OPINION:

Even before the June 1 kickoff to “Pride Month,” a 30-day celebration of LGBTQ+ people and causes, there was “an unprecedented backlash” from conservatives and others over the deep involvement of corporate America, The Washington Times’ Valerie Richardson reported. The “rise of the ‘T’ in LGBTQ+” can be credited with sparking much of the blowback, she reported. What was once eyed as a time to support “a historically disparaged minority” is now tied up with such polarizing ideas as medical gender transitions for minors, books in school libraries with sexual themes and images, and the arrival of transgender participants in girl’s and women’s sports. But that’s not all: On June 16, the Los Angeles Dodgers plan to honor the local chapter of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” a group of men who dress up as Catholic nuns. The “sisters” and their act mock Christian faith and the actual Catholic religious women who serve in a variety of ministries, including care for the poor and sick. After protests from Catholic organizations and leaders, the ball club initially withdrew the invitation but reinstated the honor when gay rights activists objected.   Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was miffed by the mockery that’s part of the “Perpetual Indulgence” routine and pushed the club to set aside a game for faithful families. As a result, there will be a Christian Faith and Family Day on July 30 at Dodger Stadium, The Times’ Victor Morton reported.

Rick Warren: Southern Baptists at a ‘crossroads’

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The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, is “at the crossroads [of] denial or revival,’ says the Rev. Rick Warren, who blames the convention’s continuing decline in membership on its move away from traditional Baptist teachings. Mr. Warren is the founding pastor of one of the convention’s largest congregations, until it was expelled for installing a woman as a teaching pastor. “Over the course of 17 years, the denomination has lost 3 million members. This isn’t a glitch or the result of a pandemic: It’s a trajectory we’ve been on for a while,” Mr. Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, said in a 39-minute video that was posted Tuesday. “Some SBC leaders seem unable to admit it or talk about it, but denial is dishonesty. We should be worrying about it.” He blamed a departure from distinctive Baptist teachings for the crisis. “Every year Southern Baptists have become less Baptist. We’re becoming more Presbyterian in structure and more fundamentalist in our actions and attitudes,” Mr. Warren said, adding that local churches “are losing their independence and autonomy,” falling prey to a centralization of power.

Marriage not so appealing for young adults

Almost three out of every four Americans say changes in what society considers “normal” have made marriage less appealing to young adults, a survey conducted for a Muslim advocacy group revealed last week. The Islamic Circle of North America, a 200,000-member umbrella group of Muslim organizations, wants to promote the faith’s values “through safeguarding our moral, familial and religious traditions,” said the group’s president, Dr. Mohsin Ansari. That’s why “The Family Values and Gender Roles Snapshot,” an online survey conducted in May by the Harris Poll organization, matters to the group, which sponsored it.  Two-thirds of those surveyed say that a decreasing commitment to marriage will spur a rise in divorce, The Times’ Mark Kellner reported. Dr. Ansari, a Maryland pediatrician, said there’s a reason for hope even with a negative outlook on traditional family formation and values. “It is better to have the diagnosis than not to have a diagnosis, no matter how severe is the illness,” he said in a video interview from ICNA’s annual convention in Baltimore.

Top religious network to expand programming

Marking its 50th anniversary this year, TBN is America’s top religious network, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Christian broadcaster has an estimated 2 billion potential daily viewers across more than 30 broadcast outlets worldwide. Now, according to content boss Tom Newman, TBN will augment its stable of “pulpit ministry” programming with shows that meet the growing needs of its audience. It will produce more programs like the nightly “Centerpoint” newscast, a weekly talk show with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and a financial advice show by Dave Ramsey. In an interview with reporter Mark Kellner, Mr. Newman said “TBN will always remain true to its core” of faith-based programming and will develop ancillary channels “into some things that will be more Christian lifestyle.” But offering hope to viewers — especially those in personal distress — remains a core goal for TBN, which began as Trinity Broadcasting Network.  “It’s amazing that so many people are hurting every day in this country,” he said. “Between midnight and 4 in the morning, the [number] of people that tune in to TBN who are just looking for comfort for peace, to be able to rest — it’s an amazing journey.”

Kayleigh McEnany: How to live ‘in a world full of chaos’

The latest “Higher Ground With Billy Hallowell” podcast features some important lessons from a believer who has been in the midst of many storms. Kayleigh McEnany, a former spokeswoman for President Trump, spoke about her new book, “Serenity in the Storm: Living Through Chaos by Leaning on Christ,” which offers lessons drawn from the fentanyl epidemic, the bungled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and other recent events. “God is at word even amid the chaos,” she said. You can hear the podcast via this link.

In our opinion

Dire warning. It’s no secret that North Korea, a Communist country where people live under one of the world’s most repressive regimes, is unfriendly to religion. But the report of the 2009 arrest of a family there for possessing a Bible shocked Times columnist Billy Hallowell. “I had to do a triple take,” Mr. Hallowell writes, when he read the State Department’s “2022 Report on International Religious Freedom” and saw these words: “The entire family, including a 2-year-old child, were given life sentences in political prison camps.”  While America’s culture wars haven’t reached that point, Mr. Hallowell notes the reflections of Yeonmi Park, a defector from North Korea who is now a U.S. citizen. Ms. Park warned him about the “perilous patterns” unfolding in America. “I was realizing that freedoms that I thought Americans had, it was like slipping away from all of us,” she told him, citing free speech crackdowns and what she sees as the use of race to divide citizens.  Told you so. The seeming tsunami of trans-friendly promotions didn’t arise in a vacuum, columnist Everett Piper writes. Instead, it flows from increasing acceptance of the LGBTQ narrative, he argues.  “Time and time again, we said that Obergefell v. Hodges would result in the codification of every sexual deviancy as a protected minority class. We said that our nation’s rush to sexual nihilism would not only affect adults but also have a devastating impact on children. We said that abandoning the objective definitions of sexuality, sex and sexual morality, would end in no standards left to judge anything — ANYTHING — as right or wrong.” Despite protests of “that’ll never happen,” he says it has happened, and more is on the way. “Jesus weeps while Screwtape laughs,” Mr. Piper says. Dead-right and dead-wrong. In this week’s “Ask Dr. E” column, Mr. Piper answers one reader’s protest of conservatives who “insist on imposing their dead-right and dead-wrong pharisaical nonsense” on society. He says those who believe their “truths” are superior to God’s truths are truly “Pharisees.” “The irony is that left-of-center progressives tend to commit this error much more boldly today than their conservative brothers and sisters, whom they’re so eager to ridicule,” Mr. Piper writes.