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The Evidence Is In: Democrats and Biden Administration Are Waging A Political War On Religion

Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2021
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AMAC Exclusive by David Deavel

religionVanita Gupta was approved by the Senate as Associate Attorney General last month by a vote of 51-49 last month, one of a number of concerning appointees that the Biden Administration has made in its short but troubling tenure. The problem with Gupta is that as the number two law enforcement official in the country, she has a history of supporting attacks on religious liberty. While secularists celebrate such attacks as a vindication of true freedom, the reality is that they are really a threat to any true freedom.

Concerning the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Gupta compared Jack Phillips’s refusal to make a personalized wedding cake for two men who wanted a wedding to Jim Crow-era laws keeping black people out of theaters and restaurants and their assaults on “personal dignity.” “At times, the free exercise of religion yields to other foundational values, including freedom from harm and from discrimination,” she explained. “On that principle, there ought to be no question that Colorado’s law allowing Charlie Craig and David Mullins to buy a wedding cake from any bakery they choose—notwithstanding that they are gay—should trump claims by a bakery that providing the cake would violate the owner’s religious beliefs.”

Gupta’s dishonesty or, best-case, ignorance of the case was astounding. The two men were not prohibited from buying a cake at all, certainly not because “they were gay.” Instead, Phillips argued that in demanding that he customize a wedding cake for them, Craig and Mullins were trying to force him to say something he did not believe was true: that two men can really be married to each other. That his understanding of the nature of being human and of the nature of marriage was rooted in his Christian view of the world is in one sense not very important. Would there have been the kind of public and legal outcry if a Jewish baker sold a Neo-Nazi a cake but refused to custom bake him a cake with an anti-Semitic message? To ask the questions is to answer them. Whether the hypothetical bakers in such cases were religious or not, we would never demand they use their artistic skills to communicate something they thought was morally wrong.

In another way, however, it is true that Jack Phillips’s religious beliefs are absolutely central to the question. For it is the only religion that can guarantee the rights of people to follow what they believe to be right and wrong. In the absence of a strong understanding of religious freedom, people are vulnerable to the power of government overstepping its bounds.

Associate AG Gupta’s rather free rejection of Jack Phillips’s position was matched by her 2020 arguments against the Little Sisters of the Poor’s demand that they not be forced to provide contraceptive coverage to employees. The conscience rights of the Little Sisters mean, for Gupta, that they are required to pay for medications and procedures they think immoral. Her 2016 arguments, that states such as North Carolina may not have laws making sure that bathrooms and locker rooms may be same-sex only, show the dangers of having such a figure in high levels of government. There she asserted that “the facts” can be summarized thus: “Transgender men are men—they live, work and study as men.  Transgender women are women—they live, work and study as women.”

These are not facts, but instead a reinterpretation of reality. They certainly do not “follow the science,” but they do attack both faith and reason.

For Gupta and many other progressive figures perched from low to high positions in government, the position is clear: you may keep your conscience but you may not act on it and, increasingly, may not even speak about what it says. President Obama’s tendency to refer to the First Amendment’s freedom of religion as “freedom of worship” was a reflection of the continuing attempt to whittle down religious freedom so that there may be no conscience. Play your songs and talk in your church or synagogue, he seemed to say, but don’t bring your belief into the public square.

That such language or such legal maneuvers are really a threat to freedom is confusing to many secular friends who think of religion as the main threat to the conscience. The problem is that while it is undeniable that religious groups have violated the consciences of people in the past, the real threat to the conscience comes from irreligion. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn explained in his 1983 Templeton Prize Address, “Men Have Forgotten God,” the nature of the relationship of totalitarianism to religion: “Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. To achieve its diabolical ends, Communism needs to control a population devoid of religious and national feeling, and this entails the destruction of faith and nationhood. Communists proclaim both of these objectives openly, and just as openly go about carrying them out.”

The state that wants to rule everything will do what it can to make sure that you are isolated and alone, without a sense of being American and especially not an American who is under God.

