Patriotism On The Rise - with Dr. Ben Carson

A fighter wins under the lights and quotes John 3:16 to a massive audience. Another walks out after reading the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office. Moments like that don’t just feel cinematic, they reveal something real about the cultural weather in America, and we dig into why it matters. 

We start by reacting to a weekend packed with patriotic imagery in Washington, DC, and what it signals about the return of public confidence in country and in faith. From national anthem performances and historic backdrops to shout outs to the military and Reagan’s Flag Day message on “informed patriotism,” we talk through why these symbols still hit so hard and why the contrast with anti America messaging feels sharper than ever. We also connect the dots to what we’re hearing from international visitors who are shocked by everyday American freedoms and generosity, and what that gratitude can teach us about civic perspective. 

Then Dr. Ben Carson joins us to focus on the long game: kids. We talk about his new K–5 book “Built on Faith,” why the faith of the Founding Fathers belongs in age appropriate patriotic education, and how constitutional history becomes sticky when it’s taught through pictures and stories. We also address the slavery narrative head on, arguing for honest history that includes the full record, including the people and movements that fought to end it. 

If you care about civic literacy, biblical literacy, and raising the next generation with a grounded love of country, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest lesson you think every kid should learn about America’s founding.

https://bravebooks.us/products/built-on-faith

Transcript

Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's The WallBuilders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton, and our websites are wallbuilders.com and wallbuilders.show. Share them with your friends and family. Be a force multiplier and help us get the good news out there, and there is a lot of good news to talk about from over the weekend that we didn't get to talk about yesterday. I pre-recorded that interview with Bill Federer and talked about Father's Day coming up in just a few days, so make sure you're celebrating. And now after yesterday's program, You really know the history of it as well. So today on Tuesday, we're going to catch up with a little bit of what happened over the weekend, phenomenal, phenomenal red, white, and blue Nirvana guys. I mean, it was just like, I mean you just couldn't help but feel the patriotism between Friday, Saturday, Sunday is like, and now we got the, the fair coming up in DC. I mean it's just, it's a really neat time to be alive and to feel this patriotism. 

Tim Barton [00:01:00] I love the posts that have identified- it's a bad time to be a liberal, to pretend like you hate all this stuff. It really is crazy that there are people watching this incredible flyover, watching an eagle fly around the people. There were so many stinking cool moments. And then before the UFC fights where there's the rainbow and there's the lightning in the background, Washington Monument, there's just so many cool things. And Rick, one of the things worth, worth noting. Because of the many years of your work with Patriot Academy, with Leadership Congress, there were several former, alum, through Leadership Congress up there in Washington D.C. And one of them very graciously... Who was there was texting us pictures and videos all night. 

Rick Green [00:01:47] It was great. 

Tim Barton [00:01:47] Fighters coming and going... These incredible scenes. And actually, I mean, some of these were former governors, who were there, but all of this to say as we were watching the UFC Rick, we, had communicated a little bit, but we didn't really talk about necessarily our favorite parts. And so, this is, this is us catching up with the first time today. And this is going to be more of a you and me conversation, only cause I know my dad did not watch the fights. Not that he can't have an opinion on these. So, Dad, you just jump right in. Cause I know you've seen some of the news clips. My favorite part guys was when you had Mauricio Rufi after the, what the Brazilian fighter, right. Speaks very broken English after winning his fight and Joe Rogan comes up, you know, how does it feel? And in this incredibly broken English, he goes into saying, that one thing he wants everybody to know is is from John 3:16 that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that that whoever believes in Him ...and he's not quoting it the way that I would know it, a New King James or King James, NIV or whatever translation somebody might use. It was, again, it was a little broken English, but guys, it was so incredible that you saw so many of these fighters giving credit to God and granted, some of them are using profanity and then afterwards saying all glory to God. And you're like, well, you know, I, I appreciate the sentiment, not quite the sanctified tongue right there, but I appreciate this sentiment, but you had guys like Bo Nickle who... As he was giving, when Joe Rogan says, you know, how are you feeling? And he was the second fight of the night. And he said, I really, I'm reminded of John 10:10 that says a thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. And Jesus said that I've come that you have a life and have it more abundantly, have it to the full. And he says, that's what I feel like right now that I I've just been blessed with a fullness of life. That what's happening, where God has me. And he goes on again, openly about his faith and again, in my mind, it's so interesting the contrast where you have a, an event that is so pro-America and very pro-God in many ways and in the liberals and Democrats, they also had an event that night to trying, trying to do something to compete. 

