Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:5-7
Here is the latest update from Under God, One Nation.
Our last update was in February and we continue to be in prayer about many of the same things. A few new developments have occurred about which you need to know – see updates in the sections below.
Here are some of the most prominent issues we see continuing to develop and which we have been praying about in recent weeks:
The Hyde Amendment – The Hyde Amendment is an important legal protection that keeps federal tax dollars from paying for abortions in most cases. Since 2016, the Democratic Party has included the repeal of the Hyde Amendment in its national platform. Their goal is to implement taxpayer funding of abortion nationwide. While Joe Biden had historically been a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, he flip-flopped in 2020 and now supports its repeal – essentially advocating for publicly funded abortion.
In recent months, the Hyde amendment has been attacked as a racist policy. The truth is that the Hyde amendment has restrained Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from targeting poor and minority communities with taxpayer funds. The Hyde amendment has stood in the gap against racism over the years and for the Left to claim otherwise is a political attempt to rewrite history and help abortion businesses target minority women.
We continue to pray that such evil intentions would be thwarted and that pro-life policies would overcome these efforts.
Biden Gender Policy and the Equality Act – As expected, Joe Biden began signing executive orders hours after he was inaugurated. Some of his recent orders have dealt with gender issues. We all know how dangerous this is for our nation’s social structure and the wellbeing of its people. Family Policy Alliance held an Equality Act Exposed Rally to highlight many issues with this dangerous legislation. Tens of thousands of Americans saw this rally appear in their social media feeds.
UPDATE: As expected, on February 25th the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act. It has since been sent to the Senate for consideration. The Senate Judiciary committee recently held a hearing on the bill. Congress is currently on a break until after Easter but given the desire of the Biden Administration and Democrat leadership to push this through, we suspect it will be considered very soon in the Senate. The Biden administration also continued on this dangerous path implementing even more executive orders in March which further seek to erase gender in federal law.
The Equality Act would erase sex-based distinctions throughout our nation’s laws and open the door to persecution of any who adhere to biblical views of gender and marriage.
The pressure on many members of the Senate will be intense as this effort unfolds. Pray for the steadfast strength of many to oppose this effort.
Filibuster – Currently, Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate and move most legislation to a final vote. That 60-vote requirement (the filibuster) has been around for generations. This rule is still the centerpiece of a lot of discussion. As we noted last month, there is good reason for the current focus on it – with the Senate split 50-50 Republicans to Democrats, Kamala Harris is placed in the very powerful position of breaking any tied votes in the Senate.
The filibuster rule is key to preventing that from happening. Abortion and LGBT advocates (and other progressive forces) across the nation know this and they will continue to pressure the Senate intensely to make it easier to advance their agendas.
All previous efforts to remove the rule have failed in the past, whether the Senate was controlled by Republicans or Democrats. With the current 50-50 split, Democrats have once again considered attempting to scrap the rule in order to push through their agenda, regularly using Harris as the deciding vote.
Thankfully, not everyone in the Democrat party agrees with simply changing the rules for political gain.
UPDATE: While the intensity of this discussion has subsided in recent weeks, it is important to keep this in prayer. Two senators, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) (and a few others) have now stated that they are not interested in changing the rules of the Senate. Pray for them and their positions on this rule. While we do not know what to expect from Democrat leadership in the Senate in the coming weeks, this procedural rule has stopped them from advancing the Equality Act (and other dangerous measures) so far this year.
Biden Cabinet Nominations – Joe Biden has nominated a number of progressive, radical individuals to lead federal agencies. Each has been chosen for a reason – whether it is a rabidly pro-abortion and anti-religious freedom record or a progressive stance on gender, each one promises to bring drastic change to national policy in federal agencies.
UPDATE: Earlier this month, the Senate did confirm Xavier Becerra, a radically pro-abortion and anti – religious freedom nominee, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate also confirmed Rachel Levine, a biological man living as a woman, to be Assistant Secretary of the same department. The Department of Health and Human Services oversees a massive budget with policies touching millions of lives every day. In light of that, please pray for these leaders, especially that they would know the Lord and the truth of His Word would be apparent in all aspects of their work.
Election Integrity – Some in Congress are seeking to protect the integrity of our elections and how they are conducted. We support their stance and continue to pray their ideas would gain traction and that their efforts would prove successful.
Girls’ and Women’s Sports – All across the nation, courageous state legislators are using their positions to push back against the radical, progressive attack on girls and women’s sports.
UPDATE: We now know that 30 states that have introduced legislation to save girls’ sports and send a powerful message back to the Biden Administration’s radical gender agenda. There have been 3 states that have enacted the most robust version of Save Girls’ Sports provisions so far: Idaho (in 2020) Arkansas (2021), and Mississippi (2021). We are hopeful for more to come! It is exciting to see states enact these laws! We pray for boldness in their work and for the success of their efforts.
Abortion in New Mexico – In New Mexico, a radical abortion bill was passed and signed into law.
UPDATE: Led by a pro-abortion governor, who has been bent on eliminating the very few abortion restrictions in the state for several years, the new law removes all restrictions on abortion in New Mexico while also eliminating conscience protections for pro-life doctors and the very basic requirement of consent from a woman before having an abortion. Please keep the state of New Mexico in your prayers.
LGBT Curriculum in New Jersey – New Jersey has been no stranger to the gender identity discussion. Just a year ago, the state enacted an LGBT curriculum requirement for junior high and high school students. Many parents were unhappy with this radical requirement and have been fighting back since that time. This year, and despite assurances to the contrary, the legislature went one step further – enacting the curriculum all the way down to Kindergarten. New Jersey voters are extremely upset about this and are fighting back. Our ally on the ground, Family Policy Alliance of New Jersey, continues to lead the way. We pray for their continued advancement and engagement on this issue.
We appreciate you partnering with us in prayer. Please share this list with your church, your small group, your pastor, and your Sunday School class in the coming days. Please encourage them to join you in signing up for a prayer time so that we can continue to lift the nation and these issues in the coming weeks and months.
Prayerfully,
Robert Noland
Communications Manager
