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Tough New MN Coronavirus Restrictions: What Do They Mean for Churches?
This week, Governor Tim Walz issued an executive order with tough new restrictions aimed on stopping the spread of COVID-19. This includes banning indoor and outdoor social gatherings (but not scheduled church services, weddings, or funerals) and sit-down service at restaurants and bars.
With the number of COVID cases in Minnesota up 113% in the last two weeks, and hospitalizations up 93% in the same time period, these new restrictions are not surprising. However, they represent unprecedented restrictions on individual freedoms in the face of the pandemic. Although the restrictions may help keep hospitals from becoming overloaded, they will harm local businesses like restaurants and fitness centers and the families who depend on them. This is a time to pray for our elected leaders, for those who are sick with COVID-19, for the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who will suffer economically and in other ways because of these new restrictions, and for hospitals and hard-working health care workers.
Notably, these new restrictions do not change the rules for church services in Minnesota. The current rules (that churches may meet at no more than 50% of the building's Fire Code capacity with a maximum of 250 individuals, abide by the mask order and social distancing protocols, and maintain a COVID-19 preparedness plan) remain in place, but no new restrictions have been added at this time.
Why? Because churches have been responsible. There have been no large-scale reported outbreaks of COVID-19 linked to Sunday church services in Minnesota, because churches have for the most part been wise about how to hold services in this new environment.
We are grateful that there are no new restrictions on churches at this time but remain concered about government overreach in restricting church attendance at any level. Churches are essential, and Minnesota Family Council will continue to fight for churches to have the freedom to gather for worship safely, as they have done since May.
How Schools Fuel the Transgender Craze and Undermine Parents
Between 2016 and 2017, the number of “gender transition” surgeries performed on adolescent girls quadrupled. This shocking increase in teenage girls suddenly claiming they were “born in the wrong body” and seeking life-altering, experimental surgeries is made even more alarming by the fact that this appears to be a “craze”—an intense and often short-lived cultural enthusiasm that spreads like a virus. Unlike other crazes that have affected teenagers in recent years, this one comes with lifelong effects and frequently encourages teens to completely alienate themselves from their parents and families.
In her recent book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, Abigail Shrier documents this disturbing trend. One of the contributing factors that she highlights is the role that many public schools play in fueling the transgender movement and undermining parents. Shrier reports that in June of 2019, the California Teachers Association’s policy-making branch voted on a proposal that would allow students to leave campus during school hours to receive puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones without the “barrier” of parental consent. In January of this year, the CTA’s Civil Rights in Education Subcommittee recommended creating “school-based healthcare clinics” that would offer “cisgender, transgender and non-binary youth equal and confidential access to a broad range of physical, mental and behavioral services.”
Washington state is currently considering a similar proposal, and in December, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles announced their intention to open 50 school-based healthcare centers in the Los Angeles area within the next three years. In Madison, Wisconsin, parents have fought back after the school district adopted a policy that enabled students to adopt a new name and pronouns at school behind their parents’ backs and even instructed teachers to conceal information from parents. (CONTINUED . . .)
Continue reading at The Family Beacon
Care for Women vs. Care for Babies? You Don't Have to Choose
Explaining why she left the pro-life movement, a writer on Medium recently asserted, “There are only two sides to this debate: you can be for women, or against them.” The false dichotomy between caring for women and protecting life is often held up as an argument against the pro-life movement. If pro-lifers really cared about women in difficult circumstances they would support abortion, the argument goes. Anyone who doesn’t is clearly unfeeling, calloused, and anti-woman. But this reasoning not only pits women against their children unnecessarily, it also fails to understand the true nature of compassion. Far from being an act of kindness, holding up abortion as the best or only option for a woman facing unplanned pregnancy is an incredibly harmful response to both women and children.
Protecting life in the womb and showing compassion for women can only be pitted against each other by telling a partial story. The argument that opposition to abortion is at odds with caring for women in difficult circumstances fails to consider the fact that, according to a national study, 64% of the women who have undergone abortion say that they felt pressured to do so, and 65% of those women showed signs of trauma. This is not kindness, but the enablement of coercion and abuse. Consider also the countless women who experience depression and PTSD after abortions while the abortion industry insists that there's no such thing as abortion regret, or the women who are injured and in some cases even die as a result of the unsafe and irresponsible practices of abortion facilities. There is nothing compassionate about the way the abortion industry silences these women, denies them support, and enables the people in their lives who may be manipulating, coercing, or abusing them. (CONTINUED . . .)
Continue reading at The Family Beacon
Our allies at Pro-Life Action Ministries are holding a Christmas Caroling for Life event on Saturday, December 12. Get more details at plam.org. **Please note that the details of this event may be changed due to evolving COVID-19 restrictions. The PLAM website will always have the latest information.
Educating and Equipping Parents on the Transgender Trend
Get Your Copy of the Minnesota Parent Resource Guide! The Parent Resource Guide sheds light on the consequences transgender ideas have on kids' lives, while equipping parents to play a positive role in creating a truly welcoming school community.
Responding to the transgender trend with truth and compassion starts with the Parent Resource Guide. Get your copy HERE today and invite a friend to do the same! Click to order your copy today:
Support MFC When You Shop Online
Did you know that when you shop with Amazon Smile, Amazon makes a donation to Minnesota Family Institute at no cost to you? This is one of the easiest ways to support our mission of advancing life, family, and religious freedom in Minnesota!
You can support our mission while you shop by clicking here (smile.amazon.com/ch/41-1439560) or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app and AmazonSmile donates to Minnesota Family Institute.
Thank you for sharing Minnesota Family Council’s vision for strong families and communities through Christ. As we pivot from a contentious election to the challenges ahead, we need your support now more than ever. Click here to give now. We are grateful for your partnership with us through prayer and financial support.
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