The 3 - December 4, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three recent stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes a court victory against a mandate for health professionals to be involved in so-called "gender assignment surgeries."  Also, another federal circuit court ruled in favor of Air Force members who have objected to the COVID vaccine for religious reasons. Plus, a majority of the U.S. Senate has caved on upholding religious freedom in approving the so-called "Respect for Marriage Act."

Deadline passes for administration to challenge court decision on transgender surgeries

Back in August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down a mandate that originally had been put in place since the Obama administration that, according to FoxNews.com, "required doctors and hospitals to performance [sic] gender reassignment surgeries on any patient – including children – even if it was against a doctor’s conscience or medical judgment."

At the time, the Biden administration was given a deadline of November 25 to appeal that decision - and it took a pass, meaning the mandate is no longer in effect.   Former Meeting House guest Luke Goodrich of Becket stated: "The final demise of this unconscionable mandate is a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America," adding, "Thousands of doctors will be able to do their jobs without the government requiring them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise."

One of the groups challenging the mandate, the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, issued a statement, in which CEO Mike Chupp is quoted; he said, "This key legal battle is a hard-fought victory that impacts and protects the rights of healthcare professionals across this country...After more than six years of fighting this case in federal court, we have now set a national precedent and ensured we can continue to provide the best and safest care to our patients.”

FoxNews.com also noted that, "A similar case is pending in the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals."

Air Force members receive relief concerning vax mandate

Attempts to mandate the COVID vaccine to members of the military have received quite a bit of pushback from numerous members, including those who have requested a religious exemption from the requirement to be vaccinated in order to serve. 

Liberty Counsel reports on its website that:

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a classwide injunction that protects U.S. Air Force personnel from the COVID-19 shot mandate since it violates their religious freedom under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA).

There were 18 active duty or reservist plaintiffs in the lawsuit.  The lower court allowed that to be expanded to a class of thousands of Air Force members.

The Christian legal organization, which presents a daily commentary from its Founder and Chairman, Mat Staver, on Faith Radio, said:

After the Air Force ordered all service members to get vaccinated against COVID-19, approximately 10,000 members requested religious exemptions from this mandate. However, the Air Force granted only about 135 of these requests and only to those already planning to leave the service. By July 2022, the Air Force had “administratively separated” 834 members. Yet it has granted thousands of other exemptions for medical reasons, such as a pregnancy or allergy, or administrative reasons, such as an impending retirement. 

Judge Murphy of the Sixth Circuit wrote, "Under RFRA, the Air Force wrongly relied on its ‘broadly formulated’ reasons for the vaccine mandate to deny specific exemptions to the Plaintiffs, especially since it has granted secular exemptions to their colleagues. We thus may uphold the Plaintiffs’ injunction based on RFRA alone."

Staver is quoted as saying: "No service member should be required to choose between service to the country and service to God. This will be a good precedent for our upcoming argument at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and our January trial seeking a permanent classwide injunction for the U.S. Marines.”

Respect for Marriage Act endures challenges on religious liberty basis, passes U.S. Senate

An amended version of the so-called "Respect for Marriage Act," which not only is a legislative action upholding same-sex marriage, but presented valid religious liberty concerns, according to a number of Christian organization, after attempts to strengthen religious liberty protections failed, was passed by the U.S. Senate.  It now goes back to the House for affirmation.

The James Dobson Family Institute posted a statement from its Founder Chairman, James Dobson, who is heard on Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk Saturday mornings on Faith Radio, and the Institute's Senior Vice-President of Public Policy Gary Bauer; they stated:

The proponents insisted they were merely trying to protect same-sex marriages, but same-sex marriage is under no imminent threat. Instead, the bill struck a dangerous blow against Americans’ fundamental right of religious freedom, and the potential ramifications are distressing.

The post noted some of those ramifications:

1. It will make it easier to override legal protections for religious freedom.
2. It sets the stage for government agencies to proclaim, and courts to find, a governmental “compelling interest” that justifies forcing religious entities to recognize same-sex marriages.
3. It takes a step toward revoking the tax-exempt status of religious organizations whose views do not align with the LGBTQ agenda.
4. It could force faith-based foster and adoption care agencies to place children with same-sex couples.
5. It could mandate that religious organizations hire and retain staff who publicly repudiate the entity's beliefs about traditional marriage.