Transcripts For CSPAN3 Values Voter Summit 20240713

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. To kickoff the they can call us whatever they want it doesnt matter. The applause we will not be deterred in our mission to pray, to vow and to stand together. I think this weekend it is important to send a clear message to those and those of us who are not going anywhere and not going to wave a white flag or surrender on the issues of our day. No matter how many lawsuits they file or no matter how many investigations they launch and no matter how many threats they make to take our Tax Exemption for leaving the bible we have counted the cost and will not bow and we are committed to stay applause . Allow me to set the stage for the 2019 values voter summit. As you will see, we are setting the stage. laughs it goes without saying that there is a battle for the heart and the soul of our nation. It is a battle that transcends politics and parties and there is no longer skirmish between conservatives and liberals and it is an epic battle between two ideologies, two world views. We must pray like weve never prayed before. We must vote, meaning we must be involved at every level of government. William penn, the founder of pennsylvania, says governments like clocks go from the motion men give them and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined, also. Therefore, governments depend upon men, rather than men upon governments. We must move governments in the right way. applause and we must stand. There is an allout effort to discourage, to disappoint, and to dissuade you and other conservatives. Have you noticed that . The reports from the media would suggest that your labor has been in vain. Well, as you will see this weekend, that could not be farther from the truth. You are making a difference. applause do not grow weary in well doing for in time you shall reap. Earlier this year on the anniversary of the imfamous roe vs wade decision, with the backdrop of the World Trade Center hit in pink, andrew cuomo signed the socalled Reproductive Health care bill more accurately the birthday abortion bill into law. Opening the door to infanticide in america. The response was quick. President trump addressed it headon in his state of the union address, saying this, quote, lawmakers in new york cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby could be ripped from the mothers womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get a chance to share their love and dreams with the world. He went on to say, let us Work Together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life and let us reaffirm a fundamental truth. All children born and unborn, are made in the holy image of god. Leadership matters. States responded and planned parenthood lamented, as a near Record Number of prolife laws were passed in the states this year. 58 new prolife laws, many aimed at ending birthday abortion. applause now at the urging of the president , congress attempted to pass a ban on birthday abortion with senator sass and representative ann wagner blocked. Congress has attempted 80 times on the protection act only to be blocked by Speaker Pelosi and her party and thats why weve teamed up with the prolife caucus in the house to help pass a discharge petition that will force congress to stand on the side of life or on the side of death. We are working to pass a discharge petition so there will be a vote on the house floor on the born alive abortion survivors protection act. At present there are 203 members that have signed the discharge petition. 218 are needed. And to aid in this effort we have launched the end birthday Abortion Campaign. How many of you have already participated in that campaign . Our goal is to take 90,000 of these newborn thermal pink and blue baby hats to nancy pelosi and deliver them to her on capitol hill. Babies should be welcomed into the world and protected under our laws. And we are going to send an undeniable, visible message when we cart all 90,000 baby hats to capitol hill. Now, right now our campaign, were over halfway. This represents about 50,000 hats that we have collected in this campaign. Many, Many Americans have given 9 to not only purchase one of those hats, but to fuel the campaign to get to 218 signatures necessary to vote on this bill. We are going to send a message that america demands that we end birthday abortion. And i invite you, i invite you to join with us this weekend and support the end of birthday Abortion Campaign and stop infanticide in america. And then when we stop infanticide, we will continue the march for life until every child born and unborn is welcomed into world and protected under our law. applause with that, it is now my honor to officially open the 2019 session of the values voter summit. Have a wonderful weekend applause and now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the executive director of the truth and liberty coalition, and general counsel of Andrew Womack ministries, richard harris. Good morning. Excuse me, good morning. Its my distinct honor to introduce our next speaker this morning, the honorable mark meadows, republican from North Carolina. applause a true Freedom Fighter in the United States congress, mark meadows is serving his fourth term representing North Carolinas 11th district since january of 2013. Meadows ran for congress after accumulating nearly 30 years of Work Experience as a small businessman creating growth and value by specializing in startups and business reorganization. During his time in the house, meadows has been a known champion for fiscal responsibility, accountable government, pro growth economic policies, pro family and prolife initiatives and a strong military. Both democrats and republicans alike refer to him as a great leader, a listener, and someone who doesnt back down from a fight. As a result, after just a few years in washington, meadows has risen to be one of the most influential members of congress. In november of 2016 he was elected as the chairman of the House Freedom caucus, an Influential Group founded in january of 2015, consisting of roughly 40 conservative members of congress dedicated to giving a voice to those who feel forgotten by their government. He was reelected as the caucus chairman in january, 2019 and hes led the group through numerous high profile legislative battles, including Health Care Reform and tax reform and as a result, several commentators labeled the House Freedom caucus as under meadows leadership, a group with new clout in washington. He served two consecutive terms as chairman. House oversight and government reform subcommittee on government operation. With oversight of agencies with the office of the president and others. Hes served three terms as a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee with expertise in the middle east and north africa and recognized numerous times for his support of israel including leadership of bipartisan change to condemn the United Nations antiisrael record. Meadowsleadership on capitol hill has been recognized by the american conservative union, National Federation of independent businesses, the National Rifle association, the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the National Taxpayer union. The military Officers Association of america, the nature conservatory, the National Retail federation and on and on. Above all, medadows is a deeply committed christian and demonstrated a devotion to his faith even in the High Pressure environments. One of his accomplished measures is his role in securing the release of miriam who had been in a sudanese prison for practicing her faith. He and his wife have two adult children, blake and haley. Would you join me in welcoming congressman mark meadows. Thank you. Thank you. Please keep your seats. God bless you, it is great to be with you thank you for that welcome. I normally do not get a welcome like that in washington d. C. You know, were here to tell a little bit of the truth about what is going on and im having to leave right after this to go and do an interview with an ambassador that was relieved of her duty as part of the adam schiff impeachment effort. I think its time that we send adam schiff home instead of the president of the United States. What do you think . I think its time. You know, they love to do these things in secret. They love to actually have this secret way of trying to form a narrative to impeach this president and the people of america spoke in november of 2016 and they spoke loudly that we needed change, we need to drain the swamp and President Donald Trump is doing exactly that. He is doing that. Now ive had the opportunity to be the chairman of the Freedom Caucus. Now the Freedom Caucus, for some of you that dont know, you know, we actually started a small group of us that said we needed to get together and you know, it had a few patriots. Patriots like congressman jim jordan from ohio. And im here today to let you know, i am looking for his jacket. I know it is here somewhere. laughs jim is my best friend in congress. There is not a man who is willing to speak the truth in the face of adversity more than jim jordan. And if youre from ohio youre blessed to have him as a member of congress. applause but the Freedom Caucus was designed to give a voice to millions of americans who thought that washington d. C. Had forgotten them. I know all of you who have been actively engaged, have truly sometimes put your life on hold dd and by the way, these teleprompters, they have nothing on them so i just want to let you know, this is not a barack obama speech. All right . So, you know, so if we you know, when you start to look at america and the fact that washington d. C. Has lost its way, it is time that we restore that. We need to have some kind of vaccination for the potomac fever. You know, its amazing when members of congress and senators, they get elected, you go out and you work hard, and you try to make sure that theyre going to make a difference. They get elected, they raise their right hand. They say theyre going to defend the constitution. Theyre going to support your values. They come across the Potomac River and they lose their mind. All of a sudden they well ive said it here before, i might as well say it again. They have the backbone of a banana. When you peel it back, it gets real mushy. It is time that we elect people that have a backbone of steel and that are willing to stand up for the values that our god holds dear. Now theyre trying to do all of this in secret, just a few miles from here this morning. In fact, they issued a subpoena just a few minutes ago to compel the witness to come forward and actually testify, but theyre not seeking truth. Theyre seeking a narrative. Theyre seeking a narrative that theyve already written the final conclusion to. Because they started three years ago. Even before this president was sworn in, they were talking about impeachment and theyre bound and determined to do it