Secular people who assume that they will be able to keep their consciences because they are not religious do not understand why that cannot work. In a powerful 2018 article in Commentary magazine titled “Among the Disbelievers,” Gary Saul Morson amplified Solzhenitsyn’s point, noting that Communist regimes not only get rid of explicitly religious language but forbid any kind of moral language. He cited a 1920 speech of Lenin, who decried any kind of ethical or moral philosophy as simply religion in disguise: “That is why we say that to us there is no such thing as a morality that stands outside human society. That is a fraud. To us, morality is subordinated to the interests of the proletariat’s class struggle.”

When your government has overstepped its bounds, saying, “Don’t worry—I’m moral but not religious” will not guarantee you any freedom at all to do what your conscience demands. The Soviet regime made sure to eliminate the word “conscience” in public because they knew that conscience is a concept that will eventually point people to religion. They understood what the nineteenth-century theologian John Henry Newman meant when he said, “Conscience has rights because it has duties.” Once you start following what you think are duties, you will start asking where and eventually from whom these duties come.

That is what happened in the Soviet Union. As Morson observes, because of what they saw, many of the atheists took the path of conscience to its source and became believers in God. What did they see?

Memoirist after memoirist, including the atheist [Lydia] Ginzburg, testify that in the camps the only people who consistently chose conscience, even at the cost of their lives, were the believers. It did not seem to matter whether they were Jews, Orthodox Christians, Russian sectarians, or Baptists. Well-educated atheists succumbed readily under pressure, but believers, and believers alone, did not.

A great many secular figures who have pointed out such things as “Men do not give birth” and other obvious points have not been able to withstand the pressure to capitulate to those pushing what is manifestly not “facts” but a statement of power to reinterpret and control reality. They would do well to defend figures such as Jack Phillips and the Little Sisters. The defense of religious freedom is not just the defense of religious people but of all people to do their duty and enjoy the freedom that is only available by following one’s conscience.


David P. Deavel is editor of 
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, co-director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, and visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).

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Brad
Brad
3 years ago

Why does Wyoming get to have 2 senators with its population of only 570,000, whilst California only has 2 with a population of 39,000,000?

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
3 years ago

Does this include Muslims & other faiths to or just Christians? War on Religion

Sally
Sally
3 years ago

Yep, pretty frightening! The Biden admin is obviously against ANY strong belief in God and will fight said belief all the way! WAKE UP AMERICA!! THEY ARE COMING FOR ALL YOUR RIGHTS!!

Rik
Rik
3 years ago

Today’s so-called Democrats believe in religion, it’s called Communism!!!

Brenda Blunt
Brenda Blunt
3 years ago

This IS USA and freedom of religion is a hard fought right and is one of the many reasons people like it here in the USA! she has a very distorted view and is trying to destroy the USA! another way to turn USA into an socialistic society!! Lord, help us!!

Todd R Wagner
Todd R Wagner
3 years ago

And people are still voting Democrat? And RINO politicians assist in this garbage!

Phil Hammersley
Phil Hammersley
3 years ago

The Senile One FINALLY condemned the anti-Semitic violence but still is funding Hama terrorists in Gaza and coddling Iran. Maybe he could call “Plastic Face” from SF and urge her to condemn her “squad” haters!

D.P.
D.P.
3 years ago

Time and again, slowly and persistantly, these folks chip away at the faithful…..be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddist, whatever. Christians seem to be the most targeted, however. (Just as Scripture says…the world hates God, His Son, and those who believe and follow Him) What about the Muslim baker who refuses to make cookies in the shape of the cross for “religious” conscience reasons?
What about the Jewish jeweler who refuses to make a necklace with diamond studded swastika? What about the idea that if I have a business, and claim to be of a certain bend or faith, do I still have the right to run by business as I see fit, making choices by my own conscience? Religion is the first level of confrontation in any society….and the first pillar to be toppled by tyranny…..because it is the most important. I hear of no Christians beheading Muslims. I hear of no Christians, burning and looting Buddist temples. I hear of no Christians purging neighborhoods of competing groups by fire, murder, kidnapping, rape, torture etc. Of course someone will cherry pick history and shine the light on the “bad” side of Christians……implying they are all just alike. In our current culture, aside from the Christian, most other religious groups get a pass, or at worst chastizment. None of this is new…..none of this ought surprise the faithful Christian. We are told to love God, love our neighbor, and even love our enemy…….for the sake of salvation, not ours, theirs. I know of many who have done so as a way of life, and many have been and will be martyred…..in the end, God will see to the conclusion. The role of the faithful Christian, is to show the faith, live the faith, bear witness of the faith, being “Jesus” to those around you…..this, not by force, or deception, or trickery or lies. Only by invitation that others see and hear, humbly, respectfully, peacefully. If one chooses not to listen, fine, be on your way, and I will be on my way.
It’s a little bit like attending to what you read or watch, by book or media. Dont like what the book is about…..don’t read it. No need to rip it to shreds. Don’t like the program you are watching, change the channel…..no need to smash the television.
D.P.

