Marriage
The Court of Appeal has today ruled that it was lawful for a Christian non-executive NHS director and magistrate to be sacked for expressing in the media that children do best when raised by a mother and a father.
Mr Richard Page, 74, from Kent, was suspended from the magistracy and forced out of a role at an NHS Trust, after explaining on television that he had been discriminated against for his Christian beliefs on parenting while presiding over an adoption case.
After a six-year legal battle seeking justice against the decisions to remove him, today’s judgment has instead taken a significant step in developing further limitations on freedom of speech for Christians in the workplace.
Mr Page now intends to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
‘Views might cause offence’
In his judgment on Mr Page’s claim against NHS Improvement, Lord Justice Underhill stated that:
“The extent to which it is legitimate to expect a person holding a senior role in a public body to refrain from expressing views which may upset a section of the public is a delicate question.”
He recognised that Mr Page “had a particular interest in expressing publicly his views about same-sex adoption in the context of his removal as a magistrate, which was a legitimate matter of public debate” and that he expressed his views ‘temperately’ in the media.
However, he judged that Mr Page’s views on same sex-marriage and ‘homosexual activity’, might cause ‘offence’.
The ruling suggested, for example, that Mr Page should have “declined to answer” Piers Morgan’s questions on his beliefs during an interview on Good Morning Britain in 2016.
Mr Morgan’s treatment of Mr Page during the interview led to 70 complaints to Ofcom.
However, it was ruled that Mr Page’s responses to Piers Morgan’s questions justified his removal from his financial role in the NHS, as they might inadvertently “deter mentally ill gay people in the Trust’s catchment area from engaging with its services.”
Lawyers representing Mr Page had argued at the hearing in November 2020 that upholding his removal on these grounds would force Christians holding traditional views about sexual morality into silence, making it almost impossible for them to hold any kind of public office.
Concluding his judgment however, Lord Justice Underhill stated that, “the issue raised by this case is not about what beliefs such a person holds but about the limits on their public expression.”
He added that:
“the freedom to express religious or any other beliefs cannot be unlimited. In particular, so far as the present case is concerned, there are circumstances in which it is right to expect Christians (and others) who work for an institution, especially if they hold a high-profile position, to accept some limitations on how they express in public their beliefs on matters of particular sensitivity.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “This is the first time the Court of Appeal has endorsed the perverse distinction between unlawful discrimination for Christian beliefs and lawfully dismissing someone for offending an LGBT audience by expressing those beliefs.
“This is simply an artificial way to exclude Christian beliefs from the protection of the law. Nobody would get away with applying a similar distinction to any other protected characteristic. You would not get away with dismissing a homosexual for coming out as a homosexual, and then saying: “we duly respect your sexual orientation as long as you keep it to yourself”. This is an unfair and chilling decision, and the Supreme Court should put it right.
“The judgment sends a direct message to Christian public servants that if they allow their beliefs to influence their decision-making while in public office, they must self-censor and be silent, and are ultimately unfit for that office. If they express their beliefs in private to colleagues, they will be reprimanded, and if they then state those beliefs to the media, they will be sacked and will have their lives torn apart.
“The idea that you can remove a director from the NHS based on a perception that members of the LGBT community may be offended by something he said in the media, is extraordinary and should concern us all.
“This ruling provides a green light for employers to punish Christian employees who do not fall in line with and unquestionably support LGBT ideology. We will continue to stand with Richard Page as he seeks justice. We will not stop until this wrong is put right.”
Responding to the outcome, Mr Page said: “This is another deeply concerning ruling from the courts against Christian freedoms, and I intend to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.”‘https://christianconcern.com/news/court-upholds-richard-pages-sacking-for-sharing-christian-views-on-family/
Church denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention are NOT found in the New Testament. Now SBC churches will sometimes say they are independent but if they were the following wouldn’t be an issue for a reading of Romans One answers most questions concerning creation, evolution and the sodomite, lesbian issues of today. However, in spite of God’s Word ‘Divisions over politics, race, sex abuse, and LGBTQ issues are roiling America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), ahead of a meeting of its executive committee this week.
On the agenda are two items reflecting those divisions: A recommendation that a church in Kennesaw, Georgia, be ousted from the SBC because it accepted LGBTQ people into church membership, contravening Southern Baptist doctrine; and a report by an executive committee task force criticizing the leader of the SBC’s public policy arm, the Rev. Russell Moore. Among the grievances against Moore: His outspoken criticism of Donald Trump during Trump’s 2016 election campaign and his presidency.
