Reflecting on Points of Historical Commonality: The U.S, Europe, and the West

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: David New

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 3/5/26. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Stand and the Gap today. And it’s also our bimonthly focus on the Constitution, American History and Current Events. Today, again, as normal on this emphasis, David New, constitutional attorney, historian, author, and public speaker joins me. As we consider today, now, at least in part, the content of a recent speech made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which he delivered on February 14th, just some weeks ago at Munich Security Council or meeting there in Munich, Germany, where gathered there were European national leaders. Now, just a bit of context. In the last, oh, 50 or 60 years, maybe even more than that, perhaps many political leaders here in America began and across the world too, in Europe, but began to shift their tone and to adjust their policies to one described often as we would describe today as being politically correct.

During these years of cultural change, during the last 50 or 60 years or so, we know that’s happened, an increasingly man-centered view of the world instead of a God-centered worldview began to emerge, where slowly, subtle but profound change began to be quietly and incrementally introduced. Most past presidents did their part, some more, some less, to advance this change. They were all part of it to one degree or another, but many of them, most were generally quiet as to the changes or to the why, particularly the why of the changes, the move into political correctness that we would call generally. But as the American culture began to experience the consequences, because there are consequences to policy changes, America and the West began to witness such things as the removal of prayer from schools. As an example, the abandoning of God’s moral law in the form of the 10 commandments and the prominent positions that had once held, the enriching power, the deeply impactful power of our national motto, which said in God we trust, began to, in reality, shift to, well, in government we trust, or maybe the US dollar we trust, began to shift.

At some point, pushback began to emerge and ultimately became a political divide. One person who knew well how to read, I’m going to say how to read public angst, accompanied with a desire for an increased visible role and power emerged, in part because of his personal bravado of challenging any given boundaries of law or policy. Donald Trump, the man, emerged, running against the politically correct consequences, increasingly visible in American society. And that happened, and that’s all history, not just straight up neutral, what I’m saying. Now it’s becoming clear that the president, now President Trump, has chosen to actually deal with some of these things head on. And pushback, as I said, began to take place. And what has happened is that it’s become clear that he has taken a contrarian approach to nearly all aspects of governance and policy and all of that. And while there’s merit to much of that, there are some impacts and consequences which are creating change, but not necessarily good change, restoring maybe some that was lost, but then not confidently can we know that because other things have changed.

So I’m saying we’re in that window. And it’s this unique reality that confronts, I’m going to say, Christians and historians and patriots and all of those who seek to objectively measure the moment to consider the past and compare against scripture and history as did our founders 400 years ago with the pilgrims and the Puritans of their day and the signers of our declaration as they did 250 years ago. And it’s into this moment that the content of Secretary of State Rubio’s speech, I believe, offers an excellent point of analysis, an ability to look around, look ahead, and look back. The title I’ve chosen to frame today’s conversation is Reflecting on Points of Historical Commonality: The US, Europe, and the West. And with that, David, welcome to the program.

David New:

It’s wonderful to be with you and blessings to everyone.

Sam Rohrer:

David, as we’ve been doing for some time on the program, one slice of current events you have given some input on. And I’d just like on that right now, you got the war in the Middle East with Iran. Some thoughts about … Anyways, what are your thoughts on what’s happening and anything you’d like to share?

David New:

Yes, I would. The public opinion polls indicate that the public is not particularly enthused about what’s going on in Iran. A majority of people don’t believe this should be going on with this attack on Iran. With your permission, I want to point something out. There’s a real reason why it is so dangerous to have these people in Iran having a nuclear weapon. In the Soviet Union, they can have all the nuclear weapons they want and they will not use them. They will not use them because they know that should they do that, they would receive an overwhelming destructive force that would destroy the whole country forever.

These people, this Ayatollahs, these are a different cut of cloth. They will use a nuclear weapon against the United States. That’s the reason. He will do it, and he does it for a religious reason. Nuclear weapons in their theology has a role in the end times and the appearance of the Mati, who the word Mati means guided one. They believe there’s going to be a future Islamic leader who is going to come and bring peace to the world, but in doing that, before he gets here, there’s going to be all kinds of chaos, and that’s where nuclear weapons come in. They would use it. Remember, we have been at war with Iran since 1979. They no sooner got into power, and in 1980 … Well, let’s see, 1983, April of 1983, an Islamic group backed by Iran, drove a bomb into the US embassy in Beirut and killed 17 Americans.

