Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, lawmakers are calling for the government to “crack down” on crisis pregnancy centers. Farmers in the Netherlands are protesting as their parliament pushes new climate change goals that could shutter many of the nation’s livestock farms permanently. Meanwhile, a spat of violent attacks marred the Fourth of July holiday.
Progressives Call for Regulations on Crisis Pregnancy Centers
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).
Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling for the federal government to crack down on crisis pregnancy centers—which, often run by Christians, provide abortion-minded mothers with financial and medical aid.
During a news conference, the Democrat from Massachusetts mourned that pregnancy centers outnumber “genuine abortion clinics” three to one in her state, arguing that those who help needy women actually “wish them harm.”
“These are deceptive outfits that front for groups that are trying to harass or otherwise frighten people who are pregnant to keep them from seeking an abortion, and they do so under the cover of pretending to offer abortion services,” Warren remarked, according to MassLive. “So I’d like to see us talk about how we might move more aggressively to make sure that someone doesn’t face that bait and switch.”
Warren—along with Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey—recently introduced the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act, which would “crack down on false advertising” from crisis pregnancy centers through the Federal Trade Commission.
In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey issued a consumer advisory warning against pregnancy centers, claiming they do not “provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare” and instead “seek to prevent people from accessing abortion care.”
Dutch Farmers Protest Emissions Standards
“But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields” (Ecclesiastes 5:9).
Farmers in the Netherlands are protesting against new emissions standards that threaten to close down 30% of livestock farms.
The Dutch government released a plan last month to slash 50% of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and ammonia—which are released from livestock excrement—by 2030, according to a report from ABC News. As the Dutch government itself acknowledged, “the honest message… is that not all farmers can continue their business.”
In response, farmers and fishermen have used tractors and other equipment to shut down supermarkets, distribution centers, ports, and major highways. They also spread manure on a road near the home of Christianne van der Wal, the minister at the helm of the new environmental efforts.
The protests are spreading to Germany, Italy, and other European Union nations, which laid out a framework last year for cutting net emissions by 55% before 2030. The farmers’ actions have drawn comparisons to truckers who protested vaccine mandates earlier this year in Canada.
Fourth of July Shootings Hit Chicago and Philadelphia
“The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:35).
Independence Day celebrations in major cities were disrupted by shootings.
In Highland Park—a suburb of Chicago, Illinois—an individual killed seven people and injured dozens more from a rooftop perch, according to The Daily Wire. Authorities had dealt with the suspect on two different instances. In April 2019, the suspect tried to take his own life, while in September 2019, a family member reported the suspect to police for saying he “was going to kill everyone.”
The gun used by the suspect had been purchased legally in Illinois, which ranks sixth in the nation for gun law strength, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Yet over 1,500 people die from gun violence every year in Illinois.
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, another shooter fired at police officers—grazing one on the forehead and hitting the other on the right shoulder. Residents enjoying the fireworks at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the shooting occurred, were captured on video fleeing from the scene, according to WPVI.
Pennsylvania ranks fifteenth in the nation for gun law strength, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, while over 1,600 people die annually from guns in the commonwealth.
