The Briefing with Albert Mohler - Monday, August 17, 2026

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:14 – 12:58)The Tragic Death of Jason Arday: This is an Absolute Tragedy, and Cambridge University Has Lots of Questions to AnswerAn update from Jason Arday by Good Law Project (Jason Arday)Statement from the Vice-Chancellor 12 August 2026 by University of Cambridge (Deborah Prentice)Statement from the Vice-Chancellor, 14 August 2026 by University of Cambridge (Deborah Prentice)Professor’s Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and Hiring by The New York Times (Mara Hvistendahl, Megan Specia, Leo Sands, Ali Watkins, and Susan Dominus)Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor by The Guardian (Lanre Bakare)Part II (12:58 – 20:32)The Moral Evasion of Luigi Mangione: Mangione Confessed in Federal Court to Premeditated Murder and Said He Knew it Was Illegal, But He Didn’t Say the Killing Was Morally WrongRead Mangione’s Motion Arguing Double Jeopardy in State Case by The New York TimesPart III (20:32 – 27:08)The Resignation of Karoline Leavitt: The Youngest White House Press Secretary in History Resigns to Stay Home to Care for Her Young Children–With the President Trump’s SupportSign 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 Monday, August 17, 2006. I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. The word tragic is the most important word we can think of immediately when we think of the news coming out of London that Jason Ardei recently resigned professor at Cambridge University have been found dead. It is assumed that he died by suicide. The London police did say that there was no suspicious activity. in terms of anyone else's involvement. Now, we talked about Jason Ardei just days ago on the briefing because this was world headline news when a plagiarism scandal turned into a far larger scandal, and Jason Ardei eventually was discovered to have indeed plagiarized

much of his dissertation, and much of his personal story just began to fall apart. And before long, he had simply facing the reality of an investigation, a reluctant investigation on the part of Cambridge University, he resigned. In his resignation letter, he simply said, as a matter of days ago, quote, it is with profound sadness that I write to resign with immediate effect from my position at the University of Cambridge and Jesus College. He said, when I accepted the extraordinary honor of becoming professor of sociology at Cambridge, it was without question the greatest professional privilege of my life to become the youngest black professor in the university's

history, but something I could scarcely have imagined as a child growing up with a diagnosis of autism, unable to speak until I was 11 years old. End quote. Okay. Now, that is the beginning of a fairly long letter, which, by the way, some of the press said, was itself somewhat artificial, but nonetheless, it was the very strange way to begin a letter in which some of the facts of his life were actually part of the issue of dispute. And in that very opening statement, by the second paragraph, he said, again, I could scarcely have imagined this development as a child growing up with a diagnosis of autism, unable to speak until I was 11 years old. And as a matter of fact, as the story was repeated over and over again,

as is so often the case, Jason R. Day story was discovered to change from place to place, year to year, venue to venue. But in any event, it was Cambridge University that rose to his defense. There's a story behind this, and that story has to do with DEI. It has to do with the corruption of higher education. Oddly enough, it has to do with Cambridge University because just in terms of elite worldwide universities, this isn't something that you would expect from Cambridge until you look at the story and say, oh, yeah, this makes perfect sense. It makes sense now understanding that it took place at Cambridge and why it took place. The pieces begin to fall together. Now, it's so sad that the pieces are falling together, even as Jason Arde appears to have exited by his own hand. It leaves, by the way, not only his wife, but two young children. And it leaves a lot of people at Cambridge University effectively holding the bag.

Because the colleagues at Cambridge University, including some high-ranking administrators and many established academics, they put their own reputations on the line by defending Jason Ardei and identifying his critics as basically involved in personal assassination, until the entire thing began to fall apart. That's what happens. It's so often what happens. a story like this that sounds just absolutely incredible, turns out to be incredible in the sense that it's lacking incredibility. Now, it's almost never the case that all of this falls apart at once. And so even as the story began to unfold, as we are even updated over the weekend about how all of this came about,

there were scholars who were beginning to question the academic reputation, the academic product, the academic work, and the personal story behind Jason Arde. But they were often dismissed as operating out of a discriminatory ambition. And for that matter, it's possible they were, just in the sense that you don't know in all cases exactly what the motivation for any kind of issue like this might be. But that doesn't change the facts. It doesn't change the responsibility of Cambridge University. Jason Arde was hired at Cambridge when Cambridge was clearly trying to find a minority professor

for this position in education and sociology. the sociology of education, put it all together. That is a field, by the way, that's fairly modern. We're going to be talking about the corruption of sociology in weeks ahead, simply because this is a big exploding story on both sides of the Atlantic, not just about Jason Ardey, but about the entire discipline and its ideological corruption. I'm going to argue that Christians should understand there's a deeper problem, even before you get to ideological corruption.

