The 3 - February 6, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes secretive efforts by schools to promote so-called "gender identity" and hide from parents the gender issues their children are experiencing.  Also, a new bill in a Midwestern state would prevent boys from participating in girls' sports. And, a delivery driver in Florida who declined to work a scheduled shift on religious grounds has been rewarded a financial settlement. 

Schools' secret gender conditioning produce lawsuits

When young people are in positions where education officials promote their exploration of a "gender identity" other than their biological one, that is certainly a problem.  And, when they keep it a secret from their parents, that is even worse.

Consider the instance from Florida, where the parents of a 12-year-old girl are suing the Clay County school district, alleging that, according to The Hill, "their daughter’s mental health and gender identity struggles were concealed from them for months by school officials." The article states:

The parents say a school counselor conducted “secret” therapy sessions with their daughter regarding her alleged gender dysphoria, which the Perez’s were only made aware of following their daughter’s first suicide attempt.

On two separate occasions, the young girl, who has not been named because she is a minor, tried to take her own life by hanging herself in a school restroom.

The father said on Fox News that the secretiveness was because of their religious stance. He told Laura Ingraham: "The counselor had secret meetings with our daughter about gender. She was groomed to something that she’s not, and she was encouraged..."

The Hill says the school denies the allegation.

Then, you have an instance in California, reported on by Christian Headlines, in which a parent has filed a lawsuit, alleging that her 11-year-old daughter was inappropriately influenced by a school about her sexuality. The girl, referred to in the suit as "A.G.," met with teachers and, as it's alleged: 

“At these meetings and in other discussions,” the teachers “planted the seed in A.G.’s mind that she was bisexual,” the suit says. “That idea did not originate with A.G. In fact, she did not fully understand what that term meant.

“Shortly thereafter,” the teachers “planted the seed in A.G.’s mind that she was transgender. As with bisexuality, that idea did not originate with A.G., nor did A.G. fully understand what it meant.”

A counselor also supported what the girl was being told by the teachers. The girl was allegedly, according to the story, "recruited" to "join an LGBT Equality Club." The Center for American Liberty, which is representing the parent, stated in a news release: “Parents absolutely have a right to know what is being taught in their kids’ school, especially with respect to sensitive issues like gender and sexuality,” adding, “... But parents are denied that right when activist teachers think they know better and intentionally hide information from moms and dads.”

South Dakota bill would limit male participation in girls' sports

The state of South Dakota has joined other states in implementing a law that would prevent biological male athletes from participating in girls' sports.  CBN News reported that South Dakota joins 9 other states, including Alabama, in passing similar legislation.  Governor Kristi Noem stated in a bill-signing ceremony: "This bill has been an important priority for a lot of the people behind me," adding, "And I appreciate all of their hard work in making sure that girls will always have the opportunity to play in girls sports in South Dakota and have an opportunity for a level playing field, for fairness, that gives them the chance to experience success."

It hasn't been an easy road to passage.  As the article notes:

Noem lobbied heavily for the bill this year after vetoing a similar ban in March of last year. She had issued a "style and form veto" that led to its demise, arguing that the previous bill contained flawed language that put the state at risk of litigation and retribution from the NCAA.

Later that month, she signed two executive orders that represented what she'd hoped the legislature would pass.

Last week, there was plenty of activity on that front, as CBN points out: 

USA Swimming released a new operating policy manual on Tuesday amid the controversy surrounding transgender athlete Lia Thomas' participation in the sport.

Before transitioning genders, Thomas competed for three seasons at the University of Pennsylvania as a man named Will Thomas, according to The New York Post.  

The article goes on to say:

The Washington Post reports 16 members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swimming team sent a letter to school and Ivy League officials Thursday asking that they not take legal action challenging the NCAA's recently updated transgender policy.

That new NCAA policy could possibly prevent Thomas from competing in the NCAA championships scheduled for next month.

Delivery driver who was fired for not working on Sundays receives settlement

A driver who works for a delivery service in the Tampa Bay area that delivers for Amazon had been fired because he would not work on Sundays, in order to participate in church services.  According to The Christian Post, he took his complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The article relates:

According to an EEOC statement, the delivery service had scheduled the employee for a shift on a Sunday even though he had made it clear earlier that he could not work Sundays.

The EEOC argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination based on religion and "requires employers to reasonably accommodate an applicant’s or employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless it would pose an undue hardship."

The delivery service has agreed to pay the driver $50,000 in a settlement, which was agreed to by a federal judge. The article also notes:

In addition to the $50,000 the delivery service will pay in relief, the company must also train staff to avoid religious discrimination and appoint a “religious accommodation coordinator.”

The 3 - January 30, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, focusing on three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes the announcement by a U.S. Supreme Court justice that he will be stepping down at the end of the current term.  Also, two sets of families who have been involved in operating bakeries received positive court rulings recently.  Plus, a Texas city has successfully resisted an attempt by the nation's largest provider of abortion to overrule the decisions of the voters to make their city abortion-free.

Justice resigns from high court, leaving dismal track record on life, marriage, better on religious freedom

The U.S. Supreme Court will have a vacancy later this year, as Justice Stephen Breyer announced his intent to resign last week. Breyer had been described as a "pragmatist," but his rulings and opinions show a justice who was not favorable toward the sanctity of life and marriage.  He was solidly regarded as one of the "liberals" on the high court. CBN News puts it like this:

Breyer, who was appointed to the high court by President Clinton, has been one of the more liberal justices on the bench, a staunch supporter of abortion.

The SCOTUS Blog highlighted Breyer's record, and while it did not include the Obergefell ruling on gay marriage, which Breyer supported, it did include a number of cases, stating that Breyer "...wrote for a five-justice majority in Stenberg v. Carhart, striking down Nebraska’s ban on a procedure the state referred to as 'partial birth' abortion."  When partial birth abortion came to the high court again seven years later, he was in the minority as the court banned the procedure.

The blog also noted, "in 2016, he wrote for the majority in another major ruling on abortion, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, that struck down two provisions in a Texas law that sought to regulate abortion providers in the state."  He was also in the majority for a ruling in a similar case out of Louisiana in 2020.

Regarding religious freedom, his record was mixed.  As the SCOTUS Blog points out: "On a single day in 2005, Breyer provided the pivotal vote in a pair of cases challenging public displays of the Ten Commandments. In one case, Breyer agreed with the court’s conservative wing to uphold the display; in the other, he sided with the court’s liberals to strike down the display." The blog also reported that:

Fourteen years later, Breyer joined Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion for the majority in American Legion v. American Humanist Association, allowing a 40-foot-tall cross, erected in a Washington, D.C., suburb shortly after World War I to honor soldiers killed in battle, to remain in a traffic circle. Breyer wrote a brief concurring opinion, this time joined by Kagan, in which he reiterated his view that “there is no single formula for resolving Establishment Clause challenges.”

Breyer was also an opponent of what is called, "court packing," designed to add justices to produce a certain ideological makeup.  

Bakers in U.K., U.S. receive court victories

Within the past month, two families in the same profession involved in similar court cases have received positive results.  One of those cases involves Ashers Bakery; the Christian Institute reported on the origins of the case, which began in 2014, when "Ashers Baking Co, a small bakery in Northern Ireland run by the McArthur family, declines an order by LGBT activist Gareth Lee for a cake iced with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’ due to the owners’ sincere Christian beliefs."

The Institute's website reported: "The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has thrown out Gareth Lee’s challenge to the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous 2018 ruling in favour of Ashers Baking Company."  The site goes on to say:

Let no one be in any doubt, this case was never about Christians versus gays. It was about freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.

