Christians Barred From Seeking Asylum

Christians Barred From Seeking Asylum After Leaving Refugee Camp Amid Harassment by Muslim Migrants

A Christian charity is pressuring the Greek government to change a policy that is preventing homeless Christian refugees who fled persecution, bullying and threats inside the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos from being able to apply for asylum and gain help via the United Nations.

The London-based British Pakistani Christian Association recently wrote to the U.N. and Greek authorities on behalf of Pakistani Christian refugees who fled from Lesbos Island's famous Moria asylum camp due to the level of persecution they experienced at the hands of Muslims inside the camp.

BPCA President Wilson Chowdhry told The Christian Post Monday that he has been told Greek authorities have put in place a "geographical restriction" that is effectively blocking asylum seekers who escaped persecution at one of the refugee camps on the Greek islands from being able to apply for asylum with the Greek authorities on the mainland without having to return to the very camp they were persecuted in.

Chowdhry explained that the only exception to that rule is if an asylum seeker has a severe health condition that qualifies as a mitigating factor to allow his or her asylum application to be assessed on the Greek mainland. Chowdhry said the policy is designed to make it easier to track asylum-seeking refugees.

He called on Greece's Ambassador to the United Kingdom Dimitris Caramitsos for help in seeking a change to the policy.

"I would like to bring to your attention several reports of persecution that have been raised with the British Pakistani Christian Association, relating to persecution of Christians within the Muslim-majority ... Moria Camp," Chowdhry wrote in an email to Caramitsos last Friday. "Christians are being prevented from holding church services, worshiping and praying by their Muslim neighbors. Moreover, reports of tents being burned down, violence, bullying, harassment and severe threats paint a very bleak picture of the quality of life for Christians caught up within the camp."

"The majority of Christian refugees escape but are being refused asylum by Greek authorities who only consider adverse health as a mitigating factor and not Christian persecution," Chowdhry's email continued. "We are seeking your help in obtaining a change in the current Greek policy in which the risk of proven re-persecution of Christians counts as a mitigating factor for asylum assessment for escapees of Moria Camp."

Caramitsos has not yet respond to Chowdhry's email.

Chowdhry explained that the failure to assess asylum seekers leaves them in a place of limbo with no status. This prevents them receiving statutory assistance from the Greek Authorities and help from UNHCR.

One of the Pakistani Christian asylum seekers suffering from the policy is Haroon Maqbool, who is father of two from Rawal Pindi, Pakistan.

Maqbool fled Pakistan, which ranks as the fourth-worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution according to Open Doors USA, in 2015 after being imprisoned and tortured.

In August 2016, Maqbool arrived in Lesbos on a boat with other asylum seekers and the group was taken to Moria camp to register for asylum.

According to the BPCA: "Muslim's pushed the Christians to the back of the queue and told them not to enter the camp or they would be killed."

BPCA reports that Maqbool and the other Christian men in the group "realized they would not survive long in the camp." Even though they submitted their fingerprints at the camp, the group did not complete their asylum applications before they escaped the camp and the island.

"Haroon became bullied straight away and all the Christians left the camp ... and escaped by ship rather than be harrassed and bullied everyday," Chowdhry told CP in a phone call.

Even though it's been nine months since Maqbool fled the camp, the policy has prevented him from completing an asylum application on the Greek mainland, where he now lives as an illegal immigrant at risk of being arrested for overstaying his visa.

"In Haroon's case, you have a clear case of how the system is not working," Chowdhry asserted.

BPCA is helping aid as many as seven Pakistani Christian asylum seekers who were found homeless on the Greek mainland by another charity and are accepting online donations that will provide much-needed aid to homeless Christian refugees in Greece like Maqbool.

"The victims had no recognised status as they had fled Moria Camp due to persecution and bullying. The camps are severely under-policed and Christians were being told they were not allowed to hold worship services or pray to God," Chowdhry told CP. "Moreover through threats, intimidation and bullying attempts were being made to forcibly convert these Christians who had fled their homelands to be free of such oppression."

"To date many still have not been registered for asylum as they refuse to return back to Moria camp on Lesbos island, where they first entered Greece," he added.

