HHS Investigating Claims School Vaccinated Student Despite Religious Exemption

Federal health officials have launched an investigation into a complaint alleging that an unidentified school located in the Midwestern United States disregarded a valid religious exemption and administered a vaccine to a student without parental consent.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the investigation on December 3 after officials said school authorities administered a vaccine to a student despite having a religious exemption submitted under a state law.

According to HHS, the vaccine was supplied through the federal Vaccines for Children program, which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Entities participating in the program, including schools and medical practices, must adhere to state laws on religious and other exemptions from compulsory vaccination requirements, according to HHS.

The HHS’s Office for Civil Rights will determine whether the school violated those obligations.  Neither the school’s name nor the student’s identity was disclosed.

In a video statement announcing the investigation, HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy said any HHS-backed grant recipient must comply with federal and state laws protecting parental rights.  “When any institution — school or doctor’s office or clinic — disregards religious exemptions, it doesn’t just break trust, it also breaks law,” Kennedy said.  “It fractures the sacred bond between families and people entrusted with their children’s care.  We are not going to tolerate it.”

Kennedy urged parents to educate themselves on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and their right to access their children’s health records in order to make more informed health decisions for their children.  “HIPAA establishes that right of access.”  Kennedy went on to say, “If you have the legal authority to make decisions for your child, then you should have the right to see their records.  No delays, no secrets, and no excuses.”

The probe marks the latest in a string of recent HHS actions on religious exemptions.

HHS’s Office for Civil Rights issued a letter in September to notify state awardees of the Vaccines for Children Program (VCP) that any participating immunization programs and program-registered providers “must respect state religious and conscience exemptions from vaccine mandates.”

In August, the Office for Civil Rights cautioned West Virginia that it risked forfeiting $1.37 billion in federal health funding unless state health departments — which participate in the Vaccines for Children program — comply with religious freedom statutes, including exemptions from childhood vaccinations.

The recent disputes over religious exemptions have also been at the center of several federal cases, including a Colorado medical school’s $10.3 million settlement last week with 18 plaintiffs who were denied accommodations for COVID-19 vaccine mandates on faith-based grounds.  The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine agreed to the payout — covering damages, tuition refunds and $1 million in attorney fees — after a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the institution violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights through denials motivated by “religious animus.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Pastor Outraged After Friend Jailed for Refusing to Apologize Over Drag Queen Story Hour Protest

A Canadian pastor expressed outrage to The Christian Post (CP) regarding a fellow pastor who was arrested this week for not apologizing for protesting drag queen story hours with children at a public library two years ago.

“These people are sick in the head.  They’re demon-possessed.  They’re wicked, evil minions of Satan,” Pastor Artur Pawlowski told CP on last week from a court in Calgary, Alberta, where he was showing support for his friend, Pastor Derek Reimer, as he faced a bail hearing.

Reimer was arrested in Calgary on after he refused a court order to write and sign an apology to the library manager of Calgary Public Library regarding his 2023 protest at a “Reading with Royalty” event, which featured male drag queens reading to children, according to the Western Standard.  Reimer told the Canadian outlet that he felt he had nothing to apologize for.

Reimer was arrested multiple times in 2023 and spent Easter weekend of that year behind bars because of his protests, which prompted widespread attention and condemnation from figures such as Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham.  He was accused at the time of violating a municipal bylaw passed that year prohibiting protests within 100 meters of a recreation facility or library entrance.

The Calgary Police Service confirmed to CP that Reimer was in custody after being arrested “for probation issued warrants for breach of a Conditional Sentence Order from a criminal harassment charge.”  Footage of Reimer’s arrest went viral on social media, showing him asking officers if they were “the feelings police” before they handcuffed him.

Pawlowski, who made headlines himself when he was repeatedly arrested during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns for keeping his church open in defiance of a court order, said Reimer’s treatment is a continuation of what he experienced from Canadian authorities.

He accused them of trying to instill fear in others who might dare to stand up against wickedness from the government.

“I was the canary in the coal mine, and that’s why I was so vocal,” said Pawlowski, who has alleged he was abused by prison authorities, shoved in a small cage and placed in a psychiatric ward when he was jailed for 51 days in 2022 after delivering a sermon to truckers blocking the U.S.-Canada border in protest of federal vaccine mandates.

