Former solicitor general Ken Starr's new book, 'Religious Liberty in Crisis,' is an excellent and educational introduction to a complex topic, but fails to offer much reassurance. //

A federal lawsuit filed on March 29 against the U.S. Department of Education cites 33 current and former LGBTQ students at federally funded Christian colleges and universities for what the nonprofit Religious Exemption Accountability Project refers to as “unconstitutional discriminatory policies.”

According to the class-action suit, the religious exemption status of the 25 listed schools allows them to maintain discriminatory policies while receiving government funding. This suit, perhaps intentionally, follows the recent passage of the Equality Act in the House — effectively adding gender identity and sexuality to the groups protected under the Civil Rights Act — which is now with the Senate.

The lawsuit and the bill represent a significant escalation of attacks on religious liberty within the first 100 days of the Biden administration. Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty, by former solicitor general of the United States, Baylor University president, and dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law is thus well timed. Indeed, Baylor is one of the 25 schools named in the class-action suit (perhaps surprisingly, Pepperdine, which also has strong evangelical chops, is not). //

Starr recognizes these threats to religious liberty. His practical suggestions to combat them are threefold: get elected, vote your faith, and become a genuine friend of freedom. However, those with antipathies towards many forms of Christianity and other religious traditions believe it is precisely those religions that are the opponents of true freedom.

What is more important: one’s religious belief, which many characterize as simply a subjective choice; or one’s racial, sexual, or gender identity, which many define as a biological given? Or perhaps even more sinister, what if American civil religion finds its fulfillment not in some generic Judaeo-Christian ethic, but racial, sexual, and gender identitarianism?

As Pecknold observes: “The ‘Great Awokening’ is an attempt to give civil religion some real doctrines, real moral claims on lives. It’s both a parasite on the old underdetermined civil religion, and a brand new, bolder civil religion.”

Federal American law and jurisprudence have never sought to coherently and consistently define what constitutes legitimate religion — apart from such acts as once demanding that conscientious-objector emanate from belief in a “supreme being” — largely because of the influence of disestablishmentarianism and indifferentism. Perhaps that worked when the majority of Americans adhered to a shared, coherent ethical and cultural framework that owed its character to Christianity. Those days are increasingly behind us.

Classical liberalism, its adherents often argue, is designed to accommodate all religions and none. But, says Pecknold, “this amounts to a non-answer which insists on toleration while the Woke Hierarchy establishes its church.”

In an America increasingly antagonistic to many traditional forms of religious practice, especially those who are suspicious of the sexual revolution, it’s worth questioning the strength of our legal and jurisprudential levees against the progressivist flood. As a person of religious conviction, I confess I have my doubts.

Communist persecution of religious practices is inversely proportional to how secure the ruling Communist party feels about their legitimacy and control of society. The more secure, the less persecution; the less secure, the more persecution. This is particularly true in mature Communist societies where the Communist Party has maintained control for decades (persecution is always used by communists early on to eliminate political enemies and gain total control and then relaxed as that control has been locked in).

That religious persecution in Communist China is increasing – especially of ethnic Uyghurs and Tibetans and the Falun Gong – might be an indication that the wheels are coming off for Xi Jinping. As the world finally begins to focus on the true origins of the ChiCom virus, as well as the extreme measures taken by the ChiComs to destroy and withhold medical data from other countries, the pressure for ChiCom accountability and restitution will continue to build.

By and large, members of my generation were raised in households with two parents, and we were taught how to deescalate and talk things out when problems arose. Today, that no longer seems to be the case.

We have a moral and social failing in our country that has caused an increase in mass shooters, predominantly young men. One has to pause to think about what’s different today from 30 or 40 years ago. It certainly isn’t guns, because it’s harder to get guns today than it was in the past, when you didn’t have to go through nationalized background checks. When I was growing up, you could purchase a firearm with no questions asked, yet we didn’t see so many mass shootings.

America’s young men are struggling with mental health issues or are broken and living in poverty with single mothers struggling to survive. Many of them are clearly crying out for help, and we owe it to them to listen. //

Another important facet of this dialogue is religion. I know we don’t often talk about religion these days, but it instills moral and ethical values that are key to a society’s success. It creates boundaries that inform us of what is good and what is bad.

Many of the greatest thinkers known to man have talked about the importance of morality and ethics for all civilized people, how they are key to a good life and setting boundaries against bad behavior. ///

God and the church are the answer that we are looking for to the ills of society

His active promotion of abortion means that he has excommunicated himself, the term is latae sententiae, from the Catholic Church according to Canon Law. The left likes to claim this is just Biden enforcing the “law of the land,” and as we have an alleged wall of separation between Church and state, Biden is just doing his job. This is just bullsh**. Since entering office, Biden has acted to expand abortion by his abandonment of the so-called Mexico City policy. This is a willing and affirmative act that knowingly increases the number of aborted babies.

