By Tyson Thorne
"Media" used to mean "print media" like books and newspapers, but the world has grown. Today media can also mean radio, television and movies delivered to personal computers, tablets and cell phones. As the world's best selling book of all time the Bible continues to make headlines, both good and bad, across all forms of media. Colorado University in Colorado Springs discriminates against Christian campus group Ratio Christi, a male Australian senator surprisingly identifies as a woman for the most surprising of reasons, and a pastor/humanitarian serving the less fortunate receives a 7 year prison sentence.
All the way back in 1985 a few friends of mine and I started a Bible club at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Colorado. We had our run-ins with school officials and even county officials, but we knew our rights and the county didn't want to risk a law suite, so we were successful in the end. It is this experience that makes this next story important to me.
An on-campus apologetics organization named Ratio Christi is being discriminated against by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Ratio Christi defends Christianity and explains how the Bible applies to current events, such as cultural and political issues. The university claims that due to the clubs internal policies, namely that the leadership must agree with the clubs statement of faith, violates the school's club policies and they are denying it registered status. The university want the club to permit atheists or other non-Christians to lead the studies. If it were me, I'd tell the administration that we're okay with that so long as the other clubs are good with our members leading some of their meetings. I'd love to have a strong Christian address the atheists club, the feminists club and a host of others. Turn about is fair play. But the capable leaders of Ratio Christi did the smart thing and got the Alliance Defending Freedom to represent them in a suite, and it looks like the law is on their side so it shouldn't take long for the University to buckle. If they don't we'll let you know.
In Australia resides a senator who shares my sense of humor. Senator O'Sullivan has been a vocal pro-life advocate, causing another senator, Larissa Walters, that he shouldn't be permitted to speak on abortion because he's a man, adding that he "needs to get his hands and rosaries off my ovaries." In tongue in cheek fashion, 61-year-old O'Sullivan responded, “I’m going to declare my gender today as I can to be a woman, and then you’ll no longer be able to attack me." That's using gender politics to conservative advantage and demonstrates absurdity by being absurd. I like it.
One would think that a man who has served a community for 20 years, helping to provide food and other supplies for the less fortunate and who built 16 rural schools educating some 2,000 students would receive a medal, or the key to the city — something! What it earned pastor John Sanqiang Cao was a 7 year prison sentence. You see, pastor Cao was serving communities in China and Myanmar. So far he has served 20 months of a seven year sentence, having been charged with bringing Bible's into China. Fortunately the ACLJ is working hard to get him released. In a written statement the organization argues:
“Pastor John should not spend one more horrible day in that prison cell simply because of his faith and desire to help others… We are actively and aggressively urging the Chinese government to release Pastor John and allow him to return home to the United States to be reunited with his wife and sons.”