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Israel, Immigration, and America's Religious Revival
Religion is making a surprising comeback in American public life according to a groundbreaking Gallup poll that reveals, for the first time in 15 years, most Americans no longer believe faith is losing ground. What makes this finding particularly remarkable is its cross-ideological acknowledgment - liberals, Democrats, and young adults are among those recognizing religion's growing significance at rates exceeding their conservative counterparts.
The revival appears driven in part by unexpected spiritual awakenings across college campuses from Asbury University to Texas A&M, challenging prevailing narratives about younger generations' secular tendencies. These campus movements represent a spontaneous, grassroots return to faith that transcends political divides and speaks to deeper human needs in uncertain times.
Meanwhile, faith continues shaping international relations, evidenced by Argentina's embassy relocation to Jerusalem under President Javier Milei's leadership. His principled stance against manipulated narratives that "turn victims into perpetrators" demonstrates how religious and moral frameworks inform diplomatic positions, particularly regarding Israel's security concerns.
On the domestic front, immigration enforcement has seen remarkable results with reports of nearly one million self-deportations, driven by a two-track approach that prioritizes removing violent offenders while offering incentives for voluntary departure. This strategy has reportedly reduced southern border crossings from hundreds of thousands to virtually zero within months, while saving taxpayers approximately $16,000 per self-deportee compared to forced removal costs.
The resurgence of religious perspectives extends to legal battles, where higher courts increasingly recognize constitutional principles over ideological preferences. Investigations into foreign funding behind domestic unrest further highlight the complex interplay between authentic expression and orchestrated disruption in our public square.
What emerges is a picture of faith reasserting itself not as a partisan weapon but as a genuine cultural current that addresses fundamental human questions about meaning, moral foundations, and social cohesion. As America navigates polarization and uncertainty, more citizens across demographic and political lines are recognizing that spiritual perspectives offer valuable resources for both personal and civic renewal.
Rick Green [00:00:07] Thanks for joining us today on the WallBuilders Show, the intersection of faith and culture, where we take on the hot topics of the day from a biblical historical and constitutional perspective today is Friday. So we're going to throw a lot of good news that you hope it's very encouraging for you going into the weekend, Rick Green here with David and Tim Barton, and these guys have stacks of good news. Let's see how much we can get through today. David, get us started, man.
David Barton [00:00:28] Well, I'm going to start with something in Israel, but it's not related to the recent war and still the ongoing war that's going on with Israel. This has to do with, man, how do I want to say this? We have the Trump administration boycotting Israel right now. And that sounds really strange after all we've done to help Israel, but they're boycoting Israel in Tel Aviv related to The Pride Parade. So Tel Aviv is the really secular part of Israel and Tel Avive versus the rest of Israel is kind of like San Francisco versus Oklahoma City. And I chose Oklahoma City because of all major cities that's considered the most conservative major city in the United States. San Francisco on the other side. So you have in Israel, you've got Tel Aviv, the university there, that's a secular progressive university. And then you've got Hebrew U over in Jerusalem. That's the traditional religious university. So what's happened is the, the Trump administration has made it clear to all of their ambassadors, you will not participate in any pride month activities, period, not going to do that. And so Mike Huckabee was certainly happy to cooperate with that. That is right down his worldview, right? What he believes. And so they've announced that they're not going to be taking, any part in the Tel Aviv pride parade. And the other part that's interesting is they didn't call it the pride parade of the LGBTQIA+ community. They just called it the LGB community. So Trump has ordered that you drop all the other acronyms and other letters that go with it. He's willing to acknowledge lesbian, gay, bisexual, because that is traditional genders. But that's as far as he's going. Now, whether that sex is used properly from a historical perspective, say probably not, but at least he's only saying there's two genders. We're not even going to use the other letters.
Tim Barton [00:02:25] Yeah and then that's a clarification. He's acknowledging there's only two genders. Now, what people choose to do sexually is very different, but at least we're acknowledging only two genders now, obviously, we want to get back to saying, hey, right, sexual activity, God designed for marriage, and the confines of the marriage bed between a man and a woman, right, like there's, there are some parameters God set up and God set it up for our good, it was for our benefit, so this is not something that God's trying to be so exclusive to destroy our lives and make us not have any fun, no, this is by far the most beneficial thing, and Dad, I'm saying it only to reiterate what you did clarify at the end, because at first I thought, oh, this, you know, this might not be a great thing we're pointing out, but no, if we're acknowledging that there's only male and female. Sometimes you have to pick your battle and you win one battle at a time. And right now the bigger battle is there's only two genders. And once we can reestablish that basic truth and reality, then let's work to get back to recover what marriage actually is, what it was designed for, what God's intent was. So it is a really good first step.