Likewise, Biden’s minions have moved to attempt to overturn a court decision that held that doctors could not be forced to perform sex-change operations against their will. I don’t know why anyone would want to try to force a doctor to do such a thing…you might emerge from the process with excess parts stapled to your forehead…but you know how these people roll, right? Here is a thread with more detail.

Luke Goodrich
@LukeWGoodrich
#BREAKING: The Biden Admin just filed an appeal seeking to force religious doctors and hospitals to perform potentially harmful gender-transition procedures against their conscience and professional medical judgment. This is bad for patients, doctors, and religious liberty. 1/
3:54 PM · Apr 20, 2021

https://mobile.twitter.com/LukeWGoodrich/status/1384596304148398080

Like with abortion, this is not merely the enforcement of something that just happens to exist and which can’t be changed by a president that also violates the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Canon Law, this is Biden aggressively acting to impose policies that did not exist upon the nation of his own volition. //

Allowing Biden to continue to receive Communion while not merely supporting abortion and transgenderism, and homosexual marriage but actively promoting them and sending out his goons to proclaim him to be a devout Catholic is wrong. It is not wrong from a political stand point, it is wrong from a pastoral point of view. Every time Joe Biden steps up to receive the Eucharist he is showing the world that some Catholic bishops believe that there are one set of rules for the mopes in the pews who pay the bills and another set for the Very Important People who send billions of tax dollars to Church causes.

The court does not exist to have its reputation protected. It exists to uphold the Constitution, something Roberts should probably become more acquainted with. //

Adam Liptak
@adamliptak
Justice Kagan, dissenting: "The law
does not require that the state equally treat apples and watermelons." //

In other words, Kagan believes the state can have completely arbitrary, discriminatory rules which reward certain sectors while cracking down on religious gatherings. Movie sets with cafeteria tents are fine. Black Lives Matter protests are gravy. But having your neighbor over to pray for you? Kagan believes the state can send you to jail for that based on its own whim. It’s tyrannical, but we are at a point where nothing surprises me anymore. //

Refr
2 hours ago
Funny that a man so concerned about the SCOTUS's reputation and legacy has done for more damage to both since he's been on the bench. //

mlmorrison44
2 hours ago
One small step from--
Justice Kagan, dissenting: "The law does not require that the state equally treat conservatives and progressives. //

acrucesalus mlmorrison44
2 hours ago
Apples and watermelons. Does that also mean the state also doesn’t have to treat blacks and whites the same? Or Asians and Hispanics the same? How about people with disabilities? Can they be treated differently from non-disabled? Not to mention the sexually confused vs heterosexuals.
What is that meme every love loves so much? It’s settled law? Until it isn’t apparently.
These justices have as much sense as a watermelon.

Contemporary megachurch-style worship is a self-worshiping, self-referential, nearly auto-erotic pursuit. //

Reader Heidi, in a comment on my post 8 Reasons the Worship Industry Is Killing Worship, frames the problem exceptionally well:

I think the phrase masturbatory worship is very apropos. There is often a lack of community, of recognition or responsiveness to the others present; and a strong prioritization of my personal experience and preference–indeed, a genuine selfishness– in worship rather than the give-and-take that belongs within the communion of saints, the Body of Christ. Christianity is relational–us with God in Christ; us with others, united in Christ. The minimally interactive, highly sensual nature of modern praise worship is not relational in the same way; and in a way, intentionally so–relationships are hard work.

Obviously when one masturbates, the chief end is the pursuit of ones own pleasure. Likewise, the contemporary worship movement, with its jettisoning of biblical, historic, liturgical elements of worship in favor of commercial pop music, has drawn an understanding of worship that is little more than a personal pursuit of pleasure through emotion and self-actualization. “Worship sets” of jesusy power ballads, aimed at carrying the individual away from the corporate body on waves of emotional euphoria, have replaced true worship, in which God is present with us in Word and Sacrament.

Chaplain Mike of the fabulous Internet Monk blog talks about such masturbatory worship this way:

It is designed to be “an experience” for me, not a thoughtful expression of obeisance to God.

It does not enable me to consider my duty to respond to God in daily life, but rather fools me into thinking this wave of emotion I’m feeling is the proper response to God. //

The masturbatory worship they hold dear is merely a narcissistic journey to nowhere, one in which we are left crowning our own individual selves as lord of all. We’ve already been told that we are like sheep, each one wandering its own way. The church’s historic liturgy presents us corporately with the solution. Masturbatory worship proclaims a subjective gospel, a situational Christian ethic, and a selfish mission.

Chaplain Mike again:

Commercialized, formulaic, self-centered “worship” is as far from what that word is supposed to signify as possible.

Where are the pastors, artists, and wise leaders who will move us toward maturity? Who will get us to stop playing with ourselves and grow up so that we can truly love God and our neighbors?

Joseph Bottum has proffered the thesis that the decline of the mainline is the central story of the past fifty years in America. Mainline Protestantism had, until recently, played a central role in shaping the moral framework of American society; its decline has left a vacuum which has been filled by religious-like forces. Those forces are not directly related to any branch of Christendom and are not necessarily oriented to a supernatural destiny. Rather, Wokeness seeks religious meaning in immanent realities; it locates the sacred within this world. This constitutes it, according to the recent study by Steven D. Smith, as a form of neopaganism. //

https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Age-Post-Protestant-Spirit-America/dp/0385518811

Wokeness is thus neopagan. Its adherents are not mere disenchanted, logical positivists, but rather passionate believers who have found deep meaning, existential assurance, moral superiority, and self-transcendent purpose by opposing dark, mystical forces which wage war on modern society. The sacred are the innocent victims of pernicious social forces and salvation consists in demonstrating one’s own innocence and purity by awakening to these realities, feeling moral indignation, and opposing them—largely through the mechanisms mentioned above of denouncing, shaming, and scapegoating others who are “complicit” in the various purported systems of oppression. Conciliation is not really in sight and a tenuous unity is secured by shared indignation at transgressors in this Manichaean vision which cleanly identifies good and evil along group lines. Mere humans are envisioned as the source of evil and thus these humans constitute the proper scapegoats to appease societal wrath and bring about social harmony. //

ConclusionIn a world which was shaped by a Protestantism that, up until recently, provided a unifying moral framework for our nation, Wokeness fills a void and has a certain appeal to Protestants themselves and their fellow citizens. As Tom Holland has persuasively argued, we cannot shake Christian categories and conceptions in the West, but their meanings can shift. Wokeness meets a religious need by mimicking a Protestantism that our society has largely left behind. The religious energy and concern is narrowed to this-worldly realities, and thus can be identified as neopagan.

Biden can’t even hold to the most basic of tenants of his religion. That doesn’t make it him observant. It makes him a heretic if you want to get technical. There is no such thing as “liberal” Christianity. //

Biden may wake up on Sunday and listen to a sermon, but his actions and policy positions clearly show he’s not taking much of what he hears to heart. That’s his right in a free country, but no one should pretend he’s anything more than what he is.

This is a day of national shame and mourning for the tens of millions of slaughtered innocents sacrificed on the altar of inconvenience.

In Corn Pop’s White House, though, the mood was celebratory and triumphalist:

In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe. We are also committed to ensuring that we work to eliminate maternal and infant health disparities, increase access to contraception, and support families economically so that all parents can raise their families with dignity. This commitment extends to our critical work on health outcomes around the world. //

Cassie Smedile
@CMSmedile
Jen Psaki spins out of Hyde Amdt. & Mexico City question by saying Pres. Biden is a "devout Catholic".

Either Pres. Biden is about to be a very pro-Life President or Jen Psaki (and basically everyone else) needs to stop referring to him as a "devout Catholic"...! //

Joe Biden is technically a Catholic because he was baptized into the Church. Beyond that accident of history, there is no possible measure that would indicate that Joe Biden is Catholic. Biden has long been a hardcore fan of infanticide, the support of which brings with it automatic ex-communication Latae sententiae:

Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,”77 “by the very commission of the offense,”78 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.79 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society. //

Biden pimping transgenderism, openly endorsing homosexual marriage and claiming that abortion is a legitimate therapeutic procedure all the while claiming to be Catholic certainly has the ability to lead some people to believe that he is correct.

One of the key findings is that Americans believe “religious identity cannot be quarantined.” In other words, “Religion is part of who Americans are, not just something they do. Respondents support protections that reflect the reality of religious identity.”

Among those surveyed, 60% agree that religion is a “fundamental part of ‘who I am’ and should be protected accordingly.” This finding explains a core conflict between local and national political leaders and people of faith during the ongoing quarantine. //

The concept of religion as an identity, rather than as an activity or hobby, must seem very foreign to many public officials, which would explains why, throughout this past year, they repeatedly treated churches like nonessential businesses, or, as in the case of some states such as Nevada, seemed to treat churches even worse.