“I was yelling and screaming, ‘Listen, they’re doing this to me.  Be sure of it: they’re going to come after you, as well.’ ”

Pawlowski, who expressed defiance when he was ordered by a provincial judge in 2021 to recite a script parroting the prevailing opinion of medical “experts” whenever he spoke of COVID-19 and vaccines, said the apology demanded from Reimer by the court is another example of compelled speech in Canada.

Pawlowski noted the issue has become pervasive in Canada and highlighted Bill C-9, which would remove a religious exemption from the country’s hate speech law.  Christian groups have warned the legislation will pave the way for prosecutions of biblical teachings on marriage, gender and sexuality.

“Bill C-9 criminalizes the Bible ... especially the portion of the Bible that references sexual perversion and homosexuality, and Derek Reimer is another one that they’re using as an example to scare others,” he said.

Pawlowski also placed Reimer’s situation in the wider context of what he described as a push throughout the Western world for sexual immorality and debauching children, which he said is overly demonic and echoes the tactics of the Soviet regime he grew up under in communist Poland.

“Those who control the young people control what is going to happen in 10, 15, 20 years,” he said, citing a quote often attributed to Adolf Hitler that “he alone who owns the youth, gains the future.”

“The globalists are pushing this agenda globally, and that’s why you see this all over the Western world, because it’s an agenda.  These people are forwarding a sick, demonic, from-the-pit-of-hell agenda,” he said.

Pawlowski asserted that figures like Reimer are a threat to such plans, and that those intent on implementing them are frightened of such people.

“The worst thing for those tyrants — wannabe pharaohs, as I call them — is exposure,” he said.  “If you keep your mouth shut, you’re OK.  The moment you expose them, suddenly they’re terrified.  They’re afraid, because truth sets the captives free.  It’s all about the truth.”

“They hate the truth.  And who hates the truth?  Who calls the truth hate?  Those who hate the truth.  To them, it’s hateful.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Over 90% of College Students Polled Think ‘Words Can Be Violence’

An overwhelming majority of college students believe that “words can be violence,” according to a new poll that found undergraduates are more reluctant to express their views on campus following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released a new report last week examining students’ views on free speech following the assassination of the TPUSA founder during a speech at Utah Valley University in September.  The survey was conducted from October 3-31, sampling 2,028 undergraduates nationwide and 204 students at Utah Valley University.

The survey asked students whether they felt more or less comfortable engaging in a variety of activities following Kirk’s September 10 assassination.  A majority of Utah Valley University students felt a “great deal” or “slightly” less comfortable expressing their views on “a controversial political topic during an in class discussion” (68%), expressing their views on “a controversial political topic to other students during a discussion in a campus common space” (64%), and expressing controversial political opinions to classmates on social media (65%).

Similarly, a majority of Utah Valley University students described themselves as a “great deal” or “slightly” less comfortable attending public events on campus (65%), attending controversial public events on campus (72%), “hosting events on campus that some people may consider controversial” (72%), and attending class on campus (54%).

While students who do not attend Utah Valley University were less concerned about engaging in these activities, 47% of respondents reported being a “great deal” or “slightly” less comfortable attending controversial public events on campus since the Kirk shooting.  Similar levels of concern were reported about expressing controversial political opinions to classmates on social media (46%), and “hosting events on campus that some people may consider controversial” (45%).

Smaller shares of undergraduates nationwide expressed concern about sharing their “views on a controversial political topic during an in class discussion” (41%), expressing their “views on a controversial political topic to other students during a discussion in a common campus space” (39%), attending public events on campus (31%) and going to class on campus (16%).

Twenty-two percent of respondents maintained that a statement declaring that “words can be violence” describes their thoughts “completely,” while 25% stated that it “mostly” reflects their views, 28% insisted that it “somewhat” describes their thoughts, and 15% told pollsters that it “slightly” reflects their views.  The remaining 9% completely disagreed with the notion that “words can be violence,” meaning that 91% of those surveyed expressed some degree of agreement with the statement.

“When people start thinking that words can be violence, violence becomes an acceptable response to words,” said FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens in a statement reacting to the report.  “Even after the murder of Charlie Kirk at a speaking event, college students think that someone’s words can be a threat.  This is antithetical to a free and open society, where words are the best alternative to political violence.”