Can equality law be used to compel people to say something with which they profoundly disagree? The answer from the highest court in the land remains clear – unanimously so – ‘No, it can’t’.

To a lesser extent, some court relief was rewarded to the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon - according to First Liberty: 

The Oregon Court of Appeals issued a ruling involving our clients, Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein. It reversed a decision that forced the Kleins’ family bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, out of business by penalizing them $135,000 for declining to create a custom cake for a same-sex wedding. The court also admitted that an Oregon bureaucratic agency acted with hostility against the Kleins’ religious beliefs.

But, the court apparently did not back down regarding its belief that the Kleins acted illegally. The legal organization's website quotes Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub, who said, “Oregon is trying to have its cake and eat it, too,” adding, “The Court admits the state agency that acted as both prosecutor and judge in this case was biased against the Kleins’ faith. Yet, despite this anti-Christian bias that infected the whole case, the court is sending the case back to the very same agency for a do-over. Today’s opinion should have been the end of this ten year long saga. It’s time for the state of Oregon’s hostility toward Aaron and Melissa to end.”  

The Kleins are planning to appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court and perhaps even to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had sent the case back to the Oregon court system for reconsideration in light of the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision.

Nation's largest abortion provider drops lawsuit against nation's largest sanctuary city for the unborn

Since 2019, over 40 cities across America have decided to designate themselves as a "sanctuary city for the unborn," where abortion is illegal, according to The Daily Citizen, a website of Focus on the Family. The largest such city is Lubbock, Texas, with "with a population of just over a quarter million," according to the website.

After being enacted, as the result of the approval of over 6-in-10 voters, the site reports, "Planned Parenthood immediately challenged the law in court, asking a federal court to issue an injunction blocking the law from enforcement. The federal court declined to issue an injunction because Planned Parenthood didn’t have the right to bring the case." Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, has decided not to appeal the decision.

The Daily Citizen notes:

Regarding the proposal’s legality, Right to Life East Texas explained, “The ordinance is structured in a manner similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act, which outlaws abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable but prohibits state officials from enforcing the law, instead authorizing private citizens to sue those who perform or aid or abet illegal abortions. By adopting this unique private-enforcement scheme, the city of Lubbock made its ordinance immune from pre-enforcement lawsuits because neither the city nor its officials have any role in enforcing the law, so they cannot be subjected to lawsuits that challenge the constitutionality of the ordinance.”

The 3 - January 23, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, features coverage of the 49th annual March for Life in Washington, DC, in which thousands rallied and marched through the nation's capital to support life.  Also, the issue of transgender athletes is a concern among Christian groups, and the NCAA has addressed the topic recently. And, another court has ruled against mandating COVID vaccines, this time for federal employees.

Thousands brave cold and COVID to March for Life

After a year off from the traditional March for Life event, which was more of a virtual occasion last year, thousands came to the nation's capital to show their support for the sanctity of human life and the protection of unborn children, with marchers no doubt keenly aware that changes in abortion law could be implemented soon. Faithwire announced on its website:

Organizers say at least 50,000 people packed the streets of our nation’s capital for the 49th annual March for Life, and as seen on the CBN News livestream, the demographics of attendees varied greatly and included a significant number of young people.

Faithwire is a CBN website and offered the livestream on its home page. 

Its summary article about the march, which had the theme, "Equality Begins in the Womb," noted that a scheduled concert by Matthew West did not proceed due to his COVID issues, but Jordan St. Cyr provided the opening music.  

Several speakers were notable, according to coverage of the event, including Katie Shaw, a 36-year-old with Down Syndrome, Toni McFadden, founder of Relationship Matters, Lisa Robertson, wife of Duck Dynasty's Al Robertson, and Kirk Cameron.  The Faithwire story stated that Kirk said...

...that it was important that after this march, it was important to continue our marching orders for God, who is our “commander-in-chief” in the heavenly places. “His executive orders trump all executive orders,” Cameron said, before quoting Micah 6:8.

NCAA changes policy on transgender athletes

There continue to be attempts by biological males to participate in and win convincingly in female athletic events.  Some states, like Alabama, have passed legislation to prevent this practice.  And, now, the governing board of college athletics, the NCAA, has something new to say on the matter.

WORLD Magazine reports that:

Beginning with the 2022 winter championships, transgender athletes will need to document testosterone levels in compliance with their specific sport four weeks before the selection of championship participants. Eighty percent of Olympic athletes compete in collegiate sports first, and this brings the NCAA in line with the International Olympic Committee policy.

The WORLD article notes "College athletes previously only had to be taking hormone therapy to compete with students of the opposite sex."  Perhaps the NCAA was forced to act because the visibility of biological male swimmer Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania, who "was on the men’s team for three years but competed on the women’s team this season. Thomas, a man, broke several records, igniting controversy and calling attention to the NCAA’s policies."

Another WORLD article, from Mary Jackson, quoted from Linda Blade, president of Athletics Alberta and a coach and Team Canada heptathlon competitor, and the co-author of the book, Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial Are Destroying Sport. Jackson said that Blade "said she was working with multiple international women’s sports groups to form a united consortium to lobby for young female athletes: 'We are trying to organize and say, Who is going to be the female voice at the table?'"

Swimmer Erika Brown was referenced in the WORLD article. A recent ChristianHeadlines.com article stated:

Brown, a Christian, said the issue could be confronted while respecting individuals.

“I want to share something that’s been on my heart regarding what is going on in USA Swimming at the moment,” Brown wrote in an Instagram story, according to SwimSwam.com. “I believe that we are all God’s children, and we are called to love one another. I don’t want to create any hate, only speak up for what is right.

“We cannot allow transgender females to compete against biological women. A biological male goes through male puberty. Even when she has transitioned, she still has the physiology of a male. A few years of testosterone blockers and estrogen doesn’t change the fact that she will have more powerful muscles, a larger heart and greater lung capacity than a biological woman.

Another court ruling against vax mandates

COVID vaccine mandates have become problematic for a number of people of faith, including employees of a variety of religious organizations, some of whom were involved in the case regarding the business mandate from the 6th Circuit that wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court, that struck down the mandate over a week ago.

There have been other challenges to various types of mandates, including the attempt to force federal employees to get the vaccine. Liberty Counsel reported late last week about a ruling out of a federal district court in Texas, stating on its website:

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has blocked Biden’s shot mandate that required all federal employees to receive the COVID shot or face termination.

In Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden, Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown granted a preliminary nationwide injunction that covers all federal employees. Judge Brown wrote that the mandate would pose a substantial threat of irreparable harm over the “liberty interests of employees who must choose between violating a mandate of doubtful validity or consenting to an unwanted medical procedure that cannot be undone.”

In describing this mandate, Liberty Counsel noted "3.5 million federal workers were required to undergo vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead, unless they secured approved medical or religious exemptions."

And, FoxNews.com reports that federal employees requesting religious exemptions could be entered into an online database.  The story states:

Religious rights groups are calling foul about the databases.

"This is concerning because of the type of data that's being gathered," Ryan Bangert with Alliance Defending Freedom told Fox News.

Bangert is quoted as saying, "This data is being collected on a massive scale, and this is information about citizens' privately held religious beliefs..." The story also notes that, "Some of the databases also collect the vaccination status of all federal employees, not only those who said no for a religious reason." Fox reports that there will be a period during which comments from the public will be solicited prior to the databases becoming active. 

The 3 - January 16, 2022

Positive developments all around have emerged recently from courts at home and abroad, including the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to place on hold the implementation of the COVID vaccine mandate on businesses employing 100 or more people.  And, a former football coach from Washington state will have another day in court - the highest court in the land - regarding his termination because of his practice of post-game prayer.  Plus, a nurse in the United Kingdom has received a positive court ruling in her lawsuit against her former employer, who reassigned her because of her wearing a cross to work.

