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Liberals have won enough big battles in Americas culture wars in recent years most notably the growing support for same-sex marriage that they may have persuaded themselves that their views were universal and their victories would continue. But as two new Supreme Court decisions relating to religion made clear, conservative forces are far from down and out. Last Monday, the high court used a unanimous unsigned opinion to announce it would take up the constitutionality of President Trumps proposed temporary ban on incoming travelers from six mostly Muslim nations. In so doing, justices overruled several federal trial and appellate courts and allowed the ban to take effect. Liberals who say its irrational for Americans to worry about domestic Islamist terrorism havent gotten far in the court of public opinion one poll showed one-third of Democrats are for Trumps travel ban and now theyve been rebuffed by the highest actual court as well. In the second decision, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the state of Missouri could not exclude a Lutheran religious school from receiving a grant from a government program that reimburses the cost of rubberizing the surface of playgrounds to make them safer. In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that it was odious to exclude a religious organization from public benefits available to other groups. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor depicted the decision as a profound break with American legal tradition by holding, for the first time, that the Constitution requires the government to provide public funds directly to a church. In another decision, the court confirmed it would hear a case involving a Christian bakery owner who declined to make a cake for a gay couple indicating at least some sympathy for the argument that religious freedom may extend to business owners decisions on whom to serve. How will the court rule? Thats unclear. Whats clearer is what impact Trumps Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch could have. If the 15 cases in which he has ruled are any indication, the Fivethirtyeight website found that Gorsuch may settle to the right of the conservative lion he replaced, Antonin Scalia. In each of these cases, Fivethirtyeight noted, Gorsuch has sided with the courts most conservative member, Justice Clarence Thomas. Gorsuchs selection may also be driving the swirling rumors that the courts swing vote libertarianconservative Justice Anthony Kennedy may soon retire. If Kennedy is confident his replacement would be someone he finds as impressive as Gorsuch, his former clerk, that might make retiring an easier decision. If that happened, the court could swing substantially to the right. If Kennedy retires, CNN wrote, Donald Trumps legacy is set. Time will tell if last weeks opinions are as farreaching as they seem. But theres no disputing the decisions reflect a view of the world much closer to one shared by millions of Trump voters.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Culture-War Victories In Supreme Court - The Daily Record (registration)

I recently re-watched the classic movie Chariots of Fire. Scottish missionary-to-be Eric Liddell is chosen to run in the 1924 summer Olympics. When he discovered that he must run a qualifying heat on Sunday, he refused. His religious belief was that running on Sunday would violate the commandment to honor the Sabbath. Even in 1924, Liddells decision and his beliefs were met with disbelief, criticism and confusion. Whats the big deal about running a race on Sunday? How quaint to have such an old-fashioned religious restriction.

Many readers will remember that it was not so many years ago that going to a movie on Sunday was forbidden to the faithful. Stores closed on Sunday. Professional sports teams played on Sundays, but most good folks would have been horrified at the thought of kids having organized sporting events on a Sunday. How quaint those days were. Now we have Walmart and Kroger and CVS and countless other stores so routinely open on Sunday that we barely remember a time when it was not so. Tournaments and traveling sports teams for kids also routinely schedule events on Sunday. Many still go to a worship service, but otherwise Sunday is just another day.

I was raised in a church where the accepted belief was that dancing was a sin. (I still have bungling feet if I attempt to dance because of my teenage taboo). When we went to church camp in the summer, boys and girls could not swim at the same time because mixed bathing was a sin. Given the two-piece suits and the amount of skin displayed at pools and beaches, I think I can safely assume that even the most conservative believers have accepted the culture and abandoned the war and the old ideas I was taught about faithfulness and the swimming pool.

At a far more destructive level, a culture war that too many believers fought and lost is that of slavery and racism. The history of slavery is a terrible stain on our national and spiritual soul. Yet in its day there was widespread justification of slavery based on random texts distorted from the Bible. Sermons were preached about the curse of Ham and white superiority was defended as being Gods order of creation. The KKK used a cross, the most central symbol of Christian faith, to make a fiery statement of hatred and intimidation. Though black churches were in the forefront of civil rights activism, white churches were all too often in opposition or guiltily silent. Today only the most radical racists would openly promote slavery, but we still struggle with racism. We have far to go indeed to make a reality of the song Jesus loves all the children of the world.

