The Briefing with Albert Mohler - Friday, September 4, 2026

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

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 the DOJ’s lawsuit against Kansas City for trouncing on parental rights for LGBTQ ideology, the morality of Dolly Parton, new creation and socialism, and if Reformed theology lends itself to cultural engagement.Part I (00:13 – 09:18)DOJ Sets New Precedent: Kansas City Receives Lawsuit From DOJ For Trouncing on Parental Rights for LGBTQ Ideology, Among Other ReasonsJustice Department Sues Kansas City Schools Over Gender Policy by The New York Times (Michael C. Bender)Part II (09:18 – 15:32)Why Did You Question the Morality of Dolly Parton? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingPart III (15:32 – 18:43)Is the End Goal of Christianity in the New Creation Basically Socialism? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingPart IV (18:43 – 25:23)Does Reformed Theology Lend Itself to Bold Cultural Engagement? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingSign 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, September 4, 2006. I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. It's a big story. It comes down to Kansas City, Missouri, and it comes down to some other Missouri public school systems as well. Very interestingly, the United States Department of Justice, under the direction, of course, of the Attorney General, and so we're talking about the Trump administration being involved here, it is bringing charges, in this case a suit against the Kansas City schools over the school's gender policy. So now we have a reporter Michael C. Bender, in this case, we're talking about the Times, who says, quote, the Justice Department sued Kansas City, Kansas public schools on Tuesday.

So this is Kansas City, Kansas. Hear that very clearly, not Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, Kansas, that suit was filed on Tuesday, accusing the district of facilitating the, quote, secret transition of students gender without their parents' knowledge or consent. Now, the court is in Kansas City, Missouri. So in this case, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, and as the Times says, quote, it marked the first time the federal government had sued a public school district over gender identity and laws that ensure parents have access to their children's records. Now, I'm thankful that in this case, you had a high-ranking justice department official who spoke to it.

This is Harmeek-Dillan, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said in a statement, quote, The Department will not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of ratification. gender ideology. And so this is a federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, but it's the federal government suing the school district in Kansas City, Kansas. And the Times tells us that the district is mostly Hispanic and black, ranks as the fifth largest in Kansas with about 20,000 students. Now, the school system said they're in full compliance. Of course they did. They're in full compliance. And their legal response as well as their public response is more or less the same thing. but there is a big story behind this, and regardless of where you live, parents really need to pay a lot of attention to this.

And that is that you have school districts that even with very clear federal policies and federal laws against schools acting in secret when it comes to students on something like this and gender identity, there are a lot of school districts that are operating under policies. And I know this is true, in which, let's just say, they decide to define the issues differently. For instance, one mom, who's the founder of the group known a stand with trans, identified as an advocacy group for transgender Ruth and their families. And this mom, Roz Keith, said, quote, it is really important for students to have someone they can trust in these situations. And if they haven't come out to their parents, there is usually a very good reason for that, end quote. Okay.

All right. This is a big issue. It's not identified in the news articles, but we need to note it. And that is that when we are looking at the debates over the, the transgender movement. And let's just say, we've got to make sure there is a debate over the transgender movement, and particularly when it comes to kids. It is very interesting that one of the quoted parties in so many of these cases are the parents who are pro-trans, and they are advocates for their children, teenagers or young adults, going through some kind of transitional process. So now that

tells us that we're looking at a very interesting phenomenon. We're looking at a very interesting pattern, in which case, even parents are divided over the issue. And so now you have parents who are actively involved as absolute advocates for the T and LGBTQ and for children. They are actually, like this mom, she is the founder of the group Stand with Trans. She is for schools not informing the parents of children that the children are operating with a different gender identity at school. Okay, so this tells us that this group of parents wants to rob other parents of the opportunity to know even the gender identification of their child at school. Let's just point out there are plenty of policies now that should make that impossible. Some of them very much thanks

