A no-nonsense black Chicago pastor <a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1744782233687470514.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slammed</a> Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for his wholehearted embrace of DEI policies, saying that Cuban’s position was “deeply flawed” and DEI policies are a “poisonous ideology.”
After Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated, “Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism,” Cuban responded that it is a “a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration.”
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Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1742669186130755700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Let me help you out and give you my thoughts on DEI 1. Diversity Good businesses look where others don&#39;t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed. You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various… <a href="https://t.co/L00fl6ggUD">https://t.co/L00fl6ggUD</a>
&mdash; Mark Cuban (@mcuban) <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1742690628465484204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“I pastor one of Chicago&#8217;s toughest neighborhoods on the South Side and @mcuban&#8217;s defense of DEI is deeply flawed for one reason: this poisonous ideology has no impact on my community, the very community it professes to help,” Pastor Corey Brooks said.
Brooks noted that when people said DEI policies were being done in the name of his community, “Sometimes I laughed out loud at some of the claims. It was like listening to people who don’t know you talk about you as if they knew you deep down.”
He continued that Cuban’s assertion implied that the U.S. is systemically racist, adding, “I agree there is racism but not in the way that he thinks.”
“If @mcuban came into my community it wouldn’t take him long to understand that this DEI ideology is profoundly flawed, has no impact upon us, and creates more racial divisions,” he wrote. “The reality is that the countless of diversity programs that came into being since the late 1960s have been abysmal failures. Nearly every one of them, if not all, professed to have the goal of uplifting poor blacks after centuries of racial oppression. The original intent of Affirmative Action was true uplift by providing bootstraps: better schools, teachers and resources to uplift the undereducated segments of the black population.”
“However, this process of development was too slow for the many white university presidents who wanted to increase the diversity on their campuses now,” he pointed out. “They moved away from development to cold racial preferences. Diversity, not development, became the new virtue of our times. At the same time, our community was bombarded with one liberal policy after another since the 1960s.”
“Instead of embracing freedom and responsibility, too many of us allowed ourselves to be seduced into the culture of dependency. Those who could escape and make a life for themselves did and many did,” he recalled. “But for those of us who have been caught up in the multigenerational cycle of societal and governmental dependency, that is the only world they know. And we ask them to believe in the American Dream?”
“This is the world of bad faith that I’m trying to reverse every day with my work in the streets, which includes overseeing the building of a community center that came after long years of struggle. &#8230; many kids in my neighborhood have made it out — one of them was just awarded a prestigious fellowship at NASA.”
“The only tool I used with these youths: the American principles,” he declared. “Be on time. Say, yes sir, no sir. Respect your elders. Be responsible. Be accountable. Save money. Build credit. Plan for the future. Be a parent. Get married. You fall, get back up. Never give up. Just do it.”
“That is why I laugh out loud when I heard DEI advocates describe merit and punctuality as white supremacist values. Too many people were destroyed by this culture of dependency and now they want to take away all the remaining lifelines to a life of possibility and future?” he asked rhetorically.
“What Cuban doesn’t realize from his post is that the systemic racism that my community faces is not white supremacy but post-60s liberalism,” Brooks stated. “With diversity and not development as its focus, every one of those principles was created in the name of our inferiority.”
“It is my mission in life to develop strong individuals to the point where the thought of using race as an advantage would be an insult to their well-earned pride. We are only at the beginning of reversing the fortunes of our community and we have a long ways to go. We may not save everybody. But we know the harsh realities and it is our refusal to look way to some false ideological comforts that gives us the best chance of giving these young Americans a good life. That is how you create a deep and meritorious talent pool,” he concluded.

MixCollage-10-Jan-2024-01-51-PM-5399

No-Nonsense Chicago Pastor Slams Mark Cuban’s Embrace Of DEI Policies

Chicago

Corey Brooks

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Mark Cuban

Pastor

An 83-year-old retired pastor was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of a fellow pastor’s 8-year-old daughter in 1975, Pennsylvania officials announced Monday. 
David Zandstra of Marietta, Georgia, was charged by Delaware County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer after he allegedly confessed to the slaying of Gretchen Harrington. The young girl’s remains were found weeks after she disappeared on her way to a Bible camp in August of 1975, NBC Philadelphia <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/1975-cold-case-murder-charges-gretchen-harrington/3610465/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
At the time of Harrington’s murder, Zandstra served as a reverend at Trinity Christian Reformed Church, one of two churches Harrington attended — the other church being Reformed Presbyterian Church, where her father pastored. On the day Harrington disappeared, her father became worried when she didn’t arrive at the camp, according to the criminal complaint, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/us/pennsylvania-pastor-cold-case-murder-gretchen-harrington/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. At the time, Zandstra denied knowing anything about the girl’s disappearance.
&#8220;This man is evil. He killed this poor 8-year-old girl he knew and who trusted him. And, then he acted as if he was a family friend, not only during her burial and the period after that, but for years,&#8221; Stollsteimer said.
When Harrington was walking to the Bible camp alone, Zandstra pulled up alongside her and offered her a ride, according to Stollsteimer. The district attorney said Zandstra gave police a statement admitting that he took Harrington to a secluded place and told her to take her clothes off. When she refused, Zandstra allegedly beat her to death with his fists. 
Two months went by before Harrington’s skeletal remains were found at Ridley Creek State Park, more than seven miles from her home. The medical examiner said she died from “two or more blunt impacts to the skull” and ruled her death a homicide, according to court documents.
In January, Pennsylvania State Police learned of new evidence from a confidential informant who had been friends with one of Zandstra’s daughters. The new evidence included a diary the informant kept in 1975 where she wrote that Zandstra “touched her groin area” two separate times when she attended a sleepover at his home, according to the complaint. 
In another diary entry from September 1975, the informant wrote, “Guess what? A man tried to kidnap Holly twice! It’s a secret so I can’t tell anyone, but I think he might be the one who kidnapped Gretchen. I think it was Mr. Z.”
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Zandstra moved from Pennsylvania after Harrington’s disappearance, living in Plano, Texas, before moving to Marietta, Georgia. Investigators confronted Zandstra in Georgia with the new evidence, and he admitted to committing the crime, according to the district attorney’s news release. Police collected DNA from Zandstra to compare it to DNA collected from the crime scene and to open cases from across the state and the country, the district attorney said. 
“With today&#8217;s announcement of an arrest, we are extremely hopeful that the person who is responsible for the heinous crime that was committed against our Gretchen will be held accountable. It’s difficult to express the emotions that we are feeling as we take one step closer to justice,&#8221; read a statement from the family. &#8220;Gretchen was only 8 years old when she was suddenly taken away from us on her way to church on Friday, August 15, 1975. If you met Gretchen, you were instantly her friend. She exuded kindness to all and was sweet and gentle. Even now, when people share their memories of her, the first thing they talk about is how amazing she was and still is…at just 8 years old, she had a lifelong impact on those around her.&#8221;

