(PDF version available here.)
EC’s 2022 ConnECtion keynotes will be presented as texts in June at our website: https://ecinc.org/, due to concerns about Covid-19 in overnight cramped quarters. Our keynoters are Claire Murashima, Calvin University Student Body President; David Holkeboer, Calvin College grad and an EC Director, and Ralph Blair, EC’s founder.
How many Americans now identify on the LGBT spectrum? Gallup finds: 7.1%. Five years ago, it was 4.5%. The post-stigma era generations lead the increase.
“Timeless American values could disappear” in the Global Respect Act’s support of “radical lifestyle choices” of LGBTQ people, claims Red Right Videos,as if sexual orientations are chosen instead of discovered within.
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is splitting up over LGBT issues. Among the oldest Protestant denominations in America, the RCA has not been able to bridge its internal divisions over same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy. RCA’s more theologically conservative congregations are leaving to form their Alliance of Reformed Churches (ARC). Before this split, the RCA’s membership was already down to under 200,000 in 1,000 congregations. So many conservatives are leaving, that an RCA pastor worries, “I doubt the RCA will be financially sustainable for much longer.” Still, over a hundred churches of various denominations are seeking to affiliate with this new ARC.
What they’re calling, “The Global Methodist Church” announced its formal split from the liberal mainline United Methodist Church over LGBTQ issues. Since 2019, 132 congregations have already disaffiliated from UMC, though there are more than 30,500 UMC congregations in the US. This new traditionalist denomination will be receiving $25 million from the UMC.
“Discipleship demands conformity to cardinal doctrine and moral imperatives. But demanding uniformity on disputable matters reduces the church’s ability to testify to the glory of Jesus.” Thus, a Mere Orthodoxy’s reviewercomments on the Grace Bible Theological Seminary provost, Owen Strachan’s, Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement is Hijacking the Gospel – and the Way to Stop It. But, as his critics say, in evangelical zeal: “Believers must make room for each other or fail to bear witness to the gospel’s invitation for those who need Jesus to our right and our left.”
Pew Research finds 55% of Americans have “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of confidence in religious leaders acting in the best interests of the public. 45% say they have “not too much confidence” or “no confidence at all” in religious leaders. Still, they’re more likely to have trust in religious leaders than in journalists, politicians and business leaders. Their most confidence is in scientists, the police and the military.
Australia’s Citipointe Christian College, a Pentecostal allied school, sent parents a contract stating: “We believe that any form of sexual immorality, (including but not limited to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, pedophilia and pornography), is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society.” The contract also noted that the college will enroll students only “on the basis of the gender that corresponds to their biological sex.”
Later, the school’s principal, Pastor Brian Mulheran, apologized, saying. the college withdrew this enrollment contract and families would no longer be asked to agree to the document for their child to attend the school. “We deeply regret that some students feel that they would be discriminated against because of their sexuality or gender identity, and I apologize to them and their families on behalf of the College. … The College does not and will not discriminate against any student because of their sexuality or gender identity. It is central to our faith that being gay or transgender in no way diminishes a person’s humanity or dignity in God’s eyes.”
Thousands of antigay Canadian and U.S. preachers protest a new Canadian law that follows the scientific data on the long-discredited hoax called “conversion therapy” for same-sex orientation. The antigay protestors even allege that this new law could lead to criminalizing even private conversations. Heading the protest in the US is a notoriously antigay California preacher, John MacArthur. But Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, says: “It’s official: Our government’s legislation banning the despicable and degrading practice of conversion therapy has received Royal Assent – meaning it is now law.” Violations can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.
A Christian Democrat MP says she’s defending “freedom of speech and religion” in her “hate speech” trial in Finland over her comments against homosexuality. Paivi Rasanen calls homosexuality, a “psychosexual developmental disorder”, so, all homosexuals are “dysfunctional”. She tweets that the Finnish Lutheran Church, for partnering with Pride celebrations, is “elevating shame and sin to a subject of pride”.
