“The greatest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” John Quincy Adams, 6th President
Barack Obama has a strangely inconsistent view of Christianity. At the same time he scolds that Christian belief dictates we must not “oppress the stranger” if those strangers happen to be four or five million illegals who are new potential Democratic voters, his enforcer Attorney Eric Holder oppresses The Little Sisters of the Poor into court. Obama’s administration thinks it’s more important to force this group of Catholic nuns to violate their religious beliefs by providing Obamacare abortion-inducing drugs than to allow them to help the elderly poor and dying unmolested by an autocratic government.
There is perhaps no group on earth more deeply ministering to others than these nuns who for over 175 years have been caring for the poorest of strangers – the elderly, sick and dying in 30 countries worldwide. Their founder, Jeanne Jugan, was born during the French Revolution. One cold night in the winter of 1839 she took pity on a blind, paralyzed old woman in the snow and carried her home to sleep in her own bed. Soon people began bringing destitute old women to Jeanne’s doorstep and she cared for them too, assisted by pious friends.
The Little Sisters had founded dozens of homes in Europe by the time a small group crossed the sea to America to establish a home in Brooklyn in 1868. Since then, over 30 of their homes minister to the impoverished elderly in the U.S., and care for over 13,000 needy worldwide. Last January the Supreme Court delayed the fines which would be imposed by Obamacare on the Little Sisters which could amount to as much as 2.5 million a year. In response, the government displayed its callous indifference to the poor by doubling down. Recently government attorneys in Denver’s 10th Circuit Court of Appeals argued the Little Sisters must comply with Obamacare mandates.
Following the hearing, Sr. Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial of the Little Sisters of the Poor, said, “…we offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed as Christ, cared for as family and accompanied with dignity until God calls them to Himself. But now the government demands we choose between our care for the elderly poor and our faith… to either violate our conscience or take millions of dollars that we raise by begging for the care of the elderly poor and instead pay fines to the IRS.” The Little Sisters seem to be singled out by an administration that already exempts many corporations and businesses from Obamacare mandates.
Clearly, Jesus’ instruction for Christians to care for the poor and the sick doesn’t carry as much weight for the Obama administration as the Biblical command to take in illegal immigrants. Oh wait, there isn’t one.
The Obama administration tends to choose their command and control birth control ideology over the needs of the poor. In 2011 they ended a relationship with Catholic bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services Office to help refugees, immigrant families and trafficking victims because the bishops refused to provide contraceptive and abortion counseling.
It’s also apparent that Obama’s Christianity fails to heed Christ’s final words as he prepared to leave the planet, known as the Great Commission to: “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Incredibly, two Baptist chaplains say they were forced out of a one-year Veterans Affairschaplain training after their instructor pounded the table, insisting they stop quoting the Bible and praying in Jesus’ name. According to the federal lawsuit the Conservative Baptist Association of America filed in 2013, the Christians were ridiculed and harassed for their beliefs, leading to one leaving the program while the other was kicked out. The course is required to work as a chaplain in a VA hospital so this anti-Christian bigotry also deprived them of their right to make a living.
Their attorney John Wells called the treatment a violation of federal law and the religious freedom of the First Amendment. The training was led by Nancy Dietsch, a Department of Veterans Affairs employee with a history of antagonistic behavior towards evangelicals, Wells said. “She’s been very, very critical of Christians…Instead of teaching anything dealing with faith issues, she’s dealing with a holistic, humanistic approach…that the spirit comes from within.” Wells added that it seems the government is trying to establish “a secular humanist-based religion free from any influence of Christian dogma.”
Christians were actually branded terrorists at a 2013 U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training in which the instructor presented a slide with the headline “RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM,” listing “Evangelical Christians” as the number one extremist threat. Published in the UK Daily Mail and elsewhere, the slide claims Christianity is more dangerous than the Muslim Brotherhood which comes in at number two. “Ultra-orthodox Judaism” is listed as the number three terrorist threat, and anyone with “Christian identity” in the U.S. comes in at number four, more dangerous than the murdering terrorists of Al Qaeda and Hamas which are five and six.
Calling terrorists the nearly 80 percent of Americans who say they’re Christian awoke the ire of the Archdiocese for the Military Services which complained to the Army, noting that Catholics were number 10 on the terrorist list. The military brass said they had no clue how this happened and denied it was condoned by the Army.
Anti-Christian harassment at veteran funerals at the Houston National Cemetery also led three veterans service organizations to sue the federal government in 2011. According to court documents, Veterans Affairs officials ordered volunteers to stop telling families ‘God bless you’ at funerals and said that the words ‘God bless’ had to be removed from condolence cards.
Ominously, more is on the way with the government threatening to court-martial soldiers or make them face criminal punishment such as imprisonment for merely talking about their faith or sharing the gospel. So now the government is banning not only freedom of speech and religion, but the Great Commission itself.
The president who declared America “no longer a Christian nation” seems to be intent on validating his claim. For now, we can thank God we can still worship Him and say Merry Christmas to all.
