Author: Mark Tapscott
Follower of Christ, devoted husband of Claudia, doting father and grandfather, conservative lover of liberty, journalist and First Amendment fanatic, former Hill and Reagan aide, vintage Formula Ford racer, Okie by birth/Texan by blood/proud of both, resident of Maryland. Go here: https://hillfaith.blog/about-hillfaith-2/
COMING MONDAY ON HILLFAITH: Four Solid Facts That Point To The Literal Resurrection Of Christ
DID YOU KNOW: Majority Of State Capitols Will Have Nativity Scene Displays In 2020; More To Come
At least 31 of the nation’s 50 state capitols will have Nativity Scenes of Christ’s birth in December 2020 and one of the attorneys behind the legal campaign defending such religious expression in the public square is confident the day is coming soon when every state will have such exhibits.
“The nativities are going up in more than half of the states and it’s based on a free-speech rationale that is very hard to defeat,” Thomas More Society Founder Thomas Brejcha told HillFaith Friday. “Even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Illinois and Texas publicly said we were totally justified in doing so.”
Brejcha said he has no doubt at all that within a few years there will be Nativity Scene displays in the capitol rotundas of all 50 states.
“I don’t have the slightest doubt about it. We may have a fight or two, but my response is ‘bring it on,’” he said. Continue reading “DID YOU KNOW: Majority Of State Capitols Will Have Nativity Scene Displays In 2020; More To Come”
Churches Go To Court Today, Seek Relief From California’s Abortion Insurance Coverage Mandate
Attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom go to court today in San Francisco representing three California churches seeking exemption from a Golden State rule mandating they pay for abortions.
“The government shouldn’t be forcing churches to pay for abortion,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus, who will argue the case before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“We are asking the 9th Circuit to invalidate this unconstitutional mandate because California officials are required to follow the law and legal precedent, not the dictates of groups that have an axe to grind against religious organizations that don’t share their views on abortion,” Galus said.
Galus was referring to email traffic in 2014 between officials with the California Department of Managed Care and Planned Parenthood in which the latter pressured the state government to change an existing rule that exempted churches from having to include abortion coverage in health insurance for employees. Continue reading “Churches Go To Court Today, Seek Relief From California’s Abortion Insurance Coverage Mandate”
THINK ABOUT THIS: Friday’s Poached Egg
Then Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” — John 10:27-30
And C.S. Lewis said:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
David Limbaugh Sees A ‘Crucial Missionary Work’ In HillFaith
“I am gratified and excited that my friend, Mark Tapscott, is working with HillFaith to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to congressional staffers on Capitol Hill.
“What could be more important than this crucial missionary work to thousands of influential young people working at the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the heart of our nation’s government?”
WON’T YOU STEP UP TODAY TO HELP ADVANCE THIS CRUCIAL WORK?
Become a HillFaith PRAYER PARTNER
“Those who had no report of Him will see and those who have not heard will understand.” – Isaiah 52:15
STAFF NEWS: Look Who’s Moving Up On The Hill This Week!
Courtesy of Legistorm:
Hill veteran Shana Teehan has been named Chief of Staff for incoming Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL). Shana returns to the Hill following a stint as a Vice President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Previously, she was Senior Adviser to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and before that Communications Director for Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL). Shana is a graduate of the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Education and Language Arts.
Zach Weidlich is the Transition Aide for incoming Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL). Zach managed Carl’s successful campaign. He and Carl are both Hill newcomers. Zach studied Arabic Languages (Moroccan) at the University of South Alabama from 2014 to 2018.
Hailey Barringer is the Transition Aide to incoming Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC). Hailey is a Hill veteran, having previously worked for four years for Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), most recently as Press Secretary. Hailey is a 2014 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BS in Political Science.
Another newcomer to the Hill is Garret Merket, the Transition Aide to incoming Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX). Garret managed Pfluger’s successful Campaign Manager. He is a 2017 MBA graduate of Texas Tech University and earned his BA in Political Science and International Business from the University of Texas – San Marcos in 2012.
Melanee (“Mel”) Farah is the Transition Aide to incoming Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA). Mel is taking over her first job working on Capitol Hill after serving as Senior Director of Talent and Human Resources at the Excellence Community Schools in New York. She attended the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management in 2012 and graduated from GWU in 2005 with an MPP. Her BS in Political Science and Leadership was awarded in 2000 by the University of Maryland at College Park.
Your Boss Lost/Retired. What Now?
It happens to a lot of folks who work on the Hill because things change in Congress every two years. But Bret Bernhardt, HillFaith’s Master of All Hill Employment Arts, has some proven tips on “Keeping Calm In The Post-Election Storm” on Capitol Hill.
LOOKING FOR A HILL JOB?
