Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, fallout continues from the end of Roe v. Wade as large corporations offer to reimburse employees who cross state lines to obtain abortions. The Biden administration proposed changes to Title IX, which prohibits federally sanctioned sex discrimination, such that the provision would also cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Meanwhile, a new poll shows that fewer Americans believe in God than ever before.
Companies Fund Workers’ Abortion Tourism
“All who hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—the 1973 case purporting that the Constitution guarantees the right to an abortion—several conservative states passed tighter regulations on the lethal procedure. In response, leading corporations announced that they would pay for employees’ travel expenses if they cross state lines to get an abortion, according to a report from The Daily Wire.
Executives at Disney, for example, assured workers that they “have processes in place so that an employee who may be unable to access care in one location has affordable coverage for receiving similar levels of care in another location.”
Yelp Chief Diversity Officer Miriam Warren told CNN Business that “for any employer that cares about issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to stay silent on such an issue is really just not okay.” She called the company’s abortion tourism reimbursement a “wonderful recruiting tool” for prospective employees.
Companies with similar policies include investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, technology firms Apple and Amazon, coffee chain Starbucks, and clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss. Critics of abortion tourism note that the companies are likely saving money as fewer women opt to take time off for maternity leave.
Biden Moves to Embed LGBTQ Ideology into Title IX
“Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
On the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX—a federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in any school that receives taxpayer funding—the Biden administration suggested changing the statute to include “sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”
“Our proposed changes will allow us to … ensure all our nation’s students—no matter where they live, who they are, or whom they love—can learn, grow, and thrive in school,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
President Joe Biden’s move differs from the approach of former President Donald Trump. In 2020, the Trump administration’s Department of Education said that a Connecticut policy letting men compete against women in high school sports denied female students “athletic benefits and opportunities, including advancing to the finals in events” and violated their civil rights as laid out in Title IX, according to ABC News.
“As we look to the next fifty years, I am committed to protecting this progress and working to achieve full equality, inclusion, and dignity for women and girls, LGBTQI+ Americans, all students, and all Americans,” President Biden nevertheless said, per the White House.
Poll Reveals Americans’ Plummeting Level of Belief in God
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
Roughly 81% of Americans believe in God—a 6% drop in five years and the lowest level on record, according to a new poll from Gallup.
The organization first started asking the question in 1944. In the first few decades of the survey, a consistent 98% of Americans answered positively. Today, younger Americans with progressive political leanings are the least likely to believe in God, while conservatives and married adults have seen essentially no change in recent years. Only half of Americans who believe in God—about 42% of the population—said that God “hears prayers and can intervene on a person’s behalf.”
Yet professing belief in God is by no means trusting Jesus Christ for salvation. The most recent State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries shows that fewer Americans are affirming historic Christian teachings. Between 2014 and 2020, for instance, the number of Americans agreeing with the idea that the Bible “contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true” rose 7%.
