Thomas More Law Center to U.S. Supreme Court—Stop NY governor from dictating which religious beliefs are allowed

ANN ARBOR, MI — The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, representing over 400 Physicians, Surgeons, Nurses, and Medical Professionals, filed a brief last week in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing New York’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. From the beginning COVID-19 pandemic, these healthcare workers courageously manned the front lines. ​

Nevertheless, an ungrateful state government, which permits secular exemptions from the vaccine mandate, disallows any consideration for religious accommodations.  These healthcare workers share sincerely held religious beliefs that prevent them from obtaining the presently available COVID-19 vaccines.  Many have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies to the illness.  All have faced persecution and scorn for their religious beliefs on this issue.
 
Erin Mersino, TMLC’s Chief of Supreme Court and Appellate Practice authored the brief.  She highlighted the precarious position of New York’s Governor Hochul—who instructed New Yorkers that “God wants” everyone to use these vaccines, and that individuals who have decided not to undergo COVID-19 vaccination “aren't listening to God and what God wants.”  Governor Hochul published these statements on New York’s official state website. (https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/rush-transcript-governor-hochul-attends-service-christian-cultural-center).
 
Since the Governor claims to be the authority on what God wants, she removed all religious accommodations from the vaccine mandate.  However, many individuals sincerely hold religious beliefs that prohibit them from using the three COVID-19 vaccines on the market today and call for alternatives that have no connection to aborted fetal cell lines.  The Governor failed to consider the spectrum of diverse religious views allowed under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  The brief explains that such an exercise of authority from the State endangers the principle of pluralism upon which our nation is built and ignores our constitutionally protected autonomy to make such religious determinations for ourselves. TMLC explains in the brief that “The mandate is premised on the false presupposition that the Governor can use the powers of the State to answer theological questions pertaining to religious conscience.”

TMLC also highlights the unequal and punitive nature of New York’s mandate.  New York decided to exempt individuals from its vaccine mandate for secular purposes, but intentionally left off an exemption for a religious purpose.  TMLC contends this double standard violates the Constitution.  Lastly, the brief addresses New York’s decision to withhold unemployment benefits to healthcare workers who lose their jobs due to their religious opposition with New York’s mandate.  This additional punishment adds insult to injury.
 
In the brief, TMLC remarks, “The severity with which New York’s vaccine mandate treats religious objectors is so extreme that it almost seems implausible. The undisputed record, however, presents statement after statement from [New York’s Governor] establishing that no cause for such denial exists—it really is as bad as it seems.”
 
TMLC’s Amicus Curiae brief,  which urges the U.S. Supreme Court to accept the case at the earliest possible time to protect the religious freedom of New York’s healthcare workers and to prevent other states from enacting similar mandates, can be found here. 

SCOTUS nominee discussion

This week on Faith On Trial Kaisha Russell, a constitutional attorney with First Liberty, who last

week testified before the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Katanji Brown Jackson. You can listen to the entire program here:

https://www.iowacatholicradio.com/faith/episode/27e42343/scotus-confirmation-hearing-33122

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on several local radio stations as well as streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can also finds older programs that you may have missed.

Finland Eludes Fascist Label

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

Most Americans pay no attention to events in Finland, but what happened today merits their attention. A Helsinki court dropped all charges against two notable Christians for their alleged crime of voicing Christian beliefs.

Thus did Finland elude charges that it has become a fascist nation. No matter, the fact that charges were brought against Christians for being Christian is evidence of the war on Christianity in the West.

This ordeal started in June 2019 when Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhuna Pohjola were investigated for making Christian statements about marriage and sexuality that may have violated the law.

What triggered this case was an address that Räsänen made on Twitter questioning why the Lutheran Church leadership decided to be an official sponsor of the LGBT "Pride 2019" event.

An investigation followed and found that she had committed an earlier offense. In 2004, she wrote a pamphlet about marriage titled, "Male and Female He Created Them." The bishop was charged with publishing the booklet. A third charge against her was made after she appeared on a humorous radio talk show in 2019 and said, "What would Jesus think about homosexuals."

Räsänen was charged with three counts of "ethnic agitation" under a hate speech law; it prohibits threatening, defaming and insulting a certain group of people. Her crime? Articulating a Christian understanding of marriage and sexuality.

The prosecutor said the Bible was not on trial. He lied—it most certainly was. Even the judicial ruling said that "it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts."

The prosecutor never cited a single comment she made that could in any way be deemed hate speech. There were no slurs made against homosexuals, nor were there untoward remarks of any kind. His outrage was based solely on her willingness to offer a Biblical account of marriage and sexuality.

The prosecutor even admitted that Räsänen did not use "rude" language. But, he said, "she uses terms that are discriminatory and offensive. She portrays homosexuals as immoral and psychosexual broken."

