Why are there disasters like the events in Japan? Are they “natural” disasters or “supernatural” events caused by God? A recent poll finds that evangelicals are far more likely than other Americans to believe that God causes disasters and sometimes does so as punishment.
A majority of Americans believe that God controls everything in the world, according to the poll from Public Religion Research Institute, in partnership with Religion News Service, conducted the poll March 17-20, 2011. A vast majority of white evangelicals (84 percent) believe God is in control of everything, which is more than mainline Protestants (56 percent) or Catholics (52 percent).
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n this episode of Music and Meaning, Charlie tackles the headline topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on music. He kicks off with Elon Musk’s AI warnings and the tech industry’s temporary pause on advancements like ChatGPT-4, then draws an intriguing parallel between AI’s unchecked growth and the biblical Tower of Babel, posing sharp ethical questions. He reminisces about his early days of tech adoption as a young music producer, from Moog synthesizers to digital samplers and drum machines, emphasizing how he learned that these tools came with an ideology of their own. He got played before he played them. Charlie suggests AI is no different. Highlighting AI’s involvement in a Beatles’ song revival, Charlie drops a C. S. Lewis quote and champions the irreplaceable human imagination in all creativity. The episode wraps with a call for wise AI governance, urging a humanity-first approach in technology’s integration with creativity.
Charlie Peacock is a Grammy Award–winning, Billboard chart–topping music producer, composer, and recording artist. He is a co-founder of the Art House, Wedgwood Circle, and founder/director emeritus of the commercial music program at Lipscomb University. Charlie has produced music for film and television, including A Walk to Remember, Chris Cornell’s “Misery Chain” from the soundtrack of 12 Years a Slave, and “Hush,” the title theme to the AMC drama Turn: Washington’s Spies. Named by Billboard’s The Encyclopedia of Record Producers as one of the 500 most important producers in music history, Charlie is also a three-time recipient of the Gospel Music Award for Producer of the Year. His books include Why Everything That Doesn’t Matter, Matters So Much; New Way to Be Human; At the Crossroads; and a contribution to It Was Good: Making Music to the Glory of God. Charlie is the senior music editor for Christianity Today and host of the CT podcast Music and Meaning. He has been married to writer Andi Ashworth for nearly 50 years and they have two grown, married children and four grandchildren.
“Music and Meaning” is a production of Christianity Today:
Executive Produced by Erik Petrik and Matt Stevens
Produced and Written by Charlie Peacock and Mike Cosper
Original Music and Editing by David LaChance and Charlie Peacock
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Show theme, “Sound of the Room,” composed by Charlie Peacock, featuring bassist John Patitucci
Evangelicals are also far more likely than other religious groups to believe that God uses disasters to punish people or send signs. A majority of evangelicals (51 percent) believe that “God sometimes punishes nations for the sins of some of its citizens,” Only one-fifth of mainline Protestants or Catholics hold this believe.
The year is coming to an end, which means it’s time to reflect on our favorite reads! On this episode, Russell Moore and producer Ashley Hales discuss the books that have stuck with them this year. Their conversation touches on the winners of Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards and the back catalogs of authors whose new releases are making a splash.
Genres mentioned span biography, memoir, fiction, and more. Moore and Hales discover broad themes and consider how their 2023 reading might inform their 2024 thinking.
For more insight into what Russell is reading throughout the year, subscribe to his newsletter here.
Russell’s Top Ten Books of 2023:
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by Richard Adams, adapted and Illustrated by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
C.S. Lewis in America: Readings and Receptions, 1935-1947 by Mark A. Noll
Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism, and Right-Wing Identity Politics by Tobias Cremer
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South by Esau McCaulley
Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from DaVinci to the Kardashians by Tara Isabella Burton
Lights a Lovely Mile: Collected Sermons of the Church Year by Eugene H. Peterson
Additional books mentioned in this episode include:
Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin (CT Book of the Year Award)
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch
Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton
Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams by Lester J. Capon
The Three-Body Problem Series by Cixin Liu
Episodes of The Russell Moore Show featuring authors discussed in this episode include:
“Tim Alberta on the White Evangelical Crisis”
“Christianity’s Being Co-opted with Tobias Cremer”
“Developing a Biblical Framework with Christopher Watkin”
“Esau McCaulley Makes Grace Plausible”
“Losing Our Religion: David Brooks on the Allure of Tribalism”
“Andy Crouch’s Cure for a Tech-Obsessed World”
“Beth Moore Didn’t Expect Us to Be Us”
“Beth Moore and Russell Moore in Conversation” & “Listener Questions for Russell Moore and Beth Moore”
Ashley Hales is the producer of The Russell Moore Show, founder of Willowbrae Institute, and an author. Find out more at aahales.com.
Do you have a question for Russell Moore? Send it to questions@russellmoore.com.
Click here for a trial subscription at Christianity Today.
“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today
Executive Producers: Erik Petrik, Russell Moore, and Mike Cosper
Host: Russell Moore
Producer: Ashley Hales
Associate Producers: Abby Perry and McKenzie Hill
Director of Operations for CT Media: Matt Stevens
Audio engineering by Dan Phelps
Video producer: Abby Egan
Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton
More people believe that natural disasters are a “sign from God.” Just over a third of Americans believe disasters are signs from God. However, a majority of evangelicals believe this (59 percent), which is more than other religious groups.
The poll also found that 83 percent of Americans believe that is important for the U.S. to help out financially when nations like Japan suffer a natural disaster. This support is roughly the same for evangelicals (86 percent), other religious traditions, and those who are not religious.
Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of The Albert Mohler Program, said that Christians should remember that Jesus warned against linking tragedies as the result of sins by specific people.
“Disasters like this often bring out the most reckless forms of theologizing,” Mohler said. “We must affirm both the sovereign power and the loving character of God, and that means that we must know that disasters like this will test both our faith and our faithfulness.”
BreakPoint’s Chuck Colson said earthquakes are part of the natural order. Christians should not blame anyone but should instead focus on helping.
“I have no doubt that Christians – those who follow a God whom the atheists call cruel and inhumane – will be in the vanguard of helping the hurting in Japan because He has taught us to love one another on this beautifully created, intricately complex, and even sometimes dangerous planet on which we live, and because humans are, after all, the crown of creation,” Colson said.
Editors Note: The Public Religion Research Institute provided Christianity Today with a religious breakdown of questions from the poll. However, Christianity Today is responsible for all analysis and interpretation of the results. Around one-fifth of Americans are identified as white evangelicals in the poll. The margin of error for this subsample is around seven percentage points. The results are descriptive; religious differences could be due to partisanship, ideology, income, or other factors.
