June 24, 2019: Religious freedom report, church mergers, Satanic Temple
Daily Radio Script - Monday, June 24, 2019
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— State Department releases religious freedom report
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The U.S. State Department's annual report on international religious freedom called out Iran, Russia, Myanmar, and China for religious freedom abuses and praised the positive steps taken by Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the report "exposes a chilling array of abuses committed by oppressive regimes, violent extremist groups, and individual citizens. For all those who run roughshod over religious freedom, I’ll just say this: the United States is watching and you will be held to account.”
— Dying churches merging with megachurches is a growing trend.
As many churches in America have seen their numbers decline, some congregations have merged with growing megachurches. A few of these churches were profiled in a Sunday feature for The Christian Post.
Ron Edmondson, CEO of the Leadership Network, an organization that seeks to help provide strategic resources for church leaders, told CP, “Some 42 percent of multi-sites come by way of merger. The typical merger is a mainline church in decline merging with an evangelical, often non-denominational church.”
— Satanic Temple opens government meeting with 'hail Satan' prayer
A member of the Satanic Temple was given an opportunity to give the opening prayer at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Alaska. The prayer ended with the words, “It is done, hail Satan,” which prompted a walkout some of those present.
One protestor at the meeting said, "We want God’s blessings on America, not Satan’s curses. Lucifer is the eternal loser. Let’s keep him out."
— Public library has drag queen show with a breast binder raffle
The King County Library System in Seattle promoted a "Teen Pride" event with presentations on "safer" sex, a drag show, and a "free binder raffle."
A mom from nearby Tacoma told The Christian Post, "Adults should never use children to justify or normalize their behaviors. Drag queen displays in libraries may be great fun with all things sparkly and fancy, but when my kids were small and they enjoyed something, they wanted to learn more about it. The world of drag is filled with porn, sex, drugs, and alcohol. That’s what kids will find when they Google their favorite drag queen. The Instagram accounts of these performers are not family-friendly."
According to an Ontario clinic that performs cosmetic gender surgeries, risks and side effects of compression chest-binding include back and shoulder pain, inflamed and fractured ribs, and blood clots that could result in a heart attack.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/breast-binder-raffle-drag-show-public-library-teen-pride.html
— Revoice Conference for same-sex attracted Christians held in Saint Louis.
Both conservative and liberal churches have failed to minister to those with same-sex attraction, Johanna Finegan argued in the keynote address.
On the left, the church looks to their sexual ethic and says: "This can't be what God wants," which is "a little bit like the cross which was foolishness to the Greeks."
The church on the right, she added, looks at their lives, particularly at their gay identities, and says: "This can't be how God works," which is a little bit like the cross, a stumbling block to the Jews.
"Both look at us and are confounded and offended," she said.
To read more stories from a Christian perspective, visit christianpost.com.