What really irked the prosecutor were Biblical declarations citing homosexual acts as sinful. Here is how a reporter characterized comments made by the prosecutor in a court proceeding.

"According to the prosecutor, it is not innocent to say that homosexuality is a sin. On the contrary, it could be more serious saying that it is a sin than a crime (my italics)."

Perhaps the most morally offensive gambit tried by the prosecutor was the attempt to privatize freedom of religion. "Everybody has the freedom of religion and belief. Everybody may believe and think what he wants," he said. "But expressing all this has boundaries."

Similarly, "The court does not address the religious views of the Bible and homosexuality. It is addressing expression of these views."

So gracious of the prosecutor to say that everyone is free to "believe and think what he wants," something he is powerless to stop anyway. Moreover, to say someone can "believe and think what he wants" about the Bible, but is not free to express it, is a flagrant violation of freedom of speech and religion. Indeed, this is the mark of totalitarian regimes, not free societies.

"When one judges deeds," the prosecutor said, "the whole person is judged. Actions cannot be separated from identity because actions are part of identity. Understanding deeds as sin is derogatory."

This would mean that those who condemn adultery are making derogatory comments and could therefore be prosecuted under the hate crimes law.

The media cheered this attack on freedom of speech and religion.

Helsingin Sanomat is the largest newspaper in Finland. It showed its fascist colors last year it weighed in against the defendants. In an editorial, it said the real issue was not "an individual personal opinion," rather it was "society's long lasting cruel position against sexual minorities." It noted that "just a little time ago such opinions represented the mainline view in society."

So how have things worked out in Finland, now that it is proudly free of its Christian heritage? Are people still getting married at the same rate as before? Not at all. There were 30,557 marriages in 2010; in 2020 the figure was 22,082.

What about sexually transmitted diseases in libertine Finland? "In 2019," a report revealed, "the number of sexually transmitted diseases increased significantly." Small wonder why. According to the website Queer in the World, Finland is "one of the most progressive and gay-friendly countries in the world."

But there are problem nonetheless. Gay travelers who like to prey on men in saunas should know that "there is only one explicitly gay sauna in Helsinki and overtures in traditional saunas will not go down well."

This is what happens when Christianity collapses: radical individualism reigns supreme, and with it come assaults on religion and the creation of a morally debased society.

The International Lutheran Church called the decision to prosecute Räsänen and Pohjola "egregious." Too bad it didn't say the same about the decision of the Finnish Lutheran Church to herald "Gay Pride" events, the proximate cause of this unseemly episode in the first place.

This week on FOT: The confirmation debate over Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Keisha Russell

Keisha Russell is a constitutional attorney with First Liberty Institute who recently testified before the United States Senate on the pending nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States. Keisha will be joining Deacon Mike and Gina this Thursday to discuss that nomination and what Judge Jackson’s confirmation might mean for the court and other issues that are of interest to us. A vote on confirmation is tentatively scheduled for next week so you still will have time to contact your senators to let them know how you feel.

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio and is heard on four central Iowa stations and is streamed on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can listen from anywhere and review older programs.

DeSantis Stands For Parental Rights

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earned the admiration of fathers and mothers when he signed the Parental Rights in Education bill. Their rights have been slipping away, not only in Florida but throughout the nation, as sex-crazed activists, school administrators and teachers have sought to supplant them, making unauthorized and damaging decisions affecting their children.

Most people have never read the bill. If they listened to those branding it the "Don't Say Gay" bill, they would think it is a hate speech bill. This is a total lie.

To begin with, the following terms never appear in the legislation: heterosexual, homosexual, straight, gay, bisexual, intersex, non-binary and transgender (the last three categories are a fiction—they don't exist in real life). The bill is about parental rights. It is also about protecting children from sexual engineers, namely those who treat kids as though they were a toy that they can play with to further their own agenda.

Here are some of the highlights of the bill:

School district school boards must "reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in a specified manner."

School district personnel are prohibited from "discouraging or prohibiting parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student's mental, emotional, or physical well-being."

School district personnel are prohibited from "classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in specified manner."

"Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."

Who could possibly object to these standards of common sense and common decency? (Most of the following comments were made prior to the bill's passage.)

President Biden called the bill "hateful." Disney said it "should never have passed and should never have been signed into law." Oscar hosts slammed it, jumping and screaming, "gay, gay, gay."

Ana Navarro whined that "the message it sends is a very chilling one for LGBTQ families." Whoopi Goldberg said the bill is "shaming" queers and "punishing" teachers. Andy Cohen labeled it "one big dog whistle" that is "scaring people into spewing hate and discrimination at the LGBTQ community."

Gay rights groups are just as irresponsible.

The Human Rights Campaign complained that "LGBTQ+ students may wonder if they're allowed to even acknowledge their own sexuality or gender identity." Nadine Smith from Equality Florida charged that DeSantis "attacked parents and children in our state by invoking hateful anti-LGBTQ stereotypes."