In October of 83, Hezbollah, Iran back, drove a bomb and a Marine compound in Beirut, killing 220 US Marines. This goes on and on and on. August, 1998, with the assistance of Iran back Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda suicide bombers almost simultaneously blew up the US embassies and Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. This last most recent event of October seven, 2023, at least 48 Americans were killed in this attack from … Iran back Hamas from the Gaza, where they came in and killed the Israelis around 1200.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, David, we got to run off. We’re out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, you get the point in what David’s laying out. Engagement with Islamic radical Shia Islam has been doing these kinds of things for a long time. That is a part of why things are happening. Stay with me right back. Well, if you’re just joining us, welcome aboard here today. David New is with me again. This is our bimonthly emphasis, which we’ve done for many, many years now on the Constitution wrap in almost always some aspect of American history and as just commented on some aspect of current event. And what were the focus, the balance of the program today is a current event, and it focuses on a speech that our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made some months ago, I mean, some weeks ago, February 14th, actually. And so David, you brought it to my attention.

I had not seen it before, and so there are many comments you would like to make about it. And I thought that was just appropriate, a good thing to do for a number of reasons, and you can lay them out. But let me just give a little bit of background to get into it a little bit, because it was on February 14th, as I’ve said, that our Secretary of State, Rubia, opened his speech. I’m going to give just a little bit of how he opened it, but it was to those who were in attendance at the Munich Security Council, which was held in Munich, Germany. So let me share just the first words to provide some context, David, before you then offer your additional thoughts. But this is how the Secretary of State began. He started out by saying, “Thank you very much.” We gather here today as members of an historic alliance, an alliance that saved and changed the world.

When this conference began in 1963, it was in a nation. Well, actually, it was on a continent that was divided against itself. The line between communism and freedom ran through the heart of Germany. The first barbed defenses of the Berlin Wall had gone up just two years prior and just months before that first conference, before our predecessors met here, here in Munich, the Cuban missile crisis had brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction. And even as World War II still burned fresh in the memory of Americans and Europeans alike, we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a new global catastrophe, one with the potential for a new kind of destruction, more apocalyptic and final than anything before in the history of mankind. And then the Secretary Rubio then proceeded and provided further examples where he sought to identify commonalities between the United States and Europe passed, purpose being to encourage these European nations of our day to stand with the United States of today, and particularly, and that’s buried in the context of the speech, which we’re not going to talk about today, but it was to particularly follow the United States now in the policies that they’re following today, and then specifically talked about policies of the Trump administration relative to European nations and all of which we know to be the case.

But David, that being said, that’s the context, but there were other aspects of this speech that really encouraged you. Want to share those and why?

David New:

Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, this speech is extremely unique. In my opinion, it is very unique because what Secretary of State Rubio did on that day of February 14th, I have never read any Secretary of State say before in the last 50 or 60 years. This Munich Security Conference is attended by about 450 people every year. People from all over the world come to it. What he did during this speech is that he gave, in my opinion, an unequivocal and absolute defense of Western civilization. Now, in the last 50 or 60 years, the left has been attacking Western civilization as being a white man’s civilization, as being white supremacy, as being the great oppressor of all mankind. And as a consequence, political leaders in Europe and the United States are gun shy when trying to defend Western civilization. They generally don’t talk about it. You might hear ministers and conservatives say something like this, but for a United States Secretary of State to say what he did on that day is historic.

And when I heard that, I said, “We have got to put that on the show.” Listen to some of the things he says. He says, “We are part of one civilization, Western civilization. We’re bound one to another by the deepest bonds that nations could share. Forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices of our forefathers.” Oh my word. Can you believe he actually did that? It’s a wonderful thing that he did. He says, “We are connected spiritually and we are connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong. Our destiny is and always will be intertwined with yours because you know the fate of your will never be irrelevant to our own.” He goes on, “Armies fight for our people and that is what we are defending. A great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history.” Let me read that to you again and see if you could think of any secretary of state or any president with the exception of Donald Trump who would say something like this.

Let me read it to you again. “A great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history. “That is shocking. He is out of step. This speech could have been given in 1920 or 1930, and it’s now being given in 2026 by an American Secretary of State. Things are changing in this country and it looks like for the better. Then he goes on and he says something that’s very interesting. He says,” It was here in Europe where the ideas that planted the seeds of liberty that changed the world were born. “That’s how great Western civilization is, ladies and gentlemen. And then he goes on, ” It was here in Europe where the world which gave the world the rule of law, the universities, and the scientific revolution.