Seventy-one percent of students indicated that they opposed allowing a speaker who believes “transgender people have a mental disorder” on campus.  This marks a slight decline from the 74% of students who said the same in the spring of 2025.  Similarly, the share of students opposed to allowing a speaker who believes “abortion should be completely illegal” on campus dropped from 60% to 58%.

The percentage of students opposed to letting a speaker who believes “Black Lives Matter is a hate group” on campus decreased from 76% to 73%.  In both the spring of 2025 and the fall of 2025, 62% of students opposed allowing a speaker who thinks that “the Catholic Church is a pedophilic institution” on campus.

Conversely, the percentage of students opposed to allowing a speaker who thinks “the police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan” on campus rose from 62% in the spring of 2025 to 65% in the fall of 2025.  The share of students opposed to letting a speaker who believes “children should be able to transition without parental consent” increased from 51% in the spring of 2025 to 56% in the fall of 2025.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

OR School District Pays $650,000 to Settle with Educators Who Objected to Trans Lessons

An Oregon (OR) school district has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle with two educators who were punished, then fired, for speaking out against the injurious transgender agenda the district was adopting.

The trans ideology as promoted by Joe Biden and his Administration for years includes giving chemicals to children to delay puberty, then doing mutilating body surgeries on the child.

Educators Katie Medart and Rachel Sager had launched a grassroots movement called “I Resolve” to speak out on a school gender identity education policy, and to offer alternatives that would allow teachers to continue teaching without submitting their religious beliefs to the social agenda.  They posted a video on their own website promoting their beliefs and efforts.

Subsequently, Grants Pass (OR) School District 7 officials suspended them, then fired them.

“Educators are free to express opinions on fundamental issues of public concern—like gender identity education policy—that implicate the freedoms of teachers, parents, and students,” said Mathew Hoffman, of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented the teachers along with the Pacific Justice Institute.

“The Grants Pass School District is taking the right step by acknowledging that teachers don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they set foot on school property.  Public schools can’t retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what’s said.”

Sager and Medart have worked in the education field for many years, including at North Middle School in Grants Pass.  Sager served as assistant principal, and Medart taught science there, the legal teams explained.

Their legal action charging the school violated their free speech, religious freedom and equal protection rights was settled with the district agreeing to pay $650,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

And the school is issuing a public statement acknowledging that the teachers’ wrongful termination fell short of its standards and responsibilities, providing positive letters of recommendation for both, and revising the district’s policies and practices to comply with the First Amendment.

The case had been headed for trial, which the district avoided by reaching the settlement, after the usually far-left 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the teachers’ favor by partly vacating a lower court’s decision for the school, and ordering a trial to be held.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Major US Retailers Placed on “Naughty List” for Failure to Embrace Christmas

Naughty or nice?  That is the question a Christian advocacy group seeks to answer for America’s largest retailers, rating how they have embraced or ignored the Christmas season in their online communications.

The Florida-based Christian conservative organization The Liberty Counsel released its “Naughty and Nice List” earlier in November, just over a month before the Christmas holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus.

The list, which documents retailers’ willingness to mention the word “Christmas” as the holiday season gears up, is part of the legal organization’s 23rd annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign designed to “educate and, when necessary, litigate to ensure religious viewpoints are not censored from Christmas and holiday themes.”

“Christianity remains the largest faith tradition in the United States and is associated with worship, family traditions, nostalgia, and seasonal joy,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver in a statement.  “It makes no sense to pretend the reason for the holiday does not exist or that the holiday should be stripped of Christian symbols and themes.”

Staver is thankful that “some retailers still recognize that the Christmas season is about the birth of Jesus and is not just a winter holiday.”

A company’s placement on the “nice list” is contingent upon “the retailer’s seasonal approach on their website,” the organization explains, specifically whether they explicitly “recognize or celebrate Christmas.”

Notable retailers on the “nice list” this year include Bath & Body Works, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Costco, Hallmark, Hobby Lobby, The Home Depot, JCPenney, Kirkland’s, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Sam’s Club, Sears, Staples, Target, and Walmart.

