Given Christianity’s dominance in US, Trump raises eyebrows with anti-Christian bias initiative
A debate over victimhoodBruce Ledewitz, a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, criticized the mindset behind the executive order as that of a powerful group claiming victimhood.
The Christian conservative movement — a core Republican constituency — now has significant sway on the Supreme Court and in numerous states, Congress and the presidency, Ledewitz said. And still, they declare, “We are victims,” he said.
“There’s a struggle for the soul of America,” said Ledewitz, who studies the relationship between constitutional law and religion. “We call this a culture war, but it’s very deep,” animated by the charge “that you people, the Democrats, you are not religious, and we are.”
Trump said exactly that at a National Prayer Breakfast gathering on Feb. 6.
“The opposing side, they oppose religion, they oppose God,” Trump claimed, accusing the previous administration of engaging in “persecution.” President Joe Biden, a regular Mass-attending Catholic, often spoke of drawing on the values of his faith and had warm relations with Pope Francis.
But Ryan Bangert, a senior vice president at the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, said the task force is overdue.
He said the Biden administration was “deliberately targeting Christian beliefs through discriminatory policies” on issues such as abortion and gender. These are “not fringe beliefs” and are shared by other religious groups besides Christians, he said.
AP newswire
Too Jewish or too Muslim or both. |