Jim Conrad, the pastor of Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, said he’s at peace with the likelihood that his church will be “disfellowshipped” by the executive committee during its meeting Monday and Tuesday.
But Conrad sees broader challenges for the SBC as its stances on various sensitive issues are questioned from inside and outside.’https://julieroys.com/baptists-divided/?mc_cid=26363a6f9d&mc_eid=b13d34ad49
I am an independent Baptist as the New Testament knows nothing else but independent churches. So, for those SBC folk that say they too are independent we read ‘On February 8, however, Towne View received a letter from Mike Lawson, chair of the SBC Credentials Committee, that the church’s case had been referred to the denomination’s Executive Committee in Nashville.‘ So much for independence!
‘That decision will purportedly be made at the Executive Committee’s scheduled meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 23). According to a member of the denomination staff who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity, Towne View’s fate is all but sealed.
“It’s about the bottom line, and that more churches than not in the Cobb County region would be against the acceptance of the LGBTQ community being members in their churches,” the staffer said.
Conrad said it is clear that he knows that he made the right decision, despite the loss of a third of his membership (and a third of his salary).’
Now, to top it all off the two sodomites who began all this have moved out of the area! The article continues by saying ‘The Reynolds, meanwhile, have left, moving out of the area for work reasons. John Reynolds, however, says: “We remain grateful for the experience of finding Towne View.” He said that like other groups who were once unwelcome in Baptist churches, the couple believes that “God is working in a very special way to open the door to the Baptist church community just a little wider.”’https://religionnews.com/2021/02/19/georgia-sbc-church-faces-banishment-for-accepting-lgbtq-members/
It isn’t God at work here but man as God’s Word is clear on the subject.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
I wasn’t surprised to read that ecumenical ‘Christian author and pastor Max Lucado, who holds biblical Christian views on marriage, issued an apology for “disrespecting” and “hurting” the LGBT community in his past sermons after the Washington National Cathedral was criticized for inviting him as a guest speaker.
“In 2004 I preached a sermon on the topic of same-sex marriage. I now see that, in that sermon, I was disrespectful. I was hurtful,” wrote Lucado, pastor of Oak Hills Church, a nondenominational Christian church in San Antonio, Texas, in a letter last week to the Episcopal Church’s Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Paul in the City and the Diocese of Washington, also known as the Washington National Cathedral.
“I wounded people in ways that were devastating,” Lucado, who spoke at the National Cathedral on Feb. 7, continued. “I should have done better. It grieves me that my words have hurt or been used to hurt the LGBTQ community. I apologize to you and I ask forgiveness of Christ.”’https://www.christianpost.com/news/max-lucado-apologizes-for-past-sermon-on-homosexuality.html?uid=d3769f0ce2
Do you believe the Apostle Paul would apologize for writing Romans 1?
Victoria, Australia is probably the most Left leaning of all the Australian states. Victoria’s leader, comrade Dan Andrews, is probably the most boastful God hating leader that Victoria has seen in the last fifty years. The Opposition party is silent and seems to go along with most of Andrew’s progressive leftist agenda. Now, ‘The parliament of Victoria (Australia) is about to conclude the process of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.
The law has been approved by both the Lower House and the Legislative Council of the Victorian parliament and could be soon ready to be implemented.
Any practice that aims to “change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity” will now be illegal.
According to Australian evangelical magazine Eternity News, this ban includes “prayer conversations suggesting change, and counselling when targeted at an individual”.
Melbourne, the State’s capital, is known for being Australia’s region with a strongest support for LGBT movements – as seen in the Pride Marches and other demonstrations in the last years.
The law becomes a real challenge to churches that hold to a traditional and biblical view of sexuality. Jail sentences up to ten years and large fines can be imposed by courts if there is a perception that a ‘conversion’ practice has caused injuries to a LGBT person.
According to the analysis of Eternity News, the law distinguishes between general teaching and personal counselling. “Sermons and general discussion of same-sex and gender issues which might take a conservative line” would not be prosecuted but “activities which are directed at an individual, on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and have the aim to change or supress that person’s identity” would.
