By Douglas V. Gibbs
There is a worldwide growing crisis against Christianity. Around the world believers face torture, imprisonment, and slaughter and until President Donald Trump decided to take a stance against the persecution and genocide in Nigeria, Western governments have ignored and dismissed the crisis. Even in Europe and America there are growing attacks against Christian beliefs, often framed as discriminatory forms of “hate speech.” Charlie Kirk’s assassin murdered Kirk because he believes Charlie’s Christian teachings were “hateful.”
In China, sharing the Gospel is a crime, and Bible verses have been rewritten to support official pronouncements from the government. Underground church pastors are regularly arrested, and “disappeared.” In India, Hindu terrorists beat and murder Christians, and torch churches and Bibles. Muslims hunt down Christians like animals, and massacre Christians regularly. There are no churches in majority Islamic countries. In Nigeria, a hundred thousand Christians have been massacred or abducted, and over the last six years about 20,000 Christian churches and schools have been destroyed. In Islam, conversion to Christianity is punished by execution.
In America the school system teaches our younger generation that America is guilty of “systemic racism” brought about by Christians who are “fascists,” “nationalists,” and even “Nazis.” Christians, like Israel, has become the enemy.
In California, state law requires foster parents to “affirm a child’s self-identified orientation or gender identity” which effectively bans Christians from being foster parents, or to adopt children. There is a movement in some states, like California, to deem any parent unfit to raise their own children if the family holds a view that contradicts the state’s ideology on gender and sexual orientation. In short, they are now seeking to remove children from Christian parents.
In Finland there is a case against Paivi Rasanen that is calling for quoting from the Bible a criminal offense under the country’s war-crimes laws. Throughout Europe people are being arrested and imprisoned for making Christian statements on social media that stands against homosexuality and transgender ideology. In the Netherlands citizens are being arrested for publicly expressing a pro-life worldview, and the government shut down a conference whose scheduled speakers recognized the biological reality of two distinct sexes.
The City of Los Angeles is being sued for claiming that believing in the Bible is a mental illness. The Liberty Counsel filed a legal action against the city. The city claims that if someone has a problem with the “Pride Flag” being flown, they need to seek mental health counseling, suggesting that one’s biblical beliefs about human sexuality reveals a mental health condition.
The comment by the city came after Eric Bateman requested to work from home remotely during the Pride Month activities, of which he had successfully performed his work from home before. In response, the city suggested his religious beliefs about human sexuality “may need counseling.” The same option to work remotely is an accommodation given to Muslims when they object to something in the workplace offendng their beliefs.
The Liberty Counsel is arguing First Amendment, citizens may not be put in the impossible position of choosing between their conscience and their livelihood. The employer, since it is a California local government, falls under the State of California Constitution, which also provides a robust religious freedom protection, mandating that employers reasonably accommodate religious beliefs, practices, and grooming, unless it causes significant hardship. Forcing an employee to violate their faith in the workplace, while giving the accommadation being requested to others (like Muslims) violates the State Constitution, as well as federal law Title VII.
Liberty Counsel said it found “the county’s actions forced Bateman to work in an environment that required him to violate his religious convictions, compelled him to ‘affirm a message with which he disagrees,’ and subjected him to unequal treatment compared to employees of other faiths,” which is also a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Liberty Counsel said it is seeking an injunction against the city’s actions in the dispute. Involved are violations of Title VII, the First and Fourteenth Amendments and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