J. Farley
J. Farley
3 years ago

All I can say is God and the Lord Jesus Christ will ask them about their turning their backs on them. Judgement day is coming !!!

Ed J
Ed J
3 years ago

What this discussion indicates is what is rampant and pervasive in today’s world. And that is the inability of the vast majority of people to “think critically.”

To be able to think critically means to bring exacting logic to bear on an issue and to identify, evaluate and incorporate the objective facts underlying that issue into one’s final conclusion. If exercised properly, this process allows one to arrive at a “considered judgment” regarding the issue.

Will everyone’s considered judgement be exactly the same. Of course not, and most often this is because all the facts may not be known or identifiable, along with the possibility of personal biases entering into the equation. But the spread between these various considered judgments will be extremely narrow, and never diametrically opposed.

The unfortunate circumstance here is that critical thinking is not taught, or even pursued, in most educational settings. If our teachers are oblivious to this skill, how can they ever be expected to teach this life skill to their students? The answer is – they can’t and won’t. Students are thus left behind to “muddle brain” through life without essential intellectual skills and this subjects them to various dysfunctional ideological influences that they may embraced as “reality” at some point.  Ultimately, this is a form of abject ignorance, the of results of which we are broadly experiencing in our nation today.

turnrightgostraight
turnrightgostraight
3 years ago

Thank you — I appreciate you posting this very useful article — This official thinks that her morals are the only requirements she needs to have for her duties. While I agree and think this article does a good and factual analysis very well, I think that this threat is not limited to the Biden administration alone. Please note a recent quote from the current Pope: “Christians should not expect property rights to be guaranteed.” He further maintains the Bible supports that view. However, Francis Schaeffer, RC Sproul and Martin Luther are only a few of the many of history’s best theologians have concurred: RC Sproul, for one, said it this way: “Statism is the natural and ultimate enemy to Christianity because it involves a usurpation of the reign of God.” When the state sets itself up as a god, Christian citizens must seriously determine how they will respond.

Splish_Splash
Splish_Splash
3 years ago

I remeber tuning into the Dem Convention in 2012? I think that was the one, I normally don’t watch or listen to any convention, But the few minutes I watched theirs, less than 5 minutes ~ was an appointment by God I do believe. It was when they voted to remove the word God from their platform! When it was suggested they included this word there were boos! I WAS STUNNED! And whiched channels. I have never wathced or listened to either convention since, not even for a minute!

MarkR
MarkR
3 years ago

This has become so predictable. The left is following the propaganda book to the letter and verse! We know why communism failed, Engles and Marx forgot to attack and destroy the three critical elements that comprise society: Religion, Culture and Family. Take a look around to watch how the left progressives are taking care of the three elements.
History always repeats itself: Welcome Back 1938!

Paul W
Paul W
3 years ago

It’s an accelerated continuation of the war started by barry soetoro. This is obviously choom’s third term. Just as illegitimate as the first two…and that’s not tin foil hat stuff if you believe the people present at the signing of the Constitution and the penning of the Federalist Papers.
“in 1787, John Jay, who later became the first Supreme Court Chief Justice and one of the authors of The Federalists Papers, wrote the following in a letter to George Washington:
Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of foreigners into the administration of our national government and to declare expressly that the Command in Chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.
This note is about allegiance. They wanted the President to have unbridled American allegiance and that can only happen when a child is born of citizen parents.
Accordingly, Jay’s recommendation was accepted by the Convention and became part of the constitutional requirements for executive eligibility.” This hardly describes barry soetoro!