Police line do not cross: wood forest in winter

Former Pastor Charged With Murdering Fellow Pastor’s 8-Year-Old Daughter Nearly 50 Years Ago

Former Pastor Charged With Murdering Fellow Pastor's 8-Year-Old Daughter Nearly 50 Years Ago

Crime

Murder

Pennsylvania

U.S.

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

Christianity

Church

Evangelicals

Religion

Tim Keller, a prominent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian</a> author and the longtime pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/new-york-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York City</a>, passed away on Friday morning at the age of 72 after a battle with <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cancer</a>.
Keller, who <a href="https://timothykeller.com/author" target="_blank" rel="noopener">retired</a> from full-time ministry in 2017 and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020, served for decades as senior minister of Redeemer Church, which he founded in 1989. He was the husband to his wife, Kathy, a father to three children, and a grandfather.
Redeemer Church <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewNWoodard/status/1659591773092552710" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Friday morning that Keller passed away in his home &#8220;trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.&#8221; The statement noted his humility in interactions with both congregants and global ministry leaders, as well as his delight in “communicating the profound wonder and transforming power of the gospel of grace.”
&#8220;We are forever grateful for his leadership, heart, and dedication to sharing the love of Christ with others,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;While we will miss his presence here, we know he is rejoicing with his Savior in heaven.&#8221;
Michael Keller, his son, had <a href="https://twitter.com/timkellernyc/status/1659314125577568262" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> hours earlier that his father was discharged from the hospital on Thursday to receive hospice care. “Over the past few days, he has asked us to pray with him often,” he wrote. “He expressed many times through prayer his desire to go home to be with Jesus.”
Keller authored books such as “The Meaning of Marriage,” which articulates the biblical design for the covenantal union between one man and one woman, and “The Reason for God,” which addresses doubts about the Christian faith held by many modern Americans. He also frequently wrote about urban church planting and other theological topics.
The veteran minister received degrees from Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He previously served as a pastor at West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, a professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and director of mercy ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.
Keller revealed earlier this year that he had <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TimKellerNYC/posts/pfbid02aba3uWqcDvddXPe12dgdY7h58RZcxL3LSKw52avGgEaegYgTbyqAW1Y9D9wYY3kjl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> new cancer tumors and had started to receive treatments targeting a genetic marker of the disease. “Please pray for our trust and dependence on God, for his providential oversight of the medical preparations now in process, and for our desire to glorify God in whatever comes our way,” he said.
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Fellow ministers and evangelical figures reflected on the life and ministry of Keller, citing his robust intellectual capacity and his simple love for Jesus Christ.
“His sermons were never so cerebral that arguments were allowed to displace confession, prayer, and a deep sense of the presence of God,” Don Carson, emeritus professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/carson-tribute-tim-keller/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> about Keller. “Most people who spent time with Tim thought they were among his best friends. Like the apostle John, who thought of himself as the one whom Jesus loved, not a few of Tim’s parishioners thought of themselves as particularly loved by their senior pastor. That is a common mark of a well-cared-for church.”
“He was my hero because when I read or listened to him, I loved Jesus more. When Tim and I catch up someday in the new heavens and the new earth, I can’t wait to hear all he’s learned. But for now, Tim’s death leaves a void I can never fill,” Collin Hansen, editor-in-chief of The Gospel Coalition, an online publication and content ministry which Keller co-founded, said in another <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/met-hero-tim-keller/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tribute</a>. “For many in my generation, even if they only grew up listening to his sermons or reading his books, Tim Keller became a spiritual father.”

