© December 27, 2019
Christianity Today’s Editor calls for President Trump’s removal from Office
not based on crimes (because no one can actually name a broken law), but
rather for past moral grievances. HMMM… I wonder if that means Dem crimes are
just fine to commit or past Dem President moral failures should be ascribed to
current Dem policies? Christianity Today’s Editor should be more
cognizant President Trump’s actions supporting the Christian Faith Today and
the future more than the President’s past. Christ came, died and Resurrected to
Life to offer forgiveness to the Lost and judgment for those who refuse the
Risen Savior at the Last Judgment.
President Trump’s - what have you done for Christ
lately? – is working much better than any past indiscretions.
Pro-Life assessment from Fr. Mark Hodges (11/16/17 6:56 pm EST):
‘“The Donald” is the most
pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-family president in the history of the
republic.’
White House Fact Sheet issued 2/8/18:
STANDING UP FOR RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM: In his first year in office, President Trump has taken strong action
to restore the foundational link between freedom and faith in the United States
of America.
§
On May 4, 2017, the President signed an
executive order to greatly enhance religious freedom and freedom of speech:
o taking
action to ensure that religious institutions may freely exercise their First
Amendment right to support and advocate for candidates and causes in line with
their values; and
o ensuring
that religious Americans and their organizations, such as the Little Sisters of
the Poor, would not be forced to choose between violating their religious
beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate or shutting their
doors.
§
The President has announced a reversal of the
Obama administration’s policy denying disaster aid to houses of worship,
allowing houses of worship to receive crucial aid in times of crisis.
§
The Trump administration has taken a stand on
behalf of religious liberty in the courts:
o supported
students declared ineligible for a scholarship because they attended a
religious school;
o supported
the Archdiocese of Washington in its effort to buy ads for the holidays on
public transportation; and
o supported
baker Jack Phillips’s right to operate his bakery in accordance with his
religious beliefs.
§
In January 2018, the Trump administration took a
stand for international religious freedom by placing Pakistan on a “Special
Watch List” for severe violations of religious freedom and designated 10 others
as countries of particular concern.
§
The President declared January 18, 2018 to be
Religious Freedom Day to “celebrate the many faiths that make up our country.”
PRIORITIZING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
IN THE ADMINISTRATION: President Trump has issued new policies to ensure
religious freedom is a priority throughout the Federal Government.
§
In October 2017, the Department of Justice
issued twenty principles of religious liberty to guide the Administration’s
litigation strategy to protect religious freedom.
§
In January 2018, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) announced three major policy changes to protect freedom of
religion:
o forming
a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, providing HHS with the focus
it needs to more vigorously and effectively enforce existing laws protecting
the rights of conscience and religious freedom; and
o proposing
to more vigorously enforce 25 existing statutory conscience protections for
Americans involved in HHS programs, protecting Americans who have religious or
moral convictions related to certain health care services.
PRESERVING THE SANCTITY OF LIFE:
President Trump has stopped the attack on pro-life policies, implementing
policies to enshrine sanctity of life as an American value.
§
Within a week of taking office, President Trump
reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, which protects $9 billion in
foreign aid from being used to fund the global abortion industry and its
advocates.
§
President Trump cut off taxpayer funding for the
U.N. Population Fund.
§
President Trump signed H.J. Res. 43 into law,
overturning a midnight regulation by the Obama Administration, which prohibited
States from defunding certain abortion facilities in their Federally funded
family planning programs.
§
President Trump expressed strong support for the
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have stopped late-term
abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy—the point at which science tells us that
an unborn child can experience pain.
§
President Trump’s Administration issued guidance
to enforce the requirement that taxpayer dollars not support abortion coverage
in Obamacare exchange plans.
§
President Trump rescinded an Obama-era policy
that hindered States in their efforts to direct Medicaid funding away from
abortion facilities that violate the law or fail to meet relevant standards of
care.
BRINGING RELIGIOUS GROUPS BACK
INTO THE FOLD: President Trump has made a consistent effort to reach out to
religious groups and partners to bring them back into the policy making
process.
§
On February 2, 2017, just two weeks into his
first term in office, President Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast.
§
On June 8, 2017, President Trump spoke at the
Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference.
§
On October 13, 2017, President Trump spoke at
the Value Voters Summit.
§
On January 19, 2018, President Trump became the
first President to address the March for Life rally live via satellite.
o Vice
President Mike Pence addressed the March for Life in 2017, becoming the first
sitting Vice President to do so in person.
Here’s an excerpt from “President Trump At UN Summit: USA Calls On The World To End
Religious Persecution” dated 11/23/19:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The United
States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government,
they come from God. This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of
Independence and enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution's Bill of
Rights. Our founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a
peaceful, prosperous and virtuous society than the right to follow one's
religious convictions.
Regrettably the religious freedom
enjoyed by American citizens is rare in the world. Approximately 80% of the
world's population live in countries where religious liberty is threatened,
restricted or even banned and when I heard the number I said please go back and
check it because it can't possibly be correct and sadly it was, 80%.
As we speak Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus (INAUDIBLE) and many other people of faith are being jailed, sanctioned, tortured, and even murdered often at the hands of their own government simply for expressing their deeply held religious beliefs, so hard to believe. Today with one clear voice the United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution—
As we speak Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus (INAUDIBLE) and many other people of faith are being jailed, sanctioned, tortured, and even murdered often at the hands of their own government simply for expressing their deeply held religious beliefs, so hard to believe. Today with one clear voice the United States of America calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution—
…
--to stop the crimes against people
of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of
religion and belief, protect the vulnerable, the defenseless and the oppressed.