David Barton [00:03:28] Tel Aviv has the largest pride parade in the Middle East and I can imagine that. I imagine the pride parade and Iran is not really a big thing or Yemen or Syria.
Tim Barton [00:03:38] It might be because Israel is the only place where that the homosexuals aren't being thrown off rooftops
Rick Green [00:03:45] Yeah, the Pride Police in Iran, yeah, they're there. They just, it's not an arrest. It's literally a throwing them off the roof.
David Barton [00:03:52] Yep. And, and uh, the special guest for the pride parade in Tel Aviv is Olympic gold medalist, Caitlyn Jenner. So that is their emphasis, which is that is, you know, I thought that was kind of something in the past. It seemed like America had moved on from that name and that, that fiasco from a few years ago, but, but nonetheless, but the white house did affirm that June is not pride month they're calling it family month. And that goes to a resolution that's been introduced by Mary Miller out of Illinois. And so Trump has affirmed that, hey, this is family month in June. So that's the first piece of good news. And it's being, I guess, kind of manifested over in Israel with the U.S. refusal to participate in pride day parades because they want family parades.
Rick Green [00:04:40] And I have to mention Mary Miller and her family have, they love constitutional alive and WallBuilders and Patriot Academy. And even some of them have been down for our constitutional defense class. So we're going to try to get Mary on the program and talk about that resolution, Tim, what's your next piece of good news or first piece of Good News today, I guess.
Tim Barton [00:04:58] Well, so, so dad, before I, steal, I don't want to steal from you. Are you going to talk about the, the message that Mike Huckabee sent to Donald Trump in regard to when, when this Iran, Israel thing is starting to break out. Is that part of your good news?
David Barton [00:05:15] It is not. Take it.
Tim Barton [00:05:16] Oh, okay. Okay. Perfect. So speaking of governor now ambassador, Mike Huckebee over in Israel. So on Tuesday, president Trump shared the message that he received from Mike Huckabee and Mike Huckebrr just brilliantly gave some insights and thoughts, ideas, and again, Trump shared this on social media. It's been shared many places now, but here's what, what Mike Hucklebe said. Mr. President, God spared you in Butler, Pennsylvania to be the most consequential president in a century, maybe ever the decisions on your shoulders, I would not want to be made by anyone else. You have many voices speaking to you, sir. But there is only one voice that matters. His voice, and one is fully capitalized and HIS fully capitalized. He continued reflecting on God's sovereignty. You did not seek this moment. This moment sought you. I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or anyone else's. You sent me to Israel to be your eyes, ears, and voice and to make sure our flag flies above our embassy. My job is to be the last one to leave. I will not abandon this post. Our flag will not come down. It is my honor to serve you." And that's the message. Trump puts it on social media. You know, everybody conservative side is sharing this. So many Christians are sharing it. But the fact that, that, that Mike Huckabee is not telling him what to do, but rather encouraging him who to listen to. And it's, it's not the voice of man. He's saying, you need to see Kevin on this. President Trump, what you do is far bigger than you. In fact, I'm reading it from an article and, and the article, there's a part that I was looking for that I did not see in here, because there's part that he refers to Truman. That this is going to be bigger potentially than even what Truman did. Truman being the one that recognized Israel as a nation and that's not in this article. So I really should have just pulled up the whole message on social media. Nonetheless, it, it really is incredible that a guy like Mike Huckabee is, is not just reaching out to offer insight. It really seems that God gave him some wisdom in the way he did it. You know, president Trump, God has you here for a reason on purpose. I encourage you, listen to his voice. And by the way, while I'm here, I'm representing you. I love his courage from Mike reflected in the end that my job is to be the last one here, no matter what happens, right? Iran's coming full assault. I'm not leaving. I will not abandon this post. Our flag will not come down and it's my honor to serve you. Just absolutely incredible from Mike Huckabee. And then that President Trump thought it was so impactful, he shared it cause you guys, y'all know President Trump. Is getting messages from all kinds of people every single day and he doesn't share hardly anything of what he gets from other people on social media. It could be because President Trump wants to share all of his thoughts because he wants to be the star of the show, but the fact that he thought this was impactful enough even to him, this thought and advice that he shared on social media is really awesome. A lot of adjectives that we could add onto that just encouraging to see what's going on. And again, makes us so grateful for the people that God has around President Trump and in this cycle and this time of his presidency, that there are some really great faith leaders that he is listening to, he's been very intentional to, to allow them to have his ear and he seems to be taking some of that advice. Now, Mike Huckabee being just one of those guys and man, this message was so encouraging.
