Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith & Culture

Cultural Update: American Support for Israel; Researchers Uncover Evil AI; Wealth of Nations; Talarico's New Style

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Mar 13, 2026

Rick Langer, philosopher and Talbot School of Theology colleague, brings concise ethical and philosophical analysis. They examine why younger evangelicals’ support for Israel has dropped. They unpack small AI errors that produce harmful outputs and why virtue ethics matters. They revisit Adam Smith’s true aim for broad flourishing. They assess James Talarico’s pastoral political style and answer listener ethics questions.

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INSIGHT

Eschatology Shift Alters Evangelical Support For Israel

Younger evangelical support for Israel plunged from 75% in 2018 to 34% in 2021, linked to waning end-times theology influence.
Scott Rae and Rick Langer tie the drop to less theological tethering and rising political framing of Israel.

INSIGHT

AI Errors Expose The Cost Of Moral Nuance

Small coding corruptions in a tiny LLM produced blatantly evil suggestions, provoking renewed interest in virtue ethics.
The hosts note models find being uniformly bad computationally cheaper than nuanced moral distinctions, risking simplified evil outputs.

ADVICE

Anchor Virtue Ethics In Christlike Character

Ground virtue ethics in Christ as the exemplar to avoid circular, purely human standards.
Scott Rae recommends using Galatians 5 fruit of the Spirit as concrete virtues for guiding Christian character and AI thinking.

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American Support for Israel: Support for Israel among younger evangelicals has dropped significantly, moving from 75% in 2018 to just 34% in 2021. This shift is attributed to younger generations being less tethered to traditional end-times theology than their predecessors.

Evil AI and Virtue Ethics: Researchers found that even small coding errors in AI can lead to "blatantly evil" suggestions. This has sparked a resurgence of interest in classical virtue ethics as a way to prioritize character and the "good life" in both humans and machines.

Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations: Celebrating the 250th anniversary of this 1776 document, the hosts clarify that Smith’s idea of "self-interest" was intended to improve the lives of ordinary people, not to encourage greed. They emphasize his belief that a society cannot be happy if the majority of its members are poor and miserable.

James Talarico and Christian Nationalism: Following up on a previous discussion, the hosts touch upon Texas Democratic candidate James Talarico's views. They explore a "new style" that he brings to the political discussion

Listener question: Is trans activism a response to the church? A listener wonders if current trans activism is in some ways a response to the church's heavy-handed approach to trans youth.

Listener question: Embryo Adoption Ethics. Scott and Rick answer a question about remaining IVF embryos and adoption. They suggest that handpicking Christian parents or even exploring surrogacy could be considered to maintain parental responsibility.

Listener question: Just War Theory Resources: In response to a request for a biblical perspective on warfare, the hosts recommend J. Daryl Charles' Between Pacifism and Jihad as a primary resource, alongside classic works by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

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Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California.

Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically.

To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.