The 3 - April 7, 2019

This week's edition of The 3 features a development out of Ohio involving the integration of transgender-friendly elements to a 4-H program.  And, in California, a widow could be evicted from a veterans' home because of her dedication to leading a Bible study.  Plus, a Pennsylvania lawmaker is facing backlash for a Christian prayer she delivered in front of a legislative body.

Ohio 4-H program allows transgender agenda, special pronouns

It has been discovered that a 4-H program in the state of Ohio, sponsored by Ohio State University, has been promoting transgenderism. Christian Headlines reports that:

According to WND.com, Liberty Counsel said in a report that OSU “is intent on silencing or driving away parents, employees or volunteers who believe that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that homosexuality and ‘transgenderism’ are inappropriate subjects for impressionable children and have nothing to do with 4-H.”

The story points out that: "Ohio participants in 4-H attend camps and events where they must share showers or sleep in the same rooms as others who identify as another sex." Also, Liberty Council reports that the pronouns, “Zie, Zir and Zirs," are being promoted.  These are the types of pronouns that are used to refer to those who identify as a gender other than their biological one.

Liberty Counsel contends: "Ohio 4-H once reflected the values of the populations it serves. However, OSU is now using the program as a vehicle to enforce radical LGBT ideology and terminology, including the idea that pronouns are subjective, and do not correspond to objective biology of male or female."

Widow told not to conduct Bible studies in retirement complex

Artis Breau is a resident of the California Veterans Home and is 84 years old. She has been involved in leading voluntary Bible studies at the home for a number of years. According to an article at The Stream website...

...Breau is now being investigated by the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet). Breau believes CalVet targeted her because she was an evangelical Jewish believer. Matthew McReynolds, her attorney at Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), agrees. “She’s run into some conflict with some of the other residents there and some of the chaplains because of her beliefs. She is evangelical and some of them are not. It’s really become a clash of worldviews more than anything else.”

The story says, "On March 1, CalVet sent an email warning Breau she would be evicted if she continued the Bible studies." There were three allegations against her, and her attorney stated that they had been told, "they could continue to add allegations against her in ‘perpetuity’.” McReynolds added, "That's of great concern to us and that’s why I wrote to their counsel again yesterday to voice concerns about that and about the due process violations that that we believe have attended this whole investigation and this whole approach."

Pennsylvania lawmaker chided for Christian prayer

A member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives prayer recently according to her Christian beliefs, and received criticism for it.  A USA Today story says that:

State Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, a freshman from a rural Pennsylvania district, invoked Jesus, the Lord or God nearly two dozen times in her approximately one-minute-forty-second prayer. She also thanked God for President Donald Trump because he "stands beside Israel, unequivocally."

Democratic Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell of Philadelphia, who was sworn in on a Quran after Borowicz's prayer, said Tuesday that she thought "for the most part, the entire invocation was offensive." Johnson-Harrell said "to use Jesus as a weapon is not OK" and that "we cannot weaponize what’s going on with Israel and Palestine."

Johnson-Harrell felt the prayer was a "political statement." However, the article reports that, "A Muslim prayer was said during Johnson-Harrell's swearing-in. Fifty-five guests attended the ceremony, most of them Muslim." Meanwhile, Johnson-Harrell wants to take action against Borowicz, "because we need to be promoting inclusion, not division," she says. 

Borowicz, apparently, is not backing down.  The USA Today story says:

Borowicz defended herself on Monday, telling a a Pennsylvania Legislative Services reporter "That’s how I pray everyday."

When asked if she would apologize as some Democrats had demanded, Borowicz said, "Oh no, I don’t apologize ever for praying."

The New American reported:

Evangelist Franklin Graham also weighed in to defend Borowicz, insisting that “she doesn’t need to apologize,” for her Christian prayer. “We don’t change who we are or what we believe because someone who is present may believe differently than we believe.... I always appreciate anyone who has the guts to stand up for Jesus.”