Web designer takes Colorado to Supreme Court
The case of a Christian web designer who refuses to do work that supports gay marriage has reached the US Supreme Court after six years of legal battles.
Denver-based Lorie Smith is seeking an exemption from a Colorado law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. Lower courts ruled in Colorado’s favour.
Her case could pave the way for improved religious freedom for business owners
The first indications are that the Supreme Court will support Smith’s religious freedom, but a final decision is not expected until June.
The conservative justices seem sympathetic towards Smith’s view that businesses are protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which should prevent them from being forced to express messages through their work that they oppose.
Her case is seen as pivotal, because it could pave the way for improved religious freedom for business owners.
Smith, who has received death threats from gay activists and has lost a lot of business, says her fight is to prevent the government from “forcing Americans to promote views they disagree with”. She adds that “the right to create and speak consistently protects not only me but the LGBT web designer who shouldn’t be forced to create custom artwork celebrating messages that oppose same-sex marriage”.
Big Pharma funded research that sparked trans ideology
A Dutch investigation has found that the 2006 study which became the basis for the gender transition of children was bankrolled by a business that benefits from a puberty-blocking drug.
The 2006 study prompted the treatment now known as the ‘Dutch protocol’, which halts the puberty of adolescents suffering from gender dysphoria. The protocol led to the ‘gender-affirming’ ideology that has spread through paediatric care around the globe.
However, that study is now in question as it was funded by Ferring Pharmaceuticals, the company that produces the Triptorelin puberty-blocking drug. Investigative journalist Jan Kuitenbrouwer and media sociologist Peter Vasterman conclude that the “scientific underpinnings of the Dutch protocol turn out to be pretty shaky”.
The Dutch research has been used to justify fast-tracking children onto puberty-blockers and sex-change hormones, which in turn usually leads to transgender operations. But according to thepostmillenial.com, the study is not only suspect because of its funding, but also because it lacked a control group and had other “key methodological flaws”. One child in the study even died of complications from gender-changing surgery.
In the past, after puberty, most children with gender dysphoria would accept the gender they were born with, but the acceptance of trans ideology has meant they are put on a medical pathway to gender transition, despite the known side effects of puberty blockers
Swiss stick with two genders
The Swiss government has decided not to accept ‘gender identity’ ideology and will retain only male and female genders in the civil registry.
“Disorders of sex development are not new sexes”
The Daily Wire reports that the Swiss Federal Council declared that “the binary gender model is still strongly anchored in Swiss society”. The country will not be following other Western European nations and the USA in offering a “third gender” or “no gender” option in official records
One of the world’s most famous biologists, Prof Jerry Coyne, has stated: “‘Actual science’ done by biologists shows two sexes… There is no third sex. Disorders of sex development are not new sexes, and biological sex is binary.”
Although an evolutionist, Professor Coyne has called out The New Scientist for removing the words “women” and “woman” from its articles about advances in science, even when the original papers did use these words. He writes on his ‘evolutionistrue’ site: “I feel awful that academia, and especially biology, is being distorted and corrupted by ideologues.”
Two pastors win discrimination case – after 14 years
Two pastors who challenged a governmental campaign against evangelical Christians in Bulgaria have won their case at the European Court of Human Rights – after Bulgarian courts had rejected their complaints.
The council and police warned children and families to avoid Protestant churches
According to Premier News, the Burgas council and police wrote a letter to all schools in the city in 2008, warning children and families to avoid Protestant churches. The letter accused evangelicals of “carrying out a massive campaign of agitation”, “tricking new members” and “disuniting the Bulgarian nation”. Children were even told to report if they had had any contact with evangelical churches.
Evangelical pastors Zhivko Tonchev and Radoslav Kiryakov challenged the letter in national courts but to no avail, and the council never withdrew the advice in the letter. Aided by the Christian advocacy group ADF International, the pastors appealed to the European Court, which in December ruled that Bulgaria had violated the religious freedom of evangelical churches.
Pastor Tonchev said: “As pastors dedicated to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we rejoice that our rights, and the rights of all who believe, have been recognised.”
Twitter takeover reveals previous bias
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has exposed the social media company’s previous meddling in politics, silencing conservative views.
Larry Alex Taunton, an evangelical US commentator and apologist, gave examples of how free speech has improved on Twitter. He said that Musk, who purchased the platform for $44 billion, “has gone public with documents – collectively called ‘The Twitter Files’ – revealing government collusion with Twitter’s former executives to suppress political opposition”.
Taunton added: “In the past, if I tweeted, for example, an article challenging the LGBTQ+ agenda or Islam, someone would report the tweets and Twitter would remove them.”
Other outspoken figures who have been re-instated on the social media platform include Donald Trump, businessman Mike Lindell, psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson and two men who have repeatedly warned about the effects of the Covid shots – cardiologist Dr Peter McCullough and scientist Dr Robert Malone, formerly a contributor to the mRNA vaccine technology.
RFK Jr to sue media over Covid censorship
Defense (Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Robert F Kennedy Jr and multiple other plaintiffs are suing mainstream news groups, alleging they partnered with Big Tech firms to censor online news.
The landmark lawsuit, filed in January, claims the Trusted News Initiative, a self-described “industry partnership” launched in March 2020 by several of the world’s largest news organisations, breached the US First Amendment to conceal Kennedy’s and others’ Covid-related content.