But nonetheless, Cambridge went about seeking to find someone to fill this chair. that is an established, very respected, very honored academic posts in a university such as Cambridge. Let's just remind ourselves of Cambridge University. Cambridge was established in the year 1209. Scholars at Oxford in the year 1096 left Oxford and went to Cambridge to establish something new. That's not all that unusual. Cambridge then became effectively the second of the great ancient universities there in England. it was eventually granted a royal charter in the year 1231 by King Henry II. Now, when you are at Cambridge in this kind of position, when it came to Jason Ardae,

he was not only affiliated with the university, the professorial chair he filled was a university chair. He was also affiliated with Jesus College. That is one of the historic colleges there at Cambridge. It was established in the year 1496. So we're talking about the end of the 15th century by the Bishop of Ely. And by the way, some very illustrious graduates of Jesus College at Cambridge, including Thomas Cranmer, one of the most famous figures of the English Reformation and, of course, the Archbishop of Canterbury, later a martyr for the gospel and the faith. So there's all this illustrious history. There's all this academic prestige. Oxford, then Cambridge, Cambridge, Royal Chartered, Jesus College. It's all a part of a package, but it's also a part of a picture that is particularly now a target for those who have the kind of concerns of DEI. And it is because there are at least two different things going on here.

From the left, there is the accusation that Oxford and Cambridge and the other ancient universities, and for that matter, the entirety of the civilization is built upon prejudice. And that's particularly an accusation that comes in Britain in the form of an accusation about colonialism. And when you're looking at Jason Arde, you are looking at a man who came, his family came from Ghana. But one of the questions that certainly will have to be faced and eventually answered by Cambridge is why Jason Ardee was chosen. This is a major report in the New York Times. Listen to this. Quote, the panel that is the Cambridge University panel looking to fill this professorial chair, quote, selected four finalists inviting them to Cambridge for two days of interviews.

Dr. Arde was up against three more senior scholars, including two women of color, according to a person familiar with the hiring process. Dr. Arde's published papers and his thesis had dozens of grammatical errors, along with identical quotes attributed to different people. The article continues, quote, at Cambridge, the finalists were asked to submit just one piece of research, according to a person familiar with the process. It is not clear which piece he submitted or whether members of the hiring panel reviewed Dr. Arde's speeches and interviews. Now, this is the Times.

Listen to this. It's an incredibly strong statement. Quote, if they had, they would have found elements of a story that stretched belief, like the Marathon claim, or were demonstrably false, like his public assertion that he'd been on the British television series, Seven Up, expert said that Cambridge's hiring panel was well equipped to question Dr. Ardey's very public claims about his childhood.

Some committee members had published papers about teaching students with learning disabilities and about inclusion in education. The Times actually mentions one particular member of the committee who did academic work in this area, and it's actually incompatible, evidently, with the story of Jason Ardei, as he told it, and as it was expanded over time,

there were also open accusations in the academic world that there was academic misrepresentation and personal misrepresentation when it came to Jason Ardei. Red flags were clearly raised. Listen to this, quote, three months after Dr. Ardey's hiring two British scholars privately wrote to Cambridge alerting administrators to potential plagiarism

in one of Dr. Arde's papers. There's more. There were newsletters and other concerns Cambridge did not act, and as the paper says, nor did Cambridge act months later after journals penned corrections to two of Dr. Ardae's papers. Then in September 2025, Times Higher Education sent Cambridge a dossier of more than 60 pages that detailed apparent plagiarism in Dr. Arde's work. Now, we talked about this.

