Police have reportedly arrested a teenage boy after a bishop and three other people were stabbed during a church service near the Australian city of Sydney.
A bishop named Mar Mari Emmanuel was delivering a sermon Monday evening at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley when the attack took place.
<a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1779844909404410279">Video</a> from a livestream showed the moment when the suspect walked up to the bishop and allegedly stabbed him, after which people in the congregation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/15/wakeley-stabbing-sydney-christ-the-good-shepherd-church" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rushed</a> toward the altar, according to The Guardian.
Police responded to reports of people being stabbed and a suspect was taken into custody, the New South Wales Police Force <a href="https://twitter.com/nswpolice/status/1779842572011323489" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X. CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-stabbing-church-sydney-suburb-wakeley-bishop-wounded/">reported</a> that police identified the suspect as a 15-year-old boy who received treatment for a wound to his hand.
Some individuals sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were treated by paramedics before being transported to the hospital, police said.
<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sydney-bishop-among-several-people-stabbed-in-attack-during-church-service-13115918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sky News reported</a> one man in his 50s endured multiple lacerations and was taken to the hospital in a serious condition.
The other injured individuals were said to be a man in his 60s, a man in his 30s, and a man in his 20s.
Unverified footage posted online showed crowds gathering outside the church, with some people appearing to attack the building and emergency services vehicles, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68817872" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per the BBC</a>.
Police <a href="https://twitter.com/nswpolice/status/1779850121091670279" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> officers were working on &#8220;restoring order&#8221; following the attack, and a &#8220;large police response&#8221; was underway. The public was urged to avoid the area.
The church posted a message to social media, as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/police-man-arrested-after-reported-stabbing-church-sydney-109234874" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by ABC News, that said the bishop and a senior priest named Isaac Royel were in stable condition.
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&#8220;It is the bishop’s and father’s wishes that you also pray for the perpetrator,” the statement said. &#8220;We also kindly ask anyone at the church premises to leave in peace.&#8221;
The attack took place after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/six-killed-in-knife-attack-at-australian-shopping-center" target="_blank" rel="noopener">six people were killed</a> and several others were injured in a mass stabbing at a Sydney mall over the weekend. Police fatally shot the knifeman in that incident.
Police said the assailant in the mall attack, identified as a 40-year-old homeless man named Joel Cauchi, had a history of mental illness and was targeting women, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/stabbing-sydney-mall-australia-bondi-junction-ad40e483aead58e7982d647dec3c7732" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Associated Press</a>.

Locals gather after Australia church attack

Teen Arrested After Viral Video Shows Bishop Being Stabbed During Church Service

Australia

Church

Crime

World

A 35-year-old man has been charged with attempting to shoot up a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virginia</a> church after he allegedly posted threatening messages about the church online and showed up to the church on Sunday with a semi-automatic handgun and two loaded magazines.
Rui Jiang was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/virginia-man-charged-attempted-church-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> by the Department of Justice on Thursday with attempted obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs, use and carry of a firearm during a crime of violence, and making threats. Jiang was arrested on September 24, 2023, outside of the Park Valley Church in Haymarket, Virginia, allegedly carrying a handgun and two loaded magazines after a member of the church had alerted authorities about concerning social media posts threatening violence he had reportedly made.
Police searched Jiang’s apartment and say they found five copies of a letter indicating that men in the church would be targeted in the shooting. “To the families of those men about to be slain – I am sorry for what I have done and about to do. May your tears not be cried in vain, but to celebrate how your loved ones had lived,” the letter said.
The letter indicated that Jiang was angry about not being able to get into a romantic relationship. He <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/falls-church-man-charged-online-posts-threatening-haymarket-church" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was</a> previously charged in February over the alleged threats.
An <a href="https://i.ntd.com/assets/uploads/2024/03/id982809-Jiang-previous-indictment.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affidavit</a> in support of his arrest from an FBI agent who investigated the case included several of the social media posts that raised concerns and illustrated anger toward God and the church. The FBI spoke with police who had been alerted about the troubling social media posts.
“The officer observed multiple pictures posted to the account, including one burning a Bible in a frying pan on top of a stove, one with a Bible placed on the bathroom floor, and threatening messages against a church and the government,” the FBI agent wrote in her affidavit. “There were also pictures of a silhouette target with bullet holes in it with the hashtag ‘Fk God,’ as well as pictures from inside a white vehicle parked in a church parking lot at night.”
One post read: “Welcome to Park Valley church, attended by many top secret gov clearance holders in the area. From this day forward, you will know that this is how you will repaid me. Blood will be on your hands.”
The post with the picture of the Bible on the bathroom floor tagged Park Valley Church and was captioned, “Put the Bible on the floor next to the bathroom. Now everytime I take a piss, I have to step on it. #fk God.”
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According to the affidavit, Jiang denied that he had showed up to the church on Sunday to carry out an attack during an interview with police.
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&#8220;JIANG denied going to Park Valley Church to harm anyone or himself,&#8221; the affidavit said. &#8220;He admitted that he could see how someone could view his Instagram posts and emails coupled with him showing up to the church armed with a gun as &#8216;scary,&#8217; but believed it to be a misunderstanding.&#8221;
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Jiang could face life in prison if convicted. The FBI and the Prince William County, Virginia, and Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Departments were all involved in investigating the case.

intersection of religion & politics: rear view of rows of wooden pews with religious liturgy books stored in pew racks in church

Man Arrested With Handgun Outside Of Church Charged With Attempted Church Shooting

Christianity

Department of Justice

Police

U.S.