Lambda Legal blasted the bill for giving "the 'green light' to teach intolerance, allow harassment, and fail to confront violence against LGBTQ+ youth and their families."

An editorial in the Washington Post said proponents of the bill "invoke the bogeyman of school systems infringing on 'parental rights,' arguing that such conversations should be led by parents and families."

Kara Swisher, a New York Times opinion writer, said, "Let's call it what it is, trans- and homophobia."

Robin Maril at Slate blamed insecure politicians who "rely on religiously based divisive messaging because it works. The theology of autocracy, meanwhile, uses the mantel of the church to promote nationalistic conformity while also channeling fear and anger toward communities that can't or won't conform."

This is the kind of hysteria we have come to expect from left-wing sources.

There is nothing "hateful" about the bill. It does not "shame" queers or "punish" teachers. Nor are LGBT parents and children in any way "attacked" by the legislation. The curriculum does not teach intolerance, never mind "fail to confront violence" against anyone. Nor is there anything "phobic" about the bill. And it certainly has nothing to do with promoting the "theology of autocracy," whatever that is.

Best of all is the Washington Post's mention of "parental rights." News Flash: There is nothing so-called about the rights of parents—they exist—and there is nothing debatable about contemporary assaults on them.

Kudos to Gov. DeSantis. He speaks for Americans way beyond Florida, including most practicing Catholics.

Leading opponent of Planned Parenthood Prays for “Blood Money” donor

FREDERICKSBURG, Va.—The American Life League has denounced the $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood by the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Hugh Brown, executive vice president of the American Life League, issued the following statement in response to Scott’s donation, which according to the abortion giant is the largest gift from a single donor in the organization’s history.

“The Bible tells us that ‘the world loves its own.’ MacKenzie Scott divorced Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, in 2019. Miss Scott has pledged to give away the billions she received in the divorce settlement. She has now donated $275 million dollars to Planned Parenthood. She gave her money to an organization that exists to murder children. She gave her money to an organization that slaughters 320,000 babies every year through surgical and chemical abortions. She gave her money to a racist organization that disproportionally murders more black babies every year than it does white babies, by design.

“Planned Parenthood has nothing to do with parenthood, other than ensuring that mothers never have a chance to parent the babies who are murdered in its slaughterhouses. …

“We pray for her conversion to the beauty and truth of human life and the Holy Spirit would touch her heart to do good in the eyes of the Lord, and not evil in satisfying the needs of the world. Mother Theresa said, ‘The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.’ We pray for the intercession of Saint Mother Theresa this Lent for the conversion of Mackenzie Scott.”

The American Life League has been part of the pro-life abortion debate from its inception. Since 1979, it has been committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation. For more information visit all.org.

Truck of horrors

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – I remember as a kid many of us would wait expectantly for the regular visit from the ice cream man. As soon as we heard the bells from the truck, and sometimes the music it was playing, we would stop what we were doing and run to the front yard and wave the truck down.

Of course that was back in the day when it was safe to play outdoors all day, with our only curfew being when the street lights were lit, and our main concern was how many nickels and dimes were in our pockets so we might be able to get the really big bar.

Unfortunately, many of those trucks have been retired now, and one of the reasons the trucks went idle had to do with safety and questions of liability — once again my profession put the kibosh on our childhood fun.

Anyway, for the most part those trucks are gone, leaving us with only pleasant memories of the care-free times when they made life a little more fun for our friends and ourselves.

But wait, those times may be back. Down in Texas, Planned Parenthood is bringing them back, at least one: a spiffy spanking white model trimmed in pink and blue (turquoise actually), hawking not ice cream but condoms. (Photo below.)

In an attempt to promote the truck, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson, tweeted a picture of the truck with the message: “Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for abortion rights,” and “bans off our bodies,” apparently in reference to the new state law banning some abortions. Nice messages for kids, aren’t they?

The truck was reportedly featured prominently at a large Texas music festival, a venue that hosted families as well as children.

The tweet also listed where the truck was and invited everyone to “stop by to grab some free Bans Off swag, condoms, and education on the cold-hearted policies of the Texas legislature.” Of course there was no message about whether or not the truck really had ice cream or if the little tots — at least those who hadn’t met the abortionist’s tools yet — were even welcome.

But Johnson’s tweet might not have had the intended effect. One of the first replies to her tweet said: “I’m very pro-choice . . . but this is pretty f*ed up,” and another, “S**t like this is why I’m no longer pro-choice.” And another, “I’m confused. Like, are kids supposed to get excited about abortions in the same way they get excited about ice cream? That can’t be it, can it? Surely we can all agree that this is off the rails, right?”

