Require the Vice President to break a tie. Education secretary betsy devos. Two republican senators announcing they are opposing her. On the issue of religious liberty, what does it mean to you . For republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488002 if you are an independent. Twitteryour thoughts on or join in on the conversation on facebook. Front page of the Washington Post has this headline with overnight developments. The department of Homeland Security is halting the enforcement of that entry band. The u. S. Reversing the travel ban over the court ruling as President Trump fumes. U. S. Authorities have rolled back a controversial travel ban on people after a judge suspended it. The state Department Said it was reversing cancellations of visas. Trump, the verdict ridiculous. Airlines began allowing them to board flights to america on saturday. The full story is available online. We will get to your calls in just a moment. We want to focus on the issue of religious liberty. Heres more from the president thursday. It was the great thomas the god whoat said gave us life gave us liberty. Jefferson asked can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of god . Among those freedoms is the right to worship according to our own beliefs. That is why i will get rid of the johnsondestroy amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that. Remember. [applause] National Prayer breakfast on thursday he made reference to the Johnson Amendment put in place by senator lyndon johnson. Is an explanation. It bars taxexempt charitable candidates endorsing and getting involved in political campaigns. Churches fall under section 501 c 3 of the tax code so it applies to them as well. Many of you weighing in on twitter. Richard says religious liberty means we can discriminate based on race because of my religion . Comments. Ou sharing simply put the First Amendment of the u. S. Constitution. Another comment, separation of church and state. Howard is joining us on the republican line from fort lauderdale. Good morning. Good morning. In all have to say my 53 years of life i have never seen color. The only color i have seen in another human being is the color of their blood which is the same color as mine. Therefore we are all the same no matter what our religious beliefs are. No matter what our character is. God put us on this planet for a reason. Its not to separate and hate this person because hes a different color or different religion. It shouldnt matter what we believe in our heart. We need to start believing the person in front of us is just as important as we are. Together and do that it doesnt matter whos president. Its not up to trump to make things right. Host ariel says it means religion if not shoving their beliefs on us in the public square. Separation of church and state. Being able to practice religion freely. Susan is joining us from fredericksburg, virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am definitely a supporter of being able to practice ones religion or lack thereof. Theoncerns me when president is calling to get rid of the johnson band. I am a supporter of that. I do not think churches and pastors ought to put himself in the middle of politics. To sway their parishioners towards issues. This is from our facebook page. No government established religion period. This is, one nation under god. This tweet, religious liberty has evolved into the liberty to discriminate. David says lets make freedom of religion great again. What does religious liberty means to you . If you are watching across the atlantic on the Bbc Parliament channel, good morning to you. Joe from south carolina. Ndependent line guest caller this is a touchy subject. Im southern baptist. And you are catholic. Certainly respect the catholic religion. I havent talked to you since christmas. I hope you and katie and the kids had a wonderful holiday. Heres the thing. I dont care how people practice of religion as long as their religion doesnt interfere with the rights and liberties and privileges granted to everybody under the constitution. Its a strange thing. We practice religion. The danger with churches of people getting involved in politics is not so much about a government thing. In my view its a danger of fracturing the congregation. Me reread the Johnson Amendment and get your specific senator lyndont johnson put into law more than 55 years ago. It bars taxexempt charitable from endorsing candidates, getting involved in political campaigns. Specifically on that question should then be lifted . Caller i dont mind charitable about various issues and getting involved in politics. I think it should be out of churches because it fractures them in your ship it fractures the membership. Speaking of taxexempt status, heres the fear among a lot of different faiths across the country right now. We are concerned that some point if we dont adopt the governments view of how the if thehould the, we determineys samesex marriage is legal and youve got to do that in your church, i dont believe in that. It may driveoccur churches underground and we have to start worshiping in private again. I hope that doesnt happen in this country. Host has your pastor ever said you should vote for this person . Absolutely not. My church is very careful. We talk about issues. Mention ever independent, democrat, republican, trump, clinton. We just talk about issues