Attacks on Religious Liberty at Home

“But a constitution of government once changed from freedom can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” — John Adams

Biden Forces Vaccines on Military Servicemembers and Federal Employees

• President Biden announced a sweeping vaccine mandate for all military service members and federal employees. He also attempted to include private employers with over 100 employees in the mandate but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. (September 2021)
• Thousands of our military service members who have requested a religious exemption to the COVID vaccine mandate are still limbo as lawsuits run their course.
• These men and women put their lives on the line for our freedoms and shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their personal convictions.

Pushing the in ‘Equality’ Act

• Biden and Progressives in Congress have tried to ram through the so-called “Equality Act,” which would be detrimental to faith-based institutions. Thankfully they haven’t been successful (yet).
• If enacted, it which would redefine sex to include “gender identity” and force every federally funded entity (such as schools and universities) to treat males who declare transgender status as if they were females. (February 2021)
• In a radical move, the bill doesn’t include religious exemptions and it even goes so far as to block the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) from applying to its provisions.
• As a reminder of how much Democrats have shifted on this issue: Former President Clinton signed RFRA into law in 1993.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Memo to Strip Religious Freedom

• An internal HHS memo showing plans to strip Trump-era religious freedom protections was leaked. The memo outlines the Biden Administration’s disapproval with how the Trump-Administration empowered the Office of Civil Rights to take a proactive approach in protecting religious liberties. (November 2021)
• The document encourages the HHS Secretary to strip authority away from the Office of Civil Rights to enforce the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) — which would essentially leave faith communities more vulnerable and without needed protections.

Department of Labor (DOL) Action to Reverse Religious Freedom Protections

• President Trump’s DOL issued a rule in 2019 providing religious organizations who contract with the federal government more clarity in regards to hiring practices.
• In short, it gave them the peace of mind that they have the freedom to uphold their religious convictions in certain hiring decisions and not have to worry about losing a federal contract — or worse.
• Biden’s Labor Department has rescinded that policy — and the biggest cheers are coming from the radical left and the American Atheists.

Egregious COVID Crackdowns on Houses of Worship

• When the pandemic hit our shores, many state and local governments abandoned the First Amendment by highly restricting religious gatherings, many of which have been ruled unconstitutional. A few examples include:
• Gavin Newsom (CA) ordered churches closed, a ban on singing, and in-home bible studies while strip clubs remained open (November 2020)
• Jay Inslee (WA) banned religious gatherings of any size and prohibited prayer and bible studies with 2+ people while marijuana dispensaries were allowed to remain open (March 2020)
• Steve Sisolak restricted religious gatherings to only 50 people while casinos were allowed to operate at 50% capacity (October 2020)
• Andrew Cuomo (NY) singled out houses of worship by limiting religious attendance to 10 people in certain areas while a majority of nonessential businesses, including department stores, could remain open without limitation (October 2020)
• Andy Beshear (KY) ordered that in-person attendees including churchgoers will have license plates recorded and be forced to quarantine for 14 days (April 2020)
• Houses of worship across these states rightfully pushed back, took their cases to court, and won.
• These bold faith communities include the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, Agudath Israel, Calvary Chapel of Chino Hills, Capitol Hill Baptist Church of DC, Tabernacle Baptist of Nicholasville, On Fire Christian Church in Louisville, and King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville, among many others.

Attacks on Religious Liberty Abroad

Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal Threatens Religious Minorities

• Following the Biden Administration’s bungled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the takeover of their government by the Taliban, religious minorities including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs are being targeted because of their beliefs. (September 2021)
• Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, said this: “Everything the Taliban does is about religion. Religion is involved when they hang people for violating their approach to Islamic law or when they attack women and girls who want to go to school. For the Taliban, this is all connected.”
• On Afghanistan, she went on to say, “The sheer scale of what is happening is so terrible that it will be impossible to keep it hidden for long. … These religious freedom issues are real, and history shows us they are not going to go away.”

State Department Abandoned Trump Commission Which Prioritized Religious Freedom in Foreign Policy

• Secretary of State Blinken abandoned the findings of the Trump administration’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which highlighted the importance of religious freedom, enumerated in America’s founding documents and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (March 2021)
• Secretary Pompeo’s Commission was an advisory board made up of well-esteemed scholars, legal experts and activists with a mission to better protect essential freedoms — and underscore how important these human rights are to Americans and all of humanity.

Abortion Extremism

Funding Abortions With Your Tax Dollars

• The Trump Administration instituted a rule in 2018 that blocked federal funding (your tax dollars) for family planning clinics that refer patients for abortion.
• This was a huge win for pro-life advocates, taxpayers, and most importantly, the unborn.
• However, soon after getting sworn in, Biden’s HHS started the process of rescinding this policy. And in November 2021, to the detriment of thousands of unborn kids, they finalized the reversal.
• This means more of your tax dollars could go towards funding abortion providers and other clinics who provide referrals for abortion, through what’s known as the “Title X” family planning program.

Repealed Pro-Life Mexico City Policy

• If taxpayer funded abortion wasn’t bad enough here in the United States, one of Biden’s first actions in office was reopening taxpayer dollars to fund abortions overseas.
• He did this by putting an end to the “Mexico City Policy” — a policy first announced in 1984 by President Reagan that says foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must certify that they will not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning” using funds from any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition of receiving U.S. government global family planning funding.
• President Trump reinstated this pro-life policy during his first few days in office in 2017. Unfortunately, Biden reversed this Trump-era policy, as well.