Virginia

The media has a rule when it comes to media coverage of mass shootings in the United States. If the mass shooting can somehow be linked to a Right-wing cause, then Americans must question the entire conservative infrastructure in the United States. If somebody can tangentially be linked to a conservative show or politician, we have to question the very premises of conservatism itself — because obviously every terrible iteration of Right-wing ideology is telescoped into some evil white supremacist shooter.
But — if a mass shooter is a Left-winger, then it&#8217;s probably a gun or oppression of some sort. Or, perhaps it&#8217;s mental illness.
Here is the way the math works when we have the latest iteration of this particularly stupid narrative device.
In an attempted shooting at Joel Osteen&#8217;s packed Houston area megachurch on Sunday, reports said the shooter had previously written anti-Semitic rants, had a history of mental health issues, and used an AR-15 with a “Palestine” sticker.
Not only that, but this woman also called herself Jeffrey, and according to authorities, was placed under an order for emotional detention. She was transported to a medical facility in 2016 because she was thought to be dangerous to herself and other people.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1904-pro-hamas-trans-shooter-attacks-church-media-strangely-silent-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
But then this person was let out. This woman carried along her seven-year-old son to the shooting, and then opened fire as hundreds of people were taking their pews. After opening fire, she was shot by two off-duty officers working security at the church. The young boy, caught in the crossfire, was shot in the head.
The Houston police department first had to determine what pronoun to call the shooter — because this is how stupid our society is now. We have a mass shooter who tries to kill hundreds of people at a church and the first question is, “How can we treat this mass shooter’s gender delusions with respect?”
The Houston police ran an entire investigation to figure out exactly which pronouns to use. Apparently, we must take all proper care to ensure people who attempt to murder other people are called by the gender pronouns the person has selected.
We have had a spate of shootings by people who are trans-identified in the United States. The spate of shootings, if it were any other demographic group in the United States — particularly if it were white young men — would prompt all sorts of questions about the evils of young white men from the media. 
But if they are trans, then the shootings just disappear off the front pages immediately. The Colorado Springs shooter identified as non-binary. The Denver shooter identified as trans, the Aberdeen shooter identified as trans, and famously, the Nashville shooter at a church school identified as trans.
It is also worthwhile here to point out that this particular shooter was a radical Left-winger who had a “Palestine” sticker on her gun. This particular church happened to be attended by a largely pro-Israel audience.
Further, it is worth pointing out again how the narrative process works. For example, when three Muslim-American university students were shot in Vermont a few months ago, the entire media went berserk, suggesting that this must have been some form of Right-wing attack on Muslim students, that this was a spate of “Islamophobia.”
At the time, the media were trying to establish a parallel between “Islamophobia” and anti-Semitism in the United States, the latter of which has radically spiked. It&#8217;s the reason why Joe Biden put out a statement on this particular shooting. There are lots of shootings in the United States every single day, particularly in places like Chicago. But this one drove attention from the White House because it backed a particular narrative.
However, as it turns out, that narrative actually didn&#8217;t work because the shooter in this particular case had expressed support for Hamas in the past.
The story magically disappeared from the headlines.
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Every time you see a shooting and the media declare whether the shooting is a national story or a local news story, look for the narrative; it tells you exactly where the media are on every single issue.
The media are pro-trans and the media are anti-Israel. And because they are pro-trans and anti-Israel, this current story will disappear as if it never happened. We&#8217;ll pretend that the ideological motivations of this person absolutely do not matter, and the media will then revert to centering on mental illness.
But the media couldn&#8217;t have realized this person had a mental illness problem until this person actually participated in a shooting. So again, the media&#8217;s structure is undefeated: narrative above fact, every single time.

Lakewood Day 2

How The Media’s Narrative Rule About Shooters Helps Their Leftist Tilt

Ben Shapiro

Houston

Joel Osteen

Legacy Media

Media

Readers Pass

Shooting

The Houston Police Department confirmed Monday that the woman who opened fire at Lakewood Church in Houston had a documented &#8220;mental health history&#8221; and her son was the child injured in the shooting. Authorities also obtained &#8220;anti-Semitic writing&#8221; during their investigation into the shooting.
On Sunday afternoon, 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno* walked into Lakewood Church in Houston with a long gun and a young child and opened fire before being shot dead by law enforcement at the scene. During a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2uQC_KX1bU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press conference</a> Monday afternoon, Houston PD Commander Chris Hassig said that Moreno &#8220;was put under an emergency detention order&#8221; in 2016 and &#8220;has a mental health history that is documented through us and through interviews with family members.&#8221;
The commander added that authorities recovered &#8220;anti-Semitic writing&#8221; and they believe there was &#8220;a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband&#8217;s family.&#8221;
Houston PD Chief Troy Finner said Moreno was the biological mother of a 7-year-old child who was shot during an exchange of gunfire between Moreno and two off-duty law enforcement officers. Finner added that the child is &#8220;fighting for his life&#8221; in critical condition, and a 57-year-old man who was also shot has since been released from the hospital.
Moreno, a woman, previously identified as Jeffrey Escalante, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records. She had a criminal history extending back nearly two decades to 2005 that included arrests for failure to stop and give information, assault of a public servant, assault causing bodily injury, forgery, possession of marijuana, theft, evading arrest, and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
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🚨 BREAKING: Lakewood Church shooter identified as a transgender, legal name Genesse Moreno but went by the name “Jeffrey.” 🚨 <a href="https://t.co/0gmgybgOLC">pic.twitter.com/0gmgybgOLC</a>
&mdash; Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaraGonzalesTX/status/1757068047553007739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Moreno opened fire in Joel Osteen&#8217;s mega-church, using an AR-15 with &#8220;Palestine&#8221; written on it, and authorities believe she acted as a &#8220;lone wolf&#8221; and was &#8220;not a part of a larger group.&#8221;
The shooting at Lakewood Church comes amid growing concern about recent mass shootings carried out by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nashville-christian-school-shooter-identified-as-transgender-authorities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trans-identifying</a> and “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colorado-shooter-identifies-as-non-binary-uses-they-them-pronouns-court-documents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">non-binary</a>” shooters. One of the most <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-court-rules-that-parents-can-intervene-in-fight-over-release-of-nashville-shooters-manifesto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prominent cases</a> occurred last year when a woman who identified as a man entered a Christian school in Nashville and murdered three children and three adults before she was killed by responding police officers.
*Reports on mass shootings typically do not name the shooter under Daily Wire policy, but in this case, the shooter’s name is a vital part of law enforcement records and thus necessary to the clear reporting of this story.