Liberty Counsel highlighted Best Buy, Target and Walmart as examples of companies that previously earned spots on the “naughty list” but are now on the “nice list.”  In the case of Target, the big box store was designated as naughty two years ago for embracing what Liberty Counsel described as “ ‘pride’ decorations that mocked the Christmas holiday.”  Target’s inclusion of an “Everything Christmas Market” on its website ensured the retailer a spot on the nice list this year.

Walmart had previously landed on the naughty list for banning its employees from saying “Merry Christmas.”  Now, the company is a consistent presence on the nice list for using the word “Christmas” rather than “holiday” to label many of its Christmas items.

Best Buy, which was on the naughty list in 2024, has moved to the nice list after offering several products in a “Christmas” category.

Several prominent retailers found themselves on the naughty list this year because of their efforts to “silence and censor Christmas,” Liberty Counsel says.  Those include Academy Sports + Outdoors, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Big Lots!, Burlington Coat Factory, CVS Pharmacy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Eddie Bauer, Gap, Kmart, Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom, TJ Maxx, and Walgreens.

Academy Sports + Outdoors, Big Lots!, Lord and Taylor and Nordstrom are four companies that moved from the nice list to the naughty list this year because of what the law firm characterized as their embrace of a “nearly sterilized approach to ‘Christmas’ in their online holiday campaigns as compared to prior years.”

Staver urged shoppers to spend their “dollars with the businesses that acknowledge Christmas rather than censor it.”  Meanwhile, the “Naughty and Nice List” provides contact information for each store on the naughty list so shoppers can encourage them to change their approach to the Christmas season.

The “Naughty and Nice List,” as well as the Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, occur in the context of the ongoing societal pressures to secularize the Christmas season by saying “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.”

Liberty Counsel shared two recent polls documenting Americans’ views on the matter, including a 2024 YouGov survey of 1,136 U.S. adults, which found that 65% preferred the greeting “Merry Christmas” while 26% favored “Happy Holidays.”

The other poll, based on 805 responses collected by Monmouth University in December 2022, suggests that 61% of Americans use “Merry Christmas” while 30% greet people with “Happy Holidays.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

ND Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning Abortion

The North Dakota Supreme Court has narrowly upheld a state law that bans abortions in nearly all circumstances, overturning a lower court ruling against it.

Last week, the state’s highest court released an opinion in the case of Access Independent Health Services, Inc., et al v. Drew H. Wrigley et al., which centered on whether a 2023 state law banning abortion is constitutional.

Although three of the five justices who heard the case found the ban unconstitutional, North Dakota requires a supermajority of the court to strike down a law on constitutional grounds.

State Supreme Court Justices Daniel Crothers and Lisa Fair McEvers found the ban unconstitutional, with Daniel Narum, a district court judge who sat in place of recused Justice Douglas Bahr, joining them.

Chief Justice Jon Jensen and Justice Jerod Tufte ruled that the law was constitutional, with Tufte writing that the argument that the ban was “unconstitutionally vague” was invalid.  “Because the Plaintiffs have presented only hypothetical scenarios and have not demonstrated the statute is vague as applied to any actual conduct, their facial challenge fails to satisfy our established precedent,” he wrote.  “The serious health risk exception does not present a clear answer to every imaginable situation.  No statute can.  This statute provides minimum guidelines to avoid arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement, and also provides fair warning to a reasonable person about what conduct is prohibited.”

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley celebrated the decision in a statement, according to The Associated Press.  “The Supreme Court has upheld this important pro-life legislation, enacted by the people’s Legislature.  The Attorney General’s office has the solemn responsibility of defending the laws of North Dakota, and today those laws have been upheld,” stated Wrigley.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Dakota called the decision “deeply painful to all of us who believe that the right to control our own bodies and to make such deeply personal decisions is ours, not the government’s.”

“Private decisions about abortion should not be made by politicians but be made by pregnant people in consultation with their doctors – who should be able to treat their patients according to their best medical judgement,” stated the ACLU of North Dakota in a statement.  “Everyone deserves the right to control their own bodies and to make their own decisions about their lives and futures, free from punishment, judgment, or political interference.  We’ll keep fighting.  We hope you’ll join us.”

In April 2023, then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed the law banning abortion in all circumstances except for a serious medical emergency for the mother or cases of rape or incest if the unborn baby is six weeks or younger.

