The 3 - September 27, 2020

This week's edition of The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community, spotlights a pro-life executive order announced by the President on behalf of babies who survive abortion attempts.  Also, there's more news on churches and COVID, with one California church being granted a trial for next year, meaning that it can continue to worship in-person, and a DC church suing the city because of its excessive COVID restrictions.  And, a government agency has stepped in to defend two former grocery store employees who would not wear an apron depicting what they views as an endorsement of LGBTQ.

President issues order protecting abortion survivors

At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, President Trump announced his intent to issue an executive order to protect babies who survive an attempt to take their lives through abortion.

Liberty Counsel, on its website, notes:

Speaking at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, President Trump called this “our sacrosanct moral duty.”

President Trump said, “We believe in the joy of family, the blessing of freedom and the dignity of work and the eternal truth that every child born and unborn is made in the holy image of God. I will always protect the vital role of religion and prayer in American society, and I will always defend the sacred right to life.”

Congress has been unable to pass legislation that would protect abortion survivors, according to the website, which notes that there have been over 80 chances to do so.  The site says:

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there likely are more. The CDC also notes that this number is likely underestimated because of unclear terminology and a lack of understanding about spontaneous abortions.

The President began his week by issuing this welcome news to those who are pro-life, and at the conclusion of the week, he made a popular decision among pro-life groups by naming Federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.  

California church gets reprieve, DC church sues city

The saga involving a California church that made the decision to gather in indoor worship services, in response to local COVID-19 health orders that it deemed to be excessive, continues.  An article at The Federalist website states that:

Grace Community Church and its Pastor John MacArthur won another victory in their journey to fight for their constitutional right to worship on Thursday when a judge awarded them the opportunity for a trial.

That judge, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff had earlier issued a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the church from meeting, but the church continued to meet. Now, Beckloff has set a trial for early in 2021, although he will hold a hearing in mid-November. 

Special Counsel Charles LeMandri of the Thomas More Society said, “This ruling prevents Los Angeles County’s attempted rush to judgment in its continued prosecution of Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church for courageously exercising their First Amendment rights,” adding, “We are pleased that Judge Beckloff indicated he agreed with the major points that we made on behalf of Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church and we are very gratified that the judge’s ruling today reflects that he appreciates the importance of the constitutionally protected rights at issue in this case.” Pastor MacArthur said, in part, "The reality is that the county cannot show that their order is even rational, much less necessary..."

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, a church in Washington, DC has sued the District for its excessive COVID-19 regulations. The Christian Post reports that:

The 850-member Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., is suing Mayor Murriel Bowser over her ban on outdoor church services of more than 100 people during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the gathering restriction has been applied unfairly.

First Liberty is involved in the case. The article quotes Justin Sok, one of the pastoral staff members of the church; it says, "The church has applied for multiple waivers to the mayor’s policy. However, city officials 'refuse to provide CHBC with a waiver beyond 100 persons as part of a mass gathering,' Sok added."  He is also quoted as saying, 

“The lawsuit filed Tuesday simply asks that CHBC be permitted to meet in-person, with similar restrictions as area businesses and other gatherings have employed to protect public health,” the pastor stressed. “A church is not a building that can be opened and closed. A church is not an event to be watched. A church is a community that gathers regularly and that community should be treated fairly by the District government.”

Grocery store employees gain powerful ally in refusal to display LGBTQ symbolism

In a case in which an employer attempted to force two of its employees to display symbolism that conflicts with their religious beliefs, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC has stood with the two employees, who lost their jobs, according to the Family Research Council website.  The site relates that:

In this case, the Kroger grocery store in Conway, Arkansas issued new aprons to employees that featured a small, rainbow-colored heart emblem. Two employees perceived this as an endorsement of the LGBT movement, and they objected on religious grounds.

The article goes on to say that: 

The two Kroger employees asked if they could either wear a different apron or wear their name tag over the rainbow emblem. Kroger refused this accommodation and ended up firing the two employees -- leading to the EEOC suit in support of the employees. 

The article, written by Peter Sprigg of FRC, quoted Sharon Fast Gustafson, General Counsel of the EEOC, who said, "If the applicant or employee has a religious belief or practice that requires some kind of religious accommodation, the law requires the employer to give that accommodation to the employee unless it would present some sort of undue hardship to the business."

Sprigg points out that this is a shift for the EEOC, which had filed the original lawsuit against a funeral home on behalf of a transgender employee in the Bostock case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the word "sex" in civil rights law should be interpreted as "sexual orientation" or "gender identity." He writes, "We trust that the Kroger lawsuit means that the EEOC has taken a turn in the direction of consistent support for religious liberty."

