It’s Thursday, December 7th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Jonathan Clark

Pakistani court released a Christian

A Pakistani court released a Christian on bail last month.

Authorities charged Haroon Shahzad with blasphemy against Islam in June for posting Bible verses on Facebook.

The offending verse was 1 Corinthians 10:18-21. Verse 20 says, “What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.” 

Despite the release, Shahzad is still separated from his family for security reasons.

Please pray for this Christian family and other persecuted believers in Pakistan, ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.

Religious Brits happier than secular ones

Religious affiliation has been declining in the U.K. But a new survey found that religious people there report being happier than people who identify with no religion.

Dr. Rakib Ehsan with the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life authored the report. He said, “While the fast-paced secularization of the British mainstream has been cited as a form of social progress, this appears not to be the case from the perspective of mental health. Compared to non-believers, religious Britons are more likely to report good psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, and optimism over their personal future. They are also more likely to say they are confident with handling the challenges that come with life.”

400 military promotions approved

In the U.S., the Senate approved over 400 military promotions on Tuesday. 

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama had blocked mass military promotions for some months now in the Senate. He was protesting the Pentagon’s policy to fund travel for service members to get abortions.

Tuberville ended his general hold on promotions on Tuesday, but he continues to block promotions of high-level generals in protest of the abortion policy.

Inquiry into FBI’s weaponization against U.S. Catholics

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee released a report on Monday entitled “The FBI’s Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans.”

This comes in response to a leaked FBI memo that targeted traditional Catholics for surveillance. The report said the FBI “singled out Americans who are pro-life, pro-family, and support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists.”

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri called out FBI Director Christopher Wray for the memo on Tuesday.

Listen.

HAWLEY: “This is one of the most outrageous targeting. You have mobilized your division, the most powerful law enforcement division in the world, against traditionalist Catholics. And you just told us you have not fired a single person!”

American students performing poorly in math

U.S. students are lagging behind students from other industrialized countries in math scores.

The Program for International Student Assessment found American students saw a 13-point drop in their 2022 math scores compared to 2018. Their results in reading and science were also down but were higher than the international average.

Student performance in the U.S. has notably plunged since pandemic-era school closures.

U.S. marriage rate is declining

A new poll from Deseret News found that the U.S. marriage rate is declining while the rate of people who say they are parents has held steady.

The share of married people 25 or older is 51%, down from 55% in 2015.

Republicans and churchgoers especially were more approving than Democrats of marriage.

Bradford Wilcox with the American Enterprise Institute noted, “When you look at how conservatives function, what you see is that they’re more likely to get married now in the first place, and they’re also more likely to be happily married in the second place.”

Decline in giving among Evangelical churches and ministries first time in 10 years

And finally, Evangelical churches and ministries experienced a decline in giving last year for the first time in a decade. 

Cash donations to evangelical groups dropped 0.7% in 2021-2022 after having increased 3.9% in 2019-2020.

Despite this, donations are rebounding this year.

Warren Bird with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability said, “I am just amazed at how generous people are, even when you take out the significant impact of inflation. There has been … consistent growth in giving over the last 9 or 10 years, this last year being just a slight dip of less than 1% after adjusting for inflation.”

Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

Close

And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, December 7th in the year of our Lord 2023. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldView.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.