The Briefing with Albert Mohler - Friday, December 5, 2025

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.On today’s edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses an Oklahoma university student who failed an assignment for expressing Christian views on gender and sexuality, and he answers questions about gambling and fantasy football, where to study astronomy, the nature of Jesus’s body, and questions to ask on a first date.Part I (00:13 – 10:20)College Instructor Put on Leave Over Zero Grade for Gender Essay by The New York Times (Mark Arsenault)A Conservative Student Got a Zero on Her Paper About Gender. Did She Deserve It? by Chronicle of Higher Education (Emma Pettit)University of Oklahoma Student Receives Zero on Essay after Citing Bible by TPUSAPart II (10:20 – 15:04)Part III (15:04 – 18:14)Part IV (18:14 – 21:30)Part V (21:30 – 23:58)Part VI (23:58 – 26:22)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

It's Friday, December 5, 2025. I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. We need to go to the state of Oklahoma. There's a story developing there that should have our attention. All Christians, Christian parents, Christian young people, college students, should pay attention to this story. It's receiving a lot of attention. Turning Point USA has made it into a major issue, and deservedly so. It needs to be a major issue. We're talking about a story. We're talking about a story. to the University of Oklahoma, Samantha Fulnicki, a junior there at the university. And she has basically raised the issue of the fact that she was given a score of zero out of a possible 25 for a response and analysis paper that came as an assignment. And she is saying, as the New York Times reports, that she was given the zero for an essay that cited the Bible and said that the lie that there are multiple genders is demonic. Now, as you might expect, there's more to it. And I want to tell you, one of the good things about the Internet AIDS, they're bad things.

But one of the good things is that I can now have access to her report, to the original assignment, to the scientific. I'm going to put quotation marks around that scientific article that was the article to which she was to respond and make the analysis. We now have all of that. I can tell you that by no sane measure does her assignment come back as a zero. A zero out of 25 or a zero out of anything. That just doesn't make any sense. It is clear that she submitted a response to the assignment. The professor came back and gave her again zero out of a possible 25.

And the professor made very clear statements that he was rejecting the student's work. Now, I've got to be careful. Once again, gender becomes a problem because transgender is a part of the story. And it's not just a part of the story in the article. It's a part of the story with this instructor has now been put on leave by the University of Oklahoma. The instructor apparently is a man claiming a transgender identity as a woman. And so you look at this and you say, well, again, what could go wrong? And the obvious answer is everything can go wrong. And in this case, the professor or the instructor responded to the student by saying that some of her language was, quote, highly offensive, especially a minoritized population. The instructor went on to say in explaining the zero, quote, you are entitled to your own beliefs, but this isn't a vague narrative of society pushes lies, but it's said the result of countless years developing psychological and scientific evidence for these claims and directly interacting with the communities involved. All that to say, that it is really interesting, that even if you get to an

organization like the Chronicle of Higher Education. It's interesting, they got another professor well established to look at this paper, look at the assignment, and look at the grade, and see if there's a problem. And even this teacher came back and said, there's no way that's a zero. So in other words, this instructor was really sending a signal by giving this student a zero on this assignment. And it was clearly directed at the fact that this student responded to, and that was assignment was to respond with analysis of a paper. I'll tell you, the analysis wasn't really thick, but that's not the problem here. The problem here is the judgment made by the student was clearly based in her own biblical convictions, and in the kind of language you would expect coming from a

college undergraduate, this student just put forward her own argument in response to the scientific paper that she was given as an assignment. That was the assignment to respond to the paper. She responded to the paper. She didn't respond the way the instructor wanted. The statement from Turning Point USA has really a very, very good, and this is the chapter there at the University of Oklahoma. This is the organization, of course, started by Charlie Kirk, the late Charlie Kirk, and is very active on college campuses. There's a very important statement in their release, quote, while there is no constitutional right to receive an A in class at a public university, there is a right to not be academically penalized due to

to discrimination against your viewpoint, academic freedom belongs to every student, not only to those who mirror the instructor's beliefs, end quote. That is a very important argument. No one has a constitutional right to an A and, of course, taken into a public university. But a zero is different than a B or a C or a D. Here you have a failing grade in which there's zero credit.

