Monday musing: Speaking up for the "hobby lobby"

There is no "hobby lobby," but maybe there should be -- advocates of crafting everywhere, UNITE!

There is a Christian-owned company by that name, and it has become a focal point in the battle over government intruding on basic religious freedoms.

Earlier this year, Hobby Lobby petitioned the government for relief from the mandate that employers provide insurance covering contraceptives that can cause abortions. The case is still pending appeal, but the Supreme Court recently denied a request for an emergency injunction. Hobby Lobby says it has no intention of complying, and so, beginning on January 1, the government will fine them an unfathomable $1.3 million dollars per day!

In an open letter, CEO David Green lays out the principles that guide the company:

We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest. 

We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.
But now, our government threatens to change all of that. . . . Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one.

. . . So, Hobby Lobby – and my family – are forced to make a choice. . . . My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that’s a choice no American – and no American business – should have to make.

Blogger Kevin DeYoung says, "Millions of Americans are already outraged. And rightly so. Our government not only allows for abortion, and celebrates abortion rights, and wants women to have unfettered access to abortion on demand, it now requires other Americans to pay for abortion-inducing drugs or face crippling fines. It is not an endorsement of any political party to conclude that this policy is morally degenerate. More Americans should be alarmed than are already."

Denny Burk agrees: "This is the most egregious violation of religious liberty that I have ever seen." He goes on to explain this case is not about banning contraception. "Nothing could be further from the truth. No one wants to outlaw contraception. This controversy is about the fact that the government is forcing pro-life business owners to pay for chemical abortions. If the federal government can force citizens to purchase items that they believe to be immoral, where will this end?"

And sometimes it's about employers who do see contraception itself as immoral.

To borrow freely from Martin Neimoller:

First they came for Hobby Lobby,
but I didn't speak out because I wasn't crafty . . . or a Christian employer;
then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

January 5th was a Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day, but it's going to take more than one day of shopping at the chain of big-box arts and crafts stores to win this battle. Something sacrificial. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represents the company in its lawsuit, going as David against the Goliath of the U.S. government. I don't know how much it will take to win, but they are accepting donations.

Related: 
Hobby Lobby: First martyr under Obamacare?
Contraception coverage heads to high court

Update: Hobby Lobby Delays Obamacare Fines for Now

Thankful Thursday: God is still God

This post-election Thursday, I'm thankful my trust is in a never-changing God. From Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

What a comfort!

What are we to make, however, of election analysis by the Pew Forum that shows many who would claim "the Lord is with us" were not with Him in the way they voted?
 

Monday musing: Rape, abortion, and your worldview

Even though "progressives" wish we'd gotten past the abortion issue by now, it has certainly not faded from this election cycle. In fact, "social issues" (marriage and abortion) once again offer some of the clearest distinctions between candidates at all levels.

Both candidates for president, however, agree abortion should be admissible in cases of rape, incest, and the life (and health) of the mother. This has not been the case in other contests and the rape issue has somewhat blown up in all our faces. Republican candidates could do a better job expressing themselves, but it's surprising how surprised the media has been by the idea that executing one of the victims of a crime ought to be a crime. (And, no, scorn for opposing views does not qualify as a rationale.)

Aside from the standard objection to such "hard case" abortions -- that a person's right to life is not altered by the circumstances of his or her conception -- the pro-life view seems to steadily lose resonance. That's as Jesus predicted (John 15:18-21), so please let us not act surprised.

Tired of being on the defensive, one Christian blogger put together a list of 10 questions that pro-choice candidates should be forced to answer. I'd add an eleventh: Why should being conceived in rape or incest be a death sentence? "Liberals" are usually so good at identity politics, so I wonder why they can't distinguish between a rapist and his baby.

Pregnancy resulting from rape touches on a host of meaty doctrinal issues. A theologian would really be able to sink his teeth into them, but I'll sketch out a few aspects of the biblical worldview that have been overlooked in the recent drama:

• Sin - Non-biblical worldviews deny its existence, but the Bible says there is such a thing, and that rape belongs under the heading (Deut 22:25-29). God is the ultimate One sinned against, as well as the victim (Psalm 51:4). Rapists and abortionists must answer to Him (Gen. 9:5).

• Justice - Non-biblical worldviews mistakenly blame the victim for rape, or punish the children. Deuteronomy 24:16 says only the perpetrator is guilty. 