Rick Green [00:04:05] I saw some of those clips! 

Tim Barton [00:04:06] It was so bad! Where they have these concerts and whatever else going on. But, but I say all this because the disparity guys is becoming even more clear between some of what's happening on the left and right, people that love America, that love God and, and people that don't like America and reject God, and that was on a full display this weekend. Overall though guys, I was, I was so encouraged Rick, our, our friend who was up there, a former again, alumni from Patriot Academy Leadership Congress. And this is a shout out. So, anybody listening, if you have kids 15 to 25, actually it's there's adults. It's military. Like there's.. It's for everybody. But this is the program you want to be part of because there are so many incredible connections. God's done so many amazing things with so many of the people that have gone to this program, but , you know, being able to have some behind the scenes commentary, some updates, it was just so fun. And, but I, I'm making that connection because the young man who was there, the thing he said at the end is he says, guys, patriotism is at an all-time high. We've never seen patriotism like this up in DC. And I even thought again, kind of like the funny contrast where, If you think about the New York Knicks when they won the championship, how did they celebrate in New York City? Oh, that's right. They started burning the city to the ground. They started destroying the city. And these are, again, it's a lot of these liberal cities, people that have in many ways rejected God. They don't love America. The contrast with these UFC fights and patriotisms at an all-time high, it's so clear the disparity between the two. It was a great weekend for America though. 

Rick Green [00:05:52] With just a, you know, for, for our listeners that, that are not UFC fans, they may not have tuned in at all. Maybe they caught some of the stuff on Saturday as well, but just imagine, I mean, Zach Brown band singing the National Anthem, the Marine Corps band playing these and playing the Patriot music. They were playing the music from the movie, the Patriot. It was just, it was just I get chills right now even remembering how amazing it was. And, and for those who aren't UFC fans, what happens at these fights is that there's always the fighter walkout. You've seen it in boxing matches, maybe. And so each of these fighters were coming from different parts of the White House. They literally would start in some section of the White House and the camera would follow them as they came for their walkout and then out to the octagon that they had built there on the lawn. And the very last fight, the main fight of the night, the main event that everybody was waiting for was this American fighter named Justin Gagey against this Spanish fighter, this guy from Spain that was unbeatable, 18 and 0, undefeated. Everybody thought he was gonna win. Justin Gagey was a six to one underdog, a patriotic guy that campaigned for President Trump with our friend, Benil Dariush, who's been on WallBuilders with all of us. And I think, Tim, you've even rolled with Benil, but Justin and Benil went out and campaigned President Trump. So, Justin was known as a patriot. And the scene, my favorite moment, I guess I should say John 3:16 being spoken to the whole world, 100 million people watching, definitely favorite moment. Second favorite moment! Was when they opened the camera shot on Justin for the main event for his walkout, he's in the Oval Office, staring up at the Declaration of Independence, reading the Declaration of Independence before his walk out. I had so much. Guys, I don't know if you can tell it's Tuesday. It's been, you know, 30 hours. I'm still horse. I was cheering so loud, knowing he was the six to one underdog. And then he, and then he walks out and he walks by Teddy Roosevelt's picture. And there's just this wonderful captured shot of him with the American flag wrapped around him as he walks, by Teddy Roosevelt, who did boxing matches at the White House. And then, he gets out there and to everyone's shock ends up winning the fight. I'm, we were all going crazy. All of my boys and I, but that's why my voice is gone. And then when he gets the microphone, when Joe Rogan hands him the microphone and Joe Rogan says, you were a six to one underdog, how shocked are you? He said, I'm an American. 250... This is what the fighter said. I'm an American 250 years ago. We were more than a 6 to 1 underdog This is in our DNA. It was just amazing! And then he's and then his whole shout-out was to the military all of those who in uniform day after day after day year after year They put their lives on the lines for us... First respon... It was guys it was exactly what our friend said; patriotism at an all-time high. I just can't describe it any better. I mean, like you said, the bald eagle fly, the bands that played, the music. President Trump and, and Melania coming in after the fight and Justin's got the flag wrapped around him and he grabs his ma, he first, he says to Trump, he said, my mom is your biggest fan, by the way, he jumped out of the octagon and went and hugged his parents. It was so powerful. And then, and then when they're all in the octagon, he tells President Trump, my, mom's your biggest van, please wait, I got to go get her. And he goes and gets his mom from the other side and brings her over to meet president Trump. It was an incredible night and so patriotic. I just absolutely loved it. 