Lakewood Shooting

Child Critically Wounded In Church Shooting Is Son Of Shooter, ‘Anti-Semitic Writing’ Recovered: Police

Child Critically Wounded In Church Shooting Is Son Of Shooter, 'Anti-Semitic Writing' Recovered: Police

Mental Health

On Monday, Politico ran a long <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/18/surgeon-general-tools-loneliness-00131734" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Murthy is apparently “worried about our sad social lives.” 
According to Politico, “Americans are burned out, disconnected, isolated and starved for time. Maybe it’s post-pandemic blues. Maybe it’s our smartphone addiction. Whatever the cause, it’s serious enough that Murthy has issued a formal advisory to the nation calling for action to address this ‘epidemic.’”
What are Murthy’s solutions? He is hosting events trying to put people in proximity with one another and speaking about the “power of friendship.” At these events, as Politico describes, “People dressed as dancing unicorns handed out prescriptions for five minutes of social connection. (Quantity: Endless. Refills: Daily.)” Murthy then encouraged people to spend 45 seconds writing a text to a loved one. He asks people to engage in what he calls “the connection exercise.” He says that such exercises can be “supplemented by investments in social infrastructure, which is where policymakers come in.”
Or, alternatively, it’s precisely where policymakers should butt out.
There is a reason for our loneliness epidemic. Sure, it has to do with smartphones and the internet and the increasing atomization of our lives as we hunker down with our screens. But screens are just a tool to be used for good or ill. The real problem is that our social institutions have been summarily destroyed over the course of decades by government.
Those social institutions used to begin with and center around church.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1872-go-to-church-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Historically, churches fulfilled three interwoven functions. First, they provided common orientation around a higher goal, complete with rules and regulations that required skin in the game in order to be accepted into the group. Second, they provided economic benefits and social reinforcement, ranging from charity to the helping hands of neighbors. Finally, emerging from the first two functions, they created a feeling of community. 
That feeling of community, as sociologist Émile Durkheim wrote, could only be attained with reference to the sacred: a series of beliefs so worthwhile that they were not to be questioned. As Robert Nisbet <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Community-Background-Essential-Conservative/dp/1935191500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “It is community that gives to the sacred its most vital expressions everywhere: birth, marriage, death, and other moments in the human drama.”
The sacred, then, undergirded the community.
And the community provided the support structure necessary for the flourishing of the family.
And then government tried to replace church and destroyed community.
The first step was the substitution of government benefits for the earned membership of a church. People no longer had to have skin in the game of a community in order to be given charity — now they had “entitlements” by dint of breathing. According to a National Bureau of Economic Research <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2005618486/#:~:text=Crowd%2Dout%20was%20small%20as,church%20activity%20observed%20between%201933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a>, New Deal policies crowded out 30% of all charitable spending by churches. Government benefits were made exponentially greater. Family structure itself was dramatically undermined by government spending since you were no longer responsible for your kids or your parents. Government was. Your call on your neighbor no longer required you to sacrifice for the community. Instead, you could point the government gun at him and steal his wallet.
Able to reap the rewards without the costs, many people stopped going to church. And over the course of decades, churches began to adjust to that reality not by reinforcing common orientation around a higher goal — sanctity — but by trying to get rid of “judgment” so as to include more people. Churches began to try to mirror government: no skin in the game, plenty of benefits. As Gertrude Himmelfarb <a href="https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Old-Critical-Reappraisals/dp/0674013840/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ETD1GRVXJLI2&amp;keywords=the+new+history+and+the+old&amp;qid=1703025694&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=the+new+history+and+the+old%2Cstripbooks%2C87&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> two decades ago, “This process of [religious] accommodation has since gone on apace, so that today many mainline churches offer little or no resistance to the prevailing culture. On the contrary, some are very much part of it, priding themselves on being cosmopolitan and sophisticated, undogmatic and uncensorious.”
Thus the sacred has been wiped away, leaving us all alone with our subjective senses of self, catered to by a broad welfare state. Are we happier? Will that problem be cured by government?
Of course not.
It can only be cured by a return to community. Historically, that community means religious community, which is why it continues to be so sad to see religious leaders playing around the edges of conciliation with value systems that undermine sacredness at every turn.
On Monday, according to the vast majority of the legacy media, Pope Francis apparently decided that it was fine for priests to bless same-sex couples. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/briefing/texas-border-law-vatican-same-sex-relationships.html#:~:text=The%20Vatican%20announced%20today%20that,pastoral%20and%20less%20rigid%20church." target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a> said this move was “his most definitive step yet to make the Roman Catholic Church more welcoming to LGBTQ Catholics and more reflective of his vision of a more pastoral and less rigid church.”
If true, of course, that would mark a massive shift for the Catholic Church, which has held fast to the traditional teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman and that sexual union within marriage is the only morally permissible form of sexual union. The Church has held fast for thousands of years not only to the sanctity of marriage but also to the natural law philosophy inherent in that sanctity — a philosophy that says the world of God’s creation carries within it certain obvious rights and wrongs, teleological ends. Man and woman were created to become one flesh, this philosophy says, and creation is designed to end in the creation of new human life. 
