Posts

Major Christian Denomination Calls on High Court to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Decision

/0 Comments/in , /by

A resolution has been adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in America, that seeks the reversal of the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in which a single-vote majority created without a link to the U.S. Constitution the “right” to same-sex marriage across the nation.

A resolution, “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family,” calls for the overturning of “laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family.”

It seeks “laws that affirm marriage between one man and one woman, recognize the biological reality of male and female, protect children’s innocence against sexual predation, affirm and strengthen parental rights in education and healthcare, incentivize family formation in life-affirming ways, and ensure safety and fairness in athletic competition.”

The Supreme Court, at the time it unleashed the stunning creation of rights not mentioned in the Constitution, admitted it was unrelated to America’s founding document. The minority on the court, taking a more conservative position, warned, too, that the ruling, even though it “recognized” the rights of Americans to not support the alternative sexual lifestyle choice, would be used to attack Christians in America, which it has.

For example, officials in just one state, Colorado, have gone to the Supreme Court twice already trying to impose a state-adopted religious belief, which is anti-Christian, on its residents. (Read more from “Major Christian Denomination Calls on High Court to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Decision” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Survey Shows Support for Same-Sex Marriage Declining

/3 Comments/in , /by

Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. has fallen for the first time in nearly a decade, according to a new survey.

The Public Religion Research Institute published updates to its American Values Atlas on Tuesday, revealing that public support for same-sex marriage dropped from 69% to 67% from 2022 to 2023.

The last time that institute recorded a decline in public support for same-sex marriage was almost 10 years ago, when it fell from 54% in 2014 to 53% in 2015. Among Republicans, support for same-sex marriage dropped from 49% in 2022 to 47% in 2023, which is still 12 points higher than it stood in 2014. There was also a similar drop in support among independent voters, from 73% in 2022 to 71% in 2023. Support for same-sex marriage has risen among Democrats from 65% in 2014 to 82% in 2023.

The Public Religion Research Institute survey further reported that support for same-sex marriage has decreased among religious groups. Support for same-sex marriage is and has been highest among religiously unaffiliated, Buddhist, and Jewish Americans, with a majority of mainline Protestants and Catholics also expressing support.

Among American Catholics, support dipped from 75% in 2022 to 73% in 2023, but declined most steeply among Hispanic Catholics: from 75% in 2022 to 68% in 2023. (Read more from “Survey Shows Support for Same-Sex Marriage Declining” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Dems: Helping People With Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions Is Criminal

/0 Comments/in , /by

For at least the fourth straight Congress, Democrats have introduced the “Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act,” trying to criminalize and destroy talk therapy that offers help to members of society with unwanted same-sex attractions.

They insist that such help to those who want it is illegal.

A leftist diatribe about the issue, published online, claimed, within once sentence, the treatments are a “discredited practice” and a “discredited practice.”

But what is discredited are the long-discontinued practices of forced electric shocks and the like that had been used by America’s medical industry in years gone by.

The therapy now involves only talk, and that has been affirmed in some federal courts across the U.S. (Read more from “Dems: Helping People With Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions Is Criminal” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

US Attempting to Force Acceptance of Perversion on Yet Another Country, This Time Japan

/0 Comments/in , /by

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday said he has “full confidence” that the Japanese government will take the necessary steps to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Sexual minorities have been campaigning for the government to adopt an anti-discrimination law after an aide to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters he wouldn’t want to live next to LGBTQ people and that citizens would flee Japan if same-sex marriages were allowed. Kishida quickly fired the aide, Masayoshi Arai.

Activists are urging the government to enact anti-discrimination legislation before Japan hosts a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Hiroshima in May. Japan is the only G-7 member that has not recognized same-sex marriage or enacted an anti-discrimination law for sexual minorities.

“I have full confidence based on the swiftness of the prime minister’s actions,” Emanuel said at a news conference. (Read more from “US Attempting to Force Acceptance of Perversion on Yet Another Country, This Time Japan” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Same-Sex Marriages to Receive Blessings in the Church of England

/0 Comments/in , /by

Same-sex marriages will receive “prayers for God’s blessing” for the first time in the Church of England following a vote at the General Synod, the legislative body of the established church of England.

On Thursday, the three houses of the Synod voted in favour of officially recognising gay marriages for the first time, with priests now being empowered to give their blessings to such unions.

The vote was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Bishops, which supported the measure by a margin of 36 to four, with two members of the house abstaining from the vote. However, the issue was far more contested amongst the lower houses of the Synod, with the House of Clergy backing the measure by a vote of 111 to 85, with three abstentions, and by the House of Laity which supported the move by a margin of 103 to 92, with five abstaining members.

In a joint statement, the two most senior bishops in the Church, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York said: “It has been a long road to get us to this point.

