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A couple of months ago, Perry Beacon Jr., a journalist for the Washington Post, wrote an opinion article claiming that while religious affiliation is diminishing, the influence of Christians is increasing in the culture.
He didn't necessarily see that as a good thing. In my opinion, he wanted to be sure the Left was alerted.
Whatever his motives might have been, he is right.
There is a significant pushback beginning to take shape in our country and culture.
And yes, it is "peaceful."
Be informed, not misled.
Under a picture of a man holding a cross praying in front of the Supreme Court building, Beacon's piece begins with, "Former president Donald Trump’s struggle to find a position on abortion that appeases religious activists in his party without offending more moderate and secular voters is perhaps the clearest example of one of the most important tensions in American politics today: Religion is declining in America overall but in some ways becoming an even more important force within the Republican Party. We have less religion but still very religiously influenced politics."
Most "religious activists" actually support Trump, but they do hold him accountable on issues of abortion and the sanctity of life---and the LGBTQ agenda.
Beacon continues to lay out several polling surveys that affirm his statements about the decline of Christianity in America.
Then he says, "Yet many policies enacted by local, state, and federal Republican elected officials and conservative judges are straight from the religious right’s agenda: vouchers and other initiatives to make it easier for parents to send their children to religious schools; limits on reproductive rights that ban abortion and could even threaten in vitro fertilization; restrictions on gay and particularly transgender Americans; provisions allowing religious Americans to cite their faith in declining to participate in various activities, such as getting vaccinated."
That's called "religious freedom."
He also notes that "Louisiana’s House of Representatives last week [this was written in April 2024] passed a bill requiring the state’s public schools and universities to display the Ten Commandments. Trump is promising to create a federal task force to root out what he describes as 'anti-Christian bias' in America. Some Republican operatives likely to play major roles in a second Trump term have openly stated that they believe government policies should be shaped in accordance with Christianity."
The founding principles of America were "shaped in accordance with Christianity." Our laws were, for the most part, drawn from Blackstone's codification of biblical law. Where do these people think we got the idea that murder is wrong? Why is it wrong?
Where do they think our "rights" come from? Washington DC? Our rights come from God and are to be protected by an elected government.
"How are these trends — a secularizing America, a party increasingly tied to its religious wing — happening at once? In some ways, they are causal," Beacon says. "Many Americans on the political left and center say they stopped identifying themselves as Christians in part because of the faith’s vocal conservative bloc, particularly its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda."
He says, "On the flip side, Robert P. Jones, founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (now known as PRRI), argues White Christians have become more radical in their policy goals and more deeply embedded in the Republican Party because of their alarm at how quickly America is becoming more racially diverse and secular."
Dear "Brother" Jones, we are not alarmed over racial diversity. Biblical Christianity frees people from bondage and slavery. We are not racists. We are one in Christ.
However, we are deeply concerned over illegal immigration, and we are alarmed over the secularization of our country that was founded on Christian principles. As long as we recognize that we are a nation "under God," we prosper. When we declare ourselves to be a "secular progressive nation," we decline.
We are now a nation in steep decline.
The pushback.
It's happening all over the nation. People who are not "activists" are fed up.
Here are a few examples.
Celebrating "Heterosexual Awesomeness Month" in June.
One bar in Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise, is going viral after it announced it was celebrating "Heterosexual Awesomeness Month" in June.
The Old State Saloon posted on Wednesday that it would be kicking off its first salute to heterosexuality with discounts and free beer for couples and men, in a bit of counter-programming to June being widely recognized as Pride month for LGBT people.
"June will be OSS’s inaugural Heterosexual Awesomeness Month! Come join us all month to celebrate heterosexuals, for without them, none of us would be here! Each Monday will be Hetero Male Monday and any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male will receive a free draft beer. Each Wednesday is Heterosexual Couples Day and each heterosexual couple will receive 15% off their bill," a Facebook post read.
"It seems as though people who are against Heterosexual Awesomeness Month have a hard time commenting without using horrific words, expletives, using the name of the Lord in vain, etc. Make an intelligent comment and stay. Cuss and you are banned. Thanks. We’ve banned about 25 already," one of the bar’s comments read days after the post.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, Old State Saloon owner Mark Fitzpatrick said, "It's my dream to build a community event center on some nearby land I own to help support conservative ideals."
On his Zillow page, Fitzpatrick described himself as a "Christian, conservative, Constitution supporter, retired police officer, and family man." The Old Stage Saloon Facebook page also featured promotions for conservatives, such as "Open Carry Coffee" and "Christian Singles Mingle."
He continued, "And for the record, I love all types of people, including the LGBTQ+ crowd. I sincerely wish they all knew Jesus as their savior. Now, let's commence Heterosexual Awesomeness Month!"
Christian public school teachers are pushing back by being informed.
Recently, a listener and contributor to our radio program in Arizona contacted me to inform me about what his daughter is doing as a public school teacher in Nevada.
Working with the local First Baptist Church in Battle Mountain, Nevada, she and the church are hosting a seminar this coming October to inform teachers how they can take a stand for the Christian faith in the public schools.
This is a link to the webpage and a 3-minute video. I strongly encourage you to check out the page and watch the video.
The seminar is led by Eric Buehrer, founder and president of Gateways to Better Education
Eric was a public school teacher before founding the organization.
When parents are informed, they take action.
A few weeks ago, I shared a letter from a teacher in South Kitsap in Washington State, telling me about her struggle with being forced to teach LGBTQ materials that were unacceptable to her and her 4th-grade students.
She felt that if she could get the word out, parents might opt their children out of the class, so she asked if I would mention it on the radio.
After we discussed it on our radio program, she sent me a follow-up email, telling me that four students had already been opted out by their parents.
Takeaway
Christians are not trying to take away other people's rights; we are simply trying to exercise our own God-given rights to faith and freedom.
This sentiment was so embedded into the founding of this nation that Noah Webster, the founder of what we now call public education, said, "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.