Catholic philosopher Robert George has <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/08/what-marriage-isand-what-it-isnt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> this point further: “What is unique about marriage is that it truly is a comprehensive sharing of life, a sharing founded on the bodily union made uniquely possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman— a complementarity that makes it possible for two human beings to become, in the language of the Bible, one flesh, and thus possible for this one-flesh union to be the foundation of a relationship in which it is intelligible for two persons to bind themselves to each other in pledges of permanence, monogamy, and fidelity.”
It would certainly be a massive surrender for the Catholic Church to reject that teaching on behalf of a broader teaching that morality now encompasses sexual relationships of other sorts — particularly sexual relationships without any potential whatsoever for the creation of human life.
So, what did the Pope actually say?
His defenders say that he changed nothing. According to Catholic publication <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/did-the-pope-just-permit-gay-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Pillar</a>, “Fiducia supplicans says clearly that that the Vatican does not intend to permit same-sex marriage, or anything that resembles it — and says that the Church does not actually have the power or authority to do that. While the text does create a framework for blessing gay couples, it says that those blessings should not be confused with marriage, or even with approval of same-sex unions, or homosexual activity.”
Fiducia suppplicans says blessings are a “pastoral resource to be valued rather than a risk or a problem” and they may be bestowed upon those persons who “although in a union that cannot be compared in any way to a marriage, desire to entrust themselves to the Lord and his mercy, to invoke his help, and to be guided to a greater understanding of his plan of love and truth.” Such blessings ought not be given in any circumstance resembling a sanctification of same-sex unions, says the Pope, and “there is no intention to legitimize anything.” Furthermore, says the document, the blessing ought to descend on those who “do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
But there is reason for the controversy. The document itself suggests that blessings should not be “subjected to too many moral prerequisites” and that priests ought not to “lose pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes” and to avoid being “judges who only deny, reject, and exclude.” Furthermore, it is not clear whether the Church will crack down on liturgical blessings it does not approve in the document. 
The Pope, in other words, is being vague, and others are supposed to clean up for him. My friend Larry O’Connor has <a href="https://twitter.com/LarryOConnor/status/1736823331616121325" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a good rundown</a> of his interpretation of the latest missive. Here is what he writes: &#8220;I am not in full communion with the Church. As such, I am required to abstain from partaking in the Eucharist at Mass. I walk up to the altar with my arms crossed on my chest and the presiding priest offers me a blessing. He is not blessing the situation that I am in that keeps me from being in communion with the Church. He is offering me a priestly blessing so that I can continue my faith journey and move forward closer to Christ despite my situation. This is exactly what the Vatican has confirmed the pastors may do for individuals who have same sex attraction and are also not in full communion with the Church because of their situation.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Some thoughts on the hysteria and lies surrounding the Vatican&#39;s statement on blessings today. 
First&#8230; Read <a href="https://twitter.com/EdMorrissey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EdMorrissey</a>.
Done? Good. Now&#8230;
If you are a Christian but not Catholic, then your religion might not have formal &quot;blessings&quot; as part of your rites, liturgy or faith…
&mdash; L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) <a href="https://twitter.com/LarryOConnor/status/1736823331616121325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2023</a></blockquote>
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But is that all the Pope is doing? Because Larry isn’t approaching the altar as a member of a same-sex couple. He is approaching individually. Of course religions should bless the sinner but hate the sin. But when a same-sex couple approaches a priest for a blessing as a same-sex couple, the distinction falls away. The Pope here is not allowing blessing for individuals who participate in same-sex unions — every traditional religion allows sinners to receive blessings individually, so far as I’m aware. He is apparently, instead, greenlighting blessing same-sex couples as couples, then pretending it doesn’t mean anything so long as the blessing isn’t an outright sanctification of the same-sex relationship.
Clearly that’s how the Left is reading it. Rep. James Martin, a radical Left-wing Catholic, <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1736752056688373983" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>, “The new declaration opens the door to nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples, something that had been previously off-limits for bishops, priests and deacons. Along with many priests, I will now <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1736752058055770141" target="_blank" rel="noopener">be delighted</a> to bless my friends in same-sex unions.”
So, why ought we to care? We ought to care because when historical pillars of Western tradition including natural law begin to carve away at those pillars in the name of tolerance and diversity, the entire edifice begins to crumble. That is a problem for religious believers of all traditional stripes.
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It’s not unique to Catholicism. On the same day the Pope issued his statement, celebrated by the New York Times, the Times issued a piece about the collapse of the United Methodist Church, riven by controversy over LGBTQ issues. As the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/the-united-methodist-church-schism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a>, “At issue for Methodists is the question of ordaining and marrying L.G.B.T.Q. people, a topic that has splintered many other Protestant denominations and which Methodists have been debating for years. … There were eight million Methodists in the United States in 2020, according to the U.S. Religion Census. Between large-scale departures and the broader trend of decline, Dr. Burge said, that number could drop by half in a decade. The exodus marks a calamitous decline for the broader tradition of mainline Protestantism, which once dominated the American religious, social and cultural landscape.”
And herein lies the problem: There is no substitute for traditional religion in the American landscape. And traditional religion requires skin in the game. The minute religion becomes merely a nonjudgmental “blessing” dumped on top of subjective self-glorification, religion loses its value.
And when religion loses its value, social society crumbles. We’re relegated to Vivek Murthy lecturing us with dancing unicorns who hand out prescriptions for social connection.