The law will not come into effect right away, but there will be one-year period in which the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will lead consultations to clarify the details of how the law would be applied in different scenarios.’https://evangelicalfocus.com/world/10080/australian-state-bans-counselling-of-samesex-attracted-people
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
1Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
‘When clergy sex crimes come to light, the scars extend far beyond the individuals who are sexually exploited. Church members experience shock and grief, and congregations can be permanently weakened or destroyed. Anguished wives and children are thrust into the spotlight. Communities experience broken trust. Parents strategize ways to discuss horrific topics with their children. Everyone who knows—or thought they knew—the perpetrator asks, Did I miss the signs? Is there something I could’ve done to prevent all of this?
The most recent cases follow a familiar pattern. Pastors and other Christian workers get hooked on child porn they access through the dark web and apps, sometimes staging and filming sex acts themselves, but often keeping these activities completely walled off from their churches and public identities.
In many cases, churches didn’t have or failed to follow protocols for detecting inappropriate computer usage. Churches were caught completely off guard, sometimes along with other local institutions. The abuse might likely be continuing even now if it hadn’t been for outside organizations that detected the illicit activity and reached out to local and/or federal law enforcement.
The latest cases feature pastors from the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, which has recently faced a number of cases of sexual misconduct and crimes. The Houston Chronicle’s database records the gruesome toll: more than 700 victims, nearly 400 SBC leaders and volunteers facing allegations, with more than 250 charged with sex crimes. As we reported in November, an additional database, Baptist Accountability, features more than 500 people representing “Baptists of all flavors,” not just SBC.
But the alleged perpetrators also include Methodist pastors, a Nazarene pastor who filmed and uploaded child porn, and leaders from independent congregations.
William Milam, 62, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Convention congregation in Milton, Florida, was well known for preaching against the evils of alcohol. He preached his sermon at the church as usual on Sunday, Dec. 13.
The next day, it became clear Milam was hiding a darker side when he was arrested and charged with two counts of promoting sexual performance of a child and 25 counts of possession of child pornography. Employing the user name “willjones6969,” Milam had obtained images of children as young as three engaging in sexual acts that were stored on various devices in his home. He is being held in jail on a $2.7 million bond.
Church members were dumbfounded, according to a statement: “The church was shocked to hear about the arrest of its former pastor. We are in fervent prayer for all involved; including law enforcement as they seek to uncover the truth in this situation.”
Shawn Fitzgerald, 46, fooled not only the people at First Methodist Church of Bartow, Florida, where he served as director of youth services—he was also a Lakeland High School teacher who coached soccer and tennis.
He was arrested Nov. 20 and initially charged with 408 counts of child pornography and jailed on a $2 million bond after law enforcement used technology to crack open a hidden vault of horrific images featuring children as young as ten months old on his cell phone. More charges may be forthcoming as they comb through the computer images, and investigators are trying to determine if the children featured in the images are local.
“His entire life and church life was interacting with children and young adults,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. Judd’s office began their investigation after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted them that Fitzgerald has used the KIK Messenger app to upload a 20-second video of a young female performing oral sex on an adult male.
David Pettigrew, 48, pastor of Dennison Church of the Nazarene in Denison, Texas since 2006, was even more audacious.
Starting in 2016, Pettigrew and a local chiropractor worked together to persuade minors into performing sexual acts that they could film and share with others. He was arrested last year by Department of Homeland Security agents and indicted in federal court for conspiring to sexually exploit children, also known as producing child pornography.
Pettigrew, a father of three, worked as a substitute teacher in the Sherman Independent School District, where his wife has worked as a first grade teacher. He was also a board member of a foster parent association. If convicted, he could serve 15-30 years.
As in other cases, it was a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that launched an investigation, which is ongoing. “The investigation has revealed that a number of children were surreptitiously photographed in private locations or outside of the presence of their parents,” said a federal official.
We wish these three cases were the only ones on the pastors-and-porn police blotter, but there’s more.
John Robert Griffin, 73, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL, was also an elder who ministered to senior adults at Riverbend Community Church, a Southern Baptist Convention congregation in nearby Ormond Beach. He was arrested in January after police found more than 200 sexually explicit photos in his home and charged him with 30 felony counts of possessing child pornography. Further charges are possible. An Embry-Riddle spokesperson said, “We are very dismayed to learn about these charges and allegations.” Initially, the church declined to comment to the media.
John Hackmann Jr., 45, pastor of Marion First United Methodist Church in Marion, Illinois, was arrested in November and faces felony charges for child pornography and intimidation.
