Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States. COURTESY PHOTO.
Former USA president Donald Trump has announced the launch of a new National Faith Advisory Board to among others push back against what Republicans describe as an “anti-faith agenda” by the Biden administration.
The new coalition was formally unveiled Thursday during a conference call organized by Intercessors for America and led by longtime Trump adviser Paula White. Jenny Korn and Amanda Robbins Vargo, who worked at the office of public liaison in the Trump White House, were announced as co-founders of the group.
According to the Jewish Daily Forward, Pastor Paula White explained the initiative, which includes participation from “70 executives,” is intended to connect religious communities who were supportive of Donald Trump’s policies – and also continue the “great work that we have done,” referring to efforts she oversaw as head of the Trump White House’s faith-based office.
“We accomplished so much together at the White House during the Trump administration. We are seeing all our hard work being unraveled by the new administration and their anti-faith agenda,” read an email sent to faith groups in U.S. “We will protect our religious freedoms here and abroad, in order to worship and live according to our faith.”
The group will organize regular conference calls and events with prominent leaders in the coming months, according to the Christian Post.
In his address, Donald Trump lamented about President Joe Biden’s record on faith-based issues — “a lot of things have happened with respect to faith and religion, and they’re not good things” — and praising his own tenure, Trump said: “One of my greatest honors was fighting for religious liberty and for defending the Judeo-Christian values and principles of our nation’s founding.”
Religion News reported that he listed various Trump administration accomplishments popular with conservative Christians, such as designating Jerusalem the capital of Israel, founding a new White House faith office, declaring churches “essential” during the coronavirus pandemic and appointing conservative judges to the federal bench and the Supreme Court.
Trump criticized Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, calling it “a mad rush.”
A poll released by Rasmussen last Wednesday found that a majority of Americans believe President Joe Biden should resign over his handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Elsewhere during the launch, Trump was also asked directly about his belief in God. “It’s all based around God — it’s so important,” he stated. “God is so important to the success of what we’re doing. Because without God, we have nothing.”
According to Religion News, the launch ended with a prayer from Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church near Dallas, which Trump visited during his 2020 campaign.
It should be noted that earlier this year President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum to reverse restrictions on abortion access domestically and abroad imposed and expanded by the Trump administration.
In a move lauded by LGBTQ advocates, Biden also signed an executive order repealing the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, a ban that former President Donald Trump had put in effect. Biden’s administration said earlier it will not limit a person’s sex to male or female as determined by biology.
Challenging for Christian doctors is Biden administration’s transgender mandate requiring medical workers to perform elective gender-transition procedures, including cosmetic surgeries such as double mastectomies, phalloplasties and orchiectomies (testicle removal).