Pastor Tim Keller

Tim Keller, Longtime Christian Pastor And Author, Succumbs To Cancer

Pastor Tim Keller, Renowned Christian Pastor And Author, Succumbs To Cancer

Cancer

Christian

New York City

The public policy agency of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> doubled down on their support for a so-called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gun-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">red flag</a> law in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a> despite many pastors and church members affirming that they do not support the move.
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Brent Leatherwood sent a <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2023/04/17/southern-baptist-public-policy-backs-tennessee-gov-bill-lee-gun-proposal/70122387007/?fbclid=IwAR2vHqditHBaO8UwC1MQqg9wvkZyFIegcaFAPgFi31zgyKel_0zzvBmn0j4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> last week to state lawmakers in support of Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee’s proposed red flag statute, which would provide state officials additional powers to take firearms away from those deemed to be at risk to themselves or others. The proposal follows a transgender individual fatally shooting three children and three staff members at The Covenant School in Nashville, which three of Leatherwood’s own children attend.
The ERLC released an <a href="https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/explainer-tennessee-governors-order-of-protection-proposal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explainer</a> on Friday insisting that the policy differs from a red flag law because only police can “file a petition before the court to have firearms confiscated” and because an individual can “only be dispossessed of the firearms” if he or she completes an entire court process. Neither clarification countered the fundamental objection to red flag laws which make the policies broadly <a href="https://www.thetrafalgargroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/COSA-RedFlag-Poll-Report-0621.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unpopular</a> among large majorities of Republicans and many independents: that government officials can abuse the authority granted by the statutes to deprive citizens of their means for self-defense, a concern which Second Amendment activists cited to The Daily Wire in multiple recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gov-bill-lee-calls-on-legislature-to-pass-red-flag-law-signs-exec-order-intensifying-gun-background-checks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> on the Tennessee red flag proposal.
The explainer from the ERLC cited resolutions passed by attendees of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, at annual meetings in 2018 and 2022. The <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-gun-violence-and-mass-shootings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">former</a> affirmed the solidarity of the denomination “with all those victimized by gun violence” while the <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-the-imago-dei-and-the-helpful-content-submitted-in-several-resolutions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latter</a> asked lawmakers to “minimize the threat of gun violence throughout our society” with “concrete steps.” Neither calls for the enactment of any specific law or statute regarding gun violence, much less any proposal resembling a red flag law.
Advocacy from the ERLC in favor of the red flag law proposal continued even after Tennessee House Republicans implied on Wednesday that they would oppose such a statute. “Any red flag law is a non-starter for House Republicans,” a <a href="https://twitter.com/tnhousegop/status/1648839020070174720" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the conference said. “Our caucus is focused on finding solutions that prevent dangerous individuals from harming the public and preserve the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. We have always been open to working with Governor Lee on measures that fit within that framework.”
Leatherwood <a href="https://twitter.com/LeatherwoodERLC/status/1648789967433244674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invoked</a> the two resolutions passed by Southern Baptist Convention attendees on social media as he doubled down on his support for the red flag law. Another <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-southern-baptist-ethicist-claims-to-speak-for-denomination-as-he-supports-tennessee-red-flag-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The Daily Wire published earlier this week noted how Leatherwood told lawmakers that “Southern Baptists comprise over one-fifth of the population of Tennessee,” an apparent attempt to leverage the size of the denomination in favor of the red flag proposal.
Creekside Fellowship Lead Pastor Drew Byers, whose congregation gathers in Castalian Springs, Tennessee, affirmed in an interview with The Daily Wire that the ERLC does not speak for the majority of Southern Baptists with respect to their stance on firearm restrictions. He noted the entity’s comparative silence on transgenderism as “more concerning” and contended that “after a transgender person shoots children at a school, the ideology that needs to be condemned is not gun culture.”
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“There are times when the ERLC does speak clearly on some issues,” he continued. “However, I think more often than not they advance the views of those in the organization rather than the views of those in the pew. No one from the ERLC has ever contacted me to ask my view on anything.”
Leatherwood and the ERLC appear to have remained silent when Lee recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-gov-signs-bills-protecting-children-from-sex-change-procedures-drag-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> bills which prohibit sex change procedures, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers for minors, as well as sexually explicit drag shows in public or near children. The Daily Wire has been unable to find public statements or court filings from the ERLC in favor of the laws and contacted the entity to confirm they did not publicly support the proposals.
ERLC Trustee Michael Guyer <a href="https://twitter.com/msguyer/status/1649088765317758977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> via social media on Thursday that “the insinuation that ERLC is silent about the dangers of transgender ideology” is “simply false.” He likewise invoked the two Southern Baptist Convention resolutions as he addressed concern over the red flag proposal.
Southern Baptist denominational leaders have been repeatedly accused in recent years of supporting policy proposals which contradict the desires and beliefs of congregations. Former ERLC President Russell Moore asserted three years ago that ministers should <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prompt</a> church members to accept vaccination and wear masks. Leatherwood endorsed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-lobbying-groups-issue-letter-against-charging-women-with-crimes-for-seeking-abortions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> last year alongside several dozen pro-life activists which opposed a bill in Louisiana that would have criminalized abortion for all parties involved, even though Southern Baptists had previously passed a <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-abolishing-abortion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> affirming that “the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law.”

Church Steeple

Southern Baptist Ethics Arm Doubles Down On Support For Tennessee Red Flag Law Despite Pushback

Southern Baptist Leadership Doubles Down On Support For Red Flag Law Amid Pushback

