During National Adoption Month, let’s talk about how religious freedom is crucial to making sure children find a home.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells his followers, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Throughout its history, the church has paved the wayin caring for vulnerable members of society. Among the most vulnerable members of our society are children who are awaiting families, whether because their parents have died, they have been placed for adoption, or their families are currently unable to care for them.
Children in need of families include children in foster care, as well as babies whose mothers are facing unplanned pregnancies and choose to place their child for adoption. To be pro-life is to value and cherish the life of every individual, regardless of age and regardless of place. This doesn’t end when the baby is born. Recognizing that every life has value because every person is created in the image of God shapes our attitudes toward children who are adopted or in need of adopted families, families who adopt, and biological mothers who place their child for adoption. While not every family is called to adopt, to be pro-life is to be pro-adoption.
MINNEAPOLIS – Today the Minneapolis City Council voted to enact a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” after holding a public meeting on the subject earlier this week. The ban is an attack on individual choice in health care as well as on the constitutional rights of therapists, patients, and families. Minneapolis’s ban could prevent mental health professionals from helping patients explore all options when addressing questions over sexual orientation and gender identity, something they should be free to do.
“Young people should have access to voluntary, compassionate, client-driven care in the field of sexual identity that pursues the goals of the patient, including living in accordance with biblical teaching on sexuality or becoming more comfortable with their biological sex,” said John Helmberger, CEO at Minnesota Family Council. “Throughout this debate, we’ve heard from men and women with moving stories of how sexual orientation change counseling helped them meet their therapeutic goals. At the end of the day, the Minneapolis City Council just outlawed a type of mental health care with no real justification.”
Local elections matter. The results often fly under the radar, but they have lasting effects. Here’s just one example: with Tom Heidemann’s defeat in the Anoka-Hennepin school board race, the state’s largest school district could soon chart a very different course.
There wasn’t much media coverage about Tom Heidemann’s reelection efforts, or the radical activist who challenged him for the seat he’s held for twenty years. But what differentiated Tom from his opponent came down to two simple questions:
Should all students have access to safe, single-sex restrooms and changing rooms at school?
Who should be in charge of sex education: parents, or Planned Parenthood?
Under Heidemann’s leadership, Anoka-Hennepin Schools instituted a policy that ensured that restrooms and changing rooms for male and female students were maintained, while students who identify as “transgender” were able to use alternative facilities if they were uncomfortable using those designated for their sex. This was a way to deal with a real issue some students have without compromising the privacy of other students - but that wasn’t enough for radical activists.
Recentresearch from the New York Times has revealed that there are over 45 million videos and images of child sexual abuse online. These numbers represent an exponential increase from a decade ago. Even more sobering, behind those numbers is the harrowing reality of millions of children who have been exploited and abused, their lives upended, and their innocence destroyed.
In light of this horrifying reality, will people wake up and replace thesexualization of children with focused efforts to protect their innocence? A great starting point for Minnesota would be to stop the push for radical Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) in children’s classrooms.
