On Monday, a Georgia judge ruled that the state’s heartbeat law violates a woman’s right to “liberty” in the state constitution. This is the second time the same judge has reviewed the law and found it to be unconstitutional.

The heartbeat law, titled the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act (LIFE Act), was passed in 2019, but it was unenforceable until Roe v. Wade was reversed. In 2022, the LIFE Act became law in Georgia.

When Judge McBurney first considered the law in 2022, he ruled that it was unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed his decision when Roe was overruled and sent it back to the lower court.

Upon second review, the same judge now claims the law is unconstitutional under the state constitutional right to “liberty.”

His opinion, which reads more like a policy position, claims “liberty” includes “the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” But the judge also reasons that once a preborn baby becomes viable the state is justified in limiting abortion.

Pro-life advocates have condemned the decision, calling it “absurd” and an act of judicial activism.

Georgia’s attorney general responded to the ruling with a promise to appeal the decision, “We believe Georgia’s LIFE Act is fully constitutional, and we will immediately appeal the lower court’s decision.”

Life and death. Sexual confusion. Parental authority. Religious freedom.

These are just some of the many issues on the ballot this coming November, an election that promises to determine the direction of our country for generations to come.

But with just five Sundays to go until the pivotal day, how many pastors will be addressing these issues from the pulpit?

A new survey from Lifeway Research finds that nearly a quarter of all pastors refuse to say who they plan to vote for — a significant increase from 2020 when just four percent declined to respond to the question. This year, among pastors likely to vote, 23% claimed they were undecided.

Clearly, many pastors are treading carefully.

In a highly contentious and even toxic environment, even innocuous comments can be construed negatively, setting off a series of controversies and complaints.

But is that a valid reason to retreat into silence?

“It is a misconception that pastors cannot address political issues — even ‘hot button’ issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and gun control — from the pulpit,” wrote Jorge Gomez for First Liberty, a Christian nonprofit legal group that specializes in defending religious freedom.

It’s Banned Books Week again — the time of year when libraries and bookstores display books that are supposedly banned. The week ends September 28 with Freedom to Read Day.

But if books are banned, how can libraries display them and lend them out? How can online retailers and bookstores sell them to customers?

How can schools offer them as part of the curriculum?

Isn’t the government stopping them from being sold? Perhaps collecting and burning them as in Nazi Germany or in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451? Rounding up dissident authors and publishers and sending them to labor camps and prisons, like the communist Soviet government?

Actually, none of this is happening. Which is why “Banned Books Week” is such a farce.

Books aren’t being banned, they’re being challenged — by parents, students and concerned citizens — who believe that certain titles contain age-inappropriate material and shouldn’t be available for children in public and school libraries.

That’s why the American Library Association (ALA) lists the “Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023” — even though it markets the annual event as Banned Books Week.

Parents who challenge books don’t want their children exposed to profanity, graphic descriptions of violence and sexually explicit content. They care about their children and don’t want them reading books they’re not equipped to handle.

Revival Nashville is calling on Christians across America to join the historic “Great American Prayer” event on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at 6:00 PM. The event invites Americans from all 50 states to hold simultaneous prayer meetings the day before election day to seek the Lord’s guidance and provision for our nation.

The G.A.P. event is being held as an opportunity for Christians to pray for God “to Save America,” “turn the hearts of Americans back to Jesus and the Bible” and to “send revival all across the USA.”

Hope Hines, who serves as the National Director of the event, is an Emmy Award winning broadcaster, the recipient of the Silver Circle Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

He also has three children and seven grandchildren.

“It’s thrilling!” Hines said about the event. “It’s never been done before! It could change America!”

A press release from the event states,

“Revival Nashville calls upon churches and communities across the country to come together in prayer, asking God to save our country, unify our people, and heal our land. Each state is encouraged to organize its own prayer meetings, creating a powerful wave of prayer that will begin on the East Coast and roll across the nation to the West Coast.”