Gun Control

LGBTQ

Politics

Southern Baptists

Tennessee

Transgender

The senior ethicist for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-baptists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Baptist Convention</a> threw the weight of the denomination behind a so-called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gun-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">red flag</a> law in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a>, even as rank-and-file <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ministers</a> and congregants increasingly see denominational leadership’s values as contradictory to their own.
Brent Leatherwood, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recently wrote a <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2023/04/17/southern-baptist-public-policy-backs-tennessee-gov-bill-lee-gun-proposal/70122387007/?fbclid=IwAR2vHqditHBaO8UwC1MQqg9wvkZyFIegcaFAPgFi31zgyKel_0zzvBmn0j4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to state lawmakers in support of Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee’s proposed red flag laws, which would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gov-bill-lee-calls-on-legislature-to-pass-red-flag-law-signs-exec-order-intensifying-gun-background-checks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enable</a> the state government to take firearms away from those who are found to be at risk to themselves or others. The forthcoming legislation follows a self-described transgender individual fatally shooting three children and three staff members at The Covenant School in Nashville, which three of Leatherwood’s own children attend.
“What he outlined is a thoughtful approach to ensure we respect the constitutional rights of citizens while also helping to protect potential victims from dangerous individuals,” Leatherwood wrote in support of the proposal from Lee. “Allowing law enforcement to work with families in order to initiate action that involves full due process in the judicial system will ensure individuals who could cause great harm are temporarily kept from accessing weapons.”
Leatherwood invoked the command from Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself” in his letter, cited biblical commands for civil government to oppose the “bad conduct” of wrongdoers, and noted that “Southern Baptists comprise over one-fifth of the population of Tennessee.”
Red flag laws nevertheless remain broadly <a href="https://www.thetrafalgargroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/COSA-RedFlag-Poll-Report-0621.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unpopular</a> among large majorities of Republicans and many independents, who fear that government officials can abuse the authority granted to them under the statutes. Opponents of red flag laws assert that they pose a threat to Second Amendment liberties and due process while failing to prevent criminal acts. The National Rifle Association and other advocacy organizations have publicly <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20230418/tennessee-urgent-action-needed-oppose-red-flag-gun-confiscation-orders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposed</a> the Lee proposal.
“Red flag gun confiscation would not have stopped the shooter. However, it will disarm perfectly sane, law-abiding people, resulting in more terrible deaths, not fewer,” Zach Lautenschlager, the former vice president of the National Association for Gun Rights, told The Daily Wire. “Tennessee already has laws which allow guns to be seized from people who are adjudicated a danger to themselves and to others. Red flag just removes due process, pure and simple.”
Lautenschlager, who was instrumental in enacting constitutional carry legislation across the country, noted that residents of other states have fallen victim to “a disgruntled neighbor or former coworker” submitting an anonymous tip to law enforcement, which results in the loss of their right to self-defense “without their knowledge and without any kind of hearing in which they can participate.”
Members of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also known as the ERLC, have been accused in recent years of supporting policy proposals which contradict the desires of Southern Baptist congregations. Russell Moore, the former president of the ERLC, said three years ago that ministers should <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">persuade</a> church members to accept COVID vaccination and wear masks. Leatherwood endorsed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-lobbying-groups-issue-letter-against-charging-women-with-crimes-for-seeking-abortions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> last year alongside several dozen pro-life activists which opposed a bill in Louisiana that would have criminalized abortion for all parties involved, even though Southern Baptists passed a <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-abolishing-abortion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resolution</a> affirming that “the murder of preborn children is a crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law” the previous summer.
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“As an SBC pastor for the past nearly 16 years, I have never been contacted by anyone at the ERLC to share my thoughts on any of the issues they cover or agendas they push,” Scott Packett, the pastor of North Athens Baptist Church in Athens, Tennessee, told The Daily Wire. “For Mr. Leatherwood to assume that he speaks for all SBC pastors and churches is quite presumptuous.”
Packett added that he does not believe red flag laws will “stop these acts of terror” even though he sympathizes with Leatherwood and his family after the massacre at The Covenant School. “Guns do not kill people. Depraved human beings kill people,” he continued. “Giving the government power to limit our Second Amendment rights is not the answer. Look at other major cities and states where these laws are enforced: murderers will do whatever it takes to kill. Therefore, limiting access to guns for regular law-abiding citizens is never the solution.”
Leatherwood wrote in his letter to Tennessee lawmakers that “every life, without exception, is created with infinite worth in the eyes of our Lord because each one is made in His image.&#8221; Packett sees the claim as inconsistent with Leatherwood’s opposition to the bill in Louisiana, after which the ERLC told “churches like mine they want abortion to be unthinkable.”
Leatherwood and the ERLC appear to have remained silent when Lee recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-gov-signs-bills-protecting-children-from-sex-change-procedures-drag-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> bills which prohibit sex change procedures, hormone treatments, and puberty blockers for minors, as well as sexually explicit drag shows in public or near children. The Daily Wire was unable to find public statements or court filings from the ERLC in favor of the laws and contacted the entity to confirm they did not publicly support the proposals.

Top Southern Baptist Ethicist Claims To Speak For Denomination As He Supports Tennessee Red Flag Law

Top SBC Ethicist Claims To Speak For Denomination As He Supports Tennessee Gun Control Law