The Times Higher Education, T.H.E is one of the most illustrious of elite newspapers, publications about higher education in the world, when the Times Higher Education sends a 60-page dossier officially to one of the world's most respected academic institutions, you would think that that institution would take it seriously. There were others who were involved. As the paper says, a reporter and editor at the publication, Jack Grove, had enlisted experts to review Dr. Arde's thesis. One of them, David Sanders of Purdue University, told the Times that going into the review, he knew nothing about Jason Arde, but when Dr. Sanders, sat down to analyze the thesis, he concluded it was extensively plagiarized. But get this, Cambridge,

and this is a direct quote, continued to back at Star Professor, telling Mr. Grove that questions about Dr. Arde's thesis would have to be addressed by the school that had awarded his doctorate. They said other research, into the research would have to be conducted by others. Listen to this, quote, at Cambridge, faculty members and allies hurriedly drafted a letter in anticipation of Mr. Groves' article. The integrity of higher education is at risk. If we do not a stand and speak out against the systematic attempts to erase black scholarship, they said. But there was clearly a lot more to it. Another Cambridge scholar revealed an analysis of the plagiarism in the writings,

but it was also the personal story that began to fall apart, including one in which he had run 600 miles in a matter of just a few days, 30 marathons and all the rest. This was the kind of story that just doesn't work. You had children who had been in school with Jason Ardee who said he did talk long before 11. and furthermore, he wasn't totally non-communicative. There were just entire sections of Jason Arde's story that didn't add up. But they did make for great theater. It is interesting.

You can see some media clips of just fawning interviews with Jason Ardey in which you have mainstream media sources basically beg him to tell the story. And it's just taken with no doubt that what he is saying must be true. Until you think about it, and then the story just doesn't make sense. one of the things is it sounds just too good to be true. And of course, it comes at the intersection of so many different things. One international news source pointed out that this comes at the intersection of racism, colonialism, neurodiversity. You know, that's something that previous generations didn't know about.

I'm not saying it's not real. Clearly, there is a reality to it. But it is also being used as an identity marker as an identity politics. And so it is really interesting. And it's, by the way, the intersection of other things. as well. The Guardian, which is a left-wing newspaper there in Britain, has raised a very interesting issue about Jason Arde. It mentions that a part of the tragedy of Jason Ardee is that he was a fantasist. And what they mean by that is that he had created a fantasy. He lived in that fantasy. And it's very,

very sad that when that fantasy basically fell apart, evidently his entire life fell apart. It is a tragedy. It is so sad that this young man obviously filled with great promise and, clearly incredibly bright, nonetheless, just found all of this too much to bear. And when the fantasy fell apart, everything else began to fall apart as well. It is going to fall apart to some extent for Cambridge University. That ancient and respected institution is going to have to answer

for what in the world happened, how could it have happened? And why wasn't Cambridge a little more curious? Not so much about Jason Arde's personal story. That's a part of all of this. But why weren't they more curious about his academic research? Because after all, this is an academic position. All of that just raises a host of questions. It's a sadder story now.

And it's going to get even sadder as all the details begin to unfold. It's very sad for his family, including his wife and two young children. Their pain, the pain of Jesse Narday's family, is all too real. It is not a fantasy. Friday was a very important day in another, major story as well. This has to do with the murder of insurance executive CEO Brian Thompson in New York in December of the year 2024, Luigi Mangione in a federal courtroom on Friday. So that's very same day. Luigi Mangione basically confessed to the murder. And he confessed to the

murder in a federal courtroom in great detail. The charges, the first most urgent charges he was facing had to do with stalking. There was more to it, of course. But it was very interesting to know that Luigi Mangione, very coolly, coldly, according to reports in the courtroom, went on to describe in detail how he had plotted and carried about the murder of Brian Thompson. Some details had not been known before. For instance, the fact that he had posed as a wealthy investor in order to get personal information from the company about where Brian Thompson was likely to be in order to ambush him. He had plotted the murder for some time. He used a 3D printer for at least some of the parts of the gun and also used a silencer. He was found, of course, with all of this,

which just goes to indicate that he must have found some great pride in it because he associated himself with the crime. It is a very cold crime. When you talk about murder, here it wasn't a crime of passion. It was a coldly planned, premeditated act of homicide. He plotted it, he carried it out. Now, it's very interesting also to see how this is being reported, because it is being reported in a specific way because of the necessity of the context in this federal courtroom. So Luigi Mangione had to say specific wording in order to effectively enter a guilty plea and to plead guilty to killing Brian Thompson and also to stalking in the other federal charges as well. Speaking to the judge, Mangione said, and the time says his voice was

steady and showing little emotion, he said, quote, on the morning of December 4, 2004, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died. When I did so, I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or serious bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal. He had already said that after years of enduring severe back pain from an injury, a broken back, he had been incredibly harmed by and frustrated by the health insurance system. He saw others also, by his definition, suffering from the insurance system. He decided to undertake this action in order to gain public attention to the problems of insurance coverage. The most important moral aspect is the fact that this was a guilty plea to a homicide, a deliberate, planned, carefully carried out homicide.

