The 3 - October 3, 2021

This week's edition of The 3 has news of an agreement by the nation's highest court to hear a case involving a request for a Christian flag to be flown at a special occasion at City Hall.  Also, new YouTube guidelines may have some concerning implications for Christians who wish to share content consistent with their religious beliefs. And, the battle of mandated COVID-19 vaccines continues in the state of New York, as the governor could be characterized as using faith to promote the shots and punish those whose convictions have led them in a different direction. 

U.S. Supreme Court to hear case of Boston officials' refusal to fly Christian flag

For Constitution Day in 2017 in the city of Boston, the city chose not to allow a Christian flag to fly on one of its flagpoles at City Hall. The organization that asked to fly the flag, Camp Constitution, was filed by leader Harold Shurtleff, contending that, as The Christian Post noted, the city had granted permission for "other organizations to raise flags on one of the poles to celebrate their occasions."

Lower federal courts had ruled against Camp Constitution.  The article says that:

In February 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper argued that the City Hall flagpoles constituted "government speech" and not private expression, which made flying a Christian flag an unlawful government endorsement of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

An appeals court upheld the lower court ruling, and the plaintiff, represented by Liberty Counsel, appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the challenge.

Concern results from new YouTube policy on so-called "misinformation"

No doubt, individual Christians and Christian organizations have developed a concern about their content being removed from social media sites and even their channels or feeds being suspended or removed.  The latest step by such a platform is the action taken by YouTube recently, which announced it would be removing content regarding the COVID-19 vaccine that does not line up with its predetermined position on the issue, placing the platform in a position of being an expert on public health without earning a degree.

This raised concern by National Religious Broadcasters, representing Christian media around the world, which published an article including these words on its website:

Any corporate policy that aims to manipulate the thoughts or beliefs of users should alarm Christian communicators. While social media platforms are protected under the law in their ability to moderate user-generated content, attempting to regulate the feelings and reactions of users is insidious corporate paternalism and an infringement on personal sovereignty and freedom of thought.

NRB has initiated what was at the time called, Internet Freedom Watch a number of years ago. NRB CEO Troy Miller stated, “Content moderation policies that attempt to safeguard the public from having the ‘wrong thoughts’ are an assault on personal freedom and degrade the quality and diversity of the public conversation,” adding, “It’s not hard to see where this road leads for religious free speech.”

New York governor favors censorship, encourages churchgoers to get vaccine

But, the new governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, seems to have no problem with Internet censorship. A recent CBN.com article stated:

The Blaze reports Hochul wrote a letter to Facebook founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in which she requested "information on any and all existing efforts to combat misinformation regarding abortion laws, procedures, and their availability."

She also pressed for Zuckerberg to, "Take additional action to curb the spread of this misinformation, as Facebook has with information related to COVID-19, vaccines, and voting rights."

She also does not favor the constitutional rights of health care workers to decline to take the COVID-19 vaccines. The article notes:

Meanwhile, Hochul said this week she does not believe health care workers in the Empire State should be permitted to forgo vaccination against COVID-19 via religious exemptions.

She made the comments in response to a court decision temporarily upholding the rights of some in the medical community who have refused the inoculation citing their religious beliefs, according to WAMC-FM.

Meanwhile, as The Christian Post reports, that ruling is in effect until October 12.  The governor also visited a large church in New York City and encouraged congregants to be "my apostles" to encourage others to receive the shot.  But, she apparently does not allow for people to disagree with her opinion.