Religious Freedom – Page 26

Are Churches Spreading COVID?

Jul 22, 2020Jerry CoxCOVID-19COVID-19, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty

*John Stonestreet, Radio Host and President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview*.

Recently, a New York Times story carried this sensationalist headline: “Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.”

Hmmm? A “major source”? The very data included in the article fell far short of backing up that claim: roughly 650 Coronavirus cases have been traced to 40 or so churches across the U.S.

That’s point-zero-two percent of all confirmed cases in the U.S., traced to point-zero-one percent of the estimated 350-thousand churches in America. A few days after the story ran, the Times quietly changed the headline. Still, this kind of click-baiting mis-representation of the facts, especially in what seems like an obvious attempt to malign the Church, will not engender trust in the nation’s “paper of record.”

The only true part of the headline is that Christians are eager to return to Church, and the vast majority are being thoughtful, careful, and measured, not to mention serving their communities, as they work to re-open.

Video: Churches Burned, Vandalized

Jul 21, 2020Jerry CoxCurrent Events, VideoChristian Persecution, Current Events, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, Video

Churches have been burned and vandalized in different states amid recent tensions and unrest in the U.S.

Watch the video below to learn more.

Catholic Hospital Sued for Declining to Perform Transgender Surgery

Jul 20, 2020Jerry CoxBioethics, Religious Freedom, Rights of ConscienceBioethics, Conscience, Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty

A Catholic hospital in Maryland is being sued for declining to perform a transgender surgery, according to news outlets.

The hospital reportedly opted not to perform a hysterectomy as part of an apparent sex-reassignment surgery. Now the hospital is being sued.

There are several problems with this case, but here are a couple:

First, Catholic hospitals operate according to the principles and teachings of the Catholic Church — including the Catholic Church’s teachings about abortion, assisted suicide, and gender identity.

It should come as no surprise that a Catholic hospital would decline to participate in sex-reassignment surgeries.

Second, Catholic hospitals generally object to performing major surgeries on healthy patients.

As bioethicist Wesley J. Smith notes,

Catholic moral principles only permit body parts to be removed to treat physical pathology. If the patient’s uterus had been cancerous, the surgery [hysterectomy] would not have been a problem.

Stories like this one underscore why Arkansas needs to strengthen its laws protecting rights of conscience for healthcare workers and hospitals.

Unfortunately the Arkansas Legislature has failed to pass measures protecting healthcare workers’ rights of conscience two legislative sessions in row — once in 2017 and once in 2019.

Conscience protections are very important for healthcare workers and hospitals.

Without them, we could end up with doctors and hospital boards who are not guided by conscience at all.

That’s a very sobering thought.