Friday, May 15, 2026
The Briefing with Albert Mohler
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
4.8 • 8.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses the effect of falling birth rates on school closures, and he answers questions about young men and Christianity, Christian children in public schools, pledging allegiance to a country as a Christian, if Christians should encourage moral shame, and God’s love within Calvinism.
Part I (00:13 – 08:10)
Falling Birth Rates and School Closures: The Effects of the Declining Birth Rate in the U.S. are Now Reaching School Systems
- U.S. Schools Face a Crisis as the Number of Children Drops by The New York Times (Sarah Mervosh, Francesca Paris, and Claire Cain Miller)
How Can I Encourage Young Men in My Ministry to Make the Sacrifices Necessary for a Healthy Christian Life? – Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part III (12:41 – 14:05)
My Church Started a Podcast to Answer Questions From Sunday’s Sermon, and a Woman is One of the Hosts Along with Pastors. Is That a Problem? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part IV (14:05 – 18:39)
Is It Wrong for Christians to Send Their Children to Public Schools in a Secular Society, Like Northern Ireland? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part V (18:39 – 21:32)
Is It Wrong for Christians to Pledge Allegiance to the American Flag? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part VI (21:32 – 24:54)
Should Christians Encourage Moral Shame? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The Briefing
Part VII (24:54 – 30:28)
I’m a 5-Point Calvinist. How Can God Love the Whole World But Condemn People to Hell? — Dr. Mohler Responds to a Letter From a 15-Year-Old Listener of The Briefing
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Friday, May 15, 2006. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Albert Moller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. |
| 0:13.0 | You know, school boards across the country are facing numerous challenges, but there is one more than any other that I think should have our attention. |
| 0:24.5 | Headline recently, this one from the Times, the New York Times, quote, |
| 0:28.1 | U.S. schools face a crisis as the number of children drops. |
| 0:33.8 | Subhead with fewer students, many public school districts are confronting unfilled classrooms and hard choices about school closures. |
| 0:36.3 | It's a team of reporters on this. |
| 0:38.2 | It is a big story. |
| 0:39.4 | And by the way, it's not an exaggeration. |
| 0:42.1 | If anything, it's an understatement. |
| 0:44.3 | The loss of students, in fact, in some areas, the loss of population, net population, |
| 0:49.8 | is now having effects on school enrollment. |
| 0:52.7 | And that has a lot to do with the ability of school systems |
| 0:55.4 | to fund those schools, |
| 0:56.5 | which are often based on enrollment in terms of the funding, |
| 0:59.9 | and also keep full staff and all the rest. |
| 1:01.9 | So in other words, headline in this case |
| 1:03.6 | just says number of children drops. |
| 1:05.6 | We know as Christians, there's got to be a lot more to the story. |
| 1:08.3 | That's a huge headline. |
| 1:09.9 | So what's behind it? Well, listen to the first sentence of the article. Quote, as American women have fewer babies each year, the number of young children in the United States is dwindling. The trend is now catching up to the nation's public school districts, end quote. Okay, that is really interesting. So in other words, the headline just simply says number of children drops, but then the introductory lead sentence says, as American women have |
| 1:34.4 | fewer babies each year. Okay, so it's not just some kind of neutral fact out there, disconnected |
... |
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