Red River Women’s Clinic of Fargo sued to overturn the law in July of that year, and Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick ruled it unconstitutional in September 2024.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

IA Ed Bd Turns from LGBTQ to Pro-Life Curriculum

The Iowa State Board of Education has approved changes to the state’s school curriculum, turning away from LGBTQ ideology and implementing pro-life biological instruction instead.

Back when American students learned about the value of human life from conception and didn’t learn gender ideology, they were much better off academically, morally, and psychologically.  At least in Iowa, a reform of the state’s education system is underway.

KCCI Des Moines labeled the changes “controversial” but noted that, while they have been approved, the public has time to weigh in before they are officially finalized and implemented.  Changes to transgender policies don’t go as far as they should but are trending in the right direction by changing the terminology.

Thus “gender identity” must now be called “gender theory,” and “gender identity” is no longer classed among “diverse groups.”  It’s a step in the right direction and hopefully the precursor to much more dramatic eschewing of LGBTQ ideology.

As for the new curriculum on unborn human development, sources cannot be pro-abortion but must have a pro-life perspective to meet the new standard criteria.

KCCI cited the organization Inspired Life, which supports the changes:

[And] previous reporting shows during the session, the policy liaison for the organization noted the measure would ensure parents are “responsible for guiding their children’s understanding of gender and sexuality according to their values and their beliefs” and that schools should be focused on core subjects like math, reading, science and history.

What a novel proposal — focusing on real subjects instead of Marxist propaganda courses.  With American students’ math and reading scores at historic lows, teachers need to quit pushing the Gender Unicorn and focus on the multiplication table instead.

The bill mandating education on the development of unborn babies passed the Iowa legislature and received the gubernatorial signature earlier this year:

A bill for an act incorporating provisions related to pregnancy and fetal development into the human growth and development and health curricula provided by school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to students enrolled in grades five through twelve.

This curriculum would help students understand not only that abortion murders innocent humans, but also potentially how sex is grounded in biology — and not in Marxist propaganda.

The board also approved rules to enforce a law that authorizes the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to investigate abuse cases involving students.  HHS will intervene if the incident involves physical or sexual abuse by a school employee, volunteer, or vendor, and occurs during school hours or at a school-related activity.  If abuse is confirmed, the law requires school boards to fire the offender.

Iowa schools garnered attention this year after Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts turned out to be a criminal illegal alien.  Reform is long overdue.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Christian Schools Petition SCOTUS Over Religious Discrimination

The Archdiocese of Denver, a group of Catholic preschools and a Catholic family in Colorado have asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to determine if Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program discriminated against them for not abiding by an LGBT nondiscrimination statement.

In St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a federal lawsuit first filed in 2023, St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood alleged that the state excluded them because of their religious beliefs from participating in the Colorado Universal Preschool Program Act, which was passed in 2022 to allow students to attend pre-K free of charge at participating schools.

The parishes claimed that they were barred from the program because the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program took issue with their preference for admitting Catholic families and maintaining religious expectations of their staff, including in matters of sexuality.

The lawsuit alleged that the state violated the free exercise and the free speech clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by denying the archdiocese’s 36 preschools admission to the pre-K program because of its religious beliefs regarding LGBT families and employees.

“Specifically, the Department is purporting to require all preschool providers to accept any applicant without regard to a student or family’s religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and to prohibit schools from ‘discriminat[ing] against any person’ on the same bases,” the lawsuit read.

The LGBT nondiscrimination agreement at the center of the lawsuit requires participants in the UPK program to “provide eligible children an equal opportunity to enroll and receive preschool education regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, lack of housing, income level, or disability, as such characteristics and circumstances apply to the child or the child's family.”

In September, the three-judge panel on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the state’s exclusion, finding that “nondiscrimination requirement exists in harmony with the First Amendment and does not violate the Parish Preschools’ First Amendment rights.”

“This Court promised in [its 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide] that religious groups would be protected when they dissent from secular orthodoxies about marriage and sexuality,” the group’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court argues.  “The Free Exercise Clause simply cannot do that important work — which this Court has described as ‘at the heart of our pluralistic society’ — if it can be so easily evaded.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado joined other organizations in filing an amicus brief in the case, arguing that “there is no Free Exercise Clause violation when a governmental body conditions a public benefit on a religion-neutral and generally applicable requirement.”