One person who also does not agree with Ms. Johnson is Hugh Brown, executive vice president of the American Life League: He called the whole episode “perverse.”
“The ice cream truck evokes fond memories of children, but Planned Parenthood is using it to prey upon children by using something that was clearly intended for children,” he said in a phone interview.

Continuing, “Planned Parenthood has done a masterful job of deceiving people into thinking that it is helping families — instead they are targeting children. This is its business model. And the result is the killing of 330,000 children a year — the size of the city of Pittsburgh.”

Of course he’s right. An ice cream truck peddling condoms and the Progressive Left’s idea of reproductive rights to children is beyond the pale.

But this, of course, is not the first time the traffickers of fetal death have used innocent children to spread their evil agenda. Well known is the Planned Parenthood push for sex education in all public school classrooms: sexualizing students about the different forms of sex, how to use birth control devices, and how to secure an abortion secretly.

“Today’s sex ed lessons can be highly manipulative — carefully designed to get children to approve of the concept of sexual rights and fluid sexual ‘identities,’ and to reject their religious beliefs, the authority of their parents, and even physical reality itself,” said Cathy Ruse, a Family Research Council senior fellow who was the author of a FRC report on the subject in mid-2020 and a former guest on our radio program discussing this same topic.

In that report, Ruse reported that in Austin, Texas, the sex ed curriculum teaches pre-pubescent children about vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse, and in some Indiana schools students are taught how to shop for condoms and to compare prices and brands. Additionally, she reported, a YouTube star with ties to Planned Parenthood created a video shown in Virginia schools about the use of sex toys and self-pleasure.

The American Life League’s Brown, in reference to Planned Parenthood, said, “We’re living in a world going through evil times and this is an evil organization.”

Unfortunately this is all too common today. Yet where is the outrage? For too many, including Catholics, Planned Parenthood is simply a legal business doing something that, while we may not like it, we won’t interrupt our lives to try to stop it.

Planned Parenthood, instead of becoming the pariah that it should be, has been welcomed into our civic and business communities as simply supporting another way of living, and those who work for it are considered just hard-working folks just pursuing a trade, a way to support their families.

But they do so with blood money. They are butchering and killing children and warping the minds of those kids they have missed in utero. The ice cream/condom truck is just another demonstration of how clearly perverse these people are.

Speak now or watch as your children lose their souls. Ask your priests and bishops to do the same. Otherwise the life you lose will be your child’s.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

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Judge Jackson Should Not be Confirmed to the Supreme Court - The Stream

Judge Jackson Should Not be Confirmed to the Supreme Court - The Stream: As an American of African descent and a great grandson of slaves, I am certainly not opposed to the appointment of a black woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

This week’s Faith On Trial: Planned Parenthood’s ice cream condom truck

On this week’s program Deacon Mike and Gina discuss Planned Parenthood’s condom give-away using an ice cream truck, among other topics. You can hear the program here:

https://www.iowacatholicradio.com/faith/episode/2ec165d0/ice-cream-truck-32422

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday mornings at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio on several central Iowa stations as well as streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com.

Next week's guest, Keisha Russell, testifies before the Senate against the confirmation of Judge Ketenji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

First Liberty attorney Keisha Russell, next week’s Faith On Trial guest, testifies Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the nomination of President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketenji Brown Jackson. Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio.

Supreme Court protects prayer in death chamber

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has just protected the right of pastors to pray over the condemned in the execution chamber. In Ramirez v. Collier, John Henry Ramirez asked the Court to allow his spiritual advisor—a Southern Baptist pastor—to pray over him in the execution chamber, including laying hands on him. Becket filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is required to allow prisoners the right to meaningful clergy access in their final moments. This morning the Supreme Court agreed with Becket’s argument. Becket’s brief, which was co-authored by Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and the Harvard Law School Religious Freedom Clinic headed by Professor Josh McDaniel, was cited extensively by Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion for the Court to explain the “rich history of clerical prayer at the time of a prisoner’s execution, dating back well before the founding of our Nation.”

“Even the condemned have a right to get right with God,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president & senior counsel at Becket. “The Supreme Court correctly recognized that allowing clergy to minister to the condemned in their last moments stands squarely within a history stretching back to George Washington and before. That tradition matters.”

Prior to 2019, Texas’ policy allowed Christian and Muslim clergy into the death chamber. In 2019, TDCJ denied prisoner Patrick Murphy’s request that his Buddhist priest be allowed into the execution chamber, but after Becket filed a friend-of-the-court brief, the Supreme Court halted the execution. TDCJ responded by blocking clergy of all faiths from the execution chamber. After another Supreme Court ruling in favor of a second prisoner supported by Becket, TDCJ changed course again, allowing clergy to be in the execution chamber, but prohibiting any spoken prayer or slight contact with the inmate. Today’s ruling said that TDCJ’s policy of silencing clergy runs afoul of federal civil rights law.

