A Canadian father who has been unsuccessful in blocking his 15-year-old daughter from receiving hormone treatments to become a transgender boy is now facing jail time for talking to the media about the case, a move that could also land an independent journalist behind bars as well.

LifeSiteNews reported the action came after journalist Laura Lynn Tyler Thompson, a Christian broadcaster from Vancouver, posted an interview she did with the dad, known only as “CD” in court papers.

A judge had earlier issued a gag order forbidding the publication of any information that could identify any parties to the case, such as the teen, parents and several medical experts involved in the lawsuit, including a psychologist and a pediatric endocrinologist. Thompson ultimately removed the video, but copies are still available on several sites.

The dad filed suit last year trying to stop doctors from injecting his then 14-year-old girl with testosterone. During those court sessions, CD argued against the treatments saying his daughter suffered from emotional distress and depression since her parents’ 2013 separation. He added she was not mature enough to understand the long-term ramifications of the hormones treatments and had been unduly influenced by transgender activists.

On Tuesday, British Columbia Supreme Court justice Michael Tammen referred the matter to the province’s attorney general to consider prosecuting the two for criminal contempt of court. During the March 9 and 10 court hearings, attorneys for the teen acknowledged they were not acting under the direction of their client in their pursuit of criminal charges against the father.

A second journalist, Dan Dicks of Press for Truth, also posted an interview with the CD, but it is not yet known what action the court might take in that incident.

“It’s judicial activism, weaponizing the court to achieve a political agenda,” Kari Simpson of Culture Guard told LifeSiteNews. “The public has lost confidence not only in the rule of law but the administration of justice.”

Culture Guard, a pro-family activist organization, was earlier involved with the case.

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Senators from across the country have sent a letter to the government of India demanding the release of a Tennessee pastor who has been detained in the country since October of last year.

“We write to bring your attention to the case of Bryan Kevin Nerren Sr. of Shelbyville, Tennessee. We are immediately concerned with the health of the Nerren family, including Mr. Nerren’s daughter with special needs, who has been hospitalized with pneumonia as Mr. Nerren remains in India without a clear point of return,” said the letter, written by Sens. James Lankdford, R-Okla. and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Reps. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., and Jody Hice, R-Ga, The Christian Post reports.

The trouble began for Pastor Nerren, who leads the International House of Prayer Ministries in Shelbyville, after he was questioned by Indian authorities for carrying about $40,000 in cash while traveling. Nerren explained that the money was to pay for his two-week stay, which included attendance to two conferences for 13 other ministers.

Officials released him after an hour of questioning, stating that he was free to fly. However, upon his arrival in Bagdogra, police arrested him for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act because he did not have the correct form signed, despite officials in New Delhi never giving him the form.

After a hearing, India offered to let Nerren go if he compounded his offense and paid $7,000. Nerren agreed and followed through with the offer. However, the government has continued to keep him trapped in the country.

“[Nerren] has completed all of [the] required actions,” the letter stated. “However, Customs is now requiring the submission of a waiver of forfeiture for the money lost, a request that was not included in the original conditions—and to our knowledge is not required by Indian law.”

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Since we can all use some encouragement these days, we’ll begin this morning with Rita Wilson’s “Quarantunes.”

As you know, she and her husband, Tom Hanks, are in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. To help pass the time, she has made a playlist for those dealing with social distancing. Her song choices include “All By Myself,” “Lonely People,” “So Far Away,” and “Right Here Waiting.” But it also includes “I Will Survive” and “Amazing Grace.”

In other news, the CDC announced last night that it is advising against gatherings of fifty people or more for the next eight weeks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated that New York City’s public school system will be shutting down this week. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders engaged in a presidential debate last night without a live audience. And churches across the country held worship services online rather than in person.

These are all responses to social distancing, an imperative that is more urgent than ever.

According to the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, we need a “dramatic” reduction in social activity to fight the spread of coronavirus. He warned yesterday that America’s death toll from the disease depends on our response.

As statistical models show, the sooner we take steps to end public gatherings, close workplaces and some schools, engage in mass testing, and fortify hospitals, the better. Without such intervention, one model predicts that a third of Americans—more than one hundred million people—could become infected and one million could die.

Tragically, crises such as this can bring out the worst in humanity. A woman at an Australian supermarket allegedly knifed a man in a confrontation over toilet paper. A student of Chinese ethnicity was beaten on the streets of London and left with a fractured face. Protesters welcomed returning cruise passengers (none of whom was infected) by hurling abuse and rocks at them.

