The Fed rate cut and the “Charlie effect” on church attendance
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
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Article Description
After days filled with bad news, let’s look for good news in bad news on a deeper cultural level, one that offers hope for our collective future and our individual souls. The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point, sending the Dow up 260 points and projecting more cuts ahead. Consumer spending is keeping pace with inflation even as fears of “asteroid economics” rise. And after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, thousands reportedly returned to church in what’s being called the “Charlie effect.” These headlines remind us that even in the midst of loss and cultural unraveling, Christ alone offers the strong tower and immovable rock our souls most need.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Greetings on this Thursday, September the 18th, 2025. Welcome to Denison Forum's Daily |
| 0:08.7 | Article Podcast. I'm narrator, Chris Elkins, giving voice to today's daily article podcast, |
| 0:15.1 | written by our cultural theologian, Dr. Jim Denison. After days filled with hard news, let's take time today for some good news in the bad news. |
| 0:27.2 | The bad news is that the Federal Reserve is growing more concerned about the health of the nation's labor market. |
| 0:33.6 | The good news is that the Dow Jones rose 260 points yesterday after the central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter point and projected that it would cut rates twice more this year. |
| 0:47.0 | The bad news is that the bad news is prompting asteroid economics in which consumers spend with abandon because they sense destruction is coming. |
| 0:57.2 | The good news is that consumer spending is keeping pace with inflation and driving the economy. |
| 1:03.9 | The horrible news of Charlie Kirk's assassination last week brought good news last Sunday. |
| 1:09.8 | His death reportedly brought thousands of people to church, |
| 1:13.9 | a faith researchist being called the Charlie Effect. Now let's look for good news in bad news |
| 1:20.5 | on a deeper cultural level, one that offers hope for our collective future and our individual souls. In a brilliant analysis of our |
| 1:30.0 | cultural moment, Clemson Political Science Professor C. Bradley Thompson writes that, quote, |
| 1:36.2 | the moral culture of Western civilization is unraveling before our eyes. He cites two tragedies |
| 1:43.5 | in the news to make his point. First, he explains the |
| 1:47.4 | assassination of Charlie Kirk in light of the conservative activist debate slogan, |
| 1:52.9 | prove me wrong. According to Dr. Thompson, quote, it means first that he appealed to reason, |
| 1:59.3 | objectivity, and logic, and he encouraged his |
| 2:02.2 | interlocutors to do the same. |
| 2:04.9 | It also means that Charlie recognized right from wrong, truth and untruth, good and bad. |
| 2:11.7 | He believed that honest men and women could reason their way to moral and political truths. These are the core values and principles |
| 2:19.9 | of Western civilization." Next, Thompson notes that murder a few weeks ago of Ukrainian immigrant |
| 2:28.0 | Iranazirutka on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, quote, three things stand out about this heinous murder. |
... |
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