Zaran Mamdani has won the mayoral election for New York City. What does that mean for New York? What does that mean for America? Unpacking all that and more coming up right now on Clearby Today. Yeah.
You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the studio today.
You know, we've had a great week of conversation. We've been diving into the book of Job and what that means, but today we want to take a break and talk about something that is happening right now in our country that many people are upset about. Many people are questioning what this means. But before we get into any of that, we want to welcome our host, Dr. Abadan Shah.
Dr. Shah, if you're listening for the first time, is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome. It's good to be here.
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So we'd love hearing from you. Make sure you call in and let us know how the Clearview Today show is blessing you. That's right. Dr. Shah, I want to quote Jermaine.
Clement from the flight of the Concords when he said, What's wrong with the world today? I have no idea. It's upset. Those are actually what's wrong with the world today. A lot of people are upset.
You know, of course, the news just dropped that Zaran Mamdani has won the mayoral election for the mayor of New York City. And people are not sure what to think about this. There's lots of different angles. And so I know there's people who are considering writing into the show. Dunk show, what do you think?
I I think uh it does have consequences. It du it is very significant, especially because of his views. Uh if you were following the elections, I know there were a lot of rhetoric about his Islamic background and his views on Islam and all of that stuff. And maybe all that is true, maybe not. I want to focus more on the social Marxist ideas that are very important or that were very important for his platform.
uh because um people in New York City were concerned about Um The rent And the rent keeps going higher and higher. And it's not just the people on the lower end of society or the lower rung of society, but even people who are middle class were struggling with the same issue. Like, why what should we do here? And so, with all that said, I believe this is significant because he is saying that he's going to try to equalize the playing field and do something about that.
So on the surface, it seems okay. Great. But in reality, it's Marxism coming back. For people who are listening to the show, or maybe are unfamiliar with this kind of sector of the world, can you give just a brief overview of what social Marxism is?
So, okay, of course, we know Marxism, right?
Social Marxism is. Is trying to bring that same kind of intensity in every aspect of life. We're trying to so-call. Equalize everybody. Uh definitely It is anti-capitalism, but also it is.
Um j just trying to Create um division in the society Marxism was division between those who have and those who have not.
Socialism is creating divisions on various levels, color. Um Social background or sexual orientation or which side of the tracks you come from. I mean, on various levels. trying to divide society. Right.
You know, and so that I think Is the problem with social Marxism. Marxism, you can say, okay, there it is. Between haves and have-nots. You saw that in Communist Russia.
Social Marxism finds many other ways to divide and It comes across as it's here to help everybody, equalize everybody, but it's not. This is just another way to divide and conquer. It's fundamentally, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but it's fundamentally taking what was essentially workers versus owners, capitalists, and making it now oppressors versus the oppressed. Absolutely. Yeah.
And so it's this underlying idea that, like, whereas capitalism would say everything is based on the idea of competence. If you can do this, if you can manage this, and you're willing to work hard, you can achieve it.
Social Marxism would say, no, no, no, either you have power or you don't. And if you have power, then you've stolen it from someone, you've oppressed someone, you've beaten someone down, and you've basically stolen that power. Yeah. Right. I think I know the answer to this, but what is gained by a government or a governmental system dividing society?
Well, then we no longer are one community.
Now we look at everyone as an oppressor. Anybody you don't like, your boss could be oppressor. Your landlord is an oppressor. If you belong to a black or brown ethnicity, then anybody who is white is an oppressor. And I am in my situation because of how you have rigged the system.
No one can win in this other than those who are pulling the strings behind the curtain. They're the only ones who win.
Nowhere has social Marxism been successful and everybody's happy. It actually leaves. communities that were established flourishing and I'm not saying problem-free or They don't have issues, but communities that were thriving now become just And um businesses leave, people leave. Capital doesn't come in. Because who wants to invest somewhere where I don't trust you.
I think it's surprising to me that people who are socially Marxist can't see the glaring hypocrisy in it. And what I mean by that is the whole thing is oppressor versus oppressed. We don't want people separated by race. And yet the entire. Worldview takes individuals away and puts them into group identities.