Scientific revolution. Why, ladies and gentlemen, why did science take off in Western civilization? What is the reason? Why? “”Well, I’ll tell you. The most important verse, the most important scientific statement made anywhere at any time was made 3,500 years ago by a man named Moses. This is the most important scientific statement that has ever been made. There is a lot more in this statement than most people realize. Look what he says. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now today, the key word is the issue created. Did God create the universe or not?

3,500 years ago, that was not the issue. The issue at 3,500 years ago is the word God. Elohim. Who created the universe? And Moses said, Elohim did. Now, look what Moses does. This is the foundation for modern science. This is why we are in the lead. Look what he does. In the beginning, God created the heavens under earth. He separates God from the universe. Before the universe existed, before matter existed, there was just God. And by separating God from the universe, that became the foundation for Western science. In the east, they don’t do that. They did not do that. In the east, they merged nature with God. Nature was God. The mountain was a God. A frog was a God. A river was a God. All kinds of things, animals, part of the creation were divine. And what did that do to science? Really bad.

It basically discouraged science. For example, frogs are gods in some cultures in the east. Now, you cannot dissect a frog. In many places of the world and the ancient world, you couldn’t do that because gods don’t like to be dissected. But if you know that the frog is not divine, that it is separate from the creation, you are allowed to dissect a frog. What does that mean? It means that theology and science, nature are on two separate tracks. They never contradict each other. True science will not contradict true theology and true theology will not contradict science. But they each have their own path in Genesis one: one. There is God and there is the universe. The scientist in a way is liberated from false theology in Genesis one, verse one. So this is extremely important. Now, it’s interesting.

Sam Rohrer:

All right, David, I think it’s a great place just to stop right there. We’re right to the break. So ladies and gentlemen, all right. From the speech filled full of many, many good things of which David is concentrating on some that go to the heart of what in fact has made the West, as general referred, distinctively different from the rest of the world. It goes right to the heart of who is God and God’s word. And we’re going to conclude this whole thing in the end in the fourth segment by breaking out more of these, but stay with us. We’ll go further into some things in the speech in the next section. Okay. Going further into this speech, again, if you’re just joining us, David New is with me today and had come across and listened to the speech by Secretary of State Rubio, given on February 14th in Munich, Germany to the Munich Security Council, where again, the context was he was presenting a speech calling on European leaders to come along in support of Trump administration policies.

Now that’s what a Secretary of State does. He was there on that mission. That’s why he was there. But in the context of trying to pull them into support, he did an approach where he included a lot of things reflecting history that makes the West what the West was. And it’s not the same now as what it was, but the West is still distinctively different from the rest of the world. But anyway, that was really the context. And within that, as I’ve read through the speech and all of that, quite accurate recalling of history, and David talked about a lot of that in the last segment, but I’m going to say he in a very undeniable but persuasive way, communicated a reflective message, calling on people to hearken back to things that have happened, which is a very, very good thing to do. In many ways, it challenged the normal politically correct speeches of most modern politicians, but it did it in a way that really, I’m going to say, couldn’t actually be honestly opposed because it was frankly a matter, and it is, frankly, a matter of history.

Not everybody today interprets words the same way, so different people there were hearing perhaps different things, but it took him in the right direction. Now, for instance, he made two points with, of course, the goal was to secure commitment again to the policies of the Trump administration. That’s why he was there. I mean, this is a political setting. But he said this, as an example, we said, “And in a pursuit of a world without borders, obviously addressing issues in Europe and here, wave of mass migration, an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens current tents, the cohesion of our societies, Europe and the United States, the continuity of our culture and the future of our people. ” He said, “We made these mistakes together and now together we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward to rebuild.” He said, “For the United States and Europe, we belong together.” America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here in Europe on this continent long before.

“The man who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new. “All right, David, those were great words. They really were. They were very, very well written. But in addition to what you were saying, there are some other things as well you’d like to say about the speech. Why don’t you go ahead and just build them out?

