The 3 - September 10, 2017

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a positive ruling from a Federal appeals court in favor of commissioners in Michigan who have been offering prayers ahead of their meetings.  Also, you have pro-life groups that are calling on Congress to act...now...to defund Planned Parenthood.  And, a nominee to a Federal appeals court faced questioning about her religion in a committee hearing; a Christian legal advocacy group also received negative comments from a senator.

3 - Federal appeals court says prayers are OK before public meetings

Commissioners in Jackson County, Michigan have been opening Commission meetings in prayer - themselves, and that practice had been challenged in court.  This Wednesday, the full (en banc) 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in favor of the commissioners, according to the First Liberty Institute website.  First Liberty represents those officials.

The website states that:

The Jackson County Commissioners offer invocations on a rotating basis and are free to act according to their own consciences by delivering either an invocation or offering a moment of silence.

The piece goes on to say that a "private citizen had objected to the invocations and filed a lawsuit." According to the site:

A federal district court ruled in favor of the commissioners. The plaintiff appealed to the Sixth Circuit, and a three-judge panel of the court ruled against the commissioners. First Liberty and its volunteer attorney firm appealed to the full court of 15 judges, who reversed the three-judge panel with this week’s ruling.

Ken Klukowski, Senior Counsel at First Liberty, is quoted as saying: “Today’s decision further solidifies what the U.S. Supreme Court has now twice said: Invocations before government meetings are constitutional and an important part of our nation’s history and heritage..."

In this case, a Federal appeals court came down in a different manner from another circuit.  First Liberty points out that a case from the 4th Circuit has "taken a different direction than Jackson County." That case, involving commissioners in Rowan County, North Carolina, who are also represented by First Liberty, was heard en banc in March, and the full panel ruled 10-5 against the commissioners. The difference could mean a Supreme Court showdown is setting up.

2 - Pro-life groups call on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood

A number of pro-life groups have sent a letter to members of Congress, encouraging them to act soon to cease using taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood.  The Family Policy Alliance website quotes from the letter:

“This Republican Pro-life Congress made a promise to American voters to stop taxpayer funding for the largest abortion chain in the nation, Planned Parenthood,” the letter explains. “It is now well past time to deliver on that promise.”

Paul Weber, President and CEO of the Alliance, stated that, "Defunding Planned Parenthood is one of the biggest actions Congress can take to show that they’re not out of touch with our families in America. He said, ”As the letter makes clear, this isn’t a piece of pork barrel legislation that doesn’t matter. Ending taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood means ending the taxpayer-funded gravy train that subsidizes the killing of 900 pre-born children every single day.”

Other groups signing on to the letter include: the Susan B. Anthony List, Concerned Women for America LAC, Students for Life of America, March for Life Education and Defense Fund, Live Action, and Americans United for Life.

1 - Judicial nominee criticized for religious beliefs in Senate hearing

In the original Star Wars film, Darth Vader says this about Luke Skywalker: "The force is strong with this one."  Well, that sounds very similar to what California Senator Dianne Feinstein said to President Trump's nominee for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Amy Comey Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame, in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committe this week.  According to the Washington Examiner, she stated: "...the dogma lives loudly within you..."

What does that even mean?  Well, consider the context. Feinstein is quoted in the article as saying: "When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for
years in this country..."

Like abortion, perhaps? Oh, yes. She said: "You are controversial because many of us that have lived our lives as women really recognize the value of finally being able to control our reproductive systems."

The Family Research Council website said:

Sounds like the dogma lives within Feinstein too -- not just her anti-religious dogma, but one that honors abortion-at-any-price. To her credit, Barrett replied (like Neil Gorsuch before her) that her beliefs would never supersede the law. "It's never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge's personal convictions on the law. I would never impose my own personal convictions on the law."

The Examiner stated:

Barrett repeatedly said her Catholic faith would not have any impact upon her judgment — "beginning to end, in every case, my obligation as a judge would be to apply the rule of law" — but Durbin would have none of it.

And, in the same hearing, Senator Al Franken, chastised Barrett for speaking to (gasp!) the Alliance Defending Freedom.  The Examiner story said:

The conservative Christian advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom came under fire from Democratic Sen. Al Franken this week, as ADF's lawyers are preparing to argue a blockbuster religious liberty controversy before the Supreme Court. ADF will represent a Colorado baker whose refusal to design and make a cake celebrating a same-sex marriage is one of the coming term's highest profile cases, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

During Senate Judiciary Committee hearings this week on Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Franken said Barrett's decision to speak to ADF was irresponsible. The Minnesota Democrat said ADF is "a group that fights against equal treatment of LGBT people" whose "real purpose is to advance an extreme version or vision of society."

Kristen Waggoner, an ADF attorney on the Masterpiece case, called Franken's remarks "shameful" and said the American people "should expect more from our senators."

By the way, the Department of Justice has also come out in support of Jack Phillips, the baker in the Masterpiece case.  Fox News reports that the "The Justice Department on Thursday filed a brief supporting the Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on faith-based grounds, in the latest religious freedom case to be considered before the nation's highest court."

Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote in the brief:  “When Phillips designs and creates a custom wedding cake for a specific couple and a specific wedding, he plays an active role in enabling that ritual, and he associates himself with the celebratory message conveyed,” adding, “Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights.”