Yeah. We are making, I mean, we are actively making it more racist. We are dividing by race and calling anybody who doesn't want to do that racist. Right. So if you are homosexual, transgender, then you will look at anybody who's heterosexual as you are the oppressor.
You're trying to superimpose and force your sexual identity on me. You're the oppressor who has to be overthrown. I mean, there are many levels of social Marxism.
So, hopefully, that helps us understand. New York is not headed. I'm talking about the city, is not headed in a good direction. Yeah. There may be some people who are listening who are not New York natives.
What are the implications for us who don't live inside the state of New York? That's a great question. I think perfect question. This is why Christians, especially those who understand issues. Those who understand what is at stake should educate themselves.
Vote Of course, pray first. Vote. And if God leads you, get involved in the political process. For too long, we have just complained about things, sat back. And then complain some more when somebody gets elected whom we don't like.
It is vital that we educate yourself. A couple of years ago, we had a class right here. I think it was just last year, 2023, I believe. uh or 2024 where we had a class on just understanding the political process. How voting works.
uh how our American system has been designed. And we had it all throughout the summer, right? About a good like eight weeks. And it was quite amazing. Yeah.
And it's not like it's just some podunk town out in the middle of Montana somewhere where it's like, I really don't care. I mean, it's New York City. This is where Wall Street is. This is where power is. This is where influence and money and finance is.
This is a globally known city. I mean, there are songs written about this city. There are movies made about New York City. It's kind of like the flagship. It's not the capital of America, but it's a flagship city.
Yeah. And it's one with global significance. Yeah. Exactly. That's 100% right.
And so you think through this, like the whoever's the mayor of New York City, like it is a national, I mean, it's not a national election, but in a way, it's a national election. It's going to affect every aspect of life that, maybe not every aspect of life, but it's going to affect a lot of your life that you're not thinking through. And I think there's a lot of Christians, like you said, Dr. Shah, who are like, I'm not into politics at all. I just care about Jesus and the Bible and much less the politics of a city that I don't even live in.
But I think you're not thinking of like how it's going to affect Wall Street. And how it's going to affect national politics and how it's going to affect presidential elections and all the things that you can do. Absolutely. It's going to come into your community soon. And again, I don't like the fear-monger, but.
If you are not stepping up, and there is a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum, right? You've heard that before. It's going to be filled somehow with someone who does not share the same values. America has been built on Judeo-Christian values.
We've been saying that for years. The founding fathers were not all of them born-again, solid evangelical Christians. But they operate it from a biblical perspective. When they wrote the Declaration of Independence, or they wrote the Constitution, or they wrote the Bill of Rights, they were operating from a biblical perspective. Of course, they turn to um The best philosophers of the time.
They looked to classical writers. Um Parliamentarians, constitutionalists, they looked to all these people to help them. Create this document, but majority of their quotes are coming from scripture. And most of them are coming from the book of Deuteronomy, because Deuteronomy was written God gave that book to help Moses organize a nation to take. A bunch of Hebrew slaves.
and turn them into A nation In the promised land.
So when our founding fathers came to that point of putting the Constitution together, drafting the Constitution, they definitely turn. To the book of Deuteronomy. Yeah. I think people forget that that was Moses' task that was laid out before him. We just think about him leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
We think about him, you know, performing God's miracles. We think about him, you know, wandering around in the wilderness. But Moses was transforming slaves into a nation. Yes. He was creating a nation of people, helping guide them in that process.
That's a huge undertaking. Yeah, I agree. And you think about the implications of what he did there, how it's trickled down throughout history, and now how it's affected us here in America today. There's no reason to think that what's happening in America today is not going to affect future nations all over the world. Exactly.
You know what I mean? You know, I think this victory that Mamdani has won is emblematic of a larger shift. And I don't think it's just as simple as people are saying where it's like, oh, well, he's young and he's progressive. I think there's an even bigger shift. You know what I mean?
