The past week produced more evidence that attacks against churches are on the rise–at least three churches suffered property destruction or threatened disruption.  As usual, they were conservative churches that take a stand on moral issues that were abused.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a group called “Bash Back” broke into an Evangelical church and spray painted “666” and other messages on a church van and garage door, poured oil over books and other items, and stole valuable construction equipment.  (“Bash Back” is the same group that ADF is currently suing on behalf of Mount Hope Church in Michigan, after they disrupted a Sunday service and blocked traffic because of the church’s stand in support of marriage and against abortion).

In Maywood, California a Catholic parish was broken into and ransacked, “666” was written on the walls, a cross was turned upside down and burned, and a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary had a knife stuck through it.

In Chicago, a group that advocates homosexual behavior called the “Rainbow Sash Coalition” threatened to disrupt Mass on Pentecost Sunday at the Cathedral and other churches around the country.  The group said that it was motivated to disrupt services because of the Catholic Church’s teaching that homosexual conduct is sinful and that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.  Thankfully, it appears that this protest was largely thwarted before any damage was done.

Federal law has strong protections for churches that suffer intimidation and vandalism.  If your church has been attacked or vandalized, please let us know immediately.  Taking action quickly can protect your church and other churches from future attacks.  And remember that it’s important for every church to have a security plan.  Check out our security checklist here.

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Some people claim that religious leaders somehow dilute the Gospel when they tackle important “political” issues or candidates from the pulpit.  But, in fact, Church history is chalk full with examples of religious leaders who combated secular leaders while also boldly proclaiming the Gospel.

St. Leo the Great is a prime case.  In fact, few popes stand out in Church history like St. Leo the Great (which is why he’s called great!).  Following up on my last post about Pope Benedict XVI’s bold leadership in troubled times, it could be said that St. Leo set the mold for bold and faithful shepherds who live in troubled times.

In the year 452 Attila the Hun was on a course to conquer Rome.  As was his custom, he planned to pillage the City and kill anyone who stood in his way.  The Emperor at that time was unusually weak.  In fact, when he received word that Atilla and his Vandals were marching toward the City to pillage it, he fled with his government, leaving the people at Attila’s mercy.  Pope Leo decided to intervene.  He instructed the people to pray for protection and to beg God’s forgiveness for their sins.  He then rode out to meet Attila before he entered the City.  As one biography describes, “Armed only with the word of God and aided by a few deacons, Pope Leo met Attila at the Milvan bridge north of Rome.”  (The picture above is Rafael’s depiction of that meeting.)

Unbelievably, Attila listened to the Pope, and as his men stood incredulous (since Rome was indeed rich in bounty), Attila decided to turn from the City and leave it unharmed.  The people rejoiced that God had protected them, and that He had given them such a bold and courageous shepherd.

But Leo’s boldness didn’t extend only to temporal matters.  He also fiercely combated the budding heresies of the day.  For example, he was instrumental in putting down Pelagianism, which taught that grace was not necessary for salvation, but was rather a bonus that God granted to those who earned it by their good works.  In addition, he concisely set down and confirmed the doctrines of the Incarnation and the union of the divine and human natures in the one Person of Christ.  Although those topics were hotly debated in that day, all orthodox Christians now embrace what St. Leo taught.

Thankfully, many of his letters and 96 of his sermons are still in existence.  I’ve read many of them, and each time I’m impressed by their clarity, eloquence, and insightful exposition of Scripture and love for Jesus.

May God give us more shepherds like St. Leo who aren’t afraid to stand up to secular powers while boldly and persuasively proclaiming the Gospel.

If you’re a pastor, please consider signing up for the pulpit initiative here.

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The Left wants silence, not dialogue.  That quickly became obvious to me as I sat as part of the team defending Prop 8 in California this past January.  I was amazed at how often the plaintiffs’ lawyers brought up the Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist statements on marriage and homosexual conduct.  It was such an odd strategy in a trial about whether the definition of marriage is constitutional.  But those statements (one of which was authored by Pope Benedict) became the example of “invidious discrimination” that has no place in modern society.  The Left reckons that if same-sex “marriage” is the norm, religious views like these will be much easier to suppress.