PM Notes is a blog and online resource from the desk of Pastor Matt Richard. Its current readership is around 15,000 pageviews per month. It is a catch-all page for sermons, articles, and notes.

The blog originally began as a result of weekly devotional thoughts, called PM Notes that were sent out to parishioners through email. After the challenges of keeping email addresses up-to-date, the complications of spam filters, and the plethora of devotions, it was decided to compile all the material into a centralized location. Through time, the blog developed into a catch-all website. That is to say; the blog has expanded to include archive pages that host several hundred articles, teaching sheets, vblogs, and other various resources, as well as a podcast archive with interviews and sermons.

Two-thirds of Americans think that "internal religious disputes" and decisions about who to employ in religious teaching positions should be up to religious organizations, not the state.

Two women, one old and one young, were the first to welcome and praise the Savior of the world. Two paintings show the beauty of these wondrous events. //

His teaching and followers across the globe radically transformed world culture, toppled great powers without ever firing a shot, established the world of humanitarianism and accessible medical care for commoners, inspired the scientific method, and enlivened the world movements for justice, human dignity, and individual freedom. He literally divides history and is responsible for the founding of the largest, most diverse collection of people around some basic ideals. //

We read in Luke 1:41-44:

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

This is a major event in Jesus’ story and thus the Christian church, but we seldom appreciate it as such. It is the first time Jesus is both proclaimed and worshiped as God! //

Elizabeth proclaims the blessedness of Jesus and his mother. The simple but world-changing confession, “Jesus is Lord,” was the first and most basic way Christians began to proclaim their faith and greet one another in the church’s early years. It was the first Christian creed, and Elizabeth was the first to proclaim it, long before Christmas morning. Think on that for a moment.

The second greeting is even more incredible and speaks to an intimate relationship in the Savior’s life. Baby John leaps for joy, literally, at the coming of the Savior. He does so as a child in the darkness of his mother’s womb. (Yes, Christianity has profoundly strong words for the humanity and dignity of the unborn child in John and Jesus’ remarkable in utero contribution to the good news.) //

Humble motherhood and the intimate bond only mothers can share is the human font of the Christian story. //

To be sure, the Christian church, which is often incorrectly charged with being sexist by people who know little of its actual story, is founded upon two women being the first to welcome and praise the Savior. (Remember as well, it was a small group of women who announced the “second birth” of the Savior, if you will, at his resurrection.) What other major faith or philosophy has women playing such a significant role in its founding? I cannot think of one.

There is a major struggle going on right now over the fate of religious freedom in this country. It is safe to say that the left is actively hostile to religion once it leaves the doors of the church (many are hostile even before then but I’ll give the entire mob of them the benefit of the doubt) and they have adopted FDR’s obscene Freedom of Worship... //

This is the kind of whistling past the graveyard that drives me nuts. This decision was not a victory for religious liberty, rather it simply ratified a roadmap for zealous anti-Christians to stamp out religious liberty. A better ruling would have hammered home that an organization cannot be forced from the public square because of its beliefs. What this ruling did was put the bigots on notice that they have to find other reasons, that they have to keep their meetings private with no minutes taken, that they can’t actively appeal to anti-religious bias.

In short, rulings like this simply point people like Nessel to how white politicians in the South after Brown vs. Board of Education worked to keep black Americans from voting, from holding jobs in certain professions, and to keep schools segregated despite the Supreme Court rulings. We’re not done here. Not by a long damned shot. We’ll have to fight this battle again and again and eventually we’ll face people who aren’t idiots and judge who isn’t sympathetic.

As part of my collection of pro-and-con libertarian humor, I’ve shared some images of “Libertarian Jesus.”

There’s another perspective, of course. Many mainline protestant denominations have very statist political agendas, and there’s a “liberation theology” strain of Catholicism.

Some of these people even might argue that Jesus was a socialist. Back in 2009, I shared some excerpts from a skeptical column by Cal Thomas on this topic. Today, let’s take a deeper look.

In a video for Prager University, Larry Reed looks at the Bible to determine whether Jesus was a socialist.

I’m certainly not an expert on theology, but I definitely liked Larry’s point about the warning against envy in the 10 Commandments.

After all, “Thou shall not covet” certainly seems inconsistent with class-warfare policy.

Let’s see what others have written on this topic.

Yesterday’s column weighed in on the debate whether Jesus was a socialist.

Like Cal Thomas, I don’t think the Bible supports coercive redistribution by government.

Today, let’s look at the same issue, but from a humorous perspective.

For those on the other side of the debate, Socialist Jesus has a very efficient mechanism to collect alms for the poor.

For the past two weeks, a Christian hymn has been cropping up in an unlikely place - the protests that have drawn millions of people on to the streets of Hong Kong.

"Hallelujah to the Lord" has become the unofficial anthem of crowds protesting against a controversial proposed law that would allow people accused of crimes in China to be extradited to the mainland.

For Christians in Hong Kong, the hymn is a sign of faith but also of their concerns that it's not only political but also religious issues that are at stake, should the bill ever pass.

The protests were already under way when the tune first started being sung.

But on 11 June - a day before the protests turned violent - a group of Christians holding a public prayer meeting through the night started singing Hallelujah to the Lord.

The hymn was picked up by other protesters - soon even non-Christians were singing it.
The protesters said they sang it hoping it would have a calming effect on police, and would help diffuse tensions.

The song also acted as a political shield, of sorts.

"According to the law, any religious assemblies in public areas are not considered as illegal, so if people sing hymns together, it could actually work as a protection and guarantee that [they] stay safe," said Mr Chow.

"Therefore people started to sing this song to protect themselves."

Ghana's chief imam is a man of few words, but the 100-year-old Muslim cleric certainly knows how to make waves - by attending a Catholic Church service as part of his birthday celebrations.

Pictures of Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, sitting attentively in the pews of Accra's Christ the King Catholic Church for an Easter service, went viral on social media.

The grand mufti, leader of Ghana's minority Muslim community, wants to ensure that his legacy is peace - the fruit of inter-faith harmony.
Image caption Sheikh Sharubutu (in green) attended the Easter Sunday service

His church attendance was given even more resonance as on the day he was being pictured alongside parish priest Father Andrew Campbell, Islamist suicide bombers unleashed attacks in Sri Lanka, killing more than 250 people at churches and hotels.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, 29/03/19 09:43 | updated: 09:41

[טוויטר]
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
Rabbi \Mirvis is the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom. He was formerly Chief Rabbi of Ireland.

The fact that this week’s parasha is called Shemini, which means ‘the eighth’, issues an invitation to us to answer this question.

In Kabbalistic teachings, the number six represents the natural world. Hashem created our world in six days, and therefore we work on six days. The number seven represents the perfection of people. On the seventh day we celebrate Shabbat which is known as “M’ein Olam Haba” – the closest we can come in this world, to the perfect spirituality of the world to come. The number nine represents Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu, it is the divine number.

In maths, quite extraordinarily, a number can only be divided by nine if its digits add up to nine, or a multiple of nine. For example, in the number 459, 4+5+9 = 18 which is a multiple of 9, and therefore we know it is divisible by 9. It shows that 9 fits perfectly into the world around it, and that is a description of Hashem.

At the end of the Shema, we conclude the words “Hashem Eloheichem” – the Lord your God, but we always add the word ‘emet’ onto it which means truth. That is because the Talmud teaches us “chotamo shel HaKodesh Baruch Hu emet”, the seal of God is truth. The gematria of the word ‘emet’ adds up to 441, which is 4+4+1, which equals 9, indicating that the truth of Hashem is represented by the number 9.

So if seven represents the perfection of people, and nine represents Hashem, eight represents the bridge, connecting us with our creator.

That is why a baby boy has his ‘brit milah’ through which he establishes a covenant between himself and Hashem on the eighth day.

That is why the festival of Chanukah is eight days long when we recall the divine intervention which saved our people.

And that is why between Pesach and Shavuot for a period of 7×7 days we prepare ourselves for the re-enactment of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Once we reach that number 49, we are prepared for the festival of Shavuot, which takes places at the beginning of the eighth week, reminding us of that ultimate revelation when Hashem appeared to us, and of the first two of the ten commandments. He delivered them directly to us – the ultimate bridge between Heaven and earth.

Now we can understand our parasha, “vayehi b’yom hashemini” – and it came to pass on the eighth day – once the Mishkan (the sanctuary in the wilderness) had been completed, and the altar was there to be dedicated, for seven continuous days the people offered sacrifices with no response from God, but after those seven days, “va teitzei aish min ha Shamayim” – on the eighth day, fire came from Heaven and consumed the animal on the altar – there was that connection between Heaven and earth.

The number eight is a special number which issues a call to us. Let us embrace the natural world represented by the number six. Let us strive to reach our greatest potential for perfection, represented by the number seven. And in that way, may we merit to live up to the aspirations of the number eight, to feel the presence of Hashem in our lives and to enable Him to bless us always.

Shabbat Shalom.