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian</a> author and self-described “unlikely convert” Rosaria Butterfield publicly denounced her past use of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gender-pronouns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preferred pronouns</a> and called on other Christian thought leaders to do the same.
Butterfield, who was a “tenured radical” professor at Syracuse University and a lesbian when she became a Christian in 1999, denounced her lifestyle amid her conversion but had continued to use the preferred pronouns of her friends who identified as transgender rather than the pronouns which conformed to their true sex. “You have to meet and respect people where they are,” she said in one <a href="https://www.familylife.com/podcast/familylife-today/what-is-hospitality/?fbclid=IwAR1f9JWpDrjsNJ1ni-1pUfU8nafK0-k4jcq8B_iazqMQmSL76rWg415U-Jw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Family Life eight years ago.
Butterfield nevertheless denounced her past use of “transgendered pronouns” in an <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blog/why-i-no-longer-use-transgender-pronouns-and-why-you-shouldnt-either" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> published on Monday, characterizing her previous endorsement of such terminology as “public sin” which requires “public repentance.&#8221;
“I have publicly sinned on the issue of transgender pronouns, which I have carelessly used in books and articles. I have publicly sinned by advocating for the use of transgender pronouns in interviews,” she wrote. “Why did I do this? I have a bunch of lame and backside-covering excuses. Here are a few. It was a carry-over from my gay activist days. I wanted to meet everyone where they were and do nothing to provoke insult.”
Butterfield, who is now a homeschool mother and is married to a Reformed Presbyterian minister, noted that the Supreme Court decision to affirm same-sex marriage prompted her to realize that there is an unavoidable “collision course between LGBTQ+ and the Christian faith.” She described her previous use of preferred pronouns as a “sin against the ninth commandment” that “encourages people to sin against the tenth commandment,” as well as a denial of the “creation ordinance” and a hindrance to “a believer’s progressive sanctification” away from sin and toward righteousness.
“Using transgendered pronouns isn’t a sin because the times have changed, and therefore, using transgendered pronouns isn’t sinful today but a morally acceptable option in 2012. Sin is sin. The Bible defines this as sin. Sin does not lose its evil because of our good intentions or the personal sensibilities of others,” she continued. “But a renewed focus is no excuse for sin and no dodge for repentance, not for a real Christian. I repent.”
Butterfield, who wrote “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert” as a memoir about her conversion, shifted her attention later in the article toward self-professed Christian commentators, such as New York Times opinion columnist David French and Wheaton College clinical psychologist Mark Yarkhouse, who continue to use transgendered pronouns in the name of “being winsome” yet thereby promote falsehood harmful to believers and unbelievers alike.
“They nod in the direction of traditional values but then swap biblical clarity for postmodern pluralism, thus burning to the ground any legitimate theological bridge to gospel grace,” she wrote. “Transgenderism is satanic. We who once promoted ‘pronoun hospitality’ lent false credibility to a wolfish theology that fails to protect the sheep. Instead, it eats them alive.”
Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham and other prominent Christians have likewise noted how professed theological conservatives such as French tend to deny historic doctrines on matters such as sexuality in order to avoid offense at all costs. French and other influencers meanwhile encouraged evangelicals to embrace the Biden administration’s closure of churches and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">upheld</a> former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins as a model for Christian faithfulness in the public square, even though Collins declared himself an “ally” of the LGBTQ movement and supported human fetal tissue research during his tenure.

Gender Pronouns

‘I Repent’: Christian Author Stops Using Transgender Pronouns And Calls Others To Do The Same

Christian Author Rosaria Butterfield Stops Using Preferred Pronouns And Calls Others To Do The Same

Social Issues

Ministers, seminaries, and denominational entities across the nation poured out <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prayers</a> for Covenant Presbyterian Church and its senior minister, Chad Scruggs, after he lost his nine-year-old daughter in the Monday shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
A 28-year-old woman who identified as a man killed three 9-year-old children and three adults at the school, a ministry of the conservative evangelical congregation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Police <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nashville-christian-school-shooter-identified-as-transgender-authorities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that the shooter, whom The Daily Wire will not name in accordance with company policy, executed a “targeted attack” on the school.
In the wake of the incident, the nearby Woodmont Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, unexpectedly became a hub for parents who waited to be reunited with their children. Staff members, including senior minister Nathan Parker, rose to the occasion.
“As pastors, we are supposed to have the words,” Parker said in an <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/march/covenant-school-mass-shooting-nashville.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>. “Today was one of those days that words didn’t come easy. If they came, they came from the Spirit.”
The students killed in the shooting were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of Chad Scruggs.
&#8220;We are heartbroken,&#8221; Scruggs said in a <a href="https://abc7.com/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-victims-children-identified/13029585/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. &#8220;Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again.&#8221;
Thousands of Christians took to social media in the wake of the massacre and lifted the Scruggs family in prayer, noting that Scruggs would be faced with comforting a mourning congregation even as he lamented the death of his own daughter.
Zachary Groff, a pastor at Antioch Presbyterian Church in Woodruff, South Carolina, <a href="https://twitter.com/ZGroff/status/1640519530597212160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a call to prayer that he was able to hold his own nine-year-old daughter’s hand on Monday evening as they read books on the back porch. “She sweetly asked to sit with me, completely unaware that a PCA pastor in Nashville was robbed today of the joy of doing so with his daughter,” he remarked. “Pray for our brother Chad Scruggs.”
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Jon Payne, the senior minister at Christ Church Presbyterian in Charleston, South Carolina, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jon.d.payne.7/posts/pfbid0DyUPstk7Dpo2hFfC1diSmzkRNgWr52Xdbeq4HmsvaVYMKitwgy6VVu7VBhFwGMkel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> for his friends to “pray earnestly for God’s grace to be poured out on this dear family in this time of unspeakable grief.”
Dr. Katherine Koonce, the school’s 60-year-old principal, was also killed, as were 61-year-old employees Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill.
Nashville Presbytery said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/PCAByFaith/status/1640481657110122501" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> that &#8220;God Himself will help us to pray in our weakness” on behalf of Scruggs and the mourning congregation. “Beloved, it is a time for us to lament in the face of unbearable grief and trial and to intercede and plead on behalf of our sister congregation, her families, ministers, staff, and school,” the entity said. “Words fail us in speaking of this tragedy even to one another, but our prayers will not fail us in lifting our pleas to God for mercy and the grace that is needed.”
Covenant Seminary, the alma mater of Scruggs and the flagship school of the PCA, <a href="https://twitter.com/CovSeminary/status/1640720649218842627" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> for prayers on behalf of “the families affected by yesterday&#8217;s acts of evil, and for the ministry of the churches in Nashville.” Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia likewise <a href="https://twitter.com/WestminsterTS/status/1640412248295260167/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged</a> for prayer on behalf of those impacted by the tragedy. “Blessed is your name. You are the source of all goodness, blessing, and grace,” the prayer said. “We ask that our dear brothers and sisters, who have been cast low into the darkness of the valley, may be, by your grace, enabled to look upon the mount, seeing the light of Christ shine into this great valley of darkness.”
The Covenant School said on its <a href="https://www.thecovenantschool.com/welcome/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> that it exists to help children “become who God intends them to be” and educate them “to impact their culture and think in accordance with timeless Truth.”
“Our graduates attend the finest schools in the Nashville area, where they not only excel academically, but also act with character that comes from authentic faith in Jesus,” the website added.

Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church

‘Pray For Our Brother’: Pastors Rally Around Covenant Senior Minister Whose Daughter Was Slain In Nashville Shooting

Pastors Rally Around Covenant Senior Minister, Father Of Girl Slain In Nashville Shooting

Mass Shooting

Fox News host <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tucker-carlson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tucker Carlson</a> reacted on Thursday evening to the arrest of a <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/canada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian</a> minister who protested a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drag-queen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drag queen</a> event for children.
Derek Riemer of Mission7 was arrested after he protested a drag queen story hour at Calgary Public Library on Saturday; video shows him <a href="https://twitter.com/wopizza/status/1629709815311376384?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoved</a> to the ground by attendees as he proclaimed that “Jesus Christ is Lord” and quoted biblical passages about homosexuality.
“We are disgusted and disturbed and appalled at the perversion and the indoctrination of the centralization and the normalization of this homosexual agenda and drag queen transgender agenda on the children,” Reimer said in an <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-pastor-forcibly-removed-from-drag-queen-story-time-for-kids-vows-to-keep-protesting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with LifeSiteNews. “We feel compelled to take a stand in the name of Jesus against this and to speak out and to preach the gospel, and to rebuke and to expose this.”
Carlson <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1631467161263767552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that the administration of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has actively opposed Christian and conservative movements in recent years. “On some level, all governments hate religious people, because it’s competition. And revolutionary governments, totalitarian governments, go after religious people first,” he observed. “That is the measure of a free country in the end: are you allowed to believe that there’s an authority higher than the people in charge of your government?”
The primetime anchor showcased footage of police arriving at Riemer’s home and arresting him for mischief and causing a disturbance. &#8220;Canada has now become an atheist totalitarian state with amazing speed,” Carlson remarked. “In Canada, it’s now a crime to object to sexualized drag shows for children.”
Several Canadian ministers were likewise arrested for opening their churches despite government lockdown mandates. Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Alberta garnered international attention as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-glory-to-god-canadian-pastor-jailed-for-opening-his-church-during-lockdowns-acquitted-by-top-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">videos</a> of police officers detaining him in front of his sobbing children and using helicopters to discover where his church had been secretly meeting circulated online. Stephens spent three weeks in jail and was served six provincial tickets for his alleged breach of public health orders, all of which were eventually dropped or cleared.
Carlson also referenced “professional Christians” who have frequently remained silent on governmental overreach and widespread disregard for biblical sexual ethics. “Where is David French, Beth Moore, Tim Keller, and all these people who are defending Christianity as actual Christians are being arrested for being Christians? Not a word.”
Daily Wire journalist Megan Basham has reported over the past several months about professed theological conservatives, including French and Keller, cooperating with efforts from the Biden administration 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">encourage</a> mask-wearing and receiving the COVID vaccine. Keller and French also lauded former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, who has declared himself an “ally” of the LGBTQ movement and supported fetal human tissue research during his tenure, as a faithful Christian.
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Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, which is led by Keller, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/neither-vaccinated-nor-unvaccinated-how-churches-imposing-vaccine-mandates-are-dividing-christians-with-a-different-gospel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">segregated</a> its congregation according to vaccination status. The Gospel Coalition, a publication founded by Keller, has received criticism for ceding ground to left-wing concepts such as “systemic racism” and “microaggression.” Editors for the platform <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/calls-mount-for-evangelical-publication-to-retract-article-likening-kyle-rittenhouse-to-mass-shooter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused</a> to amend an article that called Kyle Rittenhouse an “armed mass shooter” despite his acquittal and likened him to the white supremacist shooter who murdered nine black churchgoers during a 2015 service in Charleston, South Carolina.

Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Appears At National Review Ideas Summit

Tucker Carlson Calls Out ‘Professional Christian’ Leaders For Silence As Canadian Pastor Arrested For Protesting Drag Queen Event

Tucker Carlson Reacts As Canadian Pastor Arrested For Protesting Drag Queen Event

