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Legal

Memorandum of Law Re: Constitutional Protections of Religious Expressions in Public Schools

By | LBB, Legal, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

School officials should be aware of the United States Department of Education’s (ED) latest Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. Though many teachers and school officials are passionate about certain issues in their personal capacities, schools must ensure their policies are strictly based on the parameters set out in law and not based on personal emotion or opinion when it comes to the burdens it places on students and staff’s First Amendment rights. Acting proactively to educate teachers and staff will help them avoid the significant legal liability that could come from violating basic constitutional protections. Though not a substitute for individual and specific legal counsel, this memorandum of law can assist schools in understanding and implementing sound policies that comply with the law.

 

CLICK HERE to access the memorandum.

For America (Prayer 124)

By | LBB, News and Events, Prayer | No Comments

Strength, Oh LORD our God,

Give us strength to endure

These evil times where so many

Have forgotten simple truths

 

Truths that bring us life

And spare much pain

But instead so many

Proudly spread their pain through lies

 

Lies that enslave the mind and

Constrain the heart in ways that

We can barely comprehend

We’ve lost ourselves, our place

 

This place in space and time

Where we should shine

And instead even light seems dark

At last, the salt, flavorless

 

Some flavor (saltiness) remains—a scant

(That remnant of every age)

But it seems so spare, LORD,

That hopelessness has begun to spread

 

It spreads, while we trust

Not in what our eyes perceive

We trust in He who commands the sea

We trust in Thee—Abba, Please!

 

Please, help renew your people

Renew our minds, and spirits

And hearts—for new hearts, we plead

For You to intervene

 

Your intervention is our hope

Our only hope, to live

As individuals, a people

Indeed, as a country

 

A country founded looking to You

Cannot remain while turned

To the house of harlotry

We know this, help us see

 

See the blood of Jesus

Crying out for our return

To repentance, forgiveness

And grace! To be free, as we aim

 

Amen

Click here for more entries from our For America Prayer Journal.

 

The Most Destructive Movement in America Must Be Fought With Inward Truth

By | Defense of Family, LBB, Legal, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

It is hard to think of a more damaging movement than the transgender militantism being pushed by all major cultural, corporate, and political power structures today. It combines the most evil aspects of the most significant fights in which we have historically engaged.

 

The movement completely desecrates the sanctity of human life. This week I read the heartbreaking story of a young man who died in the middle of a vaginoplasty because of complications caused by the puberty blockers he had taken since he was very young as part of a study to support that type of unscientific and inhumane surgical “affirmative care” intervention. Others did not die but paid a heavy price.

 

It defiles families. A new bill in Washington seeks to legally hide runaway children from their parents if they do not consent to their child’s “gender transition.” No other allegation of abuse or neglect is required. They are doing this even as stories of parents devastated after schools begin to transition their children without their knowledge mount.

 

In education and the early sexualization of children, this horrific force is pushing to eradicate innocence. From “Drag Queen Story Hours” to sexualized drag performances in front of children to immoral activist teachers to the complete indoctrination in curriculums, the assault is never-ending.

 

Women’s safety and dignity are also under assault. Trans-identified males are winning in female sports. They are intruding in female-only private areas. They even get “first women” recognitions. According to the powerful, men make even better women.

 

Spiritually speaking, this ideology is not just an assault on religious liberty. It is an attack on God because it is an attack on Truth. It is interesting how personal and inward the self-definition is anchored so as to deny any outside force. But the Word of God reaches our most inner parts. It is described as “piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Take a look at what David writes in Psalm 51: 6, “Behold, you [GOD] delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” God demands truth even in the most intimate thoughts of our hearts. There is no costume boisterous enough to hide us from our Maker. We must be truthful, even there. If we are not, we should not be surprised to see the consequences of our rebellion take over, bringing great unrest, as we are witnessing.

 

So let us pray for truth – especially on the inward parts. It is the only thing guaranteed to free us again (John 8:32).

Another Reason for the COVID-19 Closure Craze

By | LBB, News and Events | No Comments

Sadly, the COVID-19 period of American history will be studied for generations. Significant politicization of the issue and how it was used to advance personal ambitions in egregious ways is a much-discussed topic, especially on Capitol Hill. A recent exchange between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and former Director of National Intelligence of the United States John Ratcliffe is jarring.

 

At the beginning of the pandemic, all the experts knew the virus was born in a lab. Ratcliffe, as the Director of National Intelligence, knew that. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knew it came from a lab. The top public health official, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, a virologist, testified he thought it came from a lab. Yet, somehow, Dr. Anthony Fauci and others were allowed to paint that as a “conspiracy theory,” arguing instead that it was clearly of “natural origins.”

 

Former DNI Ratcliffe: “The best evidence of that is their conversations, which say that they didn’t want unwanted attention to the relationships that were taking place between Western virologists and those working within the Wuhan Institute of Virology and funding sources for some of that research.”

 

Rep. Jordan: “Yeah, our money to a lab in China that wasn’t up to code that was doing gain-of-function research, and that’s where this thing came from.”