The 3 - September 20, 2020

This week's edition of The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes the issuance of a letter from over a hundred African-American leaders calling out the nation's largest abortion provided for racism. Also, a Federal judge has found that Pennsylvania's restrictions during COVID-19 are unconstitutional.  And, California lawmakers have relaxed the law concerning sexual relationships between adults and minors.

Bi-partisan group of African-American leaders decry Planned Parenthood's emphasis on taking lives of Black children

A group in excess of 120 African-American leaders from both political parties has sent an open letter to the head of the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, calling it out for racism in its targeting of Black pre-born babies, according to The Christian Post, which reports that:

Among those who have signed the letter are Louisiana state Senator Katrina Jackson, Georgia state representative Mack Jackson, and Michigan's Kent County Commissioner Monica Sparks, all of whom are Democrats. Black Republican signers include Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and Texas state representative James White. Conservative think tank Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James, former NFL star Benjamin Watson and pro-life activist Alveda King, who is the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. also signed the letter.

The letter states: “The impact of abortion on Black communities is unequal and disproportionate... Despite constituting only 13% of the female population, Black women represent 36% of all abortions, and Black women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion. In some cities, like New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive."

Dean Nelson, Executive Director of the pro-life organization, Human Coalition Action, in a statement to The Christian Post, said that this is a representation of "...the outrage among the Black community that we have been strategically and consistently targeted by the abortion industry ever since the practice was legalized almost 50 years ago.” 

By, the way, Benjamin Watson has a new film, called Divided Hearts of America, which deals with the abortion issue. Crosswalk.com describes it in this way: "In the span of about 90 minutes, Watson interviews more than 30 pro-life and pro-choice leaders as he unveils – in his words – 'the truth about abortion, the laws, the history and where our country is headed.'” Alveda King and Katrina Jackson appear in the film.  Watson is quoted as saying, “Can anything save us? Yes. It’s love,” adding,“Will we decide to love each other enough to mend our divided hearts? That's a choice we all have to make. That's a choice that will determine how the story ends.”

Judge rules PA governor's COVID restrictions unconstitutional

Government restrictions in the face of the COVID-19 virus have been challenged in court, and a recent ruling out of Pennsylvania by a Federal judge said that the governor had overstepped his bounds and issued unconstitutional orders. Bruce Hausknecht, writing at the Daily Citizen of Focus on the Family, stated:

Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court let a COVID-related state lockdown order in California remain effective in the face of constitutional challenges, a federal district court judge in western Pennsylvania says those can’t go on indefinitely, striking down several of Governor Tom Wolf’s orders restricting indoor and outdoor gatherings in that state, his designations of “life-sustaining” and “non-life-sustaining” businesses, and his general “stay-at-home” order.

Hausknecht writes:

The judge addressed the impact of the recent U.S. Supreme Court action in denying an emergency injunction blocking the California governor’s lockdown order in that state, and, in particular, Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent which argued in favor of granting an injunction in that case.

“There is no question, as Justice Alito reasoned in Calvary Chapel, that courts may provide state and local officials greater deference when making time-sensitive decisions in the maelstrom of an emergency. But that deference cannot go on forever. It is no longer March. It is now September and the record makes clear that Defendants have no anticipated end-date to their emergency interventions.

The article says that: "It’s worth quoting something that the U.S. Department of Justice began saying months ago when it came to the support of citizens’ constitutional rights in the face of onerous state lockdown orders: 'There is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights.'"

The American Pastors Network, which is led by former Pennsylvania representative Sam Rohrer, partnered with the Pennsylvania Pastors Network to issue an open letter a few weeks ago concerning these orders from state officials.  A summary on the APN site says:

This letter from APN and PPN, which represent more than 1,200 PA pastors, explains that the current COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the executive branch are without authority, are therefore unlawful, and in violation of both the Constitution and statutory law, particularly since the General Assembly in accordance with the law ordered the Governor to rescind all COVID-19-related orders resulting from his natural disaster proclamation on March 6. The resolution calls out these realities and highlights how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has only deepened the constitutional crisis, the letter states.

California liberalizes sex offender law

Concern has been raised about a new California law, recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, that appears to loosen restrictions on those who have been found to have sexually abused children. The Daily Signal reports that:

Senate Bill 145—which passed both the state Assembly and Senate, and Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed into law—ensures that adults will not automatically be placed on the sex offender registry even if they engage in sexual acts with minors aged 14 to 17, regardless of what kind of sex they had.

According to the law’s text, SB 145 will “exempt from mandatory registration under the act a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense is the only one requiring the person to register.”

Bottom line, according to the writer of the piece, Nicole Russell: "So, even though it is illegal in California for any adult to have sex with a person under 17, this law will require judges to take each case separately."  She notes that Dr. James Dobson stated, "Any law that lessens protections for vulnerable children is a bad idea. There’s a word for adults who pursue sex with children: pedophiles..."  He also said, “Any proposed legislation that gives incentive or cover for such depravity should be condemned, not passed into law.”

