I can't say I've always known what it truly means to be a Christian. I can't say I have understood the gospel or salvation my whole life - its gravity or application. I certainly did not come out of the womb acknowledging sin, being a sinner, or my need of repentance and a savior. These truths were gradually revealed to me by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
South Carolina has canceled its membership in two library associations that accuse parents who believe young children should not see pornography of launching "book bans." The South Carolina State Library pulled out of the American Library Association (ALA) over its "tone-deaf ... activism," while the state's public schools exited the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) for creating a "hostile environment" against parents.
As President Joe Biden skipped an event with families still grieving the loss of 9/11, the entire nation ignored, and is in danger of forgetting, the anniversary of another terrorist attack commemorated earlier this month. Labor Day weekend marked the 40th anniversary of an airline assault that exclusively killed innocent Americans, including a sitting U.S. congressman. That congressman's life, legacy, and endless exhortations call for Americans to continue standing against the anti-American, anti-family movements that still threaten us today, at home and abroad.
As House Republicans held the first hearing of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Thursday, mainstream media outlets are insisting that there is "no evidence" that Biden abused his office or accepted bribes in relation to his son Hunter's business dealings. But observers and lawmakers are pointing out that even though the evidence-building process is only just beginning, the media already appears to be covering for the president.
Heading into Wednesday's second presidential debate, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel had strong words for her party on abortion. They needed more fight, she argued, more backbone. Under the big lights of the Reagan Library, they delivered. From Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's (R) forceful rebuke of the Left's position to Chris Christie's surprise recitation of his New Jersey record, Republicans finally took the hint that ignoring the issue won't make it go away.
Twenty-five years ago, the Louisiana Family Forum was set in motion, founded by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. The Forum is a nonprofit organization based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is dedicated to advancing life, liberty, and limited government within the state. Thursday evening, Perkins was honored at the Forum's Silver Anniversary Gala to reflect on what has been accomplished over the years.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Thursday confirmed its earlier rulings and reversed preliminary injunctions against laws in Tennessee and Kentucky that protect minors from gender reassignment procedures. While neither injunction was still in effect, Thursday's ruling establishes the laws in both states on a surer legal footing.
Democratic senator and career bureaucrat Dianne Feinstein of California has passed away, leaving behind a legacy of leftism, abortion advocacy, and destruction of American ideals.
It's official: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has launched the transgender inquisition against non-"affirming" parents that I warned about earlier this month. Yet the Democrat found a cunning way to hide it: He made news by vetoing a horrible bill he was expected to sign.
He may have a degree in Biology from Harvard, but that doesn't mean the Left trusts Vivek Ramaswamy's opinion on the scientific realities of men and women. The young entrepreneur lit up social media Wednesday night for affirming the basic facts of the sexes and declaring transgenderism, "especially in kids" as "a mental health disorder." "We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is," Ramaswamy insisted in the second presidential debate. But based on the Democrats' reaction, some people simply aren't ready to.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a package of four bills this year establishing 18 as the minimum age of consent for marriage, affixing her signature to the fourth bill on September 19. Yet while the governor has taken action against child marriage, she has done nothing to protect children from the irreversible, lifelong harm of gender transition procedures - if anything, she has promoted these procedures.
Recent reports show how damaging the southern border crisis continues to be, as millions of migrants stream into the U.S. illegally. Even Barack Obama's Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, admitted, "[T]his needs to be, for the Biden administration, for the U.S. government, an all-hands-on-deck, whole-of-government effort to address this crisis." It's turning "cities upside down," he insisted. Ten years ago, Johnson shook his head, "[We] felt like the world was coming to an end" when the numbers were a fraction of what they are now.
Last week, the North Carolina state legislature gave final approval for a "universal" school choice program that allows all students in the state to receive tuition assistance to pay for private school tuition. Education experts are welcoming the news as a way to expand options for parents and force the public school system to enact reforms.
Veteran reporter and cultural-cum-political commentator Tucker Carlson is declaring that the fight against abortion is in fact a matter of spiritual warfare. Speaking at a gala hosted by The Center for Christian Virtue last week in Cleveland, Carlson stated that abortion is not a "political debate" but a "spiritual battle." The ex-Fox News host said that for most of his life and career "the debates that we had in the political sphere were over competing visions for how to improve people's lives." The prevalence of abortion as a political issue is, argued Carlson, a departure from the sort of debate he and much of America has long been accustomed to.
This week, members of Congress are working against the clock to pass appropriations bills to fund the federal government for the coming year. These bills play a central role in determining how Americans' taxpayer dollars are spent - both for good and for bad. While averting a government shutdown by Saturday has been the media's focus, conservatives in the House have been fighting hard to defend life, natural marriage, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion these past few months. They have recognized that appropriations legislation that would merely maintain the status quo simply isn't sufficient under the Biden administration and have taken bold steps to push back against the administration's radical agenda.
Republican presidential hopefuls upheld parental rights, dismissed gender ideology, and challenged Donald Trump to defend comments that pro-life laws were "terrible" during an often chaotic, two-hour long debate on Wednesday night.
When Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stood in the White House briefing room and called the issue of transgender sports "complicated," she wasn't kidding. For this administration, it's never been more so. With their candidate under water, and every decimal point of polling precious, Biden's team seems to have no choice but to backtrack on some of the president's most radioactive agendas. And as most Americans will tell you, nothing says "political loser" like setting fire to Title IX.
House conservatives aim to pass all 12 appropriations bills through the House and become "the first Congress to do that in some 20 years," said Good. According to Pew Research, Congress has not passed all of the appropriations bills since fiscal year 1997. Since then, Congress has never passed more than five, and in 11 of the past 13 fiscal years, it failed to pass a single one. The U.S. House adopted a rule to advance four appropriations bills this week, setting up votes to fund Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and State-Foreign Operations before new fiscal year begins on Saturday. "This is progress," U.S. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) argued.
As the 2024 presidential election season swings into full gear, the battle over election integrity measures also appears to be in full swing. In August, two state provisions (in Texas and in Georgia) designed to strengthen the verification process for mail-in ballots were both struck down by district courts. The rulings illustrate the latest skirmish in an ongoing partisan battle over state efforts to strengthen election integrity, which the Left characterizes as "voter suppression" and conservatives say is just common sense.
On September 26, the streets of Philadelphia became a stomping ground for rampant crime. Stores such as Apple, Lulu Lemon, and Foot Locker were ransacked. Akin to a passing tornado, there were shards of broken glass, dismembered mannequins, and whatever material goods were left lay scattered in the mess. Police were outnumbered, resulting in only a dozen arrests among the 100 looters.
Since the Supreme Court unilaterally legalized same-sex marriage in its 2015 Obergefell decision, transgender ideology has swept through America's institutions with bewildering rapidity, toppling nearly all opposition through sheer brazenness. But the pseudo-religion's weakness has always been biological reality - basic facts of human sexuality which have been understood for all of human history. Is reality finally catching up with the confidence game?
Americans removed from the U.S. military because they identified as lesbian or nonbinary have sued the U.S. military for "reparations now," saying it is wrong to deny less-than-honorably-discharged veterans the same benefits earned by those who served honorably - including college tuition, health care, restaurant discounts, and "society's admiration."
The Golden State is putting new legislation in place to penalize school boards and teachers that reject critical race theory (CRT) and LGBT materials in classrooms and school libraries. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law a bill that bans school boards from removing or censoring books or instructional materials flagged as "diverse," particularly "topics related to race, ethnicity, gender, [and] sexual orientation."
"God's plan includes abortion." "Abortion is okay. You know what's right for you." "Abortion is okay. You are loved." The group called Shout Your Abortion posted these messages on six billboards along Interstate 55 which leads from southern states to Illinois. Supposedly, the organization's goal is to help women with unexpected pregnancies feel loved and "affirmed" as they drive to a state where it is legal to have an abortion.
The Pew Research Center shared survey results earlier this month on the structure of the "modern American family." The report stated, "The American family has undergone significant change in recent decades. There is no longer one predominant family form, and Americans are experiencing family life in increasingly diverse ways." Experts say this familial breakdown is connected to the breakdown of Christianity in the U.S.
The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital has stopped providing gender transition procedures for minors, it announced earlier this month, due to a provision in the Missouri SAFE Act which "creates unsustainable liability" for its operations. The law was passed earlier this year and became effective on August 28, 2023.
The Pentagon quietly implemented, then reversed, new gender-neutral language for military award citations. The new language described both male and female servicemembers with the pronoun "themself." However, that language lasted barely a month before the DOD scrubbed it amid conservative criticism.
As reported last week, the United Nations, with the full backing of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the "adoption" of a "landmark declaration" by member states that appeared to agree to a set of policies in order "prevent" future pandemics. But expert observers are pointing out that the declaration was not only fraudulently adopted, but also contains the blueprint for a future global governance plan that could require vaccine passports for international travel, among other highly controversial provisions.
John Fetterman should not be a United States Senator. Of course, his extreme leftism - for example, his unapologetic endorsement of abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy - and his (now typical for Democrats) allegiance to extra-constitutional governance should be enough to make his presence in the Senate a political impossibility. Sadly, of course, they have not. But there are other reasons why he should leave the office he now occupies.
Our nation is in crisis. It isn't a gun crisis. Or fentanyl crisis. It's not a border crisis - or even a government funding crisis. It is a moral and spiritual crisis. And a sickening video that went viral last weekend fully displays it.
A European politician is calling on his colleagues not to turn a blind eye to rising persecution of Christians. Dutch Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Bert-Jan Ruissen staged a display in the European Parliament last week highlighting the rising persecution of Christians worldwide and criticizing the European Union (EU) for remaining "silent."
This letter to the lead singer and frontman of the Irish rock band U2 was transmitted on February 12, 2023, with the hope that it would reach him and prompt a response. Now that September is here and no reply has appeared, and the Las Vegas concert series is imminent, it seems apt to publish it as an open letter. October 21, 2023 will be the third time the author has heard the band in person.
Despite a record-setting number of illegal entries across the southern border, the Biden administration has announced it will deport a Christian family that fled Europe for the right to homeschool their children - a family granted indefinite legal residency by the Obama administration.
After a turbulent week, the relationship between former President Donald Trump and pro-lifers took another testy turn on Saturday night. Days after calling Florida's six-week abortion limit "terrible," the 45th president launched into a lengthy post on Truth Social warning Republicans that it will "be very hard to win Elections" if the party insists on stronger protections for the unborn. No, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel pushed back on Fox News Sunday. What makes it hard to win elections is sitting back and letting Democrats control the conversation. It's time to go on offense, she insisted - and soon.
A new poll has revealed that almost half of Democratic voters think that free speech should be legal only "under certain circumstances," with three quarters of Democrats also saying that the government should restrict "hateful" social media posts. The poll results indicate a continued emphasis toward censorship on the part of left-leaning voters, even in the wake of intense controversy over recent revelations that government actors worked in tandem with social media companies to censor speech.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday vetoed a bill (AB 957) which would have required family courts to consider "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity or gender expression" when determining the best interests of the child. "This bill would effectively amend CA code to require family courts to award custody to parents who affirm a child's gender identity and deny custody to parents who do not affirm," explained Meg Kilgannon, Family Research Council's senior fellow for Education Studies. The move disappointed the governor's progressive allies.
"I respect differences of opinion," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a recent interview. But he followed that statement by saying, "I don't have too much respect for people that are misbehaving in public and then acting as if they know what's right for kids." He added, "There's a team that's fighting for kids and there's a team that's fighting against kids."
In a world increasingly opposed to masculinity, actor, writer, and producer Kevin Sorbo has entered the fight in defending it. In his recently published children's book entitled, "The Test of Lionhood," Sorbo addresses the topic of gender identity while promoting biblical masculinity. "The attack today on masculinity is a call for us to stay vigilant right now," he told Fox News. "Let's let boys be boys and let girls be girls. And let's stop this whole thing about chopping down the men in the world."
In February, news broke that students in the Baltimore public school system were scoring poorly in math examinations, with zero students able to score at a proficient level. In the months since then, it appears that little has changed. On Thursday, Breitbart reported that 13 out of 33 schools in the Baltimore area have zero students with math proficiency, "meaning 40 percent of Baltimore City Schools did not produce a single student proficient in math."
During Thursday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre flatly refused to answer Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy when he pressed her on how the Biden administration is responding to 10,000 migrants crossing the border illegally per day. The moment was illustrative of the ongoing crisis on the U.S. southern border, which observers say is due to the Biden administration largely ignoring immigration laws and letting hundreds of thousands of illegal border crossers settle and work in the U.S.
Have you ever wanted to be a political punching bag? Try opening a pro-life pregnancy resource center (PRC) in California. Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) announced a lawsuit Thursday against two faith-based organizations, Heartbeat International (HBI) and RealOptions Obria, which operate pro-life pregnancy resource centers in California and provide abortion pill reversal services. This is not the first time a California attorney general has targeted pro-life pregnancy centers.
On September 20, a beautiful sunny day in Canada, thousands of protestors and counter-protestors flooded the streets of various Canadian cities. Flags and signs clashed as some promoted "parental rights" and others promoted "trans rights." As tensions rose, the police presence grew heavy. Yelling and arguments ensued, with some participants leaving in handcuffs. Who are these "hateful" protestors? Reportedly, they are angry parents, trying to protect their children from being sexualized through LGBT indoctrination in local educational institutions.
After receiving no satisfaction from Attorney General Merrick Garland, a conservative congressman has introduced a bill to "stop giving authority to the Department of Justice to be able to go after people like Mark Houck," the pro-life activist and father of seven arrested by heavily-armed federal agents before being acquitted of all charges.
An explosive TikTok trend has caused many - both men and women - to ask why so many men think so often of the long-gone Roman empire. Countless answers have been proffered, including Hollywood portrayals of Rome as a masculine culture, the inventions the ancient Romans pioneered, and the majestic might the empire represented and exercised. I would suggest the answer may be far simpler, and may even be summarized in a single word: order.
During Family Research Council's Pray Vote Stand Summit last weekend, a panel of experts gathered to discuss "Parents and Policy: The Perfect Team to Stop the Sexualization of Our Children." The panel was composed of three experts representing different organizations within the network of state family councils who advocate for family values at the state capitals across the country. During the session, they shared the progress their organizations were making to ensure the protection of children and explored how parents and policymakers could join the fight.
New research from the United Kingdom is showing that over a third of children placed on puberty blockers and hormone drugs suffered severe mental health deterioration afterwards.
Even after decades of cultural and educational attempts to equate all households with the nuclear family, most Americans do not consider a same-sex couple raising children "completely acceptable" as a family, according to a new poll. The only family form Americans of all backgrounds unconditionally accept is a married father and mother.
"This year, I came into my school library, and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books," said Reina Takata, a 10th grader at Erindale Secondary School outside Toronto, Canada. The desolation appears to be the result of local librarians misinterpreting their instructions to conduct an "equitable" and "inclusive" weeding process. Yet their mistake was not that they deviated from the goal of woke library weeding, but that they reached the end goal a little too quickly.
President Joe Biden's decision to give billions of dollars to Iran and to tell the United Nations he has no intention of "containing" China proves "it is time for us to double-down on an America First foreign policy," a leading Republican senator has declared.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding declaration that purported to "strengthen" collaboration and coordination between nations in order to "better prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics." But experts say that buried in the declaration are references that have nothing to do with preventing pandemics, including language to expand abortion, gender ideology, and speech censorship.
More than a few people scratched their heads when one of the most successful college football coaches in history took a run at the U.S. Senate. Two years later, Democrats are struggling to understand something else: how to shut the Auburn icon down. On Wednesday, deep into his seven-month goal-line stand, the Left learned a lesson that most of Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) opponents already have. This coach doesn't quit.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was grilled by Congress on Wednesday over a wide range of issues, including the FBI's targeting of American Catholics as violent extremists and concerned parents as domestic terrorists, as well as the Justice Department's treatment of Hunter Biden's alleged crimes.
The House voted down a procedural vote to advance the Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill for the third time on Thursday, with six Republicans joining all Democrats to vote down the measure by a vote of 212-216. Five Republicans had joined Democrats to vote down the bill 212-214 on Tuesday.
To better equip saints for ministry, Richard Harris, executive director for the Truth and Liberty Coalition, laid out five myths that hinder our ability to fulfill the Great Commission at Family Research Council's 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit.
September 7, the day on which 19-year-old YouTuber Iván Daniel Calás Navarro was to celebrate his 20th birthday, was going to be an unforgettable day, and it was, but in a very different way. That day, he received a summons, delivered to his house in Havana, for September 8, 2023, to present himself at a police station known for imprisoning and punishing political dissidents.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. is commonly viewed as a place that reflects dignity and honor, a symbol of freedom, rights, faith, hope, and patriotism, the landmark where many important decisions are made that affect those aspirations. So when Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently made a habit of walking through the Capitol with shorts, sneakers, and a baggy shirt, it became "a point of focus."
U.S House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday delayed a vote on a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government from September 30 - the current deadline - until October 31. "I'm just recircling it; we have people talking together," McCarthy told reporters. "It's coming up." The delay signals a lack of agreement among Republicans, whose slim majority makes it necessary to gain the support of nearly every single member.
Education is a hot topic in the news these days, due in no small part to the blitzkrieg of gender ideology into classrooms, locker rooms, and students' bathrooms. But an oft-forgotten yet still-relevant topic for discussion and concern is the gradual disappearance of the liberal arts.
London Breed, the mayor of San Fransisco, declared the fentanyl crisis a "state of emergency" in 2020, and since then the problem has continued to worsen across the U.S. This week, in an at-home day care in New York City, a one-year-old boy, Nicholas Dominici, died due to drug exposure, with three other children hospitalized.
Even members of Congress need heroes - and those who stand for religious liberty, biological reality, and the right of Christians to have a voice in their own government recently earned the praise of numerous congressmen.
Frustration amongst the pro-life community continues to simmer following Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump's controversial comments on Sunday that questioned the value of federal protections for the unborn. But during Family Research Council's Pray Vote Stand Summit over the weekend, a panel of pro-life experts made it clear that a national consensus is growing to protect babies at a bare minimum of 15 weeks.
A federal judge on Thursday preliminarily enjoined Escondido Unified School District (USD) and other California officials from enforcing a policy requiring teachers to hide students' gender identity from parents against two Christian teachers. The ruling comes days after a state court temporarily blocked an opposite policy in the Chino Valley USD, which required teachers to inform parents if their student sought to change his or her gender identity.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins described Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and his wife Erin as a "D.C. power couple" in a conversation at FRC's 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit. "The Lord has positioned you both in very significant roles," Perkins said. And while he emphasized that they hold those roles with humility, they have also used their positions to bring faith to the forefront.
High school students in the Keystone State are protesting transgender ideology in their bathrooms. Hundreds of students in the Perkiomen Valley School District north of Philadelphia staged a walkout on Friday, in response to the school board allowing students who identify as transgender to use whichever bathroom they like.
As the battle over transgender identities and gender transition procedures for minors continues to rage across America, a panel discussion at Family Research Council's Pray Vote Stand Summit over the weekend explored the perspectives of four individuals firmly entrenched in the conflict, including the powerful witness of a mother whose daughter now identifies as male.
Pro-life advocates have called Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump's comments "disturbing" after the 45th president said he will "bring peace" on abortion by negotiating a plan that pleases "both" abortion foes and activists - and attacked some of his rivals' more comprehensive protections for life.
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Real Life ministry and Pastor Gary Hamrick from Cornerstone Chapel delivered two prominent speeches at the 2023 Family Research Council Pray Vote Stand Summit. The pastors gave two separate messages, yet they shared one common theme: "It's not political. It's biblical."
Hispanic voters are increasingly embracing conservative politics, according to participants in a Saturday panel at the 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit (PVSS). "We're seeing a shift of Hispanic voters towards the right," said Alfonzo Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. "It's growing to the right," agreed Nilsa Alvarez, Hispanic Division Director for Faith & Freedom Coalition. "And it's obvious that the conservative movement is on the go."
Both Jacob Kersey and Sophia Lorey, by standing firm on the Word of God, have lost friends, jobs, and been insulted continuously by those who hate truth. So, what did these two individuals have to share with the young crowd before them? What was their advice for how to stand firm when inevitable trials come?
U.S. senators on the Intelligence Committee are demanding the nation's top law enforcement agency explain why it was targeting Catholics. Eight members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence published a letter last week to FBI director Christopher Wray, giving him until September 29 to explain how the Richmond field office crafted a memo detailing plans to unconstitutionally spy on American Catholics and to report what measures he and other FBI leadership are putting in place to ensure religious liberty is never threatened in this way again.
While many pro-life organizations warn the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) needs more guardrails against abortion, some evangelicals who work on the AIDS issue deny the problem exists. Shepherd Smith, co-founder of Children's AIDS Fund International and one of PEPFAR's early evangelical advocates, called it "simply false" that PEPFAR dollars fund abortion.
Have you ever heard the prayer, or even prayed it yourself, "Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours?" I know I have both heard it and prayed it. Maybe you have, too. But how often have we paused to consider what that prayer actually means? If we are praying for our hearts to break over the same things that would grieve our heavenly Father, then, first, we must think about what those things are.
Former President Donald Trump has promised he will pardon or commute the sentences of sidewalk counselors, pro-life advocates, and "every political prisoner who's been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration" on the first day he returns to office, he told the 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit on Friday.
As president of the United States, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) will rely on God, empower parents, protect religious liberty, and stand up to the government and corporate forces waging a war on Christians, the governor told the 2023 Pray Vote Stand Summit on Friday night.
Results from the 2024 presidential straw poll at the Pray Vote Stand Summit 2023.
At the Pray Vote Stand Summit (PVSS) in Washington, D.C. on Friday, venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy confronted what he described as a "national identity crisis." Said the 38-year-old Ohioan, "Faith, patriotism, hard work, family - these things have disappeared. And that leaves a moral vacuum in its wake."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Former President Donald Trump has won Family Research Council Action's Pray Vote Stand Summit Straw Poll, receiving nearly 64 percent of the votes cast. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finished second with just over 27 percent of the vote.
As Mike Pence addressed the Pray Vote Stand Summit (PVSS) in Washington, D.C. Friday, the former vice president appeared to be a longshot candidate according to the latest Fox News GOP primary poll, which found him tied for fifth place, drawing the support of 3% of survey respondents. In a speech that zeroed in on painting Joe Biden's presidency as a failure, Pence outlined "a national pro-family strategy" that focused heavily on hot button issues, including gender transition procedures for minors, girls' sports, and abortion.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) will kick off a weekend of campaign events focused on faith with what sources have touted as a major policy speech on religious liberty at the Pray Vote Stand Summit (PVSS) Friday night - and he began by sharing his favorite Bible verse.
New Jersey's Sussex County Republican Party is circulating a billboard campaign that will alert residents to Governor Phil Murphy's (D) "Sex Ed Mandates." The Sussex County GOP is warning residents that "no family is safe" under the governor's mandates. The advertisements will run in more than 50 locations in northwest New Jersey and are scheduled to run throughout the election period - until November 2024.
Radical leftists are attacking more churches across the United States. The Second Baptist Church in Palermo, Maine was vandalized Saturday night with pro-abortion and pro-LGBT slogans. Graffitied phrases read, "Abortion is our human right" and "Queer love 4 eva." The church also had a sign stating, "Abortion is murder," which vandals covered with red paint. State Rep. Katrina Smith (R-Palermo) classified the vandalism as a "hate crime," saying, "This is an escalation of violence against the church."
On Thursday, Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) along with 29 other congressmen sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland expressing "grave concern" over the online spread of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) that are generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The letter comes amid heightened alarm from a wide swath of governmental officials and family advocates over the issue.
It appears that attempts in some quarters of the GOP to rebrand the term "pro-life" to "pro-baby" is not settling well among many liberals and conservatives alike. Democrats, such as former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, are openly mocking this potential switch, comparing unborn babies to "a lump of coal." At the same time, conservatives claim this rebrand would not solve the "larger problem."
The White House's first priority after House Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry was to direct the media how to cover it. It's arrogant. It's a gamble. And it's exactly the sort of behavior that typifies this administration. "The letter has an uncomfortable feeling of marching orders to the media," suggested George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
A federal judge is blocking New Mexico's restrictive new gun control measures. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Herrera Urias issued a temporary restraining order against a ban on lawful carrying of firearms ordered by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) last week.
