The 3 - August 8, 2021

This week's edition of The 3, with three relevant stories to the Christian community, includes the latest from a Christian college that received a negative court ruling for enforcing its own employment policy, in the case of a professorial candidate who admitted that she disagreed with some of the faith beliefs of the college.  Also, there were a number of Christian Olympians who have given glory to God for their athletic achievements. And, it's up to two media hosts who have been suspended by Twitter for calling biological males who identify as women biological males.

Massachusetts college asks SCOTUS to uphold employment policy

Gordon College is located in Massachusetts, near Boston. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom website, "the college requires students and faculty alike to sign a statement of faith and agree to abide by biblical standards of living. Professors are the primary means through whom Gordon teaches the faith to its students, and those professors must integrate Christian teaching into every academic discipline."

In 2016, Margaret DeWeese-Boyd, who was an associate professor at the time, applied for a full professorship and was denied "because her performance fell short of the college’s expectations for faculty scholarship and institutional service."  She also said that she disagreed with some of the college's beliefs.  She sued, and according to ADF:

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded that Gordon College can indeed require her, as with other Gordon professors, to be a genuine Christian teacher and scholar, yet the court concluded that it was not necessary for her position to perform functions that are sufficiently religious, in the court’s view, and ruled in her favor. It did so even though Gordon’s professors are required to train their students in the Christian faith, and despite clear precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that such a narrow definition of an employee’s “ministerial functions” at a religious educational institution is unconstitutional.

I checked - the Our Lady of Guadalupe School decision was just handed down last summer. Gordon College recently announced it would be seeking relief from the high court. 

Christian Olympians testify to faith in Christ

The Tokyo Olympics have concluded and a number of the world's best athletes compete in the Games, which were delayed by a year due to COVID.  There are a number of athletes who are known to be Christians, and they have handled their athletic achievement by giving testimony to the One who had gifted them.

Some of the highlights include:

Allyson Felix, whose bronze medal on Saturday gave her the title, according to Sports Spectrum, of "the most decorated female Olympian ever."  Her 10 medals is the most for any track-and-field Olympic competitor, male or female.  The article about her said, "The bronze, to go with six previous golds and three silvers, gave her 10 Olympic medals, surpassing Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey, who won three silvers and six bronzes from 1980 to 2000." Before the Games, Felix wrote on Instagram: “It might sound cliche, but getting to that starting line is an incredible victory for me,” adding, “I’ve experienced the hardest years of my life in this journey and by God’s grace I’m here. With a heart full of gratitude I’m taking space to remember all it took to get here.

I mentioned gold medalist Sydney McGlaughlin last week; Sports Spectrum reports that she wrote on Instagram:

“Let me start off by saying, what and honor it is to be able to represent not only my country, but also the kingdom of God,” she wrote. “What I have in Christ is far greater than what I have or don’t have in life. I pray my journey may be a clear depiction of submission and obedience to God. Even when it doesn’t make sense, even when it doesn’t seem possible. He will make a way out of no way. Not for my own gratification, but for His glory.

On a Front Room original commentary last week, I featured U.S. runner Keni Harrison and swimmer Caeleb Dressell.  Here's an excerpt:

...we shouldn't allow the "distractions" to keep us from rejoicing with athletes who profess Christ who have exhibited and attained incredible achievement.

One example is U.S. runner Keni Harrison, who won the silver medal in the 100-meter hurdles. A Christian Headlines article reports:

After the race, Harrison ran around the track draped in an American flag, wearing a big smile. Despite owning multiple medals in other world races – including the world record at 12.21 seconds – it was her first Olympic medal.

"I learn from my mistakes," she told NBC in a post-race interview. "For this to be my first Olympics and to come here on this world stage, and represent my country to the best of my ability – all the glory goes to God just to have this opportunity. … Just to get a silver medal at this stage, it's amazing."

Her story includes being adopted and surviving a health scare early in life.

Then, there's swimmer Caeleb Dressel, who garnered five gold medals at this year's Olympics. CBN.com relates that:

A large eagle tattoo covers the top of his left shoulder, which represents one of his favorite Bible verses, Isaiah 40:31, which says, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

"It's the reason I'm in the sport — not just to go fast times, but to inspire people and show them where I find my happiness with what God's given me," Dressel said after the 2015 U.S. Nationals, via the Baptist Standard.

Other professing Christian athletes featured over the past few weeks by SportsSpectrum.com include:

Jrue Holliday, who won Olympic gold with the men's basketball team after winning the NBA Championship with the Milwaukee Bucks.

U.S. wrestler Kyle Snyder, who won silver.

And, the website profiled the "Christian core" of the silver medal-winning U.S. softball team, stating: "The U.S. squad is led by a strong core of outspoken Christians, including two of its standout performers in the gold-medal game: pitcher Cat Osterman and outfielder Janie Reed."

"Misgendering" will yield social media penalty

Earlier this year, the Twitter account from The Daily Citizen, a website of Focus on the Family, was suspended because it issued this tweet: “On Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he had chosen Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of HHS. Dr. Levine is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman.”

On The Meeting House, I have talked about Christians being banned from social media, and this is one example.  It seems that the subject matter - of men identifying as women - is too much for the overlords of the Twitterverse.  Just last week, a well-known commentator and podcast host, who is a Christian and has appeared at the last two National Religious Broadcasters conventions, Allie Beth Stuckey, found herself in what she calls "Twitter jail."

CBNNews.com reported that: 

Stuckey’s offense was an Aug. 2 tweet in which she commented on New Zealand Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a biological male who identifies and competed in the Tokyo Games as a female. In the offending tweet, the “Relatable” host referred to Hubbard using male pronouns.

Upon her return, she tweeted out, according to the article:

"Remember, you can threaten, dox, harass, post porn, spread Chinese propaganda and tweet as a member of a terrorist regime here on Twitter, but you cannot call a man, “he,” because that is 'promoting violence.'”

The article says that she told Faithwire in an e-mail: “As a Christian, I know two things to be true...One, all people are made in God’s image, no matter their stated identity and, therefore, have immense value and, two, men are men and women are women.”

Well, it's happened again - to a professing Christian talk show host based in Atlanta, Erick Erickson. Not the Bee reported: 

All he said was "Laurel Hubbard is a man even if Twitter doesn't like it." He had to delete the tweet to even regain access to his account and he's banned from tweeting to his 200K followers for 12 hours.

As, Newsbusters.org related, Erickson was actually tweeting on Stuckey's suspension.  The article quotes Erickson: 

“Well, it seems post-modernity has caught up to me. Twitter has suspended me for a statement of fact that Twitter’s woke employees do not like,” Erickson said. “In defending Allie Beth Stuckey, who was previously suspended from Twitter for a statement of truth, I reiterated that, in fact, the New Zealand transgender weight lifter is a man.”

“Twitter has suspended me for stating the truth,” he added.