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.
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."
No comments:
Post a Comment