 

The whole thing is maddening. There was the social distancing, the wiping off groceries when you got home from the store. There was the use of masks and the tightening of hospital and even funeral visits. There was, of course, the COVID shot and all the controversies surrounding that. Also, the massive lockdowns that were so harmful, especially to our children, in terms of unnecessary school closures that have dramatically impacted their lives and learning skills.

 

The question is not, why did the government push all this — others are focusing on that. Instead, why did we allow it? Why would Americans go along with the farce and the drastic upending of our lives in the face of evidence strongly suggesting it was unnecessary?

 

Fear is a significant contributor — fear and manipulation. We didn’t know how harmful this virus was. They told us we would all die, so the majority, understandably, believed “the experts.” The media also despicably manipulated us with our loved ones. You get the shot “for your loved ones, to protect them,” they told us. That message was powerful for millions with elderly parents and other family members.

 

But there is another aspect – the “pause,” the break from commerce and work. We wanted it. In many ways, we desperately needed it. America has made an idol of business. The pressure of working to get ahead and not let others pass you by is immense, and millions are tired. This, too, made us susceptible to allowing others to “force” us into it…

 

Click here to read the rest of this op-ed as featured in American Thinker.

Latest on the Chemical Abortion Case

By | LBB, News and Events, Sanctity of Life, SCOTUS | No Comments

Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

 

Update: This evening, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of the lower court’s orders to constrain the distribution of abortion drugs while the case continues on appeal at the Fifth Circuit. The Court as a whole decided to allow the drug to continue for now. Concerned Women for America (CWA) CEO & President Penny Nance criticized the ruling saying, “The law is clear, so we are confident of our ultimate victory. The FDA’s reckless disregard for women’s safety in the rushed approval of the abortion drug for political purposes will be exposed. But we are deeply saddened to see the Court ignore the untold number of women who will be at risk because the FDA decided to lower the standards of care to promote abortion to an ever-increasing number of women.” Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented both saying they would have denied the stay. Justice Thomas did not explain his reasoning further, but Justice Alito said plainly, “At present, the applicants are not entitled to a stay because they have not shown that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the interim.” The case will continue in the Fifth Circuit where we hope the stay will once again be issued, which will virtually guarantee the U.S. Supreme Court will get an appeal once again. The court is scheduled to consider the matter on May 17, 2023.

 

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court extended its previous order halting until this Friday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stay, limiting the distribution of the abortion drug while the case challenging its original approval continues. This means the life-ending drug is still available in an expanded fashion (even through the mail), as the Biden Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have been promoting using the COVID-19 emergency as their excuse.

 

The move suggests the Court is taking the matter seriously and needs more time before rendering a decision. Check back here on Friday for the latest developments on this important fight. We pray this added time gives the Court time to study the corrupted history of approving this unsafe drug more carefully.

 

The FDA approved the pill under its accelerated approval program, created in the early 1990s, to speed access to the first HIV drugs. It has been used to expedite drugs for cancer and other “serious or life-threatening diseases.” But pregnancy is not a disease. Still, the FDA chose to look at it as such to accomplish its political goals.

 

Beyond the initial approval, the FDA has removed the most basic standards of care for women’s safety. They increased the gestational age for which a pregnant woman can take chemical abortion drugs; they changed the dosage, significantly reduced the number of required in-person visits, and even allowed non-doctors to prescribe and administer chemical abortions, in addition to other changes. More recently, they’re promoting the distribution of this dangerous drug through the mail in violation of federal law.

 

That is one of the reasons why the district court granted a stay to the FDA’s reckless approval, halting its distribution while the case moves forward. The district court simply noted the very text of the Comstock Act prohibits the mailing of chemical abortions, and DOJ cannot amend it with a simple judicial opinion.

 

Beyond that, the court concluded the FDA’s actions in approving this drug likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act as “arbitrary and capricious.” There are many reasons for this. In its original approval in 2000, the FDA initially proposed significant restrictions on the drugs to the manufacturer in private. Once the restrictions were leaked, the company rejected them, and political pressure mounted to the point that the FDA abandoned them completely, despite its “serious reservations” about mifepristone’s safety. The data supported the FDA’s concerns, but it ignored them for political, not scientific, reasons.

 

The FDA then doubled down on its reckless disregard for women’s safety in 2016 when it further loosened the safety requirements on the drugs based on little to no data. It used studies using the safety requirements they were abandoning to justify the same action of removing them.

 

Similarly, at this point, the FDA abandoned requirements for reporting non-fatal adverse events. This is a significant event because, in further loosening restrictions in 2021, it cited the lack of non-fatal adverse events as an indication that the drug is safe. Again, both the district and appellate courts noted this in restricting the FDA’s actions. The Fifth Circuit said, “This ostrich’s -head-in-the-sand approach is deeply troubling….” The district court put it this way, “[I]t is circular and self-serving to practically eliminate an ‘adverse event’ reporting requirement and then point to a low number of ‘adverse events’ as a justification for removing even more restrictions than were already omitted in 2000 and 2016.”

 

Both courts also noted as troubling the fact that this drug has never been tested for under-18 girls, while it is being increasingly made available to them as “safe.” Based on no evidence at all.

 

For these and many other reasons, it is not unreasonable to ask the FDA to do its job and ensure this drug is safe by following its regular protocols before it promotes it as safe for women to use regularly, without knowing the long-term effects on women’s health, especially in the case of young women.

