The obedience to irrational secular authority on the part of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Mormons And I add the Mormons because I'm a big fan of the LDS crowd, and they were in some ways the biggest disappointment. If anybody I would have thought would have stood up to irrational secular authority and kept their churches or temples open, it would have been the Mormons. The LDS, Latter-day Saints, Mormons. There were a handful of evangelical Christians. There are a handful of Orthodox Jews. I don't know if there was a— there were a handful of Catholic churches. I don't know. Let me know if there were. I, I wouldn't be surprised if there were, but I don't, I don't know of any. Yeah, we'll shut down because The government said so. Really? You'll shut down because the government said so? And then there are Christians who called me up. I mean, we discussed this during the lockdowns, citing Luther and citing the New Testament about being obedient to the authorities placed there by God. So the question of what does it mean to actually believe in God is really raised here. If you believe in God, do you believe that it was the intention of the New Testament verse or verses to have you obedient to all secular authority? Were the Christian churches then doing God's will, you know, being obedient to the Nazi Party in Germany? Is the Russian Orthodox Church, being in its obedience to Putin, doing God's will? The failure of the religious community to be in any way different from the secular community, from even the secular left, was a real wake-up call to me. I, I don't think I romanticize religious Jews and Christians, but I do have faith that if anybody will withstand the secular left onslaught, it will be religious people more than others. So what does it mean actually when people say they believe in God? I've said often, for most people, belief in God is belief in a celestial butler. I really do believe that it has almost nothing in common with the God of the Bible, who makes demands more than he bestows favors. Celestial butler is, uh, here's my list of desires and needs, God, please fulfill them. That's the, that's the view of God that most people who believe in God have. What is the old saying? There are no atheists in foxholes. You ever hear that statement? You ever hear that? Really? How old are you? I have a 22-year-old young man in the studio, and he heard that statement. I guess it survived the ages. What does it mean there were no atheists in foxholes? It means that in time of war, where you might get killed by the next artillery shell or sniper, you will pray to God to protect you. Even the atheist will. That's why they say no atheists in foxholes. I've never been in that situation. I do not know what I would do. My inclination is not to ask God for such things. I'm not happy about it. I'm not unhappy about it. I'm just Being open, I have found that being transparent is a very helpful thing in my work. This is who I am, for better or for worse. I ask God for very little. Basically, I ask God to keep me on the right track, help keep me on the right track to do what he wants. Or as I have put it often, I am infinitely more interested in what God wants from me than what I want from God. It's also why I prefer Bible study to prayer. I am more interested in what God has to say to me than what I have to say to God. I may well be idiosyncratic in my religious outlook, but I'm not— I don't know if it's wrong. Idiosyncratic doesn't mean wrong. But I, I have come to pose this question: if religious people act basically the same as secular people, what does it mean to be religious? James in the New Testament says faith without works is dead. For the record, Luther wanted James out of the New Testament. Luther thought works are useless. He had a strange theology. He ended up doing a lot of good, I believe. I think Protestantism did a lot of good. But he had some very bad ideas, really bad ideas. One of them was that faith is everything and works are nothing, which was not a Catholic idea, and he rebelled against Catholicism. How could works not matter? I mean, it's— it never made sense to me, that idea. God doesn't care how we treat our fellow human being? God destroyed the world because people mistreated each other. It's in Genesis. So I return to my question: who's religious? I mean, who's really religious? If you're not prepared to march to the divine drummer, meaning be ostracized if necessary by the general population, I don't know how religious you are. Or to put it in really blunt terms, are you more afraid of God or man? Are you more afraid of what God will think of you or what social media will think of you? All right, or call. Sold out, as I said. May 31st to June 13th next year, by the way. Land and River, 800-345-2483. 800-345-2483, or Coastline Travel, or my website. Back in business here. Who's religious? Who's really religious? I don't mean who's sinless. There's no such thing. Who's perfect? No such thing. But who actually takes God that seriously other than I ask him for things? I've asked God for things, let me see, once, twice, twice in my life. It's so interesting. I mean, the first time it was somewhat It's really somewhat of a joke. The rabbi in my synagogue, I was about 11 years old, the rabbi in my synagogue said, if you're ever in trouble, you say from the Psalms, "Anah Hashem, hoshi anah," "Oh God, please save me," and with God's real name in Hebrew. I broke the most expensive thing in my parents' living room, this extremely expensive vase from Italy, and I was so scared about what would happen to me, I locked myself in the upstairs bathroom and said this prayer. Amazingly, my mother didn't yell at me. Seemed to have worked. But I didn't, I didn't know if it worked. I just knew it didn't, didn't hurt. I didn't say another petitionary prayer to God until about 10 years ago. A long hiatus, essentially half a century, was the second time I asked God for something. That was a lot more serious than mother not yell at me. And if that— that was also answered. So you'd think I'd be in the petitionary prayer business, but I'm not. Anyway, there's nothing wrong in asking God for something. Nothing wrong whatsoever. It's if that is what your belief consists of is something wrong. God is not a celestial butler. God is a demander, a commander, a judger. That's, that's what I believe. So how many people though really, really take God seriously enough to fear him and not human beings and not Twitter? Or if you're a public figure, not the New York Times. I fear God more than the New York Times. Like, it's not even in the same realm. And that is a sign of serious religion. There was a real failure when the churches and synagogues and temples and whatever shut down because secular irrational authority told them to. That was a bad, bad sign about who's really religious. Okay, let's go to Fairfield, California, and the famous Sue of Fairfield. Hello.