Chowdhry asserted that it's not just Moria camp where Christians are being persecuted, adding that many Christians flee from refugee camps on the Greek mainland also. He noticed during a visit to a refugee camp on the Greek mainland earlier this year that there was very little policing inside the camp.

In addition to the persecution, refugees face dire and inadequate conditions inside the camps that force them to live in squalor.

"Many just choose to be homeless rather than return back and stay at those camps," Chowdhry said. "Those camps are extremely terrifying."

Chowdhry has been informed that UNHCR is compiling a list of cases like Maqbool's where asylum seekers are too frightened to return to island refugee camps to complete their asylum applications.

"We hope that that report will help redefine accepted mitigating factors for registration for escapees from asylum camps on the basis of religious persecution," Chowdhry said. "In the meanwhile, we have written to the Greek Ambassador to the U.K. and have asked him to intervene on behalf of Haroon Maqbool and other Pakistani Christians."





Cred: Christian Post

Smiling and Laughter

Bible Verse of the Day: Job 8:21

Job 8:21 (KJV)

21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

Wisdom's Warning

Today's Scripture: Proverbs 2

Proverbs 2 (KJV)

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Scripture Meaning

Promises to those who seek wisdom. (1-9) The advantages of wisdom. (10-22)

Verses 1-9: Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, (Joh 6:27). Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them.

Observe who are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment.

Verses 10-22: If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without.

The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul.

These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin.

Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?

Scripture Application

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue with the Book of Proverbs with Chapter 2. In our text today we see that wisdom is from the Lord and His Wisdom will keep us from a lot of heartache.

The Bible says that anyone who lacks wisdom should ask of God who gives wisdom liberally and abraideth not. In making application we have God's Words on the Pages of the Bible and Proverbs is full of God's Wisdom. If we apply the Bible's text to our lives - then we too will avoid the heartaches to come. How about you? Do you seek the Wisdom of the Lord? Let us learn from our text today and listen to the Word of God for His Direction for Wisdom's Warnings.

Iran Cracks Down on Christian Converts

Iran Cracks Down on Christian Converts, Sentences Believers to 10-Years in Prison

Authorities in Iran are increasingly targeting Christian converts with arrests and imprisonments, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran.

"In less than two months, since June 2017, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran has issued long prison sentences to at least 11 Christian converts and the former leader of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Iran," CHRI said in a report.

"Christians are recognized as an official religious minority in Iran's Constitution, but the state continues to persecute members of the faith, especially converts," said CHRI's executive director Hadi Ghaemi. "The state must respect its own laws and international obligations and allow Christians and all religious minorities full freedom of worship."

On July 6, the judge sentenced four Protestant Christian converts to 10 years in prison each "in a trial completely lacking due process," the group said, quoting Mansour Borji, the advocacy director of a London-based group, Article 18, which defends Christians in Iran.

The four converts - Yusif Farhadov, Eldar Gurbanov and Bahram Nasibov from Baku in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Iranian national Nasser Navard Goltapeh - were arrested at a reception hosted by their Christian friends in Andisheh last June.

Prosecutors couldn't produce any evidence to show the converts had acted against national security, Borji said. Yet they were convicted of being "Zionist Christians" who "acted against national security with the intention of overthrowing the state in a soft war."

Iran Court Confirms 5-Year Prison Sentence for Christian Convert
Two weeks earlier, the same judge had given Christian converts Yousef Nadarkhani, Mohammadreza Omidi, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Saheb Fadaie 10-year prison sentences for propagating house churches and promoting "Zionist Christianity."

The lawyers of these four Christians are preparing to appeal the verdict.

A ruling is still overdue for a decision on an appeal by Omidi, Mossayebzadeh and Fadaie against a sentence of 80 lashes each for drinking wine during a communion service.

The Christians were arrested May 13 during a series of raids by security service agents on Christian homes in Rasht.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was recently reelected largely due to his promises to improve civil and political rights in Iran, Ghaemi said. "Yet we're seeing an increasing number of arrests of religious minorities, as well as activists, by the Intelligence Ministry, which is supposed to operate under him. … Rouhani must use all his authority to reign in the ministry and ensure it stops its trampling of citizens' rights."

The U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide has also criticized the government of Iran for persecuting converts.

