Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
President Donald Trump entered office with guns blazing.
With his constituents in mind, he wasted no time issuing executive orders to pause immigration, including “refugees” from several Middle Eastern and African countries, strengthen border security and enforcement, ban federal funds for international groups that kill babies or promote their deaths, freeze federal hiring, and other actions his voters support.
The Heritage Foundation’s Ryan T. Anderson, author of “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” wrote that President Trump should protect religious freedom and undo orders that weaken it. An excerpt of his Daily Signal article (emphasis added):
The media was abuzz yesterday with rumors that President Donald Trump was preparing an executive order that would protect religious liberty in the aftermath of the redefinition of marriage.
Trump should issue such an executive order, and he should rescind former President Barack Obama’s executive actions on sexual orientation and gender identity that created many of these problems in the first place.
While a candidate, Trump promised to sign the First Amendment Defense Act into law. He needn’t simply wait for Congress. While legislation provides the best long-term protections, Trump can lawfully enact many of those protections through an executive order right now.
Paraphrasing what Obama said of himself, the president has a pen and a phone to get things done without waiting for Congress. In any case, Congress can pass the measure and send it to the president’s desk without fear of a veto.
The First Amendment Defense Act would bar the federal government from retaliating against individuals and organizations for opposing the redefinition of marriage, among other things. Former fire chief Kelvin Cochran testified in favor of the bill. The mayor of Atlanta fired Cochran for what he claimed was “insubordination,” though many believe otherwise. Cochran self-published a book that criticized the sin of homosexuality.
The government elevated homosexuality to a protected class, like race, which in turn weakened Christians’ First Amendment protections. God declared homosexuality a sin, and Christians have the right to speak against it and refuse to celebrate it. Christian business owners have a right to refuse to participate in profaning marriage without fear of bankruptcy and penalties from a government that should be shielding them.
Photo credit: American Life League (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved
