On Sunday, President Trump made an unannounced visit to McLean Bible Church where David Platt, one of the most well known and respected pastors in American evangelicalism prayed for the president.
Politics aside, for Christians, we are called to pray for our leaders.
President Trump did not make any public remarks at the church service.
Franklin Graham had called on American pastors to make today a special day of prayer for the president. (more…)
An independent council released a report yesterday, regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, a megachurch in suburban Chicago. Hybels stepped down last spring, a few weeks after the sexual misconduct allegations against him were made public. (more…)
The senate voted on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act today. It was a bill that would have required medical care for babies who survive failed abortion attempts.
This bill should not be controversial. It should have 100 votes.
It didn’t need 100 though. It needed 60. And the bill couldn’t even get that. In a heavily partisan issue, the bill failed, receiving only 53 votes. (more…)
A Christian organization at the University of Iowa had a legal win this week.
The University of Iowa has a human rights policy to which it holds registered student organizations. In this policy, it disallows students organizations from treating people different based on: “race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual.”
But several student organizations require that leaders and members adhere to traditional Christian values, which includes abstaining from sex outside of marriage as well as not engaging in same-sex relationships.
This week, a U.S. District Court ruled that the university cannot revoke the recognized status of registered student organizations who uphold Christian principles. This specific suit was brought by Business Leaders in Christ. In 2017, an openly gay student was denied a leadership position in BLinC.
Recognition of the university matters for several reasons: it allows an organization to participate in various university functions, it allows the organization to use campus space for meetings, it makes an organization eligible to apply for various types of university funding, among other benefits.
This is a win for all of the Christian organizations on campus. The university was selectively discriminating against faith-based organizations. All sorts of registered student organizations violate the Iowa policy, and are still allowed to exist. You have fraternities which only allow men, sororities which only allow women. Iowa has a registered Chinese student organization, which is only open to Chinese students. There’s a women’s a cappella group that only allows women.
But many people in our society hate the moral beliefs of Christianity, and so Christian groups are an easy target.
Gong forward, I fear that this is something we will continue to see: trying to overrule Christian values and Christians trying to live out those values by attempting to supersede Christian organizations and institutions with discrimination laws.
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Truth matters. Or at least, it should.
