As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“This ‘ceremony of gratitude’ as it was put forth by the David Lynch Foundation, the organization behind the $3 million Quiet Time program…. was ‘deceptively marketed to public schools as non-religious,’ according to Hudgins’ attorney” - RNS
“A Catholic school in North Carolina had the right to fire a gay teacher who announced his marriage on social media a decade ago… reversing a judge’s earlier decision.” - RNS
“A Lifeway Research study finds Southern Baptists broadly embrace conservative political ideology but also support religious liberty for all Americans and a government that does not favor any specific religion.” - Lifeway
“Article 25 of India’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, affirming ‘Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.’ In practice, however, there is significant religious persecution…” - Providence
“The Russian government’s decision to invade Ukraine and to target Baptists and other evangelical Christians in Ukraine has been a tragic hallmark of the war.” - Baptist Press
In my previous post I introduced the subject of persecution and how the early church responded to it. As explained there, I’d like to take this post to summarize and extend an excellent discussion of Paul’s teaching on the subject in 1 Thessalonians by Michael Martin in the New American Commentary volume on Thessalonians.
“The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s injunction on the state’s near-total abortion ban, giving another win to those who say the ban ignores their religious beliefs about when human life begins.” - RNS
There’s been a lot of talk lately about persecution of Christians in America. I suppose it’s true that there’s more than there used to be—there’s been some name-calling and a lawsuit about wedding cakes, though the defendant won that one.
“In America, we might assume that religious liberty is a given, but in many ways, it was Baptists who championed this belief. Religious liberty, and the related belief that there should be no state-established religion, flow out of Baptist distinctives.” - DBTS Blog
“Globally, the median score on our 10-point Government Restrictions Index rose from 2.8 in 2020 to 3.0 in 2021 – the highest level recorded since we began tracking this in 2007.” - Pew
Discussion