The 3 - September 13, 2020

In this week's edition of The 3, there is a victory for a pro-life student organization at a Georgia college campus.  Plus, the U.S. Department of Education has committed to preserve the First Amendment rights of students, including free expression of religious faith. And, in North Carolina, a school has nixed day planners provided to students by a local church.

Pro-life group wins religious freedom at university campus

Last year, the pro-life group, Students for Life, on the campus of Georgia Tech, sought university funds in order to present an event featuring the pro-life niece of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Alveda King.  A CBNNews.com report noted that all students, which would include SFL members, pay dues to the Student Government Association for the purpose of on-campus activities.

The article states:

When Students For Life member Brian Cochran presented his group's request to the graduate and undergraduate houses of the SGA, they interrogated him on the content and viewpoints that Students for Life and King would present at the event.

SGA denied the funding, noting the "inherently religious" nature of Alveda King's life. The event went on as scheduled, but without university dollars. But, Students for Life also contacted Alliance Defending Freedom. 

ADF filed a lawsuit against the school, and recently, it was announced that the school and Students for Life had reached an out-of-court settlement.  The article reports:

The University has agreed to change its unconstitutional policies that had allowed the SGA to discriminate against Alveda King and Students For Life. As part of the settlement ending the federal lawsuit, the university agreed to revise its policies to treat all student organizations fairly, regardless of viewpoint, and to pay $50,000 in damages and attorneys' fees.

Department of Education issues order to preserve First Amendment protections regarding faith

The U.S. Department of Education has issued a new regulation that is designed to protect the First Amendment rights of students on college campuses. The Christian Post reports that:

The regulation — Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities — comes in response to an executive order issued in March 2019 signed by President Donald Trump that vowed to withhold federal research grants from colleges and universities that are hostile to First Amendment rights of students.

The article quotes from a summary of the rule, which states that the “...Final Rule prohibits discrimination against religious student organizations because of their beliefs, practices, policies, speech, membership standards, or leadership standards, which are informed by sincerely held religious beliefs..."  The Post says that:

The final rule comes as some faith-based campus groups across the country have been denied recognition by universities for having policies that require leaders of the organizations to adhere to their statements of faith, which has led to several legal battles.

NC school removes Bible verses from daily planners donated by church

A church in Alexander County, North Carolina donated 600 planners to a middle school there, only to find out that the school removed, or, as WSOC Television reported, "cut out" the two Scripture verses that were contained on the back of the planner.

The television report said that, "Parent Roger Hayes said he is in disbelief that East Alexander Middle School cut up his daughter’s planner in an effort to remove the Bible verses."

The article states:

Sulphur Springs Baptist Church said it reached out to the school this summer to find out how they could help and ended up spending more than $2,000 to have the planners printed.

“We just put them back there for encouragement. We know the school year ended rough last year. We know coming back with split days,” Assistant Pastor James Safrit said.

The television station notes that, "The school district said while they appreciate the community support, the principal believed including the scripture verses would violate a student’s rights." Hayes said, “That hurt my feelings, it really did. This society right now, I think we need God in our lives and Jesus in our lives and this tears my heart apart,” adding, “Why couldn’t it be my decision or my child’s decision to take it off.”  School officials, according to WSOC, felt that the planners would be unconstitutionally "indoctrinating" the students.

The 3 - September 6, 2020

On this week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance in the Christian community, we find that Christian leaders are applauding a move from the President that purports to eliminate vestiges of Critical Race Theory in government training.  Also, a U.S. Senator has said "no" to a demand from an atheist organization to cease to post Bible verses online.  Plus, California churches are in various stages of opposing government attempts to limit worship, ostensibly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President issues order to block "critical race theory," Christian leaders opposing CRT commend

The debate about and exposure of what is known as Critical Race Theory has flared within the Southern Baptist Convention since the haphazard passage of a resolution at its annual meeting in Birmingham last year, when messengers - at least those who were left in the building during the closing hours of the convention - passed a resolution branding CRT and Intersectionality as "analytical tools" in understanding race relations that should be subjected to Scripture.  A number of Christian leaders basically believe that to submit these worldly, divisive philosophies that label people as oppressors and the oppressed based on racial and cultural generalizations to Scripture would mean to repudiate them totally. 

The CRT resolution, also known as Resolution 9, was one of the factors leading to the formation of a group called the Conservative Baptist Network, which has thousands of adherents on social media and relates on its website that its Steering Council is made up of, among others, "former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, past SBC President Charles Stanley, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Vice President Tom Phillips, and immediate past SBC Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone."