Video of Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) went viral on X Tuesday when he read pornographic excerpts from "All Boys Aren't Blue" and "Gender Queer," which are intended for children, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
At the time of this writing, Ilham Aliyev, the Islamist President of Azerbaijan, continues to enforce a genocidal siege against Artsakh. With the encouragement of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Aliyev is choosing death by starvation as his weapon of choice against Artsakh's Armenian Christian enclave. His intention is to reclaim the disputed territory of Artsakh and to relocate Azeri Muslims there.
The Indiana State Medical Association (ISMA) passed a resolution to "oppose medical and surgical gender transition treatment for minors" at its annual convention over the weekend. The state medical association is the first mainstream association to challenge the trans ideology promulgated by national medical associations such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Endocrine Society.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced that it would unfreeze $6 billion in frozen Iranian money and release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S. in exchange for five U.S. citizens imprisoned in Iran. Lawmakers and foreign policy experts are sharply criticizing the deal, saying that it will encourage hostile foreign actors to continue to take American hostages and that the unfrozen money will likely be used to fund terrorism.
A high-ranking CIA officer has told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that members of the agency's COVID Discovery Team who believed the evidence pointed to a lab leak "were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position."
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Tuesday has put Rep. Greg Steube's (R-Fla.) four articles of impeachment against Biden back into the spotlight, which were further discussed on Tuesday's edition of "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins."
Kim Jong Un, once called the "Shining Sun" by his terrified and deluded subjects in North Korea, has arrived in Russia to conduct business with his fellow explorer of the depths of depravity, Vladimir Putin. Kim travels in a massive bullet-proof train so laden with metal plating that it can only move "at a glacial pace compared to most modern trains."
The staff responsible for carrying out the day-to-day administration of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have a strong partisan bias towards Democrats, according to an August report published by The Heritage Foundation. According to FEC filings for the 2019-2020 election cycle reviewed by Heritage, over 90% of staff who donated to political causes donated to Democrats - for both government agencies and top program partners.
America stepped closer to a legal reckoning for President Joe Biden, as the Speaker of the House announced he formally launched an impeachment inquiry into the president for "allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - FRC Action announced today that former Congressman and Family Research Council's Senior Vice President Jody Hice will serve as the new president of FRC Action, the legislative affiliate of Family Research Council. Hice previously represented the 10th congressional district of Georgia from 2015 to 2023. Tony Perkins, who continues to serve as president of Family Research Council, will become FRC Action's chairman.
As reported by The Hill, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has found that the Biden administration is likely guilty of violating the First Amendment due to "pressuring social media companies to moderate their content on misinformation surrounding vaccines" during the initial wave of the virus.
As Senator Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) military promotions standoff with the White House over its abortion policy in the armed forces enters its eighth month, members of the senator's own party are beginning to grumble that his refusal to relent is hurting military readiness. But Tuberville stood his ground during an interview Monday, making it clear that the ball is in the Biden administration's court to reverse course.
Far-left activists barged into House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office Monday, linking arms and chanting, "Pass PEPFAR now, McCarthy!" The protest briefly interrupted staffers' typically quiet Monday morning before Capitol police arrived and arrested seven protestors who refused to leave. The protest appears to be part of a larger media campaign by far-left groups, including abortion groups, to boost PEPFAR.
On the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, Joe Biden once again made history for all the wrong reasons - ignoring grieving families, lying to U.S. soldiers, and attempting to cut a plea bargain with terrorist masterminds while sending billions of dollars to the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Here are seven examples.
America needs allies, which means we need NATO and our other friends in places like South Korea, Japan, and Australia. But our resources are not infinite. The lamp of liberty needs more than one source of fuel. Nations that value their own independence, freedom, and security should remember that.
On Monday, Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) along with 14 other senators and congressmen sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) demanding that it deny the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) request to reschedule marijuana as a lower-risk Schedule III drug. The letter comes as a growing chorus of lawmakers and experts warn of the manifold harms to society that could result from removing prohibitions on the drug.
Despite a strong majority of Americans supporting some form of limit on abortion, Democrats have repeatedly refused to draw a line in recent years.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Friday suspended the right to bear arms to send "a resounding message." The order apparently comes in response to the Wednesday shooting death of the third New Mexico child since July 28 - each an unspeakable tragedy, to be sure. But the "message" it sends is way off target.
On September 8, the California State Assembly passed a bill that requires judges presiding over child custody cases to consider a parent's willingness to support their child's chosen gender identity in deciding if that parent should be granted custody. The bill received swift condemnation from a wide swath of Americans, including parental rights advocates, detransitioners, lawmakers, and public figures.
The use of psychedelic drugs is becoming increasingly mainstream. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) co-sponsored a psychedelic therapy bill to advocate using psychedelics in treating depression and PTSD in military veterans. Many media outlets are promoting the use as well, claiming there are many benefits. However, despite the push to emphasize these supposed benefits, experts are bringing awareness to a host of concerns.
While pro-life advocates warn that the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) subsidizes non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that perform and advocate for abortion overseas, PEPFAR's controversial allocations are not confined to NGOs, nor to the abortion issue. "Everyone is pointing to abortion, but we should also be looking at the comprehensive sexuality education," Keystone Policy founder and CEO Bethany Kozma told The Washington Stand.
The end times is a mysterious, frightening, and controversial subject. Many have attempted to answer questions about the timing of Christ's return, the rapture, the Great Tribulation, and other biblical prophecies, and countless groups and apocalyptic prophets have spawned since Jesus's resurrection. Indeed, Christians have been wrestling with eschatology, particularly the book of Revelation, for centuries.
Preaching may not be the oldest profession, but it's an occupation that's been around since the days of Noah. And as long as there have been preachers, there have been sermons. And as long as there have been sermons, there have been long sermons. And with all sermons whether long or short, preachers must spend time in preparation (if they don't, you just hang on for dear life until the rambling is finished). Studying for sermons is hard work and help for the pastor is usually welcome. Enter the emerging field of artificial intelligence (AI) sermon aids. With drive-thru attendants already being replaced, it was only a matter of time before AI came for your pastor. Well, maybe not your entire pastor just yet, but his sermon is certainly in jeopardy.
The public school and the local library "needs to be a site of socialist organizing," said the head of the American Library Association (ALA) at a conference that advocated abolishing the family, replacing mothers and fathers with collective parenting, and forming a mass movement to protect children's "right" to engage in prostitution.
The Biden administration has awarded an anti-terrorism grant worth more than half-a-million dollars to an LGBTQ activist group, which distributes condoms and "sex education" material, to expand its "in-school support for LGBTQ+ youth" as young as age 6. The manifesto of its school-based group - which is based on the Black Panthers - calls for the "abolition" of the police, the erasure of the U.S. border, and the "reclamation" of all "stolen lands" by indigenous people.
On Tuesday, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) staff attorney Thomas Jergens was among 61 individuals indicted in Atlanta on racketeering charges, which include a mob attack on a public safety training facility near the city in March. Experts are noting that the violent, extremist tactics employed by Jergens are characteristic of the SPLC's efforts to target conservative organizations.
The legacy media, congressional Democrats, and left-wing foreign aid experts are accusing Republicans in Congress of making a mountain out of a molehill in demanding guardrails against abortion funding for "the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief," or PEPFAR, which is scheduled to expire on October 1, among a press of surging budget deadlines. But are they?
It's the central command of Great Commission, but for many Christians, making disciples seems to be an accessory to their walk with Jesus. In his new book "Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child's Heart, Mind and Soul," George Barna, a senior research fellow for Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview, tackles the subject of discipling America's children. Following a significant body of research among the practices of churches in the United States, Barna identifies some of the shortcomings of children's ministry today, and offers some potential solutions based on that research.
A Medal of Honor ceremony spun sideways Tuesday after President Biden exited the White House East Room before the closing benediction. When asked about it, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden's actions were done "very purposefully."
One of the Senate's pro-life leaders has rebuffed claims that he is "aiding and abetting communism" by holding up promotions of top military brass until the Biden administration rescinds a policy forcing taxpayers to fund abortion-related travel for enlisted mothers. His office has also refuted the notion that his actions are "unprecedented" by furnishing The Washington Stand with a list of prior holds on military promotions - initiated by Democrats and Republicans alike - stretching back 31 years.
Twenty-three U.S. states have already set into motion laws that ban biological men from competing in women's sports. Considering the vast physiological differences between men and women, as many experts have emphasized, this is a huge win for advocates of girls' sports. After action by state officials, Alaska may be next in line to enact a similar ban.
As health experts downgraded the danger of the latest COVID variant, news broke Sunday that the Biden administration hid government data from the public in 2021 showing that COVID cases among vaccinated seniors was spiking. Medical experts and lawmakers say that the Biden administration is continuing its pattern of distorting and concealing scientific evidence and data surrounding the virus for political gain and societal control.
The Old Dominion state's governor is campaigning for Republican control of the Virginia legislature in an effort to pass pro-life legislation. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) launched a bus tour on Labor Day, pushing for early and absentee voting among Republicans ahead of the state's General Assembly election in November later this year.
The online job search company Indeed has announced it will now cover up to $10,000 in expenses for employees who want to relocate for "gender-affirming care," a policy that went into effect in July of this year. The financial aid is for staff and their immediate family members who identify, according to Axios, as "gender non-conforming, transgender, or non-binary," and who live in a state where laws restrict access to medical transitions and cross-sex hormones.
Parental rights triumphed over the transgender agenda in the shadow of California's capital overnight, as the state's fifth school district adopted a policy requiring teachers to notify parents if their children begin to identify as a member of another sex.
The Republican conundrum with former President Donald Trump is now well documented. For whatever reason, every indictment makes him stronger and his nomination as the Republican candidate in 2024 seems likely, despite the fact that there hasn't been a single primary vote cast. Things can change, but history says it won't.
"Too many fathers are MIA. Too many fathers are AWOL - missing from too many lives and too many homes." This was a statement by a presidential candidate. Was it former Vice President Mike Pence, who made this declaration? Senator Tim Scott? Vivek Ramaswamy? No, it actually wasn't said during the recent Republican presidential debate. It was said in 2008 by then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
On August 30, reports surfaced that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will review a recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk Schedule III drug. Experts warn that because of marijuana's proven track record of being used as a gateway drug to highly addictive narcotics such as fentanyl, the move could lead to increased drug addiction and abuse nationwide.
After several controversial moves by Disney that observers say are entrenching them in the culture wars, including partnering with a gender-fluid identifying influencer, promoting drag shows, and banning the use of "gender greetings," the entertainment giant has lost over half of its market capitalization - currently sitting at a nine-year low. This has resulted in declining theme park attendees, angry parents, a decreasing number of Disney+ subscribers, and upset shareholders.
A Georgia law protecting minors from irreversible cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment surgeries went back into effect on Tuesday as a result of the 11th Circuit's recent ruling in favor of a similar law in Alabama. A federal district judge stayed her own preliminary injunction against Georgia's law pending further action at the circuit court level. "It is undisputed that this Court's preliminary injunction rests on legal grounds that have been squarely rejected" by the 11th Circuit, she admitted.
The Biden administration is moving to shield one of its top transgenderism advocates in the midst of an Alabama lawsuit over protecting children from gender transition procedures. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed the Vulnerable Child Protection Act (VCAP) into law last year, making it a felony for doctors to prescribe hormones or puberty-blocking drugs for minors or perform gender transition surgeries on minors. The law was temporarily halted by a U.S. District Court after several plaintiffs, including the Department of Justice, filed a lawsuit.
Recently, I watched a video by a young former pastor who has renounced his Christian faith. This young man's issue was not the historical credibility of the resurrection of Jesus or the reliability of the Exodus narrative. Instead, he was offended by the idea that a God of mercy would not welcome into eternal life everyone who seemed to be earnest in whatever faith they have. Put simply, this former pastor decided to create a new god, one in his own image.
According to recent reports, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to meet in Russia to discuss weapons. Putin would like to receive more weaponry for the war happening between Russia and Ukraine. In exchange, Kim seeks from Russia advanced technology for satellites, nuclear-powered submarines, and food aid for his starving people. It is possible this deal between the countries could be solely transactional.
Since the beginning of 2020, when the COVID pandemic caused widespread and lengthy public school shutdowns and vaccine requirements that proved to be immensely controversial, a growing number of parents are removing their students from public schools and enrolling them in private ones. Among the private schools that have seen substantial growth are classical Christian schools, which focus on instilling students with a biblical worldview through the wisdom and traditions of Western civilization that have been established for centuries.
Former President Donald J. Trump is dominating the GOP primary field, according to several polls. A Wall Street Journal survey published Saturday shows that Trump is the top presidential pick for 59% of Republican voters, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in second place at 13%. None of the other Republican contenders polled higher than single digits.
An LGBT pressure group that advocates teaching transgender ideology to children in preschool has endorsed an abortion-related state constitutional amendment that could also create a constitutional "right" for minors to have transgender surgeries without their parents' knowledge or approval. In addition, the transgender activist group is joined by one of the nation's largest profiteers from injecting minors and young adults with cross-sex hormones.
It's a running joke that Ecclesiastes is one of the most depressing books in the Bible. That's not surprising when you read "all is vanity" throughout the chapters of the relatively short book. You read, "There's nothing new under the sun," this is vanity, and that is vanity. ALL is vanity! It's as though that's all you see saturating the pages. If that were true - if that was all there was - I'd be depressed, too. Indeed, I once was.
Marxism is a material philosophy that denies the existence of anything but the physically substantial. Thus, communism's hatred of religion, which proposes that there is an unseen world and that life beyond the grave should concern mortal men and women.
Labor Day has never made much sense to me. After all, it was a day off work that somehow was supposed to recognize... work. Add to that the fact that most people have no pointed celebration to the day's stated purpose. The grand finale of summer holidays - with Memorial Day marking summer's beginning and Independence Day the midpoint - has never seemed to have a purpose.
On Thursday's edition of "Washington Watch" with Tony Perkins and Jody Hice, Edward Graham, chief operating officer for the Christian international relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, was invited on to discuss what is being done for the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia. Graham is also operating a team to bring relief in Maui from the fires.
Amid growing fears that Americans could face more COVID-19 lockdowns or mandates, Republican candidates vying for the 2024 presidential nomination say they are firmly against such restrictive measures.
On Friday, reports surfaced that an all-time record was set in August for the most ever arrests of migrants who are part of a family group illegally crossing the U.S. southern border in one month. The news highlights an ongoing surge of migrants showing up at the border due to relaxed admittance policies put in place by the Biden administration, which is also attracting potential domestic terrorists, as reported by CNN this week.
As Democrats continue to attack a conservative Supreme Court justice, his former law clerks are coming to his defense. A total of 112 of Justice Clarence Thomas's former law clerks wrote a letter earlier this week defending his character, his integrity, and his jurisprudence.
California mom Jessica Konen won a $100,000 settlement from her daughter's school district, Spreckels Union School District, after Buena Vista Middle School had socially transitioned her 11-year-old daughter, Alicia, without her knowledge or consent. The school district still refuses to admit that it's at fault.
Only one roadway, the Lachin Corridor, provides a highway to and from Artsakh and Armenia. And for the past several months that road has been blockaded by the Azeris, cutting off the delivery of all provisions to Karabakh, including food, medication, and emergency services.
Parents in the Golden State are using ballot boxes to take a stand against state-imposed gender ideology. The Protect Kids California coalition launched three ballot initiatives Monday, designed to tackle gender ideology in the classroom, on the sports field, and in the doctor's office.
Finland seems eager to send the West spiraling back into a new and real Dark Ages of anti-Christian discrimination after putting Paivi Rasanen back on trial for simply articulating a Christian perspective on marriage and sexuality.
Literature, film, and even video games have all produced various visions of dictatorial dystopias and ruthless regimes, yet all have been, of necessity, outlandish - necessarily so because each tale of totalitarianism is meant to be a warning, and warnings must always be writ large and in brightly-colored letters, not whispered or scrawled on the corner of a notepad.
Family Research Council recently released a survey on adult churchgoers regarding worldview and various social issues. Within the survey, participants were asked, "Does the Bible address the question, 'Is transgenderism morally acceptable?'" According to the poll, 52% believe the Bible is clear and decisive about the matter, 19% say the Bible is unclear or ambiguous, 20% believe the Bible does not address it, and 9% claim they do not know.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that it would remove 27 previously "unverified" Chinese entities from an economic blacklist ahead of an official state visit to China by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Experts are noting that it is unclear what political victory the U.S. got in return for rewarding China with the blacklist removals, especially as the Chinese economy teeters on the edge of a downturn.
Pro-lifers are fighting to stay out of jail after being convicted of federal crimes by a Washington, D.C. jury. Five pro-life activists with the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) organization were convicted Tuesday of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and were immediately jailed.
As Barack Obama's vice president, Joe Biden sent more than 5,000 emails under a host of false names and abused federal resources to facilitate his son, Hunter Biden's foreign influence-peddling businesses, Republicans say. The combination of corruption and federal agencies refusing to make the records public leaves America "on the verge of being a banana republic," according to one U.S. congressman.
This week, one of the leading retail firms in America was the latest casualty of San Francisco's collapse. Iconic retailer Nordstrom has announced that after 35 years, it is shutting down. As Fortune's Chris Morris writes, Nordstrom is "the latest retailer to capitulate to rising crime and lower foot traffic." The company owning the mall where Nordstrom had its building said the retailer's decision to shutter "underscores the deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco."
According to Axios, "Colorado is a leading provider nationwide of abortions." A June report from the Society of Family Planning stated that "the share of abortion pills provided via telehealth in Colorado increased to 20 percent in March 2023, up from 14% in April 2022. ... The proportion of telehealth abortions in the state is three times the national average of 7.4 percent." As a result, abortions in Colorado have increased by an estimated 4,500.
The Naval Academy is actively seeking to hire a "specialist in Gender and Sexuality Studies" to bring midshipmen "up to date" with LGBT issues. Authors known for holding leftist, feminist, and sexually activist views such as Audre Lorde, Sarah Ahmed, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Gloria Anzaldua will be studied.
A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association has revealed that 3,678 individuals between 12 and 18 years of age underwent reconstructive surgeries to resemble the opposite sex between 2016 and 2019. The study dramatically undercuts a common narrative among transgender activists that transgender surgeries on minors are "very rare."
The Democratic Party signaled it plans to stake the 2024 election on its role as the champions of unrestricted abortion-on-demand, spending tens of millions of dollars on a new, negative ads slinging mud at pro-life Republicans. The Biden-Harris campaign debuted a 60-second ad, titled "These Guys," after the first Republican presidential debate, held at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum arena last Wednesday.
The Golden State's attorney general is suing a school district for ensuring parents know when their children try to transition their genders. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed a lawsuit Monday against Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), alleging the school district's policy requiring faculty and staff to notify parents of students' attempted gender transitions is a civil rights violation.
According to the Financial Times, mothers are re-entering the workforce at significantly high rates, with "more mothers in the workforce ... since the labour department began tracking them in 1948, according to an analysis of government labour market data." But what is causing this?
Despite NASCAR's claims about being an equal opportunity employer, their "Diversity Internship" has officially banned white people from applying. The job listing states, "We seek to attract and retain the best qualified people available. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race [or] color." Yet, according to The Daily Wire, "The first bullet point listed under the heading 'Program Requirements' reads: 'Be a member of one or more of the following races/ethnic minority classifications: Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Latino or Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.'"
The city council of Waterloo, Iowa voted this week to repeal its ban on counseling therapy for minors seeking help with unwanted gender and sexual confusion. The move is the latest in a series of reversals of counseling bans that experts say is a welcome sign for the freedom of clients to choose their own counseling goals free from political ideology and censorship.
Earlier this summer, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin floated the idea of a constitutional amendment to block the state government from forcing church closures during health emergencies. Ultimately, the rise in interest for amendments of this nature, and the continued issue of state-ordered church closers, raises deeper questions that Christians ought to consider regarding their churches' purposes.
New reports are revealing that the owner of a major do-it-yourself pornography subscription website made over $1 million a day last year. According to financial statements, OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky netted over $338 million in 2022, a little over $1 million per working day, in addition to his regular annual salary, which was not disclosed.
A growing number of Christians who believe in traditional morality are finding themselves without financial services, both in the U.S. and around the world, as Western leaders engage in "insufferable" actions that resemble secular "religious fundamentalists who are intolerant of other faiths."
President Joe Biden has announced his plans to request funding from Congress for a new vaccine - deeming it "necessary" and one he "recommends" everyone take. "I signed off this morning on a proposal ... for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works," he said.
There aren't a lot of 19-year-olds who give up their birthdays to go to Congress and plead for kids' lives. But Chloe Cole isn't your average teenager. The face of the detransitioner movement has come into her own by walking a painful path she prays no one else follows. Now, after years of suffering, self-doubt, and irreversible surgery, Chloe is a living warning to parents that the scars of trying to be someone else never fully heal.
Across a wide age range, a record number of Americans are remaining single. Recent data shows that the average age for marriage for both men and women now hovers around 30, while a record amount of 40-year-olds have never been married. As a negative cultural view of marriage grows among younger generations, studies show that married individuals are not only happier, but also more financially stable than their single counterparts.
A rock and roll legend is taking on woke culture and the transgender agenda, despite the backlash. In an interview last week with Stereogum, shock-rocker Alice Cooper shared his thoughts on how ridiculous woke culture is. "The whole woke thing ... who's making the rules?" he asked. "Is there a building somewhere in New York where people sit down every day and say, 'Okay, we can't say 'mother' now. We have to say 'birthing person.' Get that out on the wire right now?' Who is this person that's making these rules?" The 75-year-old rock star clarified, "I'm not being old school about it. I'm being logical about it."
Small-town YMCAs in suburban Ohio have launched themselves headfirst into the transgender debate by allowing men who "identify" as women to access women's locker rooms. And women who have belonged to these supposedly family-friendly YMCAs for years are discovering, to their shock, that management considers their safety and privacy inferior to the feelings of men.
Economic weakness and radical policies are pushing nations away from the U.S. and into the arms of China and Russia, a well-known business school head stated Friday. "The U.S. is clearly losing our authority on the world stage," former Congressman Dave Brat said on August 25's "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins."
Wednesday's presidential debate has many voters thinking about which candidate they prefer. It's an important question, but we should remember that human leaders will always disappoint us. Only God is worthy of our complete and ultimate trust. That's one major theme flowing throughout the book of Isaiah.
On Wednesday, the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council released the results of a nationwide study analyzing the beliefs of American churchgoers. The FRC survey covered an area of theological and worldview issues. A portion of the study specifically looked at what churchgoers believe about abortion and the Bible's teaching on life. What follows are 10 survey findings related to abortion that merit our attention.
British neonatal nurse Lucy Letby will serve the rest of her life in prison for murdering seven infants and attempting to kill six more. It is unnecessary to review the details of her wicked acts; they are too painful to recite. The repugnance of Letby's actions is universal. Yet the coverage of her actions and trial demonstrates a moral blindness that is striking in its scope.
A report from January revealed that the state of Louisiana currently has the second highest homicide rate in the nation. Rising crime across the South has led pastors to become increasingly concerned, and Family Research Council led a gathering of pastors in Baton Rouge Friday to pray for a revival and plan for a renewed focus on reducing crime in the Bayou State.
A federal judge is denying parents in Maryland the opportunity to opt out of subjecting their children to LGBT grooming material in classrooms. On Thursday, U.S. District Court judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, rejected a petition brought by Old Line State parents requesting the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) district, the state's largest school district, restore a policy allowing parents to opt their children out of sexually-charged reading and classroom discussions.
As he departed an Atlanta-area jail Thursday night, former President Donald Trump derided his fourth indictment as a form of "election interference" designed to thwart his presidential campaign and stifle constitutionally protected free speech rights.
Democrats have long relied on lies in an effort to push the slaughter of the unborn, but Wednesday night's GOP primary debate saw even some Republicans muddy the waters. Here are the top three lies told about abortion in and around the debate.
A New York Times article title on Monday might have bested the stiff competition for Worst Headline of the Year if it weren't so unoriginal. "Elections Are Bad for Democracy," announced the bold print (since modified) above a think piece by guest writer Dr. Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (the same Wharton School that predicted the Inflation Reduction Act would not reduce inflation).
Surveys show that Christian identity is in decline in America. A study conducted by Family Research Council suggests that only 6% of the adult population has an authentic biblical worldview. So how can believers more effectively spread the gospel and begin to reverse the trend? Sociologist and researcher George Barna has an answer: it starts with children and how they are raised.
It is not hard to claim, from one's own experience, that we live in strange and confusing times. But on occasion, you get demonstrable proof that we do. In June 2023, Family Research Council conducted a national survey of approximately 1,000 adults who attend church at least once a month, asking them questions on a range of social issues.