Canada

Drag Queens

Tucker Carlson

World

Months after a handful of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ministers</a> visited their libraries with Pastor Story Hour events meant to oppose the Drag Queen Story Hour trend, similar initiatives are appearing across the country.
The promotion of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drag-queen-story-hour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LGBTQ</a> movement among young children through <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/drag-queen-invited-to-biden-white-house-once-performed-for-a-2-year-old-boy-the-kids-are-out-to-sing-and-suck-d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vulgar drag performances</a> and events in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mom-blasts-school-board-over-drag-show-for-high-schoolers-while-wearing-the-same-outfit-the-drag-queen-wore" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government schools</a> has recently garnered national headlines. Dale Partridge, the pastor of Reformation Fellowship in Arizona, and Michael Foster, the pastor of East River Church in Ohio, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pastor-story-hour-ministers-take-bible-based-picture-books-to-local-libraries-amid-drag-queen-story-hour-craze" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> members of their communities to discover biblical teachings about gender last year, while Christian actor and conservative activist Kirk Cameron <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/libraries-cave-after-refusing-faith-based-story-hour-kirk-cameron-celebrates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a tour of libraries across the country.
During interviews with The Daily Wire, Partridge and Foster emphasized the necessity for Christians to accompany mere complaints — about LGBTQ activism meant to influence children — with moves to advance the gospel and a biblical view of sexuality. The Daily Wire has learned of several Pastor Story Hour events scheduled across the nation over the next several weeks.
Owen Strachan, provost of Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas, will read a picture book and deliver a biblical message at the Conway Public Library on January 14. The event has already garnered attention from social justice activists, who <a href="https://twitter.com/fc_csj/status/1612185318345564163" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plan</a> to host a rival story hour at the same time as Strachan’s event.
“Our culture now privileges drag queens over biblical kings. Tragically, children have been placed in the middle of this confusion,” Strachan said in remarks provided to The Daily Wire. “As Christians, we love children. Following Christ’s own example, we love boys and girls by welcoming them, protecting them, preaching the gospel to them, and teaching them all God’s truth. This includes biblical truth about men, women, and God’s design for sexuality.”
Kendall Lankford, teaching pastor of The Shepherd’s Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, will host a Pastor Story Hour event on January 13 at Chelmsford Public Library. He expects between 50 and 75 children to attend the program; among other reasons for hosting the event, Lankford cited commandments to “equip, train, and raise up the next generation of children in the fear and admonition of the Lord,” as well as “take that commitment for home discipleship and expand it to the nations.”
“Christ has a vision for the entire world and not just for our homes, which means that the scope of the gospel, the goal for which the Church is laboring, will not be accomplished until all the children of the world come under God’s blessing and have been taught a biblical worldview,” Lankford told The Daily Wire. “With that, the drag queens in particular, and the LGBTQ movement in general, are the ones who are truly on the wrong side of history. And I will admit, the church has much work to accomplish until that work is finished, but sloth, apathy, and hiding our heads in the proverbial sand will certainly not get us there.”
Lankford commented that American Christians have a deficient view of family discipleship despite the fact that there exists “a Bible to decorate every dusty shelf.”
“Over the last several generations the church has been asleep, uncritically and complicitly participating at every level of the whims and fancies of this decaying culture, and in some ways, we need to face the fact that much of the moral slide we see around us is on us,” he said.”We may not have perpetrated it, but by sending our children into increasingly secular schools, allowing them unfettered access to internet and social media where they are being discipled by pedophiles, perverts, and activists, and by remaining quiet and not sharing God’s truth, we have abandoned the world and countless children to their own destruction.”
Tedd Sutton, pastor of Christ Covenant Reformed Church in Billings, Montana, is hosting a Pastor Story Hour event on January 21. He remarked that proponents of the LGBTQ movement target children and the nuclear family because they are “the very bedrock of civilization” and pointed to the need for men to serve as protectors.
“I believe this project is necessary because as a pastor, it is part of my call to bring the gospel to the community. It is a simple way to teach the beauty of biblical sexual ethics and the hope of the good news of Christ to a sinful world in which we live,” he told The Daily Wire. “Pastors must lead the way in this fight. They must ‘take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.’ May Christ give pastors courage and strength to stand firm in this fight, and may he grant true reformation and revival in our land.”

Library in a further education college

‘Following Christ’s Own Example’: Pastor Story Hour Becomes A Nationwide Trend

Pastor Story Hour Becomes A Nationwide Trend

Bible

American evangelicalism experienced a seismic shift toward theological and social progressivism over the past two years.
As revealed by Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research’s most recent <a href="https://thestateoftheology.com/">State of Theology Survey</a> — a biennial poll that tracks the beliefs of professing evangelicals and the overall adult population — the winds of the social justice movement appeared to sweep through the pews equally as strongly as the culture at large.
&#8220;The frightening results only reveal the fact that many who claim to be evangelical in America are not, indeed, truly evangelical,” G3 Ministries Executive Vice President Scott Aniol told The Daily Wire. “At the very least, this should cause us to think twice when we read statements in the media about what &#8216;evangelicals&#8217; do or believe, and above all, the results should motivate pastors to be sure to faithfully teach their people core biblical doctrine.&#8221;
Two years ago, for instance, only 22% of evangelicals agreed that “gender identity is a matter of choice” — a figure that has since increased to 37%. Only 11% affirmed that “the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today” — a figure that has risen to 28%.
The results correspond with a rising tolerance of homosexuality and transgenderism in the broader American culture. Toward the beginning of 2021, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/majority-of-gop-voters-support-same-sex-marriage-for-the-first-time-poll">majority of Republican voters</a> for the first time indicated that they support same-sex marriage. As officials consider the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would codify homosexual marriage into federal law, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-establishment-leaders-call-on-senate-to-enshrine-same-sex-marriage">several high-profile Republicans</a> publicly endorsed the legislation.
For a handful of issues, however, evangelicals became more conservative. 
The share of evangelicals affirming the statement “sex outside of marriage is a sin” increased from 90% to 94%. On the sanctity of life — “abortion is a sin” — evangelical support also rose from 88% to 91%. “While the reasons for this positive trend are unknown, it is encouraging to see more evangelicals affirming the personhood of human beings in the womb,” Ligonier remarked.
Cultural battle over wokeness <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-battle-over-wokeness-has-infiltrated-the-church">cascaded into evangelicalism</a> after the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. 
Many pastors and high-profile evangelicals spoke in favor of critical race theory and posited that the United States is systemically racist, requiring patently unbiblical responses such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/warnock-america-must-repent-for-its-worship-of-whiteness">repenting of whiteness</a>. As Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo became household names, evangelical volumes such as “Woke Church” by Eric Mason and “How to Fight Racism” by Jemar Tisby began circulating in many church circles.
Perhaps most concerning of all is an apparent rise in postmodern tendencies among evangelicals; agreement with the notion that “religious belief is a matter of personal opinion” rather than “objective truth” soared from 23% to 38%.
Professing evangelicals likewise folded on historic Christian teaching with respect to matters of doctrine. Two years ago, 15% said that “the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true” — a figure that increased to 26% in the most recent survey. “A rising disbelief in the Bible’s literal truth may help us understand why American evangelicals also increasingly believe that religious faith is a subjective experience rather than an objective reality,” Ligonier continued.
Rather than affirming that salvation is available through Jesus Christ alone, the share of evangelicals claiming that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam” rose from 42% to 56%. Meanwhile, the proportion of evangelicals agreeing that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God” rose from 30% to 43%.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches">closure of churches</a> as a result of government lockdowns is a possible explanation for declining affirmation of orthodox Christianity — especially since many former attendees stayed at home on Sunday mornings even after the lockdowns ended. For the first time in American history, church membership <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">fell below half of the population</a> in 2020 — an overall decline of nearly 30% since the end of World War II.
Although evangelicals in the United States have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-dangerous-than-the-crude-tyrannies-of-the-past-a-profound-theologians-prophetic-warnings-about-government-education">long faced the temptation</a> to prioritize social activism and capitulate to theological liberalism, the turmoil of the past two years appears to have accelerated such a shift — and manifested that the sons of the present age are alive and well within the four walls of the church.
“These results convey the ongoing need for the church to be engaged in apologetics, helping unbelievers by providing a well-reasoned defense of the Christian faith, and helping believers by strengthening their clarity and conviction regarding why they believe what they do,” Ligonier concluded. “The need is great, but the power and promises of God can equip the church to bring truth and light to a deceived and dark world.”

The Del Ray Baptist church in the aftermath of the SCOTUS Roe draft leak, on May 08 in Alexandria, VA.

From The Inspiration Of Scripture To Gender Identity, Evangelicalism Sees A Massive Leftward Shift

Leftism

Readers Pass

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/missouri">Missouri</a> pastor appeared to berate his congregation for not giving him enough money to buy a high-priced watch, in a clip that has since gone viral.
The <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kansascitydefender/video/7131367021094260014?is_from_webapp=v1&amp;item_id=7131367021094260014&amp;refer=embed&amp;referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2022%2F08%2F17%2Fmissouri-pastor-berates-congregation-for-not-buying-him-new-watch%2F&amp;referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2022%2F08%2F17%2Fmissouri-pastor-berates-congregation-for-not-buying-him-new-watch%2F&amp;referer_video_id=7131367021094260014" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clip</a>, posted to TikTok by a local digital news outlet called The Kansas City Defender, was taken from a livestreamed Sunday service at <a href="https://www.thewellkc.net/who-are-we" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Church of The Well</a> in Kansas City earlier this month. In the clip, pastor Carlton Funderburke appears to berate his congregants for not &#8220;honoring&#8221; him sufficiently by giving enough of the money they spend on themselves. The clip has since gone viral, amassing more than 550,000 views in four days.
&#8220;This is how I know you [are] still poor, broke, busted and disgusted, because of how you been honoring me,&#8221; Funderburke says in the clip. &#8220;I’m not worth your McDonald’s money? I’m not worth your Red Lobster money? I ain’t worth your St. John Knits? Y’all can’t afford it no how. I ain’t worth y&#8217;all Louis Vuitton? I ain’t worth your Prada? I’m not worth your Gucci?&#8221; he continues to question the congregation, prompting several people to shout &#8220;come on&#8221; back at him. &#8220;Mother, ooh, I&#8217;m saying this, and I promise you … it&#8217;s not with respect to want. I&#8217;m saying it because I want you to understand what God is saying.&#8221;
“I even found out that Movado, you can buy a Movado watch at Sam’s [Club],&#8221; Funderburke went on, prompting at least one congregant to shout back &#8220;yes, you can,&#8221; while another tapped him on the shoulder with something. &#8220;And y&#8217;all know I asked for one last year. Here it is, the whole way in August, and I still ain’t got it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Y&#8217;all ain’t said nothing. Let me kick down the door and talk to my cheap sons and daughters.&#8221;
TikTok commenters blasted the pastor for what they viewed as putting material wealth ahead of his pastoral duties — though some in the video seemed to verbally affirm the pastor’s words.
&#8220;Ain’t said one scripture he just preaching his feelings,&#8221; one user commented.
&#8220;That would’ve been my last day in his church,&#8221; said another.
&#8220;Does anyone know which part of the gospels mentions Movado watches at Sam’s Club? Asking for a friend,&#8221; another wrote.
&#8220;As a pastor, I’ve got to say this. It’s the Lords command to tithe, but it’s not the churches [sic] job to buy the pastor Anything!&#8221; another added.
Funderburke issued a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5zyTX3vOM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> Tuesday apologizing for his conduct in the video.
&#8220;Though there is context behind the content of the clip, no context will suffice to explain the hurt and anguish caused by my words,&#8221; Funderburke said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve spoken to those I am accountable to and have received their correction and instruction. I have also privately apologized to our church who has extended their love and support to me. &#8230; The video clip does not reflect my heart or my sentiments toward God&#8217;s people, yet that is not discernible in the clip. Therefore I offer this sincere apology to you today. No context could erase the words I used. I apologize to all who have been hurt, angered, or in any way damaged by my words &#8230; I apologize to the Church at large for any undue scrutiny I have subjected you to. … To those who now know me because of this video clip, I regret that your first impression of me is one of anger, hate, and resentment. My actions and my words are inexcusable. I offer no justification or defense. That moment was mishandled and mismanaged. I deeply regret this moment, and I solicit your prayers and your forgiveness as we grow forward.&#8221;

Pastor Appears To Berate Congregation For Not Buying Him A High-Priced Watch In Viral Clip

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