Kirsten Gillibrand has been serving in the US Senate since 2009 and announced her candidacy for president in March. Last Thursday, amid the furor over Georgia’s “heartbeat bill,” she booked a trip to the state, where she protested what she called “a war on women.”

According to CBS News, the senator told a press conference that laws banning or restricting abortion are “against Christian faith.” She explained: “If you are a person of the Christian faith, one of the tenants [sic] of our faith is free will. One of the tenants [sic] of our democracy is that we have a separation of church and state, and under no circumstances are we supposed to be imposing our faith on other people. And I think this is an example of that effort.”

In other news, the House of Representatives is no longer including “So help me God” when witnesses swear to tell the truth before Congress. A long essay in the New Yorker is extolling secular atheism. And Jim Carrey drew a cartoon depicting the late-term abortion of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey after she signed her state’s abortion bill and stated that “every life is a sacred gift from God.”

We can respond as Christians to each of these issues. But should we?

Is defending biblical morality in an increasingly antagonistic culture worth our time? Is it a distraction from loving God and loving each other?

Or is it a calling from God?

The case for making a case for Christ

When Peter was called before the Sanhedrin after healing a lame man, the apostle declared his faith in Jesus and refused to cease preaching the gospel (Acts 4:8–20). When Paul was arrested in Philippi, he cited his Roman citizenship in defending himself (Acts 16:35–40). When called before the Sanhedrin, he defended “the hope and the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 23:6).

Jesus warned his followers that the authorities “will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be…