Businesses and other organizations, including Christian ministries receive vax mandate victory from SCOTUS

I have been tracking the progress, or lack thereof, regarding to so-called OSHA vaccine mandate, which was announced by the President last summer, implemented by the federal government months later, challenged in court, and dealt a decisive defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court.  The mandate would force businesses who have 100 or more employees, to require COVID vaccinations for those employees, who would then have to choose whether or not to receive the vaccine, to which many object, or submit themselves to testing and mask-wearing.  Some have chosen to depart from their jobs, either forceably or through resignation, because they do not want to submit to a government mandate.

Alliance Defending Freedom represented several ministry organizations in their fight against the mandate, which was set aside temporarily by one appeals court, reinstated by another, and challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. ADF's website quotes Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert, who said, in part, regarding the high court's decision to halt enforcement of the mandate: “The Supreme Court correctly concluded that the federal administrative state has no authority to treat unvaccinated employees like workplace hazards and to compel employers to carry out the government’s unlawful national vaccine mandate...," adding, "Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the mandate, we look forward to pressing forward with our substantive litigation on behalf of the clients we represent in the consolidated cases challenging the mandate at the 6th Circuit.”

The SCOTUS Blog, in its analysis of the court's decision, said:

Describing the mandate as a “significant encroachment into the lives — and health — of a vast number of employees,” the court emphasized that Congress must speak clearly if it intends to give a federal agency the authority to “exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.”

In this case, the court continued, Congress did not. It gave the Department of Labor the power to establish safety standards for the workplace, rather than “broad public health measures.” Although COVID-19 “is a risk that occurs in many workplaces,” the court acknowledged, it isn’t a risk that workers encounter simply by virtue of being at work – COVID-19 spreads virtually anywhere that people gather. “Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life — simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock — would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization,” the court concluded. And indeed, the court noted, the fact that OSHA has never adopted a similar regulation is a “telling indication” that the vaccine-or-test mandate exceeds the agency’s power.

The decision to stay the OSHA mandate was a 6-3 ruling.  In another ruling handed down the same day, the high court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, to allow a mandate for COVID vaccines for health care workers at facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding. 

Football coach fired for praying after games receives overtime at high court

In a case that has already reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was sent back down to a lower court, the former Bremerton, Washington football coach, Joe Kennedy, who had walked to midfield following the high school's games, will be appearing before the high court yet again.

First Liberty, which represents the coach, released the information late last week and stated:

Kennedy, a former high school football coach, is asking the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that allowed a school district to fire him because fans and students could see him take a knee in silent prayer after football games.

“No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public,” said Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty. “By taking this important case, the Supreme Court can protect the right of every American to engage in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of punishment.”

The stakes are obviously very high, as First Liberty notes: "The outcome could restore the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and strike a serious blow against a bad legal precedent that’s harmed religious liberty for more than 30 years."

Nurse who lost job due to wearing a cross necklace wins court case

A health care employee in the United Kingdom had a different sort of challenge from which she has emerged. ChristianHeadlines.com reported:

Mary Onuoha was a nurse employed by Croydon Health Services in 2018 when she was asked to remove a necklace that bears a small gold cross. Onuoha, who is Christian, refused, saying the cross is an important public display of her faith and that she had been wearing a cross since she was young. Her legal representative, Christian Legal Centre, noted that other medical staff were permitted to continue wearing jewelry even as she was told to remove her necklace.

Mary was then reassigned to perform "non-clincial duties." She later resigned and sued Croydon. The article states that...

...an employment tribunal sided with Onuoha, saying the hospital had “directly discriminated against and harassed” her.

“Wearing jewellery including necklaces was rife among the Respondent’s workforce,” a summary of the decision said. “Many doctors and nurses continued to do it even during the period in which the Claimant was being disciplined. This was widely tolerated by management.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, is quoted on the Christian Concern website as saying, “It is very uplifting to see the Tribunal acknowledge this truth. It was astonishing that an experienced nurse, during a pandemic, was forced to choose between her faith and the profession she loves.”

The 3 - January 9, 2022

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance to the Christian community, includes court action on COVID vaccine mandates, which are seen by a number of Christians and Christian organizations as government intrusion in trying to override personal conscience decisions. Also, a controversial statue at the U.N. that was considered to be a representation of an end-times villain, has been removed.  Plus, pastor across the U.S. are being called upon to speak on Biblical principles regarding sexual morality next week, as the result of a new Canadian law banning counseling about unwanted same-sex desires. 

High court hears vaccine mandate cases, lower courts put mandates on hold

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments related to the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate for businesses, as well as mandatory vaccines for health care workers in facilities receiving federal funds.  A FoxNews.com report shared these statements:

In early arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested that government officials had overstepped, with Roberts declaring that it is "hard to argue" that officials had been given the power to act by Congress. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also noted that Congress had yet to pass any type of vaccine statute.

"This is something the federal government has never done before," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The Fox website also reported that:

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor came under withering criticism Friday after she falsely suggested that upwards of 100,000 children in the United States are hospitalized from COVID-19, many of them on ventilators.

During oral arguments on the Biden administration's mandate on private businesses for employees to be either vaccinated or frequently tested, Sotomayor drastically overstated the number of young people who have fallen severely ill from coronavirus.

"We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators. We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators," she said.

After the Sixth Circuit lifted the stay on the vaccine mandate several weeks ago that had been put in place by the Fifth Circuit, a variety of plaintiffs, including Christian ministries, had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a federal district judge issued a ruling on behalf of Navy SEALS who had challenged the Administration's mandatory COVID vaccines for the military. On Monday, First Liberty announced that:

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas today issued a preliminary injunction, stopping the Department of Defense from punishing military service members who have religious objections to the vaccine mandate. First Liberty Institute filed a federal lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of dozens of U.S. Navy SEALs and other Naval Special Warfare personnel against the Biden Administration and the Department of Defense for their refusal to grant religious accommodations to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The press release quote Judge Reed O'Connor, who said: “The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.”

Also, this week, The Hill reported that the Sixth Circuit "upheld a decision to temporarily block a vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states...," stating that: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said in their ruling that they were denying a request by the government to stay an injunction on a vaccine mandate for federal contractors in three states — Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky — “because the government has established none of the showings required to obtain a stay.”

Statue dubbed "End Times Beast" at U.N. removed

It has been receiving some attention on Christian media, and a large statue on display at the United Nations has been removed. The Christian Post reported:

Weeks after it was first displayed on the Visitors Plaza outside the United Nations headquarters in November, the controversial “Guardian for International Peace and Security” sculpture many Christians likened to a biblical “End Times beast” is now gone.

Initial reports to The Christian Post suggested that the sculpture was removed from the Visitor’s Plaza in late December due to complaints from the public. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, explained, however, that the display was temporary and was removed as scheduled.

So why was this statue so controversial?  The Post goes on to provide a description, saying that Christians objected "...after the U.N. tweeted an image of the exhibit on Nov. 9, prompting references to certain scriptures in the Bible, including Daniel 7:2–4 which highlights a vision of beasts, representing governments; one of which is depicted with a body like a lion and wings like an eagle."  It also mentions that:

Christians also cited Revelation 13:2 which symbolically refers to a beast given power and authority by Satan. Further reference was also made to I Thessalonians 5:3 which speaks of the End Times when people will say, “There is peace and security,” only to experience unexpected ruin.