That's a particular animus from the instructor. That's a particular hostility. coming from the teacher in this class. And I think this student has every right to raise this issue. And I think it's very helpful to us that she has raised this issue. I read her paper. And once again, there's simply no way under any analysis. This is a zero.

And it also, I think, does demonstrate her Christian conviction. And it's very clear. She's read the article. She's responding to it. She's analyzing it from her Christian perspective. And, you know, she uses very straightforward language that no doubt was offensive to this transgender instructor. I don't doubt for a moment that it was offensive. I do want to say, the student had the constitutional right to make the argument based in her own Christian convictions.

If a teacher, an instructor, a professor gives the assignment inviting or instructing the student to analyze and respond from the student's own perspective, then that's exactly not only what the student is assigned to do, that is what the student is free to do. And if the professor given stricter instructions about responding, you know, in this way and a structured argument, that that would be different. But that is not the case here. This is clearly a case of prejudice against this student. And you know, it's not going to stand, and that's good. And so if not for organizations like Turning Point USA, if not for the Trump administration, putting a lot of pressure on universities right now, there would be a very different reality. And it also shows you that this

kind of thing has been happening. This kind of thing has been very rampant. The difference now is not that it's happening, but that it's being exposed. And I can tell you from firsthand experience, this is writ large across elite higher education. And increasingly, it's showing up even in regional state universities and in small colleges and all the rest because the elite institutions set the pattern and the other institutions just follow them, mimic them. And in worldview, in LGBTQ affirmation, and all of this, it's a very predictable pattern. But here we're also talking about the fact that the Trump administration, and I think the government there in Oklahoma, is certainly going to take some action about this as well.

Viewpoint diversity is an issue that comes up in that Turning Point USA statement. Viewpoint diversity. Now, here's a very interesting thing. Viewpoint diversity is the argument that in public space, in space that is obligated to a variety of viewpoints, you can't discriminate against Christian viewpoints in being presented or conservative viewpoints. And the reason why conservatives and conservative Christians have been making that case is because there has been viewpoint discrimination.

And so increasingly the courts, increasingly legislatures and others are recognizing that's incompatible with higher education. That's one of the main points being made by the Department of Education in the Trump administration and by the Trump administration writ large. Viewpoint diversity. Okay, so here's a very interesting turn in that argument. you have liberals saying that's conservatives taking a liberal category and using it to conservative ends and i will say good for them in other words the left argued for viewpoint diversity but they don't want to extend to conservative christians viewpoint diversity but viewpoint diversity means viewpoint diversity and that's a good thing for us all to recognize and that means that anywhere we are in public space

we may confront an argument that we don't like, but there is no justification for excluding biblically based arguments made by private citizens, even when they enroll in a state university, or especially when they enroll in a state university. This is a very important case. We're going to be following this. My guess is that this is going to become a case that snowballs into other cases. I think the publicity given to this means that we're likely to hear from a lot of students and other schools. Yes, that's exactly what I experienced. That's very similar to what I experienced. And so we'll be tracking this. I think this is going to be not only a discussion nationwide, it's going to get to some deeper issues, and that will be very important.

We'll be tracking that with you. By the way, the University of Oklahoma released a statement before I leave this, and the statement itself is interesting. It begins, the University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights. Notice the legal issue here. I'm not criticizing the statement. I'm just saying it is interesting. They do recognize the First Amendment applies. So they'll get that out with the very first sentence and proudly so. They say certainly including religious freedoms. Again, thank you. That's a very important statement. Upon receiving notice from the student on the grading of an assignment, the university immediately began a full review of the situation and has acted swiftly to address the matter. Listen to this.

Quote, first, the college acted immediately to address the academic issue raised by the student. college leaders contacted her on the day her letter was received and have maintained regular communication throughout the process. As previously stated, a formal grade appeals process was conducted. The process resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student from the graded assignments. End quote. Okay, so that's very interesting. Let me just say that that's the kind of response you should expect from a state university in this situation. This is the kind of response saying, we've heard it, we responded to this student.

