As Congress closes in on approving the next iteration of the defense authorization bill to fund the military for the next year, Republican lawmakers are threatening to withhold support for the measure until the Biden administration rescinds its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all military personnel. Critics of Biden's mandate point to how the policy has led to low recruitment numbers, lowering standards for new recruits, and unjust denial of benefits, among other issues.

The chances of a Democratic-led House lifting a finger to protect religious freedom were always slim. This is, after all, the same chamber that sent a sweeping same-sex marriage bill to the Senate without so much as a nod to the First Amendment. Their message to non-conformists was simple: the government is coming for you. And despite the urgent pleas of House and Senate conservatives, that hasn't changed.

As the Respect for Marriage Act moves through Congress, there have been a variety of attempts to defend the religious freedom protections in the bill. These attempts all fail for one reason or another. Many of them are silly, foolish, and dangerous. Here we take a look at one recent opinion piece in Deseret News, which makes certain claims about the Respect for Marriage Act - followed by specific rebuttals to those claims.

A substantial majority of American likely voters say that "the transgender movement has gone too far by encouraging underage minors to use drugs and surgery to transition to the oppose sex," according to a poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, in conjunction with Summit Ministries.

As Georgia voters go to the polls in Tuesday's U.S. Senate runoff election, the overwhelmingly Christian state could again be represented by a pastor who will use the Senate to promote his "rejection of the Bible's teachings" on issues ranging from abortion to the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Warnock has supported legislation to authorize abortion-on-demand until birth, strip Christians of conscience and religious liberty rights, and claimed Christians who oppose socialism need to "read the Bible" - claiming he holds a biblical position on each topic.

Another one of the 47 House Republicans who voted for the so-called Respect for Marriage Act has withdrawn his support, charging Democrats with "failing to provide legitimate safeguards for faith-based organizations" that hold "deeply-held religious beliefs" about natural marriage.