Even President Obama used to say “God bless America.” But when it comes to someone actually asking God’s blessing, liberals lose it. Exhibit A: This weekend’s Trump rally in Florida. Before the president spoke, he invited his wife to the podium to say a few words. When those words were the Lord’s Prayer, the crowd erupted in cheers.

But not everyone was as enthusiastic as the thousands jammed into an airport hangar in Orlando. Liberals ripped into First Lady Melania Trump with a viciousness that should expose the crusaders of “tolerance” for the frauds they are. The party that supposedly cares more about immigrants tore into America’s most visible one, mocking her accent and criticizing her delivery. “If you need to read this prayer, you’re not a Christian,” one claimed. “With an hour’s practice I could probably say the Lord’s Prayer better in Slovene than Melania Trump does it in English,” another ridiculed.

Calling her everything from Dracula to names unfit for publication, liberals stormed Twitter and Facebook with jeers and insults. Others blasted Melania for breaching the fictional wall between church and state — which is ridiculous for several reasons, not the least of which is that this wasn’t an official administration event. Even if it were, the First Lady would be well within her constitutional rights to invoke God. After all, Congress does it every day! Rule II.5 of the House specifies: “The Chaplain shall offer a prayer at the commencement of each day’s sitting of the House.” In the Senate, it’s such a priority that Rule IV states, “During a session of the Senate when that body is in continuous session, the Presiding Officer shall temporarily suspend the business of the Senate at noon each day for the purpose of having the customary daily prayer by the Chaplain.” Public prayer is a tradition as old as government itself. And one of the most vindicated. Federal courts have a stack of rulings taller than the Left’s high horse upholding prayer at everything from city council meetings to the presidential inauguration.

While liberals savage Melania, Americans everywhere are coming to her defense. Taya Kyle, wife of slain Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, took particular offense to the contempt, since her husband — like all of our brave men and women in uniform — risked his life so that the First Lady (and everyone else) could exercise her First Amendment rights. “The attacks are unfounded, and I think people don’t understand what was meant originally by separation of state and church. It was meant to protect the churches from government influence. It was meant to protect the people from having the government force a religion down their throat or compel them to believe something their conscience was not allowing for.”

Other people saw it as the latest sign that the Trumps were turning the page on eight long years of faith-based hostility. Let’s hope so. Surely, seeing his own wife vilified for such a simple and historically acceptable religious expression should move this president to act to protect the First Freedom of all Americans. If anything, it ought to light a fire under the administration to move quickly on the repeal of the Johnson Amendment, First Amendment Defense Act, and an executive order giving everyday people the ability to live and speak according to their faith. The threats to faith are plentiful, but so are the solutions. And I think the First Lady would be the first to say it’s time to start implementing those solutions and protect our First Freedom!

Originally published here.

The Death of a Life Legend

“History will remember her as ‘Jane Roe.’ But eternity will forever know her as Norma McCorvey, a child of God.” That’s how Dr. Jim Garlow starts a moving piece memorializing the face of the most significant abortion case in America. In one of the greatest redemption stories in decades, he shares how the woman who became synonymous with abortion experienced the transforming love of Jesus Christ and became one of the most powerful voices in the pro-life movement.

What most people don’t know about McCorvey, who was 22 and struggling at the time of the pregnancy that led to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade case, is that she never stepped foot in the courtroom and never had an abortion. When the devastating 7-2 decision came down, her baby was already two and a half years old and placed for adoption. Even though it’s after her namesake that Roe v. Wade is named (for privacy’s sake, she was referred to as Jane Roe), most people now acknowledge that the entire case was built on a lie. The abortion lobby took advantage of Norma to push its deadly agenda on America — and succeeded.

But one person who didn’t buy the argument was Norma herself. Years after her conversion, she called the case the “biggest mistake of her life.” That change of heart was largely due to a pastor and pro-life activist you may recognize: Flip Benham, dad of the Benham Brothers. Through his gentle persistence, he befriended McCorvey and slowly led her to the Lord in 1995. For the rest of her life, she tried to reverse the decision that has led to the slaughter of 58 million innocent children, even testifying before Congress against abortion.

Over the weekend, while she was still very much an active champion of the pro-life movement, Norma passed away. At 69, she’d spent the last two decades “serving the Lord and helping women save babies.” Dr. Garlow remembers Norma from the first church service she attended. Anxious about how the congregation would respond to the poster woman of the abortion movement, she drove around the parking lot debating whether or not to go in. Eventually, she saw Pastor Benham and decided to go in.

I still recall exactly where they sat that Sunday, off to my left from my view from the platform… With her permission, I introduced her at the end of the service, telling the congregation that ‘Jane Roe’ of Roe v. Wade had come to Christ and had experienced forgiveness for her sins. I explained that she was present in the auditorium. I asked her to stand. She did. The crowd erupted in an extended standing ovation. McCorvey was shocked. She did not expect that. After the service ended, nearly the entire church congregation formed an extremely long line to give her a hug and welcome her into the family of God. It was a profoundly moving and tender moment. Norma McCorvey … had experienced the love and forgiveness of Jesus. She had now experienced the love and forgiveness of the body of Christ — the church. It was an exhilarating day for us all.

Together with the rest of the pro-life community, we mourn the loss of a true warrior for the unborn. She has been a powerful witness of conversion and truth in a sea of lies surrounding Roe v. Wade. In her honor, we will continue to fight until her namesake is vindicated and Roe is overturned.

Originally published here.

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