Sunday, March 26, 2017

The 3 - March 26, 2017

On this week's edition of The 3, I focus on the following three stories of relevance to the Christian community:  there was a bus that was vandalized, which was promoting free speech and a view of gender that squares with the Biblical view.  Also, a New Hampshire military base has agreed to uphold chaplains' free speech rights.  And, a seminary had decided to recognize a well-regarded pastor, only to pull the award due to the views of his denomination on the ordination of LGBT individuals, as well as women.

3 - "Free Speech Bus" vandalized

Last week, the #FreeSpeechBus tour kicked off in New York City at a press conference, according to the National Organization for Marriage website. NOM, CitizenGO and the International Organization for the Family are sponsoring the tour. There is also a petition to stand in solidarity with the purpose of the bus, which is designed to call attention to the truth, consistent with a Biblical perspective, concerning gender.

A USA Today article quoted Brian Brown of NOM:
"Boys are boys and girls are girls - it's very simple," Brown said of the bus tour's purpose and message. "We don't want men in girl's restrooms. We don't want schools and our law attempting to say that people are bigoted simply because they understand that there's a difference between male and female."
Unfortunately, while those who had ridden the bus to New York were inside the United Nations, the bus was vandalized.  According to USA Today, referring to a report from Brown, the bus "was parked near the UN for a scheduled event when two people approached, scratched it with a key, cracked windows with a hammer, and spray painted slogans such as 'Trans Liberation.'"

2 - Chaplains' right to pray upheld in NH case

The concept of faith expressions in the military and the religious freedom of chaplains have caused confusion and resulted in a number of challenges to the constitutional protection of free expression of religion.  According to the website at First Liberty Institute, in early February, a special interest group sent a letter to Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire, "demanding that the base commander forbid military chaplains from performing invocations at military events held on the base."

First Liberty and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty responded swiftly, reminding a base official about the rights of chaplains to express their faith. In a letter to the commanding base office, First Liberty attorneys stated, “The Constitution, federal law, and Department of Defense regulations all support your practice of permitting uniformed chaplains to offer invocations at command functions,” adding, “Moreover, those legal authorities actually forbid military commanders from censoring or prohibiting such invocations."

Recently, First Liberty issued a press release saying that they will continue to allow military chaplains to say prayers during military ceremonies.
Chaplain (Colonel) Ron Crews, U.S. Army (Retired), Executive Director for the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, responded: “Chaplains and service members have the right to freely exercise their religious beliefs without fear of reprisal.”

1 - Keller rejected for seminary recognition

This year Princeton Theological Seminary was due to award its prize named for theologian Abraham Kuyper, called the Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness, to  Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, according to a piece by Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, who commented that because Keller belongs to a Presbyterian denomination that does not line up with Princeton's views on the ordination of women, as well as LGBT individuals, the award has been withdrawn.

Tooley states:
Keller, a prolific author and popular speaker, is founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which has in turn planted many other new churches in New York. The church network is notable for its success in attracting young urban professionals and for its racial diversity.
Tooley adds: "His theology like his denomination’s is orthodox and Reformed, but Keller typically avoids culture war issues and hot button debates."  The article also notes that Keller will speak at the seminary on April 6 for the annual Kuyper lecture.  Tooley also writes:
Wow, historically Presbyterian Princeton won’t honor arguably the most prominent & accomplished Presbyterian pastor of our time.
“The decision to not give this honor to Keller is an example of hyper political correctness prevailing over distinction and merit..."

Monday, March 20, 2017

The 3 - March 19, 2017

This week's edition of The 3 includes a story involving the approach of a large Christian denomination to public policy and a meeting between two denominational leaders.  Also, North Carolina lawmakers are fighting back against two sports governance organizations that have pulled events from the state due to a piece of legislation.  And, proposed Federal government cuts have resulted in responses from Christians about the role of tax dollars in aiding the poor.

3 - Southern Baptists debate public policy approach, principals meet

One could say it is a family squabble, but because of the way that the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm has made the rounds in public media, it becomes an important issue. And, for all Christians, how we approach matters of public policy is critical.

Christianity Today reported on a meeting between Southern Baptist Executive Committee President Frank Page and Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore.  Its headline
said, "Russell Moore Still Has a Job, Though 100 Churches Have Threatened to Pull SBC Funds." The article written by Jeremy Weber, referred to a Washington Post story written by former CT staffer Sarah Pulliam Bailey, which contained these words:
[Page] indicated that he would not rule out the possibility that he could ask Moore to resign. He said he hopes Moore and his opposition will agree to pursue efforts toward reconciliation.
The story reports on a joint statement published by Baptist Press by Moore and Page following the meeting, which said: “We deepened our friendship and developed mutual understanding on ways we believe will move us forward as a network of churches..."