Like we talk a lot about how the pendulum swings. Like we just had this amazing victory in the presidency. And now maybe the pendulum is not swinging back. All the way, but at least there's pushback from New York City where they're like, no, this is a major win for the Democrats. And so now it's like, all right, what's going to happen?
You know what I mean? All of these promises, all of these campaign promises. Promises, I guess you could say. Yeah, the platform that he built. Are they implementing on?
You know what I mean? Because running New York City is not like running, like. A small town in North Carolina. Yes, I mean, it's a big deal. And I don't understand that.
Maybe it's the demographic of New York City, which is very diverse. And many of them have come in over the past few decades and they don't understand that. I mean, they're coming they're working class people.
So maybe they're voting with that in mind and saying, all I need is relief. And it's not just working class people, this is also middle class people. All I want is relief. I just want to.
some relief in paying these astronomical rents. We just need some help. And so they're thinking just immediately: okay, he's going to solve our problem. But they're not thinking long term, what will that leave New York? As in four years or eight years or 10 years from now.
I also think about like real estate in New York. Like landlords are not going to go with this. Like business owners are not going to go with this. Financiers are not going to go with this. You know what I mean?
If he's really as anti-capitalist as he says he is, what about all the capitalism that happens in New York City? Yeah. What are, based on the way that other cities or other civilizations have handled social Marxism and how they've been impacted by it, what are some of the things that we can expect to see for New York? I think over the years, over the next few months, we'll see how the policies are implemented. Because he made a lot of promises about what he's going to do about rent, what he's going to do about living conditions.
So over the next few weeks and months, we're going to see. And if he is sincere about this, And I believe he's sincerely wrong, but if he's gonna really diligently put all this into practice, it's going to cause a lot of problems. Because it's going to definitely impact the real estate. It's going to impact the apartments and how they are run. I mean, How much can you lower that?
Yeah. Before people say, you know what, it's not worth it. Forget it. I'm not making a profit here. I'm just see ya.
Yeah, I'm gonna sell it or I'm just gonna let the conditions just let those those apartments or whatever you're renting out jo just become dilapidated. Mm-hmm. I'm I'm reading an ar NPR put out an article that said that New York City's CEOs and other billionaire business leaders spent more than forty million dollars trying to stop him from becoming the city's next mayor. I I Like, I don't know if NPR even has a has a soul anymore, but I think they're, they're, they're such a, how do I want to say it? They're such a.
Media push. To put conservatives and business owners and people with any influence at all in that oppressor category. Right. Like, why would you any. Number one number one.
Businessmen and CEOs on the left do the exact same thing all the time, but it's always like these CEOs and billionaires are doing anything they can to stop them. They don't want to lose their power. It's like, no, this is politics. This is campaigning. This happens all the time.
People do that all the time. They give money to support the candidate that's going to fight for them. Right, exactly. Nothing new there. Yeah.
So I guess what I'm saying is the anti-capitalist rhetoric is becoming more and more and more like NPR. I wouldn't have thought they would have said that, but I guess there's. I guess we're all buying into this now. The problem right now in America is the lack of. Good.
Educated mature Long-term thinking, visionary, caring leaders. I don't know. I can keep going. on and on with more adjectives. People who actually know the ramifications and the repercussions of the decisions.
I I I attend meetings where I see government leaders Officials The way they're deciding on things. I'm shocked, really. Yeah. Uh um many times I'm thinking about Wow, you you made that decision based on that idea? That's it.
I haven't even read the documents that are in front of you that were passed out the week before, a month before, for you to review and go through. But I'm sitting here having seen those things, I can tell you that's a bad move. Right. And there's no common sense from the people. Do you think that same thing happens on the big, like in New York City or like cities?
Absolutely. It's going to happen. Because everything's based on what? Like quote-unquote moral values? And maybe I shouldn't even say moral, like on socially moral values.
Yeah, I mean, I would say there's all based on popularity. You like that?
Okay, that's what I'm fighting for. Yeah, yeah. Collect me again. Put me back in the office.
So I'm going to fight for you.