• Suffering - Non-biblical worldviews say a sovereign God would never allow suffering, so instances of rape mean God either doesn't exist or is weak and not worth our time. In the biblical worldview, God is always great and good, no matter what happens to His creatures. Suffering is a result of Adam's sin and sovereignly allowed by God for purposes known to Him and rarely revealed to us (Job 1-2, Gen. 50:19-20).

• Life - Non-biblical worldviews view life as random and essentially meaningless. The Bible teaches, however, that God is the source of all life (Genesis 1-2, John 5:26, Col. 1:16-17, 1 Tim. 6:13). Human life is no accident and all human beings are created in God's image (Gen. 1:26-27, Ps. 139:13-16). This includes the child of rape or of any illicit sexual encounter. It even includes the rapist!

• Parenthood - Non-biblical worldviews increasingly consider children as commodities owned by their parents, but in the biblical worldview, children belong to God and are granted to parents in a stewardship arrangement (Psalm 127:3). Adoption reflects God's loving character and is an excellent alternative to abortion (Eph. 1:5). 

• Redemption - We who know the Savior who redeems and restores sinners should let these truths shape our responses to rape victims and their children. We should also never let the magnitude and horror of such a violation be too far from our imagination. We should suffer alongside women as they relive their trauma. When they elect to continue a pregnancy, we should support them with a sense of respect, awe, and gratitude for the abundance of God's grace in their lives. We should love and welcome their children.

This has been an admittedly rudimentary treatment of theological issues at stake in our culture. [Added 10/31/12: To demonstrate the difficulty of saying everything you need to on this subject, I found myself today regretting I hadn't made a point about how abortion solves nothing -- doesn't erase the rape or negate the trauma -- it only compounds the violence and violation that women feel. I also should have provided a link to What About Abortion for Rape or Incest? on our website.]

Related: Read these additional contributions from Christian leaders and other thinkers --

• Mohler: The Mourdock Moment -- Life, Death, and Lies on the Campaign Trail
• Christianity Today: Are Pregnancies Even from Rape a Gift from God?
• Douthat: The Press and Abortion, Revisited
• Richard Mourdock Gets in Trouble for His Extremely Conventional Religious Beliefs
• Rape, Conception, and God: Why Mourdock Was Right
• Our Media & The Blessed Rape Baby
• Rape, God, Life, and Liberals
• Reardon: The Despicable “God Intends Rape” Comments
• Mohler: The Great American Worldview Test -- The 2012 Election
• Pro-life group vows changes after Akin debacle

Personal testimonies:

• “Rape hurt my mother, but abortion devastated her.”
• ‘I’m not a mistake.’ Five women conceived in rape support Mourdock
• I was conceived in rape. Did I deserve to be aborted?
• My Rape Pregnancy and My Furor Over Social Myths
• Dear Ann Coulter: babies conceived in rape are not cannon fodder

Postscript: I was just chatting on Facebook with a friend in Kenya and asked him to pray for our country as we undertake the election next week. He replied, "I fervently pray for your nation. May God give you a leader after his heart and give all of you wisdom as you elect." And then he said something that put everything we endure -- endless robo-calls and attack ads -- in perspective: "Pray for us also as we come to elections. Civil wars arise and many kill each other." Wow. Good reminder, huh? Please pray for Kenya!

Baptists vs. Sebelius

National Review: Last week, the Obama administration did it again. In a new bulletin, the Department of Health and Human Services implied that there are more faith-based entities who can apply for a “safe harbor” from its controversial “contraception” mandate.

The revised safe harbor does nothing for businesses — such as the Hercules HVAC company in Denver, which won an injunction in late July, or the Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company in Pennsylvania – with regard to conscience objections to the mandate.

The one-year delay may be the most insulting part of the mandate. All it does, as both Catholic Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Presbyterian Philip Ryken, the president of the evangelical Wheaton College, have noted, is to tell faith-based entities — many of them providers of social services — that they have a year to figure out how to violate their consciences.