But the strangest case may be north of the border with Canada. In Chilliwack, east of Vancouver, John (Johannes) Vermeer, the former executive pastor of the Main Street Church, is accused of accessing and possessing child porn on the church’s computer in 2010 and 2015. His defense attorney has helped draw out the trial for years over technical questions and claims of “reasonable doubt,” but a final evidentiary hearing was held last week.’https://ministrywatch.com/pastors-charged-with-child-sex-crimes-scar-victims-shock-congregations/
I received this email today concerning the communist state of Victoria in Australia. ‘Last night, something happened in the Victorian Parliament which affects all Australians.
The Andrews’ Labor Government successfully passed its so-called Change and Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.
The bill purports to ban so-called “gay conversion therapy”, both in secular and faith-based settings.
“Conversion therapy” conjures up images of violence and harm – something no one supports – but is really a smokescreen by which to attack freedom of religion and belief.
This shocking legislation will ban any “practice or conduct” towards a person, even if undertaken with the person’s consent, aimed at “changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of the person”.
BUT, people would still be permitted to participate in any practice that “supportive of or affirms a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation”. This includes conduct aimed at supporting gender transitions and expression of “gender identity”.
Parents should be alarmed. Any attempt to even counsel or pray with their own children over matters of their sexuality or gender could see them charged with an offence.
And churches and faith organisations are specifically targeted. Aside from secular services such as psychiatric therapy, the bill prohibits “carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism.”
The penalties for breaching the legislation are serious.
For more serious offences, individuals face up to 10 years’ jail, a fine of up to $198,264, or both. For organisations, the fine rises to a maximum of $991,320.
Every single amendment moved last night – including one to exempt family discussions – was defeated.
The bill was ultimately passed 27 votes to 9.
This is shocking enough for Victorians – especially Victorian parents – but how is it relevant for those in other states and territories?
Firstly, the Victorian bill recognises no borders. Anyone who engages with a Victorian (either within or outside of Victorian borders) for the purpose of “changing or suppressing” will potentially be engaging in a criminal act.
Secondly, Victoria has in recent times been a “first mover” in terms of extreme social legislation. Consider its euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. Or its radical abortion-to-birth laws, carried way back in 2008.
If the Victorian Government feels confident enough to so drastically intrude into the private sexual lives of individuals, the prayer and counselling of churches and medical professionals, and even into the very family home, all Australians should be alarmed at the precedent this poses.
On a practical note, then: what is to be done?
For a start, those in other states and territories must be alert to any attempt to imitate this draconian and intrusive legislation.
And, as we’ve seen on a range of issues, having the best argument or even making the most noise is irrelevant if its fall on deaf ears. In that sense, we need better people in our parliaments.
Nothing much has changed since the 4th century BC, when Plato rightly said:
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
Definitely worth thinking about.’https://www.austfamily.com.au/
‘Who leads the way in Australia when it comes to hating on Christians and Christianity – someone who does so regularly, habitually, and as a matter of course? One could think of plenty of likely candidates here. But we can certainly nominate one Victorian politician who has turned anti-Christian bigotry into an art form.
I refer of course to Australia’s most flagrant misotheist and Christophobe, Dan Andrews. This socialist left premier has spent most of his adult life waging war on Christianity and its beliefs and values. The list of his many hateful actions against the faith gets longer each passing month, and I have regularly written about this antichrist leader.
Too often I have had to document his many acts of infamy and villainy over the years.
Whether it is the radical abortion and euthanasia laws he has pushed through; his undying support of the diabolical “safe schools” programs and the like; his promotion of all things homosexual and trans; his attempts to throw into prison praying Christians who dare to help those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction; and even his war on Christmas carols – to name a few examples – this guy is Pharaoh, Herod and Nero rolled into one.
Just how far can this guy go in his anti-Christian zeal? What has possessed him to keep this war against Christianity on the top of his priority list? Just why does he feel he must personally destroy the faith of millions of Victorians? Needless to say, I would have answers for all of those questions!
But consider his latest ugly outrage: his ongoing war against Australia’s – and the world’s – greatest ever tennis player, Margaret Court. Of course she has been under attack for years now, for the simple reason that she dares to be a Christian, dares to have a church in Perth that is faithful to the gospel, and is committed to standing up for biblical values in a pagan world.
So the hate-filled secular left have been hating on her quite some time, and have even sought to get the Margaret Court Arena renamed in Melbourne. On and on it goes. Their vile poisonous hatred knows no bounds. And Andrews is leading the pack here.
