The 3 - January 27, 2019

This week, in this edition of The 3, spotlight three stories of relevance to the Christian community, there is a jury verdict in favor of a Florida woman who did not wish to work on Sundays, and was fired for that.  Also, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a favorable ruling for the Trump Administration regarding transgender people in the military.  And, the state of New York now has a law on abortion that will allow the gruesome procedure up until birth, and perhaps after.

3 - Hotel employee who would not work on Sundays wins court case

Marie Jean-Pierre, originally from Haiti, formerly worked as a dishwasher at Miami's Conrad Hotel.  In 2016, she was terminated because she would not work on Sundays, according to a Baptist Press story, which reported that Ms. Jean-Pierre, a member of Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church, had won a lawsuit that she filed against the hotel owners.

The story says:

The jury ruled that the Conrad Hotel managed by Park Hotels and Resorts Inc. of Tysons, Va., formerly known as Hilton Worldwide, violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it failed to accommodate Jean-Pierre's Sunday worship, The Washington Post reported.

She was awarded $21.5 million: "$36,000 in back wages, $500,000 for emotional pain and mental anguish, and $21 million in punitive damages."  Because Federal law limits the amount of punitive damages to $300,000, that will result in a sizable reduction in the jury award.

The article states that Keny Felix, the pastor of the Southern Baptist Church Jean-Pierre attends, "describes Jean-Pierre as a 'devout believer' who 'embraces her faith in all aspects of her daily life.'"

According to the Baptist Press article, her attorney, Marc Brumer, said to The Washington Post: "It's just a great day for religious freedoms and protection of workers," adding, "For them, it wasn't really money. It was trying to right the wrong."

2 - Supreme Court temporarily allows transgender policy in military to begin

One of the top stories of 2018 impacting the Christian community involved the back-and-forth about whether or not transgender individuals can serve in the military.  The Trump Administration had presented a modified policy last year, allowing some transgender people to serve, but banning those with gender dysphoria; courts ruled against the implementation.  The Administration appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

WORLD Magazine reported that the high court did indeed pave the way for the policy to take effect. It reported: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Trump administration may immediately implement limits on transgender soldiers that President Donald Trump ordered in February 2018."  According to the article, "The high court said that policy can take effect while the debate over transgender military service continues in the lower courts."

1 - New York enacts legal abortion up until birth

There are stunning developments out of New York state, as Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a sweeping abortion bill, about which the Family Research Council website says:

From now on, nothing stands in the way of a woman taking her baby's life -- days, hours, or even a minute before she's born. A fully grown, healthy human baby that thousands of struggling couples would give anything to have.

The article goes on to say:

Under the Reproductive Health Act, late-term abortion is the new normal. And where there's late-term abortion, there's almost always infanticide. This law guarantees it, sweeping away a large chunk of the penal codes that protected abortion survivors. Thanks to this Act, Kermit Gosnell, and his bloodstained, cat-infested, third-world excuse for a clinic, would be untouchable. The Resurgent's Stacey Lennox puts that into its gruesome context. "For those of you who saw the movie [Gosnell], Baby B would not be considered a victim."

And, according to FRC:

"Person," as far as this law is concerned, means a human being who has been born and is alive. Not a second before, and maybe -- without infant protections -- not few seconds after either. Midwives and nurse practitioners can also perform abortions under the law, meaning that this law doesn't just put unborn lives on the line -- but women's as well. Welcome back to the dark age of unregulated horror houses with rusty equipment and untrained staff who botch abortions and kill mothers...

Tony Perkins also writes this on the Family Research Council site:

Even now, in the aftermath of New York, the Trump administration is spinning into motion, combing through federal law to see where it can hold Governor Cuomo's feet to the fire. Earlier today, administration officials told me they're looking into places where the state's extremism is in conflict with federal laws like the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, Partial-Birth Abortion Act, Born-Alive Infants of Protection Act, and more. When it comes to federal dollars, we are encouraging the administration to use whatever legal and financial leverage they have to stop the nightmare in New York.