Evangelicals Struggle to Address Premarital Sex and Abortion

Evangelicals Struggle to Address Premarital Sex and Abortion - The Daily Beast: "It’s no secret that evangelicals have a big problem on their hands when it comes to young people and sex. The facts are staggering: despite almost universal affirmation that premarital sex is a sin, 80 percent of unmarried evangelicals (PDF) are having it, and 30 percent of those who accidentally get pregnant get an abortion, according to one survey. U.S. states where abstinence is emphasized over contraception in school sex ed—almost all in the heavily evangelical South—have teen-pregnancy rates as high as double (PDF) those of states with a comprehensive curriculum. Though an overwhelming majority believe premarital sex is wrong, white evangelicals are sexually active at a younger age than any demographic besides African-Americans, and are one of the least likely groups to use contraception.

"The fact that true love isn’t waiting has concerned evangelicals for years, but the issue is gaining new attention because such a significant number of Christians' unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. The scramble to address the situation is revealing fault lines over the place of contraception in church practices, giving birth control a new centrality in the largely pill-friendly Protestant domain.

". . . [T]he evangelical temperament is much more progressive than conservative. Despite the public’s idea of evangelicals as stubbornly resistant to change, they have always interacted and evolved in close parallel with the American mainstream. It remains highly unlikely that American evangelical culture in its current incarnation will broadly embrace a lifestyle at odds with the prevailing cultural norms. Evangelicals may claim to believe in abstinence and not to believe in evolution, but premarital sex, later marriage, and occasional abortions will be harder to resist than the limited debates taking place among evangelicals seem aware."

Editor: For what it's worth, I'm not so certain the links provided in the first paragraph prove anything. I skimmed the first one (supposedly substantiating the "80 percent of unmarried evangelicals are having it") and didn't find reference to religious beliefs. May have missed it, but be careful quoting this one.

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We could ‘significantly restrict’ abortion if Catholic politicians voted pro-life

Supreme Knight: We could ‘significantly restrict’ abortion if Catholic politicians voted pro-life | LifeSiteNews.com: Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus critiqued what has become called the “Cuomo doctrine,” which former New York governor Mario Cuomo articulated in a 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame. “He defended his position of being personally opposed to abortion but unwilling to take a position opposing abortion because this would mean imposing his beliefs on his fellow citizens.”

Related: Why can’t Catholics just close their universities?

A Response to Evangelical Calls for Public Withdrawal

A Response to Evangelical Calls for Public Withdrawal: The disaffection of some younger believers toward political action seems animated by two factors: the reality that more has not been accomplished, despite decades of evangelical political activism, and the perception that evangelical social conservatives are an angry and bumptious lot characterized more by enflamed rhetoric than compassion or effectiveness. . . .

Paul enjoins us to not grow weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:13 ) for a reason: It is hard to persist in doing good when the results of our labor seem modest. Battles are wearing, and trenches are discomfiting. The overconfidence of some conservative Christians in politics as the means by which to "change the world" was misplaced.

But abandonment is a poor substitute for uninformed striving. Enthusiasm for an immodest aim produces frustration, or even bitterness, since that aim can never be reached. Withdrawal is a welcome alternative, surely, in the short term: It is always easier to rest than fight.

Related:

• If You’re Selling Scorn for Conservative Christians, the Market is Hot
• What if the "culture war" never happened
• Irrepressible Culture Wars, Past and Present -- Many young evangelicals today shun conflict, a posture at odds with evangelical history
• The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right, plus an interview with the author
• The Other Religious Right
• Scorn Profits the Blogger, but Costs the Kingdom
• Diagnosing Christian Right Derangement Syndrome

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Australia Awards Infanticide Guru Highest Civic Award

Australia Awards Infanticide Guru Highest Civic Award - By Wesley J. Smith - The Corner - National Review Online: Peter Singer has won Australia’s highest civic award. He is best known for advocating the ethical propriety of infanticide. But that isn’t nearly the limit of his odious advocacy. Wesley Smith offers a partial list of some other notable Singer bon mots.

Here's a taste of his writing: The use and abuse of religious freedom

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Blackballing Nat Hentoff

Real Clear Religion: Nat Hentoff is a legendary civil libertarian and journalist. He's and atheist and also pro-life. His conversion from pro-choice to pro-life, and the fallout that resulted, is explained in an essay in the new book, The Debate Since Roe: Making the Case Against Abortion 1975-2010. It's a compendium of essays from the journal Human Life Review.

A famous liberal who was a staple at the Village Voice and who had a column in the Washington Post, in the 1980s Hentoff actually let himself be swayed by evidence about abortion. It happened when Hentoff was reporting on the case of Baby Jane Doe.

