The 3 - July 28, 2019

This week's edition of The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community, involves two stories out of South Carolina - one with a rather happy ending involving a memorial to police officers that contained the name, "Lord," and another that is related to graduation speech, specifically religious content.  And, the U.S. House passed a resolution recently, by a wide margin, that shows support to Israel.

Flap over police memorial in SC city: city officials restore monument and the name, "Lord"

A statement from the South Carolina city said it well: "This was a tough week in Tega Cay." That is from a Fox Carolina report.  That "tough week" was the result of a series of unforced errors by the city in response to a Fallen Officer’s Memorial, which was situated outside the city’s police department.

Inscribed on the monument was the Police Officers' Prayer, and according to Fox Carolina, the city had "initially painted over the word 'Lord,' which appeared in several places on the monument, because city leaders were fearful of a lawsuit after a resident complained."

Then, a statement released to The Herald by the city on Thursday stated: “At this time, we have removed the monument while we continue to seek a solution that expresses our unwavering support and gratitude to those who risk their lives every day for ours...We will continue to welcome feedback from our residents and seek further guidance from our legal team until we can find a viable solution for all concerned.”

All of this came about as the result of this, as the Herald reported: "A Tega Cay resident protested at the July 15 city council meeting."

The city released a statement on Friday, saying, according to Fox Carolina:

After careful consideration and much conversation with people on both sides of the discussion, City Council has made the decision that the Police Officer's Prayer will be restored to its original condition and returned to the Fallen Officers’ Memorial located at the new police station. We want to thank everyone for voicing your opinion, as it’s not always easy to do so on such a sensitive subject.

SC school district forces graduation prayer restrictions

More news out of South Carolina this week, where a judge has placed restrictions on graduation speech in the Greenville school district, according to the Greenville News website.  The site says:

Graduation ceremonies at Greenville County Schools will no longer be allowed to include official student-led prayer or language that asks the audience to stand or bow after the U.S. District Court of South Carolina ruled in favor of a humanist group in a longstanding lawsuit.

The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks, said, according to the newspaper, that, "Schools will not be allowed to play religious music and students cannot submit prayers for review by school officials prior to the event, as has been done in recent years, but students who choose to pray during time allotted for student remarks may still do so provided it’s done without the knowledge or guidance of school officials, without asking the audience to participate and without pre-planning as part of the program."

The lawsuit was brought by the American Humanist Association. Beth Brotherton of Greenville County Schools said, "We are pleased that the Court has upheld the fundamental issue of the case and supported our position that students selected to speak at graduations based upon religiously neutral criteria have the right to share their personal stories, even if those include a religious message,” adding, “We are also pleased that the Court refused to grant AHA’s request to prevent all remotely religious messaging or prayer at School District events.” But, AHA was doing a victory lap, with spokesperson Monica Miller saying, "We are thrilled that the court is finally putting an end to flagrant school-sponsored prayers and Christian hymns at public school graduation ceremonies..."

U.S. House overwhelmingly votes for pro-Israel, anti-BDS resolution

The U.S. House of Representatives demonstrated support for Israel in a resolution that passed last week by a large margin, according to ChristianHeadlines.com, which described the resolution as "calling Israel a 'key ally' and criticizing a prominent movement to boycott the Jewish state."

The bill passed 398-17; 16 opposing votes came from Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, three of the four members of  the "Squad;" the other member, Ayanna Pressley, voted in favor of the resolution.

The article states...

...the pro-Israel resolution that passed the House explicitly criticizes the BDS movement. That resolution calls Israel a “democratic, Jewish State” that is a “key ally and strategic partner of the United States.”

“The Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement) targeting Israel is a campaign that does not favor a two-state solution and that seeks to exclude the State of Israel and the Israeli people from the economic, cultural, and academic life of the rest of the world,” the pro-Israel resolution says. “... [T]he BDS Movement does not recognize, and many of its supporters explicitly deny, the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination.”

Meanwhile,  according to Christian Headlines, Rep. Omar had announced her own resolution, “affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights.” The story says that, "Omar’s resolution doesn’t mention Israel, but she told reporters it was the intended target. The resolution does, however, mention boycotts of Nazi Germany and South African apartheid as positive examples from U.S. history." According to The Hill, Pressley is a co-sponsor of that resolution.