Foreign policy. . .

The State of California, always one to go its own way, seems to think of itself as a sovereign nation treating the rest of the US states as foreign governments.  It has gone so far as to restrict government funded travel to no less than a third of the 50 US states.  The states of Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia recently joined Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee as places where no California funded state travel would be allowed.  The reason given is that these 17 states are not sufficiently on board with the LGBTQ+++ agenda that has become the litmus test of things in Californialand.  California's Democratic Attorney General, Rob Bonta, took this action unilaterally and explained himself by saying, "Make no mistake, we're in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country, and the state of California is not going to support it."  In this Hotel California you can't check in unless you meet certain standards but you can be evicted from your room for violating them. 

There are those who suggest that Christian concerns for the right of religious freedom are overblown and unfounded.  There are those who would tell the Church to get on with churchly things and get out of the social policy business.  In reality, the Christian communities in America are looking only for the tolerance and freedom guaranteed by our governing documents set forth by our founders.  Unless I am mistaken, none of the various churches who are opposed to the LGBTQ+++ agenda on Biblical grounds have done anything against those states like California aggressively pushing this agenda.  Yet a state like California believes it is not only its business but its place to punish states that the Attorney General does not believe live up to this aggressive embrace of these issues.

My point is simple.  Our cause for concern about the constraint of our liberty to believe, worship, and witness to the faith without governmental intrusion or restriction is not imagined.  It is real.  California has taken the lead but the progressive forces in other states and in Washington, DC, are also organizing for action toward the same goal.  The forces of tolerance are exceptionally intolerant of those who disagree.  Abortion, sexual license, gender identity, the redefinition of marriage and family, and the like have become the trumpet calls of those who insist that American society must be radically transformed and those who disagree or stand in the way will be pushed aside.

To the folks in the pews and those praying at home, it may not seem very near.  To those watching how quickly things have changed in America from simple tolerance to these progressive stands being on the forefront of media, government, and education, we are already behind the eight ball.  Add to your prayers this cause:  that the government does not decide to trample freedom of religion in its pursuit of sexual liberty.