and how they might arise out of a biblical discussion. Host thanks for the call. From illinois, good morning. Republican line. I think religious liberty is being free from the protesters always putting the evangelicals down. Every culture has biases against each other. Thats natural. Thats how people are. What people are getting really sick of being put down because they are evangelicals. Is just asf color prejudiced against white people as white people are against them. Some people are more biased than other people but everybody has biases. To put evangelicals and christians down this country is disgusting. You cant say we are just a Christian Country but a percentage of the country is christian. Why do we have to make it muslim . Thats ridiculous and its watchingour country everybody put evangelical Christian White people down. Especially white men. Everybody is against white men now. Protesters are mindless and the democrats that are figure that out. Everybody is prejudiced against each other because everybody comes from different cultures and theres different cultures in the white culture, too. People ofenty of culture that dont like darker skinned colored people. People tonamerican assume everybody who is white is prejudiced which they do is disgusting. ,ecause in the black culture they are against each other, too. They put each other down if one person is lighter skinned than another person and they put them down. The africanamerican culture has hasown problems and it nothing to do with white people that got here 50 years ago, one hundred years ago. If somebody put them into slavery was rich people from the 1800s. They are gone now. It has nothing to do with anything. If africanamericans dont get jobs they want, there are plenty of white people who are poor that are looked down on. White rich people have huge prejudices against poor white people. Host a couple of tweets from the head of the heritage foundation. Senator Bernie Sanders weighing in on the issue of religious liberty. ,e says we cannot action racism sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination under the guise of religious freedom. Discrimination under the guise of religious freedom is still discrimination. I urge the president to reconsider. In a sweeping draft of the religious freedom executive order of the president rates broad rice to discriminate against lgbt and women. Keepshnson amendment religious and political activity separate. This from former senator and head of the heritage foundation, liberals are demonizing trumps exec order. Derailnnot be allowed to these important protections. What does religious liberty mean sean from new york on the democrats line. Good morning. Good morning. When i hear President Trump talk about religious liberty it actually makes me a little bit upset. It seems like shes only talking to a Certain Group of people. Libertythat religious doesnt mean anything until we respect everyones religion. Let me put it another term on the screen to help explain the debate over all of this. The religious freedom restoration act. The government cannot substantially burden a personss ability to follow their religious beliefs unless it can prove a compelling interest in opposing that burden or to do so in the least restrictive way. Joining us from chicago. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a registered republican. Gopve not voted for the since 1996. After bill clinton got elected the second term. Because they are not the party of religion. There are not the party of god. They have become one of the biggest hypocritical Political Parties in our contemporary history. Has anyone stopped to read the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th commandments . Broken all ofas them. When he sees all of the hispanic congregation who are very active in their church when all these latino start getting together and raising funds, maybe thats his plan. I dont think hes going to be very happy to see the results of this. The Latino Community is highly and heavily involved in their churches. Has said he is not supporting trump. What will he do when all of those hispanic congregations rise up and start pumping millions and millions into the dnc . This is from our twitter page. If religious freedom means businesses can turn away gay couples will christians also be able to deny jobs to muslims . A lot of comments on their facebook page. Depends on if you claim to be a republican or democrat. Both groups feel completely different on this matter. Prohibits state establishment of religion. Walking this fine line requires government to be neutral. Leaked draft revealing sweeping plans to legalize discrimination. Sean spicer. There have been several businesses and institutions that or attempteddated to mandate certain things they may or may not do. Those are instances where the pendulum is swinging a different way. Theres clearly a lot of evidence in the past couple years of the government coming in with regulations and policies that have denied the ability to live according to their faith. I think its a pendulum and where the president is is that he wants to make sure you dont penalize someone for wanting to express their faith. To the extent we can keep that less blurred and allow people to make sure they are equally comfortable in the workplace. We shouldnt mandate people to abide by certain policies which are in direct contradiction