After President Donald Trump gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, a number of progressive pastors have made public complaints. Many of the woke pastors whined about Trump’s decision to curtail foreign aid. Trump’s speech reaffirmed his commitment to God and his belief in religious liberty. He also offered more context to his thoughts about the failed assassination in Butler, PA, last year.
Rev. Gabriel Salguero, who leads the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, disagreed with Trump’s decision to reorganize US Aid. He said “We know the collective impact this has on saving lives and on vulnerable children and families.” “If we’re concerned with immigration, shouldn’t we also be concerned about how foreign aid helps people stay in their country and flourish?” he added.
President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Walter Kim, said he is worried about “an overreaction” from immigration enforcement agents, potentially disturbing their places of worship “in the pursuit of undocumented criminal influence.” He thinks that churches should cooperate with the authorities but worries about movement overreach.
Should churches be law-abiding? Absolutely. Should they be cooperating with agencies to ensure that criminal influences are dealt with? Absolutely,” Kim explained. “But by and large, those communities that are experiencing fear and not going to church is far beyond the very small portion of the immigrant, undocumented criminal segment.”
“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,” the president said in his speech. “We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger. It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back. ”
President Trump reaffirmed his strong commitment to prioritizing religious freedom. ” Today, we must protect the fundamental freedom with absolute devotion. We must stand strong, just like generations of Americans have done on the battlefields of the world,” he said. “Every citizen should be proud of this exceptional heritage. We have an unbelievable heritage, and we have to use that and make life better for everyone,” Trump added.
He took a moment to make a humorous aside. “How about me? If I would have given up, I would not be here right now. Who the hell knows where I’d be? It might not be a good place. If it was up to the Democrats, it would not be a good place at all,” Trump said to a laughing crowd. “Never ever give up. There could be no better message for the leaders gathered here,” he explained.
Trump also said that the attempted assassination in Butler, PA, changed his thoughts about faith. “Had I not made that turn — boom — …So, you never know, but God did that. I mean, it had to be,” Trump explained. He said that the near miss “Changed something in me…I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it. ”
Watch Trump’s Speech Here:
Trump concluded his remarks by saying, “God bless everybody. We want to come together…And I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief…So, let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.” These statements came after President Trump signed a landmark executive order protecting Christians from bias.
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