Bobby Jindal to warn of 'silent war' on religion
Jindal will say religious groups 'will be targeted in large and small degrees.' | AP Photo
By JAMES HOHMANN | 2/13/14 3:48 PM EST Updated: 2/13/14 5:00 PM EST
In a Thursday night speech at Ronald Reagan’s presidential library, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will warn of a “silent war” on religious liberty in America and urge states to pass laws designed to block overreach by the Obama administration.
The 4,500-word address, shared first with POLITICO, touches on several hot-button issues, including same-sex marriage and contraception. Jindal, a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate trying to woo social conservatives, argues that liberals will use the mantra of anti-discrimination to force people to violate their religious beliefs.
“The American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent war,” Jindal will say at the Simi Valley, Calif., event. “It threatens the fabric of our communities, the health of our public square and the endurance of our constitutional governance.”
“This war is waged in our courts and in the halls of political power,” he adds, according to the prepared remarks. “It is pursued with grim and relentless determination by a group of like-minded elites, determined to transform the country from a land sustained by faith into a land where faith is silenced, privatized and circumscribed.”
The 42-year-old governor calls the upcoming Supreme Court decision on whether government can force Hobby Lobby craft stores to cover contraception through their health insurance plans just one of the battles being fought over religious liberty.
Citing a piece of failed legislation in Illinois, Jindal suggests that liberals will eventually try to pass laws designed to pressure churches to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies against their will. He also will blast the New Mexico Supreme Court for ruling last August that a wedding photography business violated the state’s Human Rights Act by refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony.
[ I think the thing liberals like about gay marriage is that it IS sacrilegious. In fact and intent. That's the idea and purpose. It's why there have to gay weddings at parades and award ceremonies where there never were any weddings. I joked that "America was a terrible country because there wasn't gay wedding during halftime at the Superbowl. But I have no doubt whatsoever, the event planners considered it. ]
“This is the next stage of the assault, and it is only beginning,” Jindal plans to say. “Today, an overwhelming majority of those who belong to a religious denomination in America — that’s more than half the country — are members of organizations that affirm the traditional definition of marriage. All of those denominations will be targeted in large and small degrees in the coming years.”
Jindal, a son of Indian immigrants and a convert to Catholicism, notes that religious persecution led the first pilgrims to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He speaks poignantly about the role religious groups have played in the push to abolish slavery and promote civil rights.
“America does not sustain and create faith. Faith created and sustains America,” he is expected to say.
Jindal, whose second term as governor ends in January 2016, is positioning himself to carry the mantle for social conservatives if he goes forward with a run for the White House. He was the first prominent politician to decry A&E for suspending “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson over comments he made about homosexuality. The network backtracked under pressure from viewers.
“I defended them because they have every right to speak their minds, however indelicately they may choose to do so,” Jindal says of the Robertson family in his Thursday speech. “The modern left in America is completely intolerant of the views of people of faith. They want a completely secular society where people of faith keep their views to themselves.”
On March 25, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby case.
The religious family that owns the crafts store chain was told it would be fined $1.3 million a day if it did not cover morning-after pills for its employees under the Affordable Care Act. The federal government argues that Hobby Lobby is a for-profit business and thus not protected under the First Amendment’s “free exercise” of religion clause. But the family considers birth control objectionable on religious grounds.
[ What will happen if the Supreme Court decision goes against Hobby Lobby? I think the powers that govern us, our Caesar, think Hobby Lobby will fold and obey. I have no doubt that they'll close down first. ]
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/jindal-to-warn-of-silent-war-on-religion-103501.html#ixzz2tJ6ZCB9E |