Canada set to impose ban on counseling those with unwanted same-sex attraction, American pastor urges pastors to preach on morality

This week, a new Canadian law is going into effect, essentially banning what is known as "conversion therapy," which is a pejorative name for counseling to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction.  When notified about this new law by a Canadian pastor, John MacArthur, Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church in California and speaker on Grace to You, heard on Faith Radio, issued a statement and a challenge.

ChristianHeadlines.com reported that:

MacArthur posted an open letter to “ministers of the gospel,” urging them to join in solidarity with Canadian pastors in preaching a sermon on sexual morality on January 16. MacArthur’s letter included a message from a fellow Canadian pastor asserting it is now “against the law to preach, teach, or counsel regarding God’s design for marriage and sexuality” in Canada.

MacArthur wrote: “Our united stand will put the Canadian and the U.S. governments on notice that they have attacked the Word of God,” adding, “We are all well-aware of the evil power and destructive influence of the homosexual and transgender ideology. Our government is bent on not only normalizing this perversion, but also legalizing it, and furthermore criminalizing opposition to it.” 

The 3 - December 26, 2021

Even though it was the week of Christmas, when we celebrate the best news of all, there were three major news stories that developed, that are included in this week's edition of The 3.  The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date for arguments regarding COVID vaccine mandates. Also, a major piece of legislation, that would force taxpayers to pay for abortion, still does not have the number of votes needed for passage.  And, all 17 missionaries in Haiti who were kidnapped by a gang are now free.

SCOTUS to hear vaccine mandate challenges in early January

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed down its ruling lifting a stay on the enforcement of the mandate on businesses of 100 or more employees to get the COVID vaccine, a number of companies, organizations, including religious organizations, and governmental entities made their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The high court has set a date to hear oral arguments on the business mandate, as well as mandatory vaccines for health care workers, on Friday, January 7.  The SCOTUS blog says:

Shortly after receiving the emergency requests last week, the court set a deadline of Dec. 30 for responses in both disputes. The decision on Wednesday to hear oral argument on the emergency requests came as somewhat of a surprise: It seemed more likely that the court would dispose of the requests with a brief order, as it normally does on the so-called “shadow docket.” Instead, and perhaps in response to criticism of the increased use of the shadow docket to litigate major policy disputes, the justices fast-tracked the cases for oral argument, as they have already done twice this year when fielding requests for emergency relief in the battle over Texas’ controversial abortion law and a request by a Texas inmate to have his pastor touch him and pray out loud during his execution.

Rejection of BBB prevents taxpayer funding of abortion

There are still not enough votes in the U.S. Senate to pass the Build Back Better Bill, thanks to an announcement by a key senator, but there are reports that negotiations will continue in order to pass the expansive bill, that includes federal spending on a number of programs - including abortion.

According to The Daily Citizen, a website of Focus on the Family, the bill, with a pricetag of almost $2 trillion, would "have exacerbated the federal government’s debt binge, and harmed families in the process." The article goes on to say:

The bill would have:

• Allowed taxpayer dollars to directly fund abortions.
• Mandated healthcare plans cover abortions.
• Provided “nearly $1.3 billion to help further indoctrinate and brainwash public school students with leftist propaganda, including critical race theory and dangerous gender equity policies.”

And, that's just a sampling. The article also states that "Focus on the Family President Jim Daly warned that the Build Back Better bill would have been an 'unprecedented grasp of government overreach' that would threaten to 'undermine the institution of the family on a number of levels.'" He noted that, “At the core of the debate over H.R. 5376 is government’s role in our lives...The authors of this legislation believe government is in the best position to solve our problems and improve our quality of life. In reality, government almost always makes things worse – borrowing and spending money it doesn’t have to try and fix issues it helped create in the first place.”

Remainder of Haiti missionaries held captive since October are now free

Early last week, the word came that the remaining 12 missionaries who had been captured in Haiti were free.  There was speculation that their captors had released them, but the sponsoring organization, Christian Aid Ministries, detailed a daring escape plan that catapulted the missionaries, including several children, to safety.

CBN News reported on a Monday press conference, in which ministry spokesman Weston Showalter related that, "The hostages were sensing God nudging them to attempt an escape," adding, "Over the time of their captivity, God gave various hostages a desire to attempt an escape."  He said that there was "much discussion and prayer," and that they came to the conclusion that it was time to go - on Wednesday, December 15.

The article continues by quoting Showalter:

"When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow, and quickly left the place that they were held despite the fact that numerous guards were close by," Showalter said. "In the distance, they could see a mountain feature that they had recognized and identified in the previous days. They identified this landmark before and they knew that this was the direction they needed to go. They also followed the sure guidance of the stars as they journeyed through the night, traveling toward safety."

“After a number of hours of walking, day began to dawn and they eventually found someone who helped to make a phone call for help,” he said, his voice beginning to choke. “They were finally free.”

The general director of Christian Aid Ministries, David Troyer, addressed the kidnappers in a statement: "You caused our hostages and their families a lot of suffering. However, Jesus taught us by word and by His own example that the power of forgiving love is stronger than the hate of violent force. Therefore, we extend forgiveness to you..." He added, "The hostages told you plainly how you can also be forgiven by God, if you repent. Our desire is that you and all who hear or read this statement may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Son of God, and the Prince of Peace..."

The 3 - December 19, 2021

This week's edition includes some really good news out of Haiti: a group of 17 people, consisting of missionaries and family members, has been released by the gang that had kidnapped the group over two months ago.  Also, a federal agency has loosened restrictions on "abortion pill," that had previously required it to be administered in-person - now it can be mailed and supervised by telemedicine. Plus, more court action on the federal COVID vaccine mandate, as an appeals court has removed a halt on enforcement that another appeals court had instituted.

Remaining kidnapped missionaries now free from Haitian captors

Just over two months ago, a group of 17 people affiliated with Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries was kidnapped by a radical gang in Haiti - this included missionaries as well as several children, one as young as eight months when the captivity began. A ransom demand of $1 million per person had reportedly been made.  The gang then began to release hostages, and up until last week, five had received their freedom. 

This nightmare scenario is now over. The Christian Post reported that all 17 have now been released. It quoted David Troyer, who heads Christian Aid Ministries, who said on Friday, "A U.S.-flagged plane left Haiti with the remaining freed hostages yesterday afternoon. Everyone, including the 10-month-old baby, the 3-year-old and the 6-year-old boys, seem to be doing reasonably well..."

The story said that Troyer did not indicate if a ransom had been paid, but he did extend forgiveness to the captors, stating, "We do not know all of the challenges you face. We do believe that violence and oppression of others can never be justified. You caused our hostages and their families a lot of suffering. However, Jesus taught us by word and by His own example that the power of forgiving love is stronger than the hate of violent force. Therefore, we extend forgiveness to you. The hostages told you plainly how you can also be forgiven by God, if you repent...”

At a press conference earlier today, a spokesman for the ministry said the remaining 12 hostages actually escaped, aided by looking to the stars:  The New York Times states:

Twice when they planned to flee, God told them to wait. But during the night last Wednesday, the group of 12 missionaries who had been held hostage for two months in Haiti put on their shoes and packed water in their clothes.

“They found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow and quickly left the place that they were held, despite the fact that numerous guards were close by,” Weston Showalter, the spokesman for Christian Aid Ministries, said on Monday, recounting the story for the first time at a press briefing.

They used a mountain as a landmark, and followed the light of the moon and “the sure guidance of the stars,” he said.

They zigzagged north and west for about 10 miles, carrying two small children, “traveling through woods and thickets, working through thorns and briers,” he said. 

Ultimately, they ended up finding someone who provided a way for them to phone for help.

