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It's Saturday, April 22, 2023.

Today’s edition covers a Post Office worker’s Supreme Court case on religious discrimination, a Maryland military hospital’s ban on a group of Catholic priests, and much more.

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Of Christian Concern

U.S. SUPREME COURT HEARS ORAL ARGUMENTS IN A POST OFFICE WORKER’S RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION CASE

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Groff v. DeJoy, a case brought by former mail carrier Gerald Groff, a Pennsylvania man who says he experienced religious discrimination for refusing to work on Sunday, which he believes to be the Sabbath day of rest. At first, the Post Office accommodated for his beliefs, but eventually, due to changes within Post Office policy, he faced progressive discipline and ultimately resigned. He then sued Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, for failing to accommodate his religious practices.

The case has implications for the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, MSN reports, “prohibits discrimination based on religion and since 1972 also requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees' religious beliefs or practices.” If the court rules in Groff’s favor, it could have wide-reaching effects on the extent to which employers must accommodate employees’ religious practices.

Reportedly, at least four of the nine Supreme Court justices have indicated a willingness to change the religious accommodation standard in support of religious concerns. A ruling is expected by mid-July.

MARYLAND MILITARY HOSPITAL BANS A GROUP OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS, CRITICS SAY IT’S PART OF AN ANTI-RELIGIOUS PATTERN FROM THE BIDEN ADMIN

On April 4, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center issued a cease and desist order to the Holy Name College Friary, preventing the Franciscan priests from coming to the hospital. The move came after the hospital ended the friary’s pastoral care contract on March 31, after nearly 20 years of service, and awarded it to Mack Global, which a statement from the Archdiocese for the Military Services describes as a for-profit “secular contracting defense firm” that “has no way of providing Catholic priests to the medical center.” For that reason, the statement claims, the decision “is a glaring violation of service members’ and veterans’ Right to the Free Exercise of Religion.”

The medical center is now under fire from Catholic leaders, lawmakers, and religious liberty attorneys. The Daily Wire reports that “a growing number of critics” say the Biden Administration is “building a record of targeting religious liberty.”

To read a Wall Street Journal op-ed reviewing that “broader pattern of bureaucratic incursions on religious liberty,” click here.

“CHRISTIAN TWITTER” REACTS TO STEPHEN WOLFE’S “WHITE EVANGELICAL” TWEET

Controversy erupted Monday among professing Christians on Twitter (often collectively called “Christian Twitter”) when Stephen Wolfe, author of the recent book The Case for Christian Nationalism, tweeted, “White evangelicals are the lone bulwark against moral insanity in America.” The statement was accompanied by an image of Norman Rockwell’s famous painting, Freedom of Speech.

The tweet drew both critics, who said it was racist, and defenders, who said it merely referred to white evangelicals as a demographic or a bloc. Much of the debate centered on what he meant by “lone” or by “bulwark.” Even Wolfe’s publisher, Canon Press, chimed in with criticism, calling the tweet “dumb.”

In subsequent tweets and retweets, Wolfe confirmed that he was simply speaking of white evangelicals as a bloc, and bemoaned that “a guy [who] says something nice” about white evangelicals would be “called ‘racist’.” That did little to quell the controversy.

He temporarily disabled his account early in the week “to calm things down and get some work down,” but soon reenabled it.

Also Noteworthy

→ Elon Musk warns that artificial intelligence (AI) could become “a digital god.” In an interview with Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, the tech magnate described conversations he had years ago with Google co-founder Larry Page, who Musk says was not taking AI safety seriously enough and wanted to create “a digital super-intelligence—basically a digital god, if you will—as soon as possible.” Musk recommends that the government regulates AI before it gets out of human control.

→ Televangelist Charles Stanley dies at 90. Author, broadcaster, former pastor, and former Southern Baptist Convention president Charles Stanley passed away at his home on Tuesday. In an interview, his grandson recalls how Stanley’s words once saved him from suicide.

→ Disney+ unveils a new series about a teen who falls in love with the devil. The show, called Pauline, follows an 18-year-old who gets pregnant during a one-night stand with a man who turns out to be the devil. | In other Disney news, this week Disneyland announced its first-ever “Pride Nite” to celebrate “the LGBTQIA+ community & allies.”