Abandoning the Hyde Amendment

• Since the 1970’s, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited federal Medicaid funding of abortion except in rare circumstances. For decades, Biden and Democrats supported this crucial amendment but now are leaving it out of nearly all of their legislation and executive actions.
• His proposed budget last year broke ranks with four decades’ of history by omitting a ban on using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion. (June 2021). Biden’s budget for FY2023 is set to be released in the coming weeks, and it’s expected to be no different.
• Biden signed a massive, Democrat-only “COVID” spending bill, which omitted the bipartisan Hyde Amendment. (July 2021)

Removed the US From the Pro-Life Geneva Consensus Declaration

• In January, Biden removed the U.S. from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which was a global declaration signed by 34 countries promoting the protection of life(January 2021)

Biden DOJ Sues Texas Over Pro-Life Bill

• Biden’s DOJ sued Texas over the state’s recently passed Heartbeat Bill, which serves to help protect unborn lives when a doctor detects a heartbeat. (September 2021)
• President Biden vowed a “whole-of-government approach” to dismantle the pro-life law after the Supreme Court’s decision not to block its implementation.

Radical Education Agenda

War on Parents

• The Department of Justice issued a memo targeting parents who have been standing up for their children against mask mandates, critical race theory, and pornographic images at school board meetings(October 2021).
• Throughout this pandemic, Biden and Democrats have prioritized teachers unions over parents.
• We are only starting to know the harm caused to children from being isolated for such an extended period of time.

Promoting Critical Race Theory

• Biden rescinded the Trump administration’s Executive Order establishing the 1776 Commission, which promoted patriotic education and prohibited critical race theory training for federal agencies and federal contractors. (January 2021)
• The Biden Administration nominated Kiran Ahuja, who embraces CRT, to lead the Office of Personnel Management. (June 2021)
• The Education Department proposed a rule that would give priority for federal civics education grants to institutions that prioritize CRT. (April 2021)
• The proposal on the Federal Register website cited as examples the controversial “1619 Project” and the work of Ibram X. Kendi, author of the book “How to Be an Antiracist.”
• After pushback from many states and grassroots activists across the country, the Administration withdrew its plan to tie federal K-12 grants to CRT (for now).

No Support for Female High School Athletes

• In their first few days in office, Biden signed an Executive Order titled, “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” which directed the Education Department to draft regulations giving any school that receives federal funding — including nearly every public high school — an ultimatum: allow biological boys who self-identify as girls onto girls’ sports teams or face punishment from the federal government. (January 2021).
• Biden’s Justice Department withdrew the Trump Administration’s support against Connecticut officials for violating Title IX by allowing biological males to play sports designated for females.
  • Families of three high school girls sued Connecticut officials last year, and Trump’s DOJ supported their lawsuit. (February 2021)

Forcing Children to Wear Masks

• The Education Department recently announced an investigation into the states, like Florida, that have banned mask mandates for children in schools. (August 2021)

Woke Biden Appointees

• Catherine Lhamon was confirmed by the Senate last year on a partisan basis to lead the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Education Department. She has a proven track record of undermining religious liberty and pushing her controversial views on gender issues.
• Xavier Becerra, Biden’s HHS Secretary, has long had disdain towards the faith community. The Wall Street Journal editorial page explained it this way last year before his Senate confirmation: “Becerra’s problem is his record as a culture warrior as California attorney general — in particular, a disregard, even disdain, for First Amendment protections of speech and religious liberty.”

Anti-Israel Iran Nuclear Deal

Renegotiating a Dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal

• In 2015, President Obama, along with some other world leaders, struck a “deal” with Iran to temporarily halt their nuclear program. This deal was always a bad one, and President Trump made the bold decision to leave the deal when he was in office.
• Biden is now back at the negotiating table with Iran eager for a deal. This all while Iran is firing rockets near our consulate in Iraq.
• Russia is also at the negotiating table, all while they take innocent lives in Ukraine.
• If there’s a deal struck in the coming weeks or months, it would be detrimental to our closest ally — Israel.

Humanitarian Crisis at the Border

De Facto Open Borders Policy

• Biden’s DHS issued guidance for ICE officers early last year that said they need “pre-approval” from managers to arrest some illegal immigrants if they do not fall into narrow categories.
• Around that same time the Biden Administration reinstated the Obama-era “catch and release” policy where some migrants are processed for removal, provided a Notice to Appear, and released into the U.S. to await a future hearing. (February 2021)
• The Biden Administration also halted construction of the border wall, terminated two border wall contracts in Texas, and included no funds for the border wall in his proposed budget for next year. (April 2021)

Influx of Vulnerable Children and Lethal Drugs

• In total, there were 164,973 encounters along the Southwest land border in February, a 7 percent increase compared to January. (March 2022)
• Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported sharp increases in seizures of heroin (173% over January), methamphetamines (97%), and cocaine (83%). (March 2022)

Ended Successful Trump ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

• Biden put an end to the successful “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required many asylum seekers to wait outside the United States for their cases to be decided. (January 2021)
• The Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Biden administration did not provide an adequate reason for getting rid of the policy. (August 2021)

 

See also: President Trump’s Tireless Commitment to the Faith Community

 

The National Faith Advisory Board exists to partner with and bring together a diverse coalition of faith leaders to amplify their voices to impact our nation.

Copyright 2022 The National Faith Advisory Board. Reprinted with permission.