The Patriot Post® · Prayer Breakfast Jam-Packed With Distortions
Plenty of people left the National Prayer Breakfast [Thursday] with a bad taste in their mouths – and not from the food. In what must be an encore of his apology tour, President Obama chose [Thursday’s] breakfast to join in the condemnation – not of Islamist violence, but Christians’.
While the rest of the free world is united in its outrage over ISIS’s evil, this President seems all too eager to malign the faith he himself professes. Most Americans are tired of the apologist-in-chief, who takes every opportunity to lecture us about the atrocities of ancient Christians and how their tradition is as evil as Islam’s. Are there things that have been done in the past under the mask of religion? Absolutely. But, as I told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly [Thursday] night, almost all Christians universally, denounced that type of behavior – whether it was the Crusades of a thousand years ago or slavery in this country 150 years ago.
What we have here is the President refusing to acknowledge that Islam and the ideology that’s behind it has been radicalized and being used to kill Christians. My good friend Mark Levin pointed out how absolutely offensive this is to the world’s Christians who are being slaughtered today across Africa and the Middle East. “They don’t need a lecture from Obama about Christianity,” Mark said. They need a leader who does something to make the genocide stop.
If President Obama had half the courage of Jordanian King Abdullah, America would be doing a lot more to check the power of ISIS. But instead, the President talked about his trip to India and how they gave him a history lesson on their religious intolerance. He didn’t mention his stop in Saudi Arabia on the way back to this country, and the fact that they rank by his own State Department as one of the worst abusers of religious freedom in the world.
Did he publicly lecture the Saudis for their current climate of oppression? Did he try attending a Christian church during his stop there? I’m sure he didn’t because there are no Christian churches in Saudi Arabia. They’re illegal. Mr. President, the next time one of your family members becomes ill, try finding a local Muslim hospital. Or the next time your motorcade speeds through a town whose economy has been shuttered by your big government economic policies, try referring people to the local Islamic homeless shelter. In your next speech about families, maybe you could challenge Americans to consider adoption through the local Muslim adoption agency.
The reality is, Christianity isn’t just the largest religion in America, it’s also the most charitable. And disheartening as this may be to your worldview, Mr. President, America was in fact founded on Christian truths and principles – and it’s that heritage that makes America an exceptional nation. Why do you insist on projecting Islam with the same influence and standing here in the United States when 79% of the American population identifies as Christian and only 1% as Muslim?
Yes, our nation is tolerant of other religions, as we should be. Christianity is tolerant because the truth allows the freedom to choose. And unlike other religions, true Christianity is not afraid to have its ideas and principles challenged. How many Muslim nations allow the freedom that we have here in America?
Make no mistake. I support religious freedom. I’m glad that there are peaceful Muslims who feel safe and secure in bringing their faith to America and becoming citizens. But let’s face it. You don’t find many Christians who feel safe and secure in taking their Christian faith to Muslims countries. Mr. President, objectively examine the evidence: all religions are not the same. For more on the debate, check out my interview with Megyn Kelly in the video below.
On Base, a Flag-rant Abuse of Old Glory
The Air Force has taken homosexual activism to new heights. Despite the complaints of several airmen, Tuscon’s Davis Monthan Air Force Basehas come to the defense of a service member flying the rainbow flag on government property in a base home. And not just any flag, but a parody of Old Glory, with the white and red stripes replaced by rainbow colors.
Senior Airman Brian Kofage discovered the display driving through base last week and was shocked that no one had ordered it down. He reported the flag to his superiors as a violation of Title 4 of the U.S. Code which bans any altercations to the American flag. Kofage received a note back that the base would “review the issue.” Three days later, the 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office issued this reply: “The installation commander carefully considered the opinions of legal professionals and the law. The display in question is not an altered U.S. flag; therefore, its display does not violate federal law. No action will be taken.” Kofage was so stunned that he took the story to The Blaze, where it started lighting up social media. “If you’re proud of your sexuality, then please represent it,” he said, “but do not do it at the sake of insulting our nation’s flag.”
In the military’s current climate, not everyone was comfortable speaking publicly about their objections, but Kofage included them anyway. One airman, who withheld his name, was furious about the double standard. “I cannot fly a Christian flag. I cannot have a ‘Christmas’ party at work. It has to be a ‘holiday’ party. The point of this message isn’t anti-gay. It’s a fundamental shift of loyalty and allegiance. It is a political statement. I cannot publicly endorse a candidate for office while in uniform, but I can openly tell the world that I am LGBT. If they are proud of the leaps and bounds that the Department of Defense has made with the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ then put up a rainbow flag and call it a day. But when you add the Union, it becomes a political statement. And that, my fellow Americans, is unacceptable.”
When the President wanted to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he didn’t talk about flying rainbow flags at Afghanistan bases or asking chaplains to perform gay “weddings.” He didn’t mention banning Christian speakers at military academies, tearing down crosses at Camp Pendleton, or pulling Scripture out of Army curriculum. No wonder the President’s approval rating has plummeted to 15% among military members! If you’d like to stand with the airmen who have sacrificed and died under the stars and stripes, contact Monthan Air Force leadership at 520-228-3398 and tell them to honor Old Glory.
Store Wars: Americans Weigh in on Wedding Business Clash
Liberals may claim no one’s “hurt by a gay wedding,” but they can’t fool the American people. Voters are more concerned than ever that this race to redefine marriage comes at a price. A slim plurality of people told the Associated Press that they support same-sex “marriage” – 44% to 39% (a whopping 15% had “no opinion”) – but there are plenty of strings attached. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents believe that families like the Kleins, Stutzmans, Nangs, Odgaards, and others should have the right to turn down same-sex “wedding” business.
No American – business owner or otherwise – should have to violate their beliefs to compete in the marketplace. Michigan’s David Kenney, who was a part of the poll, sided with the vendors. “Why make an issue out of one florist when there are probably thousands of florists? The gay community wants people to understand their position, but at the same time, they don’t want to understand other people’s religious convictions. It’s a two-way street.”
That consensus also spilled over into the public square, where a solid majority thought government officials and judges should be able to opt-out from issuing “marriage” licenses to same-sex couples. As more Americans cut through the media’s spin, they’re finally starting to understand that the debate isn’t about discrimination but participation in a ceremony that violates people’s faith. These are the stories the media doesn’t want to tell. But you and I are – and it’s starting to make a difference.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.