The 3 - March 26, 2023

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes on update on concerns by pro-life organizations about what seems to be a slow-walk on arrest and prosecution of people responsible for attacks on pro-life organizations and churches, including a recently-filed lawsuit.  Also, a British Bible college professor tweeted out a strong statement on homosexuality and lost his position for it.  Plus, another state can be added to the growing list who have prevented doctors from performing gender change surgeries on minors. 

Attacks on pro-life centers provoke requests for information, lawsuit

Violence against pro-life pregnancy resource centers and churches continues to be an issue of concern; even over the last few weeks.  And, there is concern that federal law enforcement is turning a blind eye toward the attacks.

CompassCare, which operates three centers in New York state, reports on its website that its Buffalo center was attacked for the second time earlier this month; the site notes: "On March 16, CompassCare’s pro-life medical office in Buffalo was attacked again by pro-abortion, Maoist Antifa. The first time was on June 7th, 2022, with the catastrophic firebombing, injuring two firefighters."

The story notes that on February 20, CEO of Compass Care, James Harden, "...was concerned that another wave of pro-abortion Antifa violence was coming and asked if the FBI was planning on issuing a threat alert to Christian pro-life people and organizations similar to what they did for the Jewish community in New Jersey on November 3, 2022. They did not respond and issued no warnings."

The story noted, "The Washington Post leaked that the judge hearing the controversial abortion pill case was facing death threats along with his family and court staff while violent rhetoric continued to increase..."

The CompassCare website noted:

On Saturday, March 25, a suspect was arrested pursuant to the most recent attack on March 16 on CompassCare’s pro-life medical office in Buffalo. According to a press release issued by the Amherst Police Department (APD), 39-year-old Hannah Kamke was arrested for one count of criminal mischief, a Class E felony carrying a mandatory 1-5 year prison sentence if convicted. This would be on top of any potential punishment precipitated by federal charges brought by the Department of Justice for a violation of the FACE Act.

The Christian Post reported that in September of last year, a number of pro-life organizations filed a Freedom of Information Act request about the Department of Justice response, or lack of response, to concerns that had been expressed.  The article states:

On Feb. 27, nearly five months after the plaintiffs and the other organizations submitted the FOIA request, the FBI informed them that it had closed the request because it did not "contain enough descriptive information to permit a search of our records." The complaint characterized the defendants' failure to respond to the FOIA request as a violation of federal law and DOJ regulations.

In light of this rebuff, the Heritage Foundation and Advancing American Freedom filed a lawsuit in federal court last week; the Christian Post reports, "The complaint maintains that the federal law enforcement agency has taken insufficient action to address violence directed at churches and pro-life pregnancy centers in recent years, including some that have been firebombed."  It goes on to say:

The plaintiffs are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to "order defendant to conduct a search or searches reasonably calculated to uncover all records responsive to Plaintiffs' FOIA Request" and produce all relevant documents within 20 days of the court order.

The article noted that Attorney General Merrick Garland had testified before a U.S. Senate committee earlier this month, stating:

"You are quite right, there are many more prosecutions with respect to the blocking of the abortion centers, but that is generally because those actions are taken with photography at the time, during the daylight," Garland said. "Seeing the person who did it is quite easy."

"Those who are attacking the pregnancy resource centers, which is a horrid thing to do, are doing this at night, in the dark," he added.

James Harden of CompassCare, according to its website, contends that the Attorney General is "covering for" Kristen Clarke, whom he describes as "a known Antifa sympathizer and public hater of pro-life pregnancy centers," who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, under whose authority investigations of these instances would fall.

Bible college professor in UK loses job over tweet on homosexuality

Aaron Edwards was a professor at Cliff College, which is described as a "Bible college" by CBN News, which reported on why Edwards is no longer employed at the school, which is located in the U.K.

His tweet was embedded in the story at CBN.com; it said:

Homosexuality is invading the Church. 

Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this b/c they're busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it's true. 

This *is* a "Gospel issue", by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.

CBN reports that "College administrators fired Edwards for 'bringing the college into disrepute' with his tweet addressing homosexuality."

The article goes on to say:

The professor’s counsel at the Christian Legal Centre accused a senior staff member of saying his client’s words “could be extremely damaging” and “impact the college’s core work” and “business plan,” Fox News reported.

In a statement to Fox, Edwards said: “The reaction to my tweet and the unjust treatment I have experienced by Cliff College and the Methodist Church in Britain completely illustrates the problem my tweet addressed,” adding:

“The tweet was not defamatory; it was not an attack on any colleague or individual; it was not abusive; and it was not an extremist religious view. It was addressed to evangelicals as a point of doctrine, and it has been misunderstood by many who wish to cause personal and institutional trouble for those who express that view.”

And, the article reports that in a disciplinary hearing, school officials had discussed reporting Edwards to a British organization that monitors terrorism.

Another state bans surgeries and treatments that claim to change children's sex

The Georgia Assembly, its Legislature, voted last week to prevent surgeries on minors that are designed to change their sex and to ban the usage of cross-sex hormones. The Post Millennial reported last week that:

Georgia has become the latest state to pass a bill banning doctors from prescribing cross-sex hormones or conducting surgeries related to a gender dysphoria diagnosis on minors.

On March 17, 2023, SB 140 passed the state house with an amendment that allows for doctors to be sued civilly and criminally for violating the law. On Tuesday, the bill passed with the amendment in the State Senate and is heading to Governor Brian Kemp's desk, where he is expected to sign.

There was concern expressed that the bill did not ban puberty blockers.

Fox5Atlanta reported that Governor Kemp signed the bill on Thursday and said, in a statement, "...as elected leaders, it is our highest responsibility to safeguard the bright, promising, futures of our kids - and SB 140 takes an important step in fulfilling that mission."