Parents in the Golden State are protesting new state measures that would strip parents of their right to raise their children. The California Family Council hosted a rally outside the state capitol in Sacramento on Monday to call attention to a spate of state bills that would stifle parental rights and give the state legislature, school boards, and social workers greater authority over children than parents have.
With Donald Trump absent, abortion took center stage at the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee Wednesday night, as the next tier of presidential hopefuls ran the gamut from accusing the party of "demonizing" the issue to declaring it "a moral issue" worthy of federal protection.
Denmark has "initiated a more cautious approach to [gender transition] hormone therapy [for minors] until more evidence is available for its beneficial effect," according to a recent article in the journal of the Danish Medical Association, Ugeskrift for Laeger. The Danish-language article identified increasing reports of detransitioners, psychiatric comorbidities, and an "underexplained" prevalence of teen girls seeking to transition as reasons for caution.
Schools rooted in a biblical worldview are seeing increased enrollment in the Old Dominion, while public schools are faltering. According to a recent report, Catholic schools in northern Virginia have seen a 10% increase in enrollment since 2019. The Catholic diocese of Arlington covers the entirety of northern Virginia, including Loudoun County, which has been at the heart of the controversy over gender ideology in schools.
Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview released the results of an extensive survey Wednesday on the views of adult churchgoers in America on social issues and worldview. While the vast majority of respondents said that it is important for Christians to have a biblical worldview, experts remain concerned about the mixed responses on social issues like abortion and basic doctrinal questions.
A new poll has revealed parents in a deep-blue state actually support schools notifying parents of students' gender transition efforts. According to a Monmouth University survey, 77% of adults (including 81% of parents of minors) in New Jersey want schools to require teachers to inform parents if students identify as a gender other than their biological sexes, and 59% of adults said teachers should inform parents even if there's no requirement. Among Republicans, 92% support the mandate, as do a majority (61%) of Democrats.
The Biden administration has issued federal regulations turning pro-life legislation into a guarantee of abortion-on-demand and forced every employer to become part of the "machinery of death," a former Trump administration official has warned. The Biden administration has issued two controversial federal rules that would further advance the interests of the abortion lobby.
A California library is taking flak for silencing an event speaker for supposedly "misgendering" biological men who identify as transgender.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Monday vacated a preliminary injunction against Alabama's Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which had blocked the section of the law protecting minors from puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The unanimous decision denied that the law "amounts to a sex-based classification" and found no "constitutional right to 'treat [one's] children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards."
President Joe Biden delivered the latest in a series of "Bidenomics" speeches in Milwaukee on August 15, following it up with yet another "victory lap" at the White House the next day. But a strong majority of the American public disapproves of the president's handling of the economy, with a leading expert stating that Biden has not put in place "a single policy ... that [has] help[ed] our economy."
With its population dwindling, the state of Michigan has taken out ads trying to lure businesses to relocate from pro-life states, because Michigan is "on the right side of history" on abortion and same-sex marriage - an action critics call "ignorant" or "evil."
Driving with friends along Israel's sun-drenched border with Lebanon was a fascinating way to begin my latest visit to the Jewish State. And, fortunately, on that bright mid-August day, it felt like a perfectly calm and serene outing. It was, for me, an opportunity to see that northernmost edge of Israel, which I had never visited during the decade I lived in Jerusalem. In fact, I had first moved to Jerusalem during the 2006 Lebanon War. And tensions and conflicts with that northern neighbor - and specifically with its Hezbollah terrorist organization - have never really subsided since.
A new report is sounding the alarm on the growing number of schools embracing transgender ideology and keeping parents in the dark. According to Parents Defending Education, at least 1,040 U.S. school districts have adopted policies instructing or encouraging faculty and staff to keep students' gender identities a secret from parents. Those districts include over 18,000 schools responsible for nearly 11 million students. The vast majority of those school districts (593) are in California.
Just as American patriots once agreed on what liberty is while sitting around their drinks in pubs, just as they once proclaimed what they knew to be true in the pages of their newspapers and gazettes, just as they once shouted their common beliefs in the streets, so too have today's American patriots, speaking in today's town square, agreed that conservatives must not condemn or denigrate Christianity but embrace it.
On the afternoon of Friday, August 18, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly released the latest U.S. southern border numbers, which indicate that the number of migrant apprehensions surged 33% in July over the previous month of June. At the same time, reports surfaced Sunday that the Biden administration is auctioning off unused border wall materials as a result of President Biden halting the wall's construction on his first day in office in January 2021.
The Biden DOJ's reputation for evenhanded justice just suffered another mortal blow from an unexpected assailant: The New York Times. The legacy outlet obtained "over 200 pages of confidential correspondence" between Hunter Biden's legal team and the Office of U.S. Attorney General for Delaware David Weiss (R), and the contents, published Saturday, were highly unflattering to the prosecutor.
As we are just days away from the first Republican Primary debate, undoubtedly the topic of fiscal conservatism versus social conservatism will come up in the conversation. There are some Republicans who will say that in order to beat Joe Biden next November, Republicans must stay away from social issues (i.e., LGBTQ agendas, abortion, etc.) and focus on economic issues. But is this a wise strategy?
Deepening the ongoing presidential corruption scandal, emails obtained from the federal government show that then-Vice President Joe Biden maintained email addresses under numerous false names, including "Robert L. Peters," which interacted with Hunter Biden about Ukraine and presidential appointments. The documents come to light as congressional Republicans edge closer to holding impeachment hearings - a step a leading congressman calls "long past" due and which a conservative leader says pro-family advocates should strongly support.
The headline in Christianity Today's analysis of the hit song "Rich Men North of Richmond" blares: "Oliver Anthony's Viral Hit Doesn't Love Its Neighbors." The sort of people who read Christianity Today, however, should be asking themselves if they love Virginia resident Oliver Anthony, who wrote and sang it.
Sage Steele was an 11-year-old girl watching the 1984 Olympics when she decided to become a sportscaster. Thirty-nine years later - 16 of them with ESPN - the mom of three is leaving the network that made her vision a reality. When people ask why, Sage is blunt: No one should have to choose between their dreams and free speech.
Do you feel world-weary? For 2,000 years, Christians have scanned our sin-steeped surroundings and concluded, "Surely God is about to pour out his judgment." There are solid biblical warrants for this: we know God's holiness, his promises to judge sin, and his past record of doing so. Yet, for reasons known only to himself, God has withheld the full measure of his judgment - for now. So, we wait for the end, not fully understanding, only waiting. It feels like our historical moment bears some similarities to the history of Israel and Judah in the book of 2 Kings.
King's College is what Harvard once was - a bastion of Christian orthodoxy, intellectual growth, and vocational preparation. Through its "commitment to the truths of Christianity and a biblical worldview," the school is dedicated to "by preparing students for careers in which they help to shape and eventually to lead strategic public and private institutions." Although phrased a bit differently, Harvard's original purpose was not too different than today's King's.
A new report is exposing major teachers unions for training teachers to promote woke ideology in the classroom. On Wednesday, the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI) published a follow-up to a report last year tracking and detailing leftist policy items promoted by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
A Christian ministry out of Ohio is seeing massive growth in a new Bible-based education program for public school students, spreading to over 300 schools across 11 states since its launch in 2019.
In a triumph for both the right-to-life movement and the First Amendment, a federal appeals court has unanimously ruled that the government cannot use "selective enforcement" of the law to favor left-wing protesters but punish pro-life advocates. Favoring one political message over another clearly violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech, according to a three-judge panel that included two Democratic appointees.
The Biden administration suffered a major setback, as a federal appeals court has ruled the abortion industry cannot send the abortion pill through the mail, nor ignore the life-threatening harms suffered by the women who take it. The unanimous decision, which pro-life advocates say could save tens of thousands of lives, likely places the pro-life movement and the abortion lobby on another collision course for the Supreme Court.
A new poll is showing Americans overwhelmingly support mandatory age verification to access pornographic websites. According to an RMG Research poll, 83% of registered American voters support a national mandate requiring age verification for pornographic websites.
The International Chess Federation, the world's top chess governing body, announced Monday that it would prohibit biological males who identify as women from competing in women's competitions until a "further ... decision is made." The announcement marks the latest in a series of moves by sports governing bodies to keep men's and women's competitions separated by biological sex, regardless of gender identity.
The North Carolina legislature held a veto override bonanza Wednesday, enacting at least five bills over the objections of Governor Roy Cooper (D). Among these were bills to protect minors from the harmful effects of irreversible gender reassignment procedures, guarantee parental rights in education, and clarify that women's sports are for women.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has soared to insurgent status in his Democratic primary challenge by shattering Beltway orthodoxies, but even he has a line he cannot cross: abortion. RFK Jr. has joined the long list of Democratic presidential hopefuls who reversed any professed support for pro-life legislation.
Conservatives in the Yellowhammer State are banning woke teachers' unions from donating to candidates in school-related elections. The Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) recently voted to bar county and state school board and superintendent candidates from accepting donations from the National Education Association (NEA) and the Alabama Education Association (AEA), the state affiliate of the NEA.
"In case you haven't noticed, inflation is down, too, and it's going lower," President Joe Biden said Tuesday during a speech in Milwaukee to tout his economic agenda. But many Americans haven't noticed. In a CBS News/YouGov poll from late July, 69% of U.S. adults said prices had been going up in the last few weeks (versus 6% who said prices were going down), and 70% said their income was not keeping up with inflation.
The state of Texas has asked a federal judge to fine Planned Parenthood more than $1 billion for filing "thousands" of fraudulent Medicaid claims over multiple years - allegations the same Planned Parenthood affiliate has settled in the past. With interest, fines, and penalties, Planned Parenthood has warned the total fine could be a whopping $1.8 billion, inflicting "devastating consequences" for the abortion chain and potentially causing it to close down its operations in the Lone Star State.
Retail giant Target has publicly admitted that boycotts resulting from outrage over their prominent Pride Month displays in stores and transgender merchandise designed for minors significantly affected the company's profits, which has caused the retailer to implement "modifications" to how they will promote LGBT-themed items in the future.
Tuesday night, a contentious debate over religious freedom broke out on Twitter between a Republican congressman and a former Trump campaign staffer. To make matters even more interesting, a Democratic congresswoman joined the fray, offering a strong defense of America's First Freedom. Although the congressman eventually apologized for his comments, the debate shed light on how the nature of religious freedom can be misunderstood.
A popular candy brand is being blasted for going woke and promoting LGBT ideology, sparking calls for boycotts. Although Pride Month is over, Skittles has introduced new packaging featuring LGBT Pride slogans and images.
Obama's public reprimand has since made it acceptable for many - mostly on the Left - to mock and excoriate those who believe in the power of prayer to offer hope in seemingly hopeless situations.
An FBI shootout two years ago has led to the uncovering of an international child pornography-sharing ring. Officials announced last week that a joint operation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has yielded 79 arrests in the U.S. and 19 in Australia.
In an astonishingly brazen heist that occurred in Woodland Hills, Calif. on August 12 in broad daylight, approximately 50 individuals mobbed a Nordstrom store, stealing about $300,000 worth of merchandise and destroying display cases in the process. Experts say "smash and grab" or "flash rob" crimes like these as well as grocery shoplifting have been steadily rising in Democrat-controlled states and cities across the country due to policies that reduced the penalties for committing crimes.
The man who's wanted to declare a state of emergency for everything from abortion access to climate change has had shockingly little to say about the very real devastation in Maui. "We're looking at it" was all he had to say pedaling past reporters Sunday. And that, pundits point out, was an improvement from his beach day "no comment" that outraged even his own party. "Is this the famous 'compassion' the media has told us about?" Congressman Bob Good (R-Va.) wondered.
For the Biden administration, pushing abortion and transgender ideology is a top priority at all levels of government. Sometimes, this priority even overshadows their commitment to the truth. And the Biden administration has told some real whoppers. But don't take my word for it; consider the facts for yourself. Here are the top five lies of the Biden administration regarding abortion and transgender ideology.
New College in Florida has been making news lately, for all the right reasons. The Board of Trustees, with six new members appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), charts a new course for New College.
Off-the-grid Virginia farmer Oliver Anthony released a simple folk song called "Rich Men North of Richmond," which has quickly become a sort of soulful anthem-turned-funeral-ballad for all Americans who are sick of being mistreated, abused, and ignored by those elected to represent them.
A new report reveals that while younger generations of Americans are less religious and engaged with the Bible than their older counterparts, roughly half of them credit the Bible's message for transforming their lives. The latest chapter of the American Bible Society's State of the Bible USA 2023 report, released Thursday, focuses on the spiritual practices of Generation Z, who were born in 1997 or later.
A Republican member of Congress has introduced a bill to impeach President Joe Biden for breaking four criminal statutes, constituting high crimes and misdemeanors that abuse his office.
Parental rights advanced in deep blue California, as another school district has required teachers to notify parents if their children begin to identify as transgender. The Murietta Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) adopted a Parental Notification Policy by a 3-2 vote at its August 10 board of education meeting.
CNN wants you to take "neopronouns" seriously - so much so that on Saturday they published an 1,800-word-long "Guide to Neopronouns." The article promotes pronoun activist Dennis Baron's 2020 book, "What's My Gender?" If you've never heard of "neopronouns" before, that's because it's unlikely you've ever met anyone who uses them - or ever will.
A devastating wildfire that ripped through the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii last week has left 96 people dead so far, with the number of fatalities likely to climb significantly higher in the coming weeks. A local pastor is urging believers to pray for the specific needs of the local community.
The state of Massachusetts is barring a Christian couple from fostering children due to their biblical beliefs on sexuality and gender. Catholics Mike and Kitty Burke filed a lawsuit last week in federal court against state officials after they were denied the right to serve as foster parents. During the foster parents screening process, the couple were interrogated regarding their Catholic faith and the Catholic Church's teachings on homosexuality and transgenderism, with officials declaring Mike and Kitty "would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA."
These days, it is not uncommon for Christian commentators to bemoan the state of the believing American church. There's much to bemoan, yet if we concentrate on the failures to the exclusion of the powerful work God is doing both in and through the church, we do great harm.
A divided nation, declining influence, and leaders who range from flawed to awful - that describes the state of ancient Israel in the book of 1 Kings - and the state of America today. Israel expectantly awaited a king from David's line who would establish an eternal kingdom, in fulfillment of God's promise (2 Samuel 7:13), but that king didn't come. Instead, the nation suffered decline and calamity as turned away from the Lord. America doesn't occupy Israel's special place in redemptive history, but we too await the return of the Son of David who reigns forever.
The appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden seems like a "Biden family coverup" designed to thwart genuine investigations, stonewall Congress, and "whitewash" the results before the 2024 presidential election, said outraged Republicans Friday. One Republican congressman said, "I don't trust him as far as I can throw the dome off the Capitol."
The Washington Stand recently had the opportunity to spend some time speaking to Leonard Leo, former vice president of the Federalist Society and now the chairman of the organization's board, as well as a leading figure in the conservative world. Mr. Leo is largely credited with helping U.S. presidents select strong conservative, textualist, and originalist thinkers for the Supreme Court, including Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Scripture makes clear that sexual immorality is an offense to God and harmful to those who engage in it. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" asked Paul of the church in Corinth. "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Cor. 6:9-10).
A top conservative is urging GOP politicians not to shy away from being pro-life but to go on the offensive instead. On Wednesday, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that Republicans must advance the pro-life cause "head on." She urged pushing Democrats to admit the extremes of their pro-abortion positions and, in order to help pro-life candidates achieve this, laid out a three-point plan.
In the legacy media's ongoing effort to stigmatize modesty and human decency, a news story just accused concerned parents of politicizing the rape of a 15-year-old girl to promote their real agenda of advancing nefarious, hateful, bigoted views of transgenderism. The New York Times recently published a story titled "How a Sexual Assault in a School Bathroom Became a Political Weapon" - presumably because "Republicans pounce on rape!" was taken. Like most of the booming subgenre of stories designed to shift the blame for the "culture wars" to conservatives, it cannot withstand scrutiny.
For most collegiate athletes, graduating means leaving a long illustrative career behind. For Riley Gaines, it meant the start of one she never expected. What she's done out of the pool has rivaled what she ever did in it. And for a 12-time All-American, SEC champion, that's saying something.
Late last month in Watertown, Wisconsin, a drag queen event for families attracted attention for included the "opportunity" for children to dance with drag queens. Performers dressed in lingerie and danced sexually suggestive dances in front of little children, who were invited to give them one-dollar bills. Outside of the event, on a public sidewalk, a 19-year-old Christian, Marcus Schroeder, was reading from the Bible, and local police arrested him.
The year 2023 has been full of breaking news stories and madcap headlines. So far, it has entailed a bank collapse, four indictments of a former president, an AI revolution, investigations into the weaponization of the federal government, Hunter Biden's controversial business dealings, and the list goes on. In the midst of the political frenzy, one story continues to take the front page as more details are uncovered: the national boycott of several woke companies.
President Biden has "practically speaking" already declared a national emergency on climate change, the president said in an interview with The Weather Channel published Wednesday. "We've conserved more land. We rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, we passed a $368 billion climate control facility." At first, he said he had declared an emergency, but when pressed he said he had done so "practically speaking."
Southwest Airlines plans to fight an order from a federal judge in Texas requiring three of its attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" after losing a lawsuit against a former employee fired for expressing pro-life religious views. The airline was recently ordered to reinstate former flight attendant Charlene Carter, a pro-life Christian, and to pay damages to her for having fired her for violating their "civility policy" in 2017.
In post-Roe America, Planned Parenthood is shifting gears. To make up for its lost abortion revenue, it's expanding its reach into what it calls "transgender hormone therapy." The recent spike in these services is telling.
Almost five billion social media users exist worldwide today - with the average person spending two hours and 25 minutes on social media per day. If a person lived to be the average age of 73 years old - with the previous statistic in mind - it would equate to 5.7 full years of their life spent on social media alone. Could this be an opportunity for Christians to engage in the Great Commission in a new way?
After enduring weeks of threats ranging from litigation to dismemberment, a pro-family school board member has two reasons to celebrate. Police have arrested a woman who left a death threat in a "demonic" voice after the board required teachers to tell parents if their children begin identifying as transgender. And a California assemblyman has asked the attorney general to explain whether his investigation of the school district was designed to punish officials who dare to "disagree with the narrative of the ruling political party."
The Washington Post ran an odd headline last week, "An abortion ban made them teen parents." The article, which exceeded 5,000 words, attempted to humanize an argument in favor of abortion but failed to demonstrate anything but abortion's inhumanity. It tells the story of Billy and Brooke High, a 19-year-old couple with one-year-old twin daughters. The High family is far from perfect - yet equally as far from an irredeemable fiasco.
New evidence is suggesting that the FBI's attempts to spy on American Catholics were more pervasive than originally stated and the agency's director may have lied under oath. According to a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to FBI director Christopher Wray, documents that the federal law enforcement agency provided to legislators show that an FBI memo detailing plans to spy on "radical traditionalist Catholics" did not originate solely with the Richmond field office, as Wray insisted under oath.
New research is showing COVID-19 and related church closures affected one generation more than others. According to the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University, Generation X stopped returning to church services at a higher rate than other generations between 2020 and 2023. In 2020, 41% of Gen. X attended Christian church services on a weekly basis; this dropped to 28% in 2023. Survey author George Barna, director of Research at the CRC, explained, "No generation endured greater spiritual turbulence than Gen X during ... the pandemic."
Violence might have returned with the pandemic, but it hasn't subsided with it. The nation's capital suffered 16 homicides in the first week of August, bringing the total to 161 homicides so far in 2023 (28% ahead of the same time last year). Residents are weary of the violence. "We live in a very wicked time," complained Northeast D.C. resident Kenny Jones. He feared that his three sons - aged 14, 12, and eight - might get mixed up in the violence. Much of it is driven by young adults or teenagers, and young people are often either targeted or caught in the crossfire.
At a forum hosted Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday, Gold Star families of the fallen servicemen in Afghanistan had a public platform to testify. Since the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, killing 13 U.S. servicemembers, the families have sought accountability and clarity regarding the disorderly withdrawal of American troops from the Taliban-infested country.
If you haven't heard about "chosen families" yet, you will soon, and you should be prepared. Netflix recently released a film called "Chosen Family" at the same time Dan Savage and Ezra Klein were discussing the merits of chosen family - along with the benefits of polyamory - on a podcast at The New York Times. There is a Chosen Family wine label and Canada has designated February 22 as "Chosen Family Day." Legislation is likely to make it an official holiday in that country soon. Why should you care?
Abortion activists claimed a pivotal victory in a swing state Tuesday night, as Ohio voters rejected a measure making it more difficult to add a constitutional "right" to abortion to the state constitution. With nearly all votes reported, 57% of Ohioans voted against Issue 1 in the August special election, according to unofficial results reported by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.
A pop star is doubling down on comments blasting parents who allow their children to undergo gender transition procedures. In a Saturday night interview on VladTV, singer-songwriter Ne-Yo addressed the transgender agenda, explaining, "I just personally come from an era where a man was a man and a woman was a woman, and there wasn't but two genders, and that's just how I rock. Now you could identify as a goldfish if you feel it." The pop singer continued, "I don't care, that ain't my business, it becomes my business when you try to make me play the game with you. I'm not gonna call you a goldfish, but you wanna be a goldfish? You go be a goldfish."
The stories are not quite the same, but the similarities between these two incidents, 66 years apart, are too obvious to ignore. Both involve a mob so angry at the legal recognition of a civil right that they would scream at, threaten, and literally spit upon those they view as the enemy.
"I felt God's presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies," said Rebecca Todd Peters, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), during a July 9 homily on Psalm 139. "And I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin." Psalm 139:13-14 says, "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." Yet in a message titled, "Reproductive Justice: Beyond the Abortion Imaginary," Peters - clad in an a Planned Parenthood stole - argued these verses do not condemn abortion.
As feminism remains a hot-button topic, The Washington Stand recently had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Carrie Gress about her upcoming book, "The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Destroyed Us," which examines the history and ideology of the feminist movement from the late 1700s and figures like poet Percy Shelley to the 20th century and activists like Gloria Steinem to the present day. Dr. Gress is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a scholar at the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America. She is also the editor at the online women's magazine Theology of Home.
At an Orthodox Easter service in April, a "somber looking" Vladimir Putin joined with other worshippers in saying, "Christ is truly risen." He probably believes this. Mark Hollingsworth has detailed how Putin's religious allegiance has infused his life. He concludes that his Russian Orthodoxy is an essential part of his intense nationalism. For Putin, he writes, "promoting the mystical belief that Russia is the Third Rome, the next ruling empire of the earth, has been part of his appeal to the masses."
The most common question transgender activists use to bully parents into approving their daughter's lifelong dependency on experimental hormone injections is: "Would you rather have a living son or a dead daughter?" But the tragic story of Abigail Martinez's daughter, who took her own life after attempting to transition to life as a boy, proves what a false dichotomy that is.
If LGBTQ activists thought their threats - legal or illegal - would make Christian school board president Sonja Shaw back down, they guessed wrong. Shaw led the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) in California to require that teachers inform parents within three days if their children begin to identify as transgender. Eerily specific death threats soon poured in. While many sources of these violent messages remain unsolved, the Democratic Attorney General of California announced he is investigating the school district.
If you think child brides are the stuff of faraway cultures, think again. In 2017, child marriage was legal in all 50 U.S. states. Only recently have survivors started chipping away at the practice, using their nightmarish stories to put a stop to the abuse of (mostly) young girls. California was next in line to outlaw the horror, until a shocking number of national groups swooped in to keep the under-18 unions legal. Who are they and how can they justify their crusade? Answer: social extremists with one goal - protecting teenage abortion and transgenderism.
Two of our daughters and I planned to see "Barbie" soon after its release. I was curious, and the girls were excited. Verdict: One loved the movie, one hated it, and I fell asleep. Twice. I guess I'm too old for a 9:10 p.m. Thursday night showing with 30 minutes of previews. So the daughter who loved it and I went back for another try, during daylight hours with a caffeinated beverage for insurance. This time, it was my turn to love it.
The American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) "authorized development of an expanded set of guidance for pediatricians based on a systematic review of the evidence" on gender reassignment procedures, the organization announced Friday. "I think that they're succumbing to a bit of pressure," said Dr. Jennifer Bauwens, director of Family Research Council's Center for Family Studies, on "Washington Watch." "We certainly are seeing a number of lawsuits that are coming out from brave young men and women who are saying that how much damage this has done."