“The plaintiff religious schools are merely being asked to follow the same antidiscrimination rules that apply to every other school in the Program — rules that are grounded in secular, not religious, concerns,” ACLU Colorado said in summary of the case.

Legal counsel for the plaintiffs argues that the state’s exclusion of the parishes is effectively punishment for their religious beliefs, according to a Friday statement from the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.  The nonprofit, which specializes in religious discrimination cases, noted that enrollment at Catholic preschools in Colorado has declined since the rollout of the UPK program.

“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” said Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket.  “That sort of religious discrimination flies in the face of our nation’s traditions and decades of Supreme Court rulings.  We're asking the Court to step in and make sure ‘universal’ preschool really is universal.”

Scott Elmer, who serves as Chief Mission Officer for the Archdiocese of Denver, said in a statement that Catholic families in Colorado deserve to benefit from the UPK program’s 15 hours of free preschool per week at the school of their choice.

“Our preschools exist to help parents who want an education rooted in the Catholic faith for their children,” Elmer said.  “All we ask is for the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that's available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado.”

Becket Law expects the SCOTUS to decide whether to take the case early next year.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Judge Orders Public Schools in Texas to Remove 10 Commandments

Last week, a federal judge ordered 14 public schools in North Texas to remove the Ten Commandments from display.  US District Judge Orlando Luis Garcia, a Clinton appointee, said the Texas law violates the Establishment Clause.

The anti-American American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Texas families seeking to remove the Ten Commandments from some public schools.  The lawsuit was filed after Texas passed a law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments.

The ACLU celebrated the Clinton judge’s decision.  “Once again, a federal court has recognized that the Constitution bars public schools from forcing religious scripture on students,” said Daniel Mach, the director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, according to CBS.  “This decision is a victory for religious liberty and a reminder that government officials shouldn’t pay favorites with faith.”

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring certain public school districts in Texas to remove Ten Commandments displays by December 1.  The districts would also be prohibited from posting new displays, according to the federal injunction.  Fort Worth, Arlington, McKinney, Frisco, Northwest, Rockwall and Mansfield school districts are included in the 14 impacted districts.

In September, a group of Texas families, represented by the ACLU, sued to stop public school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, claiming it violates religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he is suing rogue ISD officials who disregarded the will of Texas voters.  “These rogue ISD officials and board members blatantly disregarded the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law,” Paxton said on X.  “This lawsuit makes clear that no district may ignore Texas law without consequence,” Paxton said.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Growing Underground Church in Gaza

Israel welcomes the UN’s acceptance of President Trump’s plan for Gaza, which includes a multinational stabilization force.  The plan assigns this force to work alongside Israel, Egypt, and newly-trained Palestinian police to secure the region and disarm Hamas.

Hamas rejects the UN resolution, saying the newly-created force aligns with Israeli objectives.  The group told Reuters: “Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation.”

Underground Christians aren’t waiting for stability to make disciples in Gaza.  Although he cannot discuss details here for security reasons, “Disciple makers go in, and they are making disciples there,” name withheld with Global Catalytic Ministries says.  “We’re not just sending in relief workers who are going to leave in a few weeks,” he adds.  “We’re looking for a movement of God, and we really want to make sure that Jesus is proclaimed on this strip of land – on His strip of land.”

Gaza’s underground Church is hanging on, despite two years of war taking a heavy toll on the above-ground Church.  Of Gaza’s 1,000 known believers, fewer than 600 remain.

“Above-ground churches are allowed in these places, but very limited; there’s a big Catholic presence.  Our network is all either Israeli-background believers or Muslim-background believers who operate underground,” name withheld says.  “They wouldn’t traditionally be going to above-ground churches and revealing their identities in that way, because that could blow their cover.  We always try to operate within and share Jesus with Muslims.”

Pray for open and receptive hearts as disciple makers offer the hope of Christ to Muslims in Gaza.

“It’s just very dark, and there’s so much trauma and so much pain.  This is traditionally where people cry out to the Lord the most from the depths of their souls,” name withheld says.  “And then God does answer – in that place of desperation is when He moves the most.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Abortion Lobby Is Coming

Christians from countries that are safely pro-life now cannot presume they will stay that way, says pro-life campaigner Dr. Calum Miller.