I write, not to complain about the way Sundays are spent, nor to bemoan swim practices or attire. I write recognizing both the progress made and the great distance yet to go regarding racism in our culture. I write, not to air the dirty laundry of the faithful, nor to make fun of quaint beliefs. I gladly celebrate the positive cultural changes that have come about because people of faith have worked to make a better world.

I write because so many of my evangelical brothers and sisters have enlisted as soldiers in the culture wars. My belief is that culture warriors with short memories have a history of fighting battles in the name of God that have far more to do with defending tradition than defending the faith.

As nearly as I can tell, the culture wars of today swirl largely around the issues of abortion, gay rights, and the role of religion in public life. In fighting the wars, conservative religion and conservative political theory have become inseparable allies. People of faith may well draw conclusions from their reading of the scriptures that they find consistent with their political stance, but these are conclusions and interpretations. Others of good faith and of no faith at all may come to different conclusions. As much as warriors would like the issues to be simple, they are not simple. As much as the warriors may see themselves as taking a faith-based stand, their fierceness is too often an invitation to an extreme posture. In the posture of extremism, they risk the trap Jesus recognized when he warned against trying to remove the speck in anothers eye when one has a 2 x 4 in ones own eye.

Frank Stagg was my New Testament seminary professor. His stated belief was that there is so much of the Bible we understand very clearly and do nothing about that we have no business wasting time arguing about the things we dont understand. What I believe to be lost in the culture wars are Biblical teachings that are absolutely clear. Teachings about compassion, Gods love for all people, humility, love your neighbor as yourself; faith/hope/love these are the heart of Jesus teachings. They are lost when fear, anger, prejudice and self-righteousness rage in the form of culture warriors. People of faith must live out that faith in a culture that is rapidly changing but they must constantly seek the wisdom to know whether they are living their faith or merely following their culture.

The Rev. Gary Batchelor is an ordained Baptist minister and active church member. He is retired after a nearly 40-year local ministry as a hospital chaplain. His particular interest lies in issues of faith and culture.

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GUEST COLUMN: A truce for the culture wars? - Northwest Georgia News

In the culture wars it is all too easy for some Catholics to react against the gay culture by rejecting all people who experience same sex attraction. The difficulties that people with same sex attraction experience are complex and the Catechism of the Catholic Church says they should be treated with compassion, respect and sensitivity.

If people who experience same sex attraction are not bullied and rejected by Catholics they are often ignored. A culture of dont ask dont tell exists in which people with same sex attraction are accepted but expected to keep their sexual orientation under wraps. Instead of this, there are calls for Catholics to build bridges and welcome homosexual people.

One of the challenges in this conversation is the definition of terms. For the vast majority of people the term gay indicates a homosexual person who is sexually active. The word gay began to be associated with homosexuality and the gay liberation movement in the mid 1960s. Gay then became the chosen terminology of homosexual activists.

It is certainly correct therefore, to use the word gay for active homosexuals and homosexual campaigners, but it would not be accurate to use the term for all people who experience same sex attraction. In other words, there are many people who experience same sex attraction who are not gay.

Therefore to use the term gay for them puts them into a category or social group they do not wish to belong to. Some people might choose the word gay as an identifier, but many would not. Saying all people with same sex attraction are gay is to put them into a cultural ghetto.

This is often accompanied by the usual stereotyping. Thus we hear sympathetic Catholics say things like, Gay people bring many gifts to the church. So many of them are wonderful musicians Really? That sounds like the person who says, Gay men are so talented. My friend Randy is just marvelous when it comes to choosing wallpaper and curtains. Such stereotyping is one of the unconscious habits of the prejudiced and contributes to the misunderstanding of people with SSA.

