(The Federalist) Whenever anyone expresses concern about pressing gender ideology on American youth, the typical retort is to cite suicide statistics. “Transgender and nonbinary youth have considered suicide at higher rates than other LGBTQ youth,” warns an NPR article from May. “Children and teens who do not identify with their assigned gender can face higher rates of depression, suicide and self harm than other kids,” The New York Times reported in March.

Because of the vulnerability of “trans youth,” activists claim, resisting pro-trans indoctrination is a direct threat to the welfare of an already victimized and marginalized group. School leaders claim they are justified in hiding the trans identity of students from parents who might harm them. “Affirming trans children’s genders reduces their risk of attempting suicide,” asserted a March article in Vox, and compared “anti-trans legislation” to genocide (yes, really). A political cartoon in The Washington Post earlier this year even accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of being personally responsible for the suicide of trans children.

Yet what if the opposite is true, that promotion of alternative sexual identities among America’s children is aggravating our national mental health crisis, and increasing the likelihood of self-harm among vulnerable young populations?

(Dennis Prager) Fewer young Americans affiliate with any organized religion than ever before in American history.

This means, therefore, that the children — and certainly the grandchildren — of millions of faithful Christians have abandoned Christianity. The same holds true for Jews, but that decline began somewhat earlier. Until the 20th century, nearly all Jews were religious (which nearly always meant Orthodox). Today about 15% of Jews are Orthodox, while most Conservative and Reform Jews have the same values as the secular Left, and very few of their children attend synagogue.

Why have so many Jews and Christians abandoned religious commitment and even a religious identity (many Jews retained an ethnic identity, an option not available to those who abandoned Christianity, as there is no Christian ethnic identity, Christianity being a religion, not an ethnicity as well as a religion)?

Two reasons predominate: the dominant secular culture and the failure of religious Jews and Christians to explain their respective religions.

Contemporary Western countries (and countries such as Japan whose identities are not Western, but which are culturally part of the West) are the most secular societies in recorded history.

In America, every public institution has been rendered God-free, that is, devoid of God. From the age of 5, and sometimes before that, children attend schools that make no reference to God or the Bible. Indeed, schools generally hold God and the Bible in intellectual and moral contempt.

(Faith & Freedom) We have heard from every pundit and politician regarding how they feel about the FBI raid on Trump's home, but what are the leaders in the evangelical community saying about it?

Conservative Christian leaders have denounced the Federal Bureau of Investigation's raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, claiming the action was politically motivated.

I agree.

This event is not about justice---or "getting to the truth." It's about politics.

And that could have a direct effect on churches and ministries that speak God's Word to the culture.

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Jentezen Franklin, a megachurch pastor, and bestselling author posted a statement on his Instagram page Tuesday saying he is "deeply disturbed over the raid of a former president's home."

"If the goal of the current administration was to further divide this country then that mission was accomplished with the weaponization of the DOJ and the FBI," Franklin, the pastor of the Free Chapel in Georgia, stated.

(Washington Stand) A “Student Identification Card” sounds relatively innocuous, like something that could come in handy for a field trip, emergency drill, or cafeteria hour. Such a card seems unlikely to serve a purpose in promoting LGBT indoctrination and deceiving parents. And yet, that’s exactly what it is now being used for.

This particular student ID card is available from sharemylesson.com, a “community-based site” that is “created and maintained by the American Federation of Teachers” (AFT). The resource appears to be developed by the site’s “Identity Affirming Classroom Team” (I-ACT) and is classified as “social emotional learning.” According to Share My Lesson, this card is a resource recommended for all grade levels.

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So, why did someone the AFT saw fit to promote create this card in the first place? The answer lies right in the center of the card. In between a student’s “government name” and one line of “tell me … about yourself” (paper-thin disguises both) is an elaborate system for students and teachers to secretly communicate about their gender identity, right under their parents’ nose. The assumption is that students should suspect their parents, hide secrets from them, and do so in secret code.

(Breakpoint) Particularly “in the L.G.B.T.Q. community, it’s not uncommon to find a substitute family, colloquially known as a chosen family,” Dani Blum recently wrote in an article in The New York Times. According to Blum, a “chosen family” refers to the “intense, intimate relationships … people form apart from their biological relatives; it is the kinship you create outside of a traditional family structure.”

Chosen families are not a new phenomenon, nor are they exclusive to LGBTQ people. But in an age quick to write essential relationships off as “toxic,” they are increasingly common and consequential.

Relationships were designed by God to be a gift of His common grace. Certain relationships, like the intimacy between a husband and wife or the bond between parents and children are distinct in purpose and unique in function, irreplaceable in their roles as building blocks of society. Friendship, from our deepest commitments to common neighborliness, is to be treasured. All of these relational arrangements are increasingly rare and disordered in a techno-driven culture, captive to utilitarian concern.