to the Trump administration in this second term. Listen to this. Quote, in Kansas City, the district's gender policy requires educators to immediately tell the school principal if a student comes out as transgender. Okay, wait just a minute. Whoa, okay. Now we're told that educators are to report this to whom, the school principal. Hmm, listen to this. Quote, principals then must discuss the situation with the student or the student's parent or legal guardian. Well, that's a remarkably diverse statement. The student or the student's parent or the student's guardian, I'll simply say, I think

most parents, and in particular Christian parents, and for that matter, just people who care about parental rights and parental authority, aren't going to say either or when it comes to talking with the student or the parents. Request from a student not to notify their parents, quote, again, this is quoting the policy, will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and we're told that's by a team of district officials who oversee student and family support policies. The lawsuit filed by the federal government says that those meetings are, in the words of the government, quote, inherently coercive if a parent is not involved. Okay, that's astoundingly important. We just need to stop for a moment. When you're looking at the Justice Department, framing this

accusation. What are they actually saying? They are saying that the school authorities, if they operate by this policy, are actually in a position of exercising coercive influence on children and teenagers to identify in this way. I think that is astoundingly clear. It's clarifying in the extreme. Now you have the Trump administration saying, you know, this isn't neutral. If you have school authorities, call in a child or a teenager and say, how is this really working? We know it's going to be virtually impossible. That's a neutral conversation, especially when you look at the fact that there are so many groups, such as the one I just mentioned with that mother activist groups, who are saying the only possible response to this is to encourage the alternative gender identity.

This is something that's coming up in cases all over the country. And that is that what you have now coming from the LGBT movement, and let's just talk about the T activist in particular, is the claim that if the child has any question about his or her, her gender identity, that's an indication of some kind of non, let's just say, clear, male or female gender identity. And you look at that and you recognize, okay, this is one of those catch-22 situations that the left loves, you know? We just assume that any child who even raises this issue at any level is actually some

version of T or non-binary or whatever, and it's simply trying to work it out. And so when you look at the activist community, they put the moral imperative on talking to the child or the teenager in such a way that I'll just put the bottom line out there. You basically are in a position of confirming them and actually convincing them of the transgender agenda. The news reports also tell us that the Trump administration is moving in this case against four school districts in the state of Kansas. And at worldview terms, I just want to back off of that for a moment. Let's just think about this. We have talked on in recent days about moral events, legal cases, other things, moral controversies and different parts of the country,

and different parts of the country represent what at least is different in expectation. And so we've talked about the Democratic primary in Massachusetts. And we talked about how leftward it went. But the Democratic Party in Massachusetts has been moving left for a very, very long time. But when we're talking about this particular issue, we're talking about the LGBTQ movement, and we're talking about this transgender non-binary. ideology being, you know, basically put into policy, even at the expense of parents. In this case, we're talking about Kansas City, Kansas.

We're talking about the state of Kansas. We're talking about four school districts in Kansas. I mentioned this because I think it needs to be a wake-up call for Christian parents wherever you live. I think there are people who think, we don't live in Massachusetts, we don't live in California, but we don't live in Oregon. We live in a conservative place. Most of the time, you would describe Kansas as being, you know, historically Republican

state and a more conservative state. We're talking about not only, of course, some metropolitan areas. We're talking about a lot of farmland. We're talking about an agrarian setting where the convictions tend to be small town conservatism. But guess what? Kansas City, Kansas is the epicenter of this particular controversy. So at the very least, it's just really important and there's a lot to work out here. This is just announcing the case beginning. And we just have initial responses, the accusation coming from the Department of Justice and the defense at least defensive statements coming from attorneys for the school system, it will be very interesting to see where we go here.

But I can simply hope that even just the mention of this development awakens parents to the fact that there are people who want to name your children and even guide your children into perhaps an alternative gender identity and they not only want to do it, they want to do it without even telling you about it. Just let that sink in a bit. Okay, now let's turn to questions. As always, I appreciate the questions sent in to the briefing. And you can send your questions simply by writing me at mail at albertmoler.com.