FDA approves distribution of abortion pills by mail

The Food and Drug Administration has changed its policy to allow the abortion pill to be mailed to patients, a move that the pro-life research organization, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, says would "irresponsibly erode longstanding patient safeguards on the abortion pill, despite major U.S. and international research confirming that chemical abortion has led to a surge in emergency room visits and higher rates of complications."

Tessa Longbons of the CLI states:

“The FDA claims the abortion pill is safe, yet peer-reviewed research confirms a 500% increase in the rate of chemical abortion-related emergency room visits. The FDA claims that complications are rare, yet peer-reviewed research from the United States, Finland, and Sweden confirms the abortion pill has a much higher complication rate than surgical abortion..."

Franklin Graham, posting on Facebook, called the move, "Murder by mail," and posted a USA Today article; he wrote:

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life education and defense fund said the decision “will lead to more lives lost to abortion, and will increase the number of mothers who suffer physical and psychological harm from chemical abortions." This USA TODAY article says this is a “key move by the Biden administration” as the Supreme Court is currently considering possible new abortion protections for the unborn. Abortion supporters try to make it sound more acceptable and less barbaric by saying that it “terminates a pregnancy.” But medication abortions, as they are called, are just another way to deliberately end the life of an unborn child—and that should be called what it is—murder. Pray that the minds and hearts of people across our nation would be awakened to the great sin and heartbreak of abortion. And pray for our Supreme Court to make changes that will protect and value the most vulnerable among us.

Federal appeals court allows vaccine mandate to move forward

Just weeks ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor had ceased its enforcement of an order that forces businesses who employ 100 or more employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines. This came on the heels of a stay by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After that, future cases were consolidated by a lottery at the Sixth Circuit, which lifted the stay and allowed the mandate to be enforced.

In a press release, Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute, stated, “The Sixth Circuit panel’s decision to end the stay is outrageous and endangers the freedom of all Americans...Few are aware that, in addition to the President’s OSHA mandate being clearly lawless, its takeover of American companies also includes all religious organizations of over 100 employees. Our clients simply cannot comply with a government mandate that forces them to violate the conscience rights of their employees. The Supreme Court must act, or there will be a Constitutional crisis.”  The organization has request an Emergency Application, which was directed to Justice Kavanaugh, who is the justice responsible for the Sixth Circuit.

 

First Liberty and Alliance Defending Freedom were among organizations who filed appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court. Both legal groups represent ministries whose number of employees exceed the threshold. ADF's website says, "Friday’s decision by the 6th Circuit panel prompted ADF attorneys to seek a emergency relief from enforcement of the mandate—and seek the Supreme Court’s direct review—on behalf of their clients who would be required to force unvaccinated employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, be subject to weekly testing and masking requirements, or lose their job."

ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert states, "The government has no authority to unilaterally treat unvaccinated employees like workplace hazards akin to asbestos or toxic chemicals, or to compel employers to carry out the government’s unlawful national vaccine mandate. The profoundly negative effect of this upon those employers and the 80 million American workers who are impacted is just one reason the Supreme Court immediately should halt enforcement of the mandate,” adding, “The Biden administration’s decision to mandate vaccines through an OSHA emergency rule is the height of government overreach.”

Also, as the SCOTUS Blog notes:

On Thursday, the federal government asked the justices to allow it to temporarily enforce a vaccine mandate, with religious and medical exemptions, for health-care workers at facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Lower-court rulings have blocked the administration from enforcing that mandate in about half the states. The justices ordered the challengers in those cases to respond by the afternoon of Dec. 30.

The 3 - December 12, 2021

This week's edition of The 3 features some activity from the U.S. Supreme Court, which not only allowed a ban on many abortions in Texas to continue, but also heard arguments in a case involving a tuition credit program from Maine which apparently is not open to students at schools regarded as too religious.  And, church leaders in the U.K. are challenging a ban on what is termed "conversion therapy," which is the term that includes counseling, including Biblically-based counseling, that can help people resist and/or overcome same-sex attraction.

Texas heartbeat law will continue to be in effect, thanks to U.S. Supreme Court

The Texas law that would ban abortion in most cases following the time that an unborn baby's heartbeat is detected has been in effect since September 1, has drawn several court challenges, and thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, will continue to help save babies' lives in the state - perhaps as many as 100 per day.

The law had been challenged all the way to the high court shortly before its implementation and was allowed to go into effect.  It has been challenged in court by abortion providers and the current administration - the 5th Circuit had rejected the federal government's attempt to block the law, and it was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Just a few days ago, according to LifeNews.com:

The high court ruled that the Texas abortion businesses challenging the law can continue with their lawsuit, but the good news is the Texas abortion ban remains on the books and will continue protecting babies from abortion whose hearts have begun beating.

The Supreme Court voted 8-1, with Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, to allow the Texas abortion companies’ lawsuit to continue and the court voted 8-1, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting, to dismiss the Biden lawsuit against the ban. The Biden administration claimed it had the right to enforce the so-called “right” to abortion, but the Supreme Court disagreed.

So, there is still continuing legal action, but the high court has maintained its position not to interfere with the ban. In another development, according to LifeNews.com:

The high court also watered down the lawsuit the Texas abortion companies filed, saying they may sue state licensing officials, but not the state judges and clerks who are charged with handling lawsuits spurred by the law. That could severely limit their ability to stop the private enforcement mechanism behind the ban, which has saved thousands of babies from abortions.

The article quotes Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz, who said: “We are grateful that the Supreme Court practiced judicial restraint today and stopped the Biden administration’s pro-abortion campaign against the strongest Pro-Life law being enforced today. While we continue to fight for this policy in the lower courts, Texas Right to Life celebrates that the Texas Heartbeat Act will continue saving between 75-100 preborn children from abortion per day. The success of our efforts is embodied by each individual life that is rescued.”

High court hears arguments in case of Maine parents denied tuition credits for religious schools

The state of Maine has a program in which qualifying students can receive money for tuition for public and private schools - as long as those private schools are not deemed to be excessively religious, it seems.  That provision drew a lawsuit that ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Christian Post reports that:

The high court heard oral arguments for nearly two hours on Wednesday morning in the case of Carson v. Makin. The legal battle centers on a group of parents suing Maine over the limitations of a program that provides taxpayer-funded tuition dollars to parents residing in remote areas where there is no public school available for their children to attend.

The article goes on to say that attorney, "Michael Bindas of the Institute for Justice argued the case on behalf of parents, who described Maine's program restriction as unconstitutional 'religious discrimination.'"

The Christian Post quoted from Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub, who said: "The goal of the program is religious neutrality," adding, "We've never heard of a school that's anti-religious, a school that teaches that all religion is bad. But ... it's clear that such a school would not be religiously neutral." The article says:

Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked Taub, "how would you even know if ... a school taught all religions are bigoted and biased," noting that there was "no formal examination" into the curriculum.

Chief Justice John Roberts also expressed concern. The article states that Roberts "...noted that the Supreme Court has previously opposed allowing 'the government to draw distinctions between religions based on their doctrine.'"

Bindas said in his opening arguments on behalf of the parents: "Religious schools, after all, teach religion. Just as a soccer team plays soccer or a book club reads books...Yes, it is part of what they do; it is also part of who they are."

U.K. pastors fight ban on therapy to help people reject same-sex attraction

A ban on so-called "conversion therapy," which more accurately can be described as a form of counseling to help people resist same-sex attraction, could be mandated in a law set to go into effect in the United Kingdom, and over a thousand concerned church leaders have signed on to a petition in opposition to the proposed law.

As CBN.com reports:

According to Christian Concern, 1,400 pastors have signed a petition asking the government to strike down a proposal that would ban so-called conversion therapy.