"We are deeply disappointed by these excessive sentences, which are based on spurious charges and are clearly part of an intensified campaign of judicial harassment aimed at intimidating members of minority faiths," CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement.

Thomas added: "We reiterate that the national security charges leveled in all of these cases amount to the criminalization of the Christian community for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief, and that this is occurring despite the fact that the Iranian constitution recognizes Christianity. We urge members of the international community to extend the sanctions still in place against Iranian individuals to include members of the judiciary who are implicated in ongoing and severe harassment and persecution of religious minority communities."

Christians face severe persecution in the Shia Muslim country, including regular crackdowns and jail sentences due to their faith.

House churches are not permitted, and Christian converts are beaten and arrested for gathering to worship.






Cred: Christian Post

Algeria President gives Partial Pardon for Imprisoned Algerian Christian

Algeria- Algerian Christians are grateful that Slimane Bouhafs, imprisoned since September 2016 for blasphemy, has received a partial pardon.His three-year sentence was reduced by 16 months on July 5, the national day of Algeria, following a decree by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which provided clemency to several prisoners on account of good behavior in prison. As a result of the partial pardon, Slimane has nine months remaining on his prison sentence.

Family members have again requested his release. According to Slimane’s daughter Tilleli, this request will be considered on 18th July. Slimane was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on 7th August 2016 (reduced on appeal to three years on 6th September 2016) after he posted information on Facebook which was considered blasphemous against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Slimane was initially imprisoned in Sétif, then in Constantine, and for almost two months has been in prison in Jijel. A request by his family to transfer him to the prison in Bejaia, closer to their home, was turned down. With support from human rights activists, family members have consistently demanded Slimane’s release and condemned the arbitrary judicial process leading to his sentencing and imprisonment.

In October 2016 his family appealed to the President to pardon Slimane, whose health has deteriorated significantly since his imprisonment. According to Tilleli, Slimane has also suffered aggressive treatment from other inmates because of his Christian faith, particularly during his time in prison in Constantine. Tilleli comments: “My father is ill and we are worried about him.”






Cred: Middle East Concern

Teens Record, Mock Disabled Man as He Drowns

Teens Record, Mock Disabled Man as He Drowns, But Will Likely Not Face Criminal Charges

COCOA, Fla. - A group of teenagers recorded a disabled man as he slowly drowned in a Florida detention pond earlier this month-swearing, laughing and calling out to him that no one was going to help him get out of the water.

“They were telling him they weren’t going in after him and that ‘you shouldn’t have gone in there,'” Yvonne Martinez, spokesperson for the Cocoa Police Department, told reporters “He started to struggle and scream for help, and they just laughed,” she lamented. “They didn’t call the police. They just laughed the whole time. He was just screaming … for someone to help him.”

The incident occurred on July 9, as Jamel Dunn, 32, went out for a walk following an argument with his girlfriend. Dunn used a cane as a walking aid, and for unknown reasons, he waded into the water.

Five teenagers, ages 14-16, who had been at the park smoking marijuana, saw Dunn enter the pond. However, instead of answering his cries for help, they turned on their cameras and began mocking him.“Get out of the water, you gonna die,” one called out. “We’re not going to help your [expletive]. You shouldn’t have got in,” another teen exclaimed. “Ain’t nobody going to help you, you dumb [expletive].”

Dunn soon went under the water, and one remarked, “Oh, he just died,” to which the youth broke out into laughter. They continued to watch the pond, noting that the man had not resurfaced. None of the teens called 911 or attempted to help him, but instead uploaded the footage to Facebook.

After Dunn’s girlfriend reported him missing, police found his body in the pond on July 14. A friend of Dunn’s soon also discovered the recording on social media and contacted authorities.
The teens were identified and questioned by police, but did not express any regret or sorrow.
“There was no remorse, only a smirk,” Martinez told Florida Today.


However, although police and prosecutors are horrified by the situation, they state that the teens will not likely face criminal charges as they cannot find any statutes that would be applicable.

“While the incident depicted on the recording does not give rise to sufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution under Florida statutes, we can find no moral justification for either the behavior of persons heard on the recording or the deliberate decision not to render aid to Mr. Dunn,” the office of Brevard County State Attorney Phil Archer said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened and shocked at both the manner in which Mr. Dunn lost his life and the actions of the witnesses to this tragedy,” it said.