I learn a lot from the questions, and I appreciate it. There's usually a pattern, especially when it comes to contemporary events. So, something I talk about on the briefing. So, for example, someone wrote me about the comments I made on the death of Dolly Parton, quote, after highlighting many of the positive way she contributed to society over a long, illustrious career. You mentioned at the end her questionable morality. The writer says, I'm really puzzled as to what you find her life to be morally questionable. She had a long and loving relationship with her husband. Indeed, many sources say her recent illnesses were due to her

neglecting her own health while caring for Carl. The Hollywood Enterprise she has created is nothing if not family oriented, not to mention the millions of dollars of books she gave way to children over the country and the world. All right. Let me just get to a very crucial point here. The national media has been really clear that when it comes to just to say LGBTQ, Dolly Parton was very early, very actively, very consistently pro-LGBQ. And she bought into the entire identity politics idea. She even basically played into some of the gay, sometimes described as camp, gay male culture that was making fun of her, even at the point of impersonations and other

the things. It was sometimes described as a culture of camp, and Dolly Parton sometimes actively encouraged the camp. And so I'm just telling you, in a lot of these issues, on big, you know, very important moral issues, Dolly Parton basically had very little to say, except where she did very clearly, I'll just say deny a very clear biblical understanding of sexuality and gender and all the rest. And we're not just talking about L&G&B, we're talking in a big way about tea and we're talking about drag shows and all the rest. I just have to say as a Christian, I don't think those are minor issues. I think it's a major issue. The other big development here is that you also have evidence that Dali Parton defined herself. And this came up even in an article about her spirituality. She was spiritual,

but not religious. And so in a vague way, she identified with Christianity, but let's just say, not with conservative Christianity or biblical Christianity when it comes to these moral issues. But, you know, I really appreciate, and I hope you hear this, I appreciate this letter writer, and listener writing me in on this because it's a good opportunity sometimes to have to clarify, you know, what we're talking about here. And that's what I'm trying to do, even in responding to this letter, just to clarify. If we're talking about just one thing, LGBTQ issues, I think are unavoidable and central to explaining why I said what I said. There is another dimension, though, in worldview terms that I think is really important. And so the person, the woman who sent in this question

said about Dolly Parton, quote, she had a long and loving a relationship with her husband. We don't know much about that, but she appears to have a long marriage with Carl. And she did take care of him, and she may well have endangered her life by taking care of him and postponing some of concern for her own medical condition.

And that would be a very sweet thing. We should all recognize that. It is also clear that this letter writer, speaking about Dolly says, look, you know, she did many good things. I mean, we're talking about tens of millions of books distributed, and perhaps even more than that in terms of her literacy project. And we're also talking about the fact that at Dollywood and in other ways, she did, even for

commercial reasons. But clearly, she did identify with a family culture, family entertainment and all the rest. It was always with, I'll just say, a Dolly edge to it. It is important as Christians we recognize that even people who are theologically and even morally problematic can do good things. genuinely good things. We should be thankful for the good things that they do.

In a biblical perspective, about the Old Testament and the New Testament, unrighteous people are capable of righteous acts. And you know, we should be thankful for that. We should be thankful that even unbelievers, even those who consider themselves not only not Christian, but anti-conservative anti-Christian morality, often they still do something good.

They still care for someone. They still demonstrate, this is common grace. That's the Christian category. There's a huge Christian category, a common grace. And so we should be thankful that by God's common grace, even some people who we don't believe are evangelical Christians. We don't believe they have any personal relationship with Christ. We have moral concerns about some of the things they do.

