Thursday, May 8, 2014
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
Rally For Religious Freedom
This morning I joined the leaders of 15 other pro-family, pro-life organizations at the “Rally for Religious Freedom.” The event took place in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is widely considered the second-most important court in the country. The rally was sponsored by Priests for Life and the Archdiocese of Washington, which were in court today fighting Obamacare’s contraception mandate.
It is a sad day for America that we even had to have this event outside of a federal court. We were there hoping and praying that the court would not force people of faith to be complicit in the culture of death.
I reminded those gathered for the rally that in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence our founders made it clear that our liberty comes from God, not from government, and that the right to life is the first of our “unalienable Rights.”
We pray the court does the right thing. But this court and the justices on the court above it, our president and our elected representatives in Congress need to remember that Christians have a history of dealing with various forms of tyranny. While it may be hard for most of Washington, D.C., to understand this, millions of people do not get up every morning and think to themselves, “What must I do today to please my government?”
Instead, they humbly ask God how they can best serve Him and their fellow man. If forced to choose between bending our knee to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or to HHS bureaucrats, that’s an easy decision to make.
By the way, there was an incredible event last night on Capitol Hill honoring the faith of our first president, George Washington. Among the speakers was Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, who quoted Washington’s first inaugural address, in which he said: “The propitious smile of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself hath ordained.” Here are more of Rabbi’s Cahn’s remarks:
“We stand tonight on Capitol Hill, in the city named after the one who gave that prophetic warning, to ask, can a nation drive out the name of God from its public square, and the Word of God from its schools and the ways of God from its culture and still expect the smiles of God to shine upon it?
“Can the blood of 50 million unborn children cry out to heaven from this land and the smiles of heaven still remain? Members of Congress, can a government call evil good and good evil and forge laws that war against the laws of the Almighty and the smiles of heaven still remain? The voice of our first president cries out to us tonight and answers, no ”
House Holds Lerner In Contempt
Last night the House of Representatives voted 231-to-187 to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about her role in targeting conservative organizations for harassment and abuse.
Minutes later the House passed a second resolution calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate abuse and corruption at the IRS. That vote passed by a lopsided margin of 250-to-168 as more than two dozen Democrats joined the call for an independent and thorough investigation of the IRS.
It needs to happen. During a hearing yesterday, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) revealed that individual donors to Tea Party organizations were subjected to increased IRS audits.
When reviewing applications from conservative organizations seeking tax exempt status, the IRS often made numerous demands, including asking for a list of donors. IRS officials told members of Congress that those donor lists were destroyed. In the course of the investigation, however, three lists were discovered.
While only one percent of Americans are audited each year, House investigators compared those three lists and learned that 10% of those conservative donors had been audited. In other words, the IRS wasn’t targeting just organizations, it appeared to be going after individuals too!
Abuse of the IRS and discriminatory tax audits were among the principle violations of law cited in the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.
There is no evidence that the White House ordered IRS audits of Tea Party donors. But given their disproportionately high numbers, it seems that someone did. Those donors and the American people deserve answers and accountability.
AWOL In The Fight Against Christian Persecution?
A new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom finds that the persecution of Christians is increasing, particularly in the Middle East, and that the Obama Administrationisn’t doing much about it.
Dwight Bashir, the commission’s deputy director of policy and research, told Fox News that the administration wasn’t using every tool at its disposal. “While the Obama administration should continue to shine a spotlight on abuses through public statements,” Bashir said, “it also should impose targeted sanctions to demonstrate that there are consequences, too.”
Meanwhile, the glitterati gathered last night in Hollywood where Steven Spielberg presented the president with the “Ambassador for Humanity Award.”
I’ll report tomorrow on another effort to organize men and women of faith to combat Christian persecution overseas.
“Bring Back Our Girls”
That is the cry of hundreds of mothers and fathers in Nigeria. It is also the slogan adopted by well-wishers around the world who are praying for the safe return of nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped by the radical Islamists of Boko Haram.
Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton are also taking up the cause. The White House released a photo of Mrs. Obama holding a sign reading “#BringBackOurGirls.” Hillary recently tweeted, “Access to education is a basic right & an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls. We must stand up to terrorism. #Bringbackourgirls.”
New reports indicated that the State Department, under Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state,fought against designating Boko Haram as a terrorist organization.
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