Page later clarified for Baptist Press that it was a private meeting to seek reconciliation, and that he had no authority over Moore.  But the CT story also said that these churches who are rethinking their funding of the SBC Cooperative Program, "...represent the most complaints on any issue 'in recent memory,' according to the SBC’s Executive Committee, which is investigating the problem in search of 'redemptive solutions.'"

So, what's all the fuss about?  Consider these words from the Christianity Today story:
Observers have wondered if it was too late to say sorry for Moore after the divisive 2016 election left him on the opposite side of many white evangelicals over how Christians should respond to President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Many evangelicals voted for Trump as a pragmatic bid for a conservative Supreme Court justice and more pro-life victories. (On that front, Trump already granted Moore one of his 2017 wishes.) But Moore argued, for CT and elsewhere, that voting for the lesser of two evils was not an ethical option.
A Townhall.com article by Bethany Blankley from December of 2016 quoted former Arkansas Governor, former pastor, and Arkansas Baptist Convention president Mike Huckabee:
“I am utterly stunned that Russell Moore is being paid by Southern Baptists to insult them. Many of us have faithfully sought to stand for the Biblical definition of marriage, for the sanctity of life, and for meaningful and substantive efforts to help the poor with affordable housing, access to food and employment, and equal education opportunities for minorities. Where was Russell Moore when we were fighting those battles?
Opposition to Moore goes far beyond his opposition to Trump and taking Christians to task for voting for him. An article on Georgia's Christian Index website, written by Will Hall of the Louisiana Baptist Message, stated:
David Hankins, executive director of this fellowship of about 1,650 churches, explained the matter to the Wall Street Journal in terms of Louisiana Baptist pastors’ “frustration” with Moore – growing concerns about policy positions Moore has stated and not just his lack of civility during the presidential election.
2 - North Carolina lawmakers challenge sports bodies' involvement opposing transgender bathroom law

The Legislature in North Carolina, which only recently withstood an attempt to repeal its law upholding privacy in restroom facilities in state buildings, is fighting back against the NCAA, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference, which pulled athletic championship events from the state.  Baptist Press reports that, "Republican state legislators in North Carolina are alleging the NCAA and the ACC violated their federal tax-exempt status by attempting to provoke a repeal of the Tar Heel State's transgender restroom law."

The article quotes Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, who said the two sports bodies, "have given legislators numerous deadlines by which to repeal the people's privacy law, have engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions with legislators, including those at the highest levels, and have sought to harm the state economically by instituting a boycott of the state until [the transgender restroom law] is repealed."

And North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest was in Texas recently advocating for similar legislation in the Lone Star State.  The Family Research Council website states that Forest...
...was also on hand to debunk the myth that their law -- HB 2 -- devastated the North Carolina economy. Despite the loss of the NBA All-Star Game and other college championships, Forest said the positive gains far outweighed the negative ones. Even if it hadn't, he argued, "I will never trade the privacy, safety, and security of a woman or a child for a basketball ticket. And neither should you."
In another article, the FRC website also stated:
For the second consecutive year, the state was ranked #2 on Forbes’s top states for doing business. The ranking was given late last year, so there would have been ample time to assess the impact of the privacy law on the economy. In fact, more businesses seem to be moving to North Carolina than away from it. Still not convinced? Despite the NCAA and ACC pulling their championship games from the state, tourism was also up.
1 - New open letter attracting high-profile Christians takes aim at Trump budget cuts in foreign aid

Around 100 Christian people, including some pastors and ministry leaders, some of them who could be considered high-profile Christians, have signed on to a letter, released just hours after the Trump Administration unveiled its budget for the next fiscal year, calling for Congress and President Trump not to support, as a Christian Headlines story put it, "drastic cuts to the U.S.’s budget for foreign aid."

The story, referencing a Christianity Today report, said: "The Trump administration released its new budget proposal on Thursday, included in which was a 28 percent cut to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development."

The letter stated, "As followers of Christ, it is our moral responsibility to urge you to support and protect the International Affairs Budget, and avoid disproportionate cuts to these vital programs that ensure that our country continues to be the ‘shining city upon a hill...'"

This really can challenge Christians to examine the role of government and how support of charitable work through taxation should be balanced with the willful giving of people who believe in the work of various ministries and other organizations.  Stuart Shepard and I touched on that overall subject on the Friday, March 17 edition of The Meeting House.