Pennsylvania's governor is partnering with Planned Parenthood to defund pregnancy resource centers. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) signed a new state budget on Thursday, which includes terminating a contract with Real Alternatives, a nonprofit organization responsible for running the state's Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services. Shapiro said of the targeted budget cut, "For decades, taxpayer dollars have gone to fund Real Alternatives. My administration will not continue that pattern - we will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve."
Last Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - alongside inconvenienced and agitated drag queens - filed a lawsuit against a new Texas law (SB 12) that would prevent drag performers "from engaging in sexually explicit displays" in front of children under the age of 18.
While Democrats and the mainstream media painted the July 31 congressional testimony of Devon Archer, a former business partner of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, as further evidence the president was not involved in his son's business dealings, many Americans who heard the Archer interview believe it connected even more dots between Joe Biden and his son's questionable business practices.
2 Samuel narrates David's reign. There is civil war, assassination, political maneuvering, violent crime, foreign wars, tragic death, diplomatic incidents, suicide, a coup d'etat, rebellion, famine, and plague. Some of these grievous circumstances resulted from David's own sin. Much resulted from the sin of others. This is the record of Israel's greatest king, which God so ordered so that even the best human ruler would leave us dissatisfied, wanting something better: God himself, who would take on flesh as David's Son.
The mismatched treatment President Biden and former President Trump continue to receive from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) highlights a department that has lost its sense of justice. That should come as no surprise because the DOJ has also lost its fear of God. Not only is God the source of justice, but the American legal tradition imported many of its legal principles from the Bible.
A 2019 poll found that only 27% of Americans under the age of 45 have a basic knowledge of American history. Sadly, the next generation is also struggling. According to NAEP standards in 2022, only 13% of the schoolchildren of America are proficient in the subject. This leads to the question: should Christians be concerned?
Over the past three months, the number of reporters with access to the White House dropped by 31%. There are now 442 fewer reporters with a coveted "hard pass" - the result of new rules announced in May that took effect Tuesday.
The Biden White House has repeatedly pressured Facebook to censor conservative news outlets, according to newly-released documents. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) published the third installment of the "Facebook files" on Thursday, containing information from subpoenaed documents relating to communications between the Biden administration and Facebook executives. Notably, the White House asked Facebook to change its news feed algorithm to amplify stories by legacy media outlets like The New York Times and bury stories from conservative news sources like the Daily Wire.
What actually happened as Jesus hung on the Roman cross? Why is it the centerpiece of history?
Sexuality is no longer a taboo topic in our culture, yet it still is within the church. This is detrimental to our society and needs to change. Abstinence until marriage teaching, the widely employed form of sex education within the church, will not suffice on its own without diving deeper into biblical sexuality that can stand against the modern sexual ethic.
Public school officials in a conservative, Bible Belt state had teachers attend a training session insisting that United States policy oppressed "nonbinary, genderqueer," "polyamorous," and "pagan" people and favored white, heterosexual Christians. Participants were expected to share their ideology with their students, underscoring how badly America's children need "the joy and the hope that comes from a Christian worldview," an expert analyst of U.S. public education declared.
A third felony indictment targeted former President Donald Trump Tuesday, as U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith persuaded a D.C.-based grand jury to indict Trump on four felony counts for his actions to contest the results of the 2020 election. Trump already faces felony indictments from Smith in a Florida federal court for retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for buying a former mistress's silence. Both the process of indicting a former president and the charges themselves savor more of Ukrainian-style corruption than they do of American-style peaceful transition of power.
Not everyone was surprised by the bombshell Fitch Ratings dropped on the U.S. credit score this week. This storm over America's mountains of loans had been brewing for a while, economists say. And Washington has no one to blame but itself.
Rev. John Peter Muhlenberg once concluded in 1776 that "in the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight." Throwing off his clerical robe to reveal a military uniform, he rallied his church members to fight for faith and freedom. Today, that battle cry echoes again: it is time. Our nation is searching for remnants of strength and people courageous enough to stand. So here are five ways for us to fight for our nation and bring it back to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
President Joe Biden has launched an administration-wide investigation to identify the undercover Republican operative he believes burrowed into his inner circle and forced him to begin the very "culture wars" he now condemns the GOP for resisting.
Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating from "AAA" to "AA+" on Tuesday, a signal that the agency no longer has complete confidence in the government's ability to avoid default. The rating "reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance ... that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions." The ratings downgrade will increase federal borrowing costs, and it undermines the narrative that the economy is currently flourishing.
You probably have no idea who federal prosecutor Jack Smith is, but you should. However, if you even casually follow American politics, you know that both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden are embroiled in legal scandals of various kinds.
A new report has revealed that at least 143 K-12 schools in the U.S. currently have or have had past ties to a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) program known as "Confucius Classrooms." Experts say the CCP effort to infiltrate schools with communist propaganda is part of a concerted effort to "subvert" the U.S. from the inside in order to weaken it, possibly paving the way for a future direct military confrontation.
Despite Bud Light's financial collapse, some CEOs don't seem to be learning from the beer brand's fatal partnership with Dylan Mulvaney. That, experts say, or they're choosing to be ignorant.
In the beginning, God made man and woman in His image, and it was good. Then Barbie stepped in and showed us what God did wrong.
In a move seen by both Democrat and Republican lawmakers as baldly partisan, Biden administration officials announced Monday that the U.S. Space Command headquarters would remain at its interim location in Colorado Springs, Colo. and would not be relocated to Huntsville, Ala., despite extensive prior government reviews that determined that Huntsville was the best strategic location for the headquarters.
In the frantic lead-up to next Tuesday's vote on Issue 1, the latest polling from Ohio Northern University shows both sides in a dead heat. Proponents are even up by a hair (42.4% to 41%) - shocking the radicals who've pumped millions of dollars into the state from outside groups. While the media rushes to discredit the numbers, Mike Conidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, is urging voters to get out and split the tie. "It's a neck-and-neck race," he said about the ballot initiative that will decide the fate of everything from late-term abortion to the gender mutilation of kids in Ohio.
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Monday in favor of Kentucky's law protecting minors from gender reassignment procedures (SB 150), allowing it to remain in effect while a lawsuit against it proceeds. The Sixth Circuit allowed a Tennessee law protecting minors from gender reassignment procedures to remain in effect on July 8, and it found only minor differences between the cases.
America's top law enforcement agency is finally releasing documents pertaining to targeting American Catholics and parents. The FBI last week handed over internal documents to the House Judiciary Committee related to a January memo from the Richmond, Va. field office outlining plans to infiltrate and spy on "radical traditionalist Catholic" communities, further labeling such Catholics "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists."
Katie McCoy's new book "To Be a Woman" is an important contribution to the conversation about how Christians can answer the day's toughest questions about sexuality and gender with love, compassion, grace, and wisdom.
Old dogs sometimes do learn new tricks. And President Joe Biden is so pleased with his latest attainment - criticizing Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) for delaying military promotions over the Pentagon's illegal abortion policy - that he is showing it off just about everywhere.
The 350 casualties of Bud Light's July layoffs may not have to look far for new employment. After the beer company was forced to slash its workforce over the ongoing boycott, conservative marketplace Public Sq. is stepping in to help the people who lost their jobs by connecting them with "non-woke businesses."
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters recently said that kids would be a lot better off if they would just read the Bible instead of the woke ideology they're currently being indoctrinated with. On "Washington Watch" July 26, Walters highlighted some recommendations he received from the Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles.
A major conservative Christian university is preparing to celebrate its eighth consecutive year of growth. Located in Glendale, Arizona Christian University (ACU) is smashing its own enrollment records, for the eighth time in a row, skyrocketing from about 400 students in 2010 to 1,200 this fall. That steady growth has taken place under the leadership of Len Munsil, a constitutional lawyer who has served as ACU's president since 2010.
Over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested during an interview that climate change represented an "existential challenge" to humanity that is on par with the threat of nuclear war. Experts say Blinken's comments along with others by those on the Left regarding climate change are inaccurate and are causing undo harm by creating alarmism and fear among the public.
More than 6,000 United Methodist churches have left the denomination as of July 6 due to the UMC's stance on ordaining gay-identifying clergy. As the biblical role of LGBT-identifying people in the church continues to fracture protestant denominations, a website called GayChurch.org promotes churches solely on the basis of LGBT inclusion.
As President Joe Biden accuses pro-life Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) of undermining national security, one of Tuberville's colleagues shot back that it is Biden's social engineering and extreme abortion advocacy that have weakened the armed forces and "eviscerated" the law.
Ali Tate Cutler said she didn't expect to make headlines when she posted a video about her grandmother's decision to end her life. In the video, she asked "Bubbie" questions about her choice to be euthanized. Users later showed their appreciation for the Instagram influencer's post, with one commenting, "[I]t's so beautiful she gets to pass in a dignified way[.] I wish my mum had the same chance[.]" But is euthanasia beautiful? Is assisted suicide dignified? Is suffering a justifiable reason to end one's life?
During Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on gender transition procedures for minors, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) created a food pyramid after asking his two- and four-year-old daughters what they would prefer to eat for every meal. The entire poster was full of ice cream, in every category. "If my children had their way, we would have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner." The room erupted into laughter as the reality of that foolishness sunk in.
The Greek word for "hope" used in the New Testament is "elpo," directly meaning, "to look forward with pleasurable confidence and expectation." It is notable that the direct translation of the word "hope" in Greek has to do with our eyes, our vision, the direction that we look. Our eyes govern our perspective, and God governs our eyes - which is why I like to think of our God as a God of perspective-change.
A brutal video depicting the assaults of two women from the Kuki-Zo tribe - consisting largely of Christians - in the Manipur region of India made global headlines this month. The women were dragged around naked before being sexually assaulted by men from the Meitei community. The international attention forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who notoriously denies there is religious persecution in India - to finally break his silence about the ongoing violence in Manipur.
No irony is more delicious than when a progressive stumbles upon an old, discarded, but sensible idea and believes they have found something new. Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) provided the latest example of this when he suggested the University of Pennsylvania should have erected "barriers in the women's area of the locker room" to provide privacy from Lia Thomas for the female members of their swim team.
Widespread protests in Israel have now stretched into a seventh month over a judicial reform effort initiated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and observers are beginning to worry that the intensity of the divisions within Israeli society could be disastrous for the country.
Hundreds of House and Senate members are jetting out of town for August recess, leaving behind a messy trail of unfinished and half-finished business. Before they climbed in cars and checked their bags, they did manage to set up an interesting September, passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) out of the upper chamber and laying the groundwork for fall fireworks in the other. On both sides of the Capitol, there's a persistent, nagging theme: abortion and what to do about it.
An edited clip of former Vice President Mike Pence seemingly telling Tucker Carlson that decaying American cities are "not my concern" instantly went viral, but Pence's most controversial statements at the Family Leader Summit, about Ukraine's respect for "religious liberty," have passed without comment.
There is an issue that is more controversial than any political matter. It's more contentious than any election or candidate. It's more challenging than the most profound problems of nuclear physics and space exploration. It's the cause of more arguments than any other person, idea, or belief.
Gender reassignment surgeries are the "Wild West," according to practitioners interviewed for a study from 2016 titled, "Age Is Just a Number." The study conducted lengthy interviews with 20 Americans who performed "vaginoplasty," an operation that amputates healthy male genitalia and refashions it into a dysfunctional imitation of female genitalia. Some of the surgeons "were alarmed at the absence of surgical standards and the ease of entering the subspecialty without any documented training."
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Thursday addressing the dangers and due process violations of "gender-affirming care" for children. Dr. Blaire Peters, a "gender-affirming" surgeon, admitted that doctors in this field are just learning as they go. "We've maybe done a handful of pubertally suppressed adolescents as a field, and no one has published on it yet."
On July 19, reports surfaced that Chinese President Xi Jinping would be backing his country - the world's leading producer of greenhouse gas emissions - out of any former commitments to reducing emissions. Experts say the move is merely the latest in a string of failures by the Biden administration to successfully engage China, showcasing not only American weakness on the global stage but also an untrustworthy communist regime.
"It's time for the American consumer ... to start putting their money where their values are," Heidi St. John, founder of MomStrong International told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in an interview on "Washington Watch," referring to the outrage sparked by Target's LGBT+ merchandising campaign.
One in every six Democrats believes that "force [is] justified to restore abortion rights," a new poll has found, underscoring the secular Left's growing support for political violence. The number of Democrats backing abortion-related terrorism has doubled, from 8% to 16% since January - a period when multiple states have enacted pro-life protections. In all, 31 million Americans support the use of violence to reinstate abortion in U.S. law, up from 22 million just three months ago, according to a survey from the University of Chicago's Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST).
A country singer is confronting continued controversy over his music video on small-town values. The music video for Jason Aldean's single "Try That In A Small Town" stirred the pot last week, with leftists smearing the song as an endorsement of racism and violence and conservatives defending it as an anthem to American values. Aldean himself addressed the controversy at a concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In Arizona, a middle school strictly geared around LGBT ideology has been established, put together by activist group one-n-ten. The development and marketing director, Clayton Davenport, described the school as a "safe place" where the children can have "education that pertains to their own identity." To exasperate the matter, the Daily Caller reported, "Those attending the school are able to pay for their tuition using taxpayer-funded vouchers provided through a state program."
"I can't even believe we're having to discuss this in polite company." That was Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) response to the basket of woke policies Republicans are trying to strip out of the latest military funding bill. To the average person, they're no-brainers: keeping men out of women's showers, refusing to pay for abortion travel, ending taxpayer-funded sex changes. But debating these things is unavoidable under this White House, Gaetz laments.
Scores of people lined up early to get a seat for today's UFO hearing in the House Oversight Committee's National Security Subcommittee. Lawmakers from both parties plied three former military officials, including whistleblower David Grusch, a former Air Force intelligence officer, on the nature of known UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena, the technical jargon for UFO) sightings and direction on how they could dig deeper. There was also bipartisan agreement on the "pressing demand for government transparency and accountability" regarding UAP reports.
As the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border reaches unprecedented highs, concerns are growing that the ongoing border crisis is fueling a rise in the abuse of minors through sex trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation. On Wednesday, during a House Oversight Committee hearing to address the issue, both Republicans and Democrats expressed alarm at the job performance of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and his agency in handling unaccompanied minors and how sponsors for the minors are vetted.
Most recently noted by the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System in the United States, there are roughly 400,000 children currently in foster care. Considering that there are roughly 210 million Christians in America, the math is simple. If every Christian household rescued a child and fostered them, there would be no children left in the foster care system.
In a desperate bid for the Chinese government's help fighting the fentanyl crisis, the Biden administration is discussing lifting sanctions on a Chinese police forensics institute suspected of human rights abuses, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee was seven hours into a marathon "markup" session - an ordinarily boring affair in which committees amend bills - when an unexpected request sent it spiraling out of control. The committee was debating whether a children's hospital funding bill should allow money to subsidize gender transition surgeries for minors, and Democrats on the committee absolutely refused to listen to a video from a leading gender transition surgeon describing the process.
The fight on Capitol Hill over government spending is heating up, as House Republicans have announced that they will be bringing two fiscal 2024 appropriations bills to the floor that include cuts in spending designed to reduce the federal deficit. But the Biden White House has already signaled that it will veto the measures over supposed "devastating consequences" they will have on abortion, those who identify as LGBT, and the climate.
Radical Islamists are continuing their lethal aggression across Africa, as we reported last week, often targeting individual Christians, their churches, and communities. Christians in Africa's largest nation, Nigeria, have fallen victim to jihadi terrorism since the early 2000s. Such attacks have ranged from individual murders of pastors and priests to widespread massacres of Christian towns and villages.
Hollywood isn't known as a breeding ground for healthy marriages, so it comes as a surprise when Hollywood films have anything good to say about marriage, especially as sexual degeneracy in films keeps increasing exponentially and marriage and monogamy become more and more marginalized. This is why it may come as a shock to filmgoers to see the blockbuster "Oppenheimer" portraying and lauding the strengths of marriage, as well as warning against the threats to it, though in unnecessarily graphic detail.
A local school board president has been inundated with threats that left-wing activists will dismember her, murder her children, and slaughter her pets. Her crime? Saying that teachers should not keep parents in the dark if their children begin to identify as transgender.
Since 2001, Gallup News has polled Americans on their belief in five prominent "religious entities" - God, angels, heaven, hell, and the devil. After their fifth poll, which took place in May of this year, Americans seem to be straying further from belief in religious entities, and thus, closer to uncertainty or even complete unbelief.
A young man is publicly sharing his testimony about how undergoing gender transition procedures as an adolescent rendered him a "patient for life" and amounts to "self-harm." The testimony is the latest example of a growing number of individuals who are detransitioning away from a transgender identity over physical and mental health concerns.
A Chinese provincial government published and then deleted public health information suggesting the nation's actual death toll from COVID is far higher than the country's official statistics. The Chinese Communist Party officially claims that only 83,700 inhabitants have died from COVID during the entire course of the pandemic, now approaching four years. But, according to epidemiologists interviewed by The New York Times (NYT), the accidentally published data was more consistent with an estimated 1.5 million COVID deaths in China over the first quarter of this year.
"I mean, what do you do living out here? You go armed everywhere you walk. You make sure that [your kids] don't walk off and go play where you can't see them, just in case. You never know what's going to happen. ... We picked the wrong place to raise a family." For Amanda Adame, the immigration crisis isn't just urgent; it's personal.
"Artificial intelligence is going to transform the lives of people around the world." That was the take from President Joe Biden in a briefing focused on AI and how "the Biden-Harris administration is encouraging this industry to uphold the highest standards to ensure that innovation doesn't come at the expense of Americans' rights and safety." Exactly one week before that briefing, Elon Musk announced a new venture called xAI, a company whose stated goal is "to understand the true nature of the universe."
This weekend saw the opening of one of the most highly-anticipated and cleverly-marketed films in recent memory: "Barbie," centered on the iconic eponymous doll. The film featured dazzling visuals, a solid (though by no means challenging) performance from star Margot Robbie, moments of clever humor and nearly-chuckleworthy irony, a plot so ludicrous and haphazard that its own ludicrousness and haphazardness excuse itself, and - oh right, arguably the heaviest-handed feminist screed Hollywood has ever produced.
Whistleblower testimony and newly uncovered documents prove President Joe Biden has been deeply "compromised" by multiple foreign nations, outlining the contours of a vast influence-peddling scandal that "warrants impeachment," two members of Congress told "Washington Watch" over the weekend.
With long, warm days and schools on break, summer can be a wonderful opportunity for some much-needed family down time from the hustle and bustle of the school year. But summer can also be a challenge for many families as young kids suddenly find themselves with loads of unstructured time on their hands, leaving their parents and grandparents to figure out how to fill it. Here are some practical, faith-building, and fun ways to enrich your family life this summer.
A teacher in Windsor, Ontario berated her students at Northwood Public School after many of them stayed home for Pride Day, according to audio published Wednesday. The school serves a community with a significant Muslim population (it is located only eight miles from Dearborn, Mich.) and reportedly saw 600 of its 800 students (75%) stay home for June 1 "Pride Day" events. The teacher called the walkout "disgusting" and "an incredible show of hatred" and said she was so hurt she didn't even want to be their teacher anymore.
Amidst growing concerns over censorship, the Biden White House is changing its rules on press credentials, potentially forcing conservative reporters out of the briefing room. According to the new rules, White House reporters must hold a press pass from the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, or Supreme Court to maintain access to the White House briefing room.
On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced that he would be levying a $1.5 million fine on the Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) over the school board's recent decision to reject a state-endorsed textbook intended for elementary schoolchildren that discusses the infamous gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
Stanford Law School's (SLS) Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Tirien Steinbach, has left the school "to pursue another opportunity," SLS Dean Jenny Martinez informed students in a Friday email. Steinbach was suspended after public outcry in March for her role in heckling and derailing a March 9 event sponsored by The Federalist Society's campus chapter featuring U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan.
While transgender athlete Lia Thomas is infamous for stirring controversy and breaking biological female records, former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines is known for calling him out. Their recent spat came after the biological male swimmer was caught wearing the words "Antifa Super Soldier" in rainbow lettering plastered on the front of a t-shirt. Gaines hastily responded.
Moscow police arrested unresisting Christians as they sang psalms in a parking lot. That sentence might invoke memories of Soviet Russia, but it actually occurred in Moscow, Idaho on September 23, 2020. Police arrested Gabriel Rench and Sean and Rachel Bohnet for violating the city's extended public health emergency order as they and approximately 150 other members of Christ Church protested the order with a 15-minute Psalm Sing event outside of City Hall.
A fiery hearing held Thursday by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the "Weaponization of the Federal Government" unexpectedly became an opportunity for Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reflect on civility and the seminal importance of free speech in the wake of Democratic committee members accusing him of being racist and anti-Semitic.
For all the talk that America "is stronger when it's inclusive," the real-world consequences of Joe Biden's transgender military policy have been deeply and painfully felt. In a force already ravaged by wokeness, overextension, and cratering recruitment, men and women on the ground are also being asked to do the impossible: function with deeply dysfunctional members - which, as one Coast Guard Chief explains, has never endangered America more.
"Sound of Freedom" exposes the truth about child sex trafficking that is happening all around us, hidden to the public eye. The film tells the account of a man named Tim Ballard, who served on a personal undercover mission in Columbia to rescue a stolen brother and sister.
A country music star is getting backlash after releasing a music video disparaging riots and rising crime rates. Jason Aldean released a music video last week for his single "Try That In A Small Town," a song praising the close-knit communities found in (as the title might suggest) small towns and rural areas while criticizing riots and rising crime rates common in more urban areas. Country Music Television (CMT) stopped airing the music video days after its release in the face of criticism accusing Aldean of encouraging violence and racism.
A black teenager says the side effects of the abortion drug mifepristone left her permanently "sick, sore, lame and disabled" and - since abortion staffers did not realize her child survived - caused her baby to be born with lifelong, "profound birth defects." The case shakes the foundations of the abortion debate in America, as the number of abortions using mifepristone skyrocket, and abortion advocates partner with Democratic governors to mail abortion drugs to pro-life states nationwide.
The Biden team has spent an awful lot of time talking about Senator Tommy Tuberville - but barely any time talking to him. That changed briefly Tuesday when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin decided to carve out a few short minutes to address what Democrats would have you believe is the single greatest threat to military readiness: a few months' delay in flag officer promotions.
As the 2023 state legislative season winds toward a conclusion, it's time to analyze whether state efforts to protect minors from gender transition procedures were successful. The answer is a hearty "yes."
On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Education released finalized guidance for educators in the state that strengthens the rights of parents to direct the care of their children with respect to transgender identities, pronouns and names, counseling, and social transitioning while at school. Experts are hailing the policies as a further achievement by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in restoring parental rights in the Old Dominion.
Late last week, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) held a press conference on psychedelic drug research, requesting that funding for these studies be included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Ocasio-Cortez stated that it was unacceptable that old scientific conclusions hold back lifesaving treatments.
In the latest of a long litany of examples of leftist LGBT aggression, high school students in California are reportedly being disciplined for "misgendering" a teacher. According to reports, two students at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, part of the Glendale Unified School District (GUSD), were suspended for a period of five days after describing a teacher by her biological sex, when the teacher identified as transgender. The students were also put through a "restorative justice" program.
On June 24, a group of pro-family activists were arrested for peacefully protesting a "Transqueer" Pride Parade in Rome, Georgia. Brad Barnes, one of the members taken into custody, spoke about his experience in a recent podcast, describing his bruised wrists that still hurt from the police officers' aggression.
Louisiana has become the 20th state to protect minors from irreversible transgender procedures including surgeries and cross-sex hormone injections, over the veto of its Democratic governor. Members of the state legislature assembled in a special veto override session in Baton Rouge Tuesday to pass the Stop Harming Our Kids Act (H.B. 648), which prevents surgical or chemical conversion therapy to create an underage person's gender identity that is "inconsistent with the minor's sex."
Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby on Monday called paying for abortions a "foundational, sacred obligation of military leaders," throwing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and paying for gender reassignment surgeries in the same category. The remarks were obviously rehearsed and formed part of a three-minute response to a reporter's question, "Why is the new DOD [Department of Defense] policy on abortion critical to military readiness?" Kirby's speech never answered that question, but it does provide insight into the worldview motivating the DOD to persist in illegally funding abortions against all common sense.
