If there’s anything the liberal media despises more than typing “President-elect” before Donald Trump’s name, it’s having to acknowledge the political influence of evangelicals. There’s no hiding their impact now — not after they helped propel Trump to the biggest election upset in modern history. For years, the press has tried to fake a death certificate for the religious right, insisting right up to last month that the bloc was either extinct or too fractured by Trump to reverse America’s political and cultural backslide. Headlines like The Washington Post’s “This Is the Last Spastic Breath from the Religious Right before its Overdue Death” fed this false narrative right up to Election Day.

Now, faced with the undeniable existence and impact of “values voters,” the liberal media has a new strategy — using evangelicals’ influence to drive the media’s agenda and divide the church. The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin is the latest to try it, writing an almost laughable piece in [Friday’s] edition called, “How Trump’s Evangelical Supporters Can Atone.” Like most people, you’re probably wondering what values voters have to be sorry for! After all, their only crime is electing a president who — unlike his predecessor — will uphold the Constitution, protect life, and defend religious liberty. As far as most Christians are concerned, the only people who need to atone are the ones who let President Obama run roughshod over our laws, our military, Christians’ beliefs, and the unborn.

Yet still, Rubin insists, “If evangelical leaders want to show they really are values voters, they must demonstrate it through public advocacy and private service to others. They must stop buying into grievance-mongering, resentment, and tribal identity and refuse to stand idly by when the political class abandons or wreaks havoc on the lives of the most vulnerable.” Has there been a greater champion of the vulnerable in the womb or the persecuted around the world than Christians? Has any movement done more in private service to the homeless, the sick, or the needy than the church? Unlike the Left, which relies on the government for its charity work, America’s men and women of faith sacrificially give of their own time and resources. To suggest that we haven’t done our fair share — or worse, added to the suffering — is not only dishonest but insulting. Even so, Rubin claims it’s time for evangelicals to “use their influence for good.” As if ending religious genocide, stopping the slaughter of innocents, promoting a society where people can worship freely, and protecting the family isn’t?

“That means private philanthropy on behalf of the weakest — the poor, the addicted, the mentally ill. At a time [when] the political class is pronouncing radical and mean-spirited messages, evangelicals have to be the voice of restraint. We are not going to round up 11 million to 12 million people and break up families. We are not going to scapegoat an entire religion based upon the beliefs of radical jihadists. We are not going to accentuate the gap between rich and poor. That’s the message evangelicals can carry — for the good of their brothers and sisters and also for the sake of repairing their image.”

The only image that needs repairing is the media’s. Caught in dishonest reporting, they were rebuked by voters and they have the lowest public trust in the history of polling. It’s the media — not evangelicals — who should be soul-searching. Only 32 percent of the country says it has confidence in the media. And fabricated storylines like this one prove why.

Originally published here.

Admiral Harris Torpedoes Anti-American P.C.

When America tunes in to [today’s] Army-Navy game at M&T Bank Stadium, I guarantee they won’t see players sitting for the national anthem. Because unlike some spoiled football players in the NFL, these honorable young men have a far more important job to do when the clock runs out. That was the powerful point that U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris tried to make at the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor Wednesday.

Speaking to a group of veterans and families who gave all, the man leading the U.S. Pacific Command took the opportunity to remind our nation who the real heroes are and how their sacrifice made it possible for quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick to protest our national anthem. “Today we have an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a patriot, to reflect on what it means to be a nation tested by war and to reflect on both of the costs and blessings of liberty.” Some of those costs, he explained, take on special meaning today. “Hearing the words ‘the land of the free and home of the brave’ means something special for every American, every day,” he went on. “You can bet that the men and women we honor today — and those who died that fateful mourning 75 years ago — never took a knee and never failed to stand whenever they heard our national anthem being played,” he said to a crowd that stood and cheered for more than a minute.

And, as one news outlet points out, Admiral Harris “would know a thing or two about sacrifice. [His] father and four brothers all served in World War II. In fact, his dad was on the Lexington aircraft carrier just before the Pearl Harbor attack. His family’s legacy of service inspired the native Tennessean to follow in their footsteps, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1978 before his career of service that spans decades,” writes Chris Pandolfo. Asked to comment later about his rebuke of Kaepernick and others, the Pacific Command replied that the remarks “speak for themselves.” Like a lot of Americans, FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army) appreciates Harris’s courage. “You gave voice to the millions of patriotic Americans who still honor the flag and national anthem,” he wrote in a letter to the commander [Friday].

“Like you, I served the nation in uniform for over three and a half decades, and I served in part so that people like Colin Kaepernick could choose to disrespect the traditions, history, and sacrifices of a great nation. But I find it disgusting and disturbing that men like Kaepernick, who are living the American dream embodied by our flag and anthem, are so determined to belittle and denigrate the veterans and men and women currently fighting to ensure the continuance of that very dream. Showing contempt for the flag that our fellow warriors sacrifice and give their lives for accomplishes nothing save highlighting his own ignorance, and so I thank you for your courage in speaking out against such ludicrous behavior.”

At a time when our country is effectively beating back the forces of political correctness, speeches like Admiral Harris’s give the nation hope. Watch the video on our Facebook page and share Admiral Harris’s honor for our fallen with your friends.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.