The Flint Water Crisis with Political Science Professor Kevin R. den Dulk

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Christianity

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2016

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The ongoing Flint water crisis has reminded many of us of the role that government plays in providing water to the public. While evangelicals may not be inclined to see access to clean water as a faith or justice-based issue, Calvin College political science professor Kevin R. den Dulk makes a case for why Christians should care about the human “right to water”. “For Christians, access to water ought not be about the arbitrariness of birth and geography or the vagaries of power,” writes the Michigan-based professor for The Center for Public Justice. “It is a matter of justice, and our response is grounded in God’s call to seek shalom, in this case by addressing the access problems and inevitable conflicts that arise when a good is both basic and unevenly distributed.” On this week’s Quick to Listen, Kevin R. den Dulk joins Morgan and Katelyn to discuss the Flint water crisis through the lens of public justice. With the Flint crisis in mind, what do bodies “owe” us citizens? Is water a human right? What does a public theology of water look like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.0	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:25.6	Music Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen, the Christianity Today podcast, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes and set aside time to explore the reality behind a major cultural event.
0:36.3	I am Caitlin Beatty, the print managing editor of Christianity
0:39.2	Today magazine coming to you from the lovely Carol stream, and I am joined as always by my co-host,
0:44.7	Morgan Lee. Hi, Morgan. Caitlin, it's great to be here today. Hi, to all of our listeners, I'm an assistant
0:50.9	editor here at Christianity Today, and today we are joined by Kevin Dendalk.
0:55.9	He is the chair of the Political Science Department at Calvin College.
0:59.7	He is also the executive director of the Paul Henry Institute, which we recently learned is actually named after the son of Carl Henry.
1:09.0	Kevin, thank you so much for joining us.
1:10.8	Well, it's my pleasure. Thanks so much for being here. So as our listeners know, every week we go
1:16.4	behind the complexities and tensions of a story that's in the news. We try to acknowledge those
1:22.6	tensions, acknowledge our thoughts and feelings, and then work out as best we can, how Christians
1:27.2	can respond.
1:28.3	And this week we'll be talking about the especially complex story about the ongoing Flint water
1:33.4	crisis. The news of that broke several months ago. We've seen a lot of the headlines and tweets
1:39.6	that are expressing outrage and grief understandably. Last week there were a series of congressional
1:45.6	hearings involving several key political figures in Flint. The Flint mayor basically said
1:52.3	that the state of Michigan is to blame. So we wanted to get Kevin here, especially because you
1:59.2	are in Michigan, so you're a lot closer to what's going on in Flint
2:02.9	than we are here in Illinois. And then also you have written, Kevin, for Capitol Commentary,
	...

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