It may be tempting for conservatives in government to undo all the damage that the Obama administration has achieved against Christian beliefs and practices in recent years. But Evangelicals who felt disenfranchised and persecuted by the Obama administration for their Christian way of life, and who support Donald Trump are struggling with a question – how much to push back? Should they attempt to roll back laws that they see as antithetical to Christian values – from LGBT rights to abortion – or should they focus on defending their constitutional right to freedom of religion, which they feel has been infringed?
“Yes, there is a sense of relief [among Evangelicals],” says Michael Griffin, senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga. “The perception of the Obama leadership allowed for extreme overreaching in LGBT activism, and that impetus is no longer going to be there.”
The forces that would turn the tables on those who have targeted the Christian way of life are strong. The mounting lawsuits against religious business owners and the transgender bathroom choice issue have, to many, felt like persecution. Will the religious right now push back just as hard as the liberal left?
Republicans are marshaling forces to expand the ability to invoke religious values in the public square. Congressional leaders including Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah said this week that they will reintroduce the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA). The bill would prohibit the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person who acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.
Likewise, state legislators have also been emboldened by Trump’s victory. Many republican lawmakers at the national and the state level are planning to address the legal issues relating to same-sex marriage and transgender issues, as well as the religious freedom issue. But Trump’s vow to install conservative Supreme Court justices might make politicians even more confident. Certainly, key conservative groups feel emboldened. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said last month that the US is now “on the cusp of a conservative generation.”
But the United States has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. People who stand for biblical principles are sometimes defeated in elections for public office. Lawsuits against Christian businesses are still pending. But most importantly, Americans are divided now on the extent to which the Constitution protects Christians and other religious adherents who say they are compelled by their beliefs to push back in some way.
“The debate is [now] in the control of extremists on both sides: FADA goes way, way beyond small business and the wedding industry, and the gay-rights movement increasingly wants no religious exemptions of any kind – not even for religious nonprofits,” says Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor.
Along those lines, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, an evangelical group, is pushing for a “Fairness for All” national law that mirrors a compromise hammered out in conservative Utah, which secured LGBT rights while also carving out solid exemptions for religious people. “Rights need not always be secured by one group at the expense of another group,” Shapri LoMaglio, the CCCU’s vice president for government and external relations, said.
How far conservative politicians will go in repealing offensive laws is anyone’s guess. But it will be a fight. And Donald Trump is lining up his team some of whom look like they are capable of mounting a significant challenge to the liberal and leftist policies of the Obama administration.
The Bible says that wickedness and evil will continue to increase until the end of time, for “as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man… Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot… Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:26, 28, 30