This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a new law in Florida that protects parents and young students from harmful ideology regarding sexuality. Also, the pro-life Texas Heartbeat Act has withstood another challenge in court. And, the leadership of a large organization of Christian communicators has reaffirmed it commitment to upholding Biblical truth.
Bill to restrain teaching of LGBTQ agenda to younger school children passes FL Legislature
It's being derided as the "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida, and Governor Ron DeSantis is pushing back on the legislation that has now been passed by both chambers of the state Legislature. The Christian Post states:
At the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City Monday, the Republican governor responded to a question from WFLA reporter Evan Donovan about HR 1557, “an act relating to parental rights in education.”
The bill would ban “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation and gender identity” for kindergarten through third-grade students. Donovan prefaced the question by noting that critics refer to the legislation as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” a characterization that DeSantis took issue with.
The article goes on to say:
The Christian Family Coalition Florida, an organization that has advocated for HR 1557, issued a statement to The Christian Post describing the Senate’s passage of the legislation as “a huge victory for parental rights.”
In a tweet last week, DeSantis’ Press Secretary Christina Pushaw characterized HR 1557 as an “Anti-Grooming Bill.”
In a statement to local news outlet 10 Tampa Bay, Pushaw indicated that she came up with the term “Anti-Grooming Bill” herself, asserting that DeSantis has never used the phrase. At the same time, she maintained that “For ages 3-9, classroom instruction on sexual topics is not developmentally appropriate, and it’s difficult to understand why anyone would disagree.”
The Christian Post notes that the U.S. Department of Education has voiced its opposition for the bill.
Texas "Heartbeat Act" loses in court...again
The law has been challenged by abortion supporters and it has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court two times, yet the law banning abortion in the state of Texas at and after the point when a heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound continues to withstand challenges and save lives.
CBN News reports that:
In a ruling Friday, the Texas Supreme Court delivered another legal blow to abortion providers' federal lawsuit challenging the state's abortion restrictions.
The court ruled state agencies are not authorized to enforce the law, and thus, recommended the abortion industry's lawsuit be dismissed.
It's the enforcement mechanism that has protected the law from being struck down in court, relying on private citizens to bring civil lawsuits rather than authorize state agencies to punish abortion providers. The CBN article states:
In a statement, the pro-life group Texas Right to Life called the ruling, "a big victory."
"Today's ruling is a big victory for the life-saving Texas Heartbeat Act," the group said. "We have said from the beginning that abortionists' lawsuit should be dismissed. The Legislature clearly never intended state agencies to participate in enforcing the Texas Heartbeat Act, and the Supreme Court of Texas agreed. This is not the final step in the journey, as the case will now return to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, but it affirms a positive path forward for the historic law. We're grateful that the Texas Heartbeat Act will continue saving thousands of lives, and we're hopeful that the judiciary will soon pave the way to protect all preborn children by overturning Roe v. Wade."
National Religious Broadcasters Board includes denunciation of CRT in list of resolutions
Last week, members of the Faith Radio team attended the 2022 National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville. The annual event is an opportunity for like-minded Christian communicators to worship, learn, and fellowship together.
A number of sessions at this year's convention dealt with how Christians can respond to cultural trends. The NRB Board of Directors, in fact, according to an article on the ChristianHeadlines.com website, gave its approval to a resolution entitled, “Opposing Critical Theory and Anti-Christian Ideology.” It said in part that, "Critical theory places culpability for human suffering at the feet of anyone who thrives within, benefits from, or upholds an authority structure subjectively deemed corrupt by the secular culture, including God-given institutions such as the church, traditional family, and much more..."
The article goes on to say:
As reported by The Christian Post, the resolution also states that Christians are to “embrace our citizenship in God’s kingdom and reject false promises of secular utopia.”
“As Americans, we inherit founding principles (equality of mankind, God-given rights, and self-government) that point to worthy and Biblical ideals for an orderly society, and we endeavor to advance these cherished promises for all,” the resolution said.
According to a press release, the organization passed a number of other resolutions, with the titles:
- Opposing Deplatforming Based on Religious Viewpoint Discrimination
- On Maintaining Full Protections for Religious Nonprofits
- Opposing Federal Regulatory Overreach of Internet Regulations
- Urging that Congress Pass the Local Radio Freedom Act
- Urging that Congress Oppose Passage of the Equality Act
- Combatting Antisemitism
- Urging Strong Protections for Donor Privacy in Charitable Giving, and
- Affirming the Right to Life.
I am grateful that Faith Radio belongs to NRB, an organization that has reaffirmed its commitment to Biblical truth. One of my Meeting House guests throughout the years has been pastor, author, and podcast host Lucas Miles, who observed how some of the more progressive Christian leaders took NRB to task in a personnel matter last year, involving a staff member who had violated a directive. Lucas penned these words, appearing at The Stream: "The real play...is to try to take down the National Religious Broadcasters, which is one of the few evangelical Christian organizations that hasn’t been completely infiltrated by duplicitous Marxist foot soldiers peddling socialism, vaccine passports and Critical Race Theory as they attempt to dismantle every remnant of a Biblical worldview."
Miles added:
So wake up church, stop believing the tired lies of the Left. It’s time to double-down on support for the National Religious Broadcasters and any other organization that still stands for Biblical truth.
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