So, so, okay, maybe, maybe we can kind of tie this because I remember when we were doing episode leading up to the presidential election, we were doing a lot of episodes that focused on Kamala Harris, especially when she wouldn't go on Joe Rogan. That was a big thing. And we talked about it too. We were far from the first people, but everything is based on social issues, on race, or on gender, or on sexual identity. And if you and there was a I actually saw a thing where people were asking people on the street, what's one of Kamala's policies that you dislike or like.
Just what's one of our opinions? You don't know what it is. Same thing. I guess what I'm saying is, I think we're seeing infrastructure being built on social issues that have no real-world pragmatic. Uh Offers for people who are living in exactly.
And so now I'm curious that, and I don't wish any bad on New York City at all, but now I'm curious: do you people even know what you voted for? Yeah, I don't think they knew or know what they voted for. Uh I don't think they care. What happens, it's like immediately, this is my felt need. You're going to meet my felt need?
I'm going to get you in there because you're our man, you're going to fight for us. And it happens across our nation a lot of times in small communities and in in county and city meetings where decisions get made and you you think, man, I mean, I get it. You're fighting for your people, but this is not going to end well. Right. This is not a good decision.
This is not for The betterment of our whole society. Do you think that the people who support Mamdani and his platform and his policies, do you think they just are short-sighted and don't see the ramifications or they don't care about those ramifications? I don't think they care about the ramifications. Really? I don't think they care.
Wow.
Some of them may know, some of them do not know. Like when I sit in some of these meetings, I look around and I see people, some don't care one bit. And I know that over the years there have been people, the established three-piece suit bureaucrats, have sort of. Left a bitter taste in the mouths of a lot of people. Like, you make this decision so you can fill your coffers while we struggle, and we're gonna keep struggling, and our children will keep struggling, and our grandchildren will keep struggling, and you're gonna go on like Mr.
Potter from Wonderful Love. You're gonna do your thing. And I know that has happened. which has left a bad taste. In the mouths of a lot of people.
I get it. But We cannot just live reactionary the rest of our lives. Yes, Mr. Potter was not good. For um Uh, uh, what was it?
I don't even remember the name of the town. Oh, gosh, Bedford Falls. Bedford Falls. I get it. Mr.
Potter was not good. But Um Who's the actor? Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy Stewart. What was his name?
Oh, George Bailey. George Bailey. George Bailey. I mean Jimmy Stewart. I just forgot his name.
I forgot his name, his name, too. George Bailey was not. Just a Zoran Mamdani, who came in to now, everybody gets whatever you want. Right. No, there was.
A system to why we do things the way we do, there is accountability. We're going to come together and make our community better. It was not just You get whatever you want now. It seems like a lot of these policies are wrapped in the language of care and wrapped in the language of meeting people's needs and being compassionate. What response should we have as believers, as the church, with offering true compassion that comes from the gospel?
I think a lot of prayer needs to return because the Bible says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray.
So let's begin with prayer. I think that's a big part of. Um Why we're in the mess we are. Secondly, start caring. Especially the younger generation, they don't care.
They just feel like. Ah, th these people, it's just a politics. This is the election year, so this is why everybody's talking about this. Once the election year is over, it's going to be no big deal. I mean, I had a guy who used to work here.
And when I told them, you know, hey, this election year's this is happening, it's happening. We need to make sure we get people aware of this, so we're going to put I don't care about all that, it's election year, and I get it, you know, that's what people do. And I was shocked. I was like, wow, I hired the wrong person.
Now, I am an immigrant, came from outside. And I cared more about the elections here than he did. Right. Who was born and raised in America? Mm-hmm.
And so I just was shocked. I was very shocked. I didn't expect that. I thought he would say, You're right, we need to educate our people and let me know what you think. What's the plan of action?
Maybe we can say this or say that in the worship or something. He just completely brushed me off and and made it look like ah you're being Stupid.
Well, you know what's funny?
Well, it's really not funny. It's sad, but I've also, you're completely right. I've also met older people who do the exact same thing, like the church camudging. Like, now, Dr. Shaw, look here, I listen to this show because I like when you preach Jesus.