If passed, the measure could prevent ministers from helping those with unwanted same-sex attraction and could even prevent them from sharing the Gospel.

"It should not be a criminal offense for us to instruct our children that God made them male and female, in his image, and has reserved sex for the marriage of one man and one woman. Yet this seems to be the likely outcome of the proposed legislation," the petition reads.

The article relates that "The UK government is currently accepting proposals on how to legislate the ban."

The article quotes Dr. Ian Paul, who is described as "a member of the General Synod of the Church of England," who said: "There is a real risk that pastoral ministry will be criminalized and that human rights, including the right to religious belief, will be trampled on."  He said that the definition of what is termed "conversion therapy" is "ill-defined."

Rev. Graham Nicholls, who is the Director of a consortium of churches in the UK called Affinity, said: "Those who are campaigning for the law, their stated aim is that prayers or any kind of encouragement to do what we would say the Bible is teaching in terms of sexual ethics, should be prohibited."

The 3 - December 5, 2021

This week's edition of The 3 includes analysis regarding the historic abortion case before the U.S> Supreme Court, in which oral arguments were held in the past week.  Also, there's another case of a non-profit organization sparring with Federal government; this time over the right of faith-based foster care agencies in three states to operate according to its religious principles.  And, Nigeria continues to be a hotbed of religious persecution, yet the U.S. State Department has just removed it from a list of countries that have troubling levels of such persecution.

Big-time pro-life implications for U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments

The U.S. Supreme Court conducted its oral arguments last week in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case out of Mississippi, where legislators had passed a law banning abortion after 15 weeks in most cases.  Even secular news outlets seemed to indicate that changes could be coming in abortion law in America.

CBN related: "Even though the high court's decision won't be known until June, a number of court experts think the justices gave some good clues as to how they're leaning. They think at least five conservative-leaning justices appear poised to uphold the Mississippi law that bans abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy. The justices could even take it a step further, which would mean overturning the national abortion mandate created under the landmark Roe case."

While optimism is present, the practice of prayer for the outcome is certainly of paramount importance. The CBN article said:

Writing for Christian Headlines, Michael Foust noted the two most outspoken pro-life Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito also asked questions friendly to the Mississippi law.

But Foust also reminded his readers it would take five justices on the nine-member court to uphold the Mississippi law and/or to overturn Roe. At the same time, he pointed to the despair from pro-choice advocates as a sign of how the arguments went. He cited a tweet by CNN legal expert Jeffery Toobin, who said, "If you believe that women should have the right to choose abortion, today's Supreme Court argument was a wall-to-wall disaster."

Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino tweeted about clues that could indicate a ruling against Roe. "Today the Court did a great job articulating its constitutional role: not to pick winners and losers on divisive issues like abortion, but to remain 'scrupulously neutral,' as Justice Kavanaugh said."

Justice Thomas, who has been an outspoken opponent of Roe v. Wade, laid down the gauntlet, as the justice known for being quiet during hearings spoke loudly. A Live Action article said:

Justice Thomas pointed out that there is no right to abortion to be found in the Constitution. It doesn’t exist. No one has the right to kill another innocent human being for any reason.

“Would you specifically tell me, specifically state, what the right is? Is it specifically abortion? Is it liberty? Is it autonomy? Is it privacy?” asked Justice Thomas.

Perhaps the most telling line of questioning was exhibited by Justice Kavanaugh; The Federalist noted that he asked plaintiffs' attorneys: “Why should this court be the arbiter rather than Congress, the state legislatures, state supreme courts, the people being able to resolve this?...“And there’ll be different answers in Mississippi, in New York, different answers in Alabama than California, because there are two different interests at stake, and the people in those states might value those interests somewhat differently. Why is that not the right answer?”

And, the article points out:

To the argument about stare decisis — the principle that the court should stick to its past rulings – Kavanaugh argued that “History tells a somewhat different story, I think, than is sometimes assumed.”

He listed a number of “the most important cases in this court’s history” that overruled precedent, citing Brown v. Board, Baker v. Carr, Miranda v. Arizona, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges. If the court had followed stare decisis in those cases, Kavanaugh said, “the country would be a much different place.”

Faith-based foster care agencies to lose religious freedom protections against LGBTQ "discrimination"

The script seems to be increasingly familiar: a non-profit agency that has enjoyed the freedom to operate according to its religious beliefs accused of discrimination and told by government officials it can no longer behave that way anymore.  That has happened in the instance of faith-based foster care agencies in three states.

The Christian Post reports that "The Biden administration is revoking Trump-era waivers from federal nondiscrimination law granted to faith-based foster care providers in three states..." Those states are Michigan, South Carolina, and Texas.

The article goes on to say:

The HHS statement contends that the waivers constituted a “blanket use of religious exemptions against any person or blank checks to allow discrimination against any persons, importantly including LGBTQ+ persons in taxpayer-funded programs.” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra justified the reversal of the “inappropriate, overly broad waivers” as necessary to ensure that the department is “best prepared to protect every American’s right to be free of discrimination.”

Sen. James Lankford tweeted out: "Biden’s HHS Secretary is again using the power of his office to attack people of faith who disagree with him. Yesterday he revoked waivers for faith-based children's service programs—this is outrageous. His policy will reduce options for kids in foster care," adding, "[Five] months ago the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that 'the refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment.'"

Nigeria off State Department watch list, but violence continues

I regularly see reports from the nation of Nigeria, where the violence of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen are a significant threat to citizens of that nation, especially Christians.  And, now, according to a report on ChristianHeadlines.com from Morning Star News, the U.S. State Department has removed the nation from its listing of Countries of Particular Concern.  The article states:

Nigeria was the country with the most Christians killed for their faith last year (November 2019-October 2020), at 3,530, up from 1,350 in 2019, according to Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List report. In overall violence, Nigeria was second only to Pakistan, and it trailed only China in the number of churches attacked or closed, 270, according to the list.

As the article pointed out, Nigeria is at #9 on Open Doors' World Watch List, up from 12th the previous year.  Plus, according to the International Christian Concern website:

The announcement falls after the release of ICC’s Persecutor of the Year Awards, documenting the top persecutors of last year, in which ICC named Nigeria as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom for Christians. ICC also released a report on the transgressions of the Nigerian government which has failed to adequately respond to the violence against Christians and even perpetuates the persecution in some incidents.

The Christian Headlines/Morning Star article quoted Christian Solidarity International President John Eibner, who said, "Removing this largely symbolic sign of concern is a brazen denial of reality and indicates that the U.S. intends to pursue its interests in western Africa through an alliance with Nigeria’s security elite, at the expense of Christians and other victims of widespread sectarian violence, especially in the country’s predominantly Christian Middle Belt region..."

That article led off with this statement: "Less than a week after the U.S. removal of Nigeria’s designation as engaging in or tolerating violations of religious freedom, Fulani herdsmen on Tuesday (Nov. 23) killed two more Christian farmers in Plateau state, and earlier 38 Christians were slain in Kaduna state, sources said."

Christian Headlines and Morning Star News also report that threatening letters have been sent to Christian leaders in parts of northwest Nigeria.  The story says:

A police spokesman said Zamfara State Police have beefed up security at churches and increased intelligence-gathering in response to the letters that warn Christians will be killed or kidnapped if places of worship are not shut down.

The article notes that, "Police said they are trying to determine who sent the letters, while area residents suspect Islamic extremists among Fulani herdsmen or members of Boko Haram."