The network and other Christian leaders, including Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries, which has released a video and book, called, By What Standard, that includes information on the infiltration of evangelical Christianity by critical race theorists have offered praise to President Trump's executive order that, according to FoxNews.com, ends "'critical race theory' training in federal agencies, with White House officials calling it “anti-American propaganda."  Fox goes on to report:

Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote a memo informing agencies of Trump's instruction to stop using controversial forms of training on “critical race theory,” “white privilege” and “any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either...that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or...that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.”

“It has come to the President's attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date "training" government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda,” Vought wrote in the memo to heads of federal agencies and offices.

The Conservative Baptist Network offered gratitude for the Adminstration's action, saying: 

The Conservative Baptist Network has been clear from the beginning regarding this divisive, anti-gospel ideology. The Network strongly believes in a just society for all based on biblical truth, opposing racism and sexism in all forms, and therefore rejects worldly ideologies infiltrating the Southern Baptist Convention, including Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and other unbiblical agendas deceptively labeled as “Social Justice.”

U.S. Senator declares intent to continue posting Bible verses online

Even though there are those that attempt to label politics as something that Christians should not participate in, especially when the philosophies of other believers differ from their own, it is gratifying to see that politicians, governmental leaders, actually apply their faith to their practice of lawmaking. An example is found at the ChristianNews.net website, which announced that:

A Louisiana senator says he won’t stop posting from the pages of Scripture on Sundays after the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) requested that he take down such quotes from his official social media pages and refrain from citing Scripture on his government accounts in the future.

“The Freedom From Religion Foundation has demanded that I stop sharing Bible verses with you. The left won’t bully me into canceling Christianity. Their request is denied,” Sen. Bill Cassidy posted to his accounts on Tuesday.

FFRF had sent a threatening letter to the senator, to which the article links, in August saying that a "concerned Louisiana resident," who was not named in the letter, had complained about Cassidy's inclusion of Scripture online. ChristianNews.net reported last week that:

On Tuesday, Cassidy said that he would not oblige the Church-State separation group’s request, referring to the letter as an attempt to “bully” him into “canceling Christianity” from the public square.

The following day, FFRF published a news release opining that Cassidy was being “unconstitutionally stubborn” as he “doubled down on his obstinacy.”

California church continues its fight against governor's order

A California church's legal team is declaring that church is "essential" in its fight against draconian restrictions on worship in the Golden State.  That's according to CBN.com, which reports that:

A California church has appealed its case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concerning Gov. Gavin Newsom's ban on all indoor worship services, including Bible studies, and singing.

The religious rights law group Liberty Counsel is representing the Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry. Attorneys argue that the governor's actions are contradictory, as he continues to encourage thousands of people to gather for protests against social injustice.

The pastor is Che Ahn, and on August 13, Pasadena officials had "threatened fines and criminal charges against Pastor Ahn, the church, and staff of up to one year in prison for noncompliance..."  Just last week, a Federal district court had written an order rejecting a request for a preliminary injunction against the governor, which paved the way for Liberty Counsel to appeal to the 9th Circuit.  Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel stated, "The church has been essential for 2,000 years, and the First Amendment recognizes that the free exercise of religion is essential," adding, "The church is now more essential than ever because there are so many hurting people, especially in California, where the governor has decimated the economy and hurt many people by his draconian restrictions."

Meanwhile, as reported on ToddStarnes.com, Los Angeles County, which had been leasing a piece of property to Grace Community Church, pastored by John MacArthur, for 45 years, has informed the church that the lease is not terminated. A letter sent to the church says, "If Grace fails to vacate the premise as required, the District may enter the premises and remove Grace’s personal property..." Attorney Jenna Ellis, representing the church, said, "Los Angeles County is retaliating against Grace Community Church for simply exercising their constitutionally protected right to hold church and challenging an unreasonable, unlawful health order..."

And, the fines keep accumulating for North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, according to an article at The Christian Post, which reports that:

The pastor of a large California church that was fined over $50,000 for holding indoor worship services despite adhering to social distancing guidelines said that even as the county continues to increase penalties, the church will remain open.

Jack Trieber, pastor of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, said Tuesday that Santa Clara County posted an additional order on the church’s doors this week and is fining the congregation $5,000 for each service.

As of last Thursday, the church has been fined $52,750. 

Treiber is quoted as saying, "I'm in charge of the spiritual health of the people in this city and in this area,” adding, “I've been trying to do it for 45 years. Though health is [of the] utmost importance, spiritual health is supreme. Because we've been locked out in this county of churches, suicide is up, domestic violence, addiction is up, homelessness is up, alcoholism is up. We need to get back to worshiping God. I am commanded to worship God.”  Liberty Counsel is also representing that church.  The article also notes, "Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks was found to be in contempt of court for violating the state's COVID-19 health orders."