David Barton [00:09:10] But you know, there was so much more that went with it. I was, I'm not going analyzing the fight stuff, but the fact that Paramount carried this is a big deal. That's not like Fox News carrying something of Trump. For Paramount to be carrying this, and then for the tone to be what it was, with all the patriotism, I was awed. Just, I mean, looking at the fight, looking at The Cage, looking everything with the White House as your backdrop. I mean that is the main shot for the picture. And, and then the, even the fireworks going up over the top of the Washington Monument and right there, everything about it was, this is great. This is America. And I throw in with that what's happening with FIFA. I'm, I'm intrigued now for three days in a row, just doing nothing, but reading the, the, all the posts of these non-Americans who have come to America and can't believe, you know, everything from Buc-ees, you guys can get food at night? And you have a choice? And we don't have a choice. And, and, you know, this guy didn't have public transportation, to get to the match. And so the lady at the hotel just took her car and drove in the match. I mean, all the, and they're going, this is such an awesome place. And it's like, man, Democrats hate this place. 

Rick Green [00:10:18] That's right. That's right.

David Barton [00:10:19] You know, we were all on a phone call in the last day and the political consultant said, it's driving the Democrats crazy because even with $5 gas and, and the war with Iran everything, Trump is only five points down and now the war's ended and he should be 35 or 40 points down. It's driving the Democrats crazy and they can't figure out what's happening with the people. But I think you know what you guys saw at the fight and what I saw around the fight. And what I've seen with FIFA and everything else, there's just something really, really good starting to happen in America. We're starting to like our country again.

Rick Green [00:10:49] And David the education was unbelievable the videos that the UFC put together and played between fights where you were hearing Ronald Reagan's voice talking about informed patriotism. They played the entire speech that Ronald Reagan gave on Flag Day, June 14th, because that was the day of fights, of course, on Sunday. They played Ronald Reagan's entire speech on that with all this incredible B-roll. It was just, it was incredible. I can't remember all the different videos, but they went back through all of these things throughout American history, and it was all pro-American, not slamming America for this or that. It was all pro-American. It was amazing, just absolutely amazing. And of course, our guest today, same thing, pro-America. We're gonna talk with Ben Carson about teaching kids these things. So, it's not enough for us to enjoy this and watch these things, we gotta teach the kids these things as well. He's got a new book out. He's done such a good job at taking these materials and making it where little kids can learn these very same things we're talking about here on WallBuilders today. Dr. Ben Carson, when we return, you're listening to the WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:12:55] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Dr. Ben Carson back with us, always good to have you on sir. Thanks for coming on. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:13:01] Thank you, thanks for having me. 

Rick Green [00:13:03] Well, another new, kids book. I love the fact that you went, uh, on the education side of things. We had such a vacuum of good kids books that are patriotic and you filled so much of that void over the last couple of years, but this new one specifically about faith. Tell us about it. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:13:18] Well, you know, our country is really quite unique in the way that it was formulated. Our founding document says that our rights come from our Creator and not from our government. And with this book, we wanted our kids to recognize that faith has always been a big part of who we are, talking about George Washington and the fact that, you know, he kept the Bible with him all the time. And, uh... John Adams, the second president, said that our Constitution was designed by a moral and religious people and is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. Madison talked about faith and wrote it in. Thomas Jefferson said, because our rights don't come from government, they cannot be messed with. It goes on and on. It gets our young people to understand that there's nothing wrong with being a person of faith, and that that's what distinguished us. That's how we went from a bunch of ragtag militiamen who didn't even have shoes through the pinnacle of the world and record time. It was not coincidence. 

Rick Green [00:14:32] Yeah, no doubt. And, and for kids to learn what that secret sauce is incredibly important. And you teamed up with our friends, Kirk Cameron and Riley Gaines. They've got some books coming out as well Built by the Brave and We Are Free. So people can go to your website and actually get a link to, to get all three of those, of those books. Well, what's the age range for your book? What would you say is the target? 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:14:54]  K through five

Rick Green [00:14:56] K through five, okay. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:14:57] Which is largely missing with a lot of materials out there, except the Marxists. The Marxists try to get to our kids very early. 

