Trump Restricts Visas for Nigerians Linked to Anti-Christian Violence, Persecution

In response to mass killings and violent attacks against Christians in Nigeria, the U.S. State Department announced that the United States will restrict visas for Nigerians who have participated in or supported violations of religious freedom, a restriction that could also apply to family members in some cases.

The department announced the policy in a Wednesday statement amid escalating attacks against Nigerian Christians by extremist groups and armed militias, who are responsible for thousands of murders, abduction and widespread destruction of places of worship.

A new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act will allow the federal government to “restrict visa issuance to individuals who have directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom and, where appropriate, their immediate family members.”

The provision within the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the U.S. Secretary of State the authority to deny a visa or entry into the United States to a foreign national if the individual’s presence in the country could potentially lead to adverse foreign policy consequences.

“The United States is taking decisive action in response to the atrocities and violence against Christians in Nigeria and around the world,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Wednesday statement posted on X.

He vowed the agency will restrict U.S. visas for those who “knowingly direct, authorize, fund, support, or carry out violations of religious freedom,” a policy that applies not only to the Nigerian government but also to other governments and individuals that violate people’s religious freedom.

The actions come after President Donald Trump threatened potential military action last month to stop the attacks against Christian communities in Nigeria and “to wipe out the Islamic terrorists.”  The Trump administration has pressed the Nigerian government to work with them to deter violent religious persecution.

Last month, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, emphasizing “the need for Nigeria to demonstrate commitment and take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians.”  Hegseth also expressed a desire to work with Nigerian authorities “to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States,” according to a Pentagon statement.

Analysts who spoke with The Associated Press reported at the time that limited, high-profile U.S. airstrikes are unlikely to reverse the security concerns and instability in Nigeria.

The Nigerian government has said in response to concerns about violent persecution that the conflict is not inherently religious, claiming that it stems from decades-old farmer-herder clashes.

Nigeria’s government has also pushed back against the claim that what's happening to Christian communities in the Middle Belt states may meet the standard for religious persecution and genocide. Advocates have also accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect its citizens from radicalized groups and rampant violence that has left millions displaced.

The situation in Nigeria has continued to draw widespread attention, including from celebrities like rapper Nicki Minaj, who, in an X post last month, expressed gratitude for living in a country with religious freedom.

“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion.  We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other,” the rapper declared.

“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror and it’s dangerous to pretend we don't notice,” she continued.  “Thank you to The President and his team for taking this seriously.  God bless every persecuted Christian.  Let's remember to lift them up in prayer.”

Earlier this year, the global Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors placed Nigeria in the seventh spot on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians are most persecuted. 

During the WWL 2025 reporting period (Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024), researchers calculated, based on conservative estimates, that 3,100 Christians had been killed and 2,830 had been abducted. Regarding instances of sexual assault and physical and mental abuse, the report authors rounded the figures to 1,000 and 10,000, respectively.

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

Liberals Gain Support for ‘Hate Speech’ Bill Targeting Bible Passages Against Homosexuality

A Liberal government bill to criminalize parts of the Bible dealing with homosexuality under Canada’s new “hate speech” laws looks closer to becoming reality after gaining the support of the Bloc Québécois party when a religious exception was removed.

The National Post reported that the Bloc Québécois are now backing the hate-speech Bill C-9 after the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to take away a religious exception.

Bill C-9, the Combating Hate Act, as reported by LifeSiteNews, has been blasted by constitutional experts as allowing empowered police and the government to go after those it deems to have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, a government insider revealed that the Liberal government plans to remove religious exemptions from Canada’s hate-speech laws by modifying a bill.  This would affect passages of the Bible dealing with homosexuality.

A recent media report states that the Carney Liberals and the separatist Bloc Québécois want to amend Bill C-9, which would “criminalize sections of the Bible, Quran, Torah, and other sacred texts,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre noted yesterday on X.

Both the Liberals and the Bloc are on board to support the removal of a religious exemption in Canada’s Criminal Code for the bill.

Last week, Canadian Justice Minister Sean Fraser was rather mum on the deal made with the Bloc, which now says the deal is on thin ice due to canceled justice committee meetings.  Fraser said that it is his “priority” to see “this bill adopted,” but admitted it will need the support of other parties.  “That’s going to require that we collaborate with different parties who have different points of view,” he said.

However, it appears that such meetings will take place this week, but Conservative Party MPs have promised to fight the removal of the religious exception.

Liberal MP Marc Miller had said earlier in the year that certain passages of the Bible are “hateful” because of what it says about homosexuality, and those who recite the passages should be jailed.  As reported by LifeSiteNews, he was recently appointed as a government minister by Carney.

Recently, Canadian pro-life Conservative MP Jamil Jivani warned the Liberal government is targeting Christians and people of other faiths with a bill that would criminalize quoting parts of the Bible.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Canadian Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis blasted the Carney Liberals’ federal plan to criminalize parts of the Bible as an attack on “Christians,” warning it sets a “dangerous precedent” for Canadian society.

In response, the party launched a petition over fear that religious texts could be criminalized.

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

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