And you'll notice the language it was used. Now, it is not the case that Luigi Mangione had to use these exact. words, but he had to use words like these in order effectively to set himself up for what he hopes will be the dismissal of state homicide charges and other charges under the Constitution's guarantee of no double jeopardy. And in New York State, the protections against double jeopardy are particularly strong. However, it still may be the case that the state of New York in the Supreme Court there in Manhattan may be able to move ahead with other criminal charges against Luigi Mangione, it is actually expected that the prosecutor there will find

some way to do that. But it was clear on Friday that Luigi Mangioni was very carefully, very carefully, after premeditation determining with his lawyers exactly what words he would use for maximum legal effect without moral effect. The exact words that Luigi Mangione addressed to the judge on Friday were these. Hear this again. On the morning of December 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died. You'll notice they didn't say, murdered him, I shot him, and he died. The next sentence, when I did so, I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or serious bodily injury. That has to do with the federal language in the statute concerning stalking that brought about these first charges, federal charges. But then listen to this sentence, the final sentence of his statement,

quote, I knew what I was doing was illegal, end quote. Now, if he hadn't said that much, his statement would not have the legal force that it has. I want you to remember that Brian Thompson's widow and members of the family were there in the courtroom when Luigi Mangione made these statements. And remember, there are those out in American popular culture who have tried to make Luigi Mangione into a hero. This is a premeditated murder who shot a husband and a father. And by the way, Brian Thompson's background was not one of wealth and executive positions. He grew up on a farm. He was hardworking.

He was a first-generation business executive. And it is just one of those situations in which it's not so much what Luigi Mangione said. That's a legal statement. I knew it was illegal. What he doesn't accept, what he didn't say, what he never implied in any of his actions or apparently in any of his words, was that what he did was morally wrong. it was immoral. It was the taking of a human life. He said he knew it was illegal. You just look at the totality of all of this, and you can understand, here is what moral evasion looks like. Here is what taking legal responsibility, but taking no moral responsibility, looks like.

This is a situation in which it becomes a parable of our culture, just like Jason Ardae's, a parable in Britain, of a certain toxic, in our culture and then an enduring human story. When it comes to Luigi Mangione and the murder of Brian Thompson, we are looking at another incredibly important morally significant act. And defining it is a part of moral and cultural sanity. A society that will not look at premeditated murder and say it's not only illegal, but it's wrong, is a society that is losing its moral mind. Now, I'll repeat, that's what the defendant said. That's what now the confessed killer, Luigi Mangione said. That will not be the final word spoken in the courtroom. This is a federal courtroom and a federal judge will have the last word. And we can simply hope and

pray that when that last word is spoken, it will be not only a statement of legal, but of moral conviction. When you're looking at the murder of a human being, moral conviction is absolutely necessary. When it comes to the murder of a human being, moral responsibility is at the top of the list. It's going to be very, very telling to see how this particular plea is received in the press and in popular opinions. It's going to be very interesting to see how many people say, you know, he said he knew it was illegal, but he didn't say it was wrong. And there in the courtroom was the widow and members of the family. There are two teenage boys who are left behind without a father. You look at the story and you realize, I knew it was illegal, is maybe a

start, but it is by no means a finish. There was another big story last week, and this one's really interesting. It's a happy story. At least Christians should see it as a very happy story. Last Wednesday evening, the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, announced that his press secretary, Caroline Levitt, would be leaving that post in order to go home to be with her two young children and to take care of them. She said in a statement that she had found after the birth of her daughter, and that was not long ago. She took maternity leave. She came back to the White House, but she found that she was living with a divided heart, divided mind, and she simply said there wasn't enough divided time. And so she has gone home, she will be going home, to be with her

