Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, progressives praised their own abortions during testimony before Congress. Democratic lawmakers introduced a “Transgender Bill of Rights” that would enshrine radical gender ideology into federal law. Meanwhile, a Christian in Pakistan was sentenced to death for blasphemy after spending five years behind bars.
Witnesses Shout Their Abortions and Refuse To Define ‘Woman’ before Congress
“In the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self” (2 Timothy 3:1-2).
During a series of testimonies before Congress about abortion policy, progressives failed to define the term “woman” and fondly remembered their decisions to kill their own children.
“Abortion is healthcare,” Sarah Lopez, an advocate for pro-abortion group We Testify, told the House Oversight Committee. “My abortion was the best decision I ever made. It was an act of self-love, and I’m here today to make sure that everybody who currently needs an abortion, who has had an abortion, or will need an abortion is not alone, no matter what the state tries to force upon us.”
“Abortion is normal. It is an act of love. And it is fundamentally healthcare,” Planned Parenthood chief medical officer Colleen McNicholas told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In another exchange, Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, pressed Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges over her choice to use the phrase “people with a capacity for pregnancy” rather than the term “women.”
“Many women, cis women, have the capacity for pregnancy; many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy,” Bridges asserted, according to The Daily Wire. “There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as non-binary people who are capable of pregnancy.”
When Hawley continued to seek clarification, Bridges claimed that his line of questioning was “transphobic” and opened up “trans people to violence by not recognizing them.”
“I’m denying that trans people exist by asking you if you’re talking about women having pregnancies?” Hawley asked.
“Are you? Are you? Are you? Do you believe that men can get pregnant?” Bridges shot back. “No, I don’t think men can get pregnant,” Hawley said with a look of disbelief on his face, asking if Bridges runs her classroom in the same manner as she conducted herself during the hearing.
Democrats Unveil ‘Transgender Bill of Rights’
“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5).
Citing the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats in the House of Representatives laid out a “Transgeder Bill of Rights.”
The statute would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination “on the basis of sex, including gender identity and sex characteristics in public accommodations and federally funded programs and activities.”
“As we witness Republicans and an extremist Supreme Court attack and roll back the fundamental rights of trans people across our country, and as state legislatures across the country target our trans community with hateful, bigoted, and transphobic attacks, we are standing up and saying enough is enough,” Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, said in a statement. “With this resolution, we salute the resilience and courage of trans people across our country, and outline a clear vision of what we must do in Congress in order to allow trans people to lead full, happy lives.”
The Equality Act—a similar piece of legislation—has already been proposed in Congress and endorsed by President Joe Biden.
Pakistani Christian Sentenced to Death for Calling Jesus the ‘True Prophet’
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15).
A Pakistani Christian was sentenced to death for violating the Islamic nation’s laws against so-called blasphemy.
In 2017, Ashfaq Masih—a 34-year-old who worked as a mechanic in the city of Lahore prior to his arrest—found himself in a disagreement with a customer after the man refused to pay his bill, according to The Daily Mail. The customer claimed that he did not have to pay because of his status as a Muslim, leading Masih to say that Jesus Christ is the “true prophet.”
On those grounds, Masih—who has a wife and a daughter—was sentenced to death on Monday. He has spent the past five years behind bars, and his mother passed away while he was imprisoned. “I insisted for my bill and said that I don’t follow anyone other than Jesus, and so wasn’t interested in the man’s religious status,” he explained.
Roughly 99% of Pakistan’s 200 million citizens are Muslim and unreached with the gospel, according to HeartCry Missionary Society, even as false Christianity spreads among the few Pakistanis who do profess faith in Jesus.
