Daly Focus Blog
It all started with a simple but big idea:
“Show the world the baby!”
That was the message I shared with our Focus team back in 2019, when we made the decision to perform a live ultrasound of a pre-born baby in the middle of New York City’s Times Square.
Back in January of that year, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his legislature had celebrated the expansion of abortion rights in their state. And when I say “celebrated” – I mean it.
The scenes coming out of Kabul, Afghanistan this past week are deeply disturbing, and on so many levels.
Recent reports suggest women and children have been attacked and killed in the aftermath of the Taliban’s return to power. One woman was gunned down for not wearing a burka.
The oppression comes in various forms.
Dozens of photographs show workers painting over massive street advertisements featuring women. Not because they are sexually suggestive or immodest, but simply because they are unapologetically women.
Literally, women are being erased this week in Afghanistan.
The majority of the world looks upon such things as misogynistic and patriarchal, or at its worst, a return to an oppressive stone-age. This is the polar opposite of human progress. And it stands in direct contrast with the influence Christianity has upon the status of women.
Remove the belief system that unquestionably substantiates that both men and women are created in the image of God, and this is what remains.
A culture where womanhood is erased is inhumane and should be challenged in the strongest voice. But radical Islam isn’t alone in erasing women. In the most sophisticated centers of today’s culture, so-called “people of science” erase women in equally dramatic fashion.
The academic journal Breastfeeding Medicine released a new position statement, authored by eight medical doctors, informing medical professionals that the proper protocol is now to utilize “desexed language” when referring to the natural feeding of babies by their mothers. Words like, “breasts” is to be replaced with “chests”, “nursing mothers” are now “lactating persons” or “human milk-feeding individuals,” and “birthing people” is preferred over “mothers.”
Does anyone find this disturbing and perplexing?
Just weeks ago, journalist Katie Herzog wrote a widely circulated piece based on first-hand accounts explaining how professors at leading medical schools now “sincerely apologize” to their medical students for simply implying that only women can get pregnant.
“Why would medical school professors apologize for referring to a patient’s biological sex?” Herzog asks.
By now you’ve likely heard that tomorrow (October 3rd) is “Bring Your Bible to School Day,” our annual celebration designed to encourage kids to share God’s Word in a winsome and loving way, and to exercise their religious freedoms.
Beginning six years ago with 8,000 students participating, last year’s event saw over 650,000 young people representing all 50 states joining the national movement.
This year’s event hasn’t been without controversy.
Last month, New Orleans Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees elicited the ire of some liberals for endorsing the celebration.
Sadly, according to many liberals, Christians who believe in traditional marriage are now intolerant homophobes.
Case in point:
As some of you may remember, the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team announced in 2017 that it would celebrate LGBT Pride month by wearing “pride-inspired rainbow numbers” on their team jerseys for two matches between Sweden and Norway.
Jaelene Hinkle, one of the team’s players since 2010, objected. Ms. Hinkle is a Christian who believes marriage is between a man and a woman.
The heartbreaking image that was released yesterday of a father and daughter lying face down in the muddy water of the Rio Grande River is horrendous and a sight that you cannot turn away from unaffected.
Tragically, the picture is not an isolated incident. The crisis enveloping our southern border is acute and growing worse.
As I have said on previous occasions, we must continue to urge government officials to work together towards a humane and God-honoring solution that will at the same time protect our borders and assure the safety of our citizens.
At our current time of open hostility to people of the Christian faith, the idea of the President of the United States publicly praying across the national airwaves may strike many as a far-fetched prospect ripe for condemnation from the ACLU.
But that’s exactly what happened 75 years ago tomorrow when President Franklin Roosevelt announced America’s liberation of France in what became known as the “D-Day” invasion.
With a combined force consisting of over 156,000 soldiers (American, British and Canadian), these brave men waded into the hail of gunfire and even the steel of bayonets, resulting in the death of approximately 4,000 troops.
Across five beaches and 50 miles of coastline, Allied troops successful retook the coast of France.
I want to tell you a story.
Just a little over two weeks ago, on the first Saturday in May, I was standing in the middle of New York City’s Times Square.
As many of you know, I was there to participate in Focus on the Family’s historic “Alive from New York” celebration, the largest ever gathering of pro-life supporters in the Empire State.
We had prayed and planned for 10,000 people.
By 3:00 P.M., under a sunny and clear blue sky, nearly 20,000 individuals had flooded into the iconic “Crossroads of the World.”
The invitation to come watch a live 4D ultrasound of a third-trimester baby – in the middle of a city where more black babies are aborted than born each year – had clearly struck a nerve.
Monday’s fire at the famed cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris riveted the world, as television outlets broke into regularly scheduled programing to show the devastation unfold in real time.
As my friend and former Focus board member Dr. Al Mohler reflected, “What burned was not just a tremendous loss to architecture, it was a tremendous loss to western civilization, and it points to an even greater loss: A spiritual loss that came before the architectural loss.”
Dr.
By now you’ve likely heard of Tony Bennett. No, not the legendary 92-year-old singer – the 49-year-old head coach of the NCAA National Championship basketball team from the University of Virginia.
A former star college player in his own right who also played three seasons in the NBA, Tony Bennett shepherded his team of collegians to a national championship a year after having suffered an embarrassing loss in the first round of the tournament.
The ignominious defeat in 2018 – the only time a # 1 seed has lost to a # 16 seed – could have easily demoralized Bennett and his squad.
Today, I was excited to see Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announce that the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are dedicated to making sure that U.S. foreign assistance does not go to organizations that promote or lobby for abortion.
This is a strong and principled step in support of life.
USAID is dedicated to helping countries and regions that have struggled with genocide, disease, famine and natural disasters. It is not an organization that was developed to subsidize the foreign abortion industry.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