With a little over 20 days left on the board, both sides are burning up the Ohio airwaves, desperate to win over voters on the hottest election topic of 2023: Issue 1. For weeks, the Left has been blanketing the state with apocalyptic messages about the amendment that would make it harder to change the Buckeyes' constitution. One editorial writer, the only one to have a pro-Issue 1 story published this year in Cleveland's biggest newspaper (compared to 36 opposed), said he can't blame readers for "concluding that Issue 1's passage would mean the end of democracy in our state, the draining of Lake Erie, plagues of frogs, flies, and mosquitoes, and quite likely an unbroken string of Ohio States losses to Michigan ..."
As the state of universities continues to worsen with leftist ideology becoming entrenched in institutions of higher education, conservative parents are left wondering where they can send their children for education, not LGBT indoctrination. The Washington Stand reached out to a number of prominent conservative educators to ask for their recommendations on the best colleges and universities that educate, enrich, and produce virtuous Americans.
As they are with every other institution in the country, LGBTQ advocates are seeking to change how Christian colleges and universities address issues of human sexuality. Scripture condemns "double-mindedness" (James 1:7-8), and Jesus taught that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). No college or university, no church or ministry, can simultaneously uphold orthodox theology while supporting practices at odds with it. Light and darkness cannot coexist.
A 49-year-old man who identifies as a transgender woman won a women's medal in running at a competition intended to include women suffering from physical disabilities - an outcome one theologian called "morally unjust."
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not merely a threat to religious freedom. They are an active persecutor of the church of many religions - and the problem is far worse than many are aware, say a roundtable of experts.
State legislators switching parties in 2023 are at twice the 30-year average, according to Ballotpedia. The year 2023 is now tied for the sixth most party changes in state legislatures over the past 30 years, and it's only July. Overall, the party changes favor Republicans, with five Democrats switching to the Republican Party and only one Republican switching to the Democratic Party. The majority of party changes were motivated by policy differences on social issues such as education, as well as party intolerance.
This isn't your grandma's Republican Party. If anyone doubted it, the latest debate over the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) should have made it abundantly clear: the new House majority is no pushover. After years of letting Democrats pound them into submission where military policy is concerned, the Left is coming to grips with an unfortunate reality. Without squishy Republicans to do their bidding, they have to find another way to keep good bills down. In this case, they've chosen a reliable friend - deception.
Today's Christian believers are facing an ever-darkening world. We are continuously confronted with shocking news reports, disturbing ideologies, and dangerous influences in our own country - outrageous stories vie for our attention. Still, at the same time, it's important for us to remain aware of the enormous struggles and threats our spiritual sisters and brothers are facing abroad - far beyond our national borders.
In an interview aired Sunday, former president Donald J. Trump discussed his previous presidential personnel choices and how a potential next term would be different. Speaking to Fox News's Maria Bartiromo, the 45th president addressed his plans not to participate in a Republican primary debate, his strong primary polling numbers, and the people he chose to both hire and fire while in office. Asked if he would do-over anything from his first term, Trump responded, "The mistake would be people."
What do I really believe? What is my purpose? How do I explain what I believe to others, and how do I apply my beliefs to everyday life? More people are asking these questions as our society grapples with deep and difficult issues.
Last week, one Democrat in the California State Assembly made a rare public apology - not over a scandal, but over her position on a vote that had taken place the same week. Assembly member Liz Ortega had joined fellow Democrats just a few days earlier in blocking a bill aimed at cracking down on human trafficking of children. The move justifiably made national headlines and garnered widespread criticism. But it shouldn't take a national controversy for Democrats to vote the right way on something as blatantly evil as the human trafficking of children.
The Biden administration approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill - a drug associated with mental and physical harms including higher rates of breast cancer, depression, and life-threatening ectopic pregnancies. The FDA press release trumpeting the decision listed "[t]he most common side effects of Opill" as "irregular bleeding, headaches, dizziness, nausea, increased appetite, abdominal pain, cramps or bloating." But the progestin-only pill contributes to significantly worse side effects which the Biden administration left unmentioned.
As if intent on accelerating the growing distrust in U.S. institutions, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently published new guidance for "health equity considerations" which essentially describes how to inject social justice objectives into your local hospital. Included in the guidance is the reminder that "an individual does not need to have given birth to breastfeed or 'chestfeed.'" If you're a normal person, you have no idea what the term "chestfeed" even means.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) quoted the Bible as she signed a bill protecting most unborn children from abortion beginning when doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat, usually at six weeks. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) quoted the Bible as she signed a bill protecting most unborn children from abortion beginning when doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat, usually at six weeks. "We read in Scripture that the Author of life wants to give a future and a hope to all his children," said Reynolds at the signing ceremony Friday afternoon, alluding to the Book of Jeremiah. "Who are we to stand in His way?"
I am the most uninteresting of people. There is nothing extraordinary about me - I am not brilliant, I am not beautiful, I am not talented - nothing I do or say has any value. In the world's eyes, I wouldn't be worth a dime. There was a time in my life when that was utterly overwhelming, and my internal dialogue was not much different from the above. I did not have the ability to differentiate between the perceived value I had assigned myself and the genuine worth that I knew, subconsciously, I had.
In our alone-but-together-all-the-time world, perhaps we can't help but anthropomorphize our devices because they really do seem to think and act like humans, and goodness knows we need community. Ours is a disenchanted world stripped of meaning - where all people are independent, isolated masters-of-their-fate. You can see how these (anything but) benign devices and all they offer could become our friends, even our mentors. We like to imagine ourselves in the image of our devices. But doesn't it seem ironic that the most glorious future we can contemplate as humans (or sapiens) doesn't have us in it?
The biggest story of this past week isn't that the House passed the military spending bill - or even that they passed it with language that beats back President Biden's woke policies. The biggest story is the one that won't be told: of House conservatives refusing to give an inch.
For the first time under totalitarianism, the majority of the Cuban population rejected (whether by abstention or negative vote) a state policy (the imposition of gender ideology). Knowing that in a dictatorship it is very easy to change the percentages of votes, it is very illustrative that the official figures continue to be so adverse.
"Good jobs and lower costs: That's Bidenomics in action," President Joe Biden said Wednesday, touting the June report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that showed CPI inflation had declined to an annual rate of 3.0%. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins criticized Biden's "victory lap," pointing out that "family are paying about a 15% increase when they go to the store" over what they paid before Biden took office.
Earlier this week, the House Appropriations Committee approved the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs) Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Bill. The annual bill allocates funding to the subcommittee's numerous governmental programs, and it's a powerful tool to affect the direction of U.S. government agencies. During the markup period, committee Republicans voted down numerous amendments offered up by Democrats that could have directed American taxpayers to pay for abortions and LGBT activism abroad.
Once a hallmark of American integrity, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is being criticized by Congress for political bias and religious discrimination. On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray sat in the hot seat while the House Oversight Committee grilled him on the political weaponization of his office, particularly against American Catholics. Referring to a leaked memo detailing the Richmond FBI field office's plans to infiltrate and spy on "radical traditionalist" Catholic communities, committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked, "Any idea how many Catholics there are in America, director? There's a lot, over 60 million. What percentage of those are 'radical traditional' Catholics according to the Richmond field office of the FBI?"
A majority of Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of national abortion policy, according to a recently released poll. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released a new poll Wednesday that asked U.S. adults about their opinions on current affairs. The poll, conducted by The AP and NORC Center between June 22-26, surveyed 1,220 adults, with a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
Although it's been three and a half months since the downfall of the Anheuser-Busch partnership with trans-identifying activist Dylan Mulvaney, the "365 Days of Girlhood" star continues to capture the attention of American viewers on TikTok. In a recent video, Mulvaney claimed that he fled to Peru to seek safety from the "hate," and that the people there were treating him with kindness.
The comment was ordinary, but the speaker was surprising. "We cannot avoid the biological/evolutionary differences between men and women," said Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) in a tweet thread posted earlier this month. Everyone knows that men and women are different, but, in recent years, saying so gets many people labeled as right-wing extremists. Perhaps that's beginning to change.
The Montana State Library Commission voted Tuesday to withdraw from the American Library Association (ALA) based on that organization's new president, who is a "Marxist lesbian" by her own description. The lopsided vote (5-1, with one abstention) represents the first time a state entity has withdrawn from the 147-year-old nonprofit. "Our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist," the commission told the ALA.
What makes Cuba hellish is the socialist system, but the system is not possible without a legion of helpers, people who oscillate between cowardice and fanaticism. Circles of soldiers, officials, collaborators, and informers who distance the island from the West, tradition, and natural law.
An abortion activist professor at the University of Notre Dame is suing a conservative student newspaper for reporting on her promotion of abortion. Sociology professor Tamara Kay filed a lawsuit earlier this year against conservative Catholic student newspaper The Irish Rover after the paper published stories exposing Kay for helping or encouraging students to procure abortions and using her self-declared Catholic faith to justify her abortion advocacy.
The adults are back in charge, and normalcy is restored to Washington. White House evacuations, profanity-laced rants, disavowal of family members, corruption of justice, hard drugs - that's what normal means, right?
Nothing sums up the Biden administration better than the video of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen prostrating herself before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Sunday. The sight of one of America's most powerful Cabinet members groveling before her counterpart in one of the world's most evil empires was enough to sicken anyone. The moment was so appalling that even the media's backlash was swift.
At the Capitol on July 12, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) invited several different religious leaders from different backgrounds to an Interfaith Roundtable on the threat the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to religious freedom. President of Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, had a seat at the table.
As the fight over the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) heats up on Capitol Hill, House Republicans are making it clear that they will not allow passage of the bill unless it is free of contentious social issues and focused on national defense.
The Biden administration has charged a 20-year-old woman who identifies as transgender and leads a college socialist group with spray-painting "abort God" on a pro-life pregnancy resource center in the Midwest. The Justice Department has lodged a federal misdemeanor charge under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, against Whitney M. Durant, a 20-year-old student at Bowling Green State University who also uses the name "Soren Monroe."
A new report is claiming over a third of an Ivy League institution's students identify as LGBT, revealing the power of universities to brainwash and pressure students into conformity. According to the Brown Daily Herald, 38% of students at Brown University identify as LGBT, up from 14% in 2010. Not only does this mean that the number of self-identified LGBT students at Brown has almost tripled in less than 15 years, but it now also stands at five times the national rate of American adults identifying as LGBT. What's behind the trend?
Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build a training program and a pro-trans website targeting trans-identifying youth in other states. The grant, which began on September 23, 2021 and will end on August 31, 2023, represents the most direct interaction known to date between a federal agency and the burgeoning industry for pushing gender transition procedures on minors.
The Biden administration's weakness and foreign policy miscalculations have convinced Taiwan that the U.S. military no longer has the resources to stop a Chinese invasion of the island, according to a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Recent U.S. "groveling" before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan may have convinced Beijing to launch a full-scale assault in the next 17 months, said the official, who just returned from Taiwan.
In response to a federal judge forbidding them from communicating with social media platforms regarding free speech last week, the Biden administration filed a motion to put the decision on hold. But on Monday, the U.S. District judge for the Western District of Louisiana denied the motion, keeping the injunction in place. The legal battle involves what Missouri's attorney general has described as "the worst First Amendment violations in this nation's history."
Over the weekend, the crown of the 2023 Miss Netherlands competition - a competition designed for women - was given to Rikkie Valerie Kollé, a 22-year-old man who identifies as a transgender woman. The results are "being overshadowed by online backlash," as phrased by Newsweek. However, it is more accurate to say the backlash is appropriately warranted. This is a competition for women, after all, not a costume party for men who don't grasp reality.
As my husband talked last night about "All-Star Week" and the "Home Run Derby," one person came to my mind. She wasn't a star pitcher, and she never hit a home run. She was simply a mom. Well, maybe not just any mom - Hank Aaron's mom to be exact. And Hank Aaron wasn't just any baseball player.
This month on the "Outstanding" podcast, Dr. Dave Brat, former Virginia congressman and now dean of the business school at Liberty University, joined host Joseph Backholm for a weighty conversation on economics through the lens of a biblical worldview.
Released in theaters last week, "Sound of Freedom" tells the true story of Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security agent who quits his job and joins forces with local Latin American law enforcement and underground contacts to rescue children caught in human trafficking. Despite the heavy subject matter, "Sound of Freedom" leaves viewers feeling hopeful and motivated to make a difference.
As Ohio goes, they say, so goes the nation. Parents are desperately hoping that isn't the case where a dangerous late-term abortion amendment with transgender loopholes is concerned. Last week, out-of-state interests and big money leftists pulled truckloads of signatures up to the secretary of state's office in hopes of radically altering the Buckeyes' constitution this November. If it passes, Ohio moms and dads will have zero say over their children's abortions or bodily mutilation. But not if Republicans get to the constitution first.
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Saturday in favor of a Tennessee law protecting minors from gender transition surgeries and hormone treatments. The 2-1 decision reversed the district court's statewide preliminary injunction. The decision both allows Tennessee's law protecting minors to remain in effect while the lawsuit proceeds and signals that "Tennessee is likely to succeed," while "the challengers lack a 'clear showing' that they will succeed on the merits."
A federal court in Texas recently threw out a petition filed by The Satanic Temple (TST) to allow abortions as a religious ritual protected by the right to religious liberty. Although the case was rejected due to lack of standing and not on the merits of the case itself, the subject does raise an interesting question: Is Satanism a religion? Yes and no.
On July 6, The New York Times (NYT) touted a new study trumpeting the "safety" of drugs that terminate the lives of unborn babies after 10 weeks gestation. But experts are pointing out that the study only confirms what has long been known: that abortion drugs have caused severe health complications in thousands of women, up to and including death.
"The United States was founded on stolen indigenous land. This fourth of July, let's commit to returning it." This was a tweet posted by the Ben and Jerry's corporation on our nation's beloved Independence Day. The ice cream company continued in an article-style post condemning the establishment of our reputable Mount Rushmore and putting down some of our most honorable presidents on a day set aside for celebrating our freedom and unity as a nation.
President Biden is proud of his economic record. "Our plan is working. And one of the things I'm proudest of is that it's working everywhere," he said recently. Every president makes these kinds of claims, and all of them choose selective data to support them. But in this instance, you don't have to look too far to realize that Mr. Biden is ignoring some essential facts.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is wrong again. Discontent with ending her record of colossally wrong economic forecasts, Yellen is now in Beijing, adding humiliation to her record of ineptitude. Meeting Vice Premier He Lifeng, Yellen bowed "multiple times while enthusiastically shaking his hand." A senior American official bowing to an avowed Marxist - this is so repugnant as to foster disbelief had it not happened.
As the state's leaders crack down on pro-life pregnancy resource centers, New York Democrats fund abortionists who have killed dozens of women. At least 38 women and girls, as young as 13, lost their lives during "safe and legal" abortions carried out by the state's private abortionists, according to a private research report furnished to The Washington Stand.
As small as it may seem, Christian man and Christian woman, truth does matter. Truth will speak louder than the lies of this world. Do not be discouraged, because "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
A federal court is rejecting the Satanic Temple's petition to protect abortion as a religious ritual. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas threw out a complaint earlier this week filed by the Satanic Temple back in 2021 and amended last year after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The complaint argued that pro-life laws in Texas infringed on the religious liberty of practicing Satanists, as abortions (especially first-trimester abortions) are a religious ritual in the Satanic Temple. The court determined that the Satanic Temple doesn't have standing to file the complaint.
A group of seven state attorneys general sent a letter to Target on Wednesday warning the retail giant that its Pride clothing line collection may be in violation of state child-protection laws.
SCOTUS's 303 Creative ruling protected and affirmed every single American's right - whether, Democrat, Republican, Independent, apolitical, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, male or female - not to be forced by the government to communicate messages that go against every fiber of their being whether in business or their personal lives.
God's word makes clear that marriage is composed of a relationship that is to be as secure as our salvation in Christ. Indeed, marriage is a picture of the union of Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:22-33). In our culture, this beautiful union has been tarnished by the availability of penalty-free dissolution.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is offering guidance for men identifying as transgender on how to breastfeed and insisting on using the "inclusive" term "chestfeeding." The CDC released advice this week for men taking hormones to grow breasts, explaining, "Transgender and nonbinary-gendered individuals may give birth and breastfeed or feed at the chest (chestfeed)." The CDC also gave some examples of alternative terminology for breastfeeding to cater to those identifying as transgender, "such as nursing, chestfeeding, or bodyfeeding."
On Wednesday's edition of "Washington Watch," guest host Joseph Backholm interviewed Os Guinness, an author, social critic, and senior fellow at the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics. They covered the Supreme Court's 303 Creative case, Guinness's new book "Zero Hour America," the real meaning of freedom, and more. The interview has been edited for clarity.
Agents across the U.S. military committed another series of unforced errors over Independence Day Weekend, making the service look embarrassingly weak and further fueling the ongoing recruitment woes.
A federal judge is allowing Georgia's ban on gender transition drugs and surgeries for minors to go into effect, despite protest from left-wing organizations.
Planned Parenthood posted a statement on their social media last week: "Virginity is a social construct." The post's caption reads, "The idea of virginity comes from outdated - and let's be real, patriarchal - ways of thinking that hurts everyone." As an organization that thrives off hookup culture, it's no wonder they've made this claim.
When Republicans gained the majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, I was working on Capitol Hill - and was, with myriad conservatives nationwide, elated. But one distinct memory is how many Democrats were less disappointed at their electoral loss than indignant over it.
On Independence Day, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction barring the Biden administration from directly communicating with social media platforms about "protected free speech." Free speech advocates are seeing the ruling as a victory against the widespread censorship and deplatforming that have occurred on platforms like Twitter and Facebook in recent years.
As Americans left to celebrate a long Independence Day weekend with their families, late on Friday the State Department released a report it completed 15 months ago. The withdrawal stranded 500 Americans, even more Afghan allies, and Christians and other religious minorities were left to the mercy of the Taliban, permitting a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport.
A new survey is revealing an increase in patriotism, especially an appreciation for America's birthday. A Rasmussen Reports poll published Tuesday found that 55% of Americans consider Independence Day to be on the nations' "most important" holiday's - that's up from 53% just last year. Only 6% of Americans ranked the holiday one of the "least important." However, only 34% of Americans responded that the Founding Fathers would view America today as a success.
I really didn't want to see this movie. Does anyone want to see a movie about horrific crimes against children and the systems that support or fail to stop child sex trafficking? But I felt an obligation to support "Sound of Freedom." And I was happy to hear the buzz in the conservative media sphere. "Sound of Freedom" was making noise in all the right places.
What a lot of people aren't paying attention to right now is the fact that there are 120,000 Armenian Christians being blockaded into their country, cut off from outside resources, due to their beliefs. Their neighbor to the east, Azerbaijan, is predominantly Muslim, and they want to take over Armenian land. Tragically, Azerbaijan is using U.S. weaponry to enforce the barricade - which means, by association, we are contributors.
On the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Demi Lovato released a heinous song about abortion. The song is called "Swine," and it crudely screams about Lovato's pro-abortion ideology. Live Action commented on the song, emphasizing "all profits from the song will be donated to the Reproductive Justice Fund at the Demi Lovato Foundation, which will then give the funds to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Plan C, and The National Network of Abortion Funds."
To be considered part of "Generation Z," your birth date must fall between 1997 and 2012. In the span of those 15 years, the invention of high-speed internet, iPhones, social media, streaming services, and eCommerce all took place - and took over. No other generation has grown up under such an overwhelming influence from the media. For better or for worse, it's here, it's relevant, and it's powerful. So how has technological advancement affected this generation - even subtly?
The New York Times reports that a growing number of Americans, especially younger people, are rethinking whether they want to celebrate Independence Day. As we approach Independence Day, patriotism is at an all-time low. According to a poll of over 3,000 Americans taken by Morning Consult in late 2022, only 16% of Gen Z adults or "Zoomers" (ages 18-25) said they are "proud" to be American. This is the lowest percentage of any American generation.
John Adams described himself as "obnoxious, suspected and unpopular." This blunt self-assessment was sometimes confirmed by his contemporaries. Yet Adams had other, very different qualities. He was principled, brilliant, a gifted writer, and a devoted patriot, known for his essential leadership in helping to create and sustain the United States.
Vice President Kamala Harris is known for breaking records. When she raised her right hand in 2021 and was sworn into office, she became the first female vice president in American history. She also became - as the headlines so vibrantly pointed out - the first South Asian and black vice president. These two accomplishments on her first day of office proved to be only the beginning of records she would break.
Americans' identification with the Christian faith is in decline. In their new book, "The Great Dechurching," Jim Davis and Michael Graham detail how about "40 million adult Americans who used to go to church ... don't go anymore." This is not a new phenomenon.
The Washington Stand recently had the opportunity to speak with author, legal scholar, and philosopher Dr. Gerard Casey on the subject of transgenderism, which he sees as a precursor to transhumanism. Casey holds law degrees from the University of London (LLB) and University College Dublin (LLM) as well as a primary degree in philosophy from University College Cork, an MA and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and the higher doctorate, DLitt, from the National University of Ireland. He led the Christian Solidarity Party in Ireland in the 1990s and has published several books, including "Hidden Agender: Transgenderism's Struggle against Reality."
As the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) assembles for the World Cup - kicking off on July 20 in New Zealand and Australia - ESPN has announced that they plan to present the team with the Arthur Ashe Award during the ESPYS ceremony, honoring them for their "courage in the equal pay fight." The award, ESPN announced, will honor a "member or group in the sporting world who makes a difference far beyond the field of play, impacting the world in indelible ways."
Annually, Christians and conservatives dread June, better known now as Pride Month. For 30 days (give or take), the LGBT agenda is strongly at work and overwhelming visuals are forced upon us all. In June, the rainbows are inescapable. However, what many (surprisingly) fail to recognize is that the end of Pride Month is not the end of pride.
National Public Radio (NPR) has long been a mainstay of elitist liberalism. As I have written before, although some of its news coverage, especially on international issues, remains useful, its biases are now so overt as to disinvite any confidence in its claims to fairness.
"We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children," chanted topless LGBT activists in a drag parade on June 24 in New York City. As they filled the streets with their brazen ideology, the gay-identifying men sang vile lyrics, "We're coming for them. We're coming for your children. We're coming for them. We're coming for your children."
"Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it." That was the conclusion of the majority in the Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. The court concluded that it violates the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law for colleges and universities to consider a student's race in their admissions process. For many, this is common sense.
Recently this country watched, with sadness and prayers, the saga of an exploratory submersible as it led to the death of five individuals. Much of the media has been full of coverage about the journey of this sea vessel. The story that needs to be told is different.
The Supreme Court on Friday struck down the Biden administration's attempt "to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal" under a 9/11-era law (the HEROES Act) that authorizes the Secretary of Education to "waive or modify" provisions in response to a national emergency. In a 6-3 opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that the authority to "waive or modify provisions" of the HEROES Act did not authorize the secretary "to rewrite that statute from the ground up."
Moms from across the country have gathered in Philadelphia this weekend for a jam packed Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit. The event will be headlined by former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), and other political luminaries - but the real stars are the moms in attendance. They are the moms Southern Poverty Law Center put on their "Hate Map" this year, putting a target on the backs of all moms across the country.
A congressman is sounding the alarm on the Biden administration "reimagining" the PEPFAR AIDS relief program for Africa to include funding for abortion.
We set aside Independence Day on July 4th to honor our great nation's history and founding. But we also find ourselves living in a time when ignorance of American history is a national emergency. Earlier this year, former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett provided some reflections on the current state of American history education in our public schools and offered a productive path forward.
New statistics are showing last year marked an abortion high in Ireland. According to Department of Health statistics, there were 8,156 abortions committed in 2022, the highest number since the killing of the unborn was legalized in 2018. Abortion numbers have remained largely steady, going from 6,666 in 2019 to 6,577 in 2020 to an estimated 6,700 in 2021. Last year's numbers mark a 21% increase over 2021's.
Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who suffered two years in a Turkish prison for defending his faith, spoke at Family Research Council last week about the sense of urgency that he felt to warn Christians in the United States of the struggles on the horizon. One would expect an international missionary to speak on the call to evangelism in other countries, but instead he directed his talk in an entirely different way.
The government cannot force Christians to create websites or engage in other speech-related business activities that violate their faith, the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision extending constitutional protections to believers in the workplace. The case pits the government of the state of Colorado against Lorie Smith, a Christian graphic artist and web designer who felt called by God to begin providing "customized, dedicated" websites for weddings through her business - 303 Creative.
"Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the Lord," says the Bible (Proverbs 20:10). The Supreme Court complicated, though it did not entirely eliminate, one such abomination on Thursday morning by striking down the use of overtly race-conscious affirmative action criteria in college admissions.