Rick Green [00:08:53] And comes at an important time too, right? Whenever you're seeing some of this opposition from the quote unquote writer from within MAGA, um, on the Israel issue. And so it was, it was a great message from ambassador Huckabee and a smart of, of Trump to share it for sure. Okay, David ping pong and back to you, man.
David Barton [00:09:11] Well, this deals with Israel again, but this story comes out of Argentina and the president of Argentina, Javier Mele, is really just kind of Trumpish for that nation, if you will, and he's very conservative. He's very patriotic. He loves America, he loves Israel, and he was just over in Israel and he just announced that they're moving their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. You know, America kind of started that trend back when Trump was in the first term and then number of nations did that as well. So they're leaving from the secular center of Israel from Tel Aviv and move, move into the spiritual heart of it, which is Jerusalem. And that's a big deal. There's been other nations planning to do that, moving in that direction. Hopefully they're going to do. But then Netanyahu pointed out that the Argentina under this, president has been a really good friend to Israel. Stood with them with all the Hamas attacks back in Gaza. And, and actually in the speech there, the, the president of Argentina talked about the fact that the international community, he says they've manipulated a narrative that turns victims into perpetrators. Israel is a victim of so much crime and the world community tries to make Israel look like it's a perpetrator of all these crimes. And therefore when you have all these resolutions in the United nations, condemning Israel, but doesn't condemn Iran, doesn't condemn all these other countries. It condemns Israel. And so president Mele has stood really firm for that. And by the way, I was just talking to some folks in the last few days about some Israel stuff. It's amazing how many nations, have hostages in Israel in the sense that when Hamas went and took those 240 or so hostages, a lot of them had dual citizenship and a lot of those hostages were American citizens. There were other citizens, other nations, and Argentina is one that's been very vocal because for, for the hostages are Argentina citizens as well, are Argentine citizens, as well as Israeli citizens. We had a number of American citizens and it's only been just a few nations that have actually gone too bat for their citizens. It's like, Oh, it's Israel. We don't want to mess with them. And so they're not even defending their own citizens that's been taken hostage by a terrorist group, Hamas, but Argentina is one of those that has. So I think that's really good news. Another voice in the world community standing strong, joining with Israel, going against the trend and the tide of political progressives. It's a really good step.
Rick Green [00:11:55] Alright guys, we gotta take a quick break, we'll be right back with more good news right here on The WallBuilders Show.
Rick Green [00:13:06] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show Jumping right back into the good news. We're back over to Tim. All right, guys.
Tim Barton [00:13:12] This is a headline that you have to process and ponder for a little bit, but it says nearly 1 million illegal immigrants have self-deported under Trump which has led to higher wages now. We've already talked about this story earlier this year when when they were already people self-deporting It was not 1 million people when when we covered this story a month two months ago, whatever it was It was hundreds of thousands, but but but not a million people And just going through this article, they point out that according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a government organization, they identified there's over 15 million illegal aliens in the United States. Over half of them came in under the Biden administration. And so now that Trump is there, he's leading an effort, of course, with Borders R. Tom Homan, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. And they're working to solve this problem to resolve some of the issue. And the article highlights, there's a two track plan. The one track, what certainly the news is highlighting, what has led to some of these quote unquote, you know, protest riots that we've seen has been the arrest and deportation of violent criminal offenders of the really, really bad people. Well, that's gotten by far the most attention of the news media. Has not gotten that much attention, but has actually impacted more people. The other track is not only more subtle, it's also cheaper for the taxpayers, arguably more effective. And that's the encouraging of illegal immigrants to self-deport. Uh, Nome in the midst of this project, uh, took the notorious CBP app, which is what the Biden administration was using. Uh, people were getting south of the border and it was showing them, uh, they, they could apply for all kinds of programs on this app before they even get to America. Once they get here, they can already have a number reservation. Um, they'll be fly to whatever they can. They could choose what city they wanted to go to that. The government would fly them or bust them to whatever city that was. There was hotels, there was meals, all the stuff was going on. Well, Noam took that app. She changed it and rebranded it. It is now CBP home, which these illegal aliens can use to, this is their quote, notify the U S government of their intent to depart. And if they do this, they're actually given a thousand dollars stipend once they leave the country. So we're literally paying people to leave. And that might seem like a waste of dollars. Although relatively speaking, when you understand the cost, if the American The government is forced to deport them. It on average costs over $17,000 per person if the government has to deport them. Whereas if somebody voluntarily chooses to leave and we give them a thousand dollars, we've saved $16,000 dollars per person. A pretty significant discount. The Wall Street Journal reported that they cited what they identified as a financial whiz that estimated that approximately a population of 773,000. Uh, immigrants have self-deported in the first four months of Trump's presidency. Uh, and, and we're now past that first four month, which is why it's now over a million. Uh, the Washington post claims it's, now a million foreign born workers have exited the workforce since March. And these are people that, that aren't just leaving jobs. They're, they're leaving the country because they came here illegally. It's, it's just really impressive to see in the midst of a very significant problem. First of all, Trump has secured the border, he's arresting really violent offenders. And now he's convinced people to go home that came here illegally. Overall, so many layers and levels of this good news, but this is really good news.