But crisis can also bring out our best. Rudy Gobert, the first NBA player to test positive for coronavirus, and other players are donating money to those affected by the league’s suspension of play. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is doing the same. Sports stars in South Korea are giving to relief efforts.

One of the ways God wants to redeem this crisis is by showing us how much we need him. But the Lord also wants to redeem it by showing us how much we need each other.

It is difficult to make sacrifices that don’t seem necessary at the time. If America were Italy and huge numbers of us were sick and dying, we would obviously see the need for social distancing and other sacrifices for the common good. However, to keep their experience from becoming ours, we must act as if it were.

The key is to reframe personal sacrifice as service to others.

According to the CDC, older adults and people with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease are at higher risk from COVID-19. Data from China showed a mortality rate among those with cardiovascular disease of 10.5 percent; for those with no underlying conditions, it was 0.9 percent. For those under fifty years of age, the death rate was 0.4 percent or less; for those over eighty years of age, it was 14.8 percent.

This means that social distancing is not just to keep you from becoming infected—it is to keep you from infecting others, especially those at greater risk from the disease.

Think of your parents or grandparents. Imagine them not getting medical care because you became infected and took the hospital bed or respirator they needed. You would never willingly do this, of course. It would not be a sacrifice to do whatever you could to give them what they need.

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Kristen Waggoner is senior vice president of U.S. legal division for Alliance Defending Freedom. She argued Masterpiece Cakeshop at the U.S. Supreme Court and Arlene’s Flowers at the Washington Supreme Court. Follow Kristen on Twitter @KWaggonerADF or follow ADF @AllianceDefends.

America is a byword for freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press. And because of those freedoms, we have traditionally enjoyed one of the world’s most diverse and tolerant societies. People of different views, faiths and persuasions are friends and neighbors who live together in peace. This is thanks in large part to the First Amendment, the genius of which is respect for each person’s human dignity.

Power over things like expression and religious views is limited to persuasion, and that forces all of us to think critically, defend our ideas and consider others’ perspectives — even those we think are terribly wrong.

But American culture has been shifting. Changing hearts and minds can be difficult. Activists are turning to brute force instead. So it should come as no surprise that the First Amendment cases on the Supreme Court’s docket of late boil down to whether the government can force its views on citizens.

High court cases that have made headlines recently have concerned forcing devout employers to provide drugs capable of ending human life (Hobby Lobby, Little Sisters of the Poor, March for Life), shutting out parents if they work through foster agencies that recognize marriage is between one man and one woman (Fulton), or punishing a cake artist who declines to create certain custom messages or participate in sacred events that violate his religious beliefs (Masterpiece Cakeshop). In each of these, the same question arises: Must the state treat differing beliefs, consciences and views respectfully and with equal dignity?

If our freedoms and pluralistic society are to survive, there can be only one answer: We must stop treating those with whom we disagree like enemies and allow every voice to be heard.

America is a nation where everyone should be free to speak their minds and honor their deepest convictions without fear of government punishment or retribution. Otherwise, we are no better than countless nations whose dissidents have fled to our shores for these very freedoms.

We have forgotten this lesson before. As the Nazis were about to overrun France, a case involving two Jehovah’s Witness schoolchildren reached the Supreme Court. Lillian and William Gobitas (misspelled Gobitis in official documents) refused to salute the American flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They took a strict view of the Ten Commandments and refused to take an oath to anything but God.

Their neighbors did not understand and ejected them from the public schools. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against the children, and afterward, Jehovah’s Witnesses faced intense backlash from coast to coast: Their halls were looted and burned, whole families were run out of town. Law enforcement for the most part did nothing, thinking that the Supreme Court had declared them traitors.

Today’s cases look different, but the dangers they invite are the same. Consider Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington, which awaits a decision as to whether it will be heard by the Supreme Court.

Barronelle Stutzman is a floral design artist who loves and serves everyone at her small shop in Richland, Washington. For nearly 10 years, she developed a lasting friendship with Robert Ingersoll and created dozens of innovative floral arrangements celebrating major events in his life, including Valentine’s Day and anniversary gifts for his partner, Curt Freed.