And it is important to remember that Jesus taught of a tie that binds the redeemed beyond blood relation, secured by His blood. He asked in Matthew’s Gospel: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Then, pointing to his disciples, he answered: “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

(Washington Stand) At 12 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, it would lie at about 7 o’clock if a clock face were interposed on the famous “palm” map. It’s about a mile, as the crow flies, from Sunrise Acres Egg Farm. It’s a mile-and-a-half from the nearest Meijer grocery. Jamestown Township, population 9,630, is deep in Michigan’s Dutch Reformed farm country.

The Township’s local library, named Patmos, is deep in something else: trouble. The library will lose 84% of its annual $245,000 budget after voters refused to approve an annual millage renewal for 2023. A millage is a percentage tax on property at its assessed value, and it seems Michigan localities employ annual, voter-approved millages to fund a variety of local enterprises.

The vote wasn’t particularly close, either. It failed 1,142 votes “yes” (37.5%) to 1,905 votes “no” (62.5%). Other tax items on the ballot succeeded, including funding for the fire department and secondary road improvements. “This was such a great story to see,” FRC’s senior fellow for Education Studies Meg Kilgannon told The Washington Stand. “It captures the determination of citizens who are awake.”

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Parents mobilized against the library after it featured sexually explicit LGBT books such as “Gender Queer: A Memoir” in a June Pride display, and library staff subsequently refused to remove them from the library. “Since meetings with the library staff and board had no effect, concerned citizens mounted a campaign to stop funding the library with taxpayer money. And their effort passed overwhelmingly.”

(City Journal) A new study in the journal Pediatrics sets out to refute a central claim made by critics of pediatric gender transition: that social pressure rather than organic processes is the major cause of transgender self-identification among youth. Among the study’s authors is Jack Turban, an oft-quoted proponent of “gender affirming care” (GAC) and propagator of the affirm-or-suicide myth.

Pediatrics, recall, is the journal that published Jason Rafferty’s thoroughly debunked 2018 article purporting to find conclusive evidence that alternatives to GAC are futile and harmful. That article has become Exhibit A in efforts by policymakers to promote GAC and is widely cited by activist groups working with schools to make (iatrogenic) “social transition” easier for students. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which publishes Pediatrics, has spent the past few years suppressing petitions from members to conduct a thorough review of the evidence on this issue. According to the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, Michael Biggs, a U.K. researcher who has published on this topic, submitted a rebuttal to the AAP, which the organization refused to publish (offering no explanation). It is becoming increasingly clear that AAP’s policy on this issue is “no debate.”

(American Family News) A consulting group in Michigan is telling a school district that strong families are responsible for prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination among students.

Farmington Public Schools in Greater Detroit reportedly hired US2 Consulting -- self-described social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion consultants -- to perform an educational equity audit to assess pedagogy, curriculum, policies, and procedures.

Its audit of Farmington schools recommends reprogramming teachers to resist the U.S. government's definition of family, which it calls "systemic familialism." US2's website describes that as "prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination on the basis or assumption of family structure."

In other words, intact, two-parent families are bad for students.

Eileen McNeil of Citizens for Traditional Values (CTV) says the left is finally being up-front about how it views the family.

(Life News) Former NFL football star Tim Tebow has devoted his life to helping the most vulnerable: orphans, people with special needs, babies in the womb and now victims of human trafficking.

The 34-year-old Christian athlete recently expanded the mission of his foundation to include providing safe housing for individuals rescued from human trafficking across the world, according to Fox News.

“It’s such a focus for me because we believe this is one of the greatest evils in the world today,” Tebow told Fox News Digital this week.

“Just put yourself in their shoes just for a second, and imagine living in fear every single day,” he continued. “Knowing that the people who were supposed to value you instead sold you. The people who were supposed to love you instead abused you. The people who were supposed to treasure you instead exploited you.”

Right now, Tebow and his foundation are raising money to build the TTF Protection Center in Thailand, a safe house that can serve up to 40 females rescued from human trafficking, according to Movieguide. The Tim Tebow Foundation is working with RAPHA International on the project.

(Washington Stand) When he ran for president in 2004, then-Senator John Kerry famously said of a vote to fund the Iraq war, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

Verbal gymnastics aside, Kerry’s embarrassing attempt to explain himself pales in comparison to the statements coming out of this week’s annual Lambeth Conference in Great Britain. The conference is a once-a-decade meeting of the world’s Anglican bishops, convened by Anglicanism’s leader, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The incoherence emanating from this gathering of Anglican leaders is not isolated to a single offhand remark by an obscure churchman. As one British news headline put it, “Anglican church still tying itself in knots over same-sex marriage.”

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In his statement, Welby concludes, “We are deeply divided. That will not end soon. We are called by Christ himself both to truth and unity.” This is true, but Welby should know that unity flows from a common commitment to the truth. When that commitment is forsaken, unity becomes an idol and an end unto itself. This is not the scriptural understanding of what oneness in Christ truly means.