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June 2, 2025

Mark Driscoll, the brash pastor who once led the now-defunct Mars Hill Church in Seattle, is drawing intense scrutiny from some in the pro-life community after he seemingly suggested Christian stay-at-home fathers are bound for hell.

In late May, the 54-year-old preacher wrote on X, “A Christian man who doesn’t work is worse than a non-Christian. This includes you, stay-at-home dads.” That was a watered-down reprisal of a post he shared on Mother’s Day, in which he suggested “voluntary” stay-at-home fathers are hell-bound.

At the crux of Driscoll’s argument is 1 Timothy 5:8, a go-to passage for the pastor in which the Apostle Paul wrote, “But those who wont care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers” (NLT).

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According to the Christian apologetics resource BibleRef, Paul, addressing fellow believers, used intense language that would be culturally resonant to them. He explained it is shameful for anyone, even non-Christians, to neglect family members, especially those in need. As such, he emphasized it’s even more shameful for those who claim to believe in Jesus to not extend such care toward their families.

In Driscoll’s estimation, a father caring for his children by remaining at home makes him “worse than a non-Christian” and, according to a 2008 video of him and his wife Grace, means he has given into an “absolutely perverted, corrupted, stupid culture.”

That perspective did not sit well with Kristan Hawkins, a Christian pro-life activist and president of Students for Life of America. She took to her own social media channels to voice her vehement disapproval of Driscoll’s view.

Hawkins, 40, argued Driscoll owes men like her husband an apology.

“My husband was a schoolteacher for 10 [years], and we decided that, with two of our children having cystic fibrosis, he would stay at home to care for [and] teach our children while I continue to lead Students for Life to fight to end Planned Parenthood [and] the violence of abortion,” she wrote on X. “He is 100% a Christian and the best example of a male role model I know.”

She went on to write, “I’m 100% done with the ‘manly’ advice some pastors and other conservative commentators want to give men and women about what the role of men ‘really should be.’ Most of these men have cheated on their wives or have found to be in some other public sin. It’s sickening.”

Data published in 2021 by the Pew Research Center found there are roughly 2.1 million stay-at-home fathers in the U.S., accounting for about 20% of the stay-at-home parent population. The percentage of fathers staying home for any reason has nearly doubled since 1989.

About 23% of stay-at-home dads reported in 2021 they stayed home to care for their houses and families while 13% said it was because they could not find employment. Another 34% said they worked inside the home due to illness or disability, with 13% and 8%, respectively, saying they were retired or students.

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President Trump has ripped “totally FALSE” rumors that he is targeting Harvard University because he was rejected by the Ivy League school.

“Michael Wolff, a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News, recently stated that the only reason Im ‘beating up’ on Harvard, is because I applied there, and didnt get in,” Trump raged in a Truth Social post about the author late Monday.

“That story is totally FALSE, I never applied to Harvard,” he maintained. 5 President Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. AP 5 Author Michael Wolff discussing his book “All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America” at The 92nd Street Y on Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. CJ Rivera/Invision/AP

“I graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.”

Trump last weekpulled another $100 million from Harvard— adding to more than $3 billion in grant and contract terminations since he took office.

He has accused the elite school of refusing to crack down on antisemitism on campus and endalleged race discrimination in its admission and hiring processes.

HoweverWolff, who penned Fire & Fury about Trump’s first administration, had claimed on The Daily Beast Podcast last week that the prez held a “grudge” against the elite school because he’d been rejected.

He needs an enemy, Wolff claimed of the president. Thats what makes the show great. The Trump show. He picks fantastic enemies, actually. And Harvard, for all it represents, fits right into the Trump show.”

After being asked if he thought Trump’s hatred of Harvard was odd given those close to him are all Ivy League educated, Wolff said: “Its important not to lend too much calculation and planning to anything he does.”

But the other thing is that, by the way, he didnt get into Harvard,” the author continued. 5 Trump tore into author Michael Wolff, who has written several books about the president, after he recently suggested the White House’s crackdown on Harvard was a personal vendetta.

“So one of the Trump things is always holding a grudge against the Ivy Leagues.

Trump, for his part, accused Wolff of going after him because of plummeting book sales.