But when the couple decided to marry, Barronelle was faced with a difficult choice: betray her religious convictions or disappoint a friend. Barronelle took her friend Robert aside, told him how much she loved him and explained that she could not create custom arrangements for, or participate in, the ceremony. She referred him to three floral design studios nearby.

Barronelle’s compassionate response is exactly what our society needs right now. But government officials are often more interested in shaming those with whom they disagree than respecting their freedom.

Washington state’s attorney general filed a one-of-a-kind lawsuit, bringing a consumer protection complaint instead of leaving the matter to the Washington Human Rights Commission and waiting for someone to file a complaint, as is usually done. The attorney general has also threatened not only Barronelle’s business, but, in a highly unusual move, has joined the ACLU in suing her personally as well.

The AG admits that Barronelle creates expression for a living but argues that the state can force her to create certain messages or even require poets to write odes consistent with the government’s marriage views. Barronelle has spent nearly seven years in litigation and as the object of public derision and death threats, all because she couldn’t speak a message or participate in a wedding ceremony her faith disbelieves.

Unless the Supreme Court steps in, people of good faith, like Barronelle, will lose not just their livelihoods and personal assets but will become pariahs, just like the Jehovah’s Witnesses who came before.

The court has not shied from righting such wrongs in the past. In Barnette, it eventually overruled its own decision against the Gobitas children, declaring that “no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

Freedom demands such limits. The Supreme Court should affirm that Barronelle’s religious view of marriage is honorable and that the government cannot punish her for her beliefs.

The alternative is that government bureaucrats will continue their relentless attacks on beliefs held as much by Muslims and Jews as by Christians. Freedoms are not a liberal or conservative issue. The government that supports your beliefs today may take the opposite position tomorrow based on public pressure or an election. If we want freedom of speech and religion for ourselves, we must extend those freedoms to all people, even those with whom we disagree. A win for Barronelle is a victory for all of us.

Merely enforcing the First Amendment’s free speech and free exercise guarantees does not “weaponize” them or pose a threat to civil society, as one recent commentator claimed. Quite the opposite: Protecting these freedoms is what has allowed our country to grow and flourish. The sooner the courts act to stop government officials from bullying those with whom they disagree, the sooner we can bring an end to cancel culture and the discord, mistrust and division it sows. If we want to see our diverse society survive, it is time to stop drawing lines between us.

Source: Religion News Service

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The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine.

Churches around the world have had to cancel Sunday services because of the coronavirus. In the Vatican, services for Holy Week, the most sacred time of the liturgical year, will exclude the faithful.

The cancelling of church and sporting events has convinced most Americans that something significant is happening; after all, there is nothing more sacred to Americans than religion and sports.

The decision to cancel church gatherings was not easy, but it was correct. Religious leaders who don’t follow the advice of public health officials are being reckless and immoral by putting their congregants and others at risk.

We know that COVID-19 is usually passed through human contact (handshakes and touching), through droplets in the air (sneezes and coughs) or contact with infected surfaces (doors, pews, hymnals). This is not the time to get scrupulous about Sunday obligations or to worry about Sunday collections.

What would Jesus do? Jesus would tell you to stay home for your own good and the good of your neighbor.

But is that it? As Christians, we know that spirituality is not just about avoiding evil. It is also about doing good. Every crisis is an opportunity to do good. Here are some suggestions about what individuals, families, neighbors and parishes can do during this quarantine.

We may not have church services and the Eucharist, but we still have the Scriptures. Catholics can find the daily Scripture readings at USCCB.org in both written and audio form. They are also available through podcasts and apps on your smartphone or Amazon Echo.

Quarantine provides us with an opportunity to spend time with the Scriptures both as individuals and as a family. There are at least two ways of praying the Scriptures.

First there is meditation, in which you ask, what is the Scripture passage telling me? What does it tell me about God? What does it tell me about how to live my life? The second is contemplation, in which you use your imagination to put yourself into the story. Become a participant.

Ultimately, either method should lead to prayer, which is talking with God.

As Catholics of my age learned from the Baltimore Catechism, the different ways of praying can be summarized through the acronym “ACTS.” Prayer can be Adoration (God, you are awesome), Contrition (sorry, God), Thanksgiving (thank you, God) and Supplication (please, God). Many people get stuck in prayers of contrition and supplication and forget about thanksgiving and adoration.

This illustration provided by the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in January 2020 shows
the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Image
courtesy of CDC

Reflection and prayer on the Scriptures can be done not only individually, but also as a family or in a virtual community. Parishes should establish virtual communities through Facebook or other social media where the community can share their reflections on the Scriptures.