As Becket’s brief showed in detail, TDCJ’s ban on pastors praying aloud for the condemned or laying hands on them runs contrary to centuries of religious practice, and even TDCJ’s own practices until 2019.

Coauthor Prof. McConnell is a frequent advocate before the Supreme Court, a professor of law at Stanford Law School, the head of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, and a former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The Harvard Law School Religious Freedom Clinic, founded in Fall 2020, gives law students hands-on experience providing pro bono legal services in matters addressing many different religious practices.

Heritage President: Senators Must Reject Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON—Heritage President Kevin Roberts released the following statement Thursday upon the conclusion of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing: 

“Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing made clear that she cannot be trusted to uphold the law and follow the Constitution as a Supreme Court justice. Plain and simple, she is unqualified to serve on the court.   

“Throughout the hearing, conservative senators exposed her atrocious record and views on issues like crime, immigration, and critical race theory. Her answers were appalling and, at times, downright disturbing. It should deeply trouble all Americans that a judge who wishes to sit on our highest court continues to defend her alarming track record of light sentences for child sex offenders.   

“In one of the most absurd moments at her hearing, Jackson even refused to define what a woman is because ‘she isn’t a biologist.’ Her answer exposes Jackson as, at best, unwilling to challenge the radical, anti-truth ideology of the left, and, at worst, sympathetic to it. That ideology is poisoning our legal system, government, and culture, and deserves no support from the Supreme Court.  

“Americans deserve a judge who will follow and uphold the law. Jackson has shown that she would do the opposite. At a time when Americans are increasingly concerned about the rule of law and the safety of our children, a vote for Jackson would signal that our leaders couldn’t care less. Senators must reject her confirmation.” 

 

First Liberty Attorney and FOT guest to testify at Supreme Court nomination hearings

First Liberty attorney and Faith On Trial guest Keisha Russell will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing.

Keisha Russell

President Biden nominated Judge Jackson to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Only a select few organizations and experts in our country are called to be a part of the confirmation process for a Supreme Court justice, and First Liberty will have an incredible opportunity to be a voice for freedom and the rule of law.

Keisha has been called as an expert witness to explain why it’s essential for a Supreme Court justice to uphold the rule of law and interpret the Constitution according to its original meaning. She will emphasize that judges must adhere to principle—not personal preference, politics, or ideology—when issuing decisions affecting religious liberty and other core freedoms.

Keisha is our scheduled guest for next week’s Faith On Trial program, Thursday at 9:30 a.m. CT on Iowa Catholic Radio. She is scheduled to discuss the the nomination of Judge Brown to the United States Supreme Court.

Ninth Circuit rules in favor of Church

SAN FRANCISCO – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that a city plan prohibiting churches from ground-floor occupancy of buildings in a three-block area of Salinas’ downtown special zone violates federal law.  

New Harvest Christian Fellowship had rented space along Main Street in the City of Salinas for over 25 years, and its growing congregation prompted church leaders to recognize the need for a larger facility to accommodate ministry needs. The Church purchased the Beverly building, a larger building in the downtown corridor, and filed an application with the City for an amendment to the zoning code and a conditional use permit. The City Council rejected the application, finding that churches do not contribute to a “vibrant” and “fun” pedestrian-oriented atmosphere and therefore may be excluded from Salinas’ downtown area.
 
Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) filed suit on behalf of New Harvest in federal court to challenge the City’s downtown plan and identify many similar categories of gatherings that are allowed under the local ordinance while excluding houses of worship. The facts of the case showed that these preferred assembly uses are located in the three-block area: two cinemas, a children’s theatre, and a multi-use facility which holds events such as comedy and music performances, weddings, quinceañeras, and business conferences. 
 
The lawsuit was filed under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in 2019. When the district court ruled against the Church last year, PJI appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit, where Kevin Snider, Chief Counsel for PJI, argued the case before a three-judge panel.
 
“This church did not seek special consideration, but simply asked for equal treatment,” stated Kevin Snider. “Too often the faithful are unfairly pushed out of prime zones by city officials and find themselves on the outside looking in.”
 
Pastor Ignacio Torres of New Harvest explained, “Someone once said, ‘Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.’ When God spoke to me to buy the Beverly building, many individuals didn’t understand the reasoning behind New Harvest buying a building it couldn’t use.”
 
“PJI uniquely stands ready to defend churches, like this one, that simply could not defend themselves.”, said Attorney Brad Dacus, President of PJI. “With offices now coast-to-coast in 17 states, we will continue to work to represent, without charge, churches who wish to follow their holy calling even if hostile, intolerant cities vigorously attempt to thwart such callings.”
 
Pastor Torres stated, “Today once again God has demonstrated His faithfulness. I will always be extremely grateful to PJI for defending the religious freedom of people and churches.”

