Friday, March 25th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Kevin Swanson
Tensions between blue cities and red states are increasing, especially in the state of North Carolina. The governor has signed a bill that reverses a city ordinance, passed by the Charlotte city council, which opened public restrooms to those who identify with the opposite sex to their birth gender. The state legislature called a special session for the vote on the bill.
Some conservatives are calling it gutless, but the Georgia House of Representatives has passed a religious liberty bill that ostensibly will protect pastors who don’t want to perform homosexual weddings. It will not protect many Christian-owned businesses and ministries in the state though. Big business and big entertainment like Disney, Marvel, Coca-Cola, Apple, and the National Football League are still threatening boycotts unless the governor vetoes the bill. Governor Nathan Deal has committed to opposing any legislation that “allows discrimination in our state in order to protect people of faith.” He opposes discrimination against anyone, because “Jesus reached out to those who were considered outcasts.”
For the record, Jesus Christ did not perform a homosexual wedding, but he DID reach out to the publicans and say, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
Meanwhile, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill allowing Christian groups on college campuses to discriminate based on their membership and leadership requirements. The bill would allow clubs to restrict membership to “like-minded people.”
The Serb leader responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Muslim citizens in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1995 was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his deeds. Fox News said that the conviction of Radovan Karadzic by a United Nations court would likely strengthen international jurisprudence on the criminal responsibility of political leaders—at least for SOME political leaders, anyway.
However, rest assured that “God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Studies of Internet usage across the states have found that Utah has the highest porn download rate in the country. As of last month, the problem has been recognized by state leaders. The State Senate passed a resolution calling pornography a health crisis. State Senator Todd Weiler told the Salt Lake City Tribute that he doesn’t want to ban it, but he would like to protect children from it.
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (Psalm 101).
A large coalition of United Methodists from regional bodies is petitioning the denomination to withdraw membership from the pro-abortion group, The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. According to the Christian Post, the last denominational vote was close and would have bent pro-life if the African delegates had been available for the vote. John Lomperis, the United Methodist action director, is fighting to sever ties with the pro-abortion group. He told The World View that the Methodists are very divided on this life issue: “The fact of the matter is that we have a deep divide within our denomination between some of us that seem to be grounded in Scripture and follow biblical Christianity and others that are much more secular in their orientation and worldview.” Lamperis hopes his group can swing opinions at their next national convention: “I invite the whole body of Christ, whether you’re United Methodist or not, to be in prayer for the United Methodist General Conference and for pro-life delegates like myself, and we’ll be meeting May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon.”
Todd Starnes, the religious liberty columnist with Fox News, says that Senator Ted Cruz will be the only hope for religious liberty in the 2016 elections. Cruz promises to rescind Executive Order 13672, an order that requires non-discrimination hiring for federal contractors in regards to homosexuality. He is also committed to removing the requirement for employers to provided coverage for contraception and abortifacients.
A recent Fox News poll found that both Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich would win against Hillary Clinton in hypothetical matchups. However, Donald Trump lags behind Clinton by a significant margin—38% to 49%.
The human nose is more amazing than we thought. Previously, scientists told us that the nose could distinguish 10,000 different smells. Now, researchers from Rockefeller University say that number is closer to 1 trillion smells. And to think—God created it.
Bangladesh has called itself an Islamic state since 1988, but the nation seems to be growing weary of the attendant violence. Christianity Today reports that the government will hear petitions this week calling for a change in its designation to a “secular state.” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is in favor of decreasing Bangladesh’s Islamic identity.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.