The Texas Senate appears to be fast-tracking a religious liberty bill that Democrats in the Texas House killed last week with a procedural maneuver. House Bill 3172 appeared to be on its way to passage until Democratic Representative Julie Johnson raised a point of order that ultimately removed the bill from the calendar without debate or a vote.

Republican Senator Bryan Hughes had filed a companion bill that appeared to be stalled in committee. However, the bill was added to the committee docket on Monday afternoon and voted out of committee quickly. According to The Texas Tribune, the vote fell along party lines.

The proposed law states that “a governmental entity may not take any adverse action against any person based wholly or partly on a person’s belief or action in accordance with the person’s sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction, including beliefs or convictions regarding marriage.” Many have called it the “Save Chick-fil-A Bill” because it is aimed at stopping actions like the one taken by the San Antonio City Council to keep Chick-fil-A from opening a location in the San Antonio International Airport because of the owners’ views on marriage. 

According to Life Site News, the Council believed the chain’s convictions regarding marriage would prevent airline passengers from “feeling welcome when they walk through…

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. took to Twitter late Monday night to call Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president Russell Moore to the carpet.

Falwell took to Twitter Monday night to respond to a tweet where two-time Southern Baptist Convention president, Pastor Jerry Vines endorsed the new Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president, Dr. Adam Greenway.

In Falwell’s response to Vines, he not only backed the former SBC president’s endorsement of Greenway, but he also took the opportunity to call Moore out.

The LU president wrote, “My good friend @jerryvines just told me Dr. Adam Greenway is a wonderful man and not part of the @drmoore SBC deep state regime trying to subvert the will of the church members! So glad to hear this news! @toddstarnes”

My good friend @jerryvines just told me Dr. Adam Greenway is a wonderful man and not part of the @drmoore SBC deep state regime trying to subvert the will of the church members! So glad to hear this news! @toddstarnes https://t.co/ra7vCnutj9

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) May 14, 2019

Moore and Falwell have long had differing political opinions.

According to Relevant Magazine, during the 2016 election cycle, Moore loudly condemned President Donald Trump until having a meeting with higher-ups in the SBC. Reportedly, his…

Prominent Southern Baptist Bible teacher Beth Moore has ignited a firestorm on Twitter after challenging a theologian who singled her out in a blog post for encouraging women to preach.

Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, said in the May 7 post he was surprised that both Moore and SBC President J. D. Greear support“a woman teaching and preaching to the corporate body.”

He followed that up on Twitter the next day, saying “Complementarians disagree cheerfully about much. One thing we have massive agreement on: women do not preach on Sunday to the church. Doing so is functional egalitarianism. We will not capitulate here.”

Complementarians embrace the Scriptural view that the role of men and women is distinct and complements one another within the home and church, while Egalitarians believe the Bible calls for mutual submission in Christian relationships without a hierarchy, Baptist News Global reported.

Moore responded to Strachan with a series of tweets.

“Owen, I am going to say this with as much respect & as much self restraint as I can possibly muster. I would be terrified to be a woman you’d approve of. And I would have wasted 40 years of my life encouraging women to come to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture.”

Owen, I am going…

A Vermont bill declaring abortion a “fundamental right” that cannot be infringed is headed to the desk of the state’s Republican governor.

The bill, H. 57, cleared its final hurdle Friday, thrusting the state into a national debate over the unborn. The Vermont Right to Life Committee is calling the bill the “most radical anti-life legislation in the nation.” 

Democrats control both chambers. It passed the Senate, 24-6, and the House, 106-37. Republican Gov. Phil Scott is pro-choice, although it’s not known if he will sign it.  

“The State of Vermont recognizes the fundamental right of every individual who becomes pregnant to choose to carry a pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion,” the bill’s text says.

Additionally, the bill says the state’s public entities shall not “interfere with an individual’s fundamental rights” to “choose to carry a pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to obtain an abortion.” The bill defines public entity as the “Legislative, Executive, or Judicial Branch of State Government.” 

The bill even protects women who perform their own abortions.

“No State or local law enforcement shall prosecute any individual for inducing, performing, or attempting to induce or perform the individual’s own abortion,” it says.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vt.,…

A transgender weightlifter who is biologically male but competes as female has been stripped of four world records, just days after his story went viral.

Mary Gregory competed in a 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation meet in Virginia in late April, breaking the female world records for age and weight in Masters world squat record, open world bench record, Masters world deadlift record and Masters world total record, AOL reported. Gregory’s Instagram post about the meet went viral and sparked nationwide coverage.

But Paul Bossi, president of 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation, says in a statement Gregory should have been classified as male. Bossi and the board of directors met April 29, two days after the competition. 

“Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification,” Bossi wrote. “On the basis of all information presented to the Board of Directors for this particular case, the conclusion made, is that the correct physiological classification is male.”

Because Gregory should have been classified as male, “no female records will be broken by these lifts,” Bossi wrote. 

Gregory will be placed in a new transgender division. The board of directors, Bossi said, had been working on the new transgender policy but had not completed it before Gregory signed up…

A small Texas town is rejecting demands from an atheist organization to remove crosses from the county courthouse, and it’s getting the support of the state attorney general’s office, too. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter in late April to officials in Coldspring, Texas, asserting that four white crosses on the sides of the building violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on government establishment of religion.

But last week the San Jacinto County Commissioners voted unanimously, 5-0, to keep the crosses on the courthouse, KPCR-TV reported. More than 600 residents attended the commissioners’ meeting. The population of Coldspring, Texas, is about 900.

The Texas Attorney General’s office applauded the commissioners’ decision and pledged its legal support if FFRF files suit. 

“If that occurs, we look forward to supporting your lawful decision to retain the crosses,” Jeff Mateer, the state’s first assistant attorney general, wrote.

The crosses have lights that are turned on at Christmas. Dwayne Wright, chairman of the San Jacinto County Republican Party, posted a picture on Facebook showing the crosses lit up after the commissioners’ vote. 

“THIS is how we roll in San Jacinto County!” Wright wrote.  

Residents had said FFRF’s demands might face resistance. 

“I don’t think it’s…