NationBuilder

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.

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1. NC VALUES: Tami Fitzgerald Harris Funeral Homes Speech

On Tuesday earlier this week, the NC Values Coalition joined with pro-religious liberty supporters from across the country to advocate for our freedoms on the steps of the Supreme Court. What brought us together were the oral arguments for the Harris Funeral Homes case that was being argued before our nation's highest court.

🏛️ Read the speech in full: https://www.ncvalues.org/tami_fitzgerald_harris_funeral_homes_speech

2. HERITAGE: Supreme Court Justices Ponder the Meaning of "Sex"

"The Supreme Court, returning this week for the beginning of its 2019-2020 term, heard oral argument Tuesday in three cases asking it to decide whether the definition of sex in U.S. law includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

At issue is the meaning of the word 'sex' in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the primary federal law prohibiting discrimination in employment."

3. LIFE SITE: Gorsuch sends mixed signals during Supreme Court arguments on redefining sex discrimination

“This decision will impact public schools, employers, business owners, employees, and churches,” NC Values Coalition executive director Tami Fitzgerald warned outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “Blurring the binary concept of male and female detracts from the fundamental purpose of both Title VII to ensure that male and female employees have equal employment opportunities.”

4. WCNC: Cherry neighbors say new Planned Parenthood is a nuisance

"CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some people who live in the Cherry neighborhood in Charlotte are upset about their newest neighbor.

They say a new Planned Parenthood clinic has completely changed the area, bringing along several different nuisances.

People buy homes in Cherry to enjoy the quiet, peaceful and historic neighborhood. A home is a big investment to make, and the people on Torrence Street want to protect that."

Also check out this article from Fox News, which reports that Planned Parenthood vows to spend $45m in 2020 to elect abortion-rights candidates.

5. NATIONAL REVIEW: Woke Capital Has Exposed Itself

"For more than four years — from the opening moments of the rise of so-called woke capital — conservatives have been yelling about the blatant, obvious hypocrisy of the entire activist corporate enterprise. The same companies that imposed or threatened economic sanctions against such states as Indiana, North Carolina, and Georgia after they used the democratic process to pass socially conservative legislation have been happily doing business in murderous nations like China and Saudi Arabia. Even worse, eager to avoid offending a government that can instantly shut off access to its immense market, they’ve granted China an enormous amount of control over their products and operations.

It’s an old problem, but thanks to the craven actions of the NBA and Blizzard Entertainment — two companies much-beloved by many American progressives — woke capital hasn’t just alienated conservatives, it’s alienated progressives who actually care about progressive values. The hypocrisy is now too glaring to be ignored. Consider a few important examples."

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)