and we need to send a clear message, if they do it, we will send them home. We need to send that, now, we are not taking this sitting down or even lying down. Were going to stay in the fight because of people like you that continue to encourage us to stay in the fight. And i can tell you, being a member of congress was never on my bucket list. In fact, i can remember the time that i felt like i was being called to actually run for congress and because it wasnt on my bucket list i actually had a wonderful life in the mountains of Western North carolina. I called my wife that particular day and i said, you know, honey, i feel like the lord is leading me to run for congress. And she said, well, honey, if thats the way you are being led, ill support you in that. And all of a sudden, this sick feeling came over me. Because i didnt like to get up in front of people. I didnt like to be in the limelight, i just like to have a private life that actually, you know, really didnt involve coming and speaking before hundreds and thousands of people. So i got really this ill feeling, so ill that i had to pull over the car on the side of the road and throw up. But sometimes youre called to do something that brings you out of your comfort zone and many of you are here today because youre out of your comfort zone because you love this country and you believe it is worth fighting for and i thank you for that. I thank you for that. So you may have heard about a little resolution thats floating around. The new chairman. Freedom caucus, andy biggs, who has taken over on october 1st has hit the ground running. He put forth a resolution that said we need to censure adam schiff for making up his opening testimony and it is time that we hold him accountable. applause its time that we hold him accountable. Now, there are 104 members that have signed onto that resolution and its growing each and every day and if your member hasnt signed on, you need to call them and make them see the light. And if they dont see the light, you need to make them feel the heat. If you will do that, i can tell you that those back bones that are like bananas start to stiffen up when they hear from hundreds, if not thousands of people from back home. Theres only one thing that a member of congress fears, its being voted out of office and theres only one group of people who can do that. Thats you. We the people. We need to make sure we hold our elected officials accountable. It is time, isnt it . It is time. So that resolution is being put forth and i can tell you right now, when adam schiff starts to make up things and this is being covered and im sure its being tweeted right now. Let me double down, when adam schiff makes up things, its time to call him out for making up things and actually make sure hes held accountable. Its time we hold him accountable. applause now, i was in a transcribed interview the other day, we had ambassador volcker there and they brought him in and actually the democrats wanted to change the rules. They said, well, what we want to make sure of is that we have an unfair advantage. We want to make sure that the well, thats not changing the rules, is it . But they wanted to make sure that the democrats staff and majority of the staff in the house actually had more people in the room to be able to question the witness and that the republicans staff, they didnt want the members of congress to ask questions so they said no member of congress can ask questions. Now, the last time i checked, most of the people thatof 435 in the house and 100 in the senate, theyre the only ones in washington d. C. That were actually elected to represent the people. And yet somehow the Democrats Health it was best to violence people like jim jordan, devin nunes and people who know this subject and adam schiff said we dont want members to ask questions. I can tell you that particular transcribed interview was going so poorly for the democrats after the third hour, adam schiff says im going to break my own rule and ask 25 minutes of questions. Now, you dont hear any of that reported in the media. Why . Because they leak out the Text Messages to give a particular narrative that was not supported by the actual interview that we conducted for over ten hours. If theyre about transparency, lets be transparent, lets let the American People decide for themselves. What do you think . Im also here to tell you that this president is the most prolife president weve ever had in the history of our country, bar none. applause bar none. Hes willing to fight. And when a certain governor from virginia talked about that you need to make someone comfortable before you murder them after theyve been born, this president saw that know the only as offensive, but morally wrong and called it out for what it is, and that is murder. He is willing to stand with us on that issue. But i can also tell you that this president is serious about keeping his campaign promises. You know, early on in the administration, id tell the story and i wont go through all the details today, but i was actually there in the oval office. I got to go to the oval office. I know it comes as a shock to many of you, i was never invited there under the previous administration. laughs but as i went there, there was a huge white board in this side room, just off the oval office. And in that on that white board was every Single Campaign promise that he had made when he had made it and they were going down checking them off one by one because this is a promisekeeping president. He also works harder than anybody ive ever met. Hell work all through the night. I mean, there are phone calls that he makes in the middle of the night. He will oftentimes go on two or three hours of sleep. Now, we saw that last night. He was in minneapolis. Well, theres one conservativeoh, theres three conservatives from minneapolis, so but you know what we had last night was an arena full of conservatives who said that they want their Government Back as well. When they were there, and it was electrifying. Now, were talking about minnesota. Were not talking about alabama. And yet, the same yearning for we the people to take control of what we do is alive in minnesota, in maine, in california, in new york, and in between and everywhere else and if we allow that flame, that little flicker to start to grow into a huge blaze, not only will we win in 2020, but we will win with landslide proportions in spite of what the Mainstream Media and the polls will say today. And i think its time that we put a little fodder on the fire. It is time so i just need to give you a little bit of the background. Theyve got three nice monitors here in front of me and they have this big clock, i mean, its probably the clock has numbers that are maybe a foot tall. Thats good because i wear glasses and most members of congress when it hits zero they gave you their ten point closing plan right about then. And i am not going to do that today, but i do want to share really from my heart and ask you for two things. One, a lot of people think that our nation will be healed by the policy that happens just a few miles from here and im here to tell you that our nation will be healed with committed believers and people on their knees before their heavenly father prying for our land each and every day. If you will pray, if you will pray, he will be faithful. And so i would ask you to pray for our nation. The second thing i would ask you to do to pray and encourage this president. Pray for him and encourage him because i can tell you the attacks that hes under. I dont know how any person has ever been able to stand up to such a task. I get concerned at times because the attacks are unrelenting. You would think that they would even have a day or two break and they just keep coming and yet, i can tell you even the schemes of the democrats are not having an affect on this president or this country because ultimately he has one property and that is to put the will of the people, your priorities first, unlike anybody else that ive ever seen. He truly has, he is. And hes willing to do things that only other president s have talked about. We know that, we can look no further than in jerusalem there is now an embassy where there was only a promise before. He made a commitment. He was consistent with that commitment and he delivered on that commitment. And so it is with that same type of resolve that youre going to see this president run through the finish tape in november of 2020. When we have four more years to actually turn this country back to its rightful attorney which is we the people. applause this president and the first lady are willing to sacrifice so much so that we can truly give in one nation under god. I want to share this personal story in all humility. Im a nobody from nowhere, i really am. I mean, you know, if you were with trying to figure out whether this guy has ever going to be a member of congress, the betting odds were not good. Not that you should be betting. And debby and i had the opportunity to attend the state dinner in honor of the australian Prime Minister here a few weeks ago and we went and you know, as anybody who has ever been honored to be at a state dinner, you feel privileged just to be invited and i looked around and kept saying, honey, what are you and i doing here . And i share that not to share the fact that we were there, but to share the fact that the first lady and the president made a decision. It was unbelievable. We had military bands from all branches of the service, violins, but they made a determination to sing and play the battle hymn of the republic. Now, if you know the battle hymn of the republic, its one of those that just brings just that sense of patriotism and pride and sometimes a few tears. And they could have left out a verse and one of those verses really talked about christ being born across the seas and yet, they made a decision to make a strong statement, not just to the visitors that were there, but just to the nation at large. Indeed, we are a nation thats endowed by our creator. With certain inalienable rights that are godgiven and to recognize that and to see that brought tears to my eyes. It was one of those times when, as we were finishing up with that battle hymn of the republic, and him dying for us, and some of our sons and daughters dying for freedom, there is a calling on each one of us and i wear that because this president , and first lady, against all odds are willing to stand in the gap, to stand shoulder to shoulder with each one of you and believe that we are a country that once again can be godfearing and godhonoring. Thank you, god bless you. Thank you for allowing me to come and be a part of the team. God bless you. Thank you. We love you. We love you. God bless you. Thank you, mark. Arent you glad hes on our side . laughs amen. Hey, folks, just a quick word before we move on to a very impressive panel that i know youre going to love. I want to follow up on the campaign that tony perkins referenced before. If youd like to participate and purchase a baby hat, or 100 of them or 1,000 to present to nancy pelosi we want to give you an opportunity to be a part of that. In fact we are going to be tracking that. Im not able to see that in front of me. Do we have that, thermometer where were showingyou can see that. Our goal is 10,000 hats during the values voters summit. Can we do it . Absolutely, we can do it and for you to do it, we have a hash tag that you can take advantage of. Again, i cant see it, but i think you can. Thats how you can make a donation. If you need help, well be happy to help you. Go to the Registration Desk. They can help you. Guys, we need every one of you to participate, buy a hat, buy 100 hats, be a part of this campaign and well keep you posted on how thats going. Encouraging, we want to share with you the state of life in america and how leaders across the country are building a movement of victories. Lets all take a look at the monitors now. Governor cooper vetoed a controversial abortion bill that just got final passage in the generally assembly. The born alive bill would have required doctors to treat as regular patients. We stand for the missouri unborn act. I can guarantee you this, that the voice of the unborn in our state will be heard loud and clear. Republicans in both the Michigan Senate ap house passed a bill to ban a common second trimester abortion procedure. The bill refers to the procedure as a dismemberment abortion. Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expect today veto the bill when it makes it to her desk. The louisiana house passed a bill restricting abortion, the bill which passed in a 7923 vote would ban abortion once the heartbeat is detected. And its headed to governor bell edwards he desk, where it is expected to be signed. The Indiana Senate voted 3810 in favor of a bill would ban a second trimester abortion known as dismemberment abortion. And now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our panel and our moderator, vicepresident of frc action. Good morning, appreciate the opportunity to moderate this panel with you this morning on such an important topic and we have seen so much action. There have been so many developments on the life issue over the past 12 months. Many of you will recall laws like the extreme abortion bill passed by the legislature in the state of new york and some other states. We believe the comments of Virginia Governor rob northam on infanticide. And we have this introduced at the federal level and youll be hearing about that later today. More recently, just in september, the family of the late Abortion Provider doctor discovered over 2000 unborn children in plastic bags in his garage. This shocking tragedy serves as a reminder of the pressing need to have their dignity recognized. And also recently, the Supreme Court just agreed to hear the nun med and its the first the Supreme Court accepted since President Trump filled two seats with justices gorsuch and kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. And we hope it will uphold louisianas ability to protect women and this could be a significant ruling on behalf of the unborn. All that to say in recent months weve seen this issue in center stage sometimes in good ways, and sometimes in bad ways, but every single time there have been state legislators like the ones on our panel this morning who have stood up and said were going to do something about this, we are going to stand for the unborn. A couple of numbers id like to share with you really quick. Just this year in 2019 there have been 36 prolife laws supported by frc action that have been signed into law and over the last nine years we have seen one third of all of the prolife laws enacted sns roe versus wade, one third of those that happened over the last nine years. I think those are things we can get excited about. On our panel we have republicans and democrats on this issue showing this issue transcends party lines and they have stood up to send a clear message, we are standing for the unborn. We are winning hearts and minds and we are building an american future that is prolife. With that, i would like to introduce our panelists this morning. First we have senator jessica della cruz of rhode island, representing the 23rd district. And she is a first generation american born to portugese immigrants, selfemployed, and lives in North Smithfield with her husband and three children. She is a political newcomer, having been elected last fall and beginning her term as a freshman senator in january of this year. She stepped into Public Service after years of Civic Engagement and activism working to restore a faithfulness to the United States and Rhode Islands constitution. She now serves on the Senate Committee of judiciary and Senate Committee on labor. In the 2019 session she actively opposed and voted against senate bill s152, a bill that dramatically expanded Abortion Access while weakening existing public protections under the guise of protecting roe versus wade. Please join me in welcoming senator de la cruz. applause next we have Katrina Jackson who is both an attorney and a state representative representing louisianas 16th district and i understand a senator elect now, so congratulations on that. She was first elected in 2011 and serves on numerous committee and shes known as a tough negotiator, she hasnt shied away from leadership and is a fighter for her values and for her constituents. At home you can find her fighting for clients in civil and criminal law cases and spending time educating and listening to her constituents. Shes in the 2014 legislative session from the louisiana right to life and twice received the louisiana award from the family forum. She attributes her congressness not only to have a plan, but recognizes god in guiding. Join me in welcoming representative jackson. applause lastly, we have North Carolinas 13th house district, first elected in 2007, and she serves as vicechairman of the North Carolina House Appropriations committee as well as chairman of the appropriations, difficult and natural and Economic Research and environment committee. Among other achievement. She was awarded the North Carolina right to life, prolife Excellence Award in 2011, and the North Carolina heart of a friend advocacy award in 2016. She is also a member of the national prolife womens caucus. She has been married for 53 years to her retired marine colonel roger mcelraft. Please join me in welcoming her. applause id like to jump right in on the panel. If i could start with you and well work down the table. First question, i wonder if you could tell us your story personally. Why is this issue, the issue of defending the unborn, the prolife issue, why is this so important to you and what led you to get involved with this . Well, for me, its a nobrainer. You know, we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and when i think, you know, back on history and great civil rights movements of our time, i think of William Wilbur and how he fought to stop the slave trade and how it was the great injustice of their time. And the great injustice of our time is the abortion issue. applause thank you. You know, i always think whats next . Its always a slippery slope. Its never were not going to just stop at abortion. Whats next . I mean, are we talking about disabled individuals . Are we talking about elderly individuals, talking about individuals who are sick . Who decides who lives and who dies . I think that when i look back at whats happening in rhode island. Planned patienthood, theyre not happy with obtaining abortion on demand. Theyre going to take it further, next is euthanasia and i dont know where it will stop. Thank you. Representative jackson, if we could ask you the same question. Its as simple as this for me. God hates to shed innocent blood. So i always said whatever god hated, Katrina Jackson was going to hate, too. This is not a political issue for me. It was not based on a party, it was based on my christianity. As senator de la cruz believes its an injustice. And when i talk to people who dont understand that or the sovereign god that we serve, i toll them all the time someone chose you. If you born after roe versus wade someone chose you and would you not have wanted us to fight for you . For me i not only fight for the unborn. When you fight for life you fight for yourself as well. Someone had a choice not to choose you. I dont think there should ever be a time where someone, other than god, would determine whether youre born. So its just that simple. Thats why im prolife and will always be. Thank you. Representative mcelraft. Thank you. Mine is a little different. I grew up in a Christian Family in oklahoma originally and we never even heard the word abortion. We had no idea what abortion was, even as a young mother of two, my husband was a marine, we were at paris island, south carolina, and some roe vs wade passed and one of my friends said something about abortion and i started reading more about it, didnt understand it. But read that it was only a piece of tissue. It wasnt a baby. So didnt think much more about it until we moved to camp le jeune with my husbands job in the marine corps, when they tell you to go, you go. And i was doing my practical, i was getting a degree in medical Lab Technology and we went to the hospital to do our practical. And when i did, i was on a break one day and went into the Pathology Laboratory to visit with the pathologist. We had just moved to North Carolina and theres a lot from the person that laughed about North Carolina, or clapped, you know about pig picking in North Carolina and my mind was focused on pig. The saddest part was when i went in there, i looked around, just glanced around in the Pathology Lab and i saw buckets and buckets and buckets with little pink flesh in them and i thought they were little pigs, i truly did. I said what are you doing with all of these little pigs in here. He said pat, look again. Thats the weekends abortions. Theyre babies, the little babys bodies were so burned. Those days, that was in the late70s, they were doing abortions with saline and we to have to do blood gases on them and try to keep them alive as much as we could. There were stories from nurses where the doctor, if they were born alive, he would try to turn them over in the saline. There was no firsthand knowledge about this, but these stories that worked in there. Many nurses stopped working for him. He continued on many years in the abortion industry. I dont like to call him a doctor, i call him an abortionist. Doctors are for saving lives. From that moment on, i realized this was not a piece of tissue. Girls were hitchhiking down from new york to come down to jacksonville, North Carolina, the home of the marine corps and the home of the biggest abortionist in the nation. He got shut down by the irs a few years ago. We couldnt do anything to shut him down. There were pickets, all