You can find the topic of the respective responsibility for Christians to help the poor through taxation or through generosity being debated on social media.  I have some quotes from the always-wise Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, from The Daily Signal website.  He establishes that...
The government is not free to recreate the family. The government is not free to usurp the authority of parents over the education of their children or adult children over the care of their elderly parents.
The same is true for religious organizations, especially if you believe that your church has a divine origin and a divine creation. This means government is not at liberty to recreate your church, to recreate its authority structure, or to recreate its teaching authority—that your church is something that is entrusted with a stewardship.
As a result, the nature of religious authority places limits on political authority and places duties upon members of the church.
Anderson, who was a speaker at this year's National Religious Broadcasters Convention, writes:
None of this, however, says that the state has no role to play in economic justice, just that it must respect the proper authority of society—a society of societies—as it does so. And this means that it must also respect the proper authority of economic societies—employees and employers, consumers and producers.
But while respecting their authority and the markets that allow them to interact and fulfill their duties, government can perform certain welfare activities, as Friedrich Hayek taught us, without distorting market signals and processes.
Insofar as government programs are intended to ameliorate the forces of globalization and new technologies distort markets, they are likely to simply make matters worse by prolonging the dying process of outdated industries and preventing the necessary transitions.
What a natural law account of social justice would suggest are policies that would empower more people to engage for themselves in the market and flourish.
So, as I see it, government should be a facilitator in the delivery of certain goods and services to poor people, especially on the domestic front, but I believe the main economic engine for this delivery comes from Christians, or more broadly, religious people, who give from the heart and are not shackled by government from having the resources to perform what God has called Him to do. Ultimately, in His compassion, He can provide for all, but we ultimately depend on Him for provision, not government; similarly, God is the provider of rights, not government.

As Marvin Olasky writes on the WORLD Magazine website:
Some historians profile Christian missionaries who did more harm than good, but many others in British colonies ended some forms of forced labor, pursued the rule of law in British colonies, fought the opium trade, and built schools because they wanted people to read the Bible in their own language. In the United States, evangelicals in the 19th century not only built schools and hospitals but effectively fought poverty and abortion. This is the compassionate heritage of the evangelical church, and it's one to be proud of.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

The 3 - March 12, 2017

This week's edition of The 3, offering three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a skirmish between China and South Korea missionaries, with China forcing dozens of missionaries to leave their country.  Also, in Kentucky, lawmakers there protected students' right to religious expression. And, the U.S. Supreme Court no longer plans to hear a case considering restroom facility usage based on gender identity.

3 - China forces South Korean missionaries to leave country

In the midst of a tough situation involving North Korea and other countries, China has decided to remove anywhere from 30 to 70 missionaries from South Korea, according to a report on the Christianity Today website.  The story states:
There are about 500 officially registered South Korean missionaries in China, though some say the actual number could be as high as 2,000. Many gather in the northeast, drawn by the poverty of China and the proximity of North Korea. Close to the border, the language and culture are heavily Korean.
The article says there were no reasons given, although there is speculation that South Korea's plan to build an American missile shield, the THAAD radar, could be a factor.  Others said it could have been restrictions on Christians in China that have recently been tightened.

The story pointed out several developments involving North Korea, which just recently launched four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan; also, Malaysia and North Korea are holding one another's citizens because of the assassination of the North Korean leader's half-brother in Malaysia.

The CT story quoted the Korea World Mission Association, which called the group ejection “unprecedented.”

2 - Kentucky lawmakers pass religious freedom bill

The House of Representatives in Kentucky overwhelmingly passed a bill that would uphold students' rights to freedom of religious expression, according to the Kentucky.com website.  The House passed the bill 81-8, and the article says:
Senate Bill 17, sponsored by State Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, would affirm the constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom, supporters of the bill argued.
“All this legislation does is put into law and recognize those constitutional facts,” said Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington.
The Senate had already passed the bill by a 31-3 margin, so the bill was sent to Governor Matt Bevin to sign.  In the article about the Senate vote, Kentucky.com stated that Senator Robinson...
...said the idea for the measure started in December 2015, when Johnson County school officials prohibited students from reading religious scripture in a school play, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Robinson said his bill also allows religious student groups access to school buildings during non-school hours, allows students to speak at public events to mention religious and political viewpoints, and allows public college students to exercise their freedom of speech on college campuses, especially in outdoor areas.
Senate Bill 17 also would allow a teacher to use the Bible when teaching about religion “without providing religious instruction,” and to teach about religious holidays “in a secular manner.”
1 - Supreme Court sends transgender bathroom law back to lower court

One of the anticipated cases in the upcoming term of the U.S. Supreme Court involved a case out of Virginia, where a female student identifying as male wished to use the boys' restroom facilities.  The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld a lower court ruling against the school district. According to the Family Research Council, the district had offered the student, Gavin Grimm, the option to use a unisex restroom. The case was later accepted by the high court.

