WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? When Somebody Claims That Voting Just Isn’t Important

If history is any guide, nearly half of all voting-age Americans will fail to vote on election day, November 3, when the country picks its 46th president, a new Congress and scores of other officials for state and local governments.

Colson Center’s Joseph Backholm in ‘What Would You Say?’ (Screenshot from youtube)

But for those working on Capitol Hill, voting might as well be like drinking water, there is no life without it because we do live in a democratic republic in which the people, the voters, are sovereign.

Sadly, there are quite a few folks who think voting is a waste of time because it won’t make any difference, elections are all rigged, politicians never do what they promise, and so on and so on and so on.

In the following Colson Center video, Joseph Backholm provides three excellent responses for the next time somebody lays one of those pathetic excuses for not voting on you in a conversation:

Justice Department Sides With Capitol Hill Baptist Church Against Bowser, D.C. Government

Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) is being unreasonably burdened by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. government with its anti-Covid regulations that effectively bar members of the congregation from exercising their First Amendment right to religious freedom, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Capitol Hill Baptist Church Senior Pastor Mark Dever (Screenshot from CHBC video).

“Here, Defendants (collectively, the Honorable Muriel Bowser and the District of Columbia) are imposing a substantial burden, within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), on Plaintiff Capitol Hill Baptist Church’s religious exercise by denying the church the ability to gather as a single body as required by its sincere religious faith,” DOJ said in a Statement of Interest filed Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The CHBC, represented by the First Liberty Institute, filed suit in the federal court last week against the regulations.

“This triggers strict scrutiny: Defendants must meet the high burden of showing that their actions support a compelling governmental interest pursued through the least restrictive means. Continue reading “Justice Department Sides With Capitol Hill Baptist Church Against Bowser, D.C. Government”

Sequel Coming! ‘The Passion Of The Christ: Resurrection’

Will this be the most successful film ever made?

Remember the 2004 movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” produced by Mel Gibson and with actor Jim Caveziel in the lead role? It was the most successful R-rated movie ever, grossing $612 million against production costs of $30 million.

Screenshot from the crucifixion scene in “The Passion of the Christ.”

The R-rating was a result of extraordinarily graphic presentation of the crucifixion, one of the cruelest and most painful methods of executions known to man.

“Passion” received three Academy Award nominations, though it did not win in any of the categories in which it was nominated. But making profits and generating cinematic celebrity were not the purpose for which the movie was made.

It was made to put the life of Jesus Christ, the single most influential individual in all human history, on movie screens around the world, and to that end, “Passion” was an amazing success because it succeeded in that respect despite the Hollywood Establishment’s active hostility.

Now, Caveziel is preparing to reprise his role in the sequel to “Passion,” picking up with the incredible resurrection after His crucifixion and death. Is Caveziel excited about it?

“It’s going to be the biggest film in world history,” he recently told Christian Post. This has the makings of what could well turn out to be the most successful sequel ever made.

Go here for more details from The Christian Post.

New Survey Finds Millennials Much More Intolerant Than Boomers

A new survey of 2,000 demographically representative adults who were asked 51 worldview questions found Millennials are the least tolerant Americans and the most likely to seek revenge.

Dr. George Barna, Director of Research, Cultural Research Center, Arizona Christian University (Screenshot from Facebook).

Most congressional staffers are members of the Millennial and Baby Buster generation, with the Millennials tending to be in higher-level positions such as legislative directors.

The younger Busters are most often found in positions such as press assistant and legislative assistant.

Among the survey’s most controversial findings are these: Continue reading “New Survey Finds Millennials Much More Intolerant Than Boomers”

California Church Changes Course, Moves Services Back Outdoors

Just a few weeks ago, North Valley Baptist Church Pastor Jack Trieber was vowing his Santa Clara, California, congregation would not submit to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Covid restrictions.

Pastor Jack Trieber of North Valley Baptist Church, Santa Clara, California (Screenshot)

“We are not closing down this church,” Trieber declared in a video address that went viral on the Internet. That declaration came after officials imposed more than $50,000 in fines against the congregation for holding indoor services, contrary to the restrictions.

This past Sunday, however, Trieber preached to his congregation outdoors, with congregants sitting in their cars listening to him on their vehicles’ radios. Instead of the familiar “Amen” in response to the sermon, congregants honked their horns.