kinds of things. He did stop doing the late term abortions, we think, but he got shut down by the irs, so thats one thing about the irs i like. applause we have a governor who is not pro life so we will work on that legislation. We are going to work on that legislation so im dedicating my next turn if i am reelected to making sure we do everything we can to save those babies lives. applause thank you so much for that. Next question for you all, we saw that video with a lot of the legislative help us, not all of them across the country. In all of your states in recent months over this past year, so there have been some significant things happening at the legislative level on this issue specifically. Could you unpack that specifically for us . What action is a legislature been doing, and what is your role been in that . Senator de la cruz, if we could start with you again. I want to direct and them because legislation did several things. First it a in meaningful restrictions on post viable abortions, post viability. Now abortions can be performed for unsigned reasons which could include Financial Health or emotional health. Limiting any constitutional restrictions on the methods of abortion and also any penalties for extremity of the human fetuses. One of the pieces of the legislation also diminished the role of the department of health, and making it so the department of health couldnt adopt safety regulation. I submitted an amendment in which would clear up the language so that those damages could be adopted pics i called the department of health, and i said id like the last ten years of inspections for planned parenthood. She said thats easy, theres only to make. This is supposed be inspected of you get on the floor i said planned parenthood model used to be safe, legal and rare. Then it was safe and legal but can we call legal putting language into our legislation that prevents the inspection of a a facility that perform surgical and chemical procedures . Can we really say we care about women when restaurants are held to a higher standard of cleanliness . Is it true that mcdonalds can be held to a higher standard than these clinics that provide care for women . Net wishes come to the point where it is just legal. I unfortunately my amendment did not pass, but i will continue to fight for this legislation. Thank you. And lastly what did the legislature do . Well, common cause about the lesson watch the crew come said was unprecedented what the senate did. We had two bills the house and the senate bill which mirrored each other pick the first of the senate bill died in committee and then they made some minor tweaks which they could make substantial change were not, and the house bill was brought back to the senate judiciary. There were enough votes again to kill the bill in committee. And seconds before an up or down vote they decide to switch it to another committee. Bills to move from committee if they come to judiciary and theyre not meant to be there, then remove them but that is when we receive the bill. Not seconds before an up or down vote. It happened was we didnt have the votes and so come hell or high water they were going to make sure that bill was sent to health and Human Services which has always been heard in the judiciary, and where seven of the nine members were selfprofessed liberals or progressives. So we have fight in rhode island and elections have consequences and we need hold our elected officials accountable. applause representative jackson. We found louisiana the number one prolife in the union. It is met if youre democratic republic, twothirds of our legislature prolife so we been able to push very meaningful legislation. We just had a senator author and pass the heartbeat that with no exceptions besides the life of the mother. Governor edward signed into law about three over months ago. applause applause overwhelming super majority vote in favor of the bill in both chambers. We also right now have the love life amendment. We call it the love life amendment. That was the bill i i authored what you with the research council, right to life interstate and everyone else which is going to get all voters for the first time an opportunity to vote on whether louisiana is prolife. Its what you put language in our constitution that says louisiana is a prolife state. We are very excited about that. And that actually comes up during the 20 present to election so for the first time our constituence to the other issue that we always looked on as elected officials. If you want to learn more about that, website is lovelife vote yes. Com. Lovelife vote yes. Com and so we are pushing efforts to attract constituencies, constituency is a form every to vote in 2020 to place her in a constitution. Also i authored the admitting privileges bill. Our bill was upheld by the fifth circuit and we just heard about five days ago thats going to be heard at the night state Supreme Court. We are prepping for those arguments and waiting on a date. But what louisiana has done is we understand until its over turn roe v. Wade is a look at what weve done over the last 20, 30, 40 years, was pass meaningful legislation that place every restriction on abortion that we could. A lot of those laws have been upheld. We have a 24 hour waiting period mac, you cant perform form an abortion after certain time in louisiana and with a heartbeat bill, doesnt go into effect until alabama, mississippi goes it affected to put a provision in because we are now litigating a number of cases that i just mentioned and so we parted with our neighboring states to litigate that issue. When you litigate it, whatever the outcome is for theirs, that will be the outcome for ours. Thats what our state has been doing. And every year in louisiana become to gilligan doesnt matter if youre black and white, democrat or republican, rural or urban area, we come together as a super majority of the legislature with the democratic governor who is prolife. And we pass legislation that saves lives, and we do it not ignoring our constituency but educating our constituency and bringing them along with us. Thats why the lovelife amendment for us so important. Because theyve always said in the national media, you have done it as a legislature, but how do constituents feel about it . We know our constituent are holistically prolife and so for the first time in 2020, then we get to say that. When we are talking about it on the floor, we say we advocate for those back home, in 2020 the advocate with us and we will, it will be resounding in louisiana constitution that louisiana and its constituents are prolife. applause representative mcelraft. Thank you. When i came in, we were in the minority, the republicans were in the minority, and in 2010 we actually got a governor, a house and a senate that were conservative republicans for the first time in 140 years. applause so we decided to get busy doing prolife legislation as quickly as good as long as we had that kind of a majority in both chambers and also the governor. There was nothing stopping us. We started out doing a womans right to know, and that was just a simple bill that says the doctor, if the woman wants to see her ultrasound, she should be able to see it. And what was really ridiculous is we required them to have them but they were never, the abortionist was never required to show them to the mother. We know why they did want to see the because they would see with the baby, it is not a piece of tissue. It is not a salve that is going, it is a baby. And so that actually, with the 72 hour wait while we have also, that really saved about 3500 babies a year because they would go to the Pregnancy Centers to get her ultrasound, they would get counseling, get health there to raise their children, singly or adoption, get the counseling they need, jobs, financial support, the things the Pregnancy Centers do. We dont just take them in and tell them, you know, lets kill your baby, thats the easiest way out. Because thats what planned parenthood does and im not afraid to say. Thats what planned parenthood does. Its all about the money. Planned parenthood is all about the money. Well, we now have a governor of a different party. We dont have super majorities in the house or the senate, so we said what can we do that this governor wont veto . And so we decided to do the same thing that they did at the federal level come just mimic the bill almost 100 , and that was survivors protection act. We got a bipartisan bill. We got five democrats to vote with us, and the governor vetoed it. The governor vetoed it. All the bills that is yet to get the same protection to babies born from an abortion, that you give to babies that is born from any other procedure, life, natural, childbirth whatever at the same gestational age. Dont throw them on a table. Dont put them in a closet. And weve heard stories. You will hear from clare today and others baby today, demarco i dont know, but others who are survivors of abortion, that it is happening now. It is not from 40 years ago my story. It is happening now. They are putting them in closets. They are turning them over in a wet solution, whatever, anything and not paying any attention to them. And they are having the last breaths without anyone caring for them. So we come have got this bill passed started in the Senate Senator joyce, a great friend of mine, she should be here rather than me. Anyway, she was the one that took the lead on this. With the house version of it as she took the lead in the senate and were going to take the lead on a couple of others, dismemberment bill and the abortion reversal bill. We had her whole legislation set for this year, and come but we knew there was a chance he was going to veto. What we did is we got churches to help us. We got North Carolina values coalition, tammy fitzgerald, some of you may know her, and barbara right to life. They got the message together and started come without an they got everyone together. What did we do to really get our whole caucus in bald . With prayer involved. We asked god to guide us in every bit of this effort. We were successful in getting it passed. The governor is the one who has it on his heart now, that babies will die in North Carolina that may not have had to die. And so are other two pieces of prolife legislation we were going to go do this year, we know they will probably be vetoed, so were sitting on them for a while. We did not have enough of the democrats who voted with us to go for the override we were lacking. We did vote to override it but we lack that one vote. So prayer, getting everyone involved and we get prolife rallies with africanamerican churches, white churches, everybody together praying. But the governor and his political talk with him about, he actually would sit someone across from him and say this is a im running against you if you vote to override the veto. So like i say, as the governor in virginia, the governor of North Carolina has this on his hands now. Appreciate