 

The appellate court limited its stay to the expansions after the initial approval because of a statute of limitation that prevents the challenge of FDA procedures after six years, but the court will review whether, as the district court concluded, it was the FDA’s own actions that prevented timely review. Once again, the FDA wants to profit from the events it created by delaying the administrative challenge of the doctors who are suing to protect women’s safety in this case.

 

The doctors are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). And Concerned Women for America has submitted a brief supporting their arguments on behalf of conservative women around the country.

 

Please continue to pray for justice in this case. Though the case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, they will only review whether the drug will be available and to what extent while the case moves forward. Eventually, the full review of the FDA’s actions will be done by the district court, and challenges are sure to follow.

 

It will be a long process, but one well worth our involvement as we stand for life and women’s safety in a post-Roe world.

Join In! Tell Your Church Leaders About Faith Month

By | Faith Month, LBB, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

Here is a sample email/letter you can use to let your pastors and church leaders about Faith Month:

 

Dear ______________,

 

 

As we get ready to celebrate the glorious Truth of Easter, I wanted to let you know that the whole month of April has been set aside for communities to celebrate their faith. A Federal Congressional statement has been officially introduced in the last couple of years declaring April “Faith Month.” I would love for our church family to become more aware of this so we can use the opportunity to be salt and light to our community.

 

I learned about the initiative from Concerned Women for America (CWA), a Christian organization encouraging its members to fly the Christian flag in their homes and on their desks and car windows. “Faith Month” encourages people of all faiths to celebrate their beliefs, but the initiative presents an excellent opportunity for us as Christians to bring a positive message of our love of God and neighbor and the fact that we are “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes,” (Romans 1:16).

 

This is so needed in our day and age when so many in the media insist on maligning the name of the body of Christ. The recent tragedy in Nashville brought this to the forefront so heartbreakingly. When the news broke that a transgender person had murdered three nine-year-old kids, including the daughter of a Christian pastor, and three staff members at a Christian school, Reuters had this headline: “Former Christian school student kills three children, three staff in Nashville shooting.” They want the public to associate Christianity with the killer, not the victims, even in such a blatant case.

 

I am not surprised. This is what our Lord told us would happen, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18). But Jesus did not give up on us, and so I feel we cannot give up on our culture either. We need to continue to lift the banner of faith in Christ that all may come and thirst no more. Faith Month gives us a great opportunity to do just that, and I hope we can contribute to the global effort in any small way we can.

 

I stand here ready to help in any way, so please do contact me with any thoughts and/or requests.

 

Praying for you and the church leadership,

 

Wondrous Working Faith

By | Faith Month, LBB, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

I did not expect such a small church to have such a massive impact on me. Yet, the visit was the highlight of my church history studies at Oxford a few summers ago. It was a nondescript building halfway covered by a house right in front to its left side. The uncovered right half featured a driveway (fitting maybe four cars?) that led to the entrance. Frankly, you feel as if you are walking through somebody else’s driveway before you are unexpectedly greeted by what has the appearance of a church only due to its peaked triangular-shaped roof. I was perplexed.

 

Just days before, I had visited the tremendous Metropolitan Tabernacle where Charles Haddon Spurgeon, known as the “Prince of Preachers,” pastored for over 38 years, reaching thousands. Though the original building was burned down, what you visit today was rebuilt along the original perimeter. It seats about 6,000, and it is impressive.

 

But the small church at 12A Artillery St., Colchester, in Essex, the East of England, caught me off guard. There was no big parking lot…

 

Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!

This April, Celebrate Faith—We Need It

By | LBB, Legal, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” So started the “Order of the Day” from the “Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force” on June 6, 1944. With a stroke of the pen, General Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the most extraordinary collection of brave young soldiers, sailors, and airmen to execute the famous D-Day operation. It is a day we continue to remember with great honor for the sacrifice that gave the world victory over the Nazis. The order is preserved at the Eisenhower Library as a cherished and important document for our nation.

 

But if today’s woke forces have their way, we better get the shredder out. You see, the letter not only mentioned prayers, as already noted, but General Eisenhower had the audacity (the cultural insensitivity, really, according to today’s woke mob) to “beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

 

Who does he think he is? What about those who do not share his values? He must be canceled. Erase this letter from history, lest someone, somewhere, see it and is triggered into deep anxiety and depression by its insensitive references to God.

 

Maybe we can put Vice Admiral Joanna Nunan, Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), on the case. The esteemed academy recently confronted a similarly emotionally triggering event under her watch and dealt with it swiftly…

 

Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!

You Gotta Love Educational Savings Accounts

By | Education, LBB, News and Events | No Comments

ESAs, as they are known, empower parents to make the best choice for their children’s education. It gives parents some of the public funds that the state often misuses in each child’s public education, allowing parents to use it for educational purposes in the best way they see fit. For example, parents can use it to cover private school tuition or online learning programs. Funds can be used for private tutoring, homeschooling, or other educational materials. The possibilities are endless. The choice is in the hands of the persons most interested in the child’s success: the parents. This is good. Parents need school choice.

 

Contrary to what you will hear from some detractors, ESAs do not destroy public schools. Parents who feel their public school is working need not change. They need not apply to receive the money and can continue as they have before. But the reality for millions of American children is that their public school system is failing them, and they are stuck in that failing school or system because of how the law has been set up.