Cambridge University’s Caius College’s decision to fly only the college flag is met with outrage. The “Progress Flag” of the LGBTQ+ lobby is out of bounds. A graduate student says he’s “bitterly disappointed”, claiming, “it is symbolic of an entrenched, majority cis male, majority white, majority fusty fellowship who neither know nor want to know about the injustices faced by minorities.” However, Caius administrators explain: “The College flag is a symbol which unites all in the Caius community. Choosing to fly only the College flag avoids concerns regarding political neutrality, and the difficulty of choosing between the plurality of good causes for which a flag could be flown. Flags flown to express opinions about causes and issues, have the potential to divide us. … The College flag speaks for all of us. No other flag does.” Those who agree with this decision are surprised, “given Cambridge’s general lurch to the Left in recent years.”
Dating-app swindlers stole $547 million from Americans last year. Over five years, Americans have been defrauded of $1.3 billion. Seducers include a Nigerian gang that “charms” gullible seekers of dates before making up a tear-jerker and asking for money.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children processed 29.3 million reports of child sexual abuse material in 2021. The tip line fields some 80,000 reports each day, mostly involving Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.
Italy’s Senate defeats another move for equality for LGBTQ+ Italians. Italy is the only country in Western Europe that opposes these rights.
Pope Francis tells parents not to condemn their gay children: “Never condemn your children. … To these parents I say: don’t be scared. Yes, there is pain. A lot. … But you can’t kick someone out of the family, nor make their life miserable for this. Think of the Lord, think about how Joseph solved the problems.”
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich says that Catholic teaching on homosexuality is wrong and should be changed. This president of the Commission of the Bishops Conference of the European Union explains, “There is no homosexuality in the New Testament”, i.e., not as we understand it today. “There is only the mention of homosexual acts, which were partly pagan ritual acts. That was, of course, forbidden. I think it is time for a fundamental revision of the doctrine.” In the ancient world, slaves and conquered soldiers were physically humiliated, sexually abused as if they were females. Hollerich approvingly notes Pope Francis’ way of talking about homosexuality.
A Polish Catholic diocese apologizes for asking a court to determine if a man, now 48 years old, and sexually abused when he was an altar boy, “showed satisfaction with maintaining an intimate relationship” with this priest and derived “material benefits” from the sexual relationship.”
Fr. Bryan N. Massingale is both black and gay and is the Jesuits’ Fordham University endowed Professor of Theological and Social Ethics in New York City. He is also the Senior Ethics Fellow at Fordham’s Center for Ethics Education, a past convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He supports ordination for women, supports making celibacy optional and disagrees with the official Roman Catholic position against homosexuality. He publicly came out as gay in 2019, after having come to terms with his homosexuality by reflecting on biblical teaching. “I realized that no matter what the church said, God loved me and accepted me as a Black gay man.”
“Don’t let her hit the wall!”, a teacher cried out as one of his students seemed headed into a crash while experimenting with a virtual reality navigation devise in a high school hallway. For his quick shout to protect the student, he was fired! French teacher, Peter Vlaming, a devout Christian, was simply trying to protect his student from crashing and being badly injured. But, the student, a female, had lately been identifying as a boy. And although Vlaming had been using the student’s preferred personal name ever since the transition, in this emergency situation he momentarily slipped into the student’s prior pronoun. But such a slip is a big “no-no” in woke culture today, even in an emergency’s quick moment. It cost Vlaming his job at Virginia’s West Point High School in 2018 and the Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to hear the case.
Sixteen members of the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania are complaining about trans-woman Lia Thomas: “Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category.” This is evidenced by Thomas’ rankings that bounced up from #462 as a male against other males, to #1 as a trans-woman” against biological women. But, the women are being dissed as “transphobic”.
Men who were convicted for homosexual acts on the Isle of Man will finally be pardoned, although homosexuality was decriminalized on the Isle of Man back in 1992. The first Gay Pride event on the Isle of Man was held last year. Although these pardons will be automatic, they will have to be applied for in order to have their old convictions struck from the records. Just two years ago, the Isle’s chief minister apologized for the way these men had been mistreated, their homes raided, and they were imprisoned for consensual sex in private.
Claremont McKenna has the highest ranked score on the 2021 Free Speech Rankings. The University of Chicago, the University of New Hampshire, Emory University, and Florida State University also ranked high.
