New Hope for Religious Freedom Protections Now That Trump is President

“Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is also a right under threat all around us, and the world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways,” President Donald Trump said. (transcript) at the National Prayer breakfast on Thursday. “And I’ve never seen it so much and so openly as since I took the position of president.”

Although our freedom to worship and to live our faith — which includes refusing to profane marriage — is enshrined in the founding document, the Obama administration weakened this right. Can Christians count on President Trump to protect the faithful and undo the previous administration’s damage?

The president said he’d also “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that, remember.”

The Johnson Amendment restricts what pastors can say to their congregations, under threat of losing their churches’ tax-exempt status. Congress can “get rid” of it. But do lawmakers have the will?

The president reiterated his commitment to do something to stop Islamic terrorism on our soil.

“There are those who would seek to enter our country for the purpose of spreading violence, or oppressing other people based upon their faith or their lifestyle, not right. We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation. You look all over the world and you see what’s happening.”

Under Obama, Christians knew the homosexual lobby would eventually seek to suppress dissent. Believers have new hope that our rights will be protected instead of pushed aside.

We are and always will be “one beautiful nation, under God,” President Trump concluded. “Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.”