all the answers of it. Weve got just a couple minutes left, so one final question for you. We have three different scenarios here. We have senator de la cruz, your effort to stop a bad bill that did go into effect. Representative jackson come youve been able to get good life legislation passed. You got that the coming up in 2020. Representative mcelraft, thelegislator was able to get a good bill passed by the governor vetoed it. This issue plays itself out in different ways in each state. Looking at this through your eyes, the eyes of legislature, legislators creatively leaning on the frontlines here, could you tell us, whats next for the Prolife Movement in your state as a whole understanding this is a longterm effort . Success doesnt always happen overnight whats next for the movement in your state recs what encouragement would you give people to get them involved . We cant stop the fight. I know that sometimes when we look at states, we say thats it, you know, were not going to bother with our time there or resources. We cant give up. We can cycle into a red state thats not what we need to do. What we need to do is firmly entrench ourselves as we are and we need to fight for where we live. I grew up in rhode island on my life that i can imagine myself anywhere else. I want my children to grow in a state in which we respect life, and i would tell you that as a political newcomer i never expected to run for office. I never aspired to be a politician. In fact, when someone in the house a punishment i said politics listed at it dont want to get involved and she said but in order to make a change, you need to get involved. You can go to all the rallies and advocate but if youre not in the room where it happens, then you are was not as effective as you could be. I would implore you, if you can run for office, run for office. If you cannot run for office, support a candidate that you know is on the right side of life. Because when it comes down to it, i would look at candidates and see the candidate as a whole. Then i came to the realization that if the candidate is not on the right side of life, can i trust them to make any of the decision . Probably not. And so i would say if you cant run for office, support the candidate either financially, if you cant support them financially you can follow them on facebook, comments on their post, share it. If youre not on social media you can hold the site at a polling location. You can host a little gettogether fundraiser for the candidate. Whatever you can do, you can do something. We need to be very active in the political realm. Thank you. applause representative jackson. Whats next myself in louisiana is will continue to push toward advocating for womens health. As an attorney i always encourage everyone to go for people to advocate for womens health. I first explained roe v. Wade should be overturned. We understand where the Supreme Court is but it did not say we could not legislate an area of abortion in womens health. So just like the admitting privilege bill for us, it was an advocacy for womens health. Because in louisiana, every other Surgical Center regardless of how minor the procedure has said many procedures. We are not lowering in any area. So thats whats next for us. What weve been doing is were going to continue to push but also advocacy was important, taking the fight outside the state capital. Going into churches around our communities and talking to the pastors. My story is similar to yours, is that i attended church every sunday. Sunday school, midweek service, never heard abortion. I heard a description proverbs the said god hated the shedding of innocent blood but no one in the church ever aligned with the killing a baby which is what blood is more innocent than a baby who was born into a world of sin and he was known no sin . Now were reaching out to our pastors and advocating, and now theyre talking about a pixel imagine if that prochoice person had been sitting in a church since they one and two years old and hearing god hated abortion. I i dont care what party or what race what religious affiliation. If they had heard that, a party or a political machine wouldve never been able to convince them that abortion was right. Answer advocacy is so important. applause thats truly whats next. Will continue our legislation that were taking our fight back to the streets come, back to the churches and encouraging advocacy at every level. You hear from the voices of elected officials and it comes from those who got has appointed and it should come from the voice of babies. Thats what we are doing. Thank you. applause we will go ahead and carry on with the prolife legislation that we introduced this year, which is the dismemberment bill, and also the Abortion Pill reversal a second Second Chance at life. They will probably be vetoed in North Carolina, so what we need to do more than anything is get a prolife governor will help us with this. And when one who is our Lieutenant Governor some going to work very hard to get him in the governors mansion, and he will work with us and he will help us get heartbeat bills, everything through that we can get to because he is very prolife. What will you need to be doing in your homes and that my constituents . I encourage them all, first of all, to pray. Because without gods guidance we will never win this fight. He has to be leading us. Help your Pregnancy Centers whether it be financially or and hopefully your Pregnancy Centers in your area that keep women from going to the abortion clinics. But if you can financially or support them with your volunteer hours, thats very important. I love the ideai wish that our state were totally prolife like louisiana as far as our legislature. North carolina is really a conservative state. But we have liberal, very liberal legislators and the governor that just will not give into even conservatives constituents. But if they hear from you and hear from you, thats what they need to and dont wait until a bill comes through. Right write them everyday, send them them a text, send them an email, let them know that you want prolife legislation to pass. And just, just love god and love those babies. applause that concludes our panel. I want to thank our participants for their leadership, the input, and their leadership on such an important topic. So as we close and we give them a round of applause in thanks for everything they are doing. applause ladies and gentlemen, as much as i appreciate your applause each time i come to the podium, it is not necessary. But i am humbled. Hey, everybody can what a great panel that was and how encouraging it is for those of us, all of us to care about life. And let me remind you again that we would like, our goal is 10,000 baby hats this weekend at the values voter summit so lovely put up a slightly get on how you can make your donation. You can simply text baby 19, baby 1991999. If you need any assistance with that, you can ask can go to the frc Registration Desk and her staff will be very happy to help you. But thats our goal, 10,000 hats here over the weekend for values voter summit. In may of last year Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell appointed tony perkins to u. S. Commission on International Religious freedom which is a ninemember Bipartisan Commission and its designed to advance religious freedoms globally. It now serves as the commissions chairman. Before we bring him out to the podium with a very impressive panel, once again please look at the monitors as we look at religious freedom successes under the Trump Administration. President trump is a first u. S. President to host a meeting at the u. N. On religious freedom. We are proud of our religious heritage and this president , i will always protect religious liberty. Today with one clear voice of the United States of america calls upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution. We gather today is people to believe in freedom of religion. We have a very Important Group of people spending standing alongside of me. I wanted to welcome Pastor Andrew Brunson and other survivors of religious persecution to the white house. And now would you please welcome our panel and your moderator Family Research Council President tony perkins. Well, good morning once again. It is great to be with you, great to see each and everyone of you. And this is an Important Panel and not in my capacity as the chairman of u. S. Commission on International Religious freedom, as important as that issue is and is much as this administration has done. I want to focus on domestic religious freedom here in america today, the risk that it faces, the successes that we have seen, and the courage that its taken to defend it. And thats what some going to introduce our panelists this morning, you will see a Common Thread woven between them, different cases. Theyve got a butcher, butcher, baker, candlestick maker but that wouldnt be absolutely correct. But we and women of the great courage that have stood up against the cultural tides and winds, and god has been faithful. Im going to start to my immediate left, colonel leland bohannon, retired from the United States air force. Let us thank him for his service. Colonel bohannon, you were punished for not wanting to affirm samesex, a samesex marriage by signing an appreciation certificate for a Service Members spouse that was involved in one. And it would seem everyone would be happy because the statistical summary someone else, actually a highranking officer. You might sign. They got exactly what they wanted. They had it, but that wasnt enough, and they came after you for refusing to do that. And i want you to share this, a little bit about your story, what you went through and then the outcome. I appreciate the opportunity. So as a commander of an organization on the base, one of my subordinates was retiring, as you said, and as is customary, each individual receive a retirement certificate. And oftentimes if they are married, the spouse also receives a certificate. And so when confronted with his certificate, no problem signing, happy to do it. He was a great troop, and oftentimes one of my noncommissioned officers to whom i would go and consult frequently because he had a lot of good expertise. But when asked to endorse or affirm the relationship he had with his partner, that was a bridge too far. And so i could not sign it. My superior offer to sign in my place, and that was a great solution. I think the upshot of it all was that the nco then decided to file a complaint, which was his right to do. I think the thing that we wrestle with in the military though, and this is probably one of things we need to be mindful of is that when addressing something that is contrary to regulation, youre looking at the regulation. And it wasnt until it got to the secretarys level that we actually began to open up the aperture a little bit and begin to balance policy against the constitution. And thats where the conflict arose. Talk