“Trieber said he came to the decision to hold outdoors services after much prayer and fasting. ‘We have been so conditioned in America [that] we have to fight everything,’ Trieber said,” according to Christian Headlines (CH).

“Trieber read from Exodus 14:14 – ‘The Lord shall fight for you’ — and said he was handing the battle to God instead of personally fighting it. In Scripture, Trieber said, ‘God fought many of the battles with the people doing nothing,’” CH reported.

“Santa Clara County had filed a lawsuit against the church but has dropped it in light of the church moving its services outdoors, he said. ‘To me, that’s a victory,’ Trieber said,” CH reported.

Go here for more from CH.

What Would You Say? Is Critical Race Theory Biblical?

If you work on Capitol Hill, you better understand Critical Race Theory (CRT) because it suffuses, both esoterically and exoterically, so much of the analyses of social, political and economic issues heard in media, on campus, in the think tank world and in politics.

If you are Christian who works on Capitol Hill, it’s even more important that you understand the roots of CRT, its essential assumptions and claims, and the consequences of accepting it as a legitimate analytical tool for policy-makers.

The following Colson Center video addresses the basic question of whether CRT is consistent with Biblical Christianity:

‘We Are Not Closing Down This Church’ — California Pastor Warns Officials

Pastor Jack Trieber of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, is appealing to all Americans for aid in his congregation’s struggle to exercise their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.

In an impassioned Facebook video, Trieber declared “we are not closing down this church” as a result of more than $52,000 in fines levied against the congregation by Santa Clara County officials, based on Covid guidelines issued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Trieber joins Grace Community Church of Los Angeles and Pastor John MacArthur in defying Newsom’s guidelines that bar indoor meetings in churches.

Grace, represented by the Thomas More Society, has won four court decisions but county officials’ most recent retaliation was cancellation without prior warning of a parking lot lease that had been in force without problems for 45 years.

With resistance to seemingly unreasonable Covid-related restrictions growing, especially among Christian congregations, the issue is certain to assume greater prominence on Capitol Hill when Congress returns after Labor Day:

Shouldn’t You Be Following HillFaith By Now???

Why Are All My Friends Becoming Marxists (Most Don’t Realize That’s What They’re Doing)?

Jon Harris is the author/thinker/critic behind “Conversations That Matter” on Patreon and elsewhere on the Internet. He is a born-again Christian of the Reformed persuasion and a traditional American conservative.

Three steps to Critical Theory’s “salvation.”

But don’t let that description put you off because Harris is also a very perceptive, observant and articulate critic of all sides of contemporary culture and politics in America. His discussion of the origins and significance of Critical (especially Race) Theory and Intersectionality is trenchant and thought-provoking.

I say this because he prefaces his discussion with an observation that is not original in terms of the substance, but he puts it in a context that ought to drive home to all thinking persons, regardless of their religious or political positions, the profound seriousness of what is happening all around us these days: Continue reading “Why Are All My Friends Becoming Marxists (Most Don’t Realize That’s What They’re Doing)?”

What If ‘That Hideous Strength’ — The Magician’s Twin — Has Already Arrived Among Us?

Daniel Bell, the great American sociologist of the 20th century, once declared that “the essence of modernity is that nothing is sacred.” Dostoevsky put it a little more precisely: “If God is dead, then everything is permitted.”

Just how right the sociologist and novelist were was foreshadowed by a brilliant and prophetic novel written in 1945 ago by C.S. Lewis that, unfortunately, never achieved the same level of popularity as the author’s monumental apologetical work, “Mere Christianity.”

Lewis’ obscure masterpiece is “That Hideous Strength,” a fictional vision of what happens when science is abused: Think racism, eugenics, and the devaluation of human life. Yes, it is a close relative to his “The Abolition of Man.”

This Discovery Science video reminds us that Lewis was not merely a supremely imaginative writer and deeply perceptive thinker, he was also gifted with a prophetic vision of where Western civilization appeared to be headed (which, by the way, my Capitol Hill friends, is where we are rapidly arriving today, it seems):

Why I Signed The 2018 Statement On Social Justice And The Gospel

The Bible at Galatians 3:28 declares that, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

There is no more clear a statement of the fundamental equality of all men and women in all of human literature, whether ancient or modern. As a follower of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I affirm Galatians 3:28 with all of my heart and seek to live that reality every day.

Sadly, despite our Declaration of Independence’s affirmation in its Preamble that “all men are created equal,” America has too often failed to a greater or lesser degree to live up to its founding ideals. Continue reading “Why I Signed The 2018 Statement On Social Justice And The Gospel”

Joint Economic Committee Offers Another View On Family Instability In The U.S. That May Surprise You

A new report compiled and published by the congressional Joint Economic Committee takes a fresh look at the many factors involved in the decline of the nuclear family in the United States in recent decades.

The Institute for Family Studies’ Robert VerBruggen writes that the report “provides a good overview of numerous factors that have undermined the family over the past half-century, and it pushes back — interestingly, but not always convincingly — against some major parts of the usual narrative about these topics, including the impact of father absence on children.”

There is hardly any federal social or economic policy that doesn’t have at least some impact on families in the U.S., so this report should be of particular interest to congressional staffers across the board.

Why does HillFaith care so much about family issues? Because God ordained the family, for the good of Dads, Moms, Kids and Societies. Maybe that’s why as the family goes, so goes a nation.

Is Marriage Or Money The Better Explanation Of America’s Growing Class Divide On Happiness?

Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University recently conducted an analysis of 40,000 Americans over the age of 30, based on data compiled for the General Social Survey.

Twenge’s findings may come as a shock to some because she said in a post for the Institute of Family Studies that the data indicates that “people with more money were happier, as were people with more education and more prestigious jobs.

“But that wasn’t the end of the story. Because the survey data went back to the 1970s, we were able to measure whether the link between happiness and money changed over time. Continue reading “Is Marriage Or Money The Better Explanation Of America’s Growing Class Divide On Happiness?”

Three Secrets To The Culture Wars

Aussie blogger and pastor Kurt Mahlburg is a perceptive observer of politics and culture in America, Great Britain and Down Under. You may not agree with everything he says, but he’s definitely worth reading for those with intellectually honest and open minds.

“It’s been many decades since the term culture wars was dubbed, and the label is now more relevant than ever. What began as a reasoned debate on issues like abortion, multiculturalism and homosexuality has turned into a hearts-and-minds battle for the soul of our civilization.

“The rapid growth of the culture wars vocab is evidence enough of this.

“We’re all familiar with terms like ‘identity politics,’ ‘white privilege’ and ‘virtue signalling.’ But have you heard of deplatforming, cancel culture, red-pilled, safe spaces, cisnormativity, or Trump derangement syndrome? Most importantly, do you know what it means to be woke?

“It’s not easy keeping up with the jargon. Actually, it would be far safer to let others fight the culture wars. This is especially true now that people make a sport of branding others with so many exotic new phobias …

Go here for the rest of “Three Secrets to the Culture Wars.”

A Quick Briefer For Hill Staffers On Church Meetings, First Amendment Worries And Coronavirus

Thousands of churches and synagogues across the country have moved their regular services from meeting together in one facility to gathering “together” via Internet teleconferencing. It’s a suitable approach for coping with a temporary problem.

But what if the problem becomes more long-lasting, with official directives banning gatherings of 10 or more people continuing past the end of April and well into … well, who knows how long? That’s when things could get very complicated and when that happens, Congress almost always gets involved.

PJMedia Managing Editor Paula Bolyard has a thoughtful, accessible look at why the situation is a challenge for Bible-based congregations now and a warning of what could be coming down the road.

Bolyard’s title sets the context: “Should Church Violate Shutdown Orders? The Answer Is More Complicated Than You Might Imagine.” That’s why Hill staffers need to know this stuff, regardless of whether they are followers of any particular denomination or faith, or none at all. Continue reading “A Quick Briefer For Hill Staffers On Church Meetings, First Amendment Worries And Coronavirus”

And Now, Here’s Some Good News From John Krasinski’s ‘Some Good News’ Show

If you’ve been breathing and sentient at any point in the last decade or so, odds are good you took in at least a couple of episodes of “The Office.” One of the supporting cast stars of that sitcom was actor John Krasinski.

Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic, he recently went looking for some good news. And boy did he find it. Being an actor, he turned it into a show. Just not your typical show. Being a journalist by profession, I couldn’t resist.

“For years now, I’ve been wondering, why is there not a news show dedicated entirely to good news?” Krasinski explains on the first edition of his Some Good News (SGN) on, where else, youtube.com. “Well, desperately seeking my fix somewhere else, I reached out to all of you this week, asking — nay, begging — for some good news.” Interesting discussion with Steve Carrell, too:

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