The 3 - November 28, 2021

This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three relevant topics impacting the Christian community, includes the conclusion of a lengthy court case of a Washington state woman who bravely fought the good fight regarding religious freedom.  Also, California's highest court will be hearing a case involving the use of pronouns corresponding to so-called "gender identity," rather than biology.  And, new language being issued by the State Department affirms so-called "reproductive rights," and could be interpreted to mean support for abortion.

Action against florist in Washington State who declined to provide products for a same-sex wedding ceremony ends

The struggle for religious freedom for Barronelle Stutzman, a florist in the state of Washington, has ended, but not with the victory she had hoped; a story on the Alliance Defending Freedom website reports that after almost a decade, she "has chosen to retire so her beloved employees can run her business, Arlene’s Flowers. She will withdraw a pending petition for rehearing at the U.S. Supreme Court and make a payment of only $5,000 to the two men who sued her."

They sued her because she politely declined to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding ceremony. ADF said that man who had initially contacted her "...never filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office, which brought an unprecedented action against Stutzman because of news reports based on social media posts." The story also notes that the men did sue Barronelle "through attorneys with the ACLU."

The ADF website documents more of the process:

Stutzman asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take her case after the Washington Supreme Court ruled against her in June 2019. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the state high court’s ruling and ordered it to reconsider in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in another ADF case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The state court then issued essentially the same ruling. Stutzman again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the cases, but the high court declined to hear the case over the objection of three justices, resulting in her rehearing request.

The site relates that the "settlement agreement...ends a lawsuit brought against floral artist Barronelle Stutzman nearly a decade ago without forcing her to act against her religious beliefs or to pay potentially ruinous attorneys’ fees."

Top California court to hear case involving pronouns based on "gender identity"

The controversy over whether or not people who insist on being referred to with pronouns that contradict their biological gender will now visit the California Supreme Court, according to an article on the ChristianHeadlines.com website, which states that, regarding a law prohibiting what is termed, "misgendering:" 

The multi-faceted law placed new restrictions on long-term care facilities and was geared toward protecting LGBT residents – yet a section on pronouns has sparked major pushback.

The controversial section makes it unlawful to “willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.” Violating the law could subject the employee to criminal penalties, including fines and jail time.

This follows a court decision earlier this year on the law, which was signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2017. In the decision, "a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the controversial pronoun section of the law."

Administration inserts so-called "reproductive rights" into religious freedom report

Throughout our government, religious freedom protections are being challenged, and an article that was published on the Family Research Council and re-published at The Christian Post highlights yet another example.  According to author Arielle Del Turco, who has been a guest on The Meeting House:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reinstated an Obama-era addition to the State Department human rights report—reporting on foreign countries’ laws and programs regarding abortion and contraception. The new addendum to the 2020 report released in March now features sub-sections on “reproductive rights” in the individual evaluations of every member country of the United Nations.

The term “reproductive rights” is code for abortion, and its use in official U.S. human rights reports is inappropriate. A “right” to abortion is nowhere to be found in international human rights law; meanwhile, the right to life certainly is.

What are the implications? Del Turco notes, "State Department reports set the tone for U.S. human rights advocacy and are frequently referenced by NGOs and international bodies. The topics that the United States chooses to cover in these reports conveys to the rest of the world what the United States considers human rights and what type of human rights issues our foreign policy will prioritize."

She adds, "Instead of leveling the playing field, legalized abortion pressures women into viewing their children as enemies of their success. Abortion is not necessary to ensure equality—having equal protections and rights under the law are." She also writes, "Rather than monitoring (and by doing so, implicitly promoting) access to abortion around the world, the State Department should re-focus its efforts on addressing the truly pressing human rights abuses that are unique to women and girls."

The 3 - November 21, 2021

This edition of The 3 features the decision of the governmental agency in charge of enforcing the Administration's COVID vaccine mandate to abide by a court decision and halt further enforcement action.  Also, a Virginia teacher who spoke up about a proposed policy forcing educators to call students by their preferred pronouns has been exonerated.  And, it appears that religious freedom protections for federal contractors will be curtailed.

OSHA decides to wait out court action

The Biden Administration's attempt to force businesses who employ 100 or more to enforce mandatory COVID vaccines on its employees has been met with swift and strong opposition in the courts: from state governments to companies and even some ministries.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was the first to put the mandates on hold.  The National Law Review documented the progression regarding the Emergency Temporary Standard issued by OSHA, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor:

On November 6, 2021 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (based in New Orleans) issued a very short preliminary ruling “staying” implementation of the ETS pending further briefing in the court. Then, on November 12, 2021 the Fifth Circuit entered a long opinion in which it has issued a preliminary stay of the law.

In doing so, the court signaled in the strongest of possible terms that it was poised to find that the rule does exceed OSHA‘s statutory authority in several ways and is unconstitutional. 

The website announced that on November 17, "OSHA has suspended all activities relating to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending further litigation. However, this is still a temporary ruling and will be appealed, most likely all the way to the Supreme Court, which would make the final decision."

There are other cases making their way through the courts - for instance, the 6th Circuit has been designated to hear further challenges to the mandate, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Teacher returns to classroom with clean record

ADF also represents Tanner Cross, the teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia, who was suspended due to his public comments at a school board meeting in opposition to calling students by their preferred pronouns corresponding to their so-called "gender identity." He has had his record restored following a positive ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court, according to the legal organization's website, which says:

In settlement of the original claims that Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed on behalf of Leesburg Elementary School teacher Tanner Cross, the Loudoun County School Board has agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting it from retaliating against Cross for expressing his constitutionally protected views on the board’s transgender policy.

And, there's more good news, according to ADF: "As part of the settlement, the Loudoun County School Board also agreed to remove any reference to Cross’ suspension from his personnel file and to pay $20,000 toward Cross’ attorneys’ fees."  Court action will continue, though, involving other teachers in the district.  The website relates:

In August, the court allowed ADF to amend its original complaint to add new claims against newly enacted Policy 8040 and to include Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill and Smart’s Mill Middle School English teacher Kim Wright as clients alongside Cross. That portion of the lawsuit will continue against the board.

Federal agency to rescind religious freedom protection

Federal contractors may face a reduction in religious freedom as the result of a new proposed rule change, according to The Christian Post, which reported:

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a U.S. Department of Labor division, has proposed rescinding a federal contractor rule adopted under President Donald Trump in 2020.

The article stated, "In the proposed rule change, published in the Federal Register...the OFCCP argued that the Trump administration rule was too broad compared to previous administrations and ran afoul of discrimination measures governing federal contractors."

The Christian Post report goes on to say:

The Trump-era rule came in response to an Obama-era directive that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected employment classes governing federal contracts. Critics feared the Obama-era rule could put faith-based contractors in jeopardy of losing their contracts if their hiring policies don't comply with the federal government's interpretation of LGBT discrimination law.

Now, in an effort to prevent so-called "discrimination" on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, it appears the Department of Labor will now place greater scrutiny on contractors who claim a religious exemption from compliance.  As the Christian Post article points out, "Many religious organizations that contract with the federal government have required their staff to agree to statements of faith and conduct themselves in accordance with the organizations' statements of faith."

The 3 - November 14, 2021

This week's edition of The 3 includes court action involving religious protections against attempts to grant unique considerations to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Also, a federal appeals court has doubled down on its halt to the enforcement of the Administration's vaccine mandate. And, the governor of Oklahoma has stated that he has never directed the state's health department to begin issuing "non-binary" birth certificates.

Judge supports religious protections from so-called LGBTQ "discrimination"

The Bostock decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has had a chilling effect in the arena of providing considerations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; in that case, companies were ordered to protect the so-called "rights" of LGBTQ employees, even to the detriment of company policy.