about emotion. I think my wife wore a lot more of the brunt than i did but there was a little bit of angst. But quite frankly, i think, you mentioned courage. I do know that theres, i wont speak for everyone else, but conviction i think is what causes you to move in that direction. I want to talk about what was at stake here. You are close to retirement. There were those that wanted to push you out of the military. The retirement was at risk. Actually i was up for promotion and that was kind of one of the things upon you know, the initiation of the investigation, my superior took the move to not to recommend me for promotion. That was his way of communicating that there was an Ongoing Investigation and that he simply did not recommend me for promotion at that time. His right to do that. I disagree with this approach, and we had a good conversation about that at the end of the day though, in whose hands is it . Is my promotion is in his hands . Whose hands is it . Is my promotion is in his hands . May be in a limited sense, right . Its in the boards hands that evaluate all the promotion recommendations to an extent. But a think as os x, shirley and contents. Whether god wanted me to be promoted or not, thats his decision to make and i just know that i need to follow the convictions that i have. Sometimes when youre standing alone, this conviction can feel kind of lonely. Who was walking with you . What gave you the encouragement and then to live out those convictions . Sure. No, its a great question and i think i wife jennifer would agree with me in saying that that has been the church writ large was galvanized in many ways and was praying for us, and we knew that. And that was monumental, i think, in helping as to draw strength from others and to also at the same time encourage others in doing the same thing. Because quite frankly as a think all of us can probably attest to, we are all going to get our chance. There always will be a pending opportunity for you to stand for what god has said in his word as the differences between where society is going and where god has always been, become greater and greater. And i think everyone on this panel would say you were not looking for that. You were not expecting it. You were just living as god would have you live and then you found yourself right in the midst of it. The length of this trial and the outcome, just share that quickly with our folks. It was a bit drawn out. You know, i think governmental bureaucracy is alive and well. But thats okay, right . So that is the process and we followed the process. But as i said before i think it wasnt until we got to the third appeal that the entirety of the issue was really addressed, both air force regulation policy as compared to the First Amendment. I think it all hit the fan though on october 17. Todd blew the story and that kind of hit the press. But in a fashion that was measured and appropriate perhaps, but i will say its never fun being in the limelight. Thats kind of where it really not the length of intensity really stepped up and thats where the prayers were even more effectual. And the outcome . The outcome was positive, and air force board of correction military records found that i had not unlawfully discriminated against the noncommissioned officer and his partner. And perhaps more important, the secretary chose not to disagree with the boards recommendation. It was an election during the midst of this investigation and are,. Right i think had circumstance of indifferent, had someone else been making the decisions, if you will, the outcome could even quite different. As we were discussing, i think we can all appreciate where we are today, but where the pendulum will be in the future. Because it inevitably swings so we just have to be mindful of that. As the previous speakers have said, prayer is absolute essential. Kernel, congratulations on your successful promotion and retirement from the United States air force, and thank you for being with us. Thank you. My pleasure. Some of you may be familiar with our next analyst, joanna duka. She is the owner of brush nib studio, and 2019, this year was a lawsuit winner as a wedding vendor taking her case all the way to the arizona Supreme Court. Now, joanna, actually less than a month ago you finally won your case at the Supreme Court in arizona. Yes. And that decision allows you from the court, allows you to decide what messages that you will proclaim the work as a designer and as an artist. Before, or besides sharing a little bit about what you do, tell us how you got there. What brought you all the way to the Supreme Court . Well, its over to be a with you this morning to take this incredible story. Freedom won in arizona this past month and its an incredible day for all americans and for all freedom loving people. This journey began with the opening an art studio with my business partner, she and i are both artists we have been artists since we were young and so a dream partner in early 2015 we open the business and we were going to all the normal steps a Business Owner coaster when youre Getting Started trying to figure out the things we didnt know and spending a lot of time on the phone with Government Agencies and trying to be legal and complaint at all of that sort of stuff. And at the same time we were developing our artistic style. As any artist can attest, art is an incredibly personal thing. Its an extension of who you are, and so breanne and i we are people of faith, women of faith, and so art was an extension of that faith in god and the desire to express to our artwork the beauty of his creation and who he is and to be consistent in that. And we were creating for weddings. We are girls, we love weddings but as christians we have a special appreciation for the marriage, that is a picture of christ and his love for the church. So creating for weddings really was meaningful for us. And we learned in the process of starting our business that our city, the city of phoenix, had a law that would threaten us with criminal penalties including jail time if we were to create art consistently with our beliefs. And we had really no choice here we were not going to compromise our convictions certainly, and so we could sit and wait to have those terrible penalties potentially in front of us or we could challenge the law and say this is not constitutional restrict the speech of artists. Breanna and i serve everyone but we cannot promote or speak every message and no american should be forced to. Wow. And so caleb dalton is with who represents both joanna and our next analyst, don vander boon, but this case was one that has repercussions for not just others in arizona. I mean, this speaks too free expression, the right of Business Owners like joanna to be able to not the force really as indentured servants to convey a message that they dont want to convey. Absolutely. And joanna and breanna of wing to stand up for the conviction. It wasnt an easy thing to make that choice. They couldve folded. Their other talents. They maybe couldve gone to another career choice but thats the only option the city gave them and the american should have to be forced to choose between their career and the conscious. Thats what the city of phoenix tried to do to them, but they willing to stand up to make that courageous choice to challenge this ordinance and ultimately obtained that victory with a clear holding that while it was from the state of arizona, those Core Principles apply to all americans. Nobody should be forced to violate their concious but of what you did, joanna, not just for yourself but for others. You could adjust held back. What gave you im going ask all three, so don, get ready, then questioned you. As you are going to this there had to be moments where you wanted should i do this tax on sure the pressure not only politically and culturally, but spiritually. We are talking spiritual warfare in many ways because we are advancing truths what gave you that encouragement in the process . Absolutely my faith. Going into this breanna and i put a lot of prayer into, is this something god wants us to do, are we on the right path . Because we wanted to the right thing and we believe god was leading us to do. There were definitely very difficult moments, litigation is a long and dragged out process. They have a lot of attorneys. Yes. We were doing a lot of waiting and within that there are times where its difficult and you wonder did i do the right thing . Is god still with me in this . But we both say we grew a lot and opaque to this process because we do believe were standing for whats right and god took care of the details and we can trust him to step out in faith and do what he calls us to do but he will be faithful. Even if the outcomes have not been what we wanted we would subtrust that obviously thats the outcome we were praying for and where grateful we got that went and the freedom was about. And where grateful as well that you took the stand for many, Many Americans. Thank you. Thank you, joanna. Don vander boon is from west michigan. Yes west michigan beef company, and the department of agriculture had beef with you. Under the previous administration. And i want you to explain what happened because weve known each other since that happened. Weve been working with you and i will let the cat out of the back, or should i say cow out of the stall . Of the issue is your case turn it well another adf case but at the election a new department of agriculture and respect for religious freedom. But this was back during the height of the debate over marriage and as a christian Business Owner, Family Business, privately owned, you were simply educating, giving opportunity to counter the messages that were in the culture of when he came down to the issue of marriage. Share with our audience what happened, what you went through. Yeah, so i own a meatpacking business and it is inspected by the United States department of agriculture. We work very closely with them. There are two of them a fulltime station at my facility whenever we are operating. And in my business i have a break room and it was common practice or employees to bring in the magazine or newspaper, and during the months leading up to the Supreme Court marriage decision and sure thereafter, i noticed there was a lot of newspaper articles that were very supportive of the decision. And so in early august of 2015 i came across an article that was more biblically based and gave a christian view of marriage, and so i printed it out and put it on my breakroom table for my employees to read, if they chose to do so come along with the other newspaper, whatever else was on the table. And it wasnt maybe three hours later i was told that there was someone to see me in my office. So i didnt think anything. I just went up to see you who was there, and he was my inspector in charge, and his boss, front line supervisor of the circuit that im in. And they were looking upset and angry and holding the