David Barton, a brilliant historian with nearly encyclopedic
knowledge of America’s history, has done a comprehensive job of compiling a
list of facts that demonstrates President Obama's predilection of apathy at
best, and hostility at worst, towards Judeo-Christian faiths. Many of our friends on the left decry how the
right denigrates President Obama as not being a Christian, despite the
president’s claims to the contrary.
While most politically aware folks will recall many of these following
statements and deeds for which the Obama administration is responsible over the
preceding years, seeing them all categorized in such a devastating and long
list sure makes it understandable why many folks have suspicions as to whether
President Obama really is a Christian as he professes.
Now I don’t particularly care if the president is of
the Christian faith or not. I do care
though when he violates federal laws in open hostility towards biblically based
faiths. I do care when he issues
mandates that are an unambiguous violation of our first amendment Constitutional
rights. I do care when he seemingly is
quite deferential towards one faith (Islam) over others. Anyway, I challenge you to read the following
list that Mr. Barton has compiled and see if you can objectively still claim
that our president is a defender of religious freedoms for ALL Americans. You can also read this list with footnotes at
WallBuilders.com .
1. Acts of hostility toward people of
Biblical faith:
- April 2008 –
Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or
religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren't like them.”
- February
2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health
workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against
their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011.
- April 2009 –
When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram
symbolizing Jesus' name be covered when he is making his speech.
- May 2009 –
Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day
established by federal law) at the White House.
- April 2009 –
In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion
ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all
three.
- October 19,
2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator”
when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on
no less than seven occasions.
- November
2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus unum”
rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law.
- January 2011
– After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave
Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross
in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration
refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and
refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court.
- February
2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two
years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an
official that works against religious persecution across the world; he
filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress.
- April 2011 –
For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a
non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious
groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal
mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus
eliminating conscience protection in hiring.
- August 2011
– The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that
override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas
of abortion and contraception.
- November
2011 – Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous
D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial.
- November
2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious
references in his Thanksgiving speech.
- December
2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries' religious
beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights.
- January 2012
– The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no
protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis.
- February
2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for
public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if
the public service is related to religion.
2. Acts of hostility from the Obama-led
military toward people of Biblical faith:
- June 2011 –
The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus
during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.
- August 2011
– The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in
California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a
philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory
long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America).
- September
2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen
of programs and services available to them from chaplains.
- September
2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center
stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials
and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”
- November
2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas
Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the
world, because the program is run by a Christian charity.
- November
2011 – The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship
center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans.
- February
2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army
general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”)
Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken
Christian.
- February
2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities
Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei).
- February
2012 – The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to
parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read.
3. Acts of hostility toward Biblical values:
- January 2009
– Obama lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that
provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund
pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other
nations.
- January 2009
– President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that
American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on
abortion funding are unconstitutional.
- March 2009 –
The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White
House-sponsored health care summit.
- March 2009 –
Obama orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.
- March 2009 –
Obama gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that
promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control
officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
- May 2009 –
The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only
education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education,
repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. He continues the deletion in subsequent
budgets.
- May 2009 –
Obama officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates
violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities.
- July 2009 –
The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex
partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction
violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
- September
16, 2009 – The Obama administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai
Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private
beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect
homosexual “equality.”
- July 2010 –
The Obama administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to
get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion.
- August 2010
– The Obama administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education
programs.
- September
2010 – The Obama administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s
decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
- February
2011 – Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal
Defense of Marriage Act.
- March 2011 –
The Obama administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned
Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized
underage girls.
- July 2011 –
Obama allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a
policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778.
- September 2011
– The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex
marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of
Marriage Act.
- October 2011
– The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid
victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion.
4. Acts of preferentialism for Islam:
- May 2009 –
While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White
House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan.
- April 2010 –
Christian leader Franklin Graham is disinvited from the Pentagon’s
National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim
community.
- April 2010 –
The Obama administration requires rewriting of government documents and a
change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed
offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical
Islamic, etc.
- August 2010
– Obama speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of
Christianity.
- August 2010
– Obama went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf
of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he
was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at
that location.
- 2010 – While
every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations
and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional
Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim
holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr,
Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.
- October 2011
– Obama’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the
White House.
- February
2012 – The Obama administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being
burned by the U. S. military, but when Bibles were burned
by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing
to do.