Rick Green [00:15:09] Great point! 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:15:10] You know, it was Lenin who said, give me your children to teach for four years, and the seed that I sow will never be uprooted. And of course, Marxists, Leninists, communists, socialists, they always denigrate the role of God. Why? Because they think they are god. That's why they always want control of everything. And you can see them working in our society today. And you never hear them talking about God or a Supreme Being because they think they are the supreme being. 

Rick Green [00:15:45] Amen. Yeah, there's no doubt. And, and like you said, they've been at this for a while. They, they knew that vacuum was there and they, and they filled the gap. So I'm so glad that, that y'all are stepping into that gap. BenCarson250.com. BenCarson250.com. And when you go there, folks, it's super easy. When you get on there, you'll see a Dr. Carson's book Built on Faith. And then he, and, and Kirk and Riley, did kind of a combo, you can get all three books in a, in a bundle. So it's, it, it it's a great deal. You know, Dr. Carson, you're talking about, I mean, there's so much evidence, so many of the Founding Fathers talked about their faith. They lived it. It was what made it possible for them to have the courage to do the things that they did. That's a big part of what you tap into is it was the faith element. They gave them the ability to, to even win the war in the first place, let alone then build what you just mentioned that the greatest country in the world. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:16:33] And people really don't stop and think about it. But for an upstart nation that didn't even have a real army to be able to defeat the most powerful nation in the world, I mean, it'd be sort of like Cuba defeating the United States in a war. And that doesn't happen by itself. And it was interesting, in 1789, that the... Constitutional Convention, when the whole thing was about to fall apart because everybody wanted to go their own way, Benjamin Franklin, 81-year-old senior statesman, got up from the assembly and said, Gentlemen, during the Revolutionary War, every other sentence out of your mouth was, God save us, now you don't want to talk to God. We need to talk God, and they started at that very day, and it's been a tradition for the start of Congress ever since. 

Rick Green [00:17:31] How do you communicate that to kids? So, like, what was your tact as you started thinking about, because I've seen you speak many times in front of massive crowds, you're a fantastic communicator, but they're all adults, right? So, they understand intellectually what you're communicating to me right now. How did you shift your thinking on that to start thinking about how do I get this in a way that kids will understand? 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:17:55] Pictures and stories. Now, you know, we have a series called Star-Spangled Adventures, and it comes out every month with a new episode of highlighting some aspect of our history. You know, it could be Fort McHenry. It could be, you now, the Night Before Christmas. It could a whole host of things that happened significantly in our history, and we're actually doing a feature-length movie called Star Spangled Adventures, which is going to premiere at the Trump Kennedy Center on the 14th of June. And there's still a possibility of some tickets, although 2,200 tickets have already been claimed. And I think it only seats 2,500.. 

Rick Green [00:18:49] Oh, that's great. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:18:50] But you can go to the website and get those. And it's free of charge, by the way, as all of our things are, because we want to make them available to everybody. And we know that those who are trying to fundamentally change our country, they're not sparing any expense. Spread their indoctrination. 

Rick Green [00:19:12] Pictures and stories and the American story is amazing and there's so many individual stories and that's what you give these kids a chance to latch onto some heroes You know, we've had this deconstruction where the Marxist have tried to destroy all of our heroes and take away that story that you're talking about. So it's just bringing back some of those incredible stories is a great way to teach the kids 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:19:33] Well, you know, they say that our Founders had slaves and therefore they're evil men and anything that they ever did was evil. But you know isn't that sort of like you've been driving 20 miles an hour through the neighborhood to work all your life and then someone says, you know that's too fast. Let's make it 10 miles an hour, but let's go back and charge all the people who will go on 20 miles by today's rules. 

Rick Green [00:20:01] Yeah. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:20:02] And of course, that's not fair. You know, our Founders were good men, they were decent men. They were some of the first people to release their slaves and Benjamin Franklin and George Washington to make sure that many of their slaves had property and had other things so that they could make a way in life. So they obviously felt something. But the other thing that people don't talk about when it comes to slavery is it wasn't the whole nation. In fact, there were so many people who were vehemently against it that we had a bloody civil war and lost a large portion of our population. There was the underground railroad where people risked life and limb to get people out of slavery. I mean, we don't seem to talk about those people, but aren't they part of our history as well? 