article that i put on the table. And they shut my doors, and then sitting in there wondering what did i do wrong . They put that article down on the desk and said, are you going to leave the step under breakroom table and they said, is there a problem . I i suggest, this is considered harassment and we are not willing to operate in this business or have any inspectors here unless you remove that from the table. So are you willing to take it off the table . Otherwise we will pull our inspectors out of your immediately. And i just have to completely shocked and stunned. I had no idea this was coming and and i didnt know exactly what to do, and thats that they would sit and think that they had the authority as my government and tell me what i i could put on my breakroom table in my private business. Just to make sure you get the setting straight, this is in your business, your office. You have two inspectors from the United States Government Department of agriculture come in and telling you, if you dont remove this off of your table in your breakroom, they are going to pull out their inspectors, which ultimately shuts your business down because you cant operate without those inspectors. Thats correct. I inspectors had to walk from the office to the production area to this breakroom. So when they walked through they sought on the table and they said because this is a public area and they are public in place and, therefore, my business is not private, its public and are not allowed to have it on the table, that i need to leave my faith at the door. Did you offer to give them blinders as the use when you look at the constitution . I did reason with them for about ten was going round and round about First Amendment freedoms and about, you know, what legal right he had to do this . And untold they are an expanded definition of harassment and now youre no longer allowed to do this. And so after reasoning with them for probably ten minutes, i finally come i agreed to leave the articles off while i try to decide what i could do legally. I told them im not giving up, that am going to forget what i can do but my employees depend on this for a living, my family does. I cant just have you shut the doors. So i agreed. And fortunately those are line of defending freedom which came to your aid as first liberty came to colonel bohannon eight. I want to make this a clue. When you look at these Public Interest law firms Like Alliance defending freedom, first liberty, liberty counsel, these positions are essential to the defending and promoting of religious liberty and so we are so grateful for them. applause we work handinhand, in this case, for instance, with don, adf handled the legal, building the case. We worked on the policy side even taking this to the white house after the election, and sonny perdue is the new secretary. Once the president , which we help work the executive order on religious freedom, the first may he was in office, once that was issued you begin to see the effects throughout the various agencies. And don, your case has been resolved. Yes, it has. The way it is right now, the executive order resulted in a policy being issued by the secretary of agriculture that protects all free speech, not just for private businesses but also for the employees themselves to be able to feel free to share the convictions about moral issues and a discussions, and it freed it up for all of us. applause caleb dalton, that could change with an election. Because we just saw just yesterday, im going to ask about this, it was just yesterday beto orourke trying to make headlines again, you know, is going after your guns, now is going after your god. I hope he finds him actually. He was asked im going to read it. Not going to do any commentary. Cnn don lemon yesterday at a town hall meeting on inequality or they call it the quality, framed this question picky set in terms of do you think, this is a call, do you think religion visitations by colleges, churches, charities should lose their taxexempt status if they oppose samesex marriage . Orourke, yes, without hesitation. Thats what were talking about here, that those who believe like the three individuals here representing millions of americans, there are those who want to actually take the Tax Exemption away from churches if they stand for what the bible says about marriage. Thats incredible. First, thank you so much for having us and for the good work that you and the frc action do. Its incredible, the partnership we appreciate again your work on dons case as well. I got a candidate for Office Express that message of animus towards people of faith is shocking. Its shocking especially in light of the fact that george town study a couple years ago indicated religious individuals and corporations input into the economy over 1. 2 trillion of benefits in Charitable Services that we provide. And for a candidate to attack those who are out there loving the neighbor but have a mere disagreement over an important issue like marriage, but have disagreement on viewpoints, thats not what america is about. America was founded on the idea that we can disagree but we can get along. And we can disagree but not have the government come in and impose its viewpoint on individuals to compel them to violate the conscious. Thats with individuals here onstage experience with the power of government come in and try to compel them to violate their conscious. And thankfully with under the Current Administration to the court system we been able to obtain justice for these clients are but youre right, that indicates the importance of as caleb has we worked with a number of individuals and men and women the young people who stood up for their fate and there are challenging times and moments in that. Im going to throw up whoever wants to grab this. I think there are those that are here today a new made reference to it who are watching that are not in a trial today but as we see the culture moving in the direction thats going theres going to be a day where we are challenged and oftentimes its like reading the outcome and that was great but if you dont know what happened in the middle. Those who only two moments where theres discouragement and he said questioning of that should ive done this. But its to be candid and shared those low points. So that people will know theyre coming but as the scriptures as joy comes in and ill throw that for anyone else dont like to grab it. I would just encourage everyone in this room and all of us as american specifically as people of faith to be willing to take a stand when. You believe in something and something is at your core dent that needs to be something that youre willing to put everything on the line for it its going to be difficult and they were very difficult moments but we have a great blessing of being in United States of america and being in a system that was amazing in my case which can contend to our rights and i think we need to do so because not only is it up to us to live freely and to our convictions but allows everyone that freedom and we have that as americans where we can live together and which is consistent with what they believe so do you stand and there are great organizations here with the Alliance Defending freedom that really make it so that there are so many people who believe and people who are willing to stand for freedom and want to stand behind you. Dont be afraid, stand up and keep in mind and the purpose of life is beyond this so any challenge we experience here and now are really small compared to the things that truly matter. applause thats a great point about using the reminding of how you treat a roman citizen and we used his citizenship to go through the process and i think we need to do the same thing and as americans we have a First Amendment freedom and the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech and the freedom of association and not being locked away in a safety box. It is to be used an exercise and a strong and vibrancy for the next generation. applause you bring up a good point when we talk a little bit about the emotion of it all. When you look up here you see three instances and three cases where the effort succeeded so whether my case was overturned or ones in court are your situation is being resolved. That is good but what if it had gone the other way. This is something that ive been wrestling with a little bit because i was having a good time in the air force and i wanted Nothing Better and there are fantastic young men and women defending our nation and the same could be said for the core and the army in the sailors as well. When god chose to trump gate that i said to myself, its hard not to be better about what i thought was going to happen and how its not happening. And that is god sovereignty. If the cases had lost in our efforts had failed, would we be better . How does that impact or witness our continued witness to the American Public and to the world. We can take some lessons for our brothers and sisters and china and take some lessons from our brothers and sisters in the middle east who are suffering far greater than we can even imagine. Here we live in a nation where things are succeeding in the tide is turning. That may not always be the case, will we continue with a spirit of generosity and outreach. Or will we turn inward and become bitter. Excellent point, excellent point. applause ill give a quick plug for the sunday Morning Service here and thats going to be the focus of our message and Chapter Three women three young hebrews were facing the fire and if the lord delivers us from new, great if he doesnt then were still going to be free. applause don, this is a Family Business. There is a lot of families depending upon you. Because you are as a small lawyer with 50 employees, you were faced and this is kind of where the government puts a squeeze on you. They know you care about the challenges and there in your community and some of their families and enough to put you on the spot to make a decision thats going to affect you and your father in law and all those people. That was part of the decision whether to pushback or not. The fear of loss and the fear of what is going to happen. It was discouraging at the time when we filed a former foil former complaint and received a stamp letter that they received it and i received another stamp that had been transferred to a Different Department and i was in september 2015 and then went into a black hole. Couldnt get an answer or a response or couldnt get a hold of anybody. It was months of trying to run my business and always wondering if the next thing i put on the table will be the thing that shut sit down and the inspectors there every day im working with them so they filed a complaint. Theyre looking over the table every day and so is just working with it for all those months and theyre lying in defending freedom and heard about the case and the one they started was the reality and so, at a certain point my wife and i we