Nature won’t tolerate a vacuum, as space will inevitably be filled by something. In physics, it’s air, particles, or water. In culture, it’s ideologies. When one set of voices goes silent, the void will demand others rise up.The woke mind virus — which successfully convinced millions of people across the world that cutting off healthy body parts is “affirming care” and drag queens reading to toddlers is progress — is the result of evangelical Christians bowing out of cultural conversations for fear of ruffling feathers, says BlazeTV host Steve Deace.He condemns “Hawaiian shirt-wearing, sweater vest-owning, skinny jean-having, furrowed brow perpetually-possessing evangelicalism” that sat back quietly while progressives ransacked traditional marriage, biological sex, and history. This cowardice, Deace argues, is why we have “an entire generation of believers” who don’t understand that we can genuinely love our neighbors and fight for cultural victories simultaneously.On this episode of the “Steve Deace Show,” Steve speaks with managing editor of the Babylon Bee, Joel Berry, about the disastrous decline of evangelical influence and what Christians need to do to reclaim their position as a driver of culture. Evangelicals as a whole, says Berry, have foolishly adopted Tim Keller’s “third way” theory, which argues that Christians should avoid aligning fully with either the political left or right and instead seek a "third way" that allows them to appeal to secular people.The falsity of Keller’s theory that nonpartisanship leads to “reformed culture and regenerated hearts,” however, is evidenced by the fact that “black babies are still more likely to be aborted than born” in the city where Keller’s church resides, says Berry.“He rarely spoke about abortion from the pulpit; he was quiet about cultural issues like gay marriage; and this was kind of the state of the entire church for many decades,” he tells Steve.While Keller pitches his avoidance of politically charged subjects as a more effective method for drawing people to Christ, Berry says it’s just cowardice. “Once you take the truths of scripture and try to live them out in the real world, live them out in the culture and in politics, it gets really messy. It gets scary,” he says.But just like the famous Nazi-dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who bravely helped form the Confessing Church in opposition to Nazi-controlled Christianity (and died for it), “We need to be bold,” Berry argues. “Pastors need to start being more outspoken from the pulpit about the issues that their congregation is facing, day in and day out.”The idea that shying away from or softening biblical truths in hopes that people will be attracted to the faith and ultimately change their hearts is counterintuitive. “The word of God” — no-holds-barred, no sugarcoating — “is powerful to affect change,” says Berry.“The Bible talks about how we don't use the weapons of the world. We wage war with spiritual weapons that have the power to tear down strongholds. That's the message that needs to be preached. People need to see that there actually is a hope for change to turn around this culture through the power of God's word and Spirit-filled believers.”To hear Deace’s response, watch the video above.Want more from Steve Deace?To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Officials in Salem, Oregon, are facing a public backlash after appointing a man convicted of murdering a teenage girl to a city public safety and police oversight board.Kyle Hedquist was convicted in 1994 of killing 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher and served 28 years of a life sentence without the possibility of parole before then-Gov. Kate Brown (D) granted him clemency in 2022.'Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?' Hedquist was 17 at the time of the crime. Prosecutors said he drove Thrasher to a wooded area, shot her in the back of the head, and left her body on a remote logging road. They described the killing as an “execution-style” murder.According to prosecutors, Hedquist believed Thrasher had discovered he had stolen items from his aunt and killed her to prevent her from reporting him. Thrasher had asked him about the stolen items, which prosecutors said he interpreted as a threat.Two years after his release, the Salem City Council appointed Hedquist to the city’s Community Police Review Board, which oversees police conduct and public safety matters. The council recently reappointed him to the position, prompting renewed backlash.Some city officials have defended the decision, citing Hedquist’s rehabilitation and community involvement since his release.Others strongly disagree. Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson criticized the appointment, calling it inappropriate for a public safety role.“While I acknowledge there are appropriate ways for those who have completed their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation to give back to our community, this is not one of them,” Clarkson said. “Our police and fire professionals have a right to expect better from city leadership.”The Oregon Republican Party also condemned the decision in a statement, calling it “absurd” to place a convicted murderer on a board overseeing public safety and policing."Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?" said a commenter on social media.At the time of Hedquist’s release, Thrasher’s mother said the governor’s office did not notify her that clemency was being considered.“He took the life of my daughter — in cold blood!” she told KOIN-TV. “He planned it!”RELATED: Democrat mayor hit with brutal backlash after 8-year-old girl is killed by illegal alien The Oregon Justice Resource Center, an organization that opposes mass incarceration, defended Hedquist’s appointment. In a statement on social media, the group said Hedquist has spent years contributing to his community and advocating for systemic reform.“That kind of experience brings value to public institutions,” the group said in a statement, adding that criticism of Hedquist was “misdirected.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

2025 was a year for the history books, and BlazeTV host Steve Deace and executive producer Aaron McIntire have the top 10 stories that made this year so unforgettable.Story number 10, McIntire announces, was the Democrats' 43-day government shutdown that lasted over a month and kept Americans across the country terrified of losing their SNAP benefits.“The media was happy to act as if a shutdown wasn’t actually happening for well over a month from October 1 till its conclusion in the middle of November, with a deal Democrats had previously turned down on numerous occasions in the process,” McIntire says. “Which begs the question: If a government shuts down and nobody noticed it, is it really a shutdown at all?”Next on the list at Number 9 is the “Department of Crashout Efficiency.”“Much had been made, probably rightfully so, about the role tech magnate Elon Musk played in the election of President Trump back in 2024. With the inauguration of Trump came the ceremonial creation of the Department of Government Efficiency,” McIntire explains, pointing out that this new entity discovered “reams upon reams of nearly unfathomable graft, corruption, and abuse.”“But the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, went from being a fixture in the news for much of the spring to now being relegated to ghost or legend status depending on whom you ask,” he continues.Number 8, McIntire says, is the “election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of the nation's largest city.”“New York City, in less than a generation after the largest Islamic terror attack of the 21st century struck it to its core ... turned around and elected an Islamist to lead it,” McIntire says.Number 7 is Trump’s hard stance on immigration, with deportations not appearing to be slowing down any time soon.“The official numbers of how many foreigners have left the country is generally up for debate. But one thing that’s not is that the deportations must continue until morale improves,” McIntire says.Number 6 is "Operation Midnight Hammer."“On June 22, and in conjunction with Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against Iran, the United States carried out what is likely the most technologically and logistically sophisticated air operation in the history of warfare,” McIntire says.“The stunning operation not only sent a message to Iran, but every would-be enemy of the United States,” he adds.Number 5 centers around the passing of Pope Francis, which led to the selection of a new pope on May 8.“They shocked the world by selecting the first pope born in the United States,” McIntire says. Deace chimes in that the new Pope, Pope Leo, is “already worse than Francis.”Number 4 is Liberation Day.“On April 2, the Trump administration declared Liberation Day and enacted a series of tariffs on basically every continent, every land mass, every tiny little island in the middle of nowhere under the sun,” McIntire explains.“The administration sold those sweeping tariffs as a way to grow government revenue and/or leverage for better trade deals,” he adds.Number 3 is what McIntire calls “Trump 2.0,” which is the beginning of Trump’s second term, and Number 2 is the “future of the right” — which McIntire and Deace believe has fractured after major conservatives like Tucker Carlson have platformed, and essentially celebrated, voices they see as destructive to the right.“What’s left to be determined is whether this is a movement going through growing pains, or a stillbirth,” McIntire says, before reading Number 1.“Number one story of the year is Charlie Kirk, the American martyr,” McIntire says. “His murder that everyone saw prompted a number of moving tributes, including one of the best, I thought, from the White House.”Want more from Steve Deace?To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The reign of diversity, equity, and inclusion over America’s elite institutions is coming to an end — and BlazeTV hosts Christopher Rufo and Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman believe those institutions may be coming to an end as a result.But it’s not necessarily not a bad thing.