“He is upset because his book about me was a total ‘BOMB.’ Nobody wanted it, because his reporting and reputation is so bad!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 5 Wolff, who penned “Fire & Fury” about Trump’s first administration, had claimed on The Daily Beast Podcast last week that the prez held a “grudge” against the elite school because he’d been rejected. Getty Images

It comes soon after first lady Melania Trump shot down a viral conspiracy theory that her son Barron, too, applied to Harvard and was rejected.

Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false, the first ladys spokesman said. 5 Demonstrators with signs stand around the John Harvard Statue in Harvard Yard following a rally against President Donald Trump’s attacks on Harvard University at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 17, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

The 19-year-olds admissions status had been the subject of furious speculation on social media amid his fathers repeated attacks and cancellation of grants and other federal funds on the Ivy League institution.

Barron completed his freshman year at New York University last month.

UnitedHealth investors on Monday approved a pay package that includes $60 million in stock to its new CEO even as the company is plagued by financial losses, reported criminal fraud accusations and the shocking murder of a top executive.

Stephen Hemsley, who previously served as UnitedHealths chief executive for about a decade until 2017, returned to the top job last month after the healthcare giant reported its first earnings miss since 2008.

Along with the $60 million award, which vests in three years, Hemsley will earn a $1 million annual salary.

“Steve Hemsley’s compensation is positioned at the median for CEOs of comparable companies and is substantially aligned with the interests of all company shareholders,” a UnitedHealth spokesperson told The Post in a statement.

Helmsley’s expected windfall comes after Andrew Witty stepped down last month following four years at the helm.

The company’s market capitalization has more than halved since its November peak, losing over $250 billion.

“We will take actions necessary to deliver the performance we are capable of while providing exceptional services and outcomes for customers, consumers, and care providers,” the healthcare giant said in a statement.

In December, the company was rocked in December by the execution-style killing in midtown Manhattan of Brian Thompson, who led its insurance branch. Accused killer Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin in 2026.

Shareholders sued UnitedHealth last month for allegedly concealing how backlash from the killing was damaging its business.

In a proposed class action filed last month in Manhattan federal court, shareholders said the insurer defrauded them after Thompson’s assassination by shifting away from strategies that led to higher-than-average claims denials, without revealing the impact on profitability.

UnitedHealth is also facing investigations from the Department of Justice for possible criminal Medicare fraud, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution, in the Wall Street Journal on May 14th,” a UnitedHealth spokesperson told The Post, calling the Journal’s reporting “deeply irresponsible.”

Shares were little changed on Monday after falling about 40% this year.

The stock plunged 22% on April 17, wiping out about $119 billion of market value, after the insurer cut its 2025 forecast for adjusted profit per share to between $26 and $26.50 from between $29.50 and $30.

At Monday’s annual shareholder meeting, Hemsley apologized for the companys performance and told investors that management is determined to earn back your trust and your confidence.

The company will conduct a review of its policies and practices related to risk assessment, managed care and pharmacy services, which will be looked over by independent experts, Hemsley said.

Investors were left stunned by UnitedHealths dismal earnings and forecast, especially after former CEO Andrew Witty had given such an upbeat outlook just a few months earlier.

But Witty a British executive without a background in the US insurance industry took an optimistic tone with shareholders even as problems stacked up behind the scenes, employees told the Journal.

He was more removed than previous chief executives, running the Minnesota-based company while living in Buckinghamshire, outside London, and flying back and forth to Washington and Minnesota via jet, according to property records and UnitedHealths proxy documents.

He never moved into the special CEO office at UnitedHealths Minnesota headquarters, where Hemsley had once worked from, according to the Journal.

Witty also shifted monthly executive meetings which had been in-person under Hemsley and so intense they were called colonoscopies online, former executives told the Journal.

He was more casual in the office, wearing tracksuit-style tops and bright colorful sneakers instead of a suit and tie, according to the report.

Some of his top hires were former colleagues from GSK, the London-based pharmaceutical company, and lacked experience in the US insurance industry, the Journal said.

UnitedHealth profits soared under Witty for a time, but his changes also left UnitedHealth more prone to risks, which backfired when Medicare payment rules changed.

The government pays Medicare insurers more for sicker patients with certain diagnoses, and UnitedHealth was recording those lucrative illnesses at high rates, according to a Journal investigation.

In 2023, however, the government limited or ended lucrative payments on many diagnoses. The new rules took effect the following year.