Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, House Republicans opposed several amendments intended to defund wokeness in the federal bureaucracy. The Biden administration is seeking to deport an evangelical family from Germany who fled their nation to homeschool their children. Meanwhile, increases in fatherlessness are associated with declines in church attendance among Americans.
House Republicans Oppose Efforts to Defund Federal Wokeness
“For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:3).
Several dozen House Republicans opposed efforts from their colleagues to defund progressive federal initiatives as debate on fund allocation for next year continues.
Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, introduced an amendment to the defense funding bill to mandate that “none of the funds appropriated” can be “used to carry out the observance of Pride Month,” which is listed as one of the cultural observances and awareness events for the Department of Defense. Some eighteen House Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in opposing the amendment.
Republicans also voted against their colleagues such that efforts to defund equity and civil rights offices at the Department of Agriculture, which work toward “closing the racial wealth gap and addressing longstanding inequities in agriculture,” were ultimately defeated, according to a report from The Republic Sentinel. Republicans also opposed an amendment to defund the civil rights office at the Department of Homeland Security, which seeks to “avoid racial profiling in conducting stops, searches, and other law enforcement, investigation, or inspectional activities.”
Government agencies have provoked criticism under the Biden administration for advancing homosexuality and transgenderism, as well as the diversity and inclusion movement, both within the federal workforce and through federal programs.
Christian Family from Germany Faces Deportation
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
Immigration officials unexpectedly told an evangelical Christian family from Germany that they would have to return to their home nation, a development which comes more than one decade after they moved to the United States to legally homeschool their children.
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike secured “indefinite deferred action” ten years ago after considerable public pressure toward the Obama administration, allowing them to avoid German laws which ban homeschools and mandate state-sponsored curriculum. The family, which now includes two children with American citizenship and two children married to Americans, were told that their status was revoked and were ordered to apply for German passports in the next four weeks, according to a press release from the Home School Legal Defense Association.
“Deportation to Germany will fracture these families, while exposing the Romeikes to renewed persecution in Germany, where homeschooling is still illegal in almost every case,” the release observed. The organization has earned tens of thousands of signatures on a petition addressed to President Joe Biden asking him to keep the Romeike family in the United States.
Fatherlessness Associated with Declining Religious Adherence
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Declines in fatherhood and family health are associated with decreases in church attendance, according to a report from Christian marriage and family nonprofit Communio.
The organization surveyed thousands of congregants nationwide and discovered that 80% of all regular Sunday attendees “grew up in a continuously married home with both biological parents at a time where this is becoming increasingly rare.” The trend was observable across age groups and was particularly potent among adults under thirty years old.
“To evangelize fruitfully in the twenty-first century, we must reverse the declining number of marriages, improve marital health, and increase the effectiveness of fathers in those marriages,” the analysis from Communio remarked. “By addressing these three issues, we can spark a sustained revival in Christian faith and active church attendance.”
Less than 50% of all young adults had “continuously married parents through childhood,” meaning that young people who remain in church were far more likely than their peers to experience a healthy home life.
