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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.
We
would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25,
or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and
fighting for your values on the public square!
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.
Both Our Lady of Guadalupe
School v. Morrissey-
Berru and Little
Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v.
Pennsylvania address the extent to which
religious organizations receive special first amendment
protection.
In Guadalupe, 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."
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.'"
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."
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."
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.
 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
Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help
the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can
donate by clicking here.
Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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