Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian postal worker who was pressured out of his position for observing the Sabbath. Consumers are increasingly annoyed with firms that uphold homosexuality, transgenderism, and related causes. Meanwhile, Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church left the Southern Baptist Convention after controversy over female pastors.
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Sabbatarian Postal Worker
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on behalf of Gerald Groff, a former Postal Service employee who was pressured out of his job for seeking to avoid working on Sundays.
Groff, an evangelical Christian and former missionary, was faced with discipline from his superiors at the Postal Service because of his desire to schedule shifts on days apart from Sunday, ultimately leading to his resignation. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion that the “de minimis” standard for employers accommodating religious individuals should be reconsidered in favor of an “undue hardship” standard, through which employers must make meaningful efforts to accommodate religious workers.
“Personally, I would like God to be glorified through this. That’s the only thing I care about,” Groff previously said in an interview with First Liberty Institute. “It’s all about what God wants to accomplish through this. Legally, I would love to see a precedent set that people don’t get treated the way I did, that their faith is respected, that if they have the conviction like I did to not work on the Lord’s Day, that would be honored.”
The favorable opinion from the Supreme Court came as members also ruled against race-based affirmative action in college admissions and in favor of a Christian website designer who was asked to work on a project involving a same-sex marriage.
Consumers Tire of Woke Activist Companies
“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice” (Proverbs 16:8).
American consumers are increasingly opposed to corporate support of “pride month,” according to a recent survey from the Trafalgar Group.
Participants in the survey were asked whether businesses should “continue to promote political themes” in light of recent controversy surrounding “pride month” campaigns at Bud Light and Target. Nearly 62% asserted that businesses should “be neutral on the issue,” while only 24% said that businesses should “continue to promote” the themes.
Even as 47% of Democrats favored involvement in “pride month” campaigns while 37% favored neutrality on the matter, some 66% of Republicans preferred neutrality and less than 20% desired involvement. Nearly 70% of Republicans said they have boycotted companies for “taking progressive or woke public stances,” while more than 45% of Democrats said they have done the same in response to companies for “taking conservative or MAGA public stances.”
Elevation Church Leaves Southern Baptist Convention
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet” (1 Timothy 2:12).
Elevation Church, which is led by Steven Furtick, formally departed from the Southern Baptist Convention after the denomination moved to clarify stances on females serving as pastors.
The megachurch in North Carolina announced in a letter provided to Baptist Press that they would not change their doctrinal convictions in response to votes affirming that only churches with male pastors can remain in “friendly cooperation” with the denomination. Holly Furtick, the wife of Steven Furtick, has preached from the pulpit of Elevation Church.
“This letter is to inform you that Elevation Church is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately,” the congregation said. “Please know that our withdrawal from affiliation in no way means that we will withdraw from praying for you and your ministries and mission work in the future: we are all on the same side!”
Attendees of the annual meeting last month noted that denominations which allow females in the pastorate, a practice explicitly forbidden in the Scriptures, have historically drifted into apostasy and eroded their profession of the inerrancy of the Bible.