Rick Green [00:17:05] And actually when you take it in the totality of the ones that they are physically deporting the worst of the worst, and plus all of these that are self-deporting, plus you have now good policies being put in place for making sure that, you know, you've got the help of these law enforcement agencies that he's been able to bring on board to say, yes, we're going to aid ICE in doing this. I mean, all of it put together really, really good. And I think I saw, I think, I saw a stat the other night that was going, I think, last May, so May of 24, I think it was like, I don't know, several hundred thousand or something that had come across illegally and this may zero. So a little bit of a difference there, guys, just a little bit of difference. All right, David, back to you, man.
David Barton [00:17:48] Rick, this one comes out of California. California, over recent weeks, has had a lot of turmoil going there. There's been a lot riots, a lot insurrection kind of stuff. The No King stuff went there in California as it did kind of all across the United States. A lot of riots going there, and so what happened was with that going on, President Trump called out the California National Guard to help be law enforcement, help stop that stuff, help protect people there. And the governor, he said, you can't do that. They're mine. You can't call out the National Guard. And so a lower judge, federal judge ruled for the state of California that Trump can't federalize, the National guard there in California. And he was really, really the judge, I mean, he was really partisan in his writing how that you, you can't stop illegal immigration. You can stop these immigrants from coming. And he was just, it's like. He's supposed to uphold the law. I don't think he quite knew what it was because he was sure talking against it. If he did know what it was, he sure didn't keep his oath to uphold it. Nonetheless, that, that judge said, no, Trump can't federalize the California national guard. And then the ninth circuit court of appeals came back and said, yes, he can, and this is what we've been seeing for a good while is that the courts, as it goes up the food chain, as he goes up to the higher court's appeals courts, they keep coming down on the side of Trump on the constitution side. It's not the political side, but it's the constitution side. And so what's, what's been happening there with all those riots, cash Patel over with, with the, with FBI has pointed out that what's going with this is that they're now investigating to see who's behind all these rides. Where did the money come from? Put all this stuff together. Who's funding this. And as it turns out, the first two immediate groups that, that seem to be funding this one's called the party for socialism and liberation. Which a communist party from China. So, oh great, China is funding this, putting money into the insurrection on American streets and danger to American lives. And the other group is called the People's Forum, which is another China group. So they're bringing in money from China, and it's not just China. Back in April, before all this was happening, you had Chuck Grashley who said, look, Code Pink, the People Forum, these groups, they really need to be registered as foreign agents. Because even though their representatives are living here, they're representing, they're literally doing this as a foreign government and they need to be foreign agents. And so over in the House, Representative Anna Paulina Luna on the House Oversight Committee said that they're gonna start subpoenaing these people that are behind these groups. But you know, I don't think I've seen a single mainstream news report. That had any portrayal other than these are just upset American citizens out protesting. I don't think anybody said anything about hey this is funded by a foreign government creating insurrection. They're really putting American people in danger and people are hurting and these riots and I haven't heard anything except this is just the right of the people to free speech have a difference of opinion and that's not what this is at all. So I'm really glad to see that the courts, number one, have come down on the side of, yes, President Trump can, if you're not gonna stop the crime going on in California, he can deploy the National Guard to save lives and protect people. And by the way, while we're at it, the FBI is gonna start finding who's funding all this stuff, because all this No King stuff that didn't come from nowhere, there was five million people involved. There's a lot of money behind it. It's very organized. Find out where the money came from.
