This is Molly Hemingway, encouraging you to listen to my favorite podcast, issues, etc.

Every day you get in-depth interviews with host Todd Wilkin asking expert guests, substantive, thought-provoking questions on all of the important news and issues of our day.

The expert guests are in culture, law, ethics, philosophy, theology,

and apologetics. Expert guests? Expansive topics. Always extolling Christ. Issues, etc. It is not a subject that you would think would be appropriate for a health service.

The National Health Service of Great Britain is talking about first cousin marriage, not warning against it as, well, most would, and as Western civilization generally legally has for centuries.

They're extolling its benefits.

Why?

Welcome back to Issues, etc. I'm Todd Wilkin on this Wednesday,

October 1st. John Daniel Davidson joins us to talk about Britain's National Health Service,

extolling the benefits of first cousin marriage. He's senior editor at the Federalist,

author of the book Pagan America, The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come,

and a recent column for the Federalist,

titled Britain is Turning Its Back on Western Civilization.

John, welcome back.

Thanks for having me.

So tell us about this guidance issued by Britain's National Health Service regarding

first cousin marriage. Yeah, it's an incredible

story and it's crazy to even sort of say that sentence out loud. But the fact is Britain's

National Health Service, this is the government-run healthcare system in Great Britain, issued some

guidance recently that seemed to champion or

extol the benefits of first cousin marriage despite the known increased risk of birth defects.

They said that first cousin marriage is, quote, linked to stronger extended family support systems and economic

...