But Christians are known not only for their piety but for their charity. How can you perform charity in a time of social distancing?

Parishes should use email contact lists to find those who need help shopping or with other tasks because they are elderly or otherwise at risk of infection. Parishes can become centers for networking.

But Christians do not just take care of their own; they are also called to look out for their neighbors. Every apartment building and neighborhood is a decentralized warehouse. In kindergarten we were taught the importance of sharing. Can we do that now? Rather than hoarding as individuals, can we as a community look out for one another?

Can we pitch in to sanitize our work environment and public spaces? For example, if you have a supply of Clorox, use some of it (one-part Clorox to 10-parts water) to disinfect the public surfaces in your workplace or apartment building (doorknobs, elevator buttons, handrails, etc.).

I am doing that in my house where I live with 16 Jesuits — mostly elderly at-risk men. I fear that if anyone in my house gets the virus, we will all get it. That is a risk of community life, as it is a risk of family life.

Even more at risk are those in homeless shelters or on the streets.

I host a “Friday night movie” at our community, and last Friday it was the 2011 movie “Contagion.” The virus in the movie was more deadly than COVID-19, but it did have a happy ending.

What bothered me most about the movie was how it predicted many of the things happening today. Nine years later, our country is still not prepared to deal with COVID-19. Scientists and experts have been predicting a pandemic for years, but the public and government officials prefer to ignore the science just as we are also ignoring the science of climate change.

It is easy for crackpots and charlatans to denigrate experts and scientists, but we listen to such fools to our peril. It is time to put the common good over our personal good; it is time to respect science not partisan spin masters; it is time to be our better selves.

[Update: Father Reese has learned that a member of his community has tested positive for COVID-19. Tom, who has no symptoms, is in self-imposed quarantine and will provide more information in his next column.]

Source: Religion News Service

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PULLMAN, Wash. (RNS) — On a normal Sunday, most of the 100 people filling the pews of the Rev. Lori Cornell’s congregation fit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s description of those at high risk for COVID-19.

So like the majority of churches in the greater Seattle area, Calvary Lutheran Church of Federal Way has suspended its worship services and is turning to technology not only for its weekly celebration of the Eucharist, but for all the pastoral and social contact an aging congregation depends on church for.

But with social distancing and electronic connections come challenges. Cornell is worried older members of her church may become lonesome.

“They have the potential to feel more isolated than ever, so we’re trying to be really mindful of that,” Cornell said. “My concern is for people whose lives very much count on the church and who find themselves often dependent on other people to get them places they need to go, like Bible study, church and other events.”

Her church’s leadership is using Facebook as a way to stay connected, with plans to post homespun sacred music created by church musicians, and leading video chats throughout the week.

For those not technically savvy, the phone has become an important tool, Cornell said.

The Rev. Mike Denton, conference minister of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, said the phone tree is being rekindled in his region’s UCC churches too.

Laurie Kuypers, a registered nurse, reaches into a car to take a nasopharyngeal swab from a patient at a drive-through COVID-19 coronavirus testing station for University of Washington Medicine patients, on March 17, 2020, in Seattle. The appointment-only drive-through clinic began a day earlier.  (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Because some elderly churchgoers have trouble hearing over the phone, handwritten letters are also being sent to those who are homebound.

“We want to be able to keep folks safe and we don’t want to be a carrier,” Denton said. “So it’s something we’re running into. We don’t know how to move beyond it yet.”

At Kavana, an independent Jewish cooperative in Seattle, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum said her congregation is tech-savvy, to judge from last week’s Purim services. Celebrating over the video app Zoom, Nussbaum was joined by some 70 households, in costume on their sofas. “That was more, maybe, than we would have had in person,” she said.

Additionally, she said every member of the congregation is in touch with congregational leadership via email for personal check-ins.

“We’re starting with older members and people we suspect are isolated,” Nussbaum said.

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum. Courtesy photo

She added that Kavana is continuing to explore other ways to foster closeness, including care package drop-offs, phone calls and letter-writing.

As students are forced to stay home from school, she said, this may be an area where they can volunteer.

Bishop Greg Rickel of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia said priests are asked to use their own judgment when ministering to the sick or elderly.