Tim Barton [00:21:33] By the way, also worth pointing out again, people can look up president Trump had one of the best trolls ever on the No Kings rally, uh, where he said, I want to thank you for everybody, right? Supporting to make sure we heard there's a king coming to challenge me. Yeah, good thing due to your hard work, we got rid of this king. I am still your president. I mean, one of the greatest trolls ever, of there's no king's movement and also worth noting. Obviously as believers, we acknowledge Jesus, right? He's the king. There is one more king I feel like is worth acknowledging. We have a friend, Phil King, who is our state Senator in Texas. He's a good friend listens to the program. And I do want Phil to know that you are the one king I do vote for, in general, other than Phil King, I would vote for no other King but Phil King, I will vote for
Rick Green [00:22:18] It's probably good that we tell him that on the air because he's probably getting his feelings hurt. I mean, rallies all over the country saying that nobody wants him. I mean poor guy. Yeah. And it actually, of course we have Phil on a lot and we need to get him back for another update after the governor's signing or not signing of all the bills and everything too. So Phil, if you're listening, we need get you back on. All right, Tim, I think we're back to you, man. Yeah.
Tim Barton [00:22:42] This is an article that says Americans see religion gaining ground in public life Gallup finds. So Gallup did polling and of course they have done polling on religious ideas and expressions for decades and decades and they have a lot of data, a lot of comparative analysis. And a couple things to highlight in this polling. This is the first time in 15 years where most Americans consistently reported that religion. Is not losing ground in public life. Since 2009, every year, Americans have said, yeah, religions lose an influence, it's not as significant. And Gallup has been asking this question since 1957. And the last 15 years, Americans said religion, it's as significant anymore. Now Americans are, percentage-wise, increasingly identifying that religion's becoming far more important in the culture, They break down at views of people that are seeing this and I'm gonna get on the second because that's super impressive. It's not just pastors They're saying oh religion is more important than ever. No, I mean it's across the board People are acknowledging this one of the things they highlight in this article is One of the factors they believe is having a shift part of the rising generation is so many of these college campuses where they've been having these revivals and prayer meetings and worship services and baptisms. And of course, Asbury University, just a couple of years ago in the revival, maybe the year or two ago, I don't remember when it was the revival there. Kentucky Lee University, Ohio State, Texas A&M, and we've so many universities we've talked about over the last year on this program, some of what's been going on and even though the percentage of individuals that their religious view, and I'm summarizing from the article that percentage of Americans whose religious views of or their views of religion have not changed. There's 47% of Americans that say religion is very, very important in their life. That number is the same this year as it was last year. So that number has not changed, but the public perception where people are looking and saying, it seems like religion is far more important. This is not, again, they go through and break down the demographics, but the ones that struck me as interesting is 43% of liberals, 41% of Democrats, 40% of young adults, older Americans it was 28%, rural residents it was 29%, it was actually higher among young adults liberals and Democrats than it was country people saying, we see religion is becoming increasingly important, it also, as they break it down, wasn't influenced by a certain denomination, Protestants, 33%, Catholics, 35%, religiously unaffiliated, 36%, all reported identical levels of agreement that the perception was, and again, this is their data breaking it down. It wasn't about how many times someone went to church, based if it's weekly, monthly, whatever else though, just across the board, there were people saying that religion is becoming increasingly important, and one of the things the article points out is in society navigating moral confusion. Political polarization, and generational change, Americans may be seeing faith, even if in perfectly practiced, re-emerge as a visible force in the public square. The fact that we are now seeing so many Americans acknowledging the recognition for their own lives, that they see faith on the rise and on the increase, and when it goes across political aisles, where based on different views and demographics and beliefs, where you have this kind of conglomeration across the board. People saying that faith is important and faith is needed and on the rise overall, that's really good news.
Rick Green [00:26:28] Alright, folks, lot of good news. Be sure to share it with your friends and family thanks to David and Tim for all the research and finfding that good news for us we got more for you next Friday, of course. and then there is more waiting on you right now at WallBuilders.show. thanks so much for listening to the WallBuilders Show