Dunn’s sister has launched a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise $20,000 for his funeral expenses. He had two daughters, ages 11 and 6.







Cred: Christian News

Deeper understanding of God's grace

Bible Verse of the Day: 1 Corinthians 2:12 (KJV)

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Prayer Requests

Today's Prayer Requests

Vera Bankston-Jones | FATHER GOD, Father never want to be a burden to anyone let alone myself. Yet when I call on your name you are there to say me from me and everything around me! Forgive me my sins and continuously bless me with your grace!....... Selah

Frances | Pray for me: I been diagnosed with MS and I rebuke this disease in Jesus name. Please help me through prayer for me to behealed in Jesus name amen.

vijay aggarwal | Plz pray for money in abundance for a comfortable life

gift ngosa | I need a break through in my life and family

Kevin Jeanes | Please pray for my friends Ryan and Luke who just left rehab early before there program was suppose to be over. Please pray for my recovery as well and anxiety spells. thank you so much!

Mikaela | I am putting my boyfriend before god. I need insight on how to put god first while keeping a happy relationship........ God Bless

Jesse James carter | Please pray for continued help keeping my sin at bay and to lead my family toward the light. Also we are in desperate need of finances. I was suspended from work because of my sins. Now my family is paying the price. We are being evicted  iday. And we have no where to turn. No food. Only a car on a donut and some faith. Please ask the Lord to give us strength to get through what I caused. I go back to work next week. Glory to him. But the landlord will not work with me. Eviction is filled. I know God will see us through. Im worried though. Pray for my faith. Thank you and bless you.

Sins Enticing Trap

Today's Scripture: Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1 (KJV)

1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Scripture Meaning

The use of the Proverbs. (1-6) Exhortations to fear God and obey parents. (7-9) To avoid the enticings of sinners. (10-19) The address of Wisdom to sinners. (20-33)

Verses 1-6: The lessons here given are plain, and likely to benefit those who feel their own ignorance, and their need to be taught. If young people take heed to their ways, according to Solomon's Proverbs, they will gain knowledge and discretion. Solomon speaks of the most important points of truth, and a greater than Solomon is here. Christ speaks by his word and by his Spirit. Christ is the Word and the Wisdom of God, and he is made to us wisdom.

Verses 7-9: Fools are persons who have no true wisdom, who follow their own devices, without regard to reason, or reverence for God. Children are reasonable creatures, and when we tell them what they must do, we must tell them why. But they are corrupt and wilful, therefore with the instruction there is need of a law. Let Divine truths and commands be to us most honourable; let us value them, and then they shall be so to us.

Verses 10-19: Wicked people are zealous in seducing others into the paths of the destroyer: sinners love company in sin. But they have so much the more to answer for. How cautious young people should be! "Consent thou not." Do not say as they say, nor do as they do, or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them. Who could think that it should be a pleasure to one man to destroy another! See their idea of worldly wealth; but it is neither substance, nor precious.

It is the ruinous mistake of thousands, that they overvalue the wealth of this world. Men promise themselves in vain that sin will turn to their advantage. The way of sin is down-hill; men cannot stop themselves. Would young people shun temporal and eternal ruin, let them refuse to take one step in these destructive paths. Men's greediness of gain hurries them upon practices which will not suffer them or others to live out half their days. What is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? much less if he lose his soul?

Verses 20-33: Solomon, having showed how dangerous it is to hearken to the temptations of Satan, here declares how dangerous it is not to hearken to the calls of God. Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms. Three sorts of persons are here called by Him:
1. Simple ones. Sinners are fond of their simple notions of good and evil, their simple prejudices against the ways of God, and flatter themselves in their wickedness.
2. Scorners. Proud, jovial people, that make a jest of every thing. Scoffers at religion, that run down every thing sacred and serious.
3. Fools. Those are the worst of fools that hate to be taught, and have a rooted dislike to serious godliness. The precept is plain; Turn you at my reproof. We do not make a right use of reproofs, if we do not turn from evil to that which is good.

The promises are very encouraging. Men cannot turn by any power of their own; but God answers, Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you. Special grace is needful to sincere conversion. But that grace shall never be denied to any who seek it.

