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New Abortion Pill Data, Pastors Could Be Deported, YouTube Launch, and More
A special announcement, Christians’ reactions to a new study on the abortion pill’s harm to women, a bill on the deportation of religious workers, whether Jesus was really a carpenter, and more.
Anthony Langer
May 03, 2025
It’s Saturday, May 3, 2025.
Today’s edition covers a special announcement, Christians’ reactions to a new study on the abortion pill’s harm to women, a bill on the deportation of religious workers, whether Jesus was really a carpenter, and more.
“The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.” (Proverbs 10:8)
Special Announcement
YOUTUBE CHANNEL LAUNCH!
This week was an exciting one for Project 18:15: we launched a YouTube channel! It’s called Faith News Brief.
The goal for the new channel is to be a source of quick Christian news reactions, breaking down underreported stories in short-form videos from a faith-filled perspective—an extension of this newsletter. If that interests you, I invite you to subscribe over on YouTube.
Below and in future newsletters, when I touch on a news story addressed in a video, I’ll link to it so you can see our video coverage.
As always, thanks for your faithful readership!
At your service,
Anthony Langer
Creator of Project 18:15
Of Christian Concern
PASTORS GETTING KICKED OUT OF THE U.S.?
Photo: RDNE Stock Project
Watch the Faith News Brief video on this story here.
Some pastors could be kicked out of the United States if a recently introduced bill isn’t passed.
The bipartisan bill called the Religious Workforce Protection Act, filed early April, would prevent religious workers who come from other countries from being deported because the permanent resident process is taking too long.
The bill says its purpose is “To authorize the continuation of lawful nonimmigrant status for certain religious workers affected by the backlog for religious worker immigrant visas.”
If this bill passes, a foreign-born minister who pastors a church in the U.S. would be allowed to stay in the country and continue serving his church while pursuing a green card. He and his family—and, by extension, his church—wouldn’t be penalized just because the process is dragging on.
Anyone who wants to voice their support for this bill can copy the following letter to send to their senators and representatives:
CHRISTIANS SPLIT OVER NEW ABORTION PILL DATA
Photo: Anna Shvets
The New Data
A new study that found an abortion pill is more dangerous for women than previously thought has been widely promulgated by pro-lifers this week, but some Christians are raising a word of caution about the messaging.
Nearly 11% of women who took the abortion pill mifepristone “experienced severe or life-threatening events within 45 days,” according to a new analysis from Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). The organization says its study considered a sample size that was “28 times larger than all FDA clinical trials combined,” and the resulting figure constitutes a “serious adverse event rate” that is “22 times higher” than the FDA label acknowledges.
Pro-Life Reactions
Pro-lifers have been making hay out of the news.
The president of Students For Life, Kristan Hawkins, tagged the FDA Commissioner on X to say in part, “Over 1 in 10 women are harmed — not to mention the hundreds of thousands of preborn babies killed every year. It's time to stop the FDA from playing politics with women’s lives. We need action. Now.”
The president and founder of Live Action, Lila Rose, also posted the study’s findings and tagged the FDA to say they “must pull this drug from the market!”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, the winner of last year’s Distinguished Christian Statesman Award, wrote a letter to the FDA Commissioner urging him “to revisit and restore the FDA’s longstanding safety measures governing mifepristone.”
A Word of Caution
In light of the news and these kinds of responses, the Foundation to Abolish Abortion (FAA) posted a thread cautioning Christians and conservatives to keep the focus on the preborn child. The organization bemoans that “reactions from many Pro-Life groups either treated the baby like an afterthought or did not mention the baby at all,” insisting that “our public rhetoric” should emphasize “what God thinks of the issue, not what is most politically expedient.”
“On the issue of abortion, the issue of justice close to the heart of God is very clearly the murder of preborn babies.”
The FAA continues:
“We can mention that women who try to murder their preborn babies with abortion pills may be harmed in the process.
“But we cannot falsely cast them as victims, especially in a way that overlooks preborn babies, who are the actual legal victims of abortion.”
To that point, one can note that Hawley’s letter does not suggest the abortion pill should never be used, but only asks for greater limitations. This fact was drawn out sarcastically by an anti-abortion activist known online as Abolition Women, who responded to Hawley’s post:
“Because, you know, murder should be safe for murderers, right? 🙄”
What do you think? Do the FAA and Abolition Women have a point?
Watch the Faith News Brief video on this story here.
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Also Noteworthy
→ The YouTube channel Bibledingers will host a debate on May 15 between biblical scholar Dr. James White and influential podcaster Corey Mahler, a self-professed racist, over whether a black Christian can be sanctified as much as a white Christian. Watch the Faith News Brief video on this story here.
→ The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) filed a federal lawsuit against Carbondale, IL, and two city officials after they forbade anti-abortion activist Brandon Hamman from demonstrating with signs near an abortion clinic. The ACLJ says, “This is a textbook case of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination…”
→ Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest protestant denomination in the United States, decreased in 2024 for the 18th year in a row, while baptisms increased to a seven-year high.
→ The religiously unaffiliated “outnumber Catholics and Protestants in Germany for the first time,” Evangelical Focus reports. A new survey found 47% of the population now identify as “nones.”
→ A Bible-reading marathon at the U.S. Capitol concluded on Wednesday. For 90 consecutive hours, Christians read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Learn more about the annual event and its history here.
Content Catch-Up
Recent, notable content of Christian interest.*
8 Bible-Confirming Archaeological Discoveries: Online influencer Trad West shared a thread of eight archaeological discoveries “that prove the Bible’s truth still stands today.” (Thread)
*Not necessarily an endorsement
The Bible, Briefly
Jesus May Not Have Been A Carpenter
Photo: Anna Shvets
“Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55a)
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” (Mark 6:3a)
Range of Meanings
The Greek word traditionally translated as “carpenter” in these verses is tektōn (τέκτων), which some scholars suggest is better translated as the more generic “craftsman.” A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament defines the word as “an artificer in wood, stone, or metal, but esp. a carpenter.” Renowned scholars J.H. Moulton and George Milligan point out an occasion when the word was used for a sculptor.
Given the word’s potential meanings, some have suggested that Jesus’ adopted earthly father, Joseph, and Jesus Himself may not have been carpenters but stonemasons.
Contextual Evidence
Pastor and author Robby Galatty suggests that evidence for this supposition is the apparent scarcity of trees in the area where they lived and the fact that most homes were built of stone.
Also, Galatty notes that Herod Antipas had a major development project at the time in the nearby town of Zippori (aka Sepphoris), only three miles from Nazareth. This would have provided ample work opportunities for a stonemason and his son.
“Stone” Touchpoints
Finally, some, including Galatty, have observed that thinking of Jesus as a stonemason could cast an interesting albeit nonessential contextual light on passages referencing stones. One online commenter wrote:
“I think the idea of Him being a stonemason makes a whole lot more sense in the light of scriptures like Mark 12:10 (Christ is the stone the builders rejected), 1 Cor 10:4 (the Rock was Christ), Matt 7:24 (wise man building his house upon a rock), Rom 9:33 (a rock of offense to those who don't want to believe), etc.”
Likewise, Galatty highlights 1 Peter 2:5 (“you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”) and writes:
“Remember, Jesus learned this trade from his father, and he is still shaping his followers today, fitting them together into a spiritual house, a temple that is built to bring glory to God.”
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