More Proof, The Office Guy, Not OK in OK – American Family Association of Indiana
A Warning for Indiana
When you think of conservative places, Florida, Texas, or Oklahoma might come to mind. Go broader and you might think of New Zealand. It is highly unlikely that Norway comes to mind.
This month the Scandinavian nation, which has very little religious or cultural conservatism influencing it, warned against the use of puberty-blocking drugs and gender-changing surgeries for minors.
The Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board, a government body that investigates serious adverse events and other serious concerns involving Norwegian healthcare services, published findings on using drugs and surgery to “treat” transgender minors in an official report.
“There is not enough knowledge, in Norway or abroad, about the safety and effect of gender confirmation treatment for the group of young people who are now increasingly seeking help from the health service. In particular, we have little knowledge about the long-term effects and stability of gender incongruence and gender dysphoria. That is, whether and to what extent gender incongruence and gender dysphoria persist in the individual.”
The Norwegian governmental entity also noted something that was often denied in the testimony and debate over Indiana Senate Bill 480, which seeks to prohibit these dangerous procedures on minor children. They wrote, “The use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy is also partially or completely irreversible treatment.” Some opponents of our legislation claimed that hormone blockers were either harmless or not much different than a contraceptive, both of which are blatantly false.
The Norwegian report declared such treatments on minors as experimental and potentially dangerous. It expressed concern about the sudden surge in young people seeking gender changes. Researchers also noted that those with gender confusion very often have other mental health disorders which would be better addressed first, before any risky gender-altering procedures.
The Indiana House needs to protect children and pass SB 480.
The Office Nerd Gets It
During the Covid shutdown a few years back, I decided to watch a TV show that was the rage with all my teenage son’s friends. I almost never watch new or recent TV programming. The show was “The Office.” I can’t say that I recommend it, as there is a lot of inappropriate humor. If you watch it with your Biblical worldview glasses on (as you should with all programs or movies) there’s a lot in it that is cringeworthy and involves very poor values. However, I can see why it was popular. It was different, funny, and sort of like watching a wreck during an Indy Car race that you can’t turn away from.
One of the characters was Dwight Schrute, played by actor Rainn Williams. Schrute’s secular character has a girlfriend in the office who portrays Christianity in a mostly negative light. That makes this item even more interesting.
Rainn Williams is not a Christian. He is part of a universalist Baha’i faith. However, the 57-year-old actor has caused a stir on social media with a Twitter post criticizing the HBO apocalyptic series “The Last of Us.” Williams stated that he knew that a pastoral character would become the villain when he started reading the Bible in an episode.
Williams Tweeted: “I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood. As soon as the David character in ‘The Last of Us,’ started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain.” “Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?”
Williams makes a good point. Several people responded by giving examples, with many citing movies by Mel Gibson, but it quickly became obvious that all the examples cited of positive Christian faith characters were from 20-year-old (or older) films or series.
Hollywood has been portraying Christians as the bad guy for quite a long time. I have little doubt that this is part of the reason for the rise in hostility toward people of traditional faith in America today.
(Can you imagine the outcry if so many villains in movies or shows year after year were homosexuals or transgendered, and there were never positive LGBT characters on screen?)
It’s Not OK in OK
Last week, by a two-one margin, Oklahoma voters in all 77 counties rejected a ballot measure to legalize marijuana stunning the supporters of the drug who had seemed to be on the verge of full legalization.
Oklahomans approved a very liberal policy for “medical marijuana” in 2018. Since then, the state has been overrun with marijuana. OK has more medical marijuana facilities than Colorado, Washington, and Oregon combined! Yet, the black market for illegal marijuana has exploded. The OK Attorney General noted that the state now has 6,300 medical marijuana growers. About 3,000 are illegal. Many of those are run by Chinese crime syndicates and Central American and Mexican drug cartels. (Steps toward decriminalizing marijuana didn’t reduce criminal involvement. Crime has increased in the state along with water, utility, and environmental concerns at the grow sites.)
Many churches in Oklahoma got involved in this issue. Bart Barber, President of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor at the First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, roughly 40 miles south of the Oklahoma border, told Fox News, “As a family of churches, our biggest regrets are the occasions when we went along with societal movements that were popular but wrong, and so we are all the more committed when facing similar pressures today, to standing firm on the side of truth and human flourishing.” . . . “Something has changed, Oklahomans have had the opportunity to see first-hand the impact upon the Sooner State of widely available marijuana. now know more than ever that there is nothing recreational about addiction.”
You can read more about this, including the myth of prisons being overrun for marijuana use, here: https://www.foxnews.com/us/oklahoma-christians-win-marijuana-fight-after-foreign-gangs-invaded-dont-california-our-oklahoma
“Pothole Pete” Legacy Continues
Former South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg was an odd choice for US Secretary of Transportation due to his city having had the worst ranking for street conditions in the state. Now, most Americans are questioning Buttigieg’s abilities as Transportation Secretary after his slow response to the toxic spill from the train derailment in East Palestine, OH.
Perhaps they are realizing that many of President Biden’s appointments are about checking diversity boxes rather than ability.
A new national poll by Rasmussen finds that a majority of voters (51%) say Buttigieg should resign. Most Republicans, (68%) and Independents (51%) believe Pete should resign, compared to 35% of Democrats.
In Their Own Words:
“Show me the heroes that the youth of your country look up to, and I will tell you the future of your country.” – Idowu Koyenikan