The ice cream truck of condoms … this week on Faith On Trial

Remember when you were a kid how excited you were when you heard the sound of the ice cream truck in your neighborhood? Well, Planned Parenthood has a new take on that: an ice cream truck that dispenses condoms … that’s right, no ice cream just condoms. And they use the phrase “I scream, you scream, we all scream for abortion rights.” Isn’t that nice?

Hugh Brown

To discuss this latest abortion promo with us Thursday will be Hugh Brown, executive vice president of the American Life League. So join Deacon Mike and Gina for what will undoubtedly be a lively conversation this Thursday at 9:30 CT.

Faith On Trial is heard every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines, 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, and streams on IowaCatholicRadio.com where you can hear this program and any that you may have missed. 

Planned Parenthood's Condom Truck 

A popular lie is still a lie

 

By Judie Brown, American Life League Thomas Sowell recently tweeted: “Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has if you count the tail as a leg. When they answered ‘five,’ Lincoln told them that the answer was four. The fact that you called the tail a leg did not make it a leg.” I cannot help but draw a comparison between the response Lincoln got from his audience and the equally inane comment Speaker Pelosi made when she claimed that America’s pro-abortion president has a “deep Catholic faith.” Her comment is the height of ignorance—or perhaps arrogance. Regardless of which state of mind you attribute to Pelosi, the statement itself invites us to wonder what in the world is wrong with a hierarchy that refuses to set the record straight for the millions of Catholics in America who need to hear the truth stated without apology. The fact that the Catholic bishops ignore Pelosi is egregious, and doing so aids and abets the enemy of life—the father of lies. Yet into this sad reality come heroic bishops who utter profound words brimming with God’s truth. I am thinking of Archbishop Samuel Aquila who said in his testimony against the Colorado House Bill HB22-1279 Reproductive Health Equity Act: “When an abortion is performed, we proclaim that we know better than God. We disregard his wisdom, for he taught us that we should never kill innocent human beings. We proclaim that we do not want or need a gift from God. And in doing so, we seek to make ourselves more powerful than God. We seek to make ourselves God.” As is the case with the Pelosi lie, Colorado HB22-1279 ignores science, common sense, and God in order to support the lethal ideology of the culture of death. One needs not look far beyond her arrogance to see that the results of what St. John Paul II defined as the culture of death are coming to fruition. In view of this rising tide of disdain for human beings, St. John Paul urgedthe faithful: “In this great endeavor to create a new culture of life we are inspired and sustained by the confidence that comes from knowing that the Gospel of life, like the Kingdom of God itself, is growing and producing abundant fruit (cf. Mk 4:26-29). There is certainly an enormous disparity between the powerful resources available to the forces promoting the ‘culture of death’ and the means at the disposal of those working for a ‘culture of life and love.’ But we know that we can rely on the help of God, for whom nothing is impossible (cf. Mt 19:26).” Yet in our day and age, even most Catholics fall for the fraudulent propositions of those opposed to truth. One might think that for them, as for the population at large, morally criminal acts that kill people are in some cases necessary and no longer considered to be against any law—whether man’s or God’s. Oh what a tragic mistake they are making! Choosing life over death, you see, is not a merely a matter of saving the innocent from imposed death; it is also an act that can determine the destiny of one’s soul. Again, I defer to St. John Paul, who reminded usthat each human being is given the free will to choose either life or death: Redemption nevertheless remains an offer of salvation which it is up to people to accept freely. This is why they will all be judged “by what they [have done]” (Rv 20:13). By using images, the New Testament presents the place destined for evildoers as a fiery furnace, where people will “weep and gnash their teeth” (Mt 13:42; cf. 25:30, 41), or like Gehenna with its “unquenchable fire” (Mk 9:43). All this is narrated in the parable of the rich man, which explains that hell is a place of eternal suffering, with no possibility of return, nor of the alleviation of pain. Given such high stakes in any decision to condone killing, one is left wondering why so many refuse to accept the truth that dogs have four legs and a pregnant mother is a mother with child.

Child abuse and parental abuse in the schools

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

Three weeks ago today, I sent a letter to Donna Orem, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), asking her to validate a story about the organization that was published by Breitbart, an internet media outlet; copies were sent to members of the board of trustees. She has not replied, thus I am going public with my concerns. 

NAIS is the national accreditation association for private schools across the country. In my letter I refer to its "queer-inclusive curriculum," one which constitutes manipulative and highly objectionable fare. Moreover, it does so in secrecy, intentionally shielding parents from its contents. Many Catholic parents who send their children to a private non-sectarian school would be horrified to learn what the curriculum entails, as would non-Catholic parents.

At a NAIS conference in 2020, a staff member explained to teachers in a training session what children will be taught.