In 9-0 decision released Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a judgment by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit against Christian postal worker Gerald Groff, who refused to work on Sundays for religious reasons.
While LGBT activists shouted "We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children" this past weekend at the New York City Pride parade, more than 1,000 interfaith parents protested outside the Montgomery County, Maryland school board meeting Tuesday night, shouting, "Leave our kids alone" and "We shall never surrender our children!"
On Wednesday, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power spoke at an Atlantic Council event on "advancing LGBTQI+ inclusive development." Power, who is responsible for running the federal agency that is primarily responsible for administering foreign aid and development assistance, took the opportunity to tout the Biden administration's work funding LGBT programs and explain why LGBT issues are a priority for the administration's foreign aid programs.
"Let us confess our faith today in the words of the Sparkle Creed." Thus Pastor Anna Helgenled the congregants of Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA member in a Minneapolis suburb, which has been "LGBTQIA+ inclusive" since 1985. "I think it's a stretch to call this a church," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, because "to be a Christian is to follow Christ." While historic creeds distill the Christian faith to clarify truth and error, the "Sparkle Creed" is neither historic nor Christian. It is, however, clarifying.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Chicago centered on the economy, in which he plugged "Bidenomics" as the "future" and "just another way of saying: Restore the American dream." But polls show that a substantial majority of the American public does not share the president's enthusiasm about the economy amid persistent inflation and foreboding economic forecasts.
President Joe Biden is invoking his self-professed Catholic faith in addressing abortion, an issue on which the Catholic Church holds unequivocally clear teachings. At a fundraiser Tuesday, Biden stated, "I'm a practicing Catholic. I'm not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe v. Wade got it right." The president's statements are incorrect on several counts.
It was a normal Wednesday commute, crawling across the 14th Street Bridge with thousands of other frustrated D.C. drivers - until out the corner of my eye, I saw the metro glide across the tracks next to us. There, suspended above the Potomac, were eight cars - all wrapped in transgender and rainbow flags - speeding into the most powerful city in the world. Even now, weeks into this contrived celebration, it was a jarring picture of how insufferable the Pride movement has become. Deep into June, you can't blame Americans for wondering: When will this train of extremism end?
June is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month. For politicians, this month presents an opportunity to introduce a political agenda they hope demonstrates their awareness of trauma survivors (which, at this point, is a large swath of the population). This is exactly what happened in Washington earlier this month.
A mandatory intelligence report released Friday on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic failed to comply with the law that required it, argued Republican lawmakers. Despite President Biden's avowed "goal of releasing as much information as possible," the 10-page document declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) contained only "conclusions by the intelligence community," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) alleged on CBS News's "Face the Nation."
As Western society becomes increasingly secularized and attends religious services in ever dwindling numbers, a curious phenomenon is simultaneously occurring: people who identify as religiously unaffiliated "nones" or as LGBT still express longing for the community life that only religious institutions provide.
It's easy for conservatives to think of the LGBT activist crowd as constantly crying wolf over pronouns and "deadnames," but when self-described "queer" people try to describe who they are and what they do, pay attention. A prime example of this principle occurred just this week: participants in New York City's annual Pride Parade chanted, "We're coming for your children." Others shouted, "Five, six, seven, eight, don't assume your kids are straight." Other scenes included nude adult men exposing themselves to children - both in New York City and in Seattle.
One of the Democratic Party's brightest rising stars, whom party campaign operatives call "our next Barack Obama," has released a video calling a Planned Parenthood abortion facility that also injects minors with transgender hormones "a safe place."
Most veterans are horrified the words even have to be uttered, but apparently, nothing's off limits under Joe Biden's radical excuse for Pentagon leadership. "DRAG SHOWS HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR MILITARY," Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) tweeted in all caps - not for the first time. "How many times do we have to say it?" Several, it appears. But thanks to House and Senate Republicans, the GOP is doing more than saying it. They're fighting it.
The woke catchphrase "ESG" (standing for environment, social, and governance) has grown so toxic that he has stopped using it, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Sunday at the Aspen Ideas Festival. The investment management giant has drawn increasing scrutiny from conservative state governments for prioritizing left-wing cultural priorities over its fiduciary duty to its clients.
This week, Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) will introduce a bill designed to ensure that states are free to enact pro-life legislation without fear of retribution from the Biden administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is threatening to withhold Title X funding from states that have passed legislation protecting unborn children in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.
Last week, the U.N.'s Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, presented a report to the 53rd Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council arguing that religious freedom is "not incompatible with equality for LGBT persons." However, by reading Madrigal-Borloz's report, it appears that his understanding of "compatibility" means that long-held religious beliefs and traditions must be subservient to the LGBT ideology.
Biden's Health Department is being weaponized to promote homosexuality and the transgender agenda. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra launched the department's "Pride Summit" on Monday, stressing the importance of normalizing the LGBT agenda. He quipped, "Supporting the LGBTQI+ community is a top priority for me and HHS. Equity runs at the heart of every initiative we take on here."
A crack unit of Russian mercenaries marched on Moscow Friday, the boldest challenge yet to the leadership of Vladimir Putin, which has already been tarnished by the nation's failure to conquer Ukraine. The armed column turned around only hours from Moscow, after Belorussian strongman Victor Lukashenko negotiated an agreement between Putin and the mutineers' leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. While the immediate crisis has passed, the aftershocks will likely continue.
Few American Christians recognize the specific and ongoing threat against Armenia's Christians, which continues even now. In fact, with every passing day, dangers continue against Armenia's Christian population.
It's time for all of us to seriously reflect on what it means to "follow the science." Nowhere is this more evident than when we hear about the research used to debate the transgender issue.
It won't give Peyton McNabb her vision back, but North Carolina legislators are doing everything they can to protect girls like her from ever getting hurt again. After having a volleyball spiked in her face by a biological boy, McNabb says "my life has been forever changed." Though she struggles with partial paralysis, blurred eyesight, severe headaches, and other symptoms, her governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, couldn't care less - telling reporters that North Carolina Republicans are wasting their time on "political culture wars."
Gender transition hormones "may cause ... irreversible infertility," according to consent forms a Daily Wire investigation obtained from the University of Virginia (UVA) Children's Hospital's "Transgender Youth Health" Center, which offers gender transition procedures to individuals aged 11-25. The consent forms, which authorize puberty blockers and "testosterone therapy" for females, allow an individual to sign on their own behalf, or for parents to consent on behalf of their minor children.
President Donald Trump has been called many names, but he would like to add one more: abortion terminator. "We terminated Roe v. Wade," declared the 45th president on the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision on Saturday. He and other GOP presidential hopefuls also advocated expanding protections to unborn children at all levels of government while addressing the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority policy conference.
A new poll revealed that almost two-thirds of California residents have considered moving out of the state recently. The survey highlights mounting frustrations that Californians are feeling over their state's policies related to escalating living costs, rising crime, increased political polarization, and parental rights concerns.
Just days before Americans celebrated the anniversary of the fall of Roe v. Wade, Family Research Council hosted a Townhall event asking if there was, in the words of Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, "a need and a responsibility for a federal role to protect the unborn in post-Roe America." The resounding answer from participating panelists was, "Yes."
Bravery comes in two forms. One is physical bravery, the kind that we have seen throughout our history, the sort that enables the men and women of our military and police forces to lay down their lives for our country. The other is moral courage, the inner stamina to resist something you find wrong or unwise, regardless of the pressure to accept it. I fear that this quality is diminishing among our fellow Americans.
Two leading Republican candidates in Virginia's U.S. Senate race have pledged to investigate the federal government's use of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing smear factory that recently put parental rights groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education on a "hate map" with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.
While addressing a fundraiser hosted by Microsoft chief technology officer Kevin Scott, President Joe Biden seized the opportunity in front of the crowd to criticize Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) for withholding 200 military promotions over the Pentagon's new taxpayer-funded abortion policy. The president called the freshman senator's efforts "bizarre," adding, "I don't remember it happening before, and I've been around."
Ephesians 6:12 reads, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." As Christians, it is vital to recognize our battle is not an earthly battle, but a spiritual one. The tools we use are spiritual - prayer, obedience, and praise all while striving to act in a Christ-like manner.
The nation's leading abortion industry political action committees have endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection in 2024 during the Biden administration's weeklong abortion blitz, which includes "phoning abortionists" to thank them" for their service.
As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision returning abortion to democratic control, national leaders celebrated the birth of tens, or hundreds, of thousands of unborn children saved by pro-life laws. Although precise estimates vary, "the best guess that we have is about 200,000 children were born this year that would not have been born" apart from the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, said Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) at a news conference Tuesday.
One year ago today, I was in my living room playing with my 11-month-old son when my phone notified me of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization. As I read the court's ruling, I danced for joy. My baby giggled. Unfortunately, though, as the pro-life movement has risen to meet the challenge of stopping the abortion industry, many Republicans, including congressional members and presidential candidates, have cowered away debating whether protecting life is a "winning" or "losing" issue.
A recent scientific study is declaring conservative women are more attractive than leftist women. The great question posed by this finding is one that science cannot answer: Why?
They called her "unsinkable." Yet, on her maiden voyage, she sank. The Titanic was the largest ship of its time, and approximately 1,500 people perished when it hit an iceberg in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. This week, another catastrophe occurred at nearly the same location.
Another Major League Baseball team is siding with the LGBT mob over its fans. Last week, the Kansas City Royals followed in the footsteps of the Los Angeles Dodgers and hosted a Pride Night, replete with a drag queen performance. While the Dodgers hosted an anti-Catholic drag troupe who mockingly refer to themselves as the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" and pole dance atop crucifixes, the Royals hosted a drag troupe from Hamburger Mary's, a diner chain that frequently features drag events.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that up to 13 youth gender clinics at university hospitals across the country could end up closing by the end of the year as a result of state legislation restricting gender transition procedures for minors, in addition to at least one other clinic in Idaho.
Before Dylan Mulvaney's six-pack lit a corporate bonfire, there were already signs the cultural tide was turning. In January, a single defenseman's refusal to wear the NHL's Pride jersey shook the sports establishment to its very core. He wasn't trying to start a revolution. He was just a man following his convictions. But six months later, Ivan Provorov's courage hasn't just changed hockey - it's changed the world.
On June 22, ambassadors representing countries within the Organization of American States (OAS) met in the U.S. for the 53rd annual meeting. During the event, which was held in Washington, D.C., citizens from various Latin American countries gathered in and outside of the OAS headquarters to protest the group's move toward more radical social policy.
Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on public schools, American reading and math scores reached their lowest level in decades - a decline experts attribute to COVID-19 school lockdowns and replacing the fundamentals with "politicized and sexualized curricula."
A Christian business in Texas is entitled to a religious exemption from federal nondiscrimination employment requirements encompassing sexual orientation and gender identity, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
The Biden administration has declined to appeal an Eighth Circuit ruling that barred the administration from requiring religious hospitals to perform gender transition procedures. The ruling marks the Biden administration's second loss at a U.S. circuit court in an administrative campaign to force religious hospitals to provide and insure gender transition procedures against their beliefs that dates back to 2016.
Attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana have uncovered a "vast censorship enterprise" in the federal government that they say is suppressing the speech of Americans who dare oppose federal policies and actions.
If anything is absurd, it is the notion that Xi Jinping is not a dictator. A dictator is, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "a single person who possesses absolute political power within a country or territory or a member of a small group that exercises such power." Does Xi fit this description?
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was chased, threatened, and held hostage in a room for three hours while a mob of leftist students raged outside, but it's trans-identifying "children" who are "in danger," Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told her. That was just one of the staggering statements made by Democrats in a Wednesday hearing full of phony victimhood. And judging by the Left's desperation, they won't be the last.
A Christian University in Nashville has recently dropped Promise Keepers from their list of events this month due to the group's stance against gender ideology, sparking controversy among believers throughout the country.
Leftist prosecutors are urging Target to restore Pride-themed and Satanic children's merchandise to its shelves. Fifteen attorneys general wrote an open letter last week to Target CEO Brian Cornell, pressuring the head of the retail giant to replace Pride displays and merchandise that were removed from some stores last month after the company faced backlash.
U.S. agents reported a record-breaking number of people on the terrorist watchlist crossing the uncontrolled southern border last month, thanks to policies that Republicans say are "emboldening terrorists," constitute a "dereliction of duty," and constitute impeachable offenses. All the while, the Biden administration considers the border closed and under control.
Family Research Council hosted a Townhall for Life on Wednesday night in Des Moines, Iowa, addressing what FRC President Tony Perkins described as "a need and a responsibility for a federal role to protect the unborn in post-Roe America."
It looks like everyday Americans aren't the only ones boycotting Big Business. While companies take a beating for their woke policies in stores and restaurants across the country, another longtime ally has flat-out walked away: the GOP. More than two years after January 6, when CEOs made a spectacle out of cutting donations to Republicans, corporate America is facing an uncomfortable reality - the GOP wouldn't take their money now anyway.
A Twitter debate and trend erupted on Tuesday after commentator James Esses objected to being called the term "cisgender" by transgender activists. In a response to Esses, Twitter owner Elon Musk stated that "cis" or "cisgender" would be considered "slurs on this platform."
Last Thursday, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) continued his months-long hold on over 200 Department of Defense promotions. This was the ninth attempt by Senate Democrats to break Tuberville's one-man stand, but the Auburn coach-turned-U.S.-senator is holding the line until the Pentagon reverses its military abortion policy.
Federal Judge James Moody, Jr., of the Eastern District of Arkansas, struck down the 2021 Arkansas SAFE Act Tuesday, finding that it violated the 14th and First Amendments of the Constitution. Moody temporarily enjoined state officials from enforcing the law in 2021 and has now made the injunction permanent. Arkansas was the first of now 20 states to enact legislation protecting minors from harmful, irreversible gender transition procedures to which they cannot consent.
The largest pediatrics hospital in the country, Texas Children's Hospital, has been pumping out training videos for young doctors that are pushing a leftist agenda. Dr. Peter Hotez, a dean at Baylor College of Medicine, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, and a far-left activist, is working with the hospital to influence the ideology being forced in this workplace.
While woke corporations dish out abortion stipends to workers, our good friends at Public Sq. are taking a more positive approach. Instead of incentivizing the killing of unborn children, Public Sq. CEO Michael Seifert announced that he's offering a $5,000 baby bonus for employees who give birth or adopt.
June 21 was supposed to be the release day for the Deplorable Films production, "No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care." This film showcases medical professionals and detransitioned individuals who have thoughts and experiences concerning the health complications of mutilating one's body with gender-affirming surgery. However, AMC theaters across America have canceled the premiere.
At the one-year anniversary of Dobbs, both parties have had to grapple with the issue, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have had to go on record regarding their views on life. Public statements in the aftermath of Dobbs and the flurry of abortion-related legislation in the states have provided ample evidence of the guiding worldview of each party.
The official President Joe Biden tapped to fight mpox, the virus formerly known as monkeypox, said public health officials should not oppose Pride events that end in anonymous same-sex orgies but instead craft a policy that "supports" the "joy" victims find in random sexual encounters. After all, "one person's idea of risk is another person's idea of a great festival or Friday night," said the official, who frequently wears a pentagram in social media posts.
As the U.S. celebrated Father's Day over the weekend, two recent studies confirm that fathers play a central role in the mental health and behavior of their children.
In lieu of Pride Month, many churches are touching on the topics of love, gender, and sexuality - subjects many preachers do not dare to address. However, for matters clearly (and first) defined in Scripture, I dare say it ought to be commonly discussed in church. Progressive Christianity is a toxin plaguing churches, and leading many astray. For those who know the truth, it must be proclaimed boldly - particularly over those who proclaim fallacies.
Dr. Michael Joyner, a professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (MCCMS), was disciplined earlier this year after expressing unsanctioned viewpoints on sex distinctions and COVID treatment. In a final written warning dated March 5, department head Dr. Carlos Mantilla rebuked Joyner for a "negative and unprofessional pattern of behavior" that largely consisted of his sparring with Mayo Clinic's Public Affairs department and refusing to allow them to pre-screen his interactions with reporters. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (The FIRE) responded that MCCMS had violated "the academic freedom and free speech promises the college makes to its faculty."
In a provocative recent article in The Atlantic, journalist Helen Lewis asks, "Was the sexual revolution a mistake?" She then quotes Louise Perry, author of "The Case Against the Sexual Revolution:" "Liberal feminists and trans activists may do their best to deny this, but it is still true that only one half of the human race is capable of getting pregnant, and - failing the invention of artificial wombs - this will remain true indefinitely."
A new report named the U.S. an "outlier" in promoting the trans agenda to children, while many other Western countries are now taking a more cautious approach. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, "The U.S. is becoming an outlier among many Western nations in the way its national medical institutions treat children suffering from distress over gender identity. ... For years, the American healthcare industry has staunchly defended medical interventions for transgender minors, including puberty blockers ..." This is in contrast to several leading European nations, which are now "expressing doubts about that approach."
The U.S. ambassador to Poland recently participated in an LGBT "pride" parade in the conservative-leaning nation's capital. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski and around 30 other U.S. embassy staffers marched under an American flag in the Warsaw "Equality Parade" on Saturday. Brzezinski later tweeted, "We are proud to be allies of the LGBTQI+ community and to support the equality movement."
In the latest sign the LGBT agenda is losing support, the number of people who view same-sex relationships as "morally acceptable" tumbled last year - a sign "people are beginning to connect the dots" between legalizing same-sex marriage and indoctrinating schoolchildren in the LGBT agenda, a prominent pro-family leader says.
It was a 15-0 shellacking, but what made the Dodgers even bigger losers in most fans' eyes was how they handled Friday's Pride Night. At a pitifully attended pre-game ceremony, the team raced to get a controversial award off its hands before people could come in and boo. While thousands protested outside the gates, management made the telling decision to recognize the LGBT group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, before a virtually empty arena. As Breitbart's Dylan Gwinn put it, "To say there were more reporters in attendance than fans ... would not be a major exaggeration."
In the wake of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China over the weekend, lawmakers warn that China's overtures of peace and stability are not to be trusted in light of the communist regime's continued aggressive actions toward the U.S.
Americans who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual are far more likely to suffer from major depression, abuse illegal drugs, and are up to six times as likely to attempt suicide, according to a new report from the Biden administration. Although the report admits it cannot "explain the reasons" for these differences, it opens by blaming LGBT "invisibility and erasure" - a leap critics say is "just bad science" that obscures the real causes for their mental distress.
Some in Washington, D.C. are convinced that most Americans are not qualified to parent their own children, and they haven't been shy about saying so. Leading the charge on this line of thinking is none other than the President of the United States.
Unlike the believers in the Roman era, we are citizens who can defend and advance those things that sustain and enhance life, liberty, and family. Not to use this precious right, gained for us at such great cost, is to squander something God has entrusted to us.
It seems the boycotts against Target and Bud Light are paying off in more ways than one. Other companies, like Starbucks, are responding by reportedly reining in some of their LGBT advocacy displays. However, is this really the case? Or are they simply becoming less boisterous about their support?
Christians rightly assert that being made in God's image is the foundation of human dignity and the basis of our equal value before Him, yet do we really understand what this provocative term means?
Don't be surprised if when you turn on your TV this week and next, the commercials flash an ad about the life issue. Focus on the Family launched an ad campaign this week titled "It's a Baby" in honor of the one-year anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. They hope to "change the hearts and minds on the issue of abortion" Daily Citizen reports.
The Left's newest "war on women" has a sinister past. Today, cloaked in LGBT activism, virtue signaling, and the old standby "tolerance," the woke have turned the cancelation of women into an artform - an artform that is unfortunately centuries old and an embarrassment to any reasonable person.
While much of what is happening in our culture can feel heavy, thankfully there is good news! The American public has finally woken up to the LGBT lobbyists' devasting influence on kids and families, and it overwhelmingly supports the absolute necessity of parental rights and religious freedom.
Since the 1950s, Americans have reported seeing unidentified flying objects (UFOs) - or more recently termed "UAPs" (unidentified aerial phenomena) - in the sky. Many of these observations can be chalked up to natural phenomenon or even man-made crafts, but a portion of these occurrences remain unexplained. UFOs, UAPs, alien encounters, and abductions have been part of American pop culture for the better part of a century. So when a Pentagon whistleblower, Daniel Grusch, stepped forward to go on the record claiming the U.S. government poses intact and partially-intact vehicles from a non-human source, as well as the bodies of the beings who piloted these craft, it caught the attention of millions.
Abraham Lincoln thought long and hard about how and why God would allow suffering. After the death of his son, Willie, Lincoln began to meet regularly with Phineas Gurney, the pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C. to talk about God's unfathomable will. Gurley, compassionate and intellectual, helped Lincoln better understand "Reformed Christian beliefs on the mysteries of God's providence."
Dozens of Democratic members of Congress sent a letter Thursday pressuring Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway and Health Mart to carry the abortion pill mifepristone, stating their caution in not yet becoming federally certified to distribute the life-taking drug is "unacceptable."
As businesses like Target sell apparel for children with Satanist ties and Bud Light advocates transgenderism, believers naturally start to wonder: "Is it wrong for Christians to shop at stores run by sinners?"
While some moms and dads may be tempted to think the Left's transgender ideology "won't affect my kids," it's time to wake up. This is coming - if it's not already there - to your community. It's coming for your children, your grandchildren. And Christians need to be ready.
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the court's Roe v. Wade (1973) decision last summer, it did not outlaw abortion, FRC President Tony Perkins reminded listeners of "Washington Watch" Wednesday. "It simply said this is no longer for the courts. It's [a decision] for the people's elected representatives," he explained. Given that most of the expansion or restriction in so-called abortion rights since the court decision has occurred at the state level, there is now a patchwork of laws addressing abortion across the U.S.
Sexual identities aligned with non-natural sexual orientations are significantly more likely to change over time, according to a study published June 1 in Duke University Press. Using a survey that asked the same individuals questions six years apart (a "time series" study), the researchers found that people who identified as gay or lesbian were nearly five times as likely as those with natural sexual orientation (a category they called "heterosexual") to change their sexual orientation over a six-year period.
As presidential candidates begin to converge on Iowa, some pro-life activists are concerned that the life issue could be overlooked altogether. To speak to the importance of it, Family Research Council will be facilitating a townhall meeting at a Des Moines church. FRC President Tony Perkins will join Sen. Graham, along with Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, and Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, to speak about why the life issue is critical to the 2024 election.
President Joe Biden ramped up his LGBT advocacy this week with the largest celebration of Pride Month in White House history. Biden reiterated his unabashed support of the LGBT community, stating the community brings "hope and light" to society, and that its members "set an example for the nation and, quite frankly, for the world." And according to a new Family Research Council report, "the world" is exactly where the president is taking this agenda.
There's an old proverb that says there are two kinds of people in the world: men, and non-men. Except there's no such proverb. Such thinking can only come from the academic creme de la creme at one of America's elite universities. Enter Johns Hopkins University's "LGBTQ Glossary." The glossary purported to be, "an introduction to the community, and [...] not the definitive answer as to how everyone understands these terms."
One of the prime figures urging Republicans to support legislation imposing same-sex marriage on the entire country has been censured by an overwhelming majority of his state Republican Party. The North Carolina Republican Party officially condemned Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in large part over his support for H.R. 8404, which opponents dubbed the Disrespect for Marriage Act.
Two hundred and fifty years after the Boston Tea Party, middle schoolers in a Boston suburb channeled its spirit against a new form of tyrannical oppression, LGBT Pride. Teachers, parents, and even administrators of the far-Left jurisdiction were "shocked," "horrified," and "extremely disheartened" by these middle schoolers' solid grasp of basic biology, and naturally they retreated into platitudes of unity to justify their preferring a divisive principle to a unifying one.
In a victory for a grassroots movement of concerned parents and citizens of a small town in the Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia, the county Board of Supervisors has agreed to restrict the funds of a public library until an agreement can be reached on what to do with dozens of pornographic books for kids that were found there.
While the White House races to distance itself from the impromptu strip show on its South Lawn last Saturday, the bare-breasted trans display was only one part of the taxpayer-funded circus that Joe Biden brought to the most sacred residence in America. "Add this to the list of ways Biden has degraded the prestige and decorum of the office of president," Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) fumed. A list that also includes his decision to make the controversial Progress Flag the balcony focal point during his Pride fest, centered in a place of honor that should be reserved for our nation's colors.
Amazingly, there's an explosive number of conversions to Christianity taking place in Iran.
