Perspective: Dear Mike Pence, the real persecution of Christians isn’t here in America
Vice President Pence waves to the audience at the end of his commencement speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., Saturday. By John Fea May 13 at 4:01 PM Vice President Pence on Saturday warned the graduating class of Liberty University to be prepared to suffer for their faith. “The truth is,” he told an audience of over 40,000 attending the commencement ceremony, “we live in a time when the freedom of religion is under assault.
Pence is an evangelical Christian. And while fellow members of his religious tribe face a few challenges to their religious liberties, especially when it comes to Christian institutions committed to traditional views on marriage, these challenges pale in comparison with what those who name the name of Jesus Christ are facing worldwide.
At one point in Pence’s speech on Saturday, he gave a moving testimony about his conversion experience. It was a powerful story of redemption and faith. But in the context of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University and the rest of the Pence speech, it seemed that the vice president was suggesting that an evangelical conversion will naturally lead to Christian Right politics and the unrelenting support of an immoral president. It does not.
It should also not surprise us that Pence wasted no time turning his commencement address into a Trump rally. He praised the Trump economy, reminded the audience that “America stands with Israel,” talked about abortion, and attacked former president Barack Obama for his supposed threats to religious liberty.
One of those issues include the warm evangelical embrace of a president who continually lies to the American people, obstructs justice, separates immigrant children from their families, and draws a moral equivalence between self-proclaimed white supremacists and those who fight against this kind of racism.
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