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Supreme Court rules on Alabama’s congressional map · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Tuesday, May the 12th, 2026, and this is the Daily Article Podcast from Dinnison Forum.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Neurator Chris Elkins, giving voice to today's Daily Article, authored by Friend and Scholar, Dr. Jim Dinnison.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Late Monday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to use a new congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: The High Court set aside lower court rulings that had blocked the state from using the GOP drawn map, which would eliminate one of the state's two majority black districts.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ruling followed the court's April 29th decision in a similar case from Louisiana.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Apart from the court's ruling and dobs that return abortion legislation to the states, I cannot think of a decision in recent years that have been more interpreted in more disparate ways.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, the Wall Street Journal editorial board hailed the April 29 ruling as a victory for voting rights.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: In their view, the decision, quote, took a large step toward ending the partisan abuse of race to carve up congressional districts in a way that violates the constitution, in quote.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The New York Times editorial board by contrast claimed that, quote, the justices acted as partisans in their ruling.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: In their view, in the name of disentangling race from politics, the Supreme Court has given white voters more power at the expense of racial minorities.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote,
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: landmark federal statute that outlawed racial discrimination and voting, or its application to congressional maps over the decades, rather, it is to take a step back and consider our response to this news on a more visceral level.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll begin by restating a truth I've proclaimed many times over the decades of public ministry.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Racism is a sin.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In my extensive article, what does the Bible say about racism,
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I analyze racism in American history and today, then discuss slavery in the Bible, racism in the Bible, three common questions on the subject, and practical ways we can advance God's unconditional love through our personal and public lives.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: To the degree that congressional maps promote racial discrimination, they violate the biblical declaration in Romans 2, verse 11, that God shows no partiality.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, the matter is not as simple as it might appear.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: To some, congressional maps drawn to heightened representation by racial minorities are a necessary response to systemic racism in our country.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: To others, when such
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boating maps should not advantage or disadvantage any of America's citizens.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Political, legal, and cultural leaders have been debating this issue for half a century, however, with no resolution inside.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: You and I could join the debate today, however we wish.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: What we cannot do is see it through eyes other than our own.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am writing this article as a white male who has faced no racial discrimination in my 67 years of life.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea what it's like to be followed around in a pharmacy by employees, making sure I'm not stealing from their shelves.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea what it's like for my teenage daughter to knock on a neighbor's door selling tickets to her school play only to have the homeowner call the police on her.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea what it's like to enter a jewelry store with my wife only for employees to usher us to the less expensive merchandise in the belief that's all we can afford.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But one of my dearest friends knows just what all of that is like because it happened to him for the simple reason that a skin color is black.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how he feels about congressional maps, because we've never discussed the subject.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But whatever his views, I know they come from a world of experiences different from mine in ways that should not be.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But are, he closest I have come to approximating his experience has been my travels to China, Russia and Cuba, where I was viewed suspiciously as an
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do not understand what it's like to feel insecure in a dark parking lot because of my gender or at risk in a retirement home because of my age or in severe danger in a foreign land because of my faith.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, it is vital that I write, speak, and otherwise respond to cultural issues in ways that offer biblical truth with personal humility.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: What God says is what matters, not what I think.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what I think comes from a finite fallen mind couched in experiences that limit my perspective and understanding.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Given the existential difference that exists in a culture as disparate as ours, can we find hope beyond humility and unity beyond tolerance?
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consider the Jerusalem Church from Acts 2 verses 9 through 11, consisting of people from 15 different language groups scattered across the Roman Empire.
• 5:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to Acts 2 verses 42 and 44, when they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers as a consequence, all who believed were together and had all things in common.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: This miracle wasn't just a matter of spiritual location, moving closer to the Lord and best closer to each other.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was also a matter of spiritual transformation as Jesus changed their hearts so they came to love each other as they love themselves, referenced in John 13 verses 34 and 35.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Since love is a fruit of the Spirit, available to all who surrender and humble themselves before him, noted in Ephesians 518 and Galatians 5 verse 22, you and I can love everyone Jesus loves, and he loves everyone.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Scottish Evangelist, Henry Drummond wrote,
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: God, the eternal God, is love.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cove it therefore that everlasting gift, that one thing which it is certain is going to stand, that one coinage which will be current in the universe when all the other coinages of all the nations of the world shall be useless and unhonored."
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, what coinage will you covet today?