Check out this five-part HillFaith series by Bret Bernhardt, former chief of staff for Senators Don Nickle (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Bernhardt has a wealth of experience, insider insight, how-tos and obscure terms (know what a “golden reference” is on the Hill?), plus lots of helpful links.
The Best Resources for Finding a Job On the Hill
Where Your Best Job Lead is on Capitol Hill May Surprise You
Getting in the Door on Capitol Hill
Here’s Nine Valuable Tips for Interviewing Well on Capitol Hill
Working on Capitol Hill is the World’s Best Job (Or at Least My Best Ever)
Survey Finds Gen Z Most Likely To View Faith As VIP In Pandemic
Three-fourths (74 percent) of Gen Zers surveyed recently by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty view religious faith are either somewhat or extremely important to them in dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“Surprisingly, Gen Z respondents, who across polls tend to be less religious and least at risk during the pandemic, were also much more likely than the average to say faith and religion had been extremely or very important,” the Becket survey said in its summary.
Gen Z individuals were born between 1997 and 2012, meaning the oldest member of the generation is now 23 years of age.
Gen Xers at 56 percent were the least likely to say their religious faith was somewhat or extremely important to them in coping with the Pandemic. Continue reading “Survey Finds Gen Z Most Likely To View Faith As VIP In Pandemic”
Atheist Group Goes Full Grinch, Steals Christmas From Hundreds Of Poor Kids Around The World
Students at a Kansas middle school will no longer be able to fill Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes with gifts for poor children overseas after the superintendent caved to an atheist activist group’s litigation threat.
“While it is laudable for a public school to promote student involvement in the community by volunteering and donating to charitable organizations, the school cannot use that goal as an avenue to fund a religious organization with a religious mission,” the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) told Pratt Public Schools Superintendent Tony Helfrich in a Nov. 3 letter, according to Michael Foust, reporting for Christian Headlines.
A mere four days later, Helfrich caved, telling FFRF that he was immediately “discontinuing” the school’s participation in the shoebox campaign because “its mission is more sectarian in nature than we realized.” Continue reading “Atheist Group Goes Full Grinch, Steals Christmas From Hundreds Of Poor Kids Around The World”
SCIENCE AND FAITH: Are People Just Moist Robots?
By Drew Covert
If evolution is true, then it is singularly responsible for life on earth. We are just material beings, nothing else. In fact, we don’t have free will, or the ability to make choices. We are just moist robots.
But I think this evolution produces false beliefs. I’d never thought about this idea much until I heard MaryJo Sharp addressing the topic at the recent “Unbelievable” conference here is southern California.
And, while the subject was only briefly touched on in her talk on why she became a Christian, it may have been one of the most profound statements I took away from the conference that weekend. Continue reading “SCIENCE AND FAITH: Are People Just Moist Robots?”
Keeping Calm In The Post-Election Storm
By Bret Bernhardt
Every two years, Washington and Capitol Hill usher in a season of change and transition following elections and the coming of a new Congress.
By design, no one is exempt from this change. It may be that the member or candidate you work for or will work for has lost, retired, been reelected, or just won for the first time.
And everyone is facing the transition from an old Congress to a new one, which brings a myriad of changes, including numerous changes in committee leadership and membership.
Even if you are in the same office when the 117th Congress convenes in January 2021, there will be numerous changes as well. Members increase in seniority, bringing changes within an office and a shuffling of staff. Continue reading “Keeping Calm In The Post-Election Storm”
SUNDAY SONGS: As The Deer Pants For Water, Yogesh Oaron
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is There Really Such A Thing As ‘Sin?’
Breaking the law of man is one thing, but breaking the law of God is quite another. The former act makes the person doing it a criminal, with consequences that are temporal. The latter act makes the individual involved a sinner, with consequences that can be eternal.
The law provides justice by requiring the criminal to “serve time.” But God provides mercy to those who seek it through His Son, Jesus Christ, who “served time” for His followers via the cross.
Cold-case Christianity’s J. Warner Wallace explains:
Justice Alito Declares ‘Religious Liberty Is In Danger Of Becoming A Second-Class Right’
Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito told Thursday’s meeting of the Federalist Society’s National Lawyer Convention that America’s First Amendment guarantees of religious liberty and freedom of speech are in grave danger, thanks in large part to state and local policies justified as responses to the Covid Pandemic.
“The pandemic has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty,” Alito told the convention at the outset of his address, which he delivered virtually.
After cautioning that he was speaking as a judge and not as a policymaker, Alito continued, noting “all that I am saying, and I think it is an indisputable statement of fact, we have never before seen restrictions as severe, extensive and prolonged as those experienced for most of 2020.” Continue reading “Justice Alito Declares ‘Religious Liberty Is In Danger Of Becoming A Second-Class Right’”
THINK ABOUT THIS: Friday’s Poached Egg
Then Jesus said:
“Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over — will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” — Luke 6:38
And C.S. Lewis said:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
“You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