“I have a retired priest in isolation right now fighting pretty hard for their health and I’m speaking to them by phone every day,” Rickel said. “So we’re having to do some of this remotely.”

But finding ways to be in community during this time is key, he said.

“Desmond Tutu said the idea of a solitary Christian is an oxymoron. Christianity is communal by its nature,” Rickel said. “For these days what I’m trying to impart to our people is that being communal is to isolate; to keep self away is the communal thing to do.”

At First Church Seattle, the congregational care team is working with vulnerable church members to find the best way to connect digitally. The Rev. Jeremy Smith said the care team is planning to create a hotline so homebound members who aren’t as tech-savvy can call in and listen to services.

The congregation has also been broken into small groups, which are meeting regularly via preferred medium — email, video chat or phone call.

“I have a 70-year-old in a group with a pair of 30-year-olds,” Smith said. “The founder of the United Methodist Church, John Wesley, put people into these types of small groups to check in with each other every week and pray for each other, and guide them toward Christian living, and I think in this digital age with this sort of hands-off — literally — way of living, I think it’s helping people connect with each other and can help sustain even those who are homebound.”

Smith said the church is still trying to figure out how to best care, physically and spiritually, for all members, but especially those who live in a care facility or in Seattle hospitals, which aren’t allowing visitors.

“This is not how things will be going forward. This is a season we’re going through, and when we emerge on other side, we’ll be ecstatic to see each other and high-five each other again, but until then have to find ways to sustain each other and to keep care for each other,” Smith said.

Source: Religion News Service

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The United Methodist Church has postponed its 2020 General Conference — where delegates were expected to take up legislation to split the denomination — over concerns about the spread of COVID-19, what’s commonly referred to as the coronavirus.

The quadrennial meeting of the denomination’s decision-making body was set to gather 862 delegates and other United Methodists from all over the world May 5-15 in Minneapolis.

Officials at the Minneapolis Convention Center informed the Executive Committee of the Commission on the General Conference that it was restricting all events at the venue through May 10.

That led to the announcement Wednesday (March 18) that the General Conference will be postponed.

Church leaders were already planning to meet Saturday (March 21) via teleconference to discuss plans for the General Conference.

It’s unclear how soon the denomination will be able to announce new dates for the meeting.

“This news is not unexpected based on the current guidance from health officials and we expect to move forward with new plans as quickly as possible,” Kim Simpson, chair of the Commission on the General Conference, said in a written statement.

Only the full Commission on General Conference is able to set a new date or alternate plan, according to the statement.

Delegates attend the first day of deliberations at the special session of the United Methodist Church General Conference in St. Louis on Feb. 24, 2019. RNS photo by Kit Doyle

The postponement follows recommendations from bishops and from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Friday, United Methodist bishops had asked the Commission on General Conference to postpone the meeting.

“We write out of a deep love for our global church and as a tangible way of giving spiritual and temporal oversight in our role as shepherds and we are guided by the core value of helping delegates to do their best work,” wrote the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops in a letter signed by the Council of Bishops’ current president, the Rev. Kenneth H. Carter, and incoming president, Cynthia Fierro Harvey.

The bishops’ letter noted the “grave risk” of spreading the virus amid international travel and such a large gathering of people.

It also pointed out that international travel restrictions to the U.S. would make it difficult for delegates from Central Conference outside the U.S. to enter the country.

“We note the damage such a General Conference would do to the trust level if matters of great and lasting importance are voted upon. We are guided here by the core value of justice,” it said.

The CDC has also recommended organizers cancel or postpone all large group meetings for at least eight weeks.

Events of any size only should continue following the guidelines previously issued by the CDC for protecting vulnerable populations, practicing good “hand hygiene” and social distancing, it said.

“This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus,” according to the CDC.

Delegates to the General Conference were expected to take up a proposal to split the denomination called “A Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation.” The proposal, negotiated by 16 United Methodist bishops and advocacy group leaders from across theological divides, would create a new conservative “traditionalist” Methodist denomination that would receive $25 million over the next four years.

The protocol was announced in January, and three regional United Methodist annual conferences approved measures to send the protocol to the General Conference for a vote.

Bishops then asked the denomination’s top court to decide whether the proposed legislation implementing the protocol is constitutional.

Calls to split one of the largest denominations in the United States have grown since last year’s special session of the United Methodist General Conference approved the so-called Traditional Plan strengthening the church’s bans on the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ United Methodists.

Source: Religion News Service

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