TODAY – Season 72

The Government Wants You To Listen To Dancing Unicorns

Federal Government

Surgeon General

Synagogue

Welfare

Former White House Chief COVID Adviser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/anthony-fauci" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Anthony Fauci</a> claimed during a recent interview that he no longer felt the need to attend church because his &#8220;personal ethics on life&#8221; were enough.
Fauci made the comments during a conversation with BBC special correspondent — and frequent MSNBC contributor — Kathy Kay, also citing &#8220;problems&#8221; with the organized church as a whole.
WATCH:
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Anthony Fauci explains that although he identifies as Catholic, his “personal ethics on life” are so strong that he has no need to practice the religion. “It seems like a pro forma thing that I don’t really need to do.” <a href="https://t.co/r5YbCs2gbM">pic.twitter.com/r5YbCs2gbM</a>
&mdash; Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraPowellEsq/status/1733594715847864818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2023</a></blockquote>
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During the interview, Fauci pointed out the chapel where he and his wife were married — and Kay, noting the beauty of the chapel, asked whether he still went there for church services.
&#8220;You don&#8217;t practice anymore, do you?&#8221; she pressed. &#8220;Why?&#8221;
&#8220;A number of complicated reasons,&#8221; Fauci began, but Kay was not ready to let the topic drop.
&#8220;Go on, you have a whole corridor,&#8221; she laughed, as the camera showed them walking down a long hall.
&#8220;First of all, I think my own personal ethics on life are, I think, enough to keep me going on the right path,&#8221; he claimed. &#8220;And I think that there are enough negative aspects about the organizational church — that you&#8217;re very well aware of.&#8221;
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&#8220;I&#8217;m not against it,&#8221; Fauci continued. &#8220;I identify myself as a Catholic — I was raised, I was baptized, I was confirmed, I was married in the church, my children were baptized in the church — but as far as practicing it, it seems almost like a pro forma thing that I don&#8217;t really need to do.&#8221;
Critics were not impressed with Fauci&#8217;s take on religion, with many suggesting that his own high opinion of himself left little room for any deity.
&#8220;Wow. Even Narcissus didn’t love himself this much,&#8221; Adele Scalia posted.
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Wow. Even Narcissus didn’t love himself this much. <a href="https://t.co/z9dLl01PgK">https://t.co/z9dLl01PgK</a>
&mdash; Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdeleScalia/status/1733677950304768249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;He played God once. Why should he have to take a demotion?&#8221; Stephen L. Miller added.
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He played God once. Why should he have to take a demotion? <a href="https://t.co/BRVp2O0lQ1">https://t.co/BRVp2O0lQ1</a>
&mdash; Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1733689528978702582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;So &#8230; He&#8217;s very NOT Catholic, then. Religious illiteracy is a major problem in our news media. Also &#8230; &#8216;Identifies as Catholic&#8217;?????&#8221; Larry O&#8217;Connor observed.
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So&#8230; He&#39;s very NOT Catholic, then. 🤷‍♂️
Religious illiteracy is a major problem in our news media. 
Also&#8230; &quot;Identifies as Catholic&quot;????? <a href="https://t.co/kkomgK52GA">https://t.co/kkomgK52GA</a>
&mdash; L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) <a href="https://twitter.com/LarryOConnor/status/1733883297841676424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Fauci definitely falls asleep at night on a Fauci pillow under a huge wall painting of himself as a centaur,&#8221; Doug Powers said.
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Fauci definitely falls asleep at night on a Fauci pillow under a huge wall painting of himself as a centaur. <a href="https://t.co/4rMphVDlwt">https://t.co/4rMphVDlwt</a>
&mdash; Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePowersThatBe/status/1733830134845587892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Anthony Fauci

‘Even Narcissus Didn’t Love Himself This Much’: Fauci Doesn’t Need Church, His ‘Personal Ethics’ Are Enough

'Even Narcissus Didn't Love Himself This Much': Fauci Doesn't Need Church, His 'Personal Ethics' Are Enough

Catholic Church

Ethics

Religion

Multiple people were killed and dozens more were injured on Sunday following a church bombing in Marwari in the southern Philippines.
The National <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2023/12/03/bomb-blast-kills-four-at-philippine-church-service-in-suspected-isis-attack/">reported</a> that at least four were killed and 50 more injured during the suspected ISIS terrorist attack that targeted the Catholic church during mass.
&#8220;I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists upon the Mindanao State University (MSU) and Marawi communities early this Sunday morning,&#8221; said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. &#8220;Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.&#8221;
The blast happened in the school&#8217;s gymnasium just as the congregation began reading the Bible.
Military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said that there were &#8220;strong indications of a foreign element&#8221; to the terrorist attack and that all evidence &#8220;points to the Maute-ISIS.&#8221;
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The area is part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was given self-rule under former President Rodrigo Duterte in an effort to stave off growing Islamic terrorism.
The military killed 11 suspected pro-ISIS fighters on Friday after civilians provided information to the government on the terrorists&#8217; whereabouts.
Brig. Gen. Oriel Pangcog, commander of the Philippine Army&#8217;s 601st Infantry Brigade, said: &#8220;Eleven members of the local terrorist group, including the proclaimed Ameer of Dawlah Islamiyah-Philippines, were killed in decisive military operations in the mountainous area of Mother Tuayan, Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur, at 12:15 p.m. on Friday. The operation also led to the recovery of ten high-powered firearms and three explosives.&#8221;

PHILIPPINES-UNREST

Multiple Dead, Dozens Injured After Church Bombed In Asia In Suspected ISIS Attack

