On 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving, the Biden Administration attempts to destroy religious freedom

The Biden Administration’s barrage against our Constitution and the freedoms it so sacredly bestows, particularly religious freedom, is unconscionable and un-American.

With actions contradicting their meaningless platitudes, President Biden and his Administration continue to declare war against God and religious freedom.  Notably, Biden omitted the word “God” from his National Day of Prayer declaration.  He refuses to talk frankly about abortion.  Each episode is not an innocent oversight, but a premeditated pattern of war against religion and America’s constitutional freedoms.

President Biden purposefully released his budget for fiscal year 2022 on the Friday before Memorial Day -- one of the lowest interest news days of the year.  Why all the hush-hush?  In part, President Biden was trying to hide the Administration’s attack on religious freedom.  Missing from President Biden’s budget is any mention of conscience or religious liberty.  This purposeful exclusion isn’t an oversight; it’s an attack on the First Amendment.  By contrast, the Trump Administration made protection of these liberties clear for all to see.

In the last two weeks, the Biden Administration has severely eroded protections for religious freedom.  Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra is allegedly planning to dismantle a Trump-era watchdog office established to curb the blatant disregard for religious conscience protected by the First Amendment.  Starting under the Obama Administration, and continuing under the Biden Administration, religious organizations have been summarily targeted for exercising personally held religious beliefs that conflict with those Administrations’ progressive, woke narrative and ideology – an ideology that seeks to divest and distance individuals from God and truth and the protection of freedoms our elected leaders swore to uphold.

On November 8, the Biden Administration also announced a proposal that seeks to rescind a Trump-initiated rule that had expanded religious exemptions for federal contractors relating to anti-discrimination laws released under the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program.  President Trump championed religious freedom by ensuring protection for religious organizations that engaged in government contracting.  Under pressure from progressive, liberal interest groups, the Biden Administration seeks to roll back those protections, calling them “unnecessary and problematic.”  This action is another pointed target from the Biden Administration to further undermine and attack religious freedom. [Comment period for public input is open until December 9, 2021]

The Biden Administration is going beyond attacking religious freedoms, also undermining loving American families.  Again, HHS Secretary Becerra just struck a blow to religious freedom on November 18 by rolling back religious waivers for child welfare and adoption agencies in Michigan, South Carolina, and Texas.  This will have devastating impacts on countless children and our society-at-large by equating sexual orientation and gender identity to, and even prioritizing them over, religious conscience and freedom.  As Senator James Lankford eloquently stated “This is America, faith-based organizations can care for children based on their faith.  Becerra is pushing a discriminatory agenda at the expense of religious freedom and kids in foster care.” 

Each one of these seemingly nuanced omissions or actions is a truly calculated and blatant attack on religious freedom.  The Biden Administration favors woke and progressive diatribes professing diversity, but not diversity of thought or dissent, especially of a religious nature.  The Biden Administration continues to callously sacrifice religious viewpoints, conscience, and freedom to placate radical self-interest groups.  Where is the “tolerance” that liberals so adamantly demand?  Where are the checks and balances protecting First Amendment rights?  There are none.  Secretary Becerra’s actions grossly contradict what he said under oath before Congress just a few months ago, like so many of his Biden Administration colleagues.  The Biden Administration is an anti-religious, anti-Christian regime... period.

America must wake up to this nonsense and demand protection of religious freedom.  

This week we celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the very first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims set aside time to give thanks to God for His Providential provision and blessings. Although nearly half of those brave pioneers who escaped religious persecution to start anew in the New World died, those who lived recognized that only God could provide the unshakeable foundation necessary for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (and, of course, religious freedom). 

The Bible states in Psalms, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord… the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.”  Should these despicable and caustic attacks continue to deny God and persecute religious freedom, we are in jeopardy of losing the favor and blessing and prosperity God has graciously bestowed on America.  Without a doubt, if the Biden Administration continues down this deleterious path, our country will be heading toward an inescapable heat of much greater consequence than the climate change they so adamantly warn about.

May God bless America... always! 

Bethany Kozma serves as the Director for the Center for American Values for the America First Policy Institute (AFPI).