to their faith. Now no executive orders are official. There is nothing new on that front. Sean spicer asked about the issue of executive order. Who saysrom karen religious liberty is the government approved excuse for the country and hate. Wall street journal also looking at the story. You can get details online. From vero beach, florida. Democrat wine. Good morning. Caller i just wanted to say that freedom of religion also includes freedom from religion. You keep forgetting about the atheists and nontheists among us. We deserve a little bit of a say, too. Check out the last caller, its not ok to express your nonbelief. Host ok . Im just wanting to say the people who say that its one nation under god, its not. It cant be one nation if its under god. Because im not under god. To 20 of the12 nation thats not under god. That eliminates that whole idea right there. Host cover story of the weekly standard. The revolt against the elites. The great manipulator. A look at steve bannon. From new york. Welcome to the conversation. I just want to speak to the lady who called several minutes ago. She was talking about africanamericans. That she usedknow it we are not africanamericans. We are the original juice of the bible. Tell her to read it. Its all over it. And then she can stop referring to us as africanamerican. Host explain what you mean by that. If you are really reading the bible you will find are of the real jews bible. Host and they are . Caller they are from jacob. You can find it in the bible. Its not hidden. The aclu also issuing a statement on the proposed draft on the executive order. Discrimination under the guise of religious freedom is still discrimination. Joining us from clearwater, kansas. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am opposed to the Johnson Amendment. It restricted the freedom of speech of religious organizations and if you research the history of that prior to the Johnson Amendment no damage was ever done by any religious organization in their commentary prior to the johnson it . Dment so why have it is a bar on freedom of speech. I had a discussion with former congressman dan glickman onetime and we were discussing this issue and i said take away the taxexempt status of religious organizations and then there will be no barriers to lobbying or members of those churches running for office. And when i said the the very next day he completely dropped that topic. And thats my comment. Another reviewer saying i dont understand why religious leaders cannot talk about sin and evil versus good without mentioning Political Parties. More comments on our facebook page. Debbie says it should mean that everyone is free to be or not. The problem is so many want to use their religious freedom as a weapon against the rest of us for a dozen different reasons. Joining us from new york on the independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. When i was a bartender we never talked religion or politics because there is no one right answer. You probably got better tips that way. Caller sports and cars. That was it. Are going to talk sports in the last halfhour with the super bowl today. Caller i always watch cspan. Imho key. Caller god has no religion. In a while interjects himself into the course of history. Host when you say god has no religion what do you mean by that . God is an independent spirit that granted us as humans the right of free choice. Im not a big bible thumper. I do believe in jesus. I was baptized a christian. Concernedim President Trump interjecting himself into this conversation is payback to the conservatives who helped get him elected. This hast realize ramifications. Now it gets to the point where its an ok wink and a nod to be biased about certain things. Throughout history we have seen that man once he gets hold of for aarts manipulating specific purpose whether its good or bad. Most of the time its bad. I have relatives that are religious conservatives. Worlds 6000the years old and dinosaurs and men acted together and so on. In all honesty i think we should really step back for a minute and say in america we have the right of free choice. I do not want my government into the religion everyday life of us as free citizens. Call. Thank you for the carol has this tweet. I was raised catholic and fell away before confirmation. Sick of being hit with the yardstick when i asked questions they did not like. The inside story on why neil gorsuch and what led to his name being added along with another nine justices for the Supreme Court to make sure it included neil gorsuch was from denver and why the president ultimately decided on him as the nominee. The inside story available online. Amanda tyler is the executive director of an organization that issued a statement on religious liberty. Heres part of what she said. It would usher in our partisan divisions into the pews and harm the churchs ability to provide refuge. Threatening to turn pulpit profits into political puppets. Both go to chuck in west virginia. Good morning. Your callersf earlier this morning said he was a southern cap just and he was if churches were forced to grant gay couples weddings they might be driven underground. Look. Muslim and atheist and jewish couples have always been allowed to marry and churches have never been forced to provide any kind of services. They can turn away anybody they want to. Comes to organizations that