Bombings

ISIS

Philippines

Terrorism

A 26-year-old Christian man is in critical condition after being shot in the head while preaching to passersby on a street corner in Glendale, Arizona. 
Hans Schmidt was standing at the corner of a major intersection on Wednesday, telling people about a church service being held that evening, Fox 10 <a href="https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/man-seriously-injured-following-shooting-near-glendale-church" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. At around 6:00 p.m., a person shot the street preacher before fleeing the scene. Schmidt, a military veteran and father of two young children — including a two-month-old baby — was rushed to hospital where he is now fighting for his life. 
“My husband was shot in the head yesterday while street preaching on the corner of 51st Ave and Peoria If anyone has any info please contact 911,” Schmidt’s wife Zulya posted on Instagram. “Thank you for your prayers. Believing God has the final say. I love you so much babe.” 
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Victory Chapel, where Schmidt serves as the outreach director, posted an update about his situation on Thursday, saying that after he arrived at the ER, he “began seizing and was intubated.” 
“There has been some movement; however, physician&#8217;s are uncertain how much is voluntary and began draining fluid from his brain. He remains in critical condition, please continue praying,” the church <a href="https://www.vccf1phx.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Schmidt’s wife <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzwGTh9LNOO/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> again on Instagram Friday morning, writing, “I love you my handsome cowboy. Keep fighting papi. We need you!!”  
Paul Sanchez, who works at a business close to where the shooting took place, said he saw some people drive by, screaming and cursing at Schmidt as he preached. 
“There was a lot of everything, really, hateful comments, people yelling at him, ‘get off the street,’ all sorts of mean things,” he <a href="https://www.azfamily.com/2023/11/16/man-critically-injured-after-shooting-glendale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> 3TV and CBS 5 News. Sanchez added that he was shocked when the situation escalated since Schmidt never responded to anyone who yelled at him. 
Henry Branch, who lives near the intersection where Schmidt was shot, said he was stunned to learn of what happened. 
“Who knows why someone would want to take it out on a preacher like that because he’s speaking the gospel and good news to everybody. He’s out to help the community.” 
The Glendale Police Department continues to wait for witnesses to come forward with more information on the shooting.
&#8220;This is a horrible, horrible event. We have a 26-year-old who is a military man, who was recently married and has two small children. He&#8217;s in a critical state,&#8221; said Gina Winn of the Glendale Police Department. &#8220;We believe there is someone in the Valley who knows what happened. If you saw an individual or vehicle, you&#8217;re asked to call the Glendale Police Department.&#8221;
Police are still looking for a suspect and asking anyone with information about the shooting to call them at 623-930-3000 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS. It remains unclear if Schmidt was shot by someone driving by in a car or a person who approached him on the street, 3TV and CBS 5 News reported. 
This article has been updated to include comment from Glendale Police and to correct the age of Hans Schmidt.

Screen Shot: Instagram

Christian Man Shot In The Head While Preaching At Street Corner In Arizona

Arizona

Christians

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and the Biden administration are saying there’s an epidemic of loneliness among Americans.
That’s true. There is an epidemic of loneliness in the country. But their proposed solution is, “What if we actually use the government to fix loneliness?”
Murphy is positing some sort of legislation to establish a national strategy to combat loneliness and promote social connection. He says kids are addicted to algorithms and that evidence shows a decade ago, when teenagers actually had to do more work to find things they cared about or to make connections with their peers rather than depend on the algorithm, they were actually happier.
That’s true — but it’s not the real reason why kids are lonely. Yes, the algorithm is addictive. No, I would not give my kids cell phones with apps on them or access to social media. But blaming it on the decline of parental capacity to stop kids from accessing social media is wrong. The loneliness is really about the decline of community.
Where is that decline of community coming from? Obviously, it’s coming from a decline in religious affiliation.
According to <a href="https://mailer.dailywire.com/click?fre=N36s1Hss3T6SGt9RObrEEIYiyjcmRhgBbXz7_ZzltVTsYrOXGwuyAt3KBVLtErbQA47c1IEEkmoV_I5UXcbpolAO1ml_fj9_KSKCE4Y13SeMgWqEIPHIjILRcpLBl_m3e-6WV9kNlcOL3YKnDFJWLKTPEYbAHUCj88qMKKsQCe-ivuI4PN35qL0zGouaFpnwSVfSkxz14g==" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a brand new Gallup poll</a>, the percentages of Americans who believe in five religious entities (God, angels, heaven, hell, and the devil) “have edged downward by three to five percentage points since 2016.” 74% believe in God right now, which is down from 90% in 2001. That is a marked decline.
And there is a very strong correlation between political affiliation and religious belief. The poll data shows, “Between 78% to 87% of Republicans believe in the five entities.” Only 56% to 66% of Democrats believe in God, angels, and heaven. Further, “less than half say they believe in Hell and the devil,” which makes perfect sense.
Less than half of Democrats believe in hell and the devil, because that might actually imply actual punishment for doing bad things.
If you believe there is no punishment in the afterlife, there goes one of the incentive structures for not committing sins in this life for hedonistic purposes. The decline in religious affiliation is not just a matter of “do you believe in God or not?” I don’t believe in the phrase “believe in God.” I don’t think anybody sits around and mulls about God other than philosophy majors. Even people who are religious don’t sit around thinking about God all the time.
They act in God. They live in God. They live based on certain godly principles, and then they enact those in their daily lives.
Many agnostics and atheists are operating from religious principles. They just don’t acknowledge it. If they believe there’s a moral right and wrong, that is a religious principle; it is not discernible from evolutionary biology. If they believe the universe is a place you can actually understand, that your brain reflects eternal truths in the universe, that’s a religious principle. You can’t get that out of evolutionary biology or deterministic biology. You just cannot.
So if you live in that world, you’re living in a religious world. If you acknowledge that, then you might form communities of interest around those values. That’s where churches come from. The decline of church is directly correlated to the rise in loneliness because church is where people used to get together. It still is for a huge number of people.
My family is not lonely because, not only do we have kinship connections, but my parents, my wife’s parents, and two of my sisters also live close. We have an incredibly close friendship group. We have a religious community with hundreds of families, all of whom are generally religiously like-minded; that allows for a certain commonality of interest. I have people for my kids to play with.
It gives you a social safety net. It makes you feel as though you’re involved. When you atomistically remove people from their church, which is the only place that has been durably proven to actually have social connection, then you end up with loneliness.
However, Democrats like that loneliness because church comes with strings.
But every community comes with strings.
Everybody likes to pretend community is just you and your friends being nonjudgmental with each other. But that’s not true. Even you and your friends have a judgmental set of values with regard to people who are not you and your friends. Every group requires a buy-in. Every group requires skin in the game.
What the Democratic Party and many members of the Left believe is, there should never be skin in the game. They believe if you require skin in the game to be part of the group, that’s an inherent imposition on you and your authentic identity. That’s going to break down into atomistic individualism pretty quickly, which breaks down into loneliness because now you are removed from the commonality of interest, the skin in the game, the sacrifice necessary to be part of a group.
And then you’re shocked when loneliness abounds? Yes, social media has exacerbated all of this, but one of the things I’ve noticed is that there are a ton of kids in the community where I live, and some of them have social media. But loneliness rates aren’t anything like what they are like in secular society, where the kids don’t associate with each other outside of school, where there isn’t a 25-hour period every week where kids go to synagogue or church together. And when I say there’s no substitute for church, I mean there is no substitute for church, synagogue, mosque. There isn’t.
But there’s been an attempt to create ersatz communities of interest. You see that sometimes in college groups, a country club, or a bowling league. It is not the same thing.
Secular humanism does not fill the gap because religious observance is more than simply the relationship between you and God. One of the things Judaism makes very clear is that there are commandments oriented between you and God. You can do them on a personal level. If I say a blessing over food, that is between me and God.
But there is also a question of me and my fellow man.
The relationship between me and my fellow man and my relationship with God are two separate commandments, but the idea is that God is involved even in the relations between men. If you’re talking about how you treat your fellow man, that has to exist within the context of God. There’s a third player. When you remove the third player, it turns out the relations between you and your fellow man tend to disintegrate.
This should not be a shock, but that’s exactly what the Democrats cannot allow because it might actually require a religious obligation — and that might undercut a lot of the arguments they like to make about value systems. So they are simply going to pretend it’s about the algorithm. It’s not about the best way to fight the algorithm, which is religious church attendance.
It’s amazing that this idea even has to be said.

