Unanimous votes are about as rare as balanced budgets in Washington, so when even House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) crosses the aisle to side with conservatives, the White House should sit up and take notice. [Monday], Pelosi and DNC Chair and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) were just two of the 164 Democrats who set aside their political differences and voted 393-0 to call the massacre of Middle East Christians “genocide.”

“[ISIS] is murdering and enslaving ethnic minorities everywhere they gain power and we know it,” warned House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “We know that they are doing and if we don’t say it, we should be ashamed.” In a city where it’s difficult to find consensus on anything, the House joined the global community in teeing up what should be the easiest decision of the Obama presidency. Unfortunately, the administration apparently seems more worried about offending Muslims than confronting the blood spilled by their radical brothers. And designations by the European Parliament, U.S. House, former Secretary Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Pope Francis are only making the administration’s timidity more obvious and more appalling.

Christians who are being publicly raped when they refuse to convert, whose babies are being thrown against walls, who’ve watched their loved ones being beaten, choked, starved, and beheaded — they don’t have the luxury of time, certainly not the amount this president has wasted addressing this evil. By law, the administration had until this Thursday to make a genocide determination that the rest of the world already has. Now, after even his own party has spoken, Secretary Kerry says the State Department will “likely” miss its deadline. Why? Because he claims “additional evaluation” is required.

“For more than seven years,” Jane Clark Scharl points out, “President Obama’s foreign policy has been a toxic blend of strong language and weak action. (Remember the ‘red line’ in Syria? Neither does Assad.) The foreign policy of the Obama administration tends toward talking a big game and then conveniently forgetting to show up. That would be a lot harder to pull off if he called the genocide of Christians by ISIS what it is. So naturally he’s avoiding it, like the Clinton administration before him.” Most of the Western world, and now a unanimous House of Representatives, have spoken. How many more families will have to suffer before the president exercises his moral responsibility? Instead of joining the global consensus, the administration is standing in its way — giving ISIS unspoken permission to continue their brutality.

History will have a lot to say about President Obama, but it will be harshest on indifference like this. A half a world away, girls as young as his own daughters are crying out for help. One day, he will have to answer why America didn’t offer it sooner.

Originally published here.

Red, White, and True Blue

Praise for Congress is almost as rare as consensus inside it! But there are those in both the House and Senate that deserve a little applause — and [yesterday], FRC Action took time out to do exactly that. For the first time in a long time, we had the opportunity to see what Congress could do under Republican control. While we’d all like to see more, our annual scorecard showed significant progress. From defunding Planned Parenthood to repealing Obamacare, members delivered on plenty of important pieces of legislation. They also had the distinction of holding the most pro-life votes in one calendar year in congressional history!

At [Tuesday] morning’s special Capitol Hill reception with our Government Affairs and FRC Action teams, I had the chance to thank the 126 “True Blue” representatives and senators who earned a perfect 100 percent on some of the most significant issues of the year. Several of the winners stopped by to mingle with the other leaders who are committed to stand up for life, marriage, taxpayers, veterans, religious liberty and more. So many of them expressed their gratitude for the work FRC does and said how honored they were to receive our award. Oftentimes, these members only hear from their constituents when they do something wrong — but it’s just as important to thank them for refusing to waver on core values.

I appreciate the leaders who took time out of their busy schedules to join us — as well as the FRC and FRC Action staff, David Christensen, Mandi Ancalle, Quena Gonzalez, Brent Keilen, and Tabitha Walter — for a year marked by courage and hard work. Congratulations to the 114th Congress’s class of True Blue winners! Thank you for all you’ve accomplished in the name of faith, family, and freedom. See where your members ranked here.

Originally published here.

First Amendment the First Priority for Christians

Liberals are constantly saying that people should have freedom regardless of “who they love.” But what if that person is God? While society goes out of its way to coddle the LGBT crowd with special privileges, Christians are struggling just to exercise their basic rights. Squeezed out, locked up, and tuned out, men and women of faith have somehow become the acceptable targets of discrimination.

From bakers and sportscasters to firefighters and florists, Christians are finding out the hard way that their government isn’t interested in real tolerance — but a one-way street that paves the way for punishment and censorship. And too many people don’t even realize it’s happening. FRC has been telling their stories on websites like FreeToBelieve.com, hoping to draw attention to the greatest threat of religious liberty in the modern age. Aaron and Melissa Klein are just two of the dozens of victims who lost their business, sense of security, and tens of thousands of dollars for believing what the Bible says about marriage. “We could totally just say we’re done and walk away and let it be,” Melissa said. “We think about the next person in line that this could happen to. If we don’t fight this, we’re giving up on them.”

FRC is doing its part to help. [On Tuesday], we held a briefing for congressional members and staff explaining the crisis facing Americans of faith with several victims and their attorneys. Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was one of them. Instead of celebrating his incredible story of rising out of poverty and becoming the first African American fire chief in Shreveport, the Left is intent on destroying his career. Why? Because he dared to write a personal book about his faith that included six pages on sexual morality. Despite having the department’s permission for the project, he was fired for its religiosity.

David Cortman, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, thinks that what the government is trying to say is that “no citizen has a right to free speech about their own faith outside of work time unless they get permission from the government first. And the only permission slip that the chief needs is the First Amendment,” he said. These days, however, the Bill of Rights doesn’t seem to be enough to protect anyone. That’s why Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) took the lead on a measure called the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA). It says that the federal government can’t retaliate against people like Kelvin for sharing civilization’s view that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. That’s common sense, but it’s not common practice. Urge your senators to change that by supporting FADA!

Originally published here.