Less than six months after President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified gay marriages, the Human Rights Campaign declared its first-ever “state of emergency” for “LGBTQ+ people.”
Why? Because of a supposed spike in “legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year.”
“More than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been signed into law this year alone, more than doubling last year’s number, which was previously the worst year on record,” the HRC says.
But look closely. Almost every single bill on the “assault” list is legislation designed to protect children from the omnipresent and increasingly aggressive “transgender” community.
The list includes things such as bans on doctors performing sterilization procedures or prescribing dangerous puberty-blocking drugs to minors. It includes Florida’s ban on public schools teaching children under age 9 about gay sex, and removing books from elementary school libraries that are too pornographic to show on local news programs. It includes protections for girls who don’t want to share lockers with boys (who claim to be girls) or be forced to unfairly compete in sports with physically dominant males. The list includes laws that prevent schools from “transitioning” children behind their parents’ backs.
It’s our guess that most people would view these sorts of measures as reasonable safeguards, not worthy of a “state of emergency” declaration.
Still, if we’re going to throw around such declarations willy-nilly, why shouldn’t Christians declare a state of emergency? After all, their case is probably as strong, if not stronger, than the Human Rights Campaign’s.
Across the country, Christianity is under assault, physically, emotionally and legally, with attacks often coming from the highest levels of government.
Here are just a few recent examples.
- In Reading, Pennsylvania, across the street from a gay pride event, Damon Atkins was interrupted by local police while reading a verse from 1 Corinthians 14:33 — “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace — as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people” — and then he was arrested when asserting his free speech rights. The event was caught on video and shared on Twitter.
- In Baltimore, two elderly pro-life protestors were brutally beaten for praying outside a Planned Parenthood clinic.
- In just the first three months of this year, there were 69 attacks on churches, including shootings, arson, vandalism, and bomb threats, according to the Family Research Council.
- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reports 260 attacks on Catholic churches since 2020.
- After pro-Christian ads ran during the Super Bowl, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (who is routinely touted as a future presidential candidate) tweeted, “Something tells me Jesus would not spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign.”
- Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois revoked licenses or ended government contracts for adoption services because they would place children only with married heterosexual couples.
- The University of California Hastings College of Law denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society.
- The Health and Human Services Department threatened to strip St. Francis Health System — a Catholic hospital system in Oklahoma — of its federal funding for refusing to blow out a sanctuary candle in its hospital chapel. It backed down after howls of protest.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers awarded the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — an overtly anti-Catholic drag-queen group — their Community Hero Award.
- The Education Department released a “guidance” document about prayer in schools that suggests “schools must rid religious messages from any student speech if the public school deems it to be coercive toward other students,” according to the Heritage Foundation’s Sarah Parshall Parry.
- A leaked document showed that the FBI had been targeting Catholics who attended Latin masses as potential terrorist threats.
- The Homeland Security Department awarded a “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention” grant to a group that linked the Christian Broadcasting Network and Turning Point USA, among other groups, with militant neo-Nazis. The Media Research Center, which uncovered this document, described it as “weaponizing a government-funded anti-terrorism grant program in an effort to destroy conservatives, Christians, and the Republican Party.”
- The Southern Poverty Law Center, which brands several mainstream conservative and Christian organizations as “hate groups,” recently added parents’ rights groups, many of them Christian-oriented, to its list.
Christians could also argue that these assaults are all having their intended effect.
While the number of young people who identify as “trans” has more than doubled in the past five years, the number who identify as Christian has steadily declined.
Gallup found that church membership fell below 50% in 2020. And a Pew Research Center report from last fall said that, based on current trends, those who merely identify as “Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades,” while those affiliated with other religions, or none at all, climb.
Just to be clear, we’re not advocating that Christians declare a state of emergency. Declaring something a “state of emergency” is little more than an attempt to cut off debate and characterize the other side of an issue as an enemy.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
You think American Christians have got troubles?