infant and also with a toddler. And thus, she's making a very powerful statement. She had made a very powerful statement just by holding the job. She was the youngest person ever to hold that job. She's only 28 right now. When she took the job, she was younger than some of the interns historically in that office. She was astoundingly solid in that job. There was no doubt she knew exactly what she was doing. She was very much like the president she served. They clearly thought in very similar ways, and Caroline Levitt was in the position where she could basically represent the president as few staff members could. The president spoke of his very clear affection for her and the fact he would be missing her. He said about her decision that going to spend time with her children at home

was something, quote, I totally understand and respect, end quote. I just want to point out that's an important thing. President Trump on social media doesn't always say that kind of thing. I think it's important we recognize. Then when it came to Caroline Levitt, who he clearly, clearly respects and does not want to be without in the White House press room. He nonetheless said about going home to be with her children, it was a decision, he says, he totally understood and respected. Caroline Leavitt came from a very interesting background. She'd actually run for Congress herself. She was busy at a very young age. She had been involved in the administration in the first term. She'd been involved very clearly involved in the Trump campaign in the 2024 cycle. And when President Trump entered the White House

in 2025, well, Caroline Leavitt became his press secretary. And most Americans, clearly get to know the press secretary if they don't know many other members of the administration simply because of the amount of face time and voice time that the press secretary has. That role, by the way, only goes back to about the middle of the 20th century, when the press, as we know it, really became a very different thing, especially with the arrival of technologies like radio and eventually television and, of course, now social media, the Trump White House is actually pioneered in alternative media being welcomed into the press, context there in the press room, that press room is where a great deal of world history has been made.

Not only does so much power radiate out of the White House itself, but much of it is transmitted through the White House press office. And you'll be surprised if you were to see that space, it is relatively small, it's low ceiling, it is not expansive at all simply because the White House is pretty cramped in all of its areas in terms of offices, but it is a powerhouse. And it will be remembered that Caroline Leavitt handled the press, and again, her age is simply astounding. She handled the press in a way that few press secretaries ever have or may. It is very clear she's going to be missed in the White House. I just want to come back and say from a Christian biblical perspective, it's just a wonderful thing that priority was made very clear here. She didn't just say,

I want to spend more time at home. She said, I need to spend more time with my children. She spoke of the difficulty of having the time divided as it were. And by the way, being press secretary in the White House is not a small job that's nine to five. It is, it is overwhelming. It is also, I think, I state again, very interesting that President Trump said so publicly that he totally understood and respected her decision. And that's because she really has been very crucial to President Trump in this second term. And there is no doubt that she will be a very hard press secretary precedent to follow. President Trump also went on to say that she will continue to be an advisor and will be involved in White House affairs. And I think the problem for Caroline

Levitt's going to be that her phone may ring just as much at home as it did there in the press office. But she'll have to figure out how to handle that too. When the announcement was made on Wednesday, I wondered what the response would be from the mainstream press, maybe even the liberal press and from the political left, and maybe even from some people on the political right who think they are very pro-family. But when it comes to something like this, it turns out they're not so pro-family as they said, or maybe as they even thought themselves to be. But it is interesting that even though there are people who said some rather strong things about Caroline Levitt, particularly coming from the left, the reality is that it appears that at least publicly,

few people are saying, well, that's a stupid priority, or that's a matter of professional irresponsibility. No, I think it's very interesting that the rightness of what she said was so clear that even those who opposed the president and opposed Caroline Leavitt couldn't just come right out and say, you know, that's a lousy reason. You know, that tells us something. Creation order shows itself. Moral seriousness shows itself. A mother saying, I need to give more time to being a mother. Well, life is complicated for so many families these days. But that is one of those statements that just said, once the words are put in order and said out loud, once you read them on the page, those are morally significant words, and you just about want to dare anyone to challenge them. My guess is that the political world hasn't heard the last of Caroline Levitt.

But right now, she is turning her attention to home. and that's something that listeners to the briefing should understand needs to be deeply, deeply respected. Thanks for listening to The Briefing. For more information, go to my website at Albertmuller.com. You can follow me on X or Twitter if I've gone to X.com forward slash Albert Moller. For information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,

go to sbtsbtsk.manyu. For information on Boyce College, just go to voicecollege.com. I'll meet you again tomorrow for the briefing.