Ben Shapiro 2

The Democrats Think They Can Fix Americans’ Loneliness Without Church. They’re Wrong.

Democrats

Judaism

Mosques

Authorities in China have doubled the fines for a Christian pastor and his wife who lead a house church in the communist nation, according to a <a href="https://chinaaid.org/uncensored-news/stories-by-issue/religious-freedom/fine-doubles-for-xunsiding-church-couple/">report</a> from ChinaAid, a Christian nonprofit focusing on persecution in China. 
Pastor Yang Xibo and his wife Wang Xiaofei run the Xunsiding Church in Xiamen, in southeast China. Xunsiding is a house church, which is an “underground” church that is not sanctioned by the Three-Self Church — the supervisory organization of state-controlled protestant churches in China. The pastor and his wife face a fine of 400,000 yuan, or roughly $55,100, according to the watchdog. 
&#8220;Thank God for allowing us to have a part in His affliction, and especially thankful that on Earth we have no property for the court-enforced implementation, which is definitely a great grace of God,&#8221; Pastor Yang Xibo and his wife posted to social media in response to the hefty fine. 
Xunsiding is the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/chinese-authorities-double-fines-for-pastor-and-wife.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest</a> house church in Xiamen, and it was initially fined 25,000 yuan, or roughly $3,400, in May 2019. In the wake of the fine, the Chinese government sent police to “surround” the venue, according to ChinaAid. The police reportedly “besieged” the church venue for a month and surveilled congregants “constantly.” 
“As a result, the church changed meeting spaces frequently only to be met with more raids and bans,” ChinaAid wrote in its report. “During raids, authorities demolished private property and forced members to send their children to public schools.”
Pastor Yang and his wife began fighting to overturn the fine in 2021, but all appeals have been rejected by Communist Party bureaucracies in the country, the watchdog reports. In a May update on Pastor Yang’s situation, ChinaAid <a href="https://chinaaid.org/uncensored-news/featured/voices-from-china/xunsiding-church-pastor-and-his-wife-forced-to-pay-25000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that an administrative lawsuit ordered the couple to pay $25,000. They are accused of “organizing illegal gatherings.”
On June 28, the total number of fines topped $50,000, according to the group. Yang and his wife said on social media that they would not pay the fine. 
House churches in China are popular because churches that are sanctioned by the Three-Self Church are censored and controlled by the state, <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-christianity-in-china-is-really-like/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The Gospel Coalition. The underground churches — not affiliated with the Three-Self Church — are considered illegal and are often in undisclosed or always-changing locations.
The persecution of Christians in China has been a major problem for years. Open Doors USA, a Christian organization committed to serving persecuted Christians, releases a “World Watch List” annually, outlining the top 50 countries where the persecution of Christians is highest. 
According to the 2023 World Watch List, China <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/countries/">ranks 16th</a> for Christian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/persecution-of-christians-rising-in-at-least-18-countries-of-particular-concern-report-finds">persecution</a>. Surveillance is a significant issue, allowing the state to monitor and close down churches, according to the organization. A source told Open Doors that pastors and Christian leaders “are simply snatched away, only to appear months later in a kind of house arrest, where they get re-educated.”
Prior to the National Party Congress in October, the Communist Party increased its persecution of Christians through charges of “fraud” against church leaders, according to The Christian Post.