Martin Luther and Childhood Disability in 16th Century Germany: What did he write? What did he say?

Independent Living Institute: Martin Luther's views on disability have been widely misapprehended and caricatured on the basis of a few items in a dubious edition of shorthand notes of conversations. His written and spoken arguments across 30 years (1517-1546) concerned with childbirth and infancy, devils, superstitions, changelings, prodigies, folly, disablement, deafness, participation in Christian sacraments, and exegesis of Biblical texts on disabled people, give a more reliable and interesting guide to his views, in the context of Luther's personal involvement with sickness, disability and practical care. Historically, European social and religious developments contained a broader range of views on disability than is commonly supposed, with some challenges for 21st century thought and practice.

Gospel confusion in Christian environmentalism

World magazine: Both Joel Garreau, a professor of law, culture, and values at Arizona State University, and Paul H. Rubin, a professor of economics at Emory University, have written articles titled “Environmentalism as religion,” pointing out how environmentalists tend to borrow from other established faiths.

. . . But while many now regard environmentalism as a separate religion, it is its growing influence on Christianity and its intentional infiltration of churches—targeting youth especially, through organizations like Interfaith Power & Light—that should gain our attention. And it’s not only liberal Christians who are becoming religious environmentalists—some professed evangelicals are also joining their ranks.

. . . As Martin Luther long ago taught in launching the Reformation, the grammar of the gospel is indicative—it states what God has done. The grammar of the law is imperative—it states what God requires us to do. “Take good care of the Earth” is imperative. It’s a true obligation, but that’s precisely what makes it law, not gospel. “Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead” is indicative. It’s gospel.

Unabridged version here

Related:
Cornwall Alliance
Mayor who called pro-lifers ‘forces of darkness’ tells seminarians to ‘save the earth’

Southern Baptist churches shift positions on abortion

Churches shift positions on abortion | The Tennessean | tennessean.com: Two years before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, the largest Protestant group in the United States made a powerful statement on abortion. The Southern Baptist Convention wanted to make it legal.

The members of the convention listed in a 1971 resolution when it should be allowed: “rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”

Three years later, they affirmed that statement and, recognizing the complexities of contemporary society, asked for “God’s guidance through prayer and study in order to bring about solutions to continuing abortion problems in our society.”

By 1980, the middle ground was gone. The Southern Baptists now supported a U.S. constitutional amendment banning abortion except to save a mother’s life.

Learn more about Baptist churches in abortion history

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Dolan: White House is "strangling" Catholic church

Dolan: White House is "strangling" Catholic church - CBS News: The spat between Catholic leaders and the Obama administration over its contraception policies is heating up again, with one of the nation's most prominent Catholic leaders charging that the White House is "strangling" the church over the matter.

Editor: For the record, Jesus said His church can't possibly be strangled by one nation's leader. Matthew 16:18 says even "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

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Briton arrested in Thailand after being found with six roasted human foetuses

Independent: Reports says the six foetuses had been covered in gold leaf after being roasted as part of a black magic ritual. Police made the arrest after responding to information they'd received saying that infant corpses were being offered to wealthy clients via a black magic services website. "The bodies are of children between the ages of two and seven months. Some were found covered in gold leaf," Wiwat Kumchumnan, sub-division chief of the police's Children and Women Protection unit, said. For being in possession of the foetuses Chow Hok Kuen could now face a 2,000 baht fine and a year in prison.

"Religious People Should Support Abortion"

Member of Obama’s Faith-Based Council Believes That Religious People Should Support Abortion: Harry Knox, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, stirred things up with his recent Huffington Post piece, “Why Religious People Should Support the Rights of Women in Reproductive Decisions.” He actually came up with six reasons.

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Evangelical leader tells Canadians: ‘We cannot afford’ to avoid abortion debate

LifeSiteNews: Canada “cannot afford not to have the conversation” about abortion and the protection of human life, urged Bruce Clemenger, President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, on Parliament Hill at the National March for Life on Thursday.

“You have heard it said that the debate about legal protection for the unborn is over. I say look at this crowd,” Clemenger told the nearly 20,000 pro-lifers gathered. “Consistently each year we have gathered here to say it is not over. You have heard it said that the Supreme Court has ruled that a woman has a right to an abortion. I say to you, read the decision. That is not what the Court ruled. I was in the court years after the decision when an abortion advocate mentioned a woman’s right to choose and the then Chief Justice Lamer cut her off and said the court never said such a thing.”