Yeah. So just preach Jesus and leave all the corrupt politics to all the corrupt politicians. And you would think that it's like young people or like people who are learning what the world is all about. I sort of get it. But older people who have been through it.
The Bible says we're supposed to be in the world, but not of the world. Yeah. It's like you really don't have a whole lot to say. I really don't. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, and I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, we need to be in the world, not off the world, but we are to be the salt of the world of the earth, light of the world. Yeah, I mean which means we need to m flavor This World in which we live and make it a better tasting world. We need to light up this dark, dreary world so that people can know which way to walk, which way to go.
And I say this as someone who formerly did not care about politics at all. If you really don't care about it, then you're really not on mission. Yeah. You don't care that much about the world that you live in.
Well, the bottom line is: if we're called to be the salt of the earth, the salt is ineffective if it stays in the salt shade. Yeah, right. It's not doing anybody any good if it's just sit there and we look at it and, oh, well, there's the salt. No, it's got to be taken on, it's got to flavor, it's got to enhance the environment that it's in. That's right.
So, too, with us, we've got to enter the public sector. Like you said, if there are some people who are called to run for office, to be involved in politics, either on a local, state, or national level. I mean, by all means, we need as many Christians in there as possible. Yeah, the church shouldn't mix with politics is one of the weirdest takes. And I used to think that way, but it's one of the weirdest takes to me now because I think the church is ineffective in the world around them if they're not involved in politics.
And we are, and here's what's going to happen. Wrong people get into power, then they will curb the ability of Christians to preach the gospel. Why do Christians doubt that so much? Why do they think it's not going to happen? In the West, people doubt that.
In the East People have experienced What happens when wrong people get in office? Go to Nigeria and ask those Christians what happens. When evil Islamic Radical governments get in power, what happens?
Well, hundreds and hundreds of your people are slaughtered. Churches are destroyed. Women are raped. Your daughters are raped. your sons are killed.
That's what happens. Go to places like India and talk to Christians there who have seen the past three decades. of nationalism, Hindu nationalism, taking hold of the community. Of our country. And what's happened over the years?
Well, Christians are now marginalized. Pastors are beaten. There is a ban on Any new churches being built. There's a ban on Bibles being printed. You cannot print more Bibles anymore.
'Cause if you do, they will ask you the question, Why are you printing more Bibles? Who are Who needs more Bobbles? Where are they at? Oh, so you're printing more Bibles to give to those who are non-Christians? Because that's illegal.
That's illegal? I mean, that's what they will say. Golly, that's insane. Because you're trying to convert people, can't do that. It's against the law.
So immediately Bible publication has been shut down. And we're living in the West. We're living under the assumption that that can't happen here. Not that it won't, but that it can't. Right.
And that's not true. Right. And so we have been living quite comfortable lives and Thank goodness for President Trump because if that hadn't happened right now, we would be. All of us would be in something, I would say, 10 times better than, worse than Imam Dani coming to New York. Yeah, I think you're right.
It would have been 10 times worse for all of us living in America. Yeah. People really don't understand the turning point that the election was when President Trump was elected. I mean, how radically things shifted and what we were rescued from. Yeah.
People complain about it, especially Christians or people I know who aren't academics and they say things uh I'm I'm shocked because I'm like, you have the freedom to do what you're doing because of A Christian worldview being promoted today in America. And you have. The power you do and the freedom you do because of that. And you're complaining, it's like sitting on a branch and Chopping it off at the same time. Right.
Complaining about the support that the branch gives you and then sawing away at it. Yeah, sawing it. It's wild. But I guess we'll see. I guess we'll see what happens.
I'm interested. And I'm interested in the way that, like, I hope those silly Democrats see what happens. I'm really, really interested to see what happens and how this is going to. how this is going to conflict and how that pendulum is going to swing back. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I think I think today's episode is helpful for us in understanding as believers what our response needs to be, not just to this instance, but to politics in general. We need to be involved. We need to enter the public sector and we need to make biblical values the norm again.
That's right. Promote biblical values. Get out and make your voice heard. Guys, thanks for joining us today. Make sure you join us next time, same time, same station.
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