Santa Claus is okay. Snowflakes are fine. But mention the Baby Jesus and all you know what breaks loose. Yesterday, The New York Times published one of the most outrageous attacks on Christmas in recent memory. Here’s the headline: “Trump Administration Emphasizes Religion in Official Christmas Messages.”

“This proposal seeks to clarify that hospitals participating in our programs cannot conduct these unproven procedures on children,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in a press release. “CMS will ensure that federal program standards reflect our responsibility to promote the health and safety of children.” The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, is led by the attorneys general of New York, Oregon, and Washington.

Chants of “death to the dictator” rang out across Tehran as thousands of merchants, students, and residents joined expanding protests sparked by Iran’s deepening economic collapse. Security forces responded with tear gas and rubber bullets as large sections of the capital, including parts of the Grand Bazaar, were shuttered in protest.

“The pressure people will feel to end their lives if assisted suicide or euthanasia is legalised will be greatly accentuated at this time of economic recession with families and health budgets under pressure. Elder abuse and neglect by families, carers and institutions are real and dangerous and this is why strong laws are necessary.”

Without knowable truth, everything rests on opinions, and opinions mold themselves into whatever shape seems most convenient. In such an existence, the thing we call “truth” becomes a mere justification for our desires and feelings. In politics, truth has become a commodity to be manufactured, bought, and sold — something that can be molded to fit the tastes of whatever audience the politician wants to reach at that moment. While freedom from objective truth can at first feel liberating, it eventually entraps and entombs people in a nightmare of shifting ground.

Did you know Australia no longer has a biological definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in federal law? No wonder our nation is confused. This isn’t an abstract legal glitch. It’s a cultural earthquake and we’re all living in the aftershocks. When the law deletes biological reality, it reflects something deeper: a nation rejecting God and rejecting truth.

A coalition of 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit challenging new federal restrictions on so-called “gender-affirming” medical treatments for minors, arguing the policy unlawfully threatens health care access and state Medicaid programs.

Trump said the strikes were ordered to halt the ongoing targeting of Christian civilians, warning that the United States would not stand by amid what he described as escalating violence against believers. In a post on Truth Social, the president said the U.S. had launched “powerful and deadly” strikes against ISIS militants who have been “viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.”

Wokeness teaches that we are not responsible for our own lives. We’re born privileged or oppressed. The Bible says we are personally accountable for our sins (James 1:13-15). God created us all equal. Acts 17:26 says we are all created “of one blood.” The sin of racism requires repentance, like any other sin. Wokeness replaces repentance with reparations.

The Allahabad High Court’s ruling underscores that distributing Bibles or preaching Christian doctrine, in the absence of coercion or inducement, is not a criminal act under the Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law.

In its most extreme form, Preterism will tell you that Jesus has already come back, there is no future resurrection of the dead, and we are currently living in a spiritualized version of the New Heavens and New Earth! Preterism is on the rise in the American church, and Christians should be aware of some of the issues involved.

A U.S. District Court affirmed parents’ fundamental constitutional rights and blocked California schools from hiding information about a child’s “gender identity” from them. Judge Roger T. Benitez’ decision also affirmed the religious liberty and free speech of teachers, saying the legislators and the California Department of Education (CDOE) could not force teachers to lie to parents or hide their children’s sexual identity confusion from them.

The United States has seized another crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking the second such operation in less than two weeks as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his government.

Hundreds of Christians in China will likely spend Christmas in jail this year, according to a recent report. Starting on December 13, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mobilized “more than a thousand police officers, SWAT units, anti-riot forces, and firefighters” in the Zhejiang Province’s Yayang Town in Wenzhou City, raiding churches and conducting mass arrests of Christians, ChinaAid reported Friday.

The monument stood on the Capitol grounds until the 1980s when it was moved due to a construction project. In 2000, a legislative resolution was signed into law that required it be returned to the Capitol grounds for permanent display near the floral clock. But its return was blocked by a federal appeals court order that relied on the Lemon test, a maligned U.S. Supreme Court precedent that stifled religious freedom for decades.