 

Recent national exam results revealed “the steepest declines ever recorded on National Assessment of Educational Progress” in math proficiency. Just 26% of eighth graders were proficient! Fourth graders did not fare much better, just 36% were deemed proficient. Reading scores also declined. Only about one in three students met the proficiency standards.

 

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called these results “appalling and unacceptable.” But Secretary Cardona and the overwhelming majority of the Democrats’ leadership oppose school choice. Their solution is to pump more money into failing schools while ignoring their pathetic record.

 

I hope the pandemic has opened the eyes of many Americans to the toxic environment that drives educational policy nationwide. Virtually every educational bureaucracy, pressured by influential teachers’ unions, forced the unscientific and irrational policy of prolonged school closures, not to mention the cruel and unnecessary forced masking policies on young children.

 

It was simply amazing to read in the pages of The New York Times just this week (almost four years after the start of the pandemic!), “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?” The article highlighted the “most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illness—including Covid-19.” The lead author of the study, Oxford epidemiologist Tom Jefferson, was quoted saying there is no evidence that masks make any difference, “Full stop.”

 

Yes, after all they put us through— after all they put our children through. They knew it was all for nothing. It was a show. This is infuriating, especially when it comes to children, because although the masks did nothing to “stop the spread” (not in two weeks, two months, or more than two years), they did do something in terms of harming our children’s educational, linguistic, social, and emotional development. Our children have paid the price of their incompetence.

 

That is a big reason you are hearing and will continue to hear more about ESAs being passed in different states. We should support them in every state.

 

As of now, I believe there is a version of them (in varying degrees) in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. Let us pray for many more in the coming years.

CWA Stands Against the FDA’s Reckless Push for Chemical Abortion Drugs

By | Briefs, Legal, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Concerned Women for America (CWA) submitted an important amicus (friend of the court) brief in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This case, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, challenges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to legalize a dangerous chemical abortion regimen that includes two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol.

 

The FDA abused its authority with the approval of these dangerous drugs, undermining its legal obligation to protect women’s health, safety, and welfare. This regimen is likely to cause more harm and complications for women than a surgical abortion would. Worse yet, following its initial approval, the FDA has removed the most basic standards of care by increasing the gestational age for which a pregnant woman can take chemical abortion drugs, changing the dosage, significantly reducing the number of required in-person visits, and even allowing non-doctors to prescribe and administer chemical abortions, among other things.

 

CWA argues in our legal brief that liberal, pro-abortion policies and not science are behind the FDA’s push to increase the availability of these dangerous drugs. We write:

 

The public deserves better than the current rush to experiment with chemical abortions on American women. The charge the public has placed on the FDA should be guarded in law to protect the public trust that is crucial to the proper function of our public institutions. Scientific advancement and research are not driving chemical abortion policy. Politics drives it. An apparent effort to undermine the United State Supreme Court’s recent acknowledgment that there is no constitutional right to an abortion is driving it. The U.S. Supreme Court’s determination in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022), has allowed states to enact laws protecting the unborn at different stages of development. The Biden Administration and its supporters do not like that and have therefore been aggressively pushing to promulgate abortifacients to circumvent these duly enacted state laws. Lost in that urge though are the seriously increased risks for women utilizing these drugs under waning supervision.

 

The Plaintiffs standing for the safety of women include the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, and the Christian Medical & Dental Association, among others, which the Alliance Defending Freedom represents.

 

CWA is asking the Court to grant the Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction preventing the FDA from continuing its reckless approval of the widespread distribution of these dangerous drugs immediately and to ultimately rule on the side of the safety and welfare of women by making that injunction permanent.

 

We argue that the public interest in this case weighs heavily against the FDA’s actions which further erode the public’s trust in this crucial health institution. We remind the Court that a recent survey found that only four in ten Americans are confident of the information they receive from the FDA—a disastrous development for women’s health and safety. “[I]t is decisions such as this one relating to the approval and promotion of chemical abortion drugs that appear to be driven by politics rather than scientific advancement that contribute to this state and further aggravate the distrust. It ultimately puts women’s lives at greater risk,” we argue.

 

Click here to read our brief, and pray for a favorable hearing and ultimate outcome.

Why is He Yelling? Reflections on the 2023 State of the Union Address

By | LBB, News and Events | No Comments

You usually yell when people can’t hear you. Perhaps that is why President Joe Biden spent an hour yelling at the country in his State of the Union Address. No one is listening.

 

Frankly, I fear no one believes him. No one buys the D.C. narrative anymore. Americans are hurting. But you wouldn’t know it from the chest-pounding bloviating in the President’s speech. There is a chasm between the empty words in Washington and the reality that Americans face day in and day out.

 

The President gave lip service to everything from jobs and the economy to healthcare to the “existential threat” of climate change. You have heard of unprecedented problems at the border, but those miraculously disappeared for that hour last night. Instead, the Democrats celebrated their incredible work at the border. Seriously.