The love of Christ, and the promises mingled with his reproofs, surely should have the attention of every one. It may well be asked, how long men mean to proceed in such a perilous path, when the uncertainty of life and the consequences of dying without Christ are considered? Now sinners live at ease, and set sorrow at defiance; but their calamity will come.

Now God is ready to hear their prayers; but then they shall cry in vain. Are we yet despisers of wisdom? Let us hearken diligently, and obey the Lord Jesus, that we may enjoy peace of conscience and confidence in God; be free from evil, in life, in death, and for ever.

Scripture Application

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we start the Book of Proverbs with Chapter 1. In our text today we see the outline for this book which is wisdom that keeps a man from sin.

We see these warning signs to keep a person from sins destructive. In making application we see the voice of wisdom as it speaks from the past failures of those who have fallen before. Today the world is enticing us to fall into this trap of sin. Verse 10 tells us if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. How about you? Do you see sins trap of sin? Let us learn from our text today to see the wisdom of learning from those who have fallen before in sins enticing trap.

Transgender military ban: Religious reactions to Trump banning

WASHINGTON  - Religious leaders were quick to react to President Trump’s tweeted announcement that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow … Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” he wrote Wednesday (July 26) in three tweets. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming … victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Cheers and condemnation poured forth from religious leaders:

Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council

“I applaud President Trump for keeping his promise to return to military priorities - and not continue the social experimentation of the Obama era that has crippled our nation’s military. The military can now focus its efforts on preparing to fight and win wars rather than being used to advance the Obama social agenda.”

Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association

“AFA applauds President Trump for his courageous decision to end the usage of our military for social engineering and political correctness. American families deserve a military that is focused solely on readiness and national defense.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League

“It’s a sad day when the President of the United States declares that transgender Americans are unwelcome in the United States military. This policy is deeply objectionable - it devalues individual Americans and is blatantly discriminatory. We’ll fight against this unpatriotic ban of transgender troops. We cannot let bigotry stop Americans from serving their country.”

Roy Speckhardt, executive director, American Humanist Association

“President Trump is dragging America backward with his attacks on transgender patriots in the military.”

Jason Torpy, president, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers

“There is little justification to oppose open Transgender service as well as full health care support for servicemen and veterans for full sexual reassignment. This order serves to harm military readiness and deeply insults already-serving transgender patriots in the military.”

Rabbi Jack Moline, president of Interfaith Alliance

“President Trump’s outrageous and bigoted ban on transgender people in the military is a gift to the Religious Right and an affront to the Constitution. Thousands of transgender Americans serve admirably in our nation’s armed services. The President’s announcement is a cruel and gratuitous attack on these service members who want nothing more than an equal opportunity to serve their country.”

Tom Spoehr, Emilie Kao and Ryan Anderson, analysts at the Heritage Foundation

“At a time when growing foreign threats are stretching our military’s resources, our priority should be on maintaining military readiness and directing taxpayer funds towards mission-critical purposes. Respecting the dignity of all people does not mean subjecting taxpayers to the tremendous medical costs of sex reassignment and allowing the enlistment of individuals whose resilience to the rigors of combat is uncertain.”

Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action

“President Trump’s disgusting move to ban transgender people from military service is made especially appalling by its timing, with today being the 69th anniversary of the desegregation of the U.S. military. We must call out this decision for what it is - discrimination against transgender people and a cheap attempt to gain electoral victories in 2018.”

The Rev. James Martin, Jesuit priest and author

“Transgender people are beloved children of God, seeking their way to union with God, and to self-understanding, just like all of us are.”

Rachel Held Evans, Christian author

“Every week of this administration has been awful, but this week nearly takes the cake. Transgender friends: You are loved & valued & whole.”

Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church Dallas

“I applaud President Trump for exercising his judgment as Commander-in-Chief to make America safer and more secure by allowing our armed forces to concentrate on ‘decisive and overwhelming victory’ rather than serving as a petri dish for social experimentation.”

James Dobson, president, Family Talk

“It is heartening to have a commander-in-chief who puts the expert opinions of his generals and military officials ahead of the destructive forces of political correctness and identity politics. I support the president’s decision and commend this administration for having the courage to protect our military from what would only amount to an enormous and costly distraction.”