To use the term gay is degrading to people who experience same sex attraction but who are not actively gay. It is degrading because it defines them only by their sexual urges, and all of us are more fascinating, complex and expansive than our sexual inclinations.

Those who would demand that we use the word gay for all people with same sex attraction ignore and marginalize the many Catholics who pursue chastity and reject the gay subculture and gay activism.

Happily, the true Catholic approach is not to marginalize and create a ghetto for a gay community but to welcome and integrate individuals with same sex attraction. All of us are created in Gods image and, although that image is wounded by sin, God looks on all his children and says, Thats good! This is why, as long ago as 1980, Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York established a ministry that built bridges of compassion, respect and sensitivity to people who are attracted to the same sex.

He called on Father John Harvey, a priest who was already working in this field of ministry. With the help of Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., and others, Harvey began the Courage Apostolate with its first meeting in September, 1980 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in New York City.

For nearly forty years the Courage Apostolate has reached out to people with same sex attraction and their families. Endorsed by the Vatican as an authentic apostolate, Courage now has more than a hundred chapters and personal contacts with over 1,500 people worldwide. In addition, hundreds of individuals receive assistance from the main office and website every week.

It is important to understand that Courage works one on one with individualsnot with a vaguely defined gay community or pressure group. Instead of stereotyping, they meet each man or woman and their families where they areeach with their own story and their own set of circumstances.

Courage is sometimes criticized for attempting to pressure people with same sex attraction to change. Former director of Courage, Father Paul Check denies that they use any kind of conversion therapy. Instead they offer counseling, fellowship and support based on the classic twelve step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Courage accepts and welcomes people with same sex attraction as they are, and describes its goals as chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, good example.

The dissident group New Ways Ministry, on the other hand, suggests that having a lesbian or gay identity is a blessing from God, and that Courage is being anti-pastoral in its work. New Ways Ministry calls for acceptance not only of people with same sex attraction, but for acceptance of those who campaign for gay identity and same sex marriage.

The leaders of New Ways Ministry do not recommend Courage, while the executive director of another dissident group DignityUSA, said in 2014 that Courage is really problematic and very dangerous to peoples spiritual health. And we have been very concerned about it for a lot of years.

The Courage website outlines the resources the apostolate offers to individuals and their families. One of the dynamic things about the Courage apostolate is the diverse background of participants. The testimony of a man who took part in one of the apostolates sports camps, for example, reported the powerful experience of sharing the weeks activities with plenty of non-Catholic Christians, Jews, a Muslim and men from France, Israel, Haiti and every part of the U.S.

The website also connects readers to the resources for chaplains, parish priests and counselors as well as books, websites and an annual conference for support and fellowship. Meanwhile their subset EnCourage offers support and fellowship for family members of people who are attracted to the same sex.

It is easy to put our heads in the sand and ignore people with SSA, but following Jesus example, we are to welcome everyone to the narrow way of following Christ the Lord. We should recall the meeting Jesus had with the tax collector Zacchaeus. Jesus welcomed him, and Zacchaeuss immediate humble response was not pride, but repentance and reparation.

Reaching out to individuals who experience same sex attraction may be difficult, but following Jesus example with Courage it can be done.

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Courage: Offering compassion, respect and sensitivity - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

In the blood-red state of Alabama, afiery, outspoken jurist is running for U.S. Senate by standing up for what he believes.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore doesnt shrink from telling voters he has twice been ousted from the bench for defying federal courts over the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage.

Instead, he wears those rejections as a badge of honor, telling Republican voters that they are akin to battle scars.

I will not only say what is right, I will do what is right, Moore said during a June forum in the east Alabama city of Oxford.

Moore is part of a crowded GOP field vying to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions old seat in the U.S. Senate. Moores iconic status in the culture wars gives him a strong GOP voter base and makes him a leading contender in the primary on August 15.

But hes also a polarizing figure. Some voters said they are voting for him because of his past fights.

Others said they want someone elsefor the same reasons. Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen, who filed the complaint that led to Moores removal, last year referred to him as the Ayatollah of Alabama for intertwining his personal religious beliefs and judicial responsibilities.