 

President Biden even mustered a line or two touting bipartisanship when he has been one of the most radical partisans in history. His shtick almost made him lose control of the floor at one moment when he lied about “Republicans wanting to get rid of Social Security and Medicaid.” The pushback was so strong he had to acknowledge Congress was unanimous in wanting to protect these essential programs. Oh, he kept the pre-written lines about saving the programs from some strawman trying to take it away, but he was forced to admit, “I guess no one is opposing this now.”

 

He had a line about protecting “Roe v. Wade.” It does not make any sense, Roe is already gone, but we all know he was just trying to throw a bone at the radicals among his base. The same was true when he uttered a sentence for LGBTQ+ “rights.” Hearing him yesterday, you would think these was not a big part of the President’s agenda. But it is all a façade. The fact is that President Biden has been the most radically pro-abortion President in history. He even supports the taxpayer funding of abortion, something he opposed for his whole career as something too extreme even for Democrats.

 

His plan to promote abortions in every way possible is immoral and unconstitutional, violating even the most basic principles of federalism. In a recent opinion, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) tries to circumvent federal law to spread the use of the mail to deliver abortion pills.

 

The President has been just as radical on the LGBTQ+ issue. President Biden is pushing for men who self-identify as a woman to be able to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. He is pushing for early, life-altering, and irreversible puberty blockers for children looking to “transition.” He has even mobilized his DOJ to go against those who oppose what he calls “gender-affirming care.”

 

But, again, you wouldn’t know that listening to him scream the speech tonight. Perhaps that is by design. Polls show the President’s disapproval is at 53%. Only 40% of Americans approve of the job he is doing. I suspect no amount of yelling will overcome that.

 

As they say, sometimes actions speak so loudly it is hard to listen to the words being said.

The ABCs of “ESG”

By | ESG, LBB, News and Events | No Comments

You have either heard of it, or you will, but the radical ideology known as “ESG” is harming you.

 

ESG stands for “Environmental, Social, and Governance.” It is a set of standards used to measure, at its core, a company’s “wokeness.” The more woke a company is—think Green New Deal policies, abortion travel policies, and diversity quotas—the better its “ESG score,”  and the more access the company attains for capital, credit, and other financial perks.

 

The economic pressure is real. Companies are increasingly changing internal policies to meet these leftist standards, and the impact is all around us. Here are the top three areas of concern:

 

Asset Management: Many companies offer investment portfolios that are ESG-friendly to bolster businesses that are sufficiently woke. And it does not stop with private companies. The Biden Department of Labor, for example, is encouraging fiduciaries for retirement plans and pensions “to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors when they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.” Without even knowing it, shareholders who are not careful support woke companies that hate their values and punish the companies that they support. It is no matter that ESG-focused investments have many times resulted in a worse economic return for shareholders. Nor are financial firms very concerned about enforcing ESG in China as long as the investment there is profitable.

 

Banking: Poorly scored companies risk experiencing reduced or eliminated access to capital and credit. If your bank fully embraces the ESG model and you want a loan, it will look at your business not only for its pecuniary value but also for its alignment with ESG. Your business may be a “bad” investment, no matter how well it does financially. Does your business provide abortion coverage? Does it support LGBTQ+ causes? Does your business align with the Black Lives Matter idea of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI)? Unless there are abortion travel policies or race quotas, expect low marks. An ESG-controlled economy means capital withheld from profitmaking business activity and capital funneled to underperforming business activity. Left unchecked, the end result is that all American companies—including Main Street small businesses—are weak and woke.

 

Consumers: ESG reinforces corporate “wokeism.” The consequence is a culture that devalues the unborn, commodifies women and sex, harms children through indoctrination, etc., and also punishes any consumer who does not show allegiance to this radical, leftist ideology.

 

What can be done? Put the pressure back on the financial institutions rather than the other way around. We support states that are fighting back by barring state pension funds from considering ESG factors in investment decisions. If you are a shareholder, pay attention to your vote. If you have a relationship with your bank, learn their views on ESG. And if you are a consumer, as best you can, pursue alternative options to woke companies.

 

Moral Apathy and Moral Corruption: Two Sides of the Same Coin

By | Defense of Family, LBB, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of Mia Cathell at Townhall, the public got a glimpse into the heinous crimes committed by a radical LGBTQ+ activist couple against their two adopted children (9 and 11 years old now). A grand jury indicted William Dale Zulock, Jr. and Zachary Jacoby Zulock on charges including “incest, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, felony sexual exploitation of children, and felony prostitution of a minor.”

 

The two, explains Cathell, were “darlings of the LGBTQ media” who were “part of an anti-gay hate campaign promoting ‘# NOH8′” and whose pictures were featured several times on the largest LGBTQ+ monthly publication in the nation, Out magazine.

 

The alleged charges must suffice for our purposes; the investigation details are too upsetting (see Cathell’s entire series, being mindful of their content warning—it is hard to get through). We can simply say this is the worst type of abuse against children. These poor children were in third and fourth grades. Some abuse was allegedly filmed to satisfy the perverted desires of the men. And they even allegedly offered their children up to other men. All the while threatening them, saying things like, “Our business is our business. What happens in our home, stays in our home.”

 

To think of what these children have gone through is genuinely heartbreaking. So, you can imagine how my heart sank to discover that the adoption of these children, which opened the door to this unimaginable abuse, was facilitated by a “Christian special-needs adoption agency.” I’m sorry, what? Yes, Cathell didn’t specify at first but later revealed it was an agency called “All God’s Children, Inc.”