“That 10-year period ... the BLM era, let’s call it. Did any of these institutions get better? ... Did the journalism at the Times and the Post and the Atlantic improve? Were there sparkling, important, seismic essays that emerged in this 10-year period? ... Did Hollywood produce better movies?” Rufo asks.“The answer is absolutely not,” Lomez answers. “This isn’t even debatable. It is self-evidently the case that everything has gotten worse that these institutions were responsible for producing, and you can measure this along any metric you want.”“Those things are dying, dead, in decline. What is doing better?” Lomez asks. “Well, all the places that these white men fled to. Crypto, you know, the frontiers of AI and tech, where they could find places to still ply their talents.”“What happens to these institutions?” he asks. “I think we just let them — they sort of have to die.”However, Lomez does believe there will be a “silver lining.”“There has to be some reason this is happening and some way to make it better. And the answer I’ve come up with … these institutions actually needed to decline. They were already potentially in a sort of moment of secular decline anyway, and that this has freed a bunch of talent to go do other things,” he explains.“I do believe these people and these impulses are going to find their way toward something productive,” he says. “And this is what’s going to arise out of this moment.”Want more from Rufo & Lomez?To enjoy more of the news through the anthropological lens of Christopher Rufo and Lomez, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A former teacher in Texas has been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with a child and possession of child pornography. Just days after the substitute teacher’s arrest, her alleged boyfriend was also arrested for child sex crimes. On Dec. 19, Madison Paige Jones was reportedly charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of indecency with a child sexual contact, and one count of possession of child pornography.Jones is accused of having more than 500 visual depictions of child pornography in her possession.According to Ellis County Sheriff's Office jail records, Jones is being held on a $90,000 bond. The Midlothian Police Department said in a statement that officers were “dispatched to investigate a report of a potential sexual assault involving a child” on Dec. 17. Law enforcement reportedly zeroed in on the former 30-year-old substitute teacher and arrested her.KDFW-TV reported that the Midlothian Independent School District said Jones worked as a substitute teacher four times in the past year at Heritage High School and Baxter Elementary School.According to the district, Jones substituted for one day at Heritage High School on Nov. 19 and for three days at Baxter Elementary on Oct. 28, Oct. 29, and Nov. 3. The New York Post separately reported the same dates, citing the district.The San Antonio Express-News reported that Jones is accused of possessing more than 500 visual depictions of child pornography.The school district said there is no indication that the charges are connected to Jones’ work as a substitute teacher and that preliminary information shows none of the alleged conduct occurred on a Midlothian ISD campus or during a school-related activity.RELATED: Ex-teacher who dodged conviction for allegedly asking teen lover to kill husband learns fate for sexually assaulting student CBS News reported that the Midlothian Independent School District said in a statement that its process for monitoring employee criminal history “functioned as intended” and that the district was notified quickly by the Texas Department of Public Safety.The district said the substitute teacher is no longer employed and that it followed required reporting procedures with the Texas Education Agency.Police said detectives with the Criminal Investigation Division continued the investigation and identified a second suspect, Zackery Dondlinger, 37, of Happy, Texas.Authorities arrested Dondlinger on Dec. 23 in Loving County, Texas, according to police.The sheriff’s office said Dondlinger was charged with sexual performance by a child and is being held at the Winkler County Detention Center awaiting arraignment.Citing the Midlothian Police Department, CBS News reported that Jones and Dondlinger were in a dating relationship.Law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation include the Midlothian Police Department, the Ellis County Children’s Advocacy Center, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Office of the Attorney General’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit, and the Loving County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information related to this case is urged to contact Midlothian Police Detective Dawson Frazer at 469-672-0056.The Loving County Sheriff's Office, the Ellis County Children’s Advocacy Center, and the Texas Office of the Attorney General's Fugitive Apprehension Unit did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!