(Read more from “Same-Sex Marriages to Receive Blessings in the Church of England” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Senate Marriage Bill Could Complicate Democrats’ ‘MAGA’ Supreme Court Attacks

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Senate could pass legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas welcomed legal challenges to substantive due process precedents similar to Roe v. Wade.

The measure, improbable this time last year, has been embraced by Democrats. But the Respect for Marriage Act could have unintended consequences before November’s midterm elections after Democrats, such as President Joe Biden, campaigned on Thomas’s concurring opinion as an example of extreme “MAGA” Republicans. The majority opinion argues that the abortion ruling has no implications for the other precedents.

One Democrat, Colby College visiting politics instructor and former candidate Sandy Maisel, contended the best political outcome for his party could be for fewer than 10 Senate Republicans to support the marriage legislation. That would ensure the measure does not overcome the chamber’s filibuster rules, and it would remain a potent campaign issue.

“However, I think that the primary sponsors, and I also think [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, honestly want it to pass as a way to prevent further erosion of women’s rights by the Supreme Court,” Maisel told the Washington Examiner. (Read more from “Senate Marriage Bill Could Complicate Democrats’ ‘MAGA’ Supreme Court Attacks” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Christian Family Adoption Agency Not Required to Offer Services to Unmarried or Same-Sex Couples: Judge

/0 Comments/in , /by

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a New York-based Christian family services agency won’t have to provide adoption services to unmarried or same-sex couples.

New Hope Family Services — a 60-year-old nonprofit adoption and temporary-foster-placement agency and pregnancy resource center in Syracuse — filed a federal lawsuit against the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in 2018 after officials told the faith-based agency to revise its “discriminatory and impermissible” policy or shut down the adoption program.

U.S. District Court Judge Mae A. D’Agostino in Albany wrote that New Hope succeeded on the merits of its First Amendment claim against the state.

New Hope Family Services Executive Director Kathy Jerman said every child deserves a home with a “loving mother and father who are committed to each other.”

“It’s regrettable that New York ever threatened to shut down our adoption services, through which we have placed more than 1,000 children with adoptive families since we began as an adoption agency in 1965,” Jerman said. “We live in a diverse state, and we need more adoption providers, not fewer.” (Read more from “Christian Family Adoption Agency Not Required to Offer Services to Unmarried or Same-Sex Couples: Judge” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

House Dems Pass Same-Sex Marriage Protection Bill, Shore up Messaging for Midterm Campaigns

/0 Comments/in , /by

House Democrats on Tuesday passed a bill to codify same-sex marriage rights, calling it a preemptive strike against a conservative Supreme Court that they say won’t stop at overturning the nationwide right to abortion.

It is also the latest measure passed by House Democrats that has no chance of surviving the Senate but telegraphs the party’s values to voters.

The Respect for Marriage Act, which passed 267 to 157, would repeal a Clinton-era law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Forty-seven Republicans also approved the measure.

Gretchen Whitmer to veto funding for adoption alternatives, pro-life pregnancy centers
It follows several messaging bills that Democrats pushed through the House to demonstrate their priorities including legislation protecting abortion access and curbing access to guns.

“In the absence of the House acting, often nothing would occur,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “That, in fact, is the case with guns and, in fact, in so many other areas.” (Read more from “House Dems Pass Same-Sex Marriage Protection Bill, Shore up Messaging for Midterm Campaigns” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Appeals Court Rules Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ Unconstitutional

/0 Comments/in , /by

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that ordinances in Florida banning the licensed counseling of people with unwanted same-sex attractions are unconstitutional violations of the freedom of speech.

“We hold that the challenged ordinances violate the First Amendment because they are content-based regulations of speech that cannot survive strict scrutiny,” the ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

The decision was the first from a federal appeals court laws against so-called “conversion therapy” – a term rejected by proponents – since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. In NIFLA v. Becerra, the high court ruled the government cannot force an individual or organization to express a message chosen by the government.

The current case, Otto, et al v. City of Boca Raton, found that bans by Boca Raton and Palm Beach County violate the Constitution.

The case was fought by Liberty Counsel, which represents Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton and their minor clients. (Read more from “Appeals Court Rules Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ Unconstitutional” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

State Now Suing to Shut up Christian Speech

/0 Comments/in , /by

The state of California’s lawsuit against a Christian who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple on religious grounds is a frivolous case meant to chill the baker’s free-speech rights, contends a petition to dismiss the case.

WND reported last week a judge refused the state’s request for a temporary order to force Cathy Miller of Tastries Bakery either to provide her wedding-cake artistry to homosexual duos or quit the business entirely.

Superior Court Judge David Lampe rejected the state’s request, arguing the issue is over First Amendment free-speech rights, not discrimination. The judge said the state was asking the court “to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of a marital union her religion forbids.”

“For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment,” the judge said . . .

Now Tastries Bakery’s defense team, the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, is citing the state’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects individuals from lawsuits designed to silence them. (Read more from “State Now Suing to Shut up Christian Speech” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.