Recently, President Joe Biden spoke out strongly against the numerous anti-Semitic incidents in the United States during the last two weeks, which coincided with the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas. He also surprised many Israelis with his steadfast support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas’s rocket attacks.
Just last week, Biden, along with First Lady Jill, issued a video statement from the White House in which he said he would defend religious freedom:
“All people should be able to practice their faith with dignity, without fear of harassment or violence. We will defend the right of all, as we stand with you. That’s why I ended this shameful Muslim travel ban.”
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Incidentally, it was never a Muslim ban since the Trump travel ban Biden referred to included North Korea and Venezuela.
“And that’s why,” Biden said, “this administration will speak out for religious freedom for all people, including Uyghurs in China and Rohingya in Burma. We also believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and enjoy equal measure of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. My administration is going to continue to engage Palestinians and Israelis and other regional partners to work toward sustained calm.”
This reflected the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See Patrick Connell’s opening statement at a livestream symposium on May 11, entitled “Human Rights in China: Uyghurs and Religious Minorities.”
Referring to the violation of religious freedom in the world, specifically in Communist China, Connell said:
“The Biden administration has taken decisive steps to deter China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang [where the nomadic Turkic Uyghurs reside] and to bring attention to the Uyghur crisis.”
This could not be any further from the truth. Not to discredit the intentions to defend Jews and Muslims, Biden, who identifies himself as a Catholic, has hardly lifted a finger to defend Christians.
Mr. Biden seems to forget, or rather chooses not to recall, that last year approximately 340 million Christians underwent “very high or extreme levels” of persecution—meaning they were harassed, beaten, raped, imprisoned, and/or slaughtered on sight just for being Christian.
As detailed by Islamic-expert Raymond Ibrahim, in a study published in January 2021, it was reported that 13 Christians are killed for their faith every day around the world; 12 are illegally arrested or imprisoned; 5 are abducted; and 12 churches or other Christian buildings are attacked daily.
Why were Christians exempted from Biden’s statement? Perhaps for the same reason he refused to mention God in the annual National Day of Prayer Proclamation—to suppress the moral fabric of our society. This is reflected in the words he spoke at the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, on May 17, in which he called on dozens of countries—and half of the states in the union—to strengthen anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQI community:
“Both COVID-19 and rising authoritarianism around the world continue to widen eco- nomic, social and safety gaps for LGBTQI+ people—and an epidemic of violence still rages, with a particular impact on the transgender community.”
What is disturbing about this is that, in compliance with the Democratic Party’s pro-LGBTQI policies, with measures such as the Equality Act (EA), the Biden administration is seeking to penalize those who in good conscience religiously believe and wish to preserve the institution of the family—marriage between male and female: sexual intimacy that pertains exclusively between husband and wife in order to procreate and properly educate their children.
The EA, which is awaiting the Senate for final ratification, would amend two landmark civil-rights laws—the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act—to change the definition of “sex.” Instead of the term being solely in reference to biological men and women, it would also cover sexual orientation or gender identity for the purposes of employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, and federal programs.
According to the bill, the term “sexual orientation” means homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality, and “gender identity,” i.e., gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.
Depending on the religious credences of faith-based institutions, the Equality Act could create various challenges—as did the Affordable Health Care Act (Obama Care)—to any type of organizations that:
- believe in the sanctity of life in the mother’s womb;
- are in opposition to the redefinition of traditional gender roles involving activities, like college and university athletic programs or campus ministry;
- provide benefits and services to the community through homeless shelters, food banks, and adoption agencies—husband and wife adopting and not “husband and husband” or “wife and wife;’’
- oppose health care coverage for certain types of medical procedures, such as abortion or transgender operations.
All things being equal, Biden’s so-called policy to uphold and promote religious freedom is the same as that of Communist China—a Janus-face policy to suppress and punish those of us who wish to exercise our inalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness endowed to us by our Creator God. And so long as he is not admonished, to say the least, by the Catholic hierarchy, beginning with Rome, Biden will continue with his anti-Christian agenda despite the fact that he considers himself a devout Catholic.
[Photo Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images]