People who’ve been around the State Capitol a while – 10, 20, or even 30 years – experienced a “first” last session. These insiders had seen lots of legislation over the years. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of legislation, in fact. And some legislation bordered on silly. Such as requiring Illinois citizens to wear blue on Mondays. Well, that was never proposed, but you get the idea. Just by sheer numbers, by default there have been some bills that would be considered laughable.

Going back to my great grandparents my family was involved in the Evangelical Free Church of America. Personally, I was born, dedicated, baptized, and even pastored in the Free Church until I started at Eureka Baptist over six years ago. This history makes it difficult for me to see where the EFCA is today. The decline of the Free Church was displayed this past month at the EFCA National Conference in California.

Can you name the famed characters of Looney Tunes? Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Barnyard Dawg, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, etc. And a personal favorite…Bugs Bunny. Their antics were crazy. Even…looney. The word “looney” has an ample number of synonyms. Silly. Stupid. Crazy. Even the softer "strange.” Our world is rampant today with looney-ness.

This is World Breastfeeding Week. Every year, from August 1st to 7th, more than 170 countries recognize this week as a way to promote and encourage breastfeeding. For almost all of human history, all children thrived on breast milk. In centuries past, elites often hired wet nurses, so the infants still got breast milk. Even the commoners would arrange for a wet nurse if the mother died or was unable to breastfeed for some other reason.

On July 13, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its approval of Opill, a form of birth control to be sold over the counter – no prescription needed. Opill will become available for purchase in early 2024. The FDA...

If you keep wondering how bad laws get made in Illinois, SB 1909 is a very good example. Yes, pundits have always compared law-making to sausage-making – a messy and unsavory process. But lawmaking in Illinois has reached a whole new level of butchery as a way to disguise or mask the quality of their work – it is so different from your “normal” backroom deals (which still happen, by the way).

You may have missed it. Once again, some of the competitors on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team refused to show respect for the United States during the opening ceremony of a World Cup game when the U.S. national anthem was played before the team played Vietnam. Five others did put their hands on their hearts, including three — Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Lindsey Horan.

In 2021 the Illinois government refreshed the The Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards. These mandate that teachers become experts in “social emotional learning” (SEL). School districts have enthusiasm to implement SEL across their schools, and we soon expect to see students graduate from SEL programs. But what sort of young adults will these former students be? Because of what SEL actually teaches, expect a generation of angry agitators for socialism. The problem is that SEL has been changed to be centered around Marxist concepts...

The pro-life movement is rightly focused on preventing abortions. Sometimes this leads us to gloss over root causes. But – what is the driving factor behind a lot of abortions? And is there something we can do to address it? Enter Scott Phelps, the Executive Director of A&M Partnerships. His approach to the pro-life battle is entirely different, borne from a desire to do something to “save the babies,” plus a series of curious events (which in my humble opinion, could be taken as the Lord’s direction).

Tim Ballard has recently become a celebrated hero in the war on sex trafficking through the film “The Sound of Freedom”, which portrays his life and the organization he founded, Operation Underground Railroad. As you know the IFI has long been a champion of anything which supports Christian values and which strengthens and supports the traditional family, and certainly coming against child pornography and child sex trafficking is consistent with that mission. But as members of our staff have researched Tim Ballard and his organization OUR, many concerning facts have come to light.