In England a woman was arrested by no less than six police for silent praying in the street.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/watch-outrage-as-woman-praying-silently-is-arrested-in-uk-street-taken-away-by-police-for-a-thoughtcrime/411506
It is sad to see such exaggeration here, as a dedicated Christian it is sad that church membership has dropped so much in the last 50 years but it is NOT due to efforts to protect our vulnerable citizens. Church membership has dropped largely because churches make young people very uncomfortable and they openly discourage membership from many people. Churches have concentrated on getting more money from members, building grand buildings and pilgrimage centers and paying ministers enormous salaries.
Many churches of numerous denominations and faith traditions have had terrible scandals where the leaders have abused children and members, until the last 20 years people were told that church leaders OF COURSE were the good people. Evidence that church leaders were abusive was covered up, leaders were moved around instead of being prosecuted. Why were these people NOT arrested? Because churches need leaders to bring in donations! Many churches have closed since the denomination could not supply leaders and those contributions go away.
Many churches have accepted women as pastors and leaders, those denominations that do not are shrinking. Many women have tremendous talent and drive and churches have ignored them and marginalized them for over a thousand years.
Many churches are now accepting the fact that gay people have been with us since pre-Christian times and have often been the foundation of many churches. We have developed science and art while they were pretending to not exist, what will we develop now that they are not pretending to be something that they are not?
Gaslight much, ex-GOP Texas? Geeez.
Well-said, brother. That word salad was not persuasive of anything but disguised antipathy for Christianity, and pro-the other side. Could see right through it, frankly.
Thanks to you and your pal, Mary, major denominations have been losing members for decades. Thanks to you and your pal, Mary, many young people are avoiding churches. Instead of asking questions you accuse people of gaslighting.
Thanks for NOT advocating to allow women to be pastors – this will drive people to more progressive denominations.
The Presbyterian church lost most of its membership after it started liberalizing, so I dont subscribe to your reasoning. Church membership wanes because there is too much flowery do-nothing sermons and corny worn-out hymns and not enough ‘meat’, that being in-depth bible studies, creationist studies, and true history lessons. They should stop preaching and start teaching. Arm Christians with useful information rather than host a weekly social club. As for you, I would suggest you give more consideration to what Jesus said in Matthew 7: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”, and “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”. Then ask yourself whether promoting the sanctification in the church of that which is called an ‘abomination’ by God is more important, so long as memberships grow, or the very essence of that broad way that leads to destruction ? Do this before judging us for not wanting to nullify what God said. He wrote the book. Its not our right to change it. Its not there to be pleasing to people. Only instructive. I would also avoid broad-brushing the Christian community. Those scandals mostly happened in the catholic church and is probably due to their refusal to allow priest to marry, which is not biblical (1 Corinthians 7, 1 Timothy 3-4).
Which “churches” are growing? Prosperity gospel, where they accept everyone. Joel Osteen is a good example The Southern Baptist Convention has just lost a big church when Rick Warren (very well known minister at Saddleback Church) quit because one of his assistant ministers is a woman. The Southern Baptists have also just had an enormous scandal about sexual abuse so it isn’t just one denomination. There have been Mormons also convicted of sexual abuse so it is many denominations.
Christians aren’t the only one’s who should declare a state of emergency…heterosexuals, White’s Constitutionalists, 1st and 2nd Amendment advocates and Conservatives are all in the crosshairs.
Why should Christians declare a state of emergency ever? Christians know that their Lord Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and earth, that he is truly the King of King and Lord of Lords. That there is nothing man can do to thwart God’s good and perfect will in the end. We know that He is the Lord of the chaos and calamity as well. Our response to trails and persecutions is to run the race, fight the good fight and persevere under theses things and he who perseveres to the end, yes even death, will win the crown of life (eternal life).