The day we received the complaint, we're going to make sure. no harm comes to the student, buy this assignment, that's all good. That's all good. The next step is to make certain that this doesn't happen again and doesn't happen to anyone else. Okay, let's turn to questions, and I'm honored by the questions that are sent. You can send your own by writing me at mail at Albertmuller.com. Sometimes the questions are really tough. Here's one. A young man, 18 years old, writes me, quote, I have a friend who struggles with homosexuality, but also claims to be a born-again Christian. The letter writer goes on to say, I believe firmly that he is saved and is a Christian who's just struggling with this sin. And he agrees that it is a sin. He struggles with.

Well, at least he used to. He now believes that the Bible doesn't explicitly state that homosexuality is a sin. This young man says, I love him and I love his heart. We agree on everything in the Bible except the fact that homosexuality is sinful. This topic comes up almost every time we're together, and I feel it is dividing us more and more each time. How can I either find a way to save this friendship or allow it to be pruned while remaining faithful. And boy, I really admire this young man, 18-year-old young man. I admire his concern for his friend, his honoring a friendship, the desire to continue, the friendship if possible. But I also appreciate the fact that this young man clearly believes that he has to respond based in truth, based in Christian conviction and based in

the gospel. So let's just go, I think, to the key sentence here. We are told that he now believes the young man of concern here, he now believes that the Bible doesn't explicitly state that homosexuality is a sin. Okay, so that is extremely problematic. Because the only way you can do that is to say the words don't mean what they obviously mean. And there are liberal arguments that for years have tried to make the case that whatever the Bible is talking about is not consensual homosexuality. But that is exactly what you see in Romans chapter one. There's simply no question. I think you see it also in First Corinthians. I think you see it in Levitical. But most emphatically, you see it in Romans chapter 1, where it's not just the acts, it is the

disordered passions, the wrongly ordered passions. And yet there's another part of that passage there at the end of Romans chapter 1. It speaks of humanity suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. I want to say to this young man concerned about his friend, I think your friend is suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. And I think he's deceiving himself. And one of the things we know is that sin is very deceitful. His sin is lying to him and he is believing the lie. And you make a statement, I believe firmly he is saved and is a Christian. Well, you know, I understand that you're probably basing that on the fact that this young man has made some kind of statement of Christian commitment and no doubt even in the fact you're having these conversations knows a great deal about Christianity.

you say, you share biblical beliefs except for this, but the except for this is just absolutely massive. And so I will just hope you'll have the opportunity. I say this to this 18-year-old listener, young man. I just hope you will have the opportunity to share with your friend exactly what you think is happening out of Romans chapter 1, exactly what you think is happening in your friend's life and heart right out of Romans chapter 1, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. And, you know, if your, if your friend is a Christian, then we believe the Holy Spirit will work within him to convict him of sin and to draw him into holiness and conformity to Christ. And so we need to pray. That's what happens. I know you will. I will also tell you this.

I understand this may be a real test of friendship. But it is very interesting, as you say, that this issue comes up every time you have a serious conversation. I think that sexuality in general, and especially when someone is committed to something like homosexuality and homosexual identity, and it is within the context of a conversation with a Christian. I think this is going to come up. Clearly, he trusts you in this conversation, and that's a good thing. And I admire you for being trustworthy in this kind of conversation. I just would encourage you to share with him the reality of what God's word says. And I know you're praying for him to repent of sin. And by the way, one of the things the Bible doesn't say to someone, a young man struggling with

the homosexual temptation, the Bible doesn't say that will immediately go away. This may be a very long struggle for this young man. And it would be hopeless but for the power of the gospel, the indwelling Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Word of God and the fellowship of the saints, the means of grace. And so no one says this is going to be easy, but we do need to say the Bible really is clear. All right. Another question from a young man. This young man is 23 years old, and it's about sports gambling. He mentions that on the briefing, I've talked a lot about sports gambling recently. And then he says, what do you think about playing games with friends for money, poker, fantasy football? A couple of my friends want to start a high-stakes fantasy football league