The most recent episode involves the news that she is about to be awarded an Order of Australia honour on Australia Day. That has got Andrews and the other Christophobes foaming at the mouth. As one news item put it:
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he [was] “quite sick” of discussing Ms Court after being asked about the backlash toward her during a press conference on Friday. “I’m quite sick of talking about that person every summer,” he said.
“I do not support that but I don’t give out those gongs, that’s not a matter for me, that’s for others.” Andrews stated Court’s views were “disgraceful and hurtful”, adding they “cost lives”. “Calling out bigotry is always important. This bigoted quackery costs lives.”
Dan Andrews just could not contain his irrational hatred. As he said on Twitter:
“I don’t want to give this person’s disgraceful, bigoted views any oxygen. But when others insist on rewarding them with this country’s highest honour – I think it’s worth saying again: Grand Slam wins don’t give you some right to spew hatred and create division. Nothing does.”
Good grief. Talk about a deplorable rant filled with falsehoods and furphies. Talk about showing your true colours. For leftist thugs like Andrews, those who dare to hold opposing points of view are not allowed to speak. Freedom of speech is only for those who hold the “correct” positions on contentious issues. All others must just sit down and shut up. Thanks for that strong stand for freedom and democracy Dan.
And believing what the overwhelming majority of mankind has always believed throughout human history is not bigotry. To simply affirm the truth that marriage is between a man and a woman is not spewing hate. You are the one spewing hate Andrews. You are the one causing division.
Court has done more good for more people – including homosexuals – than Andrews has ever done. Her church food distribution program alone – which serves everyone without partiality – has provided so much help to so many. Court loves all people and wishes the best for them. She even wishes the best for Andrews and prays for him.
And for Andrews to claim that her views were putting people’s lives at risk was utterly bizarre. Indeed, that is a bit rich coming from a guy who is directly responsible for causing the deaths of over 800 innocent people in his spectacular failure to manage the corona crises and the hotel quarantine programme.
Court is doing all she can to help save people’s lives – physically and spiritually. But all Andrews can do is keep pushing his ugly hatred, animosity and bigotry. What a loathsome political leader he is. As Sky News host Rowan Dean said about his remarks:
“In the petty, petulance stakes, nothing of course could match the spoilt, meanspirited, arrogant, virtue-signally narcissism of the premier of Victoria parading in front of his sycophantic press groupies.”
Of course Andrews was not alone in this hateful, bigoted reaction – there are plenty of other Christophobes out there who have been just as bad in their comments. Hardcore God-hater Phillip Adams was also quick to condemn her: “Margaret Court gets an AC – Australia’s top gong – in next week’s Honours List? Far worse than Bettina Arndt’s AM. Or Tony’s knighthood for the Duke. A disgraceful, shameful, tone deaf decision.”
Lesbian activist Magda Szubanksi was quick to comment: “Largely, to be honest, I think she’s irrelevant. We have marriage equality now. There are still many things that need to be worked on … but really I think let her wither on the vine.”
And then fake Christian Father Rod Bower of Gosford Anglican had this to say on his infamous outdoor signpost: “When homophobia is honoured everyone s dishonoured.” Give it a rest Rod. One day you will stand before the Lord to give an account of how you have for so long dishonoured God by your apostasy.
Other Labor big wigs also chimed in with their venom. Anthony Albanese said this: “Margaret Court has already been honoured for her tennis prowess. She’s already an Officer of the Order of Australia. I think it’s clear for everyone to see that making her a Companion of the Order of Australia has nothing to do with tennis.”
Labor Shadow Health Minister Chris Bowen agreed: “(Ms Court has) caused great hurt and anguish for many, many Australians and in my very strong view have not reflected mutual respect and respect for people’s beliefs and respect for people’s sexuality that is an important part of being a modern Australian.”
Wow, the haters sure are gonna hate. But pride of place certainly goes to Andrews. His demonic contempt for this wonderful woman of God is just so frightful to behold. And he always carries on like this when anyone dares to stand for biblical truth and values.
Just like Bower will one day face the one true and living God, so too will Andrews and his ilk. They need to repent now before it is too late. Keep them in your prayers. They sure need it.’https://goodsauce.news/calling-out-australias-most-shameless-christophobe/
The more left leaning you are the more freedom you have to say and write what you really believe. However, if you are a conservative and especially a Christian then be careful wheat you say or write. As senile Sleepy Joe signs a multitude of leftist EO’s ‘A U.S. Army chaplain based in Texas faces an investigation after he made a social media post suggesting that transgender individuals are “mentally unfit” to serve in the military.