 

So, here is where I’d like to focus your attention as Christians for a moment and appeal to your sense of righteousness and zeal for the Name of our Lord. We simply cannot stand silent while so many Christians today celebrate and support sin in the name of Christ. It is heresy. Those who choose to identify themselves as Christians bear the name of Christ. They cannot condone and celebrate sin in any of its forms. Not within and not without.

 

As Christians, we are tacitly complicit in the worst types of abuses when we remain silent to the trampling of God’s loving standards for us in the name of tolerance or anything else. Put another way, we cannot violate the first commandment of Christ (to love God above all, with all our hearts, soul, and mind) to promote the world’s distortion of our Lord’s second command (to love our neighbors as ourselves). See Matthew 22:37-40.

 

When we manipulate God’s Word, we weaken the only good and perfect standard for any sort of sustainable moral order. If Christians agree with the world that there is no objective standard, that God’s law is relative to our personal preferences, then it is impossible to establish some arbitrary human-created line of morality further along because we believe, oh now, “that” is too far. Says who? That might be too far for you, but I have my own truth. Isn’t that what we say? Isn’t that what millions of Christians go along with every day here in America?

 

To be clear. The connection I want us to draw is not between sexual orientation and child abuse and pedophilia (see this recent encounter for other examples of this depravity). Instead, the connection is between moral apathy and moral corruption.

 

As Cathell investigated the now conveniently defunct agency, she found a post of “All God’s Children, Inc. at the First Presbyterian Church of Athens, GA.” The report does not go into more detail about the church, but I got curious.

 

Not surprisingly, a quick search of First Presbyterian Church of Athens, GA, reveals that it is hosting (just as I write this on January 26, 2023) an event alongside PFLAG, “the nation’s largest family and ally organization for LGBTQIA+ people.” Here is the description of the event:

 

In partnership with Athens Pride Queer Collective, Pflag Athens Area will host a discussion circle during the LGBTQ+ youth group meeting time. We will meet separately from the youth group to have a free and open conversation between family members, parents, and LGBTQ+ allies. Mask wearing at your discretion.

 

Now you can see how a “Christian” adoption agency, like All God’s Children, Inc., would be eager to place children in a pro-LGBTQ+ home when it is born out of their theology. To affirm LGBTQ+ relationships is to do the work of their god. It is a work of the heart. Forget the Word of God. This is love to them.

 

The many red flags in these prospective parents (including accusations of “alleged pedophilic behavior”) were really part of the stigma attached to them by a cruel society. It is something they needed to break through, not explore further, to be extra diligent in order to protect these children. We wouldn’t want to upset the prospective couple. Everyone was surprised at how fast they moved through the adoption process (#diversity!).

 

Liberal Christians are not like those other Christians. One of the perpetrators in this case was very public in his criticism of Rev. Billy Graham’s daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, because she spoke in favor of protecting the religious freedom of Christian organizations that are constantly harassed by government to abandon their faith if they want to do charity work. Cathell quotes Zachary as saying in a Facebook post, “What about all the LGBTQ couples out there that have been stopped from adopting?! What about their rights?”

 

The church that helped them adopt would agree. So would many other Christians today— even famous pastors. Your local pastor may use some of the teaching materials from these churches.

 

Andy Stanley, who has been on the pro-LGBTQ+ line for many years and whose materials are used all over this country, was recently featured praising the faith of his LGBTQ+ friends over any of his other congregants. The church needs to learn from them. “I know the verses; I know the clobber passages,” he said.

 

But again, the authority of Christ is the issue. Belief in God’s Word (His standards) is the issue. Stanley actively advocates diminishing God’s Word, especially the Old Testament, to be more appealing to the world. Moral apathy will give you a better hearing.

 

But this new form of liberal Christianity is the theological force behind the moral corruption we are all witnessing. And we must ask whether we are part of the problem. Am I showing signs of moral apathy in my own life?

 

David describes the workers of iniquity as those “Who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts” (Psalm 28:3). He prays to God against their efforts because “they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands” (Psalm 28:5).

 

Are we doing the same? Are we showing so little regard for the Word of God that we are really promoting a false sense of peace? Again, we must ask, has my moral indifference given space to the moral corruption I see all around me?

 

If the answer is “yes,” we must repent. We must turn back to the God of Scripture – the whole of Scripture. We must proclaim His standards are best. Indeed, we must attest there is no other foundation for liberty and freedom known to man. True love protects.

 

There is only one way – the Jesus way.

Fighting the Government-Big Tech Manipulation

By | Big Tech, Briefs, Legal, News and Events, SCOTUS | No Comments

One of the most concerning aspects of President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice’s malicious targeting of parents and others that merely disagree with the government-approved narrative as “domestic terrorists” is that it undermines the actual war against terrorism. The fact is that terrorist organizations like ISIS have pledged harm to our country, and our government has a duty to remain diligent in protecting our citizens from that clear and present danger.

