The 3 - August 26, 2018

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a ruling by a Federal appeals court against an Alabama abortion ban, in which two of the judges criticized the court ruling responsible for making abortion legal in America.  Also, a bill that would have created another gender category for Massachusetts driver's licenses went down to defeat due to some clever action by an opposing legislator.  And, an Army chaplain and his assistant will no longer face charges due to their work in a situation involving a same-sex couple that wished to attend a marriage retreat.

3 - AL abortion ban ruled unconstitutional by Federal appeals court

In 2016, the Alabama Legislature passed a ban on what are called "dismemberment" abortions, which, according to a National Review story, typically occur between 15 and 18 weeks of pregnancy. The law was blocked by a Federal court judge, and recently, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the lower court decision by a unanimous vote, but what is interesting is that, according to the article, "two of the judges criticized the precedent set by the Supreme Court in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case."

According to the National Review story:

“In our judicial system, there is only one Supreme Court, and we are not it. As one of the ‘inferior Courts,’ we follow its decisions,” Chief Judge Ed Carnes wrote in the ruling. “Our role is to apply the law the Supreme Court has laid down to the facts the district court found.”

The judge also wrote, “Some Supreme Court Justices have been of the view that there is constitutional law and then there is the aberration of constitutional law relating to abortion,” adding, “If so, what we must apply here is the aberration.” 

The article also stated that:

While the judges acknowledged that the state has an interest in reducing the “gruesomeness and brutality” of abortions, they found that the ban on dismemberment abortions constituted an “undue burden,” under the precedent established by Roe.

2 - Bill allowing additional gender designation on driver's licenses stopped in MA

It looked like that in liberal Massachusetts, adding a third gender choice for driver's licenses would be a slam dunk.  A bill to authorize that had already passed the Senate and was heading for passage in the House, until one representative pulled an incredible legislative maneuver.

The Christian Post reports that...

...the bill was ultimately withdrawn due to the efforts of one Republican Rep. Jim Lyons of Andover, MA, who decided to challenge it on its merits and utilize the legislative procedures at his disposal at a critical time.

Lyons moved to require the chamber to vote on dozens of other gender options in addition to the "X" designation for trans-identified persons the bill originally called for. He put forward 73 amendments, demanding a vote on each of the available genders that he had tallied on Facebook, among them "cis woman," "gender fluid," "gender variant," and "genderqueer."

Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, told the Post that "Rep. Lyons called their bluff and demonstrated where the logic of this uncoupling of identity from reality ultimately leads..."
1 - Chaplain and assistant exonerated in case of same-sex couple and marriage retreat

Early Friday (August 24), it looked as if Army Chaplain Scott Squires and his assistant, Staff Sergeant Kacie Griffin, were perhaps on their way to a court-martial for "dereliction of duty," because the Chaplain had scheduled a same-sex couple for a marriage retreat other than the one he was conducting, due to his endorsing agency, the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, having a prohibition on its chaplains demonstrating approval for same-sex marriage. Griffin assisted him in the rescheduling process.

But, as the law firm representing them, First Liberty, announced on its website, things shifted on Friday. The site stated:

Today, the United States Army announced that it has rejected the findings of an investigation, and will abandon charges of “dereliction of duty” against First Liberty Institute clients Chaplain Scott Squires and Chaplain Assistant, SSG Kacie Griffin. An earlier Army report recommended Squires be disciplined for following the rules of the Army and taking three business days to reschedule a marriage retreat he was prohibited by his denomination from facilitating.

“We are grateful that the Army has rejected and abandoned these baseless charges,” said Mike Berry, Deputy General Counsel and Director of Military Affairs to First Liberty. “The United States military is no place for anti-religious hostility against its own military chaplains. Chaplains like Scott Squires assistant Kacie Griffin do not have to give up their First Amendment rights in order to serve their fellow soldiers.”