The 3 - September 29, 2019

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a speech on religious freedom given to the United Nations by the U.S. President.  Also, a faith-based adoption agency, which had been protected by law from having to place children with same-sex couples, received a positive court ruling.  And, a Christian organization at the Duke University campus has lost its standing because of its policy on sexuality.

U.S. President defends religious freedom at United Nations

While climate change stole the headlines at the United Nations General Assembly last week and the media put the spotlight on matters related to impeachment, the President began the week speaking loudly on religious freedom at the U.N.

ChristianHeadlines.com reports that Vice President Mike Pence stated that President Trump "was the first American president to hold a meeting at the U.N. on religious persecution."  The President said:
“The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government; they come from God,” adding, “This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Our Founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous and virtuous society than the right to follow one's religious convictions." He said that the U.S...

"...calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution, to stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief [and] protect the vulnerable, the defenseless and the oppressed.”

Also, at the meeting, the President "announced $25 million in funding to protect religious freedom and religious sites around the world," in addition to asking "the world’s governments to join together to end religious persecution." He also, according to the article, "announced an initiative comprised of a "coalition of U.S. businesses for the protection of religious freedom.'"

Faith-based adoption agency in Michigan receives court boost

Religious freedom was a driving force in a lawsuit filed by a faith-based adoption agency called St. Vincent Church Catholic Charities, which, because of its belief in the sanctity of marriage, will not "assess and recommend" same-sex couples "as qualified to adopt or foster," as the Daily Citizen from Focus on the Family reports.  St. Vincent will provide adoption or foster care services to same-sex couples and even place children in those types of homes if the state or another agency deems them the couples are qualified.

In 2015, the state of Michigan, where St. Vincent is located, passed a law, according to the Daily Citizen, "guaranteeing the religious freedom of adoption and foster care agencies against government discrimination."  But when Attorney General Dana Nessel, a lesbian, won the office in 2018, she then entered into an arrangement with the ACLU to not enforce the law.

St. Vincent sued, and this past week, a Federal judge, Robert Jonker, put an attempt to pull St. Vincent's license on hold. The judge wrote, “Defendant Nessel is at the very heart of the case,” adding, "She referred to proponents of the 2015 law as ‘hate-mongers’ and said the only purpose of the 2015 law was ‘discriminatory animus.’ She described the 2015 law as ‘indefensible’ during her campaign. These statements raise a strong inference of a hostility toward a religious viewpoint.”  As the Daily Citizen points out, this is similar to the admonition of a Colorado Civil Rights board in the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling, citing "religious hostility" toward baker Jack Phillips. 

Judge Jonker issued a preliminary injunction, meaning no action can be taken against St. Vincent before a trial is held, a trial in which the judge thinks the agency is likely to prevail.

Campus Christian organization at Duke fails to receive "official status"

The Christian organization Young Life has a rich history in ministering to students. ReligionNews.com, in a recent story, states:

Young Life, which is based in Colorado Springs, is a 78-year-old organization with a mission to introduce adolescents to Christianity and help them grow in their faith. It has chapters in middle schools, high schools and colleges in all 50 states and more than 90 countries around the world.

However, Young Life has run afoul of the gatekeepers of the Student Government Senate at Duke University, which has refused recognition of the ministry as an official student group.  Why?  Not a surprise; the story says, "...the student government objected to a clause in Young Life’s sexuality policy. After the student government was told the organization would not change its sexuality policy, it rejected the group."  What's the "objectionable policy?"  According to the article:

The Young Life policy states: “We do not in any way wish to exclude persons who engage in sexual misconduct or who practice a homosexual lifestyle from being recipients of ministry of God’s grace and mercy as expressed in Jesus Christ. We do, however, believe that such persons are not to serve as staff or volunteers in the mission and work of Young Life.”

The chapter "...appeared to violate a guideline that every Duke student group include a nondiscrimination statement in its constitution."  Upholding Biblical truth on sexuality is viewed as "discrimination," so Young Life is out, and the article speculates that, unlike public universities that have mishandled similar cases and violated First Amendment protections, because Duke is a private institution, it may not have the "same obligations."