The 3 - July 17, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes responses to threats against pregnancy resource centers in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Also, the attempt by one branch of the military to remove members due to their decisions not to take the COVID vaccine on religious grounds was dealt a blow recently by a federal judge.  And, the integrity of women's sports, which has been challenged recently by the allowance of males to compete in them, received a positive ruling from another federal court.

Under threat from members of Congress, pregnancy resource centers fight back against Google censorship

It's important that Christian pray for local pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life ministries.  While there is certainly celebration over the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, even before it was handed down, there were instances of vandalism at numerous centers across America. 

While there continue to be calls for the Department of Justice to prosecute those engaging in these violent acts, The Daily Citizen that a bill has been introduced into the U.S. Senate by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley that "amends existing federal law by increasing penalties for damaging or destroying clinics or places of worship."  The website states:

Hawley’s bill would protect PRCs and churches by:

• Increasing criminal penalties from a misdemeanor to a felony for first-time offenses, and increasing the criminal fine from $10,000 to $25,000
• Guaranteeing that pregnancy resource centers and religious facilities that successfully sue will receive no less than $20,000 (a $10,000 increase)
• Imposing a 7-year mandatory minimum when attacks involve arson (up from a 5-year mandatory minimum)...

The Daily Citizen piece notes that, "The dangerous climate for pro-life organizations has only been exacerbated by recent statements from pro-abortion politicians such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren..., who described the work of PRCs in counseling women about alternatives to abortion as “torture.” Warren also declared she wants to see all PRCs in her state and across the nation shut down. She has even co-sponsored a bill in Congress to punish them for what she calls “false advertising.”

And, three organizations representing these PRC's across the nation have attempted to counter Congressional intimidation of one of the foremost tech giants. Pregnancy Help News reports that: 

The leaders of the nation’s three major pregnancy help networks wrote to the CEO of Google recently, repudiating abortion industry falsehoods used by Members of Congress to push for the tech giant to squelch search engine results involving pregnancy help organizations.

The heads of Heartbeat International, Care Net, and NIFLA wrote to Sundar Pichai earlier this month to convey accurate information about pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) and request assurance that Google would not concede the suppression of pregnancy help search results sought in an earlier letter from abortion supporters in Congress.

“The letter you received from several members of Congress is a blatant attempt to pull Google into an ongoing debate surrounding the abortion issue,” the pregnancy help leaders stated. “It relies on objectively false accusations promoted by the abortion industry to shut down its competitors – namely pro-life, pro-woman pregnancy centers.”

The article stated that:

The lawmakers term pregnancy help organizations, "anti-abortion fake clinics," in the letter, while claiming that 37 percent of Google Maps results and 11 percent of Google search results for "abortion clinic near me" and "abortion pill" were for pregnancy help clinics in "trigger law" states.

Judge prevents Air Force from removing members due to religious objections

Opposition to the attempt by the U.S. Military to remove members of the Armed Forces due to their exercising their freedom of religion by refusing, on religious grounds, to receive a COVID vaccine, is far from over. Liberty Counsel reports that a federal judge recently ruled, temporarily, that Air Force members could not be separated from the service if they have filed a religious exemption. 

The Christian legal organization quoted from District Judge Matthew McFarland on its website; the judge wrote that any member of various sections of the Air Force, "who has sworn or affirmed the United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office and is currently under command and could be deployed, who: (i) submitted a religious accommodation request to the Air Force from the Air Force's COVID-19 vaccination requirement, where the request was submitted or was pending, from September 1, 2021 to the present; (ii) were confirmed as having had a sincerely held religious belief by or through Air Force Chaplains; and (iii) either had their requested accommodation denied or have not had action on that request” are, according to Liberty Counsel, covered in the temporary restraining order.

The judge noted that the Air Force "have uniformly maintained a policy of overriding Airmen's religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine," and have "acted ‘on grounds that apply generally to the class." In other words, apparently the judge is contending that the issue should not be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel states: "No service member should be required to choose between service to the country and service to God. Liberty Counsel will be pursuing class-wide protection for the remaining branches of the military.”

Administration order allowing boys to compete in girls' sports put on hold

More crazy news from the "genderverse" this week: A biological male has been nominated for a Woman of the Year award. The Post Millennial reports that Will Thomas, whose alternative name is Lia...

...has been nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. If Thomas wins, the award meant to honor women student-athletes who have "distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college career" would go to a biological male.

The article stated, "Thomas is not female, but a biological male who transitioned only a few years ago, in 2019, abandoning a spot on the UPenn men's swim team for one on the women's team. Thomas broke records and won championships while female teammates quietly and anonymously complained that Thomas was in the women's locker room, taking space on the women's team, and was not actually a female."

Meanwhile, The Daily Wire reported that:

Two members of the Biden administration, transgender Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine and “non-binary” Department of Energy official Sam Brinton, made a splash at a party at the French ambassador’s home Thursday.

The report says that Brinton "dresses in drag" and has "boasted online" about his/her inappropriate activities, "wore a blue dress and high heels."  It goes on to say, "Levine, who Biden elevated from Pennsylvania health secretary to health 'admiral' despite a highly controversial handling of COVID lockdowns, wore a uniform with a skirt and heels."  This occurred at a Bastille Day celebration.

The article contained a tweet by commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, who posted the picture and captioned it as follows: "You go back in time and have to explain this picture to someone from 2005. How do you explain what’s going on and how we got here?"

Back in the real world, Alliance Defending Freedom reports that:

A federal district court issued an order late Friday that temporarily blocks, in 20 states, Biden administration guidance documents that illegitimately reinterpret federal law to allow, among other things, males to participate in women’s sports. The court concluded that the guidance is based, in part, on a flawed interpretation of Bostock v. Clayton County, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling about employment discrimination.

There is certainly wordplay at work here - there have been attempts to redefine the word "sex," in civil rights legislation to mean sexual orientation or gender identity.  In the Bostock case, that principle was allowed to move forward.  But, it is important to note: Bostock was a narrowly-decided case, and according to the federal court: 

The Bostock decision only addressed sex discrimination under Title VII; the Supreme Court expressly declined to ‘prejudge’ how its holding would apply to ‘other federal or state laws that prohibit sex discrimination’ such as Title IX. Similarly, the Supreme Court explicitly refused to decide whether ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes’ violate Title VII.

ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs stated that, "The Biden administration’s radical push to redefine sex in federal law—and without the required public comment period—threatens to erase women’s sports and eliminate the opportunities for women that Title IX was intended to protect. We are pleased that female athletes will be protected in 20 states while this lawsuit moves forward.”