next season with a $100 buy-in, and I'm trying to decide whether there's a moral objection to that. I see it as a way to connect with them, build relationships, and possibly present the gospel, but it's an activity that has inherent risk and luck, thanks in advance. Okay, that's an honest question. And I think, you know, I want to be clear. The big problem here is gambling, and it's an addictive behavior, it's a seductive behavior. And especially when someone gives himself over to it, becomes very, very destructive of marriage, very destructive of family, destructive of moral

responsibility and all the rest. And I do want to say that I think that as dangerous as gambling is, and it is a pedative. So it's just a little bit that it becomes more, it becomes more, and it becomes more. I don't want to say that friends who, you know, are just having a little bit of fun with some pocket change, you know, a few dollars in terms of a game, you know, that is not the main concern here. If you factor that into the, say, the cost of a night's entertainment, then that's different. That is not the way the gambling industry works. That is not the kind of predatory behavior that you see in commercial gambling. And it also, the higher you get, the more you're gambling, the less it is, say, an innocent game, and the more it is a real vulnerability. And so I think,

and I appreciate this young man asking the question the way he did, I think, in the way, I think, the question is the answer. Let me just be honest here. And I want to tell you why. It's because this segment wrote the question very carefully. Listen to this. A couple of my friends want to start a high stakes fantasy football league. Okay. I hear the words high stakes. That is an alarm bell to me, right? So in other words, this isn't a bunch of friends just having some fun. And rather than getting ice cream, they're, you know, they're playing with this. This is now high stakes. So, High stakes means there's serious money in the game. And let me just say that let's just bracket the morality of gambling for a moment.

What does this do to friendship? Now, I don't know. I've never participated in such a thing, but it seems to me that could be a real vulnerability. So I just want to say to this young man, look, the answer is, I think, in the question. The higher the financial stakes, the higher the moral stakes. The higher is the opportunity. this becomes far more than a game and becomes a real matter of moral risk, the more likely this is it could be injurious of relationships and all the rest. So I think in using the words

here, high stakes, you've kind of indicated the importance of the issue. So I pray that the Lord will guide you into how you can best exercise your friendship with these other young men. And I pray you do have those opportunities for the gospel. Okay, I want to say again, I'm honored by all the questions and sent to me and there's some amazing questions and from some amazing people and there's a pattern today of young men asking questions so we're now we're going even younger this is a 13 year old boy who writes me the question this is what he says he says i've grown up in a reform Baptist Christian church and he says i consider myself a Christian i feel like my calling to honor god is as an astronomer and i hope to pursue a future in academics because first of all here's a 13 year old boy who's interested in

astronomy and already feels it as a life calling. Okay, so I am not, I'm not speaking condescendingly to that. I am thankful this 13 year old boy has this interest to the glory of God. And I think it's, it's a wonderful thing. I just, I also want to say to a 13 year old, you don't know exactly what God's going to do with your life, but it isn't wrong. It isn't wrong to have something that excites you and could well be exactly what God wants you to do for the rest of your life. That's an honorable thing to be a Christian looking at the wonders of the heavens. That would be. that would be an amazing thing. This is the issue, though. He says, I feel like I can best fulfill what feels on my vocation by doing all I can to become the best astronomer. Well, good there.

The best astronomer I can be to honor God. That's great. And I feel like the best way to do this is to go to a college that has a great astronomy course where I can learn all I need to, but it is a rather liberal college. I feel the pressure of my family who've all gone to deeply conservative colleges in the South to study the Bible, but I don't feel that as my calling. What should I do? should I go to the learned but liberal college or to a conservative college where I will learn less about what I feel like God wants me to do with my life to honor God. Okay. To this 13-year-old boy, I want to say this is a little bit of a setup. Okay. So I'm not frustrated by that, but I do see a setup when I get it. And so first of all, I'm just going to tell you, you need to honor your parents