Is America a dangerous place for women and minorities? If so, why? A prominent leftist organization long has trumpeted the threat of "hate groups" with a scary red-and-black map pinpointing KKK chapters, militia groups, and scores of organizations you've never heard of.
The American public is increasingly rejecting the LGBTQ agenda, as a series of new polls show a growing majority of Americans agree that attempting to change your gender is "morally wrong," that only two genders exist, and that women should not be forced to compete against men in sports.
Over the last several years, the United States has seen a disturbing uptick in K-12 schools protecting the instigators of assault against other students in the name of solidarity with the LGBT community. Children are being abused in school bathrooms, and leftist school administrators and the liberal media are covering it up because it doesn't fit their narrative.
A faithful, family-friendly home to many Americans jumped to the front of the line in boycott calls last week when yet another restaurant chain foolishly celebrated June as Pride Month during a wave of corporate backlash.
A biological male has won two women's professional cycling titles in the last three months, with the latest victory coming by a margin of almost five minutes over the female second place finisher. An increasing number of current and former female athletes are stepping forward to protest the phenomenon as the percentage of Americans opposed to the practice continues to climb.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) issued an executive order Monday that makes the state a sanctuary for gender transition procedures on minors. Under the order, "all state agencies shall, to the fullest extent within their authority, take whatever action is necessary" to "protect people or entities in Maryland providing, receiving, assisting in providing or receiving, seeking, or traveling to obtain gender-affirming treatment." The order, which follows a string of actions to promote transgender ideology in Maryland, will standardize the policy decisions that already contributed to the sex trafficking of one gender-confused teenager from Maryland.
A federal judge ordered a Christian women's spa with a compulsory nudity policy to admit biological men who identify as women, even if the man has not undergone surgery to remove his male sexual organs. The ruling comes amid heated debates about whether biological men who identify as female should be allowed to enter women's only spaces.
In this Year of Consumer Backlash, it may go down as one of the biggest coups of 2023. While Americans bring the country's mightiest brands to their knees, Major League Baseball has decided to dodge the flak, quietly ordering teams to ditch their Pride uniforms entirely. The directive, which was issued at the height of the NHL's players' revolt, signals that the tables have, in fact, turned.
A recently amended bill that originally passed California's State Assembly in May would take the extraordinary step of holding parents liable for child abuse if they refuse to affirm the chosen gender identity of their child.
The University of Oklahoma softball team took home the National Championship last week in the Women's College World Series, using their national recognition as an opportunity to share their love for Jesus.
Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink issued a defensive apology Sunday after comparing Muslim parents and students to "white supremacists" for their opposition to a county policy that would make LGBT books required reading. "I regret that although my remarks were focused on promoting inclusion, they created an opportunity for misunderstanding and mischaracterization. I apologize for the hurt that this caused in the Muslim community," wrote Mink, in an email obtained by The Washington Stand.
The morning of June 7 dawned hazy and pungent in Washington, D.C., as ozone, smoke, and particulate matter from Canadian wildfires drifted southward. To the north, New York City was encased in orange fog, drawing comparisons to the futuristic dystopian landscape of "Blade Runner 2049." On June 8, D.C. air pollution worsened, becoming downright unhealthy as the Air Quality Index approached 200. The singular weather elicited every explanation but the correct one.
Last week, Dr. M.G. "Pat" Robertson was called home by his Lord. Reading some of his obituaries, you might think he was a madman or a danger to the republic. Correction is in order.
Veterans, active duty, and Republicans alike have spoken against the replacement of the American flag with a Pride flag at a Mississippi veterans cemetery. The nation's flag (which represents liberty and justice for all) was replaced, leaders argued, by a flag representing liberty and justice only for those who align with woke ideologies.
A roulette of original photos of murdered Christians flashed on a screen to a crowd of over 50 people in a Values Action Team (VAT) meeting last week in the Capitol. Bishop Chipa Wilfred Anagbe and Father Remigius Ihyula, two ministers in Nigeria, poured their hearts out in dread and angst to a group of Americans, pleading for recognition and aid from the United States.
With June in full swing, Major League Baseball (MLB) wasted no time showing their unabashed support of the Pride movement and organizations who push the LGBTQ ideology. Players who have conveyed differing beliefs from their team have ultimately faced consequences, including Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass, despite his efforts to acquiesce to the "woke LGBT mob."
People visiting Washington, D.C. this weekend probably expected to see a white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, the president's residence was plastered in rainbow and transgender colors, an over-the-top display of the current resident's LGBT fixation. It was a stark contrast to the mood in the rest of America, where the fury over Pride displays has reached a deafening roar.
Time and time again, women are led to believe that lust is a sin that only men struggle with. And the church is the main instigator of this myth - mostly by accident. Even the tiniest of word choices, using "he" or "his" when referring to lust, can drive a woman to deep humiliation and isolation, feeling like she might be the only female dealing with the same thing.
"Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," which airs on nine television networks and more than 800 radio stations nationwide, was named the top program in the news category at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) International Christian Media Convention's 2023 TV Showcase.
Within the last 50 years, LGBTQ+ culture has adopted the symbol to represent sexual identity, and it has become a staple in the Pride movement. The materialized association we make between the God-ordained rainbow with a so-called "pride" for sexual identity has become normalized as the symbol is often paired with the image of a same-sex couple or phrases like "love is love." How did this association come about? Who decided on the counterfeit rainbow as the staple image to represent the LGBTQ community?
It's not every day that an Eastern Orthodox priest pays homage to Pat Robertson, but today's tribute is long past due. It is no exaggeration to say I owe my conversion to Pat Robertson. Like untold millions, his daily ministry played the key role in my decision to decisively turn away from atheism and toward a lifelong commitment to Jesus Christ. From "The 700 Club," I know my personal testimony mirrors that of millions of others, who would share their inexpressible gratitude if they had a platform to do so. On their behalf, and mine, I'll try my best.
A new survey found that over three-quarters of Princeton University students think that "shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus" is acceptable. The findings reflect a broad pattern of speakers on college campuses across the country having their speeches cut short and even physically threatened.
Hours after House Oversight Committee members declared that a document wrestled from the FBI did, in fact, implicate then-Vice President Joe Biden in a bribery scheme, that news was eclipsed by news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had indicted former President Trump on seven criminal charges related to his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. This marks the first time in U.S. history that a current or former U.S. president has been indicted on federal charges.
Like a river gathering into a torrent, China's unapologetic drive to undermine and surmount the United States is running unabated. In every way but direct military action, China is seeking to erode American security and well-being.
The U.S. State Department's recent report highlighting religious freedom conditions abroad relayed several shocking realities about the scale of violence and persecution being faced by Christians and other religious minorities around the world. The following highlights the astounding findings from the agency's latest review of nations.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) just shed their last shred of credibility, exposing themselves as the nakedly partisan outfit they have been for years. "For the first time in its more than 40-year history," the far-left nonprofit on Monday "officially declared a state of emergency." Yet the momentous, self-important prognostication is nothing more than a joke.
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the launch of a "digital COVID-19 certification" system modeled after the European Union's digital certification network. While the WHO claims that the purpose of the system is to allow people to "receive quality health services quickly and more effectively," experts say the initiative is a disguised power grab akin to a vaccine passport - designed to be used as an enforcement mechanism for global control.
While the rest of corporate America runs for the hills on over-the-top Pride messaging, a handful of holdouts seem determined to run their brands into the ground. Nike, who felt Americans' wrath for hiring Dylan Mulvaney to sell sports bras, is going for broke with its latest stunt: a special Pride event featuring a doctor who commits gender mutilation on children. Just do it, indeed.
Just hours after the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) targeted parental rights organizations as "extremists," a U.S. senator renewed his call to strip the SPLC of its tax-exempt status, concerned parents refused to back down, and evidence emerged that the organization may have coordinated its results with the Biden administration.
Hopefully, Scott's informative and vigorous debate with "The View" hosts is a preview of what we can look forward to in future debates.
As attacks against churches have tripled over the last four years, the Biden administration has appointed a faith-based security commission to advise officials on how to keep churches safe - a council that includes Al Sharpton, a former leader of the National LGBTQ Task Force, and a Muslim leader who held a fundraiser for a convicted cop-killer.
Laws to protect minors from gender transition procedures have made massive strides over the past three years, but two recently enacted laws mark a new milestone. On May 17, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law SB 254, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed into law SB 14 on June 2. More than any of the other bills passed in 2023 or previous years - and there were many good ones - these two laws solidify the place of protecting children from gender transition procedures as part of mainstream conservatism.
On June 7, a nonprofit by the name of Moms for America held a press conference on the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. to speak out about biological men competing in women's sports across the country. H.R. 734, otherwise known as the Protection of Women's Sports Act of 2023 has passed the House and is waiting for the Senate to schedule a vote. Professional and collegiate athletes gathered to share their stories along with different state representatives, all united under one objective: calling on the Senate to act and pass the bill.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing delving into the phenomenon of "environmental, social, corporate governance" (ESG) investing taking place among America's leading financial institutions. Experts and lawmakers warned that the failure of investors to inform their clients about ESG investments is leading to opaque practices and economic loss.
The Bible is not silent about the inevitable trials and persecution that would face the disciples of Jesus - after all, the world hated Him before it hated us (John 15:18). Nevertheless, to glorify God and advance the kingdom, we are called to stand firm in the truth of the gospel by entering the narrow gate and pursuing life and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Recently, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) signed the "One Minnesota Budget" into law. Totaling approximately $72 billion dollars, the budget is comprised of 12 bills. Most concerning is the state's Health and Human Services appropriations Omnibus bill (SF 2995) that passed in both the House and Senate along party lines. The House passed the bill on May 22, the last day of Minnesota's biennial legislative session.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which brands mainstream conservative and Christian organizations as "hate groups," placing them on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, added a slew of parental rights organizations to that "hate map" for 2022 and labeled them "anti-government groups."
Medical experts and detransitioners met members of Congress at the Capitol Monday to discuss the lifelong damage America's gender transition industry is inflicting upon minors. Coordinated by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), the information session aimed to improve member awareness of the issue with an eye toward holding a full-scale public hearing or even pass legislation to protect children through the House.
A Rasmussen poll released on June 1 revealed that 71% of American adults agreed with that "there are two genders, male and female," with 57% saying the "strongly agree." The survey also found that over 60% of Americans support laws prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors.The poll appears to reflect a growing consensus across the U.S. that is starting to transcend political party lines.
As CEOs everywhere try to navigate this wave of consumer outrage, you can't blame them for wondering: is weighing into polarizing issues really worth it? For a good number of them, the answer is different in 2023 than before. "Why hit the beehive with a stick?" the founder of Parsons Xtreme Golf told The Wall Street Journal. And yet, while some of the wokest brands pump the brakes on their activism, one of the biggest surprises is who hasn't - Chick-fil-A.
Spending seven years of my childhood in Europe came with many blessings - including easy access to nearly any historical European landmark. One memory I will never forget occurred in Normandy, France, on the very grounds where thousands of Americans and Allied forces sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom. This day, June 6, 1944, is known as D-Day. Today we commemorate its 79th anniversary.
According to recent polls, President Biden is stuck in the political doldrums. A recent average of several national surveys shows him holding a slightly less than 42% approval rating. Close observers of presidential politics offer a host of reasons for this sustained ennui. I think a lot of them are missing something. It has less to do with public opinion than public judgment.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) signed a bill to protect minors from gender transition procedures (SB 14) on Friday, concluding a three-month-long epic journey that encountered opposition at every stage.
How do we think soberly, act biblically, and maintain our joy as we wade through this month-long celebration of sin? Here are a few things to remember.
Christian filmmakers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman throw their audience for a whirl as the first five minutes of their newest film contains a suicide, a murderer on death row, and demon-possession. "Nefarious" is classified as a horror movie and has been stamped with a big fat 'rated R' tag. There is a gruesome execution scene and a bone-chilling message throughout, but do not let that steer you away. This feature is one of the most piercing presentations of the Christian gospel that Hollywood has ever seen.
It is written in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths." Oh, how prominent this is today. You do not have to look for proof of these corrupt ideologies because they are now apparent in most aspects of society.
"We currently live in a time where you have to defend your values from some pretty radical ideologies." Middle school soccer coach Travis Allen ought to know. The district suspended him from his job in Vermont for "misgendering" a biological boy on his personal Facebook page. And not just any boy - a teenage boy that was trying to use his freshman daughter's locker room.
On the heels of the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and a series of threatening maneuvers committed by the Chinese military, the Biden administration is taking heat for appearing to "kowtow" to Chinese officials in recent days.
The Louisiana Senate on Friday resuscitated the Stop Harming Our Kids Act (HB 648), after the Senate Health and Welfare Committee killed it in a Wednesday vote. After another committee gave the bill a green light, the entire Senate approved the bill 29-10 on Monday. Buoyed by constituent support, the bill now faces a final dash to the finish before the state legislature adjourns sine die on Thursday of this week.
Everyone has a religion, a set of core beliefs that form one's priorities and values and order behavior and the use of one's time. For many, religious devotion might not involve God (or a god). Whatever one worships - one's own desires, material prosperity, a career, social standing, etc. - is his or her deity. Advocates of unqualified, elective abortion on demand are devotees of a particular kind of religion.
The FRC Stand Courageous Men's Ministry Team was on the road again this past weekend in Houston, Texas. Hosted by Pastor Gregg Matte and his team at Houston's First Baptist Church, over 800 men came to hear our stable of speakers as well as attend a number of packed-out breakouts.
For most CEOs, Pride Month couldn't have come at a more inopportune time. As companies like Target, Bud Light, and others desperately try to control the flames burning down their brands, this annual test of LGBT loyalty is putting most businesses in a position they'd rather not be in: outraging an already agitated consumer base or ticking off the lobby they've worked two decades to appease. Faced with the choice of becoming unprofitable or politically unacceptable, what will the big companies do?
"What is a woman?" That's a question that Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asked Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last year during her Senate confirmation hearing. She answered, "I can't. ... I'm not a biologist." It seems like a simple question, yet fewer people seem able to answer it than ever before.
A pro-life Republican state representative lost his leadership position for saying that abortion is the fruit of the "Church of Satan." North Carolina State Representative Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) responded to a Democratic representative who tried to justify her decision to have an elective abortion by citing her church membership and belief in the "power of God."
Due to shifting social norms, a statistical majority of Gen Z is uninterested in marriage. Are they giving up on love entirely? Certainly not.
"We live in a world that minimizes crime against the law-abiding and pro-life," said pro-life advocate Suzanne Guy in response to the attack committed on two elderly men - 80-year-old Mark Crosby and 73-year-old Dick Schaeffer - who were assaulted, beaten, and bloodied outside a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore, Maryland. "Christians and pro-lifers are targets, and the institutions meant to hold people accountable sit by quietly and do nothing."
On Wednesday, 21 state attorneys general filed a joint amicus brief in support of two Florida parents who are suing their daughter's middle school for engaging in private talks with the then 13-year-old about her gender identity without her parents' knowledge or consent.
From the earliest days of recorded history, distortions of human sexuality have been one of Satan's chief instruments for distracting men and women from the truth and beauty of God and His good gift of sexual intimacy. In light of a world full of sexual distortions, what are faithful followers of Jesus to do?
The U.S. Senate voted 63-36 Thursday to pass the McCarthy-Biden debt ceiling deal, sending the legislation to the president's desk ahead of the Monday deadline before the U.S. government would miss payments. As in the House, the bill passed by a wide margin, but with defections from both parties and more Democratic than Republican support.
House Republicans have threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against FBI Director Christopher Wray over his defiance of a House Oversight Committee subpoena, which demands an unclassified document it suspects will expose Joe Biden's complicity in his family influence-peddling scheme. Wray reportedly agreed to turn over the document on Friday. At the same time that it has seemingly stonewalled Congress to protect Democrats, the Department of Justice (DOJ) - of which the FBI is a part - is unashamedly pursuing other legal battles that are widely perceived as partisan.
The head of a facility that carries out so-called "gender-affirming care" has published a study confirming that transgender surgeries do not improve mental health and make people feel lonelier than those who avoided surgical intervention altogether.
Forgiato Blow, nicknamed "Trump's Nephew," released a song about boycotting Target last week, and it is rapidly climbing the charts. Blow's music video has at least 705,000 views on YouTube, and the song has been growing in popularity ever since its reveal. "Boycott Target" was ranked #1 for top songs according to iTunes Top 10 Music Charts U.S.A. and has been a headliner in the news this week.
In the wake of Anheuser-Busch, Target, Chick-fil-A, and a slew of other corporations exploring new pro-LGBT marketing tactics, it seems Kohl's is now taking a similar approach. With June being designated as "Pride Month," the clothing store has launched their Pride collection... for infants.
On Tuesday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed legislation prohibiting biological males who identify as transgender from competing in women's college sports. The bill's ratification marks the latest in a swath of legislation nationwide aimed at protecting fair play in women's sports.
Knoxville, Tennessee had their first infant rescued in the city's Safe Haven Baby Box. The baby boy was less than an hour old when he was placed there, and he now lies safely in the hands of the Department of Children's Services in hopes of finding a loving adoptive family.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 314-117 Wednesday night to pass the McCarthy-Biden debt ceiling bill, which now heads to the Senate. Although the bill passed overwhelmingly, a substantial portion of both parties voted against the measure, and some senators are already on record against the agreement. In exchange for avoiding default, the bill offers Republicans some minor policy victories, but without substantially reducing COVID-era spending.
The Biden administration has warned that churches and church-related institutions face an increased threat of attack due to the caustic nature of the U.S. political landscape. The United States as a whole "remains in a heightened threat environment" for "the coming months," thanks to "perceptions of the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues," says a May 24 bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security.
The integration of Pure Flix and Great American Family is a colossal step for the Christian entertainment industry: two powerhouses coming together out of a desire to provide programming that is child-appropriate and gospel-centered. "This merge will allow us to further our commitment to original, quality content and makes Great American Media and Pure Flix leaders in a large and under-served market," Great American Media President and CEO Bill Abbott remarked after the merger was announced.
Being a conservative on today's public college campuses isn't for the faint of heart. The students who survive the machete-wielding feminists and the professors encouraging the killing of "transphobe[es]" still have to sit through endless hours of leftist indoctrination. And in some cases, pay extra for it!
In the wake of the Los Angeles Dodgers' decision to re-invite an anti-Catholic transgender activist group known as the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" to receive an award during its annual Pride Night after initially rescinding their invitation due to public outcry, a number of Major League players, including the Dodgers' own players, are voicing their objections to the decision due to the group's public mockery of the Catholic faith.
Opponents of the Ohio Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act have employed an indirect strategy by criticizing the bill sponsor, Ohio Representative Pastor Gary Click (R), for his Christian faith.
All June long, corporations and cultural institutions practically trip over themselves to promote their involvement in Pride Month, putting many Christians (or people who simply hold to a traditional sexual ethic) in difficult spots. When we try to watch a show at the end of a workday, our entertainment platforms drive us to Pride Month content. When buying a tube of toothpaste at our local big-box store, Pride Month displays greet us. When we watch sports, teams wear rainbow patches to celebrate Pride Month. The celebration of LGBTQ identity feels ubiquitous, and belies the claim that our public square is "neutral" and closed to assertive worldviews.
"Where's the beef?" One of my favorite TV commercials of all time was the Wendy's ad where an irate elderly woman asked that question after she was served a substandard hamburger by a Wendy's competitor. That was 1984. In 2023, she might well ask the question, "Where's the human?"
When the rest of the world lost its corporate marbles, conservatives liked to think that there was one place that would never let them down: Chick-fil-A. As far as they were concerned, the churchgoers' chicken of choice had been solidly built on Truett Cathy's strong family values. While other CEOs took their brands in wildly liberal directions, Christians took solace in the fact that at least one franchise could stand against the mob. Now, with the news that Chick-fil-A is catering to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) crowd, customers feel deeply betrayed. But the reality is, the chicken empire's capitulation started years before this.
Unlike Anheuser-Busch CEO Robert Lachky - who called the Dylan Mulvaney partnership "insane," - Target CEO Brian Cornell's marketing tactic has been abundantly clear from the start: to normalize an LGBT presence in his retail giant. In fact, Cornell paved the way for corporate LGBT activism by introducing all-gender bathrooms and fitting rooms at Target, ultimately opening the door for other corporations to do the same.
A female inmate suffered serious injuries during a beating inside a women's correctional facility after she refused to have sex with a man who identifies as a transgender woman, according to an eyewitness. The witness called the transgender-on-female assault an example of "misogyny within misogyny" from a female prison with a controversial history of housing violent men, including child molesters and one murderer who drank his victim's blood and calls himself "Lucifer's Maiden servant."
Negotiating teams representing President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached an agreement early on Memorial Day weekend to suspend the debt ceiling and control spending, detailed in the text of a 99-page bill, the "Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023," published on Sunday. While the agreement contained some conservative priorities that angered House progressives, members of the House Freedom Caucus complained the eventual product was far short of acceptable and vowed to oppose it.
As concerns over rising crime and the mental health of minors continue to climb, a new wave of legislation aimed at reintroducing America's youth to biblical values in school is surging.
Evangelical Protestantism is not anti-Semitic. It is, and should always be, philo-Semitic, composed of people who love and advocate for those of whom Scripture says, "the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29) - those to whom we owe our whole identity as the people of God, the Jews.
Dozens of major corporations lack adequate protections for free speech and religion even as several companies have improved since last year, a new study suggests. The nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom released its second annual Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, which evaluates 75 publicly traded corporations across 42 performance indicators based on their respect for free speech and religious freedom on a scale from 0 to 100.
According to a 2023 Morning Consult poll, only 16% of Gen Z are proud to live in the United States. What's causing such a small number of young Americans to be proud of the country they live in? On a recent episode of the Outstanding podcast, host Joseph Backholm and The Washington Stand's Ben Johnson tackled this very question.
Although U.S. church attendance has fallen to historic lows, the faithful still congregating have found a new source of optimism and pride in America's sanctuaries, a new poll finds. Though fewer Americans darken a church door or believe in God, nearly all those who do say they believe their faith has a bright future and have few qualms identifying with their church in the public square.
The war in Vietnam is receding in American memory. Those Americans who served there grow fewer in number every year. But for Medal of Honor winner Colonel (Ret.) Paris Davis, the events of one day in 1965 remain fresh.
A new study indicates that Americans are becoming less religious. Without getting into the causes of this phenomenon or critiquing the study itself, let's simply accept that we are living in an era in which Christianity is an increasingly less robust force in the lives of millions of our fellow countrymen. So, now what? Evangelicals would be gravely mistaken to wring their hands and mourn for the good old days. Secularism is upon us, and with it, not only apathy toward Christianity but, among some, overt hostility to it. How are we going to respond?
"You are competing with a digital copy of yourself, with a machine that does not sleep, does not rest and does not get paid." Karla Ortiz, a San Francisco-based artist and illustrator, is suing artificial intelligence (AI) generator companies Midjourney and Stable Diffusion for what she views as copyright infringement. She told Fox News, "Somebody is able to mimic my work because a company let them. It feels like some sort of industrial-level identity theft."
American culture has become obsessed with sexual identity confusion. This obsession has affected almost every aspect of public life, from sports (in a multitude of ways) to retail companies to beer. It has become such an obsession that a massive swath of corporate America will soon transform their branding into the symbol of this obsession for an entire month.
As the 2024 presidential primary begins to take shape, pundits of all descriptions treat their readers to theories of whether this or that candidate can hold onto the partisan base or persuade independents. Strangely, many corporations - all Democrats, apparently - are behaving in the same, partisan way. Their unbusinesslike behavior is hurting their bottom line.
When members of Congress started boarding their flights home Thursday, not one of them knew how long they'd be gone. The possibility of a shorter-than-usual Memorial Day recess looms large as negotiators desperately try to hammer out a deal on the debt ceiling before June 1. "Every hour matters," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told ABC. "That's why the White House has to become very serious about this." To the average observer, it sounds ominous. But as Americans prep for the long weekend, plenty are wondering, how does any of this affect me?
The Biden administration approved tens of thousands of dollars in grants to a program that once taught watching the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) eased conservatives onto the path to become a neo-Nazi, a new report has found.
A Louisiana bill (HB 648) to protect minors from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition procedures died in a Senate committee Wednesday after the Republican committee chairman voted with Democrats to sideline the bill in committee. On May 3, the bill passed the House on a bipartisan basis by nearly a 3-to-1 margin (71-24), but Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) heavily lobbied against the bill before the fatal committee vote.