→ Judge Daniel Domenico blocks a new Colorado abortion law for one pro-life Catholic clinic. The clinic, Bella Health and Wellness, immediately sued when the new law was passed banning certain abortion pill reversal treatments. Domenico granted a restraining order to the clinic, finding that “the plaintiffs are sufficiently likely to succeed on the merits of one or more of their claims that short-term relief is warranted until the defendants can be heard in opposition.”

FOLLOW-UP ON STORIES FROM PAST ISSUES: The U.S. Supreme Court approved access to the abortion pill mifepristone. | The Biden administration’s Title IX rule changes will be finalized on May 15. | Terrorists killed 33 more Christians in Nigeria last weekend. There have now reportedly been a thousand Christians killed since the start of the year. — Revisit our original stories on these topics here and here.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators.*

→ A Conversation About The Abolitionist Position: In a tweet last week, Wisconsin pregnancy center director Ginna Cross voiced her agreement with the abortion abolitionist position (which is distinguished from the pro-life position), “except for 2 things.” That prompted this video discussion with constitutional attorney and president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, Bradley Pierce. (Video)

→ Why Say “Fertilization” Not “Conception”: In a long Twitter post on Monday, Ken Ham, CEO and founder of Answers In Genesis, explained why he and his organization are careful to say that life starts at “fertilization” rather than “conception.” (Tweet)

→ Ray Comfort Blasts Andy Stanley: Evangelist Ray Comfort released a video on Monday in which he engaged with a few clips of Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, and suggested “he should get out of the pulpit.” (Video)

→ An Interview With An Ex-Witch: Dr. Sean McDowell of Biola University talked with former witch Sarah Anne Sumpolec last week about her story and how she came to faith in Christ. (Video)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

The Bible, Briefly

“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:1-2)

Have you ever wondered why God chose a bush as His medium when He appeared to Moses? In his commentary on Exodus, biblical scholar Douglas K. Stuart suggests three possible reasons.

First, since God apparently wanted to get Moses’ attention through an object in the wilderness, He had limited choices—rocks or bushes. So, perhaps there was no special reason, and He simply went with the bush.

Second, though, the Hebrew word for this “bush” (סְּנֶה, seněh) is rather similar in sound to the word “Sinai” (סִינָי, sî·nǎy)—so similar, in fact, that the Deuteronomy 33:16 phrase “the one who resided in the bush” is sometimes taken to be “the one who resided in Sinai” (as in the New Revised Standard Version). So, it’s possible the use of the bush was an intentional reminder of its location.

Third, Stuart says, “in biblical culture bushes or trees can symbolize people or groups,” so the idea of God appearing to Moses from within a bush would not have been beyond the realm of Moses’ cultural sensibilities. God may have been, as the expression goes, meeting him where he was at—in more ways than one.

Church History Tidbit

How Did Christians Become Separate From Jews? (Part 3)

Historians refer to the gradual separation of Christians from Jews as “the parting of the ways.” How that parting took place is complicated, but as we observed in the first two parts (here and here), both the Romans and the Christians recognized a distinction by the second century. So, what did the Jews think?

Not surprisingly, Jews likewise distinguished themselves from Christians. This is seen in the Tosefta, a Jewish holy book compiling the oral law from the second century. The Tosefta, Shaye J.D. Cohen argues, seems to refer to Jewish Christians on at least three occasions when using the word “heretics” (minim, in Hebrew).

The Tosefta also shares two anecdotes that are clearly anti-Christian. Both anecdotes—which may or may not be historical—refer to Jesus as “Yeshu/Yeshua ben Pantira.” That is a Jewish anti-Christian epithet literally meaning “Jesus son of Panthera.” The idea was that Jesus is the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier named Panthera.

In the first story, one rabbi forbids another from being healed of a snake bite in the name of “Yeshu/Yeshua ben Pantira,” and the rabbi who has been bitten dies. His death is seen as righteous. In the second story, a rabbi is briefly arrested under suspicion of being a Christian, and he later perceives that God allowed this trial to happen to him because he had had a conversation with a Christian.

Clearly, second-century Jews also saw themselves as distinct from Christians. So, between the Romans, the Christians, and the Jews, history is clear: the parting of the ways was well underway in the following century after the birth of Christianity.

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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