Holy Bible

Chinese Government Doubles Fine For Pastor Who Runs House Church, Watchdog Says

China

Christian

Communist China

Harry Reeder, a veteran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/evangelical" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pastor</a> at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alabama</a>, was unexpectedly killed in a car accident on Thursday morning at 75 years old.
Reeder served as a pastor at Christ Covenant Church from 1983 to 1999, after which he accepted a call to become senior minister at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, the influential congregation from which the Presbyterian Church in America launched in 1973.
The minister was pronounced dead on the scene after his vehicle <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2023/05/rev-harry-reeder-briarwood-senior-pastor-killed-in-shelby-county-crash.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collided</a> with a dump truck that had stopped to make a turn. He is survived by his wife, Cindy, as well as three children and several grandchildren.
“Our Lord has called Pastor Reeder home through a car accident,” Bruce Stallings, executive pastor at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, said in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BriarwoodPCA/posts/pfbid0A99g5Fbp9kYP9fda2MnyMJBCVG8EYxcDNoZJ7AAoUhvVVfca5Q4S7PLGA3PiqbLXl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> posted on social media. “But we do not grieve without hope because we know our pastor is with his Savior and has been received by grace with ‘Well done My good and faithful servant.’”
The Presbyterian Church in America is a conservative evangelical denomination, not to be confused with the theologically liberal Presbyterian Church USA, from which the former communion split half a century ago. Reeder is broadly seen as a successor to the generation of southern ministers who led the departure from the PCUSA and the formation of the PCA.
Reeder was educated at Covenant College, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Reformed Theological Seminary. He had planned to lead a tour of Israel with Westminster students scheduled to depart next week.
Presbyterian ministers, as well as leaders in other evangelical denominations, poured out prayers for the Reeder family and fondly remembered the pastor&#8217;s life and ministry.
&#8220;Harry was a force of nature with a gregarious personality matched to theological conviction and pastoral courage. He was a man of simple piety matched to great concern about the role of the Christian in a rapidly changing culture,&#8221; Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in an <a href="https://wng.org/opinions/taken-so-suddenly-missed-so-greatly-but-safe-with-jesus-1684496417" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> for WORLD. &#8220;To know Harry Reeder was to know his infectious love for Christ and his passion to see the church reach out through evangelism and simultaneously influence the culture.&#8221;
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Alabama Republican State Senator Dan Roberts, a ruling elder at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, also offered a tribute in the article.
&#8220;I would characterize Harry as the ultimate pastor-teacher whose love for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ was obvious to all who spent time with him,&#8221; he recounted. &#8220;He loved to be a part of the presbytery and to spend time with other pastors at general assembly. Harry was committed to the regulative order of corporate worship. Harry loved the church as much as any pastor I’ve ever had the privilege to be around. He pastored Briarwood Presbyterian Church and was honored to serve this body of believers. He will be greatly missed by all those he impacted for the Kingdom.&#8221;
Reeder passed away one day before Tim Keller, another veteran PCA minister who served for decades at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tim-keller-longtime-christian-pastor-and-author-succumbs-to-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">succumbed</a> to a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer at 72 years old. American Christians noted that both men, beyond their zeal for the gospel and their labors in preaching and teaching, consistently served at their churches for decades and remained faithful to their families.

Pastor Harry Reeder

Harry Reeder, Veteran Presbyterian Minister, Killed In Car Wreck

Presbyterians Mourn As Longtime Pastor Killed In Car Wreck

Evangelicals

Pastor

Saddleback Church, the multi-site <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">megachurch</a> founded by Rick Warren, ordained a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/woke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">woman</a> to serve as a “campus pastor” even as the congregation is expected to appeal a recent decision from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> to disfellowship the entity over similar moves.
Officials on the denomination’s Executive Committee voted earlier this year to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/southern-baptists-disfellowship-saddleback-church-over-female-pastor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remove</a> Saddleback, one of the largest churches in the United States, because of its decision to ordain several women as pastors over the past two years. Warren, who maintains a founding pastor role at the California congregation, announced Andy Wood as his successor to serve as senior pastor last year and appointed his wife, Stacie Wood, to serve as a teaching pastor, generating controversy days later at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Anaheim.
Saddleback Church Lake Forest, one of more than a dozen Saddleback branch campuses, announced last week that Katie Edwards had been appointed as the body’s new campus pastor. Images <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CsAFXy3PGaj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> by the church showed Andy and Stacie Wood praying over Edwards on stage.
The move comes weeks before Southern Baptists are scheduled to convene in New Orleans for the next annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, where Saddleback Church will likely contest the disfellowship decision from the Executive Committee.
Warren has defended his position on female pastors, which he adopted three years ago, in a recent <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/march-web-only/rick-warren-russell-moore-saddleback-church-women-preaching.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and the former president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Warren also claimed in a floor <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBsT1zFmC3E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> at last year’s annual meeting that there exists a distinction between the “gift” and the “office” of pastor.
Churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, an association of autonomous congregations which jointly fund seminaries, missionary efforts, and publications, must adhere to the Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal <a href="https://bfm.sbc.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, which affirms that “while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Mike Law, a pastor at Arlington Baptist Church, plans to introduce an <a href="https://sbcamendment.org/home-2/frequently-asked-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amendment</a> to the denomination’s constitution at the upcoming meeting in New Orleans to clarify that the Southern Baptist Convention will “only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation” if the congregation does not “affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.” Law and other ministers have <a href="https://sbcamendment.org/home-2/why-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documented</a> cases of several hundred female pastors who currently hold positions in Southern Baptist churches.
Law said in remarks to The Daily Wire that the most recent move from Saddleback Church to ordain a female pastor “shows the continued need for our convention to be clear and committed to our doctrine,” adding that “we can begin to meet this need by taking the first step of adopting the proposed constitutional amendment this June.”
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Controversy over the appointment of female pastors at Southern Baptist churches occurs as the denomination sees the largest single-year membership <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sbc-sees-largest-one-year-membership-decline-in-a-century-churches-leave-due-to-liberal-drift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decline</a> in at least a century. Beyond the lockdown mandates, which accelerated broader trends toward diminished church attendance in the United States, several ministers have identified the female pastor phenomenon as evidence of the denomination’s theologically liberal drift. Bart Barber, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and other leaders have faced criticism for neglecting to rebuke the dozens of churches which have installed female pastors.
Warren himself was one of several prominent evangelical ministers to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorse</a> wearing face masks as a fulfillment of Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He also affirmed Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health who declared himself an “ally” of the LGBTQ movement and supported human fetal tissue research, as a committed Christian and a “man you can trust.”

Rick Warren

Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church Ordains Woman To ‘Campus Pastor’ Role Amid Southern Baptist Female Minister Controversy

Rick Warren’s Church Appoints Woman To ‘Campus Pastor’ Role Amid Southern Baptist Female Minister Controversy

Feminism

Southern Baptists

Wokeness

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