"Starting in Pre-K we talk about their bodies, the parts that they were born with, about penises and vaginas and whether they make somebody a boy or a girl. But also their feelings, what do they feel like inside, do they feel like a boy or a girl? What does their head say? Do their heart and their body match up?" Vocabulary lessons include words such as "the vulva and the labia."

After leading these children to question their status as a boy or a girl, the schools will then proceed to encourage those who are in rebellion against their nature. "Students ready to socially transition may initiate a process to change their name, pronoun, attire, and access to preferred activities and facilities," the latter meaning locker rooms and bathrooms.

Books that students can access in their library may include Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. It includes illustrations of boys performing oral sex.

All of this is to be done behind the back of parents. Worse, their children may be expelled from school if parents voice "strong disagreement" with the curriculum. To top things off, teachers are being instructed how to deal with "puritan" parents who object. The condescending attitude is typical of educational elites.

"Puritan Speak" includes phrases such as "That's my job." "They're just not ready." "They're too young to know that." "Won't they lose their innocence?" "But, what if my child is not ready?" "You're just trying to put ideas in their heads." There is nothing "puritan" about these concerns—they are merely expressions of responsible parents. 

What these educators are doing to children is child abuse. What they are doing to parents is parental abuse. This is not sex education: it is sexual engineering, and it is violative of the rights of mothers and fathers.

If there is one good thing that the pandemic yielded, it is the extent to which unsuspecting parents have learned just how morally debased some teachers and administrators have become. The pushback must continue.

 

Why Are Ex-Gays (and Ex-Trans) So Dangerous? - The Stream

Why Are Ex-Gays (and Ex-Trans) So Dangerous? - The Stream: The very existence of ex-gay and ex-trans individuals challenges the foundational assumption that people are born gay or trans.

The Via Dolorosa

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – As I watch the world around me, mankind seems to be tripping from one crisis to another. There is a war in Europe which we seem unable to deal with, soaring inflation the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades, and an aggressive effort by our governmental leaders and their political allies to attack the Church, its doctrines, teachings, and even how Christians practice their faith.

And so it is probably prudent to take a rest from the ongoing travails of ordinary life in today’s America and experience a spiritual respite and embrace the spiritual during this Lenten season. We have a little ways to go yet before we celebrate the Resurrection, a feat which should really tell us who is in charge and remind us that without a Good Friday there would be no Easter.

Most folks think of Lent as that time where we need to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays – actually for our younger readers, it used to be every Friday (ugh) not just in Lent. But it is a time of penitence and self-reflection, a time when we should take stock of ourselves and understand what happened two thousand years ago in a remote outpost of the Roman Empire.

Since that time the faithful have found numerous ways to mark the anniversary of the Passion. Two that are popular in the United States today are fish fries and the Stations of the Cross. Fish fries are nice (thank you, Knights of Columbus), but a better and more prayerful remembrance is the Stations of the Cross which, at least in my locale, draw a much smaller crowd than the fish fries.

Several years ago for another project, I did a little research on the history and development of the devotion. Here’s a bit of what I found:

While popular today, the devotion took centuries to evolve into the 14 representations of Jesus’ path to Calvary that we know today.

The origin of the devotion goes back to the early Christians in the Holy Land that first memorialized Christ’s Passion by retracing His steps. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds since in the AD 70s the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and early pilgrims could only guess at the true locations of the first Good Friday events. But they did congregate at Pilate’s praetorium where Christ was sentenced to death and later at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher erected by Constantine in 335. Early steps (they weren’t called “stations” until 1462) contained as few as seven points of devotions.

In the fifth century, as the devotion grew when pilgrims began bringing back relics from the Holy Land, St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna, built a series of chapels which reproduced some of the more important shrines in the Holy Land, including several of what we now call stations.

In 1342 the Franciscans were given the responsibility as protectors of the shrines in the Holy Land and pilgrims were given indulgences for visiting Pilate’s house, the place where Jesus met His Mother, where He met Simon of Cyrene, where He was stripped of His garments, where He was nailed to the cross and His tomb.

In 1462 an English pilgrim, William Wey, coined the term “stations” and numbered them at 14; however, only five corresponded to the ones used today. He also turned the stations around, beginning with Christ’s condemnation and ending at the tomb, prior to the time pilgrims followed the path in reverse.

When the Muslim Turks blocked access to the Holy Land, reproductions of the stations were erected by the Franciscans; the number of stations varied between seven and 30, although seven stations was the most popular number.

In 1686 the stations moved indoors when Pope Innocent XI granted the Franciscans the right to erect stations in their churches and granted indulgences to those affiliated with the Franciscans the same as if they had traveled to the Holy Land. In 1726 Pope Benedict XIII extended the indulgences to all — more about the current indulgence below.

In 1731 Pope Clement XII allowed the stations to be erected in all churches, provided that a Franciscan erected them, and fixed the number at 14.