America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to
live according to the faith that is within their own hearts. As president
protecting religious freedom is one of my highest priorities and always has
been.
…
It is estimated that 11 Christians
are killed every day for the following--I mean just think of this 11 Christians
a day for following the teachings of Christ. Who would even think that's
possible in this day and age? Who would think it's possible? [Blog Editor:
The President didn’t indicate but it is true to point out most of those 11 Christian
daily deaths occur in Muslim dominated lands.]
AND I am not listing here for time sake, BUT you should take
a look at Conservapedia’s
self-described “non-exhaustive list” on Christian Liberty and moral values that
includes a quote correct disdain for the LGBTQ value system
stretching from 2017 – 2019 as of this posting last updated 12/26/19 21:27.
AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED Christianity Today’s Editor Mark
Galli pro-impeachment editorial is full of Dem Party Propaganda Poppycock
talking points ignoring the essence of Jesus the Messiah’s message of
Redemption for today that forgives yesterday. Prager U’s Dennis Prager (who is
Jewish acting more Christian) has some decent criticism for Mr. Galli.
JRH 12/27/19
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**************************
A Response to the Editor of
Christianity Today
The magazine's amoral view says more about its editor
than about Trump.
By Dennis Prager
December 27, 2019
The editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, wrote
an editorial calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
In my view, this editorial only serves to confirm one of the
sadder realizations of my life: that religious conviction guarantees neither
moral clarity nor common sense.
The gist of the editorial — and of most religious and
conservative opposition to President Trump — is that any good the president has
done is dwarfed by his character defects.
This is an amoral view that says more about Galli than it
does about the president. He and the people who share his opinion are
making the following statement: No matter how much good this president does, it
is less important than his character flaws.
Why is this wrong?
First, because it devalues policies that benefit millions of
people.
And second, because it is a simplistic view of character.
I do not know how to assess a person's character — including
my own — outside of how one's actions affect others. Since I agree with almost
all of President Trump's actions as president and believe they have positively
affected millions of people, I have to conclude that as president, Trump thus
far has been a man of particularly good character.
Of course, if you think his policies have harmed millions of
people, you will assess his character negatively. But that is not what never-Trump
conservatives or Christians such as the Christianity Today editor-in-chief
argue. They argue that his policies have indeed helped America (and even the
world), but this fact is far less significant than his character.
In the words of Galli: "(I)t's time to call a spade a
spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker
game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical
incompetence."
This rhetorical sleight of hand reflects poorly on Galli's
intellectual and moral honesty.
Galli and every other Christian and conservative opponent of
the president believe their concerns are moral, and that the president's
Christian and other conservative supporters are political.
This is simply wrong.
I and every other supporter of the president I know support
him for moral reasons, not to win a "political poker game." Galli's
view is purely self-serving; he's saying, "We Christian and other
conservative opponents of the president think in moral terms, while Christian
and other conservative supporters of the president think in political
terms."
So, permit me to inform Galli and all the other people who
consider themselves conservative and/or Christian that our support for the
president is entirely moral.
— To us, putting pressure on the Iranian regime — one of the
most evil and dangerous regimes on Earth — by getting out of the Iran nuclear
deal made by former President Barack Obama is a moral issue. Even New York
Times columnist Bret Stephens, who loathes Trump, has written how important the
president's rejection of the Obama-Iran agreement has been.
— To us, enabling millions of black Americans to find work —
resulting in the lowest black unemployment rate ever recorded — is a moral
issue.
— To us, more Americans than ever being employed and almost
4 million Americans freed from reliance on food stamps is a moral issue.
— To us, appointing more conservative judges than any
president in history — over the same period of time — is a moral issue. That
whether the courts, including the Supreme Court, are dominated by the left or
by conservatives is dismissed by Galli as "political poker" makes one
question not only Galli's moral thinking but also his moral theology.
— To us, moving the American embassy to Israel's capital
city, Jerusalem — something promised by almost every presidential candidate —
is a moral issue, not to mention profoundly courageous. And courage is a moral
virtue.
— To us, increasing the U.S. military budget — after the
severe cuts of the previous eight years — is a moral issue. As conservatives
see it, the American military is the world's greatest guarantor of world peace.
Yet, none of these things matter to Galli and other
misguided Christians and conservatives. What matters more to them is Trump's
occasional crude language and intemperate tweets, what he said about women in a
private conversation and his having committed adultery.
Regarding adultery, that sin is for spouses and God to
judge. There is no connection between marital sexual fidelity and moral
leadership. I wish there were. And as regards the "Access Hollywood"
tape, every religious person, indeed every thinking person, should understand
that there is no connection between what people say privately and their ability
to be a moral leader. That's why I wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal
20 years ago defending Hillary Clinton when she was charged with having
privately expressed anti-Semitic sentiments.
That the editor of Christianity Today thinks the president's
personal flaws, whatever they might be, are more important than all the good he
has done for conservatives, for Christians, for Jews, for blacks and for
America tells us a lot ... about Galli and the decline of Christian moral
thought.
+++++++++++++++++++
Blog Editor: Rather than
capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post
and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship
tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false
accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat censorship
by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you belong to.
__________________________
The Galli Poppycock of
Christianity Today
John R. Houk
© December 27, 2019
__________________________
A Response to the Editor
of Christianity Today