Miller, an apologist and research fellow in bioethics at the University of Oxford, delivered a sobering assessment of the enormous strides made by the abortion movement globally in the last few decades in a recent address to the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) general assembly.  He warned that even in socially conservative countries, or majority Christian, attitudes are rapidly changing.  One example of this is the Philippines, where research on young people that he was involved in last year found that 70% support legalizing abortion.

In the 11 years between the WEA’s 2008 general assembly in Thailand and its following global gathering in Indonesia in 2019, he noted that some 27 countries had liberalized their abortion laws. One of them was Ireland, where, in 2013, only a third of the population said they supported abortion. Just five years later, two-thirds of the population voted to legalize it, including 85% of young people.

“This rapid generational shift is coming for the Global South as well,” Miller said, warning that the liberalizing trend was spreading at a “frightening pace in every region across the world.”  “You might think that your country is a strongly conservative, Christian country, but the likely reality is that millions of dollars are pouring into your country to pressure your legislators and your young people to promote abortion,” he said.

Just some of the countries under pressure to loosen their abortion laws are Nigeria, Poland, Chile, Brazil, Haiti and Liberia.

The WEA’s general assembly took place across five days at SaRang Church in the South Korean capital of Seoul.  Miller said it was sobering to meet in the country with the lowest birth rate in the world and at a time when its legislators were pushing for the legalization of abortion up to birth.  “Whether you live in the most conservative or the most liberal country in the world, this is something that will destroy the future of all of our countries,” he said.  “Outside of Africa and the Pacific Islands, almost no countries have enough children even to survive.”

He said he was praying that Evangelicals would work together toward “a profound moment of change, a moment for the people of God to choose life, not only in our own lives and in our churches but for our nations as well.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Christians Fight Back in the UK

Christian leaders across the United Kingdom (UK) are sounding the alarm as government policies threaten to silence biblical truth and erase the nation’s Christian foundation.  The issue at hand this time is a proposed ban on “conversion therapy” – a term for helping someone get rid of unwanted same-sex attraction.

In an open letter to Equalities Minister Olivia Bailey, twenty-four church leaders boldly argued that the draft law could criminalize prayer, pastoral care, and even sharing the gospel.  “[The proposed ban implies] that merely expressing Christian beliefs on sexuality and gender in prayer and pastoral conversations constitutes ‘conversion therapy’ and should be outlawed,” the leaders state.

The government has promised to push this ban through as a top priority, but critics say it’s proving impossible to draft a bill that accomplishes what they see as protection for LGBT people while simultaneously upholding basic religious freedoms.  Church leaders fear the legislation would leave parents and pastors vulnerable to prosecution for simply sharing the Bible’s stance on issues of sexuality and identity.

As political leaders debate how far to go in restricting faith-based counseling, Christian theologians and public figures are calling believers to take a stand for truth.  Dozens of Christian leaders gathered in London to sign the 2025 Westminster Declaration, a bold manifesto urging the “re-Christianisation of Britain.”  The declaration defends freedom of belief, the sanctity of human life, and the biblical understanding of sex and family.

The appeal is essentially a call for the return to Britain’s Christian heritage.  The document is meant to provide “moral clarity to public life in the UK … and core conviction on life, marriage and family, education, and the common good.”  It also warns that by abandoning Christian foundations, Britain has “endangered human life, weakened society, and created a fragmented nation uncoupled from its formative traditions.”

Fiona Bruce is a former government envoy for religious freedom and a member of the 2025 Westminster Declaration launch committee.  She described UK’s situation as a spiritual battle and is eager to see young Christians enter politics—not just to resist moral decline, but to bring biblical truth back into the nation’s conscience.  Bruce’s ultimate goal? To “see Christian principles brought back into society, and society changed.”

Former BBC journalist Robin Aitken hopes the declaration will turn the UK back to Christ. “What today is about is nothing less than the re-Christianisation of Britain … If that sounds ambitious, it is.  There has never been and will never be a better blueprint for human flourishing and happiness than the rules laid out for us by God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.”

These two developments reveal the sharp divide in Britain today: one side seeking to silence biblical truth in the name of tolerance, and the other boldly proclaiming that the Gospel is still the only hope for a lost nation.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel