Another roundup of culture war news from around the interwebs:
***
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said on Tuesday that he’ll be doing whatever he can to defend a recently-passed pro-life law that has been blocked by the courts. From the Associated Press:
“It’s very important that we defend and protect the lives of every Tennessean, one portion of the most vulnerable being the unborn,” Lee said during a news briefing. “That’s why we would make that decision to defend it.”
“We will defend it. Whatever it takes in court, we’ll defend it,” the Republican added when asked how much he was willing to spend on the looming legal battle as the state grapples with revenue hits caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lee had signed the abortion measure into law the day before. However, a federal judge quickly granted a temporary restraining order because he was “bound by the Supreme Court holdings prohibiting undue burdens on the availability of pre-viability abortions.” Under the law, abortions are banned once a fetal heartbeat is detected — about six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant. Similar legislation has been enacted in other states, such as Mississippi and Georgia, but has been blocked by legal challenges.
***
Over at Foreign Policy, some good news from the Trump Administration:
The Trump White House has added another political loyalist and anti-abortion advocate to its roster of political hires at America’s premier international development agency, expanding the role and influence of the religious right in shaping U.S. priorities on global health and development, U.S. officials told Foreign Policy. Patrina Mosley, who has been named advisor to the director of the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is an outspoken anti-abortion advocate who recently accused the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) of using the coronavirus pandemic to promote abortions—a claim the U.N. calls patently false.
As you can tell, the folks over at FP aren’t happy about this. But I’ve got to say this for Trump: He has stacked his administration with pro-lifers.
***
There is now more evidence that sustained porn use leads to erectile dysfunction. Newsweek covered the story here.
***
Kanye West is on the campaign trail for his ad hoc presidential bid, and at a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, he revealed that when his wife Kim Kardashian first became pregnant with their daughter, he’d wanted to get an abortion. In a revealing and raw moment, West broke down, shouting and weeping: “You know who else protected a child?…Forty-three years ago who do you think protected a child? My mom saved my life! My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life! There would have been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy. There would have been no North West. I almost killed my daughter! I almost killed my daughter!”
***
Christians in China are being told to renounce their faith in order to receive government assistance. From Disrn:
Impoverished Christians living in China who are receiving aid from the state have been ordered to renounce their faith or have their welfare benefits revoked, according to reports from Bitter Winter, a non-profit organization dedicated to religious and human rights in China.
During a government meeting in the city of Linfen near the northern province of Shanxi, officials from all villages under the city’s jurisdiction were instructed to remove crosses, religious symbols, and images from the homes of Christians who receive welfare payments and replace them with images of Chairman Mao Zedong and President Xi Jinping.
