Calls on Americans to bring God back into their lives
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Donald Trump closed out the first three whirlwind weeks of his presidency by taking a powerful stand for religious liberty – and for God.
On February 6, 2025, the 47th president issued an executive order (E.O.) titled "Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias" Thursday bringing a halt to the open season on Christians that intensified during the Biden administration.
The E.O. states:
"It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government."
"The Founders established a Nation in which people were free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or retaliation by their government," the document declares. "Yet the previous Administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses."
INVENTORY OF PERSECUTION
Trump's order unpacks the wide scope and variety of attacks leveled at Christians that ramped up during the last four years of Biden rule. Examples from the text include:
Bringing federal criminal charges and obtaining in numerous cases multi-year prison sentences against nearly two dozen peaceful pro-life Christians for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities.
The DOJ largely ignoring the over 100 instances of “violence, theft, and arson” perpetrated against “Catholic churches, charities, and pro-life centers.”
The 2023 FBI's memo claiming traditional Catholics were “domestic-terrorism threats” and recommending the agency plant undercover operatives in Catholic churches.
In addition, it cited various anti-Christian actions occurring within Biden's administration:
The Department of Education sought to repeal religious liberty protections for faith-based organizations on college campuses.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sought to force Christians to affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith.
The Department of Health and Human Services sought to drive Christians who do not conform to certain beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity out of the foster-care system.
The Biden Administration declared March 31, 2024 – Easter Sunday – as “Transgender Day of Visibility.”
TRUMP ON OFFENSE
Going beyond merely calling out Biden's persecution of Christians, Trump's order also establishes a “Task Force on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” within the DOJ and led by new US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi, along with 17 other high level officials, is charged with identifying "any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians,” as well as ending “all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government.”
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH
At two National Prayer Breakfasts earlier in the day, the nation saw a softer and pensive, but no less powerful, side of Trump.
In a rousing, 25-minute speech at the US Capitol, he urged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to keep the faith.
“From the earliest days of our Republic, faith in God has always been the ultimate source of the strength that beats in the hearts of our nation,” Trump said. “We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger.”
"[I]f we do that, our job is just going to be much easier. It unifies people. It brings people together. Democrats are going to be able to have lunch again and dinner with Republicans," he added.
The president also paid homage to the 67 people who died in the tragic DC plane crash, reflecting on his own brush with death.
"As one nation, we take solace in the knowledge that their journey that night did not end in the icy waters of the Potomac, but in the warm embrace, of a very loving God, None of us knows, exactly when our time on earth will be over – a truth I confronted a few short months ago," he mused.
"It changed something in me. I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it," he added. "But that event, like the tragedy last week, should remind us all that we have to make the most out of every single day that we have."
Trump concluded his remarks by saying:
"I really believe you can't be happy without religion, without that belief," Trump said. "Let's bring religion back. Let's bring God back into our lives."
Afterward, at the Washington Hilton hotel, he reminded the audience that the US was "founded by people of faith" and continually "strengthened by the power of prayer." The nation is "united by four simple but very beautiful words – "In God We Trust," he added.
He went on to announce the creation of a new task force to be led by AG Bondi on religious liberty "... [which] will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move Heaven and Earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide."
"[I]f we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country, we probably don't even have a country," he said.
REACTIONS TO THE E.O.
Online commenters applauded the president for the order. For example:
Thank you, President Trump! You’re the first President to support Catholic and Christian voters.
More winning!!
He just opened up the country for some major blessings!!
This administration is better than I expected that is for sure.
Please let [Bondi] begin in California
We desperately need that here in Canada
Lovely!!! Let this catch on in Canada with all the church burnings ...
Every time President Trump signs an EO, my envy of the US as a citizen of the UK, gets bigger and bigger. Why, oh why, can the UK not have a Trump of their own?
Not everyone is enamored with the order, with some criticizing its focus on God and religion, such as:
Your Magical Imaginary Sky Daddy doesn't run my life.
Others failed to acknowledge the barrage of attacks on Christians and Christian values perpetrated by the Biden regime as enumerated in the executive order, and commented:
hmm can you reply with an example where this [Christian persecution] has been an issue? happy to look into it.
At the DC Hilton prayer breakfast, Trump revealed what he would most like – above all – to be remembered for.
"The Bible says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' and in the end, I hope my greatest legacy ... will be [that of] a peacemaker and a unifier."
Dr. Barbara Toth has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Bowling Green State University. She has taught high school in Poland and Oman and at universities in the US, China and Saudi Arabia. Her work in setting up a writing center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahmen University, an all-women's university in Riyadh, has been cited in American journals. Toth has published academic and non-academic articles and poems internationally.
Editor's note:
HOW SOULS AND LIBERTY WILL MOVE FORWARD THE NEXT FOUR YEARS
There can be no doubt we have witnessed an extraordinary moment in the history of the United States and the world. The election of Donald Trump to a second Presidential term is a great victory for Christian patriots, but it is not a complete or final victory. Rather, it is a reprieve from the ceaseless assaults on life, liberty and faith we have had to endure for four years.
Donald Trump is president once again, and his decisions, Cabinet selections, and force of personality are shaping the United States and the world in ways we could only dream of.
We have a Heaven-sent opportunity to step up and ensure this victory is not merely a one-off, but the first of many and the foundation of a lasting legacy of patriotic, Christian, pro-family policies.
Souls and Liberty will be part of that effort, but we cannot do it without you. It will require reporting and activism of which YOU can be a part.
Can you step up and support us? Just once – a one-time donation is very valuable. Or, better yet, support us every month with a recurring donation. Thank you, and may God bless you.
Stephen Wynne
Editor-in-Chief, Souls and Liberty