And they’re right.  Our views on marriage and family—and our faith in general—will come under much heavier attack if same-sex “marriage” is the law.  As ADF’s Alan Sears warned several years ago, the legal fight to advocate homosexual conduct is the biggest modern threat to religious liberty.  The Left will use whatever pretext they can find to muzzle opposing voices.

For example, atheist Richard Dawkins, homosexual activist Andrew Sullivan, and a loony United Nations judge have at least one thing common— they and a slew of leftist newspapers and pundits would like Pope Benedict XVI to resign and/or be arrested.  Is that because they care so deeply for the safety of children or the health of the Catholic Church?  Don’t bet your life on it.

What they care deeply about is a radical agenda that would do much better if the Pope would simply go away.  And because they smell blood in the water, they’re attacking with all their might.  Facts don’t matter a whit.

For example, some of the media have unsuccessfully tried to link the Pope to specific cases of sex abuse. But this media-driven onslaught isn’t surprising if you think about what the Pope represents.  He’s one of the few religious leaders proclaiming the Gospel boldly on the world stage, fighting for an end to abortion, and defending the sanctity of marriage and family.  No doubt much of the media and secular culture would prefer that he just stay passively compliant in his own little corner of the world.

Any doubts?  Just ask the pastor of Mt. Hope Church in Michigan.  His Sunday services were terrorized by a group of anarchist homosexuals merely because the church dared to preach biblical truth about homosexual conduct.  And government officials refused to do anything about it.

We pray for the Pope and other religious leaders, and we thank them for their unyielding defense of Truth.

May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Psalm 41:2]

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Every year we get more and more questions about what churches can do to prevent disruptions of their services and keep their environments secure.  This is probably because radical groups have been targeting churches with increasing frequency.  For example, many may recall that Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan had its services disrupted by a radical group, simply because it supported marriage and opposed abortion.

We sued the group that attacked Mount Hope Church, and are fighting them in federal court so that they can’t attack Mount Hope or any other church again.  We also developed church security recommendations, which gives a basic check list of what churches need to consider for security issues.  Every church should have a security plan.  The intricacy and detail of the plan may depend on a church’s location and size.  But whether a church has to handle a disruption or act of violence, a natural disaster, or medical emergency, every church should have a plan in place. That’s why we

We also recently noticed that the Missouri Highway Patrol is conducting a special session for church security.  This is a great service, and probably one that most police departments would provide in some form, if it’s requested.

Consider asking your local police or sheriff’s department or Highway patrol to provide a church security and safety class for local churches.  You can also check out other private organizations that offer conferences, such as the National Organization of Church Security and Safety Management.

The Alliance Alert reports that the previously scuttled Employment Non-Discrimination Act (often called “ENDA”) may be making a comeback in Congress.  This is the law that would prohibit employers from making hiring decisions based on “actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”

As ADF’s Steven Aden notes, ENDA could pose a great threat for faith-based organizations.  Although there would likely be some sort of exemption for religious organizations, as there is in other federal discrimination laws, it is far from clear how the exemption would apply.  There has been a great deal of litigation over the current federal religious exemptions—especially when those laws are applied to para-church ministries.  So even if the law may not apply to hiring decisions for the church’s youth pastor, it could apply to hiring decisions if the church has a ministry for the homeless.

ENDA is bad public policy, and we’ll continue to oppose it.  But it will be especially important to push for broad exemptions that protect the right of churches and other religious organizations to hire people that hold the same religious precepts.

As Tim Chandler described last week, ADF and CLS are currently litigating just this sort of non-discrimination issue at the Supreme Court in the CLS v. Hastings case.  There, the issue is whether CLS can restrict its voting membership and leadership to those who share its Christians beliefs.

We will need to stay particularly vigilant on this issue—in all its forms.

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