Disney just announced the cancellation of their $1 billion construction complex in Florida in response to their ongoing battle with Governor Ron DeSantis (R). The project would have included a new office compound that would relocate 2,000 jobs from California to Florida and would substantially advance the development of Orlando's Walt Disney World and the surrounding areas.
On Tuesday, a group of six Christian and Muslim parents filed a federal lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Education over the Maryland school district's decision to revoke the right of parents to be able to opt their children out of lessons that include the use of books promoting gender ideology and other sexual themes.
With less than a week to go until the June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling, negotiations between President Biden and House Republicans remain far from a resolution, and House progressives are shackling their party leader's maneuverability with their own demands.
The president of the Taiwan Legislature, Speaker You Si-kun, recently visited the United States. As an essential part of Speaker You's trip, he held a private reception to deliver a prestigious award to individuals who took a bold stand for human rights and religious liberty in China. Taiwanese leaders know better than most the importance of standing up to one of the world's top human rights violators. The island country stands as a bulwark of freedom in the shadow of communist China.
"How do you not understand that's unfair?" It's a question parents across the country are asking, as more and more of their daughters watch everything they train for vanish. For moms and dads at California's CIF-North Coast Section Meet, the outrage reverberated across the stands. They watched as Adeline Johnson, an 18-year-old senior, was eliminated from the state track and field championships - all because a biological boy decided to compete as a girl. "There's no way this should be allowed," one parent fumed. And yet, if Joe Biden has his way, it will be the future of sports for every girl in America.
The art professor fired for holding a machete to a reporter's throat and throwing a pro-life campus display on the ground is a self-described "black Marxist" who posted violent poetry on her personal website and said she identified with "real drag queens, real street dykes" and "risk-taking, sexually free nihilistic utopians."
On Tuesday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an extensive report warning that social media use poses a "profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents." The advisory marks the first time that the nation's top health official has formally addressed the issue, possibly signaling a watershed moment for a growing movement of parents, researchers, clinicians, and other health care experts who say that social media addiction is devastating the mental and emotional health of America's youth.
A Norway government watchdog agency has recommended the country revise its gender transition guidelines for youth after a review found the standards were based on inadequate scientific evidence. The Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board (NHIB, abbreviated UKOM in Norwegian) said in its March report that "research-based knowledge for gender-affirming treatment (hormonal and surgical), is insufficient and the long-term effects are little known."
Approximately 36% of young Americans, ages 18 to 22, hold a positive view of socialism. However, for exiled Cuban journalist Yoe Suarez, this positive view of socialism is not based on reality. On a recent episode of the Outstanding podcast hosted by Joseph Backholm, Suarez and Washington Stand Editor-in-Chief Jared Bridges discuss their firsthand experiences with socialism and its wide-ranging consequences.
Robert Lachky was at the top of the corporate heap at Anheuser-Busch for 20 years. Like most people, he can't believe that the brand he helped bring into the modern era would commit financial suicide over a trans fad with zero American appeal. "That's insanity," he said of the Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney partnership. "That's marketing incompetence." Well, if Target's latest decisions are any indication, the incompetence is contagious. And, as investors are finding out, so is the fallout.
On Monday, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced his run for president and officially launched his campaign. During his speech on the campus of Charleston Southern University - his alma mater - he warned Americans that, "our party and our nation are standing at a time for choosing: victimhood or victory." Scott's unique position as the Senate's only black Christian conservative immediately snagged the attention of hosts on ABC's "The View."
As part of its month-long focus on adolescent health, the Biden administration is promoting a document that tells Planned Parenthood and other taxpayer-funded family planning offices how to talk to minors about sex without their parents overhearing, and how to secretly deliver birth control to adolescents without parental knowledge or consent.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) wants to abuse his emergency powers as an override-proof veto. A red banner over the governor's website warns, "Gov. Cooper has declared that public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency and he urges North Carolinians to contact legislators."
Former congresswoman Michele Bachmann sounded the alarm Monday about developments coming out of the World Health Assembly that suggest that the World Health Organization (WHO) is intent on establishing "a platform for global governance through health care" in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
China is an unjust autocracy that is threatening Taiwan, a free and democratic country. During his recent trip, Taiwan Legislative Speaker You Si-kun repeatedly cited Micah 6:8 from the Bible, "Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God," to tell those in D.C. that the world cannot do without leadership of the U.S. in the future.
From The New York Times to Fox News, Houghton University is now a hot media topic. The reason, as readers of The Washington Stand might well expect, has to do with the unyielding demands of sexual radicalism.
Republicans and one of the nation's most prominent Democrats agree on one issue: America's open border with Mexico has created a humanitarian crisis that has stretched multiple cities' resources to the breaking point. Yet while Republicans focus on increased border security, at least one Democrat wants the Biden administration to adopt a comprehensive plan to settle illegal immigrants in every city, town, and village in the United States.
Before her 10 month imprisonment in Russia, lesbian-identifying Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star Brittney Griner was an avid national anthem protestor before her games. She had previously vocalized opposition to the anthem, claiming that the song was not representative of black Americans and went so far as to say that the anthem should not even be played at games. In a surprising turn of events - after her release from Russian custody - she both verbally and physically expressed a changed perspective, capturing America's attention.
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen (R) on Monday signed a combination bill (LB574) protecting minors from gender transitions and protecting unborn babies after 12 weeks' gestation. The measure provoked several extremely pro-trans Democratic senators to engage in an unprecedented filibuster of the entire legislative session and barrage the bill with unserious procedural motions designed to bog the process down.
On May 12, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) signed into law a bill that requires pornography websites to prompt perspective users to verify their age before being granted access to the site. The legislation is the latest in a growing movement of states that are enacting regulations aimed at protecting minors from sexually explicit content online.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently released a new draft "LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy" aimed at "championing LGBTQI+ inclusive development and the human rights of LGBTQI+ people as part of a coordinated, whole-of-U.S. government effort with our partners on the ground." If enacted, the policy would be the first of its kind for USAID.
Even people paying close attention to the debt ceiling drama would've had a hard time keeping up with the weekend's on-again, off-again headlines. In the handful of days since Joe Biden left for Japan, the see-saw messaging was a show of extremes. One minute, the two sides are trading barbs; the next, they're making progress. All Americans really seem to know for sure is a) the June 1 deadline isn't flexible; b) the GOP is the only party with a plan; and c) far-Left Democrats don't like it - and they're willing to default on our loans to prove it.
"Does not compute." That catchphrase from the 1960s show "Lost in Space" certainly captures the Biden administration's decision-making of late. After a years-long process to find the perfect spot for America's Space Command, the most radical president in history seems to be hanging his final choice on a completely unrelated policy: abortion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the two issues have nothing to do with each other - unless you're a part of the new Left-driven Democratic Party, where social extremism eclipses everything.
Out of the presidency for two years, in early 1911, Theodore Roosevelt reflected on his long career in public service. Essential to any representative of the people, he wrote in The Outlook magazine, was to "never put holding his office above keeping straight with his conscience." Instead, "he should be prepared to go out of office rather than surrender on a matter of vital principle." Were Teddy alive today, he no doubt would honor Republican members of the Oregon State Senate who are refusing to return to their chamber until their far-Left colleagues come to their senses on gender "affirming" care for children.
Although contemporary feminist messaging considers abortion part of women's "liberation," a majority of women who identify as pro-choice suffered from worse mental health after an abortion, a new survey has found.
JPMorgan Chase & Company has been accused by 19 Republican states of "debanking" (the involuntary cancellation of bank accounts) members of conservative or religious groups. With rising frequency, clients associated with conservative or religious beliefs are reporting being expelled from financial institutions, including Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom and current head of the nonprofit National Committee for Religious Freedom. "We've just heard of way too many groups and entities, particularly religious-associated ones, that have been canceled by their providers, and we want to start seeing some of these cases investigated," Brownback commented.
"A year or two back if you'd asked me whether graphic design was a safe job, I'd have said, yes, it was [a] pretty safe job - anything in the creative industries is a pretty safe job from racing against the machines. But now, actually, I would be somewhat worried if I was a graphic designer."
The State Department's latest woke move backfired so spectacularly it could have been manufactured by A.C.M.E. Around noon on Thursday, pronouns began to appear in the "From" line of email sent by all State Department employees. The problem was, many of the pronouns were wrong. Associated Press reporter Matt Lee raised the issue during a briefing by Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, who wasn't aware of the change. Within three hours, the State Department's Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) was "working to correct this immediately," according to a State Department spokesperson.
As concerns grow over the potential impact that harmful social media content is having on the psychological health of minors, a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Senate that would require social media platforms to increase their built-in safety features and give parents increased control over what their children are exposed to.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills by June 1 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling. This has led to a game of chicken between the White House and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a long and unfortunate history of targeting pro-life advocates for their beliefs. From arresting a pro-life father at gunpoint in front of his six children at their home to allowing violent attacks on churches and pregnancy centers to go unpunished, the Biden FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) are clear in their mission to destroy the unborn.
According to sexual abuse expert Conrad Woodall, many parents fail to realize that when they send their young children off to public school every morning, they send them into a sexual grooming abyss, with public school curriculums in America growing egregiously descriptive of sexual methods in recent years. Consequently, he says that children have been desensitized, and their vulnerability for sexual abuse has heightened.
With just two weeks left on the clock, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is finally admitting that "bipartisanship is needed" on the debt ceiling. But is it possible? After weeks of freezing out Republicans, President Joe Biden may be warming to the idea of a deal. Hinting at a new willingness to negotiate, the president told reporters, "... We're going to come together because there's no alternative," agreeing that "it would be catastrophic for the American economy and the American people if we didn't pay our bills. We have to do the right thing for our country. We have to move on."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed five bills protecting women and children from the harmful implications of transgender ideology on Wednesday at Cambridge Christian School in Hillsborough County, most notably one that "will permanent outlaw the mutilation of minors," said DeSantis. Florida will "remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy," DeSantis insisted, "and kids should have an upbringing that reflects that."
As the Los Angeles (LA) Dodgers prepare "to host sports' largest Pride Night of the year" on June 16th, the team has faced severe pushback for their announcement of an annual "Community Hero Award" recipient. Among the list of honorees, the team included the controversial Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), a "queer and trans nuns" activist group that claims to use "humor and irreverent wit" to call out "bigotry, complacency and guilt ..." After an uproar of opposition, the team reluctantly removed the activist group from their list.
As Senator Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) public fight to reverse a Department of Defense policy that unilaterally expanded abortion in the military enters its 12th week, a burgeoning grassroots movement is blossoming in support of the senator's stand, and a growing number of fellow lawmakers on the Hill are also voicing their solidarity.
The North Carolina legislature voted Tuesday to prohibit elective abortions after 12 weeks, up from the previous limit of 20 weeks, overriding a veto from Governor Roy Cooper (D) by the slimmest possible margin. Republicans described the measure as a "compromise" bill designed to retain the support of their entire coalition, which had recently expanded to give their party a super-majority, while a Democratic senator called the bill "unthinkable and cruel." But state Senator Joyce Kraweic, who sponsored the bill, said on "Washington Watch," "it's a great day in North Carolina, for sure."
The Democratic Party has burrowed so deeply into the federal bureaucracy that it conducts "one continuous operation" of disinformation designed "to impact and interfere in our election using falsehoods across the board, election after election," said Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.).
During Tuesday's House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the implications of the FACE Act, several very revealing moments occurred regarding the Left's public position on abortion. The hearing exhibited yet again that when it comes to late-term abortion and the possibility of placing limits on procedures that crush the intact skulls and tear the limbs from unborn babies, the Left's strategy is to evade, evade, and keep evading specifics.
After a Tuesday meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), President Joe Biden agreed to streamline negotiations on the debt ceiling by deputizing close advisors to communicate directly. "Now we have a format, a structure," said McCarthy, although he said the two sides remain far apart with only days before a June 1 deadline. "What we're trying to do is end the wasteful use of dollars," Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) said on "Washington Watch," that "funds the very tyranny of government that's undermining our liberty and undermining our way of life."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday signed three bills to excise woke ideology from state higher education institutions and promote productive education goals.
Theology is always closer to the surface of the day's headlines than you might think. And theology usually has a way of intruding into our lives, often in unexpected places. A recent example of theology bubbling up to the surface in the entertainment world occurred in the most recent episode of NBC's long-running drama "The Blacklist."
We offer those who dislike their sex no service in affirming or condoning their tragic misconceptions, especially given that they cannot define what maleness and femaleness even are. Redefining sin is no answer to either emotional distress or, more importantly, separation from God.
Although Americans have known for years that the 2016 Trump campaign did not collude with Russian intelligence, the Durham Report "should shock every American," because it revealed the anti-Trump plot reached all the way to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, a U.S. senator told "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins."
While major banks downgrade Anheuser-Busch's stock and Bud Light becomes a corporate punch line, a quartet of CEOs seem all too happy to join them. As the beer company implodes under the weight of a national boycott, their cautionary tale seems lost on four companies, who've decided to follow transgender advocacy straight to financial insolvency. Who are the brands foolish enough to ride Bud Light's tattered coattails?
The Biden administration has reached a new low in their war on the unborn and those who hold a pro-life position. Allegedly, they are now targeting pro-life mothers and other individuals whom the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deems to be "radicalized suspects."
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee held a subcommittee hearing to address the federal government's lack of prosecution of perpetrators of the dozens of attacks that have taken place against pregnancy resource centers and churches in the wake of the leaked Dobbs Supreme Court decision last May, despite statutory authority to do so under the FACE Act, as well as the targeting of pro-life activists.
Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) on Monday introduced two bills aimed at protecting children from gender transition procedures into the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. While the bills have been introduced into Congress before, in this session they follow a wave of state legislation designed to protect children in response to increasing awareness of the extent and harm of gender transition procedures on minors.
For months, the Alabama Republican has waged a fight against the Defense Department's woke agenda by blocking the Senate's approval of nearly 200 promotions for military generals and flag officers. The military establishment, Senate Democrats, and the Biden administration have resorted to name-calling and unfounded warnings - even though Tuberville insists he won't budge until the Pentagon reverses its policy subsidizing abortions.
Maybe President Joe Biden isn't the only one with cognitive deficits. At a fundraising event in Atlanta Friday, his "border czar," Vice President Kamala Harris, insisted that everything on the border is "going rather smoothly" - an absurd assessment for a country that just watched more migrants cross the border last week than fits in Dallas's AT&T Stadium (83,000). While our country is overrun by terror suspects and drug smugglers, the crisis earned barely a shrug from the two leaders, who spent their weekends either lounging by the beach or raising money for the party defending this lawlessness.
On September 27, 2019, Judge Darrin P. Gayles cracked the gavel in a historic sentence: six months in prison, two years of probation, and the restitution of $12,522 for Saúl Santos Ferro, among other charges, for failing to indicate his ties to Castro's Ministry of the Interior (MININT) when completing his application to reside in the United States.
Kristi Brown, executive director of a crisis pregnancy center in Asheville, North Carolina that was vandalized in June of 2022 by a group of abortion extremists, recently told Fox News that politicians, like city and county leaders, still have not spoken up about the crimes committed last summer.
If you want more voters to support Democrats in a given area, empty its churches, says an expert new analysis. Every 10 years, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies counts the number of people in each county who belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque. Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and research director for Faith Counts, overlayed that data with partisan voting patterns and came to one clear and inescapable conclusion.
A new study out of Denmark has revealed that up to 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men may be linked to marijuana use. The findings coincide with the steady increase in cannabis use over the last decade as more and more states legalize recreational use of the drug. Experts say a combination of cultural and legal shifts have prompted people to see marijuana in a more positive light and have led to a sharp increase in addiction and related health problems.
Leadership is essential, and we admire those who lead well. That's been true throughout history, as we see in the Bible's account of the first two kings of Israel, David, and Saul.
Government collusion with Planned Parenthood now has a price tag: $1.4 million. Last week, an eight-year legal battle finally ended after the state of California agreed to pay a hefty sum in attorneys' fees to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The state was ordered to foot ADF's legal fees for illegally forcing ADF's clients - Skyline Wesleyan Church, Foothill Church, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, and The Shepherd of the Hills Church - to finance abortion in its employee health insurance plans.
The married couple of Ivette Bermello and Edgerton Ivor Levy crossed with their son in the shark-infested waters of the Florida Straits in a boat. They arrived in the southern keys in 1993, pretending to seek political refuge. They were actually part of the Wasp Network, a Cuban group of spies that monitored military installations and contributed to the murder of four Americans who were guiding rafters to the mainland.
The humanitarian and security crisis on the U.S. border with Mexico is a direct result of the Biden administration's failure - if not refusal - to put in place responsible immigration policies, Chad Wolf said Thursday on "Washington Watch." "This is a crisis that didn't need to occur. This is a crisis not because of a lack of resources or authorities," Wolf told host and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "This is a crisis because of bad policies that were put in place almost two years ago."
After combing through thousands of financial records linking a web of shell companies and foreign interests to the president's family, a congressman has come to a conclusion: "The Biden family is a syndicate," Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) told "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" on Thursday. "You could liken this to Watergate," Fallon said. "The more we investigate, the more we find."
"There is no such thing as someone else's child. ... Our nation's children are all our children," President Biden said recently during a speech honoring the 2023 national and state teachers of the year. These words may not seem all that significant. After all, as people who care about our neighbors, community, and country, we want to have a positive impact on children's lives. What parents do not want the love and support of extended family, church family, friends, and teachers?
Today, the federal government faces an impasse, with Democrats - who control the White House and Senate - and Republicans - who control the House - unable to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling and reforming spending - at least so far. Prayer can and should be part of the solution. Here are a few reasons why.
A recent poll conducted by The Economist/YouGov found that only four in 10 Americans claim religion is "very important" in their life. The survey also addressed the participants' thoughts regarding the stock market, the next presidential election, and inflation.
Today, messages of "trying times" are echoing across the planet - and particularly among Christian believers. These really are times of trial, testing the souls of Christians in every corner of the world. And believers are not only experiencing spiritual battles. In countless places, they are facing the edge of the sword, the blazing fire of arson in their homes and churches, and the death or disappearance of their loved ones.
Major nations spy on one another. We spy on China, Russia, North Korea, and many other countries. What's remarkable about China and the "weather balloon" that wafted gently across American skies is the contempt Beijing showed for the United States in venturing to send a sophisticated data collection tool right over our homeland. China's brazenness spoke to something that must not go unnoticed: Their disdain for President Biden.
Among the 300,000 Cubans who in just one year ran to the other side of the U.S. border and the thousands more on rafts, there are also servants of totalitarianism. Not simple employees, but officials of state institutions or participants in the repressive propaganda machinery of the regime - wolves among sheep.
After a fruitless meeting Tuesday, the debt ceiling negotiations that were set to resume at the White House Friday have been postponed, a Biden official confirmed. With the date of a June 1 default date looming large, the delay puts leaders in an even tighter time crunch to resolve the biggest crisis outside the southern border. Thanks to conflicting schedules, the days are dwindling for both sides to wheel and deal - a high-stakes situation that Republicans insist the country should have never been in. "We've done our part," Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) insisted on "Washington Watch." "... [W]e need [the president] to come to the table in good faith."
In a recent official government report, the Biden administration has warned that Americans' "health may be undermined" due to their "decline in participation" in church services and other religious activities. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued the first-ever government advisory on the "epidemic of loneliness and isolation" earlier this month, calling persistent isolation an "urgent public health issue" that impacts the physical and mental health of millions.
On Tuesday, news broke that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded a study on mostly minors who purported to identify as transgender, in which they were given cross-sex hormones over the course of two years. Two of the study's participants ended up committing suicide, and 11 more experienced suicidal ideation. Lawmakers and doctors are expressing outrage that taxpayer dollars were used to fund a study that caused death and irreversible harm to children.
On May 17, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, the case determining whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone, will be reversed. Since this lawsuit was filed, the abortion lobby has spread lies, telling people that the reversal of mifepristone's approval would jeopardize the use of birth control (it doesn't), make miscarriage management dangerous (another lie), and attack women's health (which is straight-up dishonest). FRC's Mary Szoch takes a look at the facts of the case.
It is encouraging to see that Mr. Trump remains committed to defending the little ones in the womb. But how much more heartening it is to know the God Who gives us the privilege of protecting them and their mother from the abortion industry. That's a high calling, and we'll never retreat from it.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) once again stymied his Democrat colleagues from approving nearly 200 promotions for military generals and flag officers - while also picking up an ally in his ongoing dispute with the Pentagon over its new abortion policy. The latest standoff took place Wednesday evening when Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) asked for unanimous consent to move forward with the nominations.
The United States has opened its arms to Cuban exiles since 1959, but the current crisis on the southern border and the lack of control in legal migration processes attract servants of the socialist tyranny and violators of human rights to the same country where the regime's victims found refuge.
There's a reason men like Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) are so popular: they lead without apology. After years of timidity from the Republican Party, they've been a refreshing change from the hand-wringing GOP who wilted under cultural pressure. For a while, it looked like Republicans had really leaned into this warrior mentality, refusing to be intimidated in the toughest of debates. Then Dobbs happened - and the old reflex of cowardice is back, threatening to undo every pro-life stand the party has ever taken.
On Tuesday, President Biden stated that the U.S. southern border was "going to be chaotic for a while" days before Title 42 was set to expire on May 11. But in a surprise move, the Biden administration resurrected a Trump-era immigration regulation on Wednesday that tightens restrictions on migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The measure comes amid law enforcement officials along the border reporting being overwhelmed by the surge of humanity.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has shared the details about his meeting with former President Donald Trump amid media reports the Republican front-runner had backed away from the pro-life issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election." The purpose of the meeting was simply to encourage the president to stay strong on the issue of the sanctity of human life. And I can report that the former president, Donald Trump, has not changed his position," Perkins told listeners of "Washington Watch" on Tuesday.
The Tuesday meeting between congressional leaders and President Biden to discuss the debt ceiling and budget cuts went well or poorly, depending on whom you ask. Biden said the talks were "productive," while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he "didn't see any new movement" towards a negotiated solution to the debt ceiling impasse. Treasury Secretary Yellen has warned the U.S. could miss payments on its debt by June 1 unless the debt ceiling is raised, and President Biden has refused to consider any plan to raise the debt ceiling that includes spending cuts.
President Joe Biden's family received more than $10 million from foreign entities - mostly while he was vice president, according to information released Wednesday.
In recent months, several politicians have left the Democratic Party on both the federal and state levels, choosing the so-called "lesser of two evils."
Waves of grief continue to break over Texas, as the tight-knit Allen community comes to grip with the weekend's senseless shooting. As the names and pictures of Saturday's victims were released by police, hearts across the country shattered at the news that two families had lost multiple loved ones. A six-year-old boy, orphaned by the death of his parents and brother, is all that remains of the Cho family. Other moms and dads reeled at the horror of losing two elementary-aged daughters as the Mendozas did. After Nashville, Louisville, and so many other devastating tragedies this spring, people are desperate for answers. When will it end - and what can we possibly do to stop it?
After threatening a Catholic hospital's accreditation on April 20 over a glass-enclosed candle kept burning in a chapel, the Biden administration has abruptly folded. Last Tuesday, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty warned it would pursue legal action on the hospital's behalf unless the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) relented from its demand that the hospital extinguish the flame. Last Thursday, CMS clarified in a conference call that it would not require the hospital to extinguish the flame.
Critics are calling a Texas bill that would require the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms an example of "Christian nationalism." But the bill's sponsors say the legislation is needed to help remind students of America's biblical foundations.
President Joe Biden will host House and Senate leaders from both parties on Tuesday afternoon to discuss urgent plans to raise the debt ceiling before a June 1 deadline. Biden has not met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) since February 1, but McCarthy's negotiating position grew much stronger after House Republicans in late April passed a bill tying a temporary debt ceiling increase to spending cuts.
Grand Forks, North Dakota is, as they might say out west, a far piece from Beijing, China. Yet the Chinese communist government has an unusual interest in one of the more obscure regions of North America.
If Joe Biden's team drew up a nightmare scenario for his reelection announcement, even they couldn't have predicted something this awful. A string of crises, policy failures, and negative polling have all combined to make the rollout a complete dud by most pundits' standards - and the idea of a second term unimaginable by most voters. Is two years already too much? The majority of Americans seem to be saying yes.
After Bud Light's "ill-fated marketing campaign" that featured a transgender woman, it appears that Smirnoff, a brand of vodka produced by the British company Diageo, has made a failed attempt to keep their partnership with Texan drag queen and transgender-identifying woman Maxine St. James LaQueene quiet.
