One of my favorite questions to ask conservatives is “which federal departments would you abolish?” My favorite five are (in order): 1) the Department of Education, 2) the Environmental Protection Agency, 3) the Department of Energy, 4), the Internal Revenue Service, 5)  the Department of Commerce. And cut all funding for PBS, NPR, and the National Endowment for the Arts, of course.

Well, not everyone likes the idea of abolishing departments, but I have an article showing why Christians should at least support the elimination of the Department of Education.

Here’s an article from the Christian Post:

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the U.S. Department of Education unlawfully denied nonprofit status to Grand Canyon University, one of the country’s largest Christian higher education institutions.

In a 3-0 decision, the panel instructed the department to revisit GCU’s status using the correct legal standard under the Higher Education Act. The department overstepped its authority by using an incorrect standard, the court ruled.

[…]The nonprofit status grants the university access to federal funds and research grants, especially given its large Hispanic student population, Mueller told Fox News last year.

Without nonprofit classification, GCU had been barred from accessing these resources.

The university states that it has kept tuition frozen for 17 years, an uncommon achievement in higher education, even as it has increased enrollment, expanded academic programs and invested in infrastructure.

It’s just another case of the weaponization of government by the secular left:

GCU was also hit with a $37.7 million fine from the department last November, alleging that the university misled students about the costs of the doctoral program. The fine is significantly larger than other institutions’ penalties, such as those issued to Penn State and Michigan State. GCU is appealing the fine.

In an interview with The Christian Post last year, Mueller called the fine “tyranny from federal government agencies” and vowed to stand up “to ensure this type of ideological government overreach and weaponization of federal agencies does not happen to others.”

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona threatened to shut down GCU during an April House Appropriations Committee hearing.

So, this is a very helpful story for explaining to people who did not vote for Trump why Trump-supporters voted for Trump.

What I’ve found is that people on the secular left tend to help themselves to the idea that they are pure and good and true, and everyone who opposes them is a “domestic terrorist”. And because their opponents are “domestic terrorists”, they have to use the government as a weapon against them. I think that Christians and conservatives got tired of paying taxes to people who think like that. Now what we need is to shut down as much government as possible, so that the people in government have to find ways to live that involve doing productive work for customers in the competitive private sector. No more virtue signaling during office hours.

There are a lot of people in the Biden-Harris regime who think that Christians and conservatives are very, very dangerous people. “We need to watch those crazy Christian conservatives” the taxpayer-funded secular leftists say to each other. “They are dangerous domestic terrorists who believe in free speech and religious liberty”. But are they right? Is that where violent extremism comes from?

First, remember that when a person turns away from religion, they typically switch their focus and allegiance to politics. Atheists are the most politically-involved people in America. For them, it is critical that no one’s speech disapproves of their godless behaviors, and that no laws punish them for their godless behaviors. All their hearts, souls, minds, and strength are bent on these goals: using the force of government to control their Christian neighbor’s 1) free speech, 2) religious liberty and 3) political influence.

Let’s look at one story from the Christian Post and see:

A Minnesota man at the center of a murder-suicide that left five people dead, including his two sons, expressed a hatred for Christianity on social media prior to the shootings.

Anthony Nephew, 46, was found dead last week from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in Duluth, Minnesota, after killing his wife and son, and his ex-partner and their son, authorities said.

[…]A CP review of Anthony Nephew’s Facebook profile revealed several anti-Christian views, including posts in which he expressed fear about Christian influence over a second Trump administration.

He wrote this: “I am terrified of religious zealots inflicting their misguided beliefs on me and my family”.

More:

Nephew also claimed to have “intrusive thoughts of being burned at the stake as a witch, or crucified on a burning cross,” as well as “having people actually believe that I or my child are Satan or, the anti-Christ or whatever their favorite color of boogie man they are afraid are this week.”

A few days later, he compared Christianity to the Ku Klux Klan, writing, “Christian is a dog whistle, for white sheets, and pointy hats.”

[…]“How’s that call for turning down the rhetoric going?” Nephew wrote. “Your freedom of religion, in no way implies you can force it on others. This is exactly why I left the church. You’re not interested in worshiping God, you’re just pushing religious extremism.”

[…]Nephew, who shared images in support of President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris and others, also appeared to support Harris’ failed presidential bid.

[…]Nephew also appeared to support abortion rights: in a June 2022 post, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he offered his “home and resources” to anyone in an “anti-abortion state.”