David New:

Surely, thank you. Also, it’s interesting how some members of the science community have paid homage and tribute to the teachings of Moses in Genesis chapter one. For example, in 1968, Frank Morman, astronaut Frank Marmon, Bill Anders and Jim Lowell, all astronauts, some of the most sophisticated and best educated people on this planet, what did they do? When they circled the moon for the very first time going on the dark side, they read from Genesis chapter one and the first and verses. And in 1969, Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon for the first time in 1969, in Apollo 11, he, at the sea of tranquility on the moon, performed the first communion service in space on the moon. And he points out that the first food that was taken and the first drink that was taken was from a communion service on the moon. And then finally in 1971, Apollo 15, astronaut David Scott, the seventh person to walk on the moon, he was the first who ride on the lunar rover.

He drove it and before he left, he left a Bible at the control panel and he left it there when he left the moon. These people are acknowledging the debt we owe to the teachings of Moses. Now let’s take a look at some of these other quotes. This is one that is unbelievable. This is that shows you the strength and the power of what great men can do when they’re ready to do right things. He said, this is what Rubio said. Let’s see. He said,” We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West managed decline. We do not seek to separate but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history. “I have never, ever read that kind of statement before. Never. Not by anybody elected official. I’ve seen religious leaders say it, but I’ve never heard a secretary of state.

We do not want our allies to be weak because that makes us weaker. We do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. Who’s he talking about? He’s talking about the left. He’s talking about the left’s relentless attack on Western civilization. Then he goes on to say,” We want our allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage. Ladies and gentlemen, what he just said amounts to secular blasphemy. “Here is a white man praising Western civilization. White men generally will not do that because they’re a little bit ashamed, they’re gun shy, they’re on the reluctance, and it shouldn’t be a matter of race because nobody’s better than anybody else. We’re all made in the image of God, but the left has attacked Western civilization for being a white supremacist civilization. So this man, this man has said some great things, and he even refers to the Italian explorer who brought Christianity to the Americas.

That is genuinely condemned in universities throughout the United States.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. David, hearkening back to history, one of the things that is significant statement that many people know is that one of the things that people learn from history is that we don’t learn from history. In regard to that, going back and hearkening to that which has been done before, which is what you’re citing and which is what I’m emphasizing at this point is a very, very critical thing. I mean, God commands that in the old day, told the Israelites himself, when you get into the new land, don’t forget, don’t forget what happened before you came out of Egypt, and then you did this, and then you walked away, and then you did this, and then you walked away, and then you did this, and then I came back. All those kind of things. There is a very essential part of remembering history as it was, isn’t it, David?

David New:

There absolutely is. And somebody said, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. I’m sure you’ve heard that go before too. And this is the best defense we have for the role of Christianity in the United States is to educate the public. That is really the most powerful weapon we have because our young people are being taught a lot of lies, and the only way to get through is by educating the public that the role of religion in the formation of the United States was not just a thing. It was the essential ingredient that made America America.

Sam Rohrer:

And again, don’t have much time left, but as we’ve talked before, our founders used the word religion, but they were talking about Christianity specifically. And so today, there are many people who are religious, David, but it’s not religion and religiosity that brings a nation to greatness. It’s far more than that, isn’t it?

David New:

Absolutely. But it definitely … What we’ve got going on right now in Iran is a clash of cultures. The Iranians do not value human life. They kill their own like dogs. We value human life because we teach that human beings are made in the image of God. And we’re going to lose that status. We’re going to lose that knowledge, that value of seeing each other in the image of God, unless we give back to the basics that want Made America the great country that it is.

Sam Rohrer:

And to that ladies and gentlemen, hold that thought there because in the next segment when we come back, I want to try and summarize some things that we have stated that I think will be helpful. And then David’s going to call out some additional things that have really made the West distinctively different. Some things that actually that you might not think are that distinct, but where do they came from? We’ll connect all of that as we conclude here to the next section. All right. If we wrap up the program today, I just want to make a few comments here relative to what we’re looking at today. In this case, the speech by our Secretary of State. And you’ve heard, if you’ve been listening to the program, many, many, many good things that are within that speech. I just want to say upfront, the purpose of this analysis today is not to make an analysis of that speech, nor to incur or agree with everything that was in that speech, nor to give comment on whether or not the Trump policies regarding Europe and what’s being done as the Secretary of State was appealing to those leaders to do.

We’re not commenting on those things today. That’s not the purpose for it, because I’m going to say to fully consider, it’s important here, the content and the intent of the Rubio speech or any political speech. Or I’m going to say here the implied portent. That means a warning type thing. If the European nations did not come into alignment with the Trump administration’s definition of what should been done to reclaim the power and dominance of the West as historically existed, that would require too much time and we don’t have time to do that today. There’s a lot that goes into analyzing a speech. We’re not trying to do all that. But as an instance, I would say this, speeches have to be carefully listened to. Every word means something. I made a lot of political speeches myself. In most cases, I wrote them myself because wanted to make sure of what was being said.