They may also do good. And we as Christians understand that that's a good thing that they do good. And good things are good. And so we need to look at that and recognize when we're talking about someone, we do need to take the scale of the whole as best we can. When it comes to someone like Dolly Parton, her very intentional sexualization, even in terms of her own autobiographical comments, you know, taking some of her cues from, let me just say, a local sex worker,

just in terms of dress and flamboyance and all the rest, it is also clear that she helped a lot of people. So we as Christians are perhaps the last people on earth who can say, we're thankful for this, but not for that. I'm also interested to see that many other listeners wrote in to say, you know, I appreciate the fact that you spoke with some moral clarity about Dolly Parton because even a lot of Christians simply won't talk that way and are avoiding the moral and theological issues and frankly avoiding the Christian gospel issues that are at stake when even a lot of major Christian media outlets and all the rest said she was a well. identified Christian. Well, based upon what? She certainly identified by singing some Christian music and in some rather vague ways, but she made very clear. And by the way, it was affiliated with no church, attended no church, you know, et cetera. There's no identification that way. It just tells us, I think, that, you know, when we're talking about all this, regardless of

our judgment, we've been to be pretty careful in articulating exactly what we think and mean. All right, another fascinating question. This one, a young man in Ohio, he says, quote, I know socialism comes up quite a bit on the briefing because it's being pushed by political parties. And I would agree that it wouldn't work on earth, but isn't the end goal of Christianity mostly socialism? Again, college age young man, quote, if we are all serving God and the new creation and working for him, he owns everything. He says, I've always envisioned the new creation to be socialist, but functional because we will be perfected in serving a holy God. Is socialism inherently wrong or merely dysfunctional? practice because of fallen human nature, end quote. Okay, brilliant question and very intelligently stated here. I deeply appreciate it. I will simply say that the best way I know to put this is that in the age to come, in the kingdom of Christ, all things will be absolutely right. And by the way, I have no idea exactly how that works out in economic terms. I can tell you that there are some biblical passages about the rewards and blessings given to people, you know, mansions and glory and all these things. I don't have any idea how that works out economically. I just know that

it's going to be absolutely perfect, absolutely just, absolutely righteous. And everyone's going to be in agreement with the absolute justice and righteousness of exactly how it is. But I will say this. One of the reasons why we have a human economy is because we live in a fallen world in which we must work. In other words, labor is a part of the judgment of God upon sin. And that labor is translated, we hope, into some productive areas. And this is a part of that we think of, even in a fallen world, the dominion mandate to exercise dominion, you know, turn a tree into a house, you know, just profitable things, turn land into a farm and be able to feed people. All of this is really good. But in both Testaments, both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there is a clear,

unmistakable affirmation of private property. There is a clear, unmistakable affirmation of a righteous economy. In other words, as the prophets in the Old Testament would say, you can't use, you know, lying scales or weights and measures that will be unjust. But as is made clear also, in both Testaments, the worker is worthy of his hire, is worthy of his age. And so that is perhaps even more clear in the New Testament in the teachings of Jesus. So when I think about this, let me just tell you, I don't think it's fair to say that in the kingdom of Christ it's going to be something like socialism. I just want to say it's perfect.

It's perfect beyond what we can imagine. And by the way, it's plenty. It is absolute plenty. So in other words, one of the problems with socialism is that it takes less than plenty and generally produces a lot less than plenty. In the kingdom of Christ, we're going to have an abundance, a super abundance. And that's why I don't think anything close to socialism is adequate to explain it. But let me just also say, I'm not saying we're having capitalism in heaven either. What we have in heaven is perfection. Okay, from Texas, a woman listener writing in, ask another really important question, quote, why does it seem like all the Christians who are effectively fighting back against the culture are reformed? She says, I keep discovering pastors, authors,

speakers, et cetera, doing great work, building strong churches, institutions, family, speaking boldly on cultural issues and nine times out of ten, it turns out they're reformed. She says it's a sharp contrast to a lot of Baptist and non-denominational evangelical culture. Just be nice and non-offensive. She goes on to say she doesn't really hold to all of reform theology, but she says, it's got me wondering, is there something about that theology that lends itself to strong cultural engagement? I'm going to say, yes, there is. And so I will tell you one who is reformed in theology.