But DePauw University has the lowest overall score on the Free Speech Rankings for the second year in a row, confirming its place at the bottom. Marquette University, Louisiana State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Boston College are near the bottom of the rankings.
More than 80% of students report censoring their viewpoints at their colleges at least some of the time, with 21% saying they censor themselves often.
More than 50% of students identify racial inequality as a difficult topic to discuss on their campus.
Two thirds of students (66%) think it’s acceptable to shout down a conservative speaker to prevent that speaker from being able to be heard. Almost one in four (23%) say it’s acceptable to use violence to stop a conservative speaker from speaking.
California’s Board of Education’s push for student participation in repetitive chanting and affirmation for five Aztec gods constitutes an unlawful government preference for a religious practice, says the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation. These Aztec rituals involved gruesome human sacrifice and human dismemberment. Meanwhile, no public-school prayers in Jesus’ name are permitted.
Northwestern University held an online meeting at which all white attendees had to denounce themselves as racist. Here’s one such text: “My name is Emily Mullin. I am a racist and a gatekeeper of white supremacy. I will work to do better.” To the self-identified woke, white people are inescapably racist and heterosexuals are inescapably homophobic. None can change; they can only publicly confess their inherent evil and vow to “do better”. This policy and the rituals are enforced for the sake of “wokeness”.
A California Camp assigns non-binary biological men, as counselors who sleep in cabins with 5th grade girls. Only later did parents learn of this “woke” policy. Their daughters reported that the individual counselors each used “they/them” as each one’s pronouns. The Camp Pali assistant director said: “Per California law, we place staff in cabins they identify with.” Reportedly, This Los Alamitos Unified School District has had LGBTQ+ issues escalate before.
Sixteen members of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team complain of trans-female Lia Thomas, saying,“Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category.” From fear of reprisals, they did so anonymously.
Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete argues against transwomen participating in women’s sports. Jenner retired from competition in 1976 and announced the gender transition some 40 years later. Jenner says that University of Pennsylvania’s transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, “was raised as a biological boy. Her cardiovascular system is bigger, her respiratory system is bigger, her hands are bigger, she can swim faster. That’s a known.” The British Journal of Sports Medicine found that trans women had a 15% to 31% athletic advantage over cisgender women. As Jenner notes, in “Lia Thomas’ event as a guy, she was ranked 462 in the world. As a woman, she’s ranked number one in the world, so obviously it’s not working. They need to change the rules. All of this woke world that we are living in right now is not working.”
Swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, has 28 medals and 23 of them are gold. He very much agrees with Caitlyn Jenner, that Lia Thomas, a transwoman, has an unfair advantage competing with biological women
Swimming World’s editor, John Lohn, objects to Lia Thomas’ swimming against women: “Despite the hormone suppressants she has taken, in accordance with NCAA guidelines, Thomas’ male-puberty advantage has not been rolled back an adequate amount…The fact is, for nearly 20 years, she built muscle and benefited from the testosterone naturally produced by her body. That strength does not disappear overnight, nor with a year’s worth of suppressants. … The effects of being born a biological male, as they relate to the sport of swimming, offer Thomas a clear-cut edge over the biological females against whom she is competing. She is stronger. It is that simple. And this strength is beneficial to her stroke, on turns and to her endurance.” Here’s the statistical evidence to back up Swimming World’s editor’s point: Competing against other men, Thomas was ranked 462nd; now against women, Thomas ranks #1.
Hall of Fame swimming coach Dave Salo speaks out against transgender athletes like Lia Thomas competing in the women’s division. He calls it, “an assault on women’s sports. It compromises all the work that has been done by women athletes. It’s not fair at all.” Jeri Shanteau, 11-time All-American swimmer who won 3 NCAA women’s championships agrees: “This is an injustice being done right now for women competing in sports, specifically and clearly swimming.” She says that others are too afraid to voice their opposition in this current “cancel culture”. Even the women who were beaten by Thomas signed their petition incognito.
Bloomberg Equality reports that gay life in China has gotten much more difficult since Xi came to power in 2012. “Being gay, bisexual or trans is seen as an import, a ‘Western’ concept. This is reinforced by the fact that many foreign embassies in Beijing highlight gay rights.” But “few are willing to say the government or its policies are deliberately and specifically targeting gays.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had already outlawed same-sex marriage. He signed into law a series of constitutional amendments that, among other things, formally defines marriage as between a man and a woman in his Communist country.