 

Instead of wasting resources in going after political opponents, we must continue to unite against those who hate our American values. Yet, as the Twitter files have exposed, the U.S. Government’s intelligence apparatus has colluded with Big Tech, not to fight terrorism and protect U.S. citizens but to suppress free speech. This is wrong. We must be able to fight for our constitutional rights without losing our ability to focus and distinguish between these and genuine national security threats.

 

In a brief before the United States Supreme Court, Concerned Women for America (CWA) argues for such a distinction, and we seek to hold Big Tech accountable for turning a blind eye to real terrorist threats facing the nation, claiming technical inability and lack of resources, while displaying great power against our own citizens. In it, we say:

 

Because conservative organizations and other individuals and institutions that do not conform to conventional wisdom are increasingly likely to be silenced for expressing what government agencies and Defendants regard as “extreme and polarizing content,” CWA has a strong interest in protecting free speech, including on Defendants’ near monopolistic platforms. Simultaneously, however, CWA believes that foreign terrorist organizations (“FTOs”) like ISIS, and state sponsors of terrorism like Iran – rather than American citizens who disagree with COVID-related school closures or with policies allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports – pose an actual threat to our national security.

 

One must admit we have a problem when a social media company like Twitter, virtually controlling the modern public square, dares to remove a sitting President of the United States, preventing him from speaking freely to its citizens, while giving full access to the Taliban and several of its most prominent spokespeople even as they simultaneously conduct violent attacks against our country. Given that clear choice they have made, affirmatively taking steps to discredit one voice and give legitimacy to another, the company should not be free to wash its hands for the foreseeable consequences of its actions.

 

In Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, the U.S. Supreme Court will wrestle with the fact that though we now know that Big Tech is fully capable of removing content when they want to, it has chosen not to act in the case of straightforward illegal content choosing instead to focus its vast resources on the protected speech of its political opponents, hiding all the while under the alleged special liability protection the federal government has promised them under some laws, like the infamous Section 230.

 

One example has been especially evident since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. In just a few months, Musk cleaned up Twitter of its child pornography problem simply by making it a top priority. The previous owner claimed this was impossible to do, despite their concerted, decades-long efforts to “do everything possible.”

 

Big Tech companies like Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) have become too powerful on the backs of the American people while avoiding the responsibilities that are required of U.S. companies in every other context. Mark Zuckerberg’s nearly half-a-billion dollars investment in the 2020 election, while controlling and manipulating political speech through its platform, is another timely and concerning example.

 

It is a complex problem that will undoubtedly need Congressional action too, but let us hope the U.S. Supreme Court can take steps to start curtailing its growing dangerous power.

 

Who Will be Held Accountable for the Government’s Collusion with Big Tech to Violate Constitutional Rights?

By | LBB, News and Events | No Comments

The days of speculating about the decision-making process of social media giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are over. Although many conservatives could smell the garbage a mile away, given that the censorship was overwhelmingly against conservatives and to help liberals, the release of the now-infamous Twitter Files, reveals deep coordination between the government and the giant tech company to suppress speech the government considered detrimental to its preferred causes.

 

 

Far from what the left has been saying for years, “This is a private company, so it can do whatever it wants,” the fact is that Twitter was not acting of its own accord in many instances but at the behest of the federal government.

 

 

In other words, the government was seeking to suppress speech by proxy. Knowing its actions would be met with First Amendment restrictions if done directly, it pressured social media companies (all of them, not only Twitter) to perform the unconstitutional actions at their behest.

 

 

Journalist Matt Taibbi who has led the coverage of the Twitter Files, concluded, “The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.” The liberal media will certainly try to downplay these findings, but this is explosive, uncontroverted evidence of unconstitutional actions at the highest level of government.

 

 

The problem gets even more nefarious when one considers that the reason liberal Twitter executives played along, despite clear reservations that they were acting improperly, was that the FBI was working to help the political party both entities favored, the Democrats. 

 

 

The Hunter Biden-“Russia misinformation” fiasco is the most clear-cut case of how they sought to affect the elections to favor one party by spreading lies and suppressing legitimate speech on social media. Recall Twitter went so far as to censor the oldest continually published daily newspaper in America, The New York Post, because of its coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop. Twitter banned the distribution of a legitimate news story linking then-presidential candidate Joe Biden to his son’s dubious business relationships abroad.

 

 

It’s been reported that the FBI actually paid Twitter almost $4 million to ban accounts and suppress speech that primarily targeted conservative voices. They even established an exclusive, private channel of communication that gave them direct access to where they would be in communications daily.

 

 

This is why it is such good news that the new House Republican Majority voted this week to establish a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” modeled after the 1970’s “Church Committee” led by Democrat Sen. Frank Church which investigated intelligence abuses by the executive branch. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is expected to chair the new committee looking into today’s abuses.

 

 

I write to inform you of these developments and ask that you pray for Rep. Jordan and the new committee. They face a monumental task that will require the sort of assistance that is beyond all human control. Let us earnestly seek the intervention of the same hand of Providence that has guided our nation throughout our history.

 

 

We stand at a crucial moment in our history. Trust in our government and all our institutions is quickly disappearing. But this good-faith trust is essential to the survival of our Republic. 

 

 

Therefore, we must demand accountability as the number one priority for this new Congress. Unfortunately, these inquiries have too often led to minimal action when it is all said and done. That cannot happen in this case— for the good of the nation.