But recently, according to the FRC website, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals court to reconsider.  Why?  The court wrote: "The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for further consideration in light of the guidance document issued by the Department of Education and Department of Justice on February 22, 2017."

FRC offered this commentary:
Grimm's suit was probably the Left's best crack at rewriting the Title IX sex discrimination laws to include "gender identity." Now, thanks to the Trump administration, those goals will be on hold until at least next year when Neil Gorsuch will almost certainly be on the Supreme Court. Until then, the showdown will be where it belongs: in states and local communities.

Sunday, March 05, 2017

The 3 - March 5, 2017

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes some good news for a missionary who had been held in prison in Sudan.  Also, the Oregon bakers who had been heavily fined by a government agency finally had a court hearing this past week.  Plus, a matter of concern for Christian parents involves the presence of gay subject material in an upcoming Disney film.

3 - Missionary freed from prison in Sudan

A missionary to Sudan from the Czech Republic, Petr Jasek, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for, according to the website, Faithwire.com, allegedly "spying," as well as inciting "hatred" in the predominantly Muslim country.

The story says that Christian Today reported that "Jasek was arrested after he was stopped in the Sudanese airport in 2015. At the time, he was carrying basic electronics like a computer, cell phone and video camera."

Now, Faithwire reports that:
...the Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour and Czech foreign diplomat Lubomir Zaoralek announced the pardon of Jasek due to “good relations between Sudan and the Czech Republic” in a joint press conference.
However the deal to free the Christian activist wasn’t simple or easy.
After Jasek’s sentence, the Czech government cut ties with the African nation and the only way the two began negotiating over the 53-year-old man’s freedom was through Egypt, a north African nation that acted as a peace broker.
A CitizenGO petition had yielded some 400,000 signatures.

There were two other Sudanese men convicted along with Jasek, but they were not released and reportedly are expected to serve out 12-year prison sentences. 


2 - Oregon bakers (finally) have their day in court

After several years of sparring with a state regulatory agency, the bakers who declined to provide a cake for a gay marriage celebration finally had their day in court.  Aaron and Melissa Klein went before a three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals this week, according to First Liberty.  Its website reported:
During the oral arguments, the Kleins’ attorneys argued that the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) violated the Kleins’ constitutional rights to religious freedom, free speech, and due process.
“The government should never force someone to violate their conscience or their beliefs,” Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty Institute, says. “In a diverse and pluralistic society, people of good will should be able to peacefully coexist with different beliefs. We hope the court will uphold the Kleins’ rights to free speech and religious liberty.”
The website reports that at a press conference following the hearing, Melissa said this:
...I have a strong faith in God, whom I love with all my heart. My whole life is dedicated to living for Him, in the best way that I know how. America is a place where the government can’t force you to violate your religious beliefs or tell you what to believe, but we feel like that is exactly what happened to us. We lost everything we loved and worked so hard to build...
1 - Disney movie announcement sparks concern among Christians

The scheduled release of Disney's live-action movie, Beauty and the Beast, is less than two weeks away, but moviegoers expecting a family-friendly theatrical experience may be disappointed with news that has had awareness on Christian media over the last few days.

The Christian Headlines website has the story about the comments of the film's director, Bill Condon, quoted in the Los Angeles Times.  He discusses the character of LeFou, to be played by Josh Gad. Condon stated: "LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston." He continued: "He’s confused about what he wants," adding, "It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."

"Really subtle and delicious?"  An "exclusively gay moment?"  This certainly should cause concern among Christian parents, according to Franklin Graham, who said on Facebook:
Disney has aired a cartoon with same-sex couples kissing. It has also been announced that their new movie "Beauty and the Beast" will feature a gay character in an attempt to normalize this lifestyle. They’re trying to push the LGBT agenda into the hearts and minds of your children—watch out! Disney has the right to make their cartoons, it’s a free country. But as Christians we also have the right not to support their company. I hope Christians everywhere will say no to Disney. I met Walt Disney when I was a young boy—he was very gracious to me, my father Billy Graham, and my younger brother when we visited. He would be shocked at what has happened to the company that he started.
The Christian Headlines story points out that already, a drive-in theater in Henegar, Alabama has cancelled the film, according to Entertainment Weekly.