Brad
Brad
3 years ago

There is no certainly no God with characteristics akin to those prescribed by the Abrahamic faiths.

Dinosaurs roamed the earth for hundreds of millions of years.

We have common ancestry with every living thing on planet earth. We are primates, and evolved from a hominid similar to a chimpanzee.

How will you reconcile your Christian faith with a discovery of an alien intelligence?

Oh and Jesus would have thought satanic: free market capitalism, the proliferation of guns and the NRA, hostile attitudes towards refugees and migrants, contemporary Republican attempts to suppress the black vote (Jim Crow 2.0).

Yeah he wouldn’t have been all too keen on abortion. But hey, so many people would never have been born if their mothers hadn’t aborted a previous fetus. (Bunch of cells, less sentient than my canine companion).

Peace out guys. God would hate guns. The bible is a load of oppressive, misogynistic bile. Wake up.

John Y
John Y
3 years ago

I would have made them the ugliest bad tasting cake they’ve ever experienced. There’s no law regarding the quality of service, just I give service.

George Mason
George Mason
3 years ago

The goal of Democrat leaders ( Better known as Democrat Party Sheep Herders) is to eliminate Christian values and morals as well as guns from all U.S. citizens. They feel the need to take this step because they stand in the way of in their ability to force all U.S. citizens to give up their liberties and submit to their rule. Their plan is to create a country much like the countries and governments that existed at the time that our early European came to this country. Our media and Public schools have led this Democrat Party initiative.

But here is the real kicker, a free democratic society can not exist if it does not embrace Christian values and morals as as part of its culture. Without Christian values and morals in our culture there is no control over our behavior. No one is watching. As a result our central government will end up issuing marshal law and placing waves of police and soldiers throughout our country to keep us in line. We will depend on the mercy of our federal government which will not turn out well for us. There will be no freedom for anyone but the elite.

Public school systems are also a big part of our problem. Public schools should be managed by the individual States and the communities/counties within those States and not be placed in the hands of the over reaching, anti-liberty federal government. In fact the Department of education and the money it provides the Stats should be eliminated. The power of the 16th amendment gave our federal the power to control anything it wanted to control include public education. The federal government still lacked ownership of college education. But by taking out student loans they now own our colleges and universities. Obamacare was a take over of our access to medical services. Our federal government is eating up our liberties.

The people in each state and the counties within that state should be responsible for their school systems. Parents should be given a choice in exchange for the local and state school taxes they are forced to pay. If parents want their children to receive a Christian education that incorporates Christian values and morals in their curriculum then they should be given that opportunity even if it means building a separate school for those parents that want an Anti-GOD education for their children. We need to find ways to accommodate minority positions without destroying the freedoms of the majority.

Freedom of the press should be maintained but media institution should be held accountable for lies and false data that harms innocent parties.

As for guns, gun laws should be managed by the individual States. Each State’s constitution should contain its own Bill of Rights. If a citizen does not like their State’s rights they need to either change them or move to another State that has rights they like. If the citizens of a State want to have strict gun laws then they should be able to enforce those laws.

Garye
Garye
3 years ago

Well this useless anti American joebama,commie harris and corrupt democrats support terror groups in the mideast and attack religious freedom, sure reminds me of nazi Germany and hitlers playbook.
Wake up America and stop this madness, they are coming for EVERY Real Citizen!

Brad
Brad
3 years ago

‘Democrats and Biden Administration Are Waging A Political War On Religion‘

*Insert image of young non-white woman to amplify fear and increase impact of headline to white conservatives*

Lee
Lee
3 years ago

Biden the SOB that he is

Ed J
Ed J
3 years ago

Better buy all the ammo you think you will need before Joe and the Ho Clown Show ban the sales of ammo altogether.

Karen
Karen
3 years ago

I hope God is listening!

Coyote Pete
Coyote Pete
3 years ago

Gif is real. I have a firm faith in the triune God; Father, Son

Governor Tim Walz giving a speech at a Podium in September 2024
Fema.gov Disasters USA Government home page under magnifying glass.
Medicaid text sign on calculator with pills and money. Medicaid text calculatoron American paper money with pills and orange prescription bottle

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