sat down and were prepared to lose everything because we dont know where we were at that time and we dont think President Trump had been elected yet. We decided it was and decided it was bigger than us and its something thats worth fighting for and so many people have died and fought for these freedoms and had heard so many stories and inspired and here it is. It is my turn, so weve hardly lost a thing and we profited our business through it and we counted the cost but had to suffer like so many others had and were thankful because the other people had lost so much more. applause we have a few minutes left and i want to ask another question. We resist the temptation because theres so many oneliners i can use to put it could be something terrible. laughs im going to resist that temptation. We talk about those low moments but there was one moment during the episode that each of you went through that there was something that happened and somebody did something or said something and you read something that was encouraged. In a moment of darkness there is a light that just encourage to you. Ill jump in. When i found out that they First Liberty Institute were not going to charge me for misrepresentation i say that tongue and cheek but ill go back to your earlier point and to know that someone who has the expertise and mike barry is a marine reservist so he knows the military very well and he knows the issue very well. I got his name and he jumped in with both feet and it was a huge relief. To know not only that his expertise was there to help but its more of the same fate and he and his wife were there with us and that goes back to what we saw earlier about people communicating consistently along the way and whether it was through email or through a phone call or a face to face interaction we talk about one specific high point because we were consistently getting lifted up. Thats what i want to come out with this, you know, we see someone going through the local churches such a important place. Pastors coming along, pastures have played a critical role. This is when we need to reach out, when we see someone going through this, to let them know theyre not alone. We received a ton of support from our church, thats really key, and from a lot of christians, so many encouraging messages i, would say the two things that were most impactful to me going through it, was first of all to receive messages from people who disagree from our ways of marriage, saying youre fighting for freedom. That was encouraging, to see that we were fighting for all americans, and freedom. He was also encouraging to hear from other Business Owners of faith, or am either in this business, or im thinking about it, ive been afraid to because of laws like this, in your case, in your stand has given me courage to do that. Thats something that we hoped would come from this, that was a great encouragement to, the others would be willing and hearted to student up, and to follow their dreams and do what god has called them to do. I would agree with you, the support of the church family, and the support of my family at home, my wife, and children, and then i also had Business Owners that were in the same type of business i am that would stop by, or call, and say, its a good fight. Anything we could do, they would call, what can we do to help . So it helped me to realize, this is not about one company, or one family, this is about the freedoms that we all have come to count on in this country, that are under attack. I want to thank you, the three of you for being willing to put it all on the line. You put your career on the line, you put your new business on the line, and you put a Family Business on the line. For something that is bigger, and greater than ourselves. As you pointed out, there are times one maybe it doesnt turn out the way we want it, and we know many cases where weve had many where some are still going on through litigation, some did not turn out well. From history, one of the greatest quotes from history comes from john quincy adams, as you know the only president of the United States there is a reason he ran for congress, because he wanted to and slavery. It was an 18 hundreds, they got so tired of him talk about slavery they pass what was called a gay gruel, you could not even gag rule you could not even bring up slavery on the house floor. They said what are you going to give up . You have lost . Arent you discouraged you . Cant even talk about the very issue that you ran for congress to defence. He said the duty is hours, its always going to be hours. I believe is we are increasingly challenged to stand for truth, or bound to ally, we must stand for truth. As you and i have courage courage to stand for truth, many many many, i believe generations will have the benefit of our stand, if we have the courage and boldness to stand. Lets think our families. Great job, our next speaker was sworn in as the 18th u. S. Made administrator of august of 2017. He served in congress, representing the great state of wisconsin, and also as ambassador to tanzania. He also served as the president of the International Republican institute, nonpartisan, nonprofit, dedicated to around the world. Chief global officer for a nonprofit, engages Corporate Leaders to reduce poverty through Business Growth and investment in africa. A network of 400 businesses, non governmental organizations, policy experts and other leaders supporting Development Tools in america a foreign policy. Ladies and gentlemen will, you please welcome mark green. Good morning, thanks for those kind words, thanks to tony for this opportunity, Ronald Reagan, one of our greatest president s and quintessential american, used to say there was a sign in federal buildings saying, the case idlib religious attack federal rules regarding prayer will be suspended. Of course he would say it with a wink and a smile, he was also making a serious and important point. Difficult times, we know that faith, is a source of strength, that truth is woven into the fabric of american history. Its why our Founding Fathers gathered so often to pray, during the different struggle for independence. They understood the importance of faith and peoples lives. And later sought to preserve it, in our young republican. Today i am afraid that too Many Americans dont appreciate just how rare that freedom is. We all owed tony perkins a great debt of gratitude for his role on the International Religious freedom. We probably stand with tony and his colleagues. The assistance that they provide to people around the world, its an expression of american compassion, its also a reflection of our history, and our values. We know that the free exercise of religion is what brought to our shores Ronald Reagan spoke of his belief that america should be a shiny sitting on the hill, an example of liberty for the rest of the world. He was borrowing from one of those seem pilgrims john will from, who was in turn borrowing from the gospel. We firmly believe its not nearly an american value, but a universal one. Simply put, billions of souls all around the world feel strongly that their spiritual beliefs give purpose and meaning to their lives. Protecting each others right to warship, is protecting each others humanity, into these world, to many people, into many places are attacked, and persecuted, for exercising this human right. In northern iraq, isis has committed genocide against christians and other minorities. In one Community Terrorists desecrated the local catholic church, and be people right on the altar. Another of the regions ancient faith communities the as ease, were similarly targeted and marked for extinction. In 2018 i traveled to northern iraq, with a friend and former congressional colleague, we visited a displaced persons camp, and met with survivors. I will never forget looking into the eyes of this mother who showed off photographs of her missing daughters as though somehow and some way we could help find them. Sadly, of course, we could not. In one of my first trips as u. S. Idea demonstrator i traveled to burma and bag luggage and it was from rohingya who were raped and tortured and had destruction and was nothing short of an epic cleansing campaign. All driven by intolerance in sectarian hatred. I visited a camp near burma with the rohingya father whose children had all been born and were raised within the confines of the barbed wire perimeter. They lacked a mosque, then have any teachers there, was no regular medical care and they lived off the food that we were giving them. I look at that young father and he said to me what do i tell my son . Ive got nothing. In china, the government has forced millions of uighur muslims with education camps and crackdown that harkens back to the darkest days of chairman bows revolution. Beijing is determined to have leaders and other individualities and identity in their faith. In europe, the old scourge of antisemitism oil is rearing its ugly head. Violence against jews in places of worship is on the rise. Including yet another attack this very week in western germany. The suspect apparently live streamed his gruesome acts. I recently traveled to the nigeria in countryside and i learned how extremists were exploiting local conditions and conflicts that was fueled for the jihad. We know that attacks on religious liberty dont take interface. Sometimes theyre simply efforts by authoritarian regimes to capture the Community Faith and to bend it and to surrender its character and values for the tyrants darker ends. Ive heard stories from nicaraguan communities about the countries ongoing violence and brutality. The church and clergy their who believed their fate calls upon them to try to restore some sense of peace and justice are under attack for doing precisely that. Because priest were unwilling to simply stand by as atrocities were being committed by the regime, Daniel Ortega has encouraged itself in cool longers and nicaraguans of told me how the military forces stormed the reverend gutierrez. Amid the hail of bullets father gutierrez called a roll cool Television Show before breaking down in tears he said theyre filing the two churches and the government is killing us. Social media, nicaragua has pleaded the nicaragua follows the limit of inhumane any moral. The International Community cannot and differ. And hes right. We cannot be indifferent and must not be indifferent and im here to reaffirm that the Trump Administration will never be indifferent when it comes to the persecution of faith and communities. applause my friends, we believe as Vice President pence is put it its an attack upon us all. At the un, just a few weeks ago, President Trump proclaimed that we must all Work Together to protect communities of every faith. All over the world, the u. S. Id is regressing programs with interface to promote the strengthening and enforcement of laws that protect the freedom and will increase the capacity of Civil Society to advocate for it. The aim to