Hi Dennis.

Hi.

So yes, I, I'm a daily Mass communicant, uh, here in Fairfield, and our pastor, at first, the first couple of weeks, we, uh, he— what do you call it— videoed it.

Yeah, Zoomed it. Yeah, Zoom, Zoom.

Yes. But— and the people couldn't come into the main part of the church, but we have a chapel that's— there's glass, you could see what's going on, uh, but it's separated from the main church. And a lot of us went to Mass, you know, in the chapel, and the priest came in the back to give us communion. Now that was only for about a couple weeks, few weeks, and then we were outdoors. Rain, shine, heat, freezing for quite some time. So I'm really— I was really quite proud of him. He never shut down.

People wear masks?

That was the thing. He did want us to be masked up because of probably afraid of, you know, county authority dropping in or something.

So yeah, well, dropping out because it was outdoors. Still, so I know, I understand. I just want to make it clear that I understood that. All right, thank you. Look, I'm glad you did something. That, that was, that was important. But there are pastors and rabbis who actually had indoor services. All right, let's see here. I'd like, uh, like LDS folks to call in. I'm very curious about how you look upon your experience with the shutting down of Mormon services. As I said, I have such high regard for LDS, it was particularly disappointing God, if any group knows that you have to march to the beat of your own drummer, given the history of Mormons in America, it should be Mormons. But it's very, very hard for a Mormon to differ with what the head of the LDS holds. Back in a moment. Ah, very nice, everybody. Very nice. Wow. Well, it's the Ultimate Issues Hour on the Dennis Prager Show, the third hour every Tuesday. Are people who say they're religious really religious? That is really the question here. It's not meant as an attack or criticism or anything like that. It's meant to Indeed, just involve oneself in an ultimate issue. Do people who say they're religious really, really try to do what God wants as opposed to what man wants? Do they fear God more than they fear Twitter or Facebook or their peers at work. It's hard to walk with God. Noah did, and he was alone on earth. And Noah walked with God. Yes, by the way, that was pre-Jewish. And pre-Christian, which is its own interesting issue. And I raise this in light of the obedience of churches and synagogues to irrational secular authority in these last 2 years. It really sobered me. If you act the same as the secular world does, what the hell do we need the religious world for? Okey-smokey. Let's go to Greenville, South Carolina. Matt. Hello, Matt.

Hey, Dennis, hope you're well today.

I am.

Hey, I'm calling because the question— this is since this is the Ultimate Issue Hour The question for me is ultimate authority when it comes to government mandates and things like that. So if you take the COVID example, and this is true for the Old and New Testament, when the governmental authority agrees with God, you're fine. It's when the government authority— government tells you to do something that's the opposite of God. That's true in the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament, it was Daniel who was told not to pray, and he prayed and was thrown in the lion's den. Or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that were told to bow down and worship an idol. They were obeying the higher authority. When it comes to COVID, the question is, what was the clear command from scripture that said you must gather every Sunday or Saturday, whatever your tradition is, that you had to obey rather than man? And that's where it got fuzzy for me.

It's a very intelligent— it's a very intelligent way of posing the question. So before I venture an answer, I'd like to ask you, now that we're outside of that period, looking back at it, and I assume, but it may be an erroneous assumption, but I assume you are not of the belief that these lockdowns were necessarily beneficial. Is that fair to say?

That's correct.

Yes, sir.

Okay, can I go further and say that you might even think that, especially in the case of schools, they were harmful?

Yes, I serve on a school board and I agree.

Okay, so the obedience of secular or religious people to 2 years of lockdown was irrational, even if you're an atheist? Can we Can we go to that step?

It's irrational in hindsight, but in, in the moment it was muddy, right?

Not to me, for, for the record. I, I was as clear then as I am today. I wrote in April of 2020, it's on the internet, this was the greatest international mistake in history, and Sweden was my living proof. In case I needed a living proof. But there were people, and I was one of them, for whom it was not muddy. But that's fine. Even if it was muddy— well, so wait, wait, wait. In light of that, in light of this, I'm really curious as to your answer. In light of the hindsight clarity you now say you have, what would you advocate be done the next time they do this? And there's no question there will be a next time.

Well, uh, what I was about to say, and this is, this answers your question as well. I have the privilege of living in South Carolina, not California, and I believe our governor handled this situation very well. We did shut down for a few weeks, but then he was like, we're not doing this anymore.

We're right. So hold on with me. I want to talk to you more. You're truly thoughtful listener. Sean, what's our story here? Oh, all right, everybody. Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragerutopia.com.