Loudoun County Hellscape Part II: Reckless Disregard for Women’s Safety

By | Defense of Family, Education, LBB, News and Events, Sex Trafficking / Pornography, Virginia | No Comments

The abduction and sexual assault of a female student at Broad Run High School were preventable. This much the grand jury report states unequivocally—and appropriately so. The school administrators’ reckless disregard for women’s safety was systemic and has been going on for years at Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS).

When the perpetrator raped a young woman at Stone Bridge High School, the first time that we know of, the school had already been alerted to his dangerous sexual tendencies. When a teacher alerted her superiors, the administrators questioned her motivations. You see, the boy who ended up assaulting two female students wore a skirt. LCPS strives to be very sensitive, welcoming, and accepting of transgender students. That’s the priority.

When the rape of the young woman in the female bathroom was first reported, one of the first emails explaining the situation was from LCPS’ chief operating officer, who stated unequivocally that the incident “related to policy 8040.” The grand jury report notes, “Policy 8040 addresses the rights of transgender and gender-expansive students.” In other words, the focus of LCPS from the beginning was not on the victims and the safety of other female students potentially at risk but on the perpetrator’s rights…

 

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Loudoun County Hellscape Part I.5: Indictments Issued

By | Defense of Family, Education, LBB, News and Events, Virginia | No Comments

Part II of our series discussing Loudoun County Public Schools’ reckless disregard for women’s safety will be published later this week (for more background, please read Part I of this series). But I felt an update was needed before that. This week, the court unsealed four indictments against two Loudoun County Public School employees. I want to express again my appreciation for the efforts of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and the special grand jury. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all.

 

Fired superintendent Scott Ziegler, who lied to the public, denying the rape that occurred in a school restroom under his watch, got “one count of misdemeanor false publication (Va. Code § 18.2-209), one count of misdemeanor prohibited conduct (Va. Code § 2.2-3103), and one count of misdemeanor penalizing an employee for a court appearance (Va. Code § 18.2-465.1).” Still current Public Information Officer (which is unbelievable, although he has been “put on leave”) Wayde Byard has been charged with “one count of felony perjury (Va. Code § 18.2-434).”

 

What does it all mean? For Ziegler, the false publication charge and the penalizing an employee for a court appearance charge are merely class 3 misdemeanors, which only carry “a fine not more than $500.” Given the outrageous package deal he got when he was dismissed “without cause” (yes, still fuming about that!), these charges alone would serve as a great insult to the victims and the community. Not to mention a great incentive for the next public official to take the chance of lying to the public when in hot waters…

 

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Loudoun County Hellscape Part I: Victims Be Damned

By | Defense of Family, Education, LBB, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

The weight of writing about this story has been almost unbearable. Every keystroke requires an unusual sort of effort accompanied by a prayer that God may grant the grace of a positive impact. “Positive” is not a word you would associate with the events of the past few years at Loudoun County Public Schools. And although we should be incredibly grateful to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares for appointing a grand jury to investigate these events and to the citizens who served on the grand jury, reading the report is painstakingly frustrating.

 

The report finds leadership failures at the highest levels of school administrations that are appalling, immoral, and should be criminal. Yet, no indictments have been issued. We will, therefore, examine these failures in a series of posts meant to stress the gravity of these events and amplify the victim’s continued cry for justice. Part I: Victims Be Damned.

 

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the grand jury report is its lack of focus on the victims. But before I get into that, a quick summary of the events is in order…

 

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SCOTUS

CWA Rallies at the Supreme Court for Free Speech

By | Legal, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

The case is  303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, where the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the government can force Americans to speak the government’s desired message contrary to the citizen’s core beliefs. 

 

Lorie Smith owns a design studio, 303 Creative, specializing in graphic and website design. She left the corporate world to start her own small business in 2012 so she could use her skills to promote causes consistent with her beliefs. She was excited to expand her portfolio to create websites that celebrate marriage between a man and a woman, but Colorado wants to prevent her from doing so, unless she promotes same-sex weddings. Lorie works with all people but decides which projects to design based on the message she’s being asked to express. She does not base it on who requests it.  Lori is challenging the constitutionality of the law as applied to her.

 

CWA was there to stand with Lorie because, simply put,  the government should not be able to force Americans to say things they do not believe.

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Who Cares About Marriage?

By | Defense of Family, Legal, Marriage, News and Events, Substack | No Comments

When I wrote to you On the Splendor of Marriage, I mentioned the United States Senate’s consideration of a bill meant to paint a target on anyone holding a true definition of marriage as created by God. The bill passed this week with bipartisan support by a vote of 61-36, with three senators not voting.

 

All Democrats present voted for the bill. The Republicans who voted for it were Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Todd Young of Indiana.

 

Of course, none of these senators would describe the bill as targeting people of faith; they would say they just want to “respect all people.” But consider that Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) proposed and got a vote on an amendment making it clear that government would not retaliate against people of faith and religious institutions for their sincerely held religious convictions about marriage under this bill, and the vote actually failed. All the Republicans who voted to pass the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act (except Collins) voted for the amendment. Those who voted for the Lee Amendment protecting religious freedom even included Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. But the Lee Amendment failed…

 

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