Most people don’t care much about anything other than their work, social media and other trivia and have no idea how far this coutnry has fallen into ruin. Some informed people have left mainline denominations that condone most anything and are a 501c3 corp. church/social center. Informed folks have chosen to meet in small groups, or home church w/ family or go online to fundemental pastors preaching solid Biblical sermons. Some can find these smaller independent church in the community near them. Others would have to travel too far. Nihilism prevails among the majority, so few to interact with nowdays.
It sounds like you are DONE with the USA and are ready to leave! We can come help you pack and get to the border.
I think Christians in the US are now becoming less and less accepted. We are now a third world country with no rights and religion is one of them. Muslims have all the rights that they want in schools, work places, public places etc and Christians are shut down or arrested. Does this remind you of other countries, like China, No. Korea to name two.
I am somewhat confused based on your title and then the final comments you conclude we should not declare a state of emergency. You also state that such a declaration would “characterize the other side of an issue as an enemy”. According to the Bible, those who reject Christ are enemies of the cross. I believe two factors have come together to create the perfect storm 1 – Satan knows his time is short and therefore has come down with great wrath. 2 – Christians are lazy. The least attended services in a church are prayer meetings and Bible study. And by the way, the least personal spiritual activities we do as individuals is pray and study our Bibles. We can pack the pews on a Sunday morning to get our weekly entertainment and spiritual exercise but do little the rest of the week to maintain true healthy spiritual growth. The church has become a sleeping giant and the Word says, judgement will begin at the house of God. We are getting what we have allowed.
It’s way past time to “come out of her”…meaning Babylon. As I read yesterday, we are under judgement and to stay in this twisted culture in any way means we are *in it*. The hour is late > just get out – say no – do not comply – just STAND!!!
It is interesting to note that in Great Britain the established Church is being rejected by many Christians as a result of the un-Christian attitude of prelates such as ex oil industry executive Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury – whited sepulchre par excellence who is less of a Christian than our cat – and head of the Anglican Church of England primarily as a result of his support for the Alphabet people and refusal to stand up to the “Religion of Peace”.
In fact in Great Britain there is a groundswell of support for the Evangelical flavours of Christianity, pioneered by but not restricted to the Christians of African ethnicity.
As far as this notion of a national state of emergency, it could be done, but would require a well-coordinated movement to circulate through the remaining faithful churches, enlisting Christians to take action. But what action ? I envisioned a wide-scale boycott. An economic scorched earth, of sorts. Just stop buying everything possible for a month, maybe start during so-called ‘pride month’, seeing that the corrupt government and many corporations have decided to alienate us. Maybe for a whole year. Its peaceful, its effective, its perfectly legal, and its perhaps the only hand we have to play with seeing that the government has pit itself against us, and has been doing so for decades now, both democrats and yes (fake) republicans too. Would require large participation though. Thus the movement I speak of.
“Almost every single bill on the “assault” list is legislation designed to protect children from the omnipresent and increasingly aggressive “transgender” community.” So now the transgender community is the religious right’s boogeyman while poor Christians are being “victimized” for their intolerance to Lgbt people and for trying to force their beliefs on others. Give me a break! Where are you getting all your news from? The late Pat Robertson’s CBN?
Some of these laws are to “protect” children from their parents. What happened to family values?
Some people, like the folks on this Editorial Board and the commenters, simply don’t like Lgbt people. But instead of admitting to their prejudices, they sugar-coat them with religion. This isn’t new. Religion has been used to justify racism, the subjugation of woman, and slavery.
Lgbt people have a long history of being ostracized, bullied, and treated as criminals. Today, they can be executed in some Islamic countries as well as in Uganda.
Maybe the fact that most of these laws are aimed at minors, and not adults, is a sign that the religious right is losing the Lgbt culture war. They’ve lost the battle against same-sex marriage. (The National Organization for Marriage barely exists anymore.) They lost the battle against adult same-sex relationships long ago when the anti-sodomy laws were declared unconstitutional. Young people, including young evangelical Christians, are most accepting of Lgbt individuals than older generations.