In 1851 under Pius IX, the bishops of England were authorized to permit the erection of stations in churches not affiliated with the Franciscans, and in 1862 Pius expanded that permission to all churches. During the nineteenth century, the question arose as to which side of the church the stations should begin. In 1837 the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, while not taking sides on the issue, suggested that beginning on the side where the Gospel is read was the most appropriate.

Of the current 14 stations used today, the three stations representing Jesus falling, Jesus meeting His Mother, and Veronica wiping Jesus’ face have no scriptural foundation. In recent times some have added a fifteenth station: Jesus is raised from the dead.

A plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, sacramental Confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, is still granted to the faithful who devoutly attend a public presentation of the Stations of the Cross. One other condition is that the congregation must move from station to station with the person leading the devotion; however, if that is not possible “it is sufficient that the person who is leading the exercise move from station to station while the others remain in their places” (Handbook of Indulgences 63, 4).

So as we move through Lent, let’s realize that there is more to it than meatless Fridays and fish fries. Reconnect, if you can, to your parishes’ remembrance of the Road to Calvary, the Via Dolorosa. If you do, I think that the fried fish the Knights serve up will taste a bit better.

And, by the way, Friday March 25 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. As it is a solemnity, you are dispensed from your obligation to abstain from meat that day. Stations first, then enjoy your Friday steak dinner.

Pray for Ukraine.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

  

Look who's cheering for affirmative action

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

When I was a professor, I told my colleagues how phony they were in supporting affirmative action. None of them were in favor of it when they had a friend or lover who was interested in a faculty opening—it was only when they didn't have someone to plug that they played the game. They didn't disagree. 

Nothing has changed since, only today we have the specter of high-ranking white men insisting that more women and minorities be hired. It becomes even more hypocritical when this pitch is made on the eve of their retirement. 

The latest phony is David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States. On March 14, he urged the Biden administration not to hire a white guy to replace him. "That's advice I've given to the White House already: that you better not hire another white male...We've had ten white males.'' 

Ferriero will retire in mid-April. If he had any integrity he would never have taken the job in 2009. He knew then that all the previous U.S. National Archivists were white guys, so he should have dropped out in favor of someone who did not share his anatomy or race.

 He had another chance to quit on January 13, 2022, the day he announced his retirement. But he didn't. To make amends, he should now declare that he will not take a dime from his pension fund, and should instead redistribute his earnings to those women and minorities whom he deliberately passed over for employment. There are quite a few of them. 

Dannielle Blumenthal worked at the National Archives for several years while Ferriero was the head honcho. She claims the workplace is "a very structurally racist place (her emphasis)." She ridicules him for his latest virtue-signaling scheme, namely his decision to launch The Archivists' Task Force on Racism. The "Report to the Archivist," released April 20, 2021, is chock-a-block full of all the right code words, "diversity" and "inclusion." Truth to tell, it amounts to nothing but a hill of beans. 

As to be expected, the report begins by paying homage to George Floyd, the ex-con drug addict who died following an altercation with a Minneapolis cop after resisting arrest. Then it gets serious, noting a "preponderance" of blacks and other minorities in "lower-status jobs." It also notes "the preponderance of White people in higher-paying, higher-status jobs." 

This kind of systemic racism happened on Ferriero's watch, and indeed he must bear at least some of the blame for it. Why didn't he do anything about it? According to Blumenthal, under Ferriero, "racism was built in to the leadership structure. Everyone (or most people) in power were Caucasian." 

Ferriero is hardly a freak. We recently published an analysis of ten major corporations, ranging from Goldman Sachs to Walmart, assessing their commitment to diversity and comparing it to their actual track record of hiring minorities. All ten have a lousy history of making good on their much-vaunted interest in hiring blacks, Hispanics and Asians. The ruling class is a white boys' paradise. 

When I taught sociology at La Roche College in Pittsburgh (now a university), a left-wing professor of English, who was recently hired, cornered me in the parking lot on a Friday afternoon. He said one of his students was making the case against affirmative action, prompting him to ask if she had been taking my classes. Sure enough she was. 

He smiled, self-assuredly, and walked away. I stopped him. "You have a moral obligation to resign immediately," I said. But why, he asked. "Because you took a job from a black person," I responded. His retort was priceless. "I thought I got the job because I was the best person who applied." To which I said, "That's my position—not yours." 

The problem with liberals is that they are quick to offer an ethical checklist for others, but always find a way not to apply it to themselves. For example, they love to write about climate change while preparing a speech aboard their private jet. They love to give talks about gun control while their armed bodyguards stand nearby. They love to condemn the construction of a wall on our southern border while living securely in their gated community. 

The David Ferrieros of this world pat themselves on the back for establishing blue-ribbon committees on racial equality, and then doing nothing about it. They hope no one notices. We do. Now you do as well.