In a Jan. 26 tweet, the Army’s Security Force Assistance Command announced that “the recent comments posted to the Army Times Facebook page by Maj. Andrew Calvert regarding President Joe Biden’s policy on transgender service members are “under investigation.”
“How is rejecting reality (biology) not evidence that a person is mentally unfit (ill), and thus making that person unqualified to serve?” asked Calvert as he commented on a Facebook post from the Army Times.
A Twitter user flagged Calvert’s posts and argued that Calvert “cannot be trusted to support soldiers for another minute.”
In his post, Calvert argued that there is “little difference” between those who believe in transgenderism and “those who believe and argue for a ‘flat earth’ despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”
“The motivation is different, but the argument is the same,” the chaplain stated. “This person is a MedBoard for Mental Wellness waiting to happen. What a waste of military resources and funding!”
In his Facebook profile, Calvert describes himself as a “Christian, Husband, Father, Pastor, Army Chaplain.” His profile also notes that he is employed as a brigade chaplain at the 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade, located in Fort Hood, Texas.
In a subsequent Facebook comment, Calvert argued that his position was “not extreme in the slightest.”
“The most nurturing counsel I can give to someone who is under the delusion of transgenderism (gender dysphoria) is to recommend professional counseling to assist in the healing process,” Calvert reportedly wrote in the post. “To not do so, and merely pander to make-believe social whims of the moment, is not only damaging but idiocy.”
Calvert’s Facebook posts came after Biden, who took office on Jan. 20, announced the reversal of President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military.
The former president cited the “tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail” as the justification for his decision. By doing so, Trump reversed an Obama-era policy allowing openly transgender individuals to serve in the Armed Forces.
Additionally, the Security Force Assistance Command’s post instructed members of the Army to “Always remember to ‘Think, Type, Post’ when it comes to engaging in conversation on social media platforms.”
“We are soldiers 24/7 and that means always treating people with dignity and respect,” the tweet reads.
pic.twitter.com/3qFTm8dGUt— Security Force Assistance Command (@armysfac) January 27, 2021
A Christian professor has also faced consequences for his criticism of Biden’s reversal of Trump’s military transgender policy.
Professor Robert Gagnon of Houston Baptist University was locked out of his Facebook account for 24 hours after referring to transgender ideology as a “religious cult” and a “pseudo-science” in a comment defending a friend’s satirical commentary about Biden’s reversal of the transgender military ban.
In addition to Calvert and Gagnon, prominent conservative organizations were also quick to criticize Biden’s executive order.
Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative activist organization Family Research Council, asserted that by signing the executive order, Biden was “diverting precious dollars from mission-critical training to something as controversial as gender reassignment surgery.”
Perkins added that “the military cannot focus its efforts on preparing to fight and win wars when it is being used as a vehicle to advance the far-left agenda.”
“After considerable study, the previous administration found gender dysphoric people attempt suicide at about nine times the rate of the general population,” said Lt. Gen. Tom Spoehr, the director of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense.
“Service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria are also nine times more likely to have mental health encounters with a professional.”
Spoehr contends that it would be “immoral” to place individuals at higher risk from mental injury in situations “where they are likely to experience extraordinary stress.”
Calvert is hardly the first Army chaplain to face the prospect of punishment for holding to biblical Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
Scott Squires, who served as an Army chaplain at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, faced the possibility of “career-ending punishment” in 2018 after telling a lesbian couple that they could not participate in a marriage retreat he was hosting because his religious beliefs taught him that marriage was a union between a man and a woman.
Ultimately, the couple was allowed to attend the retreat after another chaplain was tapped to host the event. While the U.S. Army initially recommended that Squires be charged with dereliction of duty, the chaplain was cleared of all charges a year later.’ https://www.christianpost.com/news/army-investigating-chaplains-facebook-posts-on-trans-troops.html?uid=d3769f0ce2
The following video is Australian Lyle Shelton telling the truth about what is occurring here in Australia.
‘Lyle Shelton started his career as a rural journalist before being elected as a member of the Toowoomba City Council and serving the Australian Christian Lobby for 10 years. Half of that decade was as ACL’s managing director, and was a spokesman for the No campaign during the postal survey on legislation to redefine the meaning of marriage. His independent blog, Lyle Shelton, tackles issues such as faith, family, the nation and our values.’