The Taliban had announced that they would not recognize LGBTQ+ rights after their return to power in Afghanistan in August. Now the international LGBTQ+ Rainbow Railroad says the Taliban have a “kill list” and are ruthlessly identifying and targeting their choice victims. “This is a really scary time to be in Afghanistan,” Rainbow Road Director Kimahli Powell testifies. “We now know for sure the Taliban has a ‘kill list’ circulating, identifying these LBTQ+ persons.” Powell says Taliban may have used evacuation lists of vulnerable people that foreign organizations had gathered to help people escape the country in August’s sudden crisis.
“Some individuals have reached out to us and told us about how they’ve received a mystery email from someone claiming to be connected with Rainbow Railroad asking for their information and passport. That’s how we know the information has been leaked.” The Taliban says human rights would be observed in Afghanistan only within Islamic law – which, of course, totally excludes any and all rights for all LGBTQ+ people.
Twenty-nine LGBTQ+ Afghans were smuggled into the UK recently. One of them said: “Everything collapsed after the fall of Kabul. I was very depressed. I was counting my days to die”. He told the BBC, “Everything is new to me here [in the UK]. A new lifestyle, a new language and culture. I am a bit nervous about my future, and I am trying to figure out where to start my new life, but now I feel safe and free! This is amazing! The LGBT community was a secret underground community, but we knew each other and our network, and if one of us got arrested, they could have found the rest of us.”
When the Taliban retook the country during the chaotic US exit on its arbitrarily-set date of August 30th, many Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left behind, while, according to military historian Victor Davis Hanson, the Taliban was gifted with $90 billion worth of weapons. But Taliban don’t need all this weaponry to rape and kill gay men after luring them from hiding, and that’s what they’re reportedly doing now.
While homosexuality was still punishable by death after the Taliban fell in 2001, the punishment wasn’t applied in the country. But, during Taliban rule in those 1990s, gay men were put to death in Kabul and throughout the rest of the country. Now, with the return to total Taliban control, those tortures and killings are reinstituted and enforced.
The Combating International Islamophobia Act, co-sponsored by Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar, passed on a party-line 219 to 212 vote in the House of Representatives in December. Many are very concerned that this move will inhibit counterterror efforts.
A decision of Israel’s Supreme Court now allows LGBTQ folks to have children by surrogacy. In total contrast to surrounding Islamic control, Israel’s openly gay Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz says, “Equality before the law and equality of parenthood!”
Ukrainian LGBT activists fear they’re on Russia’s “kill list” according to the US Intelligence community. International organizations are trying to protect them. “The main fear is that, if the Russians are successful, we lose everything that we have,” said a volunteer with KyivPride, which organizes Ukraine’s annual Equality March to expand their equality in their country.
NPR reports: “On the day that Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Church of St. George in Lviv, in western Ukraine, posted a sign on its front gate condemning Russia.” This church is under Moscow’s Patriarchate who defended the invasion. At a point in the liturgy when the Moscow’s bishop is normally invoked, some now refuse to say his name.
AND FINALLY
As Putin viciously bombed Ukrainians, UK security services were focused on “White privilege”, “improving diversity” and “proper pronouns”, as The Daily Mail mocked them. UK national security advisor, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, called for censorship of “sexist” terms, e.g., “manpower”, “grip” and “strong”. On MSNBC, Anthea Butler claimed that, “more pro-Putin American evangelicals are coming into sharp focus”, as she failed to understand an End-Time Premillennial anti-Putin notion of his “being compelled by God” as a puppet. Joy Reid, also at MSNBC, snarked: “We don’t have to ask ourselves if the international response will be the same if Russia unleashed their horror on a country that wasn’t white and largely Christian.” But, isn’t Putin white and allegedly Christian? Then Nikole Hannah-Jones, of the counterfactual “1619 Project”, added, on Twitter that, “the alarm about a European, or civilized, or First World nation being invaded is a dog whistle to tell us we should care because they are like us.” How do so many misread so much of what they view? Ask Rorschach.