Incumbent Sen. Luther Strange,appointed last year by the states former governor and backed by Republican establishment, faces multiple challengers. Among them, in addition to Moore, is U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus who has the endorsement of Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. The race could lead to a runoff between the top two primary finishers.

The Senate Leadership Fund, whichhas ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and tries to bank candidates perceived as winnable in general elections, has put its fiscal force behind Strange.

The Republican National Committee last week authorized its Senate campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to spend $350,000 on the Alabama Senate race, money that is expected to benefit Strange.

Moore is a West Point graduate and former military policeman during Vietnam. He became a prosecutor, circuit judge and then state chief justice.

But Alabamas judicial discipline panel twice stripped him of his chief justice duties. In 2003 he was removed for disobeying a federal judges order to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse.

He re-took the chief justicesoffice in 2012, but was suspended for the remainder of his term last year.

The suspension not, technically, a removal came after Moore wrote a memo telling probate judges that they remained under a state court order to deny marriage licenses to gay couples even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gays and lesbians have a fundamental right to marry. While he was suspended, Moore left the bench to run for Senate.

I stood up to same-sex marriagelegally by pointing out active injunctions. They didnt like that. I opposed the agenda of the Supreme Court, and they came after me, Moore said in Oxford.

Thirty-nine-year-old Emily Holland said she admires Moore. He goes by what the Bible says, said Holland. He has been to war. He refused to take down the Ten Commandments.

Jean Hobson said she watched the Oxford debate to learn more about the other candidates, but knows shes not voting for Strange or Moore.

Judge Moore has been elected twice and thrown out twice, Hobson said.

Moore also discusses other issues on the campaign trail including a call for increased military spending but its his well-known history that appears to be drivingboth his support and his opposition.

For now, The Judge, as Moore is nicknamed, revels in his outsider status in a year of anti-Washington sentiment.

Washington doesnt want me, evidently, from the money they are pouring behind one of the candidates and from the message we received from Washington. Thats OK, Moore said with a slight grin as he removed his sunglasses during a sweltering June campaign stop on the Alabama Capitol steps. Im looking forward to going and representing the people of Alabama, what they stand for. What they believe in is what I believe in and Ill take it to Washington whether they like it or they dont.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Roy Moore: Former chief justice, fiery and outspoken, stirs far-right base in Alabama Senate race - Fox News

JERUSALEM The U.N. cultural organization declared an ancient shrine in the occupied West Bank a Palestinian heritage site on Friday, prompting Israel to further cut its funding to the United Nations.

UNESCO designated Hebron and the two adjoined shrines at its heart the Jewish Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque a Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called that another delusional UNESCO decision and ordered that $1 million be diverted from Israels U.N. funding to establish a museum and other projects covering Jewish heritage in Hebron.

The funding cut is Israels fourth in the past year, taking its U.N. contribution from $11 million to just $1.7 million, an Israeli official said. Each cut has come after various U.N. bodies voted to adopt decisions which Israel said discriminated against it.

Palestinian Foreign Minister, Reyad Al-Maliki, said the UNESCO vote, at a meeting in Krakow, Poland, was proof of the successful diplomatic battle Palestine has launched on all fronts in the face of Israeli and American pressure on (UNESCO) member countries.

Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank with a population of some 200,000. About 1,000 Israeli settlers live in the heart of the city and for years it has been a place of religious friction between Muslims and Jews.

Jews believe that the Cave of the Patriarchs is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, are buried. Muslims, who, like Christians, also revere Abraham, built the Ibrahimi mosque, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham, in the 14th century.

The religious significance of the city has made it a focal point for settlers, who are determined to expand the Jewish presence there. Living in the heart of the city, they require intense security, with some 800 Israeli troops protecting them.

Even before Netanyahus budget announcement, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan signaled Israel would seek to further make its mark at the Hebron shrine, tweeting: UNESCO will continue to adopt delusional decisions but history cannot be erased we must continue to manifest our right by building immediately in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

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CULTURE WARS | Israel cuts funding as UNESCO declares Hebron shrine Palestinian - InterAksyon