Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, an analysis showed that most members of the new Congress profess the Christian faith even as the broader population distances itself from religion. A network of crisis pregnancy centers hired private investigators to find those who attacked the nonprofits over the past several months. Meanwhile, the Christian Post’s account on Twitter was restored after the outlet refused to delete a tweet indicating skepticism of transgender ideology.
Christian Identification in the New Congress Remains High
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
The vast majority of the new Congress identifies as Protestant or Roman Catholic while the broader population continues to dissociate from Christianity.
As Republicans clinch a slight majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats maintain control of the Senate, the legislative branch’s overall religious climate remains little changed, according to a report from Pew Research Center. Even though only 63% of the American population identify themselves as Christians, roughly 57% of federal lawmakers call themselves Protestant while nearly 28% call themselves Roman Catholic. Among members of the public, however, some 40% are Protestant and some 21% are Roman Catholic.
Baptists constitute the largest Protestant sect in Congress, with sixty-seven members identifying with the tradition. Thirty-one members call themselves Methodist, while twenty-two call themselves Anglican or Episcopalian and twenty-five members call themselves Presbyterians.
Jews represent the second-largest religious group in Congress, where a handful of Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus likewise hold seats. Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-Independent, is the only lawmaker to say she is unaffiliated with any religion, even though 29% of the overall population says the same.
With respect to party affiliation, 99% of Republicans identify themselves as Christian, while 76% of Democrats say the same. The incidence of professed Protestantism is far higher among the former body, while all of the Unitarian Universalist, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu lawmakers caucus with the latter party.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers Vow to Find Pro-Abortion Terrorists
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20).
A network of crisis pregnancy centers will hire private investigators to identify those who attacked their facilities over the past several months.
Approximately seventy-eight pregnancy centers, which provide financial and spiritual assistance for mothers who desire to choose life for their babies rather than abortion, were firebombed, vandalized, or otherwise attacked in the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. CompassCare, which saw the firebombing of its pregnancy resource center in Buffalo, New York, will join with the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society to solicit private investigators.
“It is a sad day when private citizens are left to do the work of law enforcement,” CompassCare CEO Jim Harden said in a press release. “If the FBI is being used for political purposes, all investigative efforts should turn on them. The organization should be defunded and those involved indicted for conspiracy to deprive pro-life citizens of their rights.”
The FBI took nearly half a year to post perpetrators of the firebombing to the most wanted website. Officials with the pregnancy center network are skeptical that the law enforcement agency will assign assets toward prosecuting the criminal activity.
Twitter Account for Prominent Christian News Outlet Restored
“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16).
The Twitter account managed by the Christian Post was restored after a nine-month suspension over a tweet calling Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine, a man who claims to be a transgender woman, a “man,” which constituted “hateful conduct.”
The outlet said they “refused to retract” a true statement because of their journalistic standards and their Christian convictions. “We understand our ethical obligation to provide accuracy over narrative and truth over opinion,” a thread posted to the account said. “But more importantly, as Christians, our primary responsibility is to God and advancing His truth. This is why we refused to capitulate on our biblical standards of truth by bowing down to the immoral demands of Twitter’s former leadership.”
The conservative evangelical publication thanked new Twitter CEO Elon Musk for prioritizing freedom of speech. The Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site, was previously restored to Twitter. “In this case, obedience to God meant judgment by man,” the Christian Post continued. “As living sacrifices to God, this was a small but necessary line for us to draw.”