But here’s an example. We’re in a day where there’s a lot of deception. And without being more specific and defining, for instance, the sovereign hand of God in raising up America and understanding that it required two great awakenings. That God divinely sent between the pilgrims and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, those 200 years that were in that space because our people in our country at that point, they had already moved into selfish greed and immorality and public drunkenness. That was what happened here and God sent the great awakening to get things back on track. Without reminding people that it’s not just using the name Christian as being in contrast, as most people say today, “I’m Christian.” What they mean is, “I’m not a Muslim or I’m not a communist.” There has to be distinctions, got to be more clear, otherwise we can get confused.

Or example, a lot of references made to God these days, but unless you specifically say Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and then link that to Jesus Christ as the very son of God, the promise to Messiah Yeshua, the express image of Yahweh is to get close, but miss the target. And without reminding people that it is God who raises up nations and leaders and puts them down, in direct relationship to their choice to fear God and submit to his leadership gets close, but it misses target. And without reminding people that committing to obeying Yahweh’s commandments, God’s commandments as found in the word of God, as compared to the laws and the rules of any rules-based order, which was referred to in the speech or in man’s idea of what is good, well, it may get close, but it’ll miss the mark.

It might sound good, but it does not assure the blessing of God. So I lay that out there from the context in guidelines. When we hear speeches, we must define the terms and we must understand and approach them fully from God’s perspective. We are not here as America because somebody of people did a few good things. A lot of people did a lot of good things and God supernaturally put out his hand and that’s why America’s great. That is what we must remember. And it’s not a matter of somebody’s policies they’re going to come up with. So I just lay that out there. But David, because of God’s direct hand of blessing for clear decisions, our past founders in the past, there are broad aspects of Western civilization evident in many areas that many people they may benefit by today, but don’t understand that it came directly because of those that were linked to God’s word and then God’s pattern for human civilization.

And out of that, God made some distinctive things. Would you identify a few more of those distinctive marks of Western civilization that come right off the pages of scripture and decisions that were made before?

David New:

Well, let’s give an example. There are more elections in Western civilization and those countries from the West than anywhere else on the earth. And there is a reason because of Judeo-Christian teachings. Look at the role of constitutions. The West developed constitutions to limit the powers of government, to state what the government can and cannot do. Where does that come from? Western civilization. Look at a document called the Bill of Rights. Whoever heard of such a thing? The East, they don’t have a Bill of Rights. None of the Muslim nations are democracies. So what is the worth of a Bill of Rights there? Nothing. They will kill you if you do something they really don’t like. But a Bill of Rights has meaning and it comes because of Judeo-Christian teaching. The role of women. Women in Africa and in Asia and in India and many, many cases are treated like dogs.

Wherever Christianity has gone, wherever the influence of Western civilization has gone, the role of women in the community has been elevated. One of the things that Western civilization put an end to directly because of the teachings of Jesus and the Gospel of Matthew is that you can only have one wife. When you’ve got multiple wives, you basically have harem, but you give the woman more respect when she is the one and only wife in the family. So there are all kinds of ways that Western civilization has made this planet worth living on.

And so to our liberal friends, to our secularist and atheists, I quote something that is in the congressional record that I like an awful lot. It was a quote made in 1954 by Dr. George Daugherty of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington DC. He said, “An atheistic American is a contradiction in terms. Without God, there is no America. You can be an atheist in this country, but if you decide to be an atheist, you miss out on the very best that America has to offer.

Sam Rohrer:

And David, that is a great way to take us because ladies and gentlemen, those who attack what the West is and was, and all of that out of which we came in Europe, all that, if we just let it there at West versus East, we get close, but we miss the target. The West and all of the things that David has said, you can take every one of those things to the pages of scripture. And then when you make that connection, now you know why much of the world dislikes the West as it used to be, because ultimately they don’t agree with God, and there’s only one way to heaven. It all comes back and the picture is complete, but when we put it all together, well, that’s why we’re to be thankful for what God has done for us. So fear God, keep his commandments.

This is the whole duty of man. Thank you, David and you for being on the program today. What an interesting way to approach this speech today, and ladies and gentlemen, hope you benefited by it. See you back here tomorrow.