But, what happens when a company owner's religious perspective is informing the policy?  Such was the case in Texas; as ReligionNews.com reported about one of the plaintiffs:

Braidwood Management Inc. does not employ individuals “who are engaged in homosexual behavior or gender non-conforming conduct of any sort,” does not recognize same-sex marriage or extend employee benefits to same-sex partners and enforces a sex-specific dress and grooming code, according to court documents.

Bear Creek Bible Church in Plano was another plaintiff. For both, according to the article: "U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth held that Braidwood Management Inc., which operates three Christian health care businesses in Katy, Texas, is exempt from LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act under both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act." The judge also ruled that the church "can fire or refuse to hire LGBTQ employees under Title VII’s religious exemptions."

Court reinforces its stay of White House vax mandate

Last week, I reported about the decision out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit placing a hold on the regulation from the U.S. Department of Labor forcing employees of companies who employ 100 or more people to either get the COVID vaccine or face testing requirements at the employee's expense. Some across the nation have faced termination as the result of vaccine mandates.

There have been statements from the Biden Administration urging companies to ignore the previous court ruling.  Last week, the court issued a stronger statement, according to CBN.com, which reported:

The three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that "a stay is firmly in the public interest" as the number of lawsuits against the measure increases.

"From economic uncertainty to workplace strife, the mere specter of the Mandate has contributed to untold economic upheaval in recent months," the 22-page ruling reads. "IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that OSHA take no steps to implement or enforce the mandate until further court order."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated on Twitter, according to the article:

"Citing Texas' 'compelling argument(s),' the 5th Circuit has delayed OSHA's unconstitutional and illegal private-business vaccine mandate. WE WON! Litigation will continue, but this is a massive victory for Texas and for FREEDOM from Biden's tyranny and lawlessness..."

OK Governor says non-binary birth certificates are not OK

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, in light of action by the state's Department of Health to add a so-called "non-binary" option to birth certificates, has declared that the practice will end in an Executive Order, according to an article at The Hill, which points out that:

The order mandates the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) to “cease amending birth certificates” in any way that is inconsistent with state law, and to “remove from its website any reference to amending birth certificates” that doesn’t align with state law.

Stitt further urged the Oklahoma state legislature to “immediately pass legislation that will clarify, to the extent necessary, that changes in sex or gender on a birth certificate, or a designation of non-binary is contrary to Oklahoma law.”

The article reports that the health department stated it is committed to upholding the law, as it sees it, which sets up a showdown in the state. The Hill notes that the governor had said: "I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period...," adding that, "There is no such thing as non-binary sex and I wholeheartedly condemn the purported OSDH court settlement that was entered into by rogue activists who acted without receiving proper approval or oversight..."

The 3 - November 7, 2021

This week's edition of The 3, featuring three stories of relevance to the Christian community, highlights court action regarding the Administration's mandate directed at many businesses in the nation, which would impact millions of employees.  Also, the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing an abortion case out of Texas this week.  Plus, there is a Christian faith element in the outcome of the Virginia statewide elections this past week. 

Court fight against vaccine mandate - round 1 goes to challengers

Just like clockwork, as soon as the OSHA guidelines were announced for the vaccine mandate to be slapped on employers who have 100 or more employees, plaintiffs, including states and business concerns, lined up to file suit, and within days, a federal court had already called a halt to the enforcement of it, at least until the cases can make their way through the system.

Round 1 goes to those who filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Epoch Times quoted from the order:

“Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate, the mandate is hereby STAYED pending further action by this court,” a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in the brief order.

The halt of the mandate, which was unveiled this week, is temporary as the case moves forward.

First Liberty Institute represented two large Christian ministries, and a press release stated:

First Liberty Institute petitioned the Fifth Circuit on behalf Daystar Television Network and American Family Association to review the mandate.

“We don’t live in a dictatorship where a President can issue an edict and take over all of the large companies in our nation and the lives of over 84 million Americans,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “The mandate is massively unconstitutional and violates statutory law as well. We’re pleased that the Fifth Circuit has stopped it from being implemented.”

The Epoch Times reported that "The case was brought by multiple businesses...; multiple individuals; and several states, including Texas, Utah, and Mississippi."

But the Fifth Circuit is not the only place where the action is. Alliance Defending Freedom reported on its website that in the 11th Circuit, it is representing two Christian schools and said, "The lawsuit—in which ADF attorneys represent the Christian schools, and the attorneys general of the states of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia represent their states as lead petitioners—will explain that the Biden administration lacks constitutional and statutory authority to issue the employer mandate, and that the mandate failed to meet the required procedural hurdles. In short, Florida and the Christian schools argue that the federal government cannot coerce individuals nationwide to undergo medical treatment, and it lacks authority to conscript employers to compel that result."  ADF's website also reported it has cases in the 6th and 8th Circuits.

High court hears arguments on Texas abortion law

You can expect the vaccine mandate to ultimately end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which had its hands full this past week with yet another appeal of the pro-life law out of the state of Texas, banning most abortions once the heartbeat of an unborn child is detected. The Director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, Mary Szoch, made these comments at the Supreme Court: 

"I'm Mary Szoch and this is my son, Joe. Joe is three and a half months old, and in four countries around the world, Joe could have been aborted right up until the moment of birth three and a half months ago. And sadly one of those countries is the land of the free--the United States. But not in Texas. Texas found a way to defend the unborn child in the womb. Texas found a way to say, 'the abortion movement will no longer prey upon our women and children.' And thank goodness, because the world could use a lot more Texans!"

Travis Weber, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Director of the Center for Religious Liberty of Family Research Council, wrote...

...the Court was merely examining two legal questions not directly related to abortion at all:

1) Whether the federal government (in this case the Biden administration Department of Justice) can intervene and sue over a state law like this, and

2) Whether a state can confer upon private citizens the authority to enforce a law like this, while barring the state itself from enforcing it.

The Supreme Court will decide these questions as it determines whether or not the Act can continue to be enforced while the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department can move forward.

Faith plays role in Virginia victories

This week, there was an election in Virginia, and despite claims by some that it was a vote that was representative of "white supremacy," the voters of the Commonwealth delivered a diverse slate for its top three constitutional offices, and GetReligion.org pointed out a Christian faith presence.

It referred to an article at the website, A Journey Through NYC Religions.  In its story on the Virginia elections, it stated (beginning with a reference to Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin):

Youngkin goes to an evangelical Episcopal church Holy Trinity Church and provides a retreat center for FOCUS (Fellowship of Christians in Universities & Schools), an evangelical outreach to prep school students. In UK Youngkin served on the executive committee of Holy Trinity Brompton (the home church of the Alpha course).

The GOP Lt Governor-elect Winsome Sears is an African American who headed a homeless ministry for the Salvation Army (as well as being vice president of the Board of Education for Virginia, an elected official, and a Marine).

Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares is a Latino Christian, a member of Galilee Episcopal Church, an evangelical leaning Episcopal church.

The writer of the article, Tony Carnes, who is also Editor and Publisher of the site, mused: "...underneath, I wonder. did the deep connections to the people in the pews and the balance and gentleness of the Spirit play a role?

Carnes continued:

Or as Youngkin put it with a bit of hyperbole and spiritualized metaphor in his speech last night: “A campaign that came from nowhere. But we were joined by neighbors and friends of all races, of all religions, of all ages, of all political ideologies, and it turned into a movement. This stopped being a campaign long ago. This is the spirit of Virginia coming together like never before.”

Youngkin's website states that he has served on the boards of Museum of the Bible and the Meadowkirk Retreat Center, which is apparently a center that is based on Christian principles. It also notes that has has been Church Warden at Holy Trinity Church.