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Friend,
Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your friends and church families. <[link removed]>
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1. NC VALUES: Supreme Court Hands Down 2 Enormous Victories for Religious Freedom
"In a 180-degree turn away from a line of liberal-leaning Supreme Court decisions, the Nation’s highest Court just handed down two historic wins for religious liberty this week.
BothOur Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey- BerruandLittle Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvaniaaddress the extent to which religious organizations receive special first amendment protection.
InGuadalupe, two Catholic elementary school teachers brought employment discrimination claims. The Court generally stays away from involvement in anti-discrimination cases when a religious institution makes employment decisions involving a “ministerial” employee. This “ministerial exception” prevents excessive entanglement between the judicial branch and religious institutions. It exists to recognize the independent authority of the church in matters of faith."
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2. FOX NEWS: Supreme Court rules religious schools shielded from teachers' employment discrimination claims
"The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision on Wednesday that civil courts cannot get involved in employment discrimination claims brought against religious organizations where the employee served a religious function.
The decision expanded on a previous ruling from 2012 which said that religious organizations have a 'ministerial exception' from employment discrimination lawsuits, but it was unclear exactly who qualifies as a 'minister.'"
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3. FOX NEWS: Little Sisters of the Poor on SCOTUS victory on birth control exemption: 'We always knew God would protect us'
"Following a Wednesday Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Trump administration and Catholic charity Little Sisters of the Poor, the group's communications director said Thursday that her organization always knew they were protected by God.
In an interview on 'Fox & Friends,' Sister Constance Veit explained that the case against New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- both of which had sued over the validity of a revision to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that allowed religiously-affiliated groups and some for-profit companies to opt out of providing contraception coverage to employees -- was a must-win."
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4. LADY LIBERTY: WCPSS’s Office of Equity Affairs rolls out Black Lives Matter website
"The Wake County Public School’s Office of Equity Affairs (OEA) has created a Black Lives Matter themed website to provide 'resources' to teachers in order to 'teach the movement' in their classrooms.
This website has clearly been created in response to the George Floyd protests. Those protests turned into riots that destroyed parts of major cities nationwide, including areas of North Carolina like Raleigh and Charlotte. Access to it was posted to WCPSS Connect, which is a teacher message board of sorts used by the district.
Of note, the site prominently features arguably the most radical of the three Black Lives Matter co-founders, Patrisse Cullors."
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5. N&O: Paula Rinehart's op-ed "NC should put children first in foster care decisions,"
Check out Paula Rinehart's op-ed, "NC should put children first in foster care decisions," from yesterday's edition of the News & Observer.
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WEEKLY PRAYER: FAMILY
LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family.
LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities.
LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession--as individuals and as members of larger communities--over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human--being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one's children.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17)
Amen
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Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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NC Values Coalition - 9650 Strickland Rd, Suite 103-226, Raleigh, NC 27615-1902, United States
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