Moreover, the newly sworn-in Missouri Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, has cited documents and emails between social media employees and White House officials in a series of tweets on 6 January 2023 that sought to censor tweets by RFK Jr, chairman and chief litigation counsel of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), conservative commentator Tucker Carlson of Fox News and others.
Back to the Bible for Israel’s politicians
Opposition is growing from liberal Jews in Israel and in the diaspora who accuse the religious Zionists in the new government of trying to turn Israel into a religious nationalist state, which will create division and conflict – and possibly even war with the Arabs.
The Israeli public voted for Judaism as opposed to globalism
despite a court judgement forbidding Ariyeh Deri to take up his cabinet post (Credit: Matty STERN / U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, Wikimedia Commons)
Avi Maoz has been given charge of the new ‘National Jewish Identity Department’, with power over the content of the school syllabus. He has announced his intention of removing the promotion of the LGBT agenda in Israel’s public education system and closing down the Gay Pride march in Jerusalem.
He compared this with the fight of the Maccabees against the Hellenist (Greek) influences on Israel, celebrated each December at the festival of Hanukkah. Maoz said: “Whoever tries to create a new, seemingly liberal religion is the darkness. Whoever introduces agendas to brainwash the children of Israel [he means the LGBT agenda] without the knowledge of the parents – is the darkness.”
An article in Israel Today reports that Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism Party and now Minister of Finance, said that Scripture should dictate Israel’s economic policies. “They’ve tried many different economic systems, right? They tried capitalism, neo-socialism, but there’s one thing they didn’t try — an economic approach obeying the Torah.”
He referred to Deuteronomy 11:13-14, saying: “If we follow the Torah, we’ll be rewarded with financial abundance and a great blessing.”
Anshel Pfeffer, a journalist on the left-wing Haaretz newspaper, commented that the election result reflects the cultural war within Israel between left-leaning liberals versus the religious nationalists.
A spokesman for the Religious Zionist party said, “The Israeli public voted for Judaism as opposed to globalism. Globalism wants to undermine local national heritage. This was a vote for Benjamin Netanyahu will be holding a coalition together. As this paper went to press, the coalition was still in place, despite a court judgement forbidding Ariyeh Deri to take up his cabinet post more Jewish as opposed to a more globalist country. It’s about helping change the country to promote a Jewish state.”
Netanyahu himself wants respect for the Torah, but not to go this far, so this may cause a division within his coalition.
Extracted from a recent article by Tony Pearce; the full version can be seen at www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk
The Israeli election: Netanyahu made it in time… just
Comment by Robin Benson
With the clock counting down and 18 minutes to go, Israel’s Prime Minister-in-waiting, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, was able to ring President Herzog in December to say that negotiations to form a new coalition government had been successful.
The Jewish state’s November election gave Benjamin Netanyahu a majority if he could form a coalition of 64 seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. The coalition includes 14 members of the Religious Zionist party and 18 from Orthodox Jewish parties.
Those Israelis who wanted to see the previous administration shown the door as soon as possible will have breathed a collective sigh of relief, but to listen to the endless output of the left, or even centre-left, of Israeli politics, you would have thought it was the end of life as Israelis knew it. And the steady stream of invective – which started even before those negotiations really got underway – from politicians, commentators, and even some with military and security backgrounds, has continued unabated ever since.
Some leaders from the previous administration have even been calling for open revolt against the new government because “Israeli democracy is under threat!” These are the usual code words for those who lost and do not like the way the majority voted. It’s only “democracy” when the plebs vote the way you think they should.
So is it the “most right-wing government in Israel’s modern history?” Probably.
But it’s the government that many Israelis voted for! If some do not like that… tough!
People voted for policies that address the rising crime rate, Arab-on-Israeli violence and the ongoing poverty and economic stress that is a hangover from the virus pandemic debacle.
It’s only “democracy” when the plebs vote the way you think they should
Prominent figures in the religious Zionist movement are Itamar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Avi Maoz. Opponents of the new government accuse these men of having racist attitudes towards the Arabs and wanting to change Israel from being a liberal social democracy to a religious Jewish state. Supporters say the new government will affirm traditional Jewish religious values, promote family life and tackle terrorism and the growing lawlessness in parts of the land, giving better security for all its inhabitants, Jewish and Arab.
These policies do not portray Israel as kowtowing to the anti-Israel Biden administration in Washington DC. Bibi and his political allies presented policies that deal with these problems (and a host of others) – and, surprise, surprise, they are back in power!
Of course Prime Minister Netanyahu will have his work cut out in keeping this coalition together, along with certain very strong-minded fellow cabinet colleagues. But it is far too early to speculate how it is going to work out.
Meanwhile, with all the raging tensions around the globe, at the end of December 2022, the UN Security Council, at the behest of the thieves and terrorists in charge of the Palestinian Authority, passed a resolution calling on the International Criminal Court of Justice in The Hague to investigate and then rule on the “illegality” of Israel’s presence in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem!
This is the same Palestinian Authority which recently accused Israel’s security services of specially selecting and training cattle to spy on a Palestinian Arab village. There’s only one word for this: “stupidocrisy”…
Robin Benson has reported on current events in Israel for many years. He appears regularly on Revelation TV’s ‘Politics Today’ and ‘Middle East Report’.