The 3 - April 14, 2019

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance or interest to the Christian community includes a major pro-life victory in Ohio, where the legislature has passed and the governor has signed a heartbeat bill.  Also, a subcommittee in the U.S. Senate held a hearing recently on the topic of social media censorship.  And, three African-American churches in Louisiana are suffering due to the result of fires that destroyed their buildings.

Heartbeat bill in Ohio signed...finally!

There has been a significant amount of legislation that would restrict abortion that has been introduced into statehouses across America, and Planned Parenthood's own research arm has certainly been paying attention.  LifeNews.com reported recently:

According to the Guttmacher Institute, since the beginning of this year over 250 pro-life bills have been introduced in over 41 states. Almost 50% of those bills would ban abortion in “some or all circumstances,” says the organization. In fact, according to Planned Parenthood’s analysis, legislators in seven states have proposed bills that would completely ban abortion, while six states are considering or have passed “trigger bans” that would ban abortion if or when Roe v. Wade is repealed.

Alabama is currently considering a bill that would criminalize abortion in the state.

Late last week, there was news out of Ohio that after eight years of being stonewalled by the former governor, the new governor, Mike DeWine has signed a "heartbeat bill," according to the Columbus Dispatch.  It reported:

The new law — which will ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks — will take effect July 11 absent a court ruling. Abortions would be allowed if the woman’s life is in danger, but it contains no exceptions for rape or incest.

“The essential function of government is to protect the most vulnerable among us, those who do not have a voice,” the governor said. “Government’s rule should be to protect life from the beginning to the end, to protect those who cannot protect themselves. ... The signing of this bill today is consistent with that respect for life.”

Attorney General Dave Yost is apparently committed to mounting a strong defense of the bill in the face of a likely court challenge.  He is quoted as saying, "Sometimes, the evolution of the law requires bold steps. In the last 46 years, the practice of medicine has changed. Science has changed. Even the point of viability has changed. Only the law has lagged behind. This law provides a stable, objective standard to guide the courts.”

Senate holds hearing on social media censorship

One of the issues of concern regarding the Internet and the expression of truth consistent with a Christian perspective on it is the ability of large companies to control the content.  And, last week, Senator Ted Cruz held a subcommittee hearing, which included representatives of Twitter and Facebook, as well as individuals who have faced content restrictions.

Newsbusters.com reports that the committee chair, Sen. Cruz had previously asked Facebook to submit their censorship guidelines. In the hearing, he said: “I will note that when Mr. Zuckerberg testified before the full committee, I submitted that question and a number of other questions to Facebook, and you at the time refused it. The company instead gave legal boilerplate and refused to answer the question.”

The report says:

During the hearing, Cruz started his questions by asking both representatives if their companies “considered themselves to be neutral public forums?” Twitter’s director of Public Policy, Carlos Monje, gave a long response but did not answer the question.

Cruz asked Monje about Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s stance on neutrality. He summed up by the Dorsey quote, “I don’t believe that we should optimize for neutrality” Monje pleaded ignorance. answering, “I have not seen that quote, sir.” When Cruz asked if he agreed with it, Monje gave another non-answer, saying “That is not how he is building the platform.”

OK, whatever.  Cruz said in the hearing that Google would be examined in a future hearing.  Testifying before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, according to ReligionNews.com, was Chuck Konzelman, co-director/producer/writer of the movie, Unplanned, which experienced manipulation of its Twitter feed, to the extent that a number of people reported they could not follow the movie's feed, which showed a dramatic decrease in followers.  PJ Media reported on developments during opening weekend:

The movie's Twitter account was briefly suspended on Saturday, mere hours after its release on Friday. On Sunday, the account seems to have mysteriously lost 99,000 of its 100,000 followers.

"Wow!!! 100K Followers," the Unplanned account tweeted on Sunday afternoon. "Thanks to everyone who has helped us to achieve this milestone. When [Twitter] suspended our account you came together as a strong voice. We are so very grateful for the enormous support you've show at the box office."

The estimates from this past weekend from Box Office Mojo showed Unplanned in the #11 position, with $1.8 million, and the total receipts are approaching $16 million.

Burning churches in Louisiana

Palm Sunday was observed around the world yesterday, and three African-American churches in Louisiana had to find alternative sites at which to gather for services, because their buildings were burned, according to NBCNews.com, which reported that, "With this Palm Sunday marking the beginning of Holy Week, worshippers at the three affected churches — St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, the Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, both in Opelousas — have found other places to hold services."

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in these cases. The article stated that Holden Matthews "was charged with three counts of arson for allegedly setting fire to the three churches in St. Landry Parish over 10 days beginning March 26." It goes on to report that, "Officials said that Matthews, who is white and the son of a St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy, appeared to be a fan of black metal music, a subgenre of heavy metal that has been associated with white nationalist ideology and church burnings in Norway."

The article also says that:

Federal investigators stressed at a news conference Thursday that they had not yet determined a motive for the burnings or whether the attacks constitute a hate crime.

Matthews was caught as the result of "surveillance video, cellphone tower data and the purchase of a gas can and other materials from a Walmart."

The burning of a church building is a horrific act that demonstrates religious, and in this case, perhaps racial bigotry and even hatred.  Christians can stand in solidarity in decrying violence against people and institutions which are aligned with their deeply held faith beliefs.