Related: Canadian Bishops: Abortion Threatens Religious Freedom

Editor: It's exciting to see the pro-life movement growing in places that have been so blase about abortion for so long -- Canada, Europe -- and spiritual leaders taking part.

Young pro-lifers vow to give up something they enjoy Until Abortion Ends

Young pro-lifers vow to give up something they enjoy Until Abortion Ends | LifeSiteNews.com: They care about the dignity of all human life, especially the dignity of unborn children. They . . . can be found in practically every humble town or great metropolis that spreads across the North American continent. And they have united together under a common cause to deny themselves something they like until the day comes when babies in the womb can no longer be legally killed.

Until Abortion Ends is a movement from a new generation of pro-lifers who are aware of the spiritual merit of personal sacrifice in the battle for the lives of the unborn. . . . The pro-lifers in the group say they believe their sacrifice will make a difference in the fight over the greatest humans rights issue in history.

. . . Founder Marion Jones, age 20, noted that the beauty of the Until Abortion Ends movement is how it has united the pro-life movement in “prayer and sacrifice. As a Christian, I believe in the power of prayer.” The group has received the ridicule of abortion proponents in the liberal media.

Editor: I'm touched by the sincerity and willingness to sacrifice of these young people. It is certainly impressive and humbling. I don't want to come off as critical, but I can't find accord with the idea that personal sacrifice accrues "spiritual merit." If foregoing Facebook or one's iPod results in more prayer for abortion to end, well and good. But is it fasting that makes a prayer more righteous?

I would point them to Isaiah 58-59 for the kind of fasting and prayer that holds God's attention. And I would pray for them to uphold and maintain the power of purity in their own lives and before their peers (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8). 

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"Some people are going to get hurt"

Religion has an important role in politics

ERLC: Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, appeared in an Easter Day showing of the CBS News program “Face the Nation.” He said he had read President Kennedy’s speech on religion in politics “about 30 times” and explained there is a role for religion in politics but that it shouldn’t be an “institutional role.”

Cardinal Dolan expressed concern that the notion of separation of church and state has been misinterpreted to also mean a “wall between one’s faith and one’s political decisions, between one’s moral focus and the way one might act in the political sphere.” He said it was incorrect to suggest that faith has no place in the public square. “I think the public square is impoverished when people might be coerced to put a piece of duct tape over their mouth.”

Land agreed, noting it was an early Baptist, Roger Williams, who contributed the concept of religious liberty as a major plank in America’s founding. “We believe absolutely in the separation of church and state to protect the church from the state,” Land said. “There are many of us who are concerned about government intrusion on the free exercise of faith. It never was intended to mean the separation of religiously informed morality from public policy.”

Baptist group rescinds grant to women’s clinic

RN-T.com - Baptist group rescinds grant to women’s clinic: The Women of Worth clinic’s main goal is to provide Pap smears and cervical cancer screenings for women who cannot afford them — it does not provide abortions, said Executive Director Marilyn Ringstaff. When a representative from the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation called last year during the application process for a $42,000 grant to ask if they were an abortion clinic, a volunteer told them “no,” she said. But they do offer the morning after pill.

And when an unidentified pastor saw that the Baptist group had awarded WOW the grant he called the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry, accusing the local clinic of providing abortions, she alleged. On Tuesday, Ringstaff received a letter from Will Bacon, vice president of development for the ministry, officially rescinding the grant offer.

Editor: The question that should have been asked is, "Do you provide abortions or refer women to doctors who will perform them?" I would also like to know how this Baptist group justifies supporting a clinic that facilitates the sexual activity of unmarried women? Were there no pregnancy centers they could support? We could have helped them find several.


Update: Baptist charity pulls grant from clinic that distributes the morning-after pill -- Will Bacon, the ministry’s vice president of development, sent the clinic a letter last Tuesday asking for the funds to be returned. But Women of WORTH executive director Marilyn Ringstaff has said she will not comply. “We have no intention of giving a dime back. They are going to have to file suit to get it.”

. . . Funding abortion would be at odds with the Baptist charity’s history and faith. According to its most recent annual report, GBHCM assigns all grants with “reverence for the dignity of each person,” based on “Christian life and family values.” Many of its expenditures have underwritten alternatives to abortion, such as crisis pregnancy centers.

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