Daly Focus Blog
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last night to a joint session of Congress was a soaring defense of many of the core issues evangelical Christians care so deeply about.
From Mr. Trump’s defense of pre-born life, his conviction to uphold religious freedom and his ongoing commitment to appoint judges who promise to strictly interpret the Constitution, the president’s speech was sweeping in its socially conservative scope and emotionally moving on so many levels.
It’s back.
A bill introduced in the last Congress in an attempt to gut the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) has been reintroduced in the current Congress. A liberal response to Supreme Court decisions such as Hobby Lobbyand Masterpiece Cakeshop, the bill is deceptively titled the “Do No Harm Act.”
RFRA was passed in 1993 in one of the most overwhelmingly bipartisan votes Congress has ever seen: by a voice vote in the House (equaling a unanimous vote) and 97-3 in the Senate.
While the national media focused on D.C.-based controversies and character smears last week, at least 650,000 students were busy setting a different kind of example in their schools.
Courageous youth—kindergarten through college age— celebrated Bring Your Bible to School Day, an annual, religious-freedom event for students sponsored by Focus on the Family on Thursday, Oct. 4.
They shared their faith by highlighting its source—the Bible, sharing God’s Word with classmates throughout the day and talking about their experience on social media using the hashtag #BringYourBible.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while you probably remember me telling you about Bring Your Bible to School Day, an annual Focus-sponsored event that empowers kids to celebrate religious freedom and share the love of God with their peers by doing one simple thing: bringing their Bibles to school with them! Just a couple of weeks ago, I told you that Sadie Robertson author of the best-selling book Live Fearless and formerly a teen star on Duck Dynasty is serving as this year’s Honorary Chairperson for BYBTS.
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “separation of church and state.” It usually gets tossed about by those on the political left when Christians engage in social issues in a public forum. We’re told that the “separation of church and state” requires that we keep our religious views to ourselves.
The late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist had a different opinion. He said that “separation of church and state” as it’s currently used is a “misleading metaphor” that has proved useless as a guide to judging.
Have you been watching or reading anything related to the Judge Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings?
Sadly, yesterday’s proceedings devolved into chicanery and chaos. In fact, it got so bad that Judge Kavanaugh’s daughters had to be escorted out of the room.
I had the opportunity to react to this spectacle for FOX News. Click here to read my comments – and please let me know what you think.
It’s that time of year again when parents and kids are checking their back-to-school lists twice before heading out the door:
Three-ring binder? Check.
Pencil sharpener? Check.
Lunch bag? Check.
The Bible?
Yes.
The Bible is now a must-have school supply for students like Ethan, who considers it essential for surviving the school day.
“When you have the Bible right out in front of you … when it’s sitting out on the corner of your desk, or in your backpack,” said Ethan, a 16-year-old student in Colorado, “it’s a constant reminder of what God has in store for you and to do what God wants you to do, rather than doing things off of your own selfish ambitions.”
Ethan was just one of the half a million students who participated last year in Bring Your Bible to School Day—an annual, religious-freedom event for students sponsored by Focus on the Family.
My colleague, Public Policy’s Director of Education, Candi Cushman, recently answered some questions about the public schools that were posed to her from Decision Magazine. I thought you would find her answers both enlightening and interesting.
On a related note, if you are a parent of a school-age child, I hope you’re aware of our upcoming, Bring Your Bible to School Day. It’ll be on Thursday October 4th. It’s not too early to register and participate in some of our pre-event promotion.
Here we go again.
Despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court ruled this past June that the state of Colorado had violated Masterpiece Cakes owner Jack Phillips’ freedom of religion, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission has once again notified the beleaguered baker that he has violated Colorado law for declining to create a cake symbolizing a gender “transition.”
We’re finding out that it all started in June of 2017 when a transgender activist attorney began a series of communications with Masterpiece Cakeshop asking for certain kinds of cakes: one celebrating the attorney’s “transition” from male to female (with blue icing on the outside, pink on the inside), others celebrating Satanic messages or containing graphic sexual imagery.
We are pleased by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement of the creation of a new Religious Liberty Task Force within the Department of Justice designed to promote and protect the freedom of people of faith.
Freedom of religion is considered to be our “first freedom,” not simply because it is the first guarantee contained in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but also because it is the freedom upon which our nation was founded and the national heritage that gives deeper meaning to our other freedoms.
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.