Yes, there is a clear theological issue here. And that is the fact that we believe in the Bible there is a cultural command that is given. And it's given right there in creation, you know, exercise dominion over the earth. as well as be fruitful and multiply. And it means that we also, like in the Old Testament, even an Old Testament prophecy, we plant fields and we build cities, we build communities.

And so there is a very clear cultural mandate. And let me just tell you, there's a reason why this question is really well-timed. And I do want to say, I don't know about the math. I can tell you there are a lot of evangelicals who are not either consciously or, or self-consciously reformed, who are really involved in a lot of these issues. So I just want to defend them and say, I think many of them are also involved in these issues.

But I will tell you this, if you look at the late 19th and the early 20th century, and certainly through, say, the 1960s and 70s, a great deal of evangelicalism was predicated on the idea that there's one central command, and that central command is to share the gospel. That's where you have revivalism as a movement. I'm so thankful for the push for evangelism among so many Christians, because the last thing we want is any kind of minimization or pull back or surrender on the issue of evangelism. But during that time of evangelism, a lot of Christians, and I'll say less reformed, a lot of them thought we're going to win people to Christ, and then because they're Christians, we're going to

solve the cultural problem. And this is where I think reform theology, based in the Reformation with a long conversation going back in the history of the church, I think reform theology is really, really really clear in saying, you know, the scripture tells us that there are creation order institutions, their creation order commands, and all the rest, I'll just say marriage and family, for example, that are going to be countercultural and are essential to not only our building of, what's to say, families and marriages and raising children and all the rest, but our witness to the world. And so there is a cultural dimension to our spiritual, even our,

gospel responsibility. Now, you can go in two different erroneous paths here. You can just say, all I'm interested in is evangelism. And again, you're neglecting the fact that, you know, who's going to teach on marriage? Who's going to help families to know how biblically they should be organized and how to raise their children and the nurtured admonition of the Lord? And the reason I'm saying that is because I think most pastors who say, you know, my main issue is evangelism. I just think a lot of them, especially in these very troubled times, are actually also teaching their congregations on marriage, on childbearing and raising children and work and a lot of other things. I do think in the Reformed theological worldview, all that comes very naturally. It is a part of the natural extension of our understanding of the sovereignty of God and of the assignment that God is given to human creatures.

in general, by the way, we're thankful for that. We're thankful that pagans plant fields and feed their children. We're very thankful for that. But as Christians, and this is a part of reform theology, we understand that's an imperative for human flourishing. It's also a part of our witness. And we are to do such things until Jesus comes. And I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of the revivalism in the 20th century

is asking some big questions now. And that is, you know, what do we do now when we're in a hostile culture? and frankly, it's becoming less and less plausible to say, you know, we're going to win this thing, you know, just in terms of the population. I think even in most of those churches, reform theology has been here from the beginning, but I think an awful lot of even less reformed and maybe even those who consider themselves non-reformed, I think the biblical theology is breaking through, and I certainly hope so, in which they understand we've got to prepare people to live faithfully, faithful marriage. faithful families, raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So I do think this is a very interesting question, but I will tell you, Calvinist reform folks talk about these things naturally. A part of this goes back to the Reformation tradition. And I'll just say John Calvin himself was at the center of this, of asking, why are we left in this

world in this age? And it is to demonstrate, both to the church, yes, and to live out to the glory of God, ultimately, but also in the midst of a decaying and rebellious world to build as much civilization consistent with the word of God as possible. Even when, by the way, that civilization doesn't start with a city or a country, but starts with a man and a woman in marriage and a family. Reform theology is a very good explanation for why that is and why it matters. But I am very thankful for non-reformed folks who come to the same conclusion and join in the same challenge. Thanks for listening to the briefing. For more information, go to my website at Albertmohar.com. You can follow me on X or Twitter by going to X.com forward slash Albert Moller.

For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbtsketech.org. For informational on Boyce College, just go to voicecollege.com. Monday is Labor Day in the United States of America. And I hope and pray for each of you a wonderful time with family and friends as we honor the gift that God has given us in labor. I'll meet you again then on Tuesday for the briefing.