Rick Green [00:20:57] Amen. No, in fact, I saw some basketball player the other day said, women's basketball player, said we shouldn't celebrate the 250th because of slavery that we shouldn't be proud and we shouldn’t be patriotic. So I'm glad you mentioned it. And, and, and that is, it's been a narrative that's been effective. They've got kids to actually hate their own nation. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:21:16] Of course, they don't tell you that every society, going back as far back has had slavery, we were the only ones who fought a bloody civil war. 

Rick Green [00:21:27] That's right. That's right. Well, there is so much to celebrate this year. The timing of your book is perfect being in the, in the 250th. You know, this opportunity to, to kind of restore that patriotism. In fact, Ronald Reagan said, if we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. We'll have an eradication of the American memory that leads to an erosion of the America spirit. So that's why, when you said that about pictures and stories, that really struck me as like, you tell the stories, you remind us who we, are what we did. And that'll bring back the patriotism because we'll bring back that memory and that's what you're doing. And you're starting it with the kids with these books. 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:21:57] Well, praise the Lord. And remember, we are one nation under God. Yeah. We have been. And I think that's one of the reasons that we did so well. And if we throw away the principles of our founding, we're going to go down just as quickly as we rose. 

Rick Green [00:22:16] That's right, that's right. Well, if we have any chance of another 250 great years, we've got to get back to this formula. So thank you for giving us the tools to do that with our kids and grandkids. I can't wait to get these for my grandkids Too late for my kids. I'll have to get I'll had to get them to maybe go back and read them anyway, but we'll see my grand kids are perfect for this, eight years old and... 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:22:35] Adults will love this too. 

Rick Green [00:22:37] There we go! Good deal. Well, Dr. Ben Carson appreciate you man. Thank you so much for coming on today 

Dr. Ben Carson [00:22:44] You too, thanks so much. 

Rick Green [00:22:45] Stay with us, folks. We'll be right back with David and Tim Barton 

Rick Green [00:23:54] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Dr. Ben Carson, always a privilege to have him on, just a great, great American. Guys, I love, you know, we've talked for years about how we're pretty good at teaching like 13, 14, 15 and up, but we've been pretty weak on the little kids. So I love seeing more and more of these kids' books coming out, and especially this one, on the faith of the Founders for the little kids to learn about. 

Tim Barton [00:24:16] Yeah. And the fact that he's partnering with our friends, Kirk Cameron, with Riley Gaines, when you have people, and as he was talking, there was once or twice that I thought back and, okay, UFC fighters, they are people that are willing to take risks. And for some of these people to come out being so, you mentioned pro Trump, like campaigning for president Trump and they're pro God and pro faith. It's something that Dr. Ben Carson, that Kirk Cameron, or Riley Gaines, they had been very outspoken about their faith at times when it was very unpopular. And, and not only about their faith, but in this case, where Dr. Ben Carson is helping to reintroduce kids and maybe I guess not as reintroduced for them, that's reintroducing it to the educational curriculum, but it's teaching kids about the faith foundation of the nation. Things that we've been literally trying to encourage and do for decades. It's so cool to see God raising up people all over the nation in all kinds of ways to begin teaching these ideas again. And so with Ben Carson and our friend Kirk Cameron and Riley Gaines all teaming up to have a series of educational things for kids that this is really exciting guys. 

David Barton [00:25:26] It really goes to there is a change going on in America. You know, I mean, even back to the fight we're talking about at the beginning. We started noticing four or five, six years ago, occasionally on Good News Friday, an athlete would talk about Christ after a football win or after a basketball win or something. And now it's like every sport and it's not just one guy occasionally, it's every game somebody's got something or two or three or four. And there's just a different climate and culture. And I think this is the right time even to be reintroducing the next generation to all these heroes, these heroes of our faith, these heroes of our history. There's just something good going on in the nation right now. And we always know that, you know, an awakening takes decades for it to fully penetrate and do what it needs to. But we've all lived long enough in the last five to six years to see changes we didn't think we were going to see in our lifetime, probably. 

Rick Green [00:26:16] Well we can speed up a lot of that folks everybody out there listening you can be a force multiplier you can help to press the gas on this restoration of patriotism and civic literacy, biblical literacy all of these things by sharing the WallBuilders program make sure you go to wallbuilders.show today and share the program or go to wallbuilders.com get some of the materials, share that with your friends and family, become one of our Constitution Coaches and host one of the classes in your home. There's lots of ways you can get involved to make the most of the 250th thanks so much for listening you've been listening to the WallBuilders Show