Here’s another story from the Christian Post, describing events that happened in Seattle, the secular leftist capital of America:

Police found the wife of a prominent trans-identified writer covered in blood and clapping her hands after she allegedly became “overwhelmed” by the results of the 2024 presidential election and murdered her father with an ice axe.

Corey Burke is accused of murdering her father, 67-year-old Timothy Burke, on election night in their shared home in a Seattle neighborhood. The 33-year-old woman charged with first-degree murder is married to trans writer and journalist Samantha Leigh Allen, the author of Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States, who also serves as an editor for the online LGBT magazine Them.

[…]According to the Seattle Times, Burke told police she believed there was “something important” about the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and that she felt overwhelmed with emotion.

[…]”Corey stated that she had to bite her father while choking him because he was too strong,” the charging documents stated. “Corey stated that once her father ‘went limp,’ she felt better. Corey said that she then hit him with the ice pickaxe in the head several more times. Corey then sat next to her father and watched him until she saw that he was not breathing anymore.”

Now, I know what the secular leftists in the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will say to this. They’ll say “she was on our radar! She was on our radar!” But there just were not enough secular leftists in government to watch her, because all them were watching those nasty pro-life Presbyterian married couples who want to pull their kids out of public schools. Those are the real domestic terrorists, the secular leftists cry. They focus their attention on pre-dawn raiding those dangerous peaceful pro-life grandmothers, and real criminals are ignored or released.

Welcome to episode 55 of the Knight and Rose podcast! In this episode, Wintery Knight and Desert Rose interview Krista Bontrager and Monique Duson about their new book “Walking in Unity“. If you like this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We would appreciate it if you left us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Podcast description:

Christian apologists Wintery Knight and Desert Rose discuss apologetics, policy, culture, relationships, and more. Each episode equips you with evidence you can use to boldly engage anyone, anywhere. We train our listeners to become Christian secret agents. Action and adventure guaranteed. 30-45 minutes per episode. New episode every week.

Episode summary:

Wintery Knight and Desert Rose welcome Krista Bontrager and Monique Duson to discuss their new book “Walking in Unity: Biblical Answers to Questions on Race and Racism“. They discuss how their friendship developed through difficult conversations about race and racism. They offer a Christ-centered perspective on the tough issues being discussed in our culture, such as historic racial injustices, system racism and the call for reparations.

Outline and transcript

Here is a transcript of the show (with timestamps) provided by TurboScribe AI. TurboScribe AI allows you to translate the transcript into many, many different languages. You can also export the transcript into many different formats, with optional timestamps.

Episode 55:

Speaker biographies

Krista Bontrager is a fourth-generation Bible teacher. She is an author, podcaster, former university professor and homeschool mom. Krista has a BA in Communications from Biola University, and a MA in Theology, and MA in Bible Exposition from Talbot School of Theology. She has worked for almost three decades in various capacities in theology and apologetics, and is the VP of Educational Programs and Biblical Integrity at the Center for Biblical Unity. She is working on a Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics at Birmingham Theological Seminary.

Monique Duson is the President at the Center for Biblical Unity. She has a background in social service and children’s ministry. She has worked with a diverse array of under-served communities. She worked as a missionary to South Africa for over four years, serving children and teachers impacted by drugs, violence, and trauma. She spent two decades advocating for Critical Race Theory (CRT), but through a series of events, she began to clearly see the contradictions of CRT with the historic Christian worldview. Monique is now convinced that CRT is not the best way to achieve racial unity and actively speaks out against the use of CRT within the church. Monique has appeared on shows such as Relatable (with Allie Beth Stuckey), the Alisa Childers podcast, and Breakpoint (with John Stonestreet). Monique has a BA in Sociology from Biola University, and is pursuing an MA in Public Theology at Birmingham Theological Seminary

Wintery Knight is a black legal immigrant. He is a senior software engineer by day, and an amateur Christian apologist by night. He has been blogging at winteryknight.com since January of 2009, covering news, policy and Christian worldview issues.

Desert Rose did her undergraduate degree in public policy, and then worked for a conservative Washington lobbyist organization. She also has a graduate degree from a prestigious evangelical seminary. She is active in Christian apologetics as a speaker, author, and teacher.

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Music attribution:

Strength Of The Titans by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5744-strength-of-the-titans
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license