and they know you, and they're raising you in the nurtured and admonition of the Lord. And so I am not about to do anything to get between you and the instruction and influence and authority of your parents. And I'll also say that I think their concerns are very valid. And that is because so many of these programs, particularly in a liberal school, it's going to be astronomy from an entirely different worldview based upon absolutely different presuppositions than historic biblical Christianity. I think that's a legitimate problem. Your parents are pointing something very real. I also want to say that you've got some time to figure this out. You and your parents have got some time to figure this out. And I will say to you what I say often to other young people, usually a little older than 13. And that is that where you go to church while you are in college is often more important than where you go to college. So I'm sure your godly parents are going to have that as a concern. That's just a good thing to keep in mind. And I'm thankful you got some time. You and your parents have some time. to figure this out. In the meantime, look to the heavens and study the heavens to the glory of God,

because the heavens are telling the glory of God. Oh, and by the way, I am impressed that a 13-year-old could ask such an intelligent and well-written question. So, young man, I think you're well-on-your-way here. All right, here's a very well-timed question. It's coming from a father of four, and I appreciate that he and his wife listened to the briefing, and may God bless your sweet family. Here's the issue he writes about. He says, my wife and I were talking about the virgin birth with our four children, and a question came up, did God create the body of the baby Jesus by using a part of Mary, like how God created Eve from Adam?

Or did God create the body of Jesus without a part of Mary's body, ex-Nehalo? That means out of nothing. We each had never considered the other possibility before. Does the answer make a theological difference? Okay, so an interesting way to ask the question. And so let's just start right away with the glorious revelation of God concerning the virgin conception of Jesus. That is to say that Jesus was conceived of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. And thus there is no human father. It is a supernatural birth. It's a supernatural conception. Okay, then you asked a very interesting question. Did God create the body of

baby Jesus using a part of Mary, or did God create the body of Jesus without a part of? of Mary's body. So this is actually a very interesting question that's come up in church history. It's not enough to speak of Mary as the one who carried Christ, the one who was the bearer of Christ. She is the mother of Christ. She is, as some theologians will say, the mother of the body. She's bodily a mother. And that's one of the reasons why the Bible makes very clear that Jesus is very God and very man. He is truly God and truly man. And so that is simply a fundamental fact. There is no human father. And so it's all a miraculous picture here. It's a picture of a miraculous conception, a miraculous pregnancy, a miraculous birth, a miraculous incarnation. But

the flesh of Jesus, his bodily form, was indeed derivative as from his mother. There's more to the story. There's more to the incarnation, but there's not less to it than that. And so Mary is the mother of Jesus the same way I want to say to this mother, you're the mother of your children, except the child was conceived within her by the Holy Spirit. All right. Now, finally, I want to take a question from a young woman, and this one really touches me. It touches my heart. It's a young woman preparing for a first date with a student at Southern Seminary, a young man training for the ministry. And she asked, is there a particular kind of question that might be really helpful on a first date with a seminary student? So as a former seminary student, I will simply tell you that it would be very kind of you getting to know. him to ask about his testimonies to how he came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and how he perceived the Lord calling him in the ministry and how he thinks the Lord will use that, what the Lord's disclosed to him about the nature of this call. Hopefully he will ask you some very similar

questions and will trust the Lord to direct to you both if this relationship should go forward, how these questions will lead to other questions. And of course, there are all kinds of basic questions that just come to any couple, a young man and a young woman, and they don't all come in the first date. But I think it's a very sweet question. And it just makes it say, I want to pray for you and for this young man and your first date. Because I will tell you, as I would tell this young man, as Dr. W. A. Chriswell, the legendary pastor of the first magistrate church in Dallas, Texas, said, in chapel here, I had the honor of inviting him to speak in chapel, and he came. And And he preached on 1 Timothy and he said to the young men, he said, follow the example that Paul

commanded Timothy, get you a wife. I can just tell you that Dr. Criswell that day and any day on this campus is going to have a lot of young men very much about that challenge. And that, by the way, I see to the glory of God. Thank you so much for the question. Send your question simply by writing me at mail at albertmuller.com. as always, thanks for listening to the briefing. For more information, go to my website at Albertmuller.com.

You can follow me on X or on Twitter by going to X.com forward slash Albert Moller. For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbtsketeS.edu. For information on Boyce College, just go to voicecollege.com. I'll meet you again on Monday for the briefing.