are getting government funds, thats a different story. The thing that comes to mind for me is the issue of Catholic Charities of boston after the state of massachusetts began allowing gay couples to marry. Catholic charities that we are not going to place adopted children with gay couples anymore. Problem with that was the Catholic Charities of boston was getting about 1 million per year from the state of massachusetts. The state of massachusetts gave them a choice. You can place orphan children with gay couples or you can give up your state funding. Catholic charities of boston chose to give up their state funding. Fine. Dollars want my tax going to organizations that discriminate against me. Host thank you for the call. Who says yousteve have the freedom to exercise your religion in the usa as long as its not islam or any other disapproved belief system. Us from southg dakota. Good morning. Caller yes. I have a christian name. It is stephen. I was raised christian. Catholic actually. I backed down from it very early in life. I did some studying and i came to realize people such as gandhi have said some interesting things pointing out that religion is actually politics. The elephant in the room as well as the fact that we do have a theocracy in which all of our legislative meetings are started off with a prayer int we have our schools. We are raised theocratic right. There is a lot of oppression against nonreligionists as a former caller said. Thank you. Host another tweet from a few , determined to undo the United States using the guise of National Security or religious liberty. Reject his bigotry. Bill oreilly sitting down with the president on friday. The interview will air this afternoon as part of the preview to the super bowl. Defending putin. Is notuggesting the u. S. So innocent. Heres a next up from that interview airing later today on fox. I do respect him. People. T a lot of that doesnt mean im going to get along with them. Hes a leader of his country. I say it is better to get along with russia then not. Will i get along with him . I have no idea. Prudence a killer. Killer osts a putins a killer. Weve got a lot of killers. It all looks as if the world is preparing for war. Leanne from austin, texas. What does religious liberty mean to you . Caller religious liberty means to me that there should be a clear separation of church and state. The reason i feel so strongly about is during my Service Career for the army. I worked for the chaplaincy for four years. I believe faith on the battlefield is essential for our soldiers. From an administrative standpoint i thought the purpose of separating church and state was so they couldnt fund raise. Thats my biggest argument with the deregulation hes proposing. Once you have an influx of churches that are no longer they arethis taxation going to influx into political fundraising which how can you guarantee the money going into the collection pot isnt going into the fundraising of whoever they favor . It was really hard to follow that. The clips from President Trump. That was a real set up. The other thing i really would like to say is that i have faith and regardless i think checks and balances are going to check and balance these things out. Host this is from robert. When i was a kid in a nativity scene. Now its a menorah and a holiday tree. Robin joining us from oklahoma. What does it mean to you . Religious liberty to me is just as much year ability to express your religion as it is someone elses ability to not have to deal with it. The whole purpose of us having the lyndon Johnson Amendment and separation of church and state is the same reason we have the electoral college. Its so all of the power isnt held by one group of people that do not represent all of america. It cant really be one nation under god. We arent all religions. That should not be the law of our land when our land is supposed to be accommodating towards everybody. Krista is joining us from. Lorida good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I think religious liberty is one inthe most important things the constitution. Our Founding Fathers made it very clear there wasnt to be the state religion because they have escaped from having a state religion in england and they were very concerned that they be allowed to practice their own religion in the way that they saw fit. Is a value that is held very dear in our country. For example if you are a social worker and you have a child whose parents only believe in the laying on of hands you may not remove that child from the home. Some kind of illness that might require medical intervention. Because that is respected. The persons religion is respected above all else. Tweet saying god is not republican or democrat. Many are tricked. God doesnt measure sin. We all have sinned without christ. Sandra is joining us from alabama. Good morning. Welcome to the program. Thank you. Ands is my lord and savior i know that she came for and i do believe that he didnt die for just my sins. He died for everyone. A lot really want to say of jesus on everyone out there. We have about 20 minutes left. On cspan listening radio or serious xm we are asking about the issue of religious liberty. At the top of the hour we will turn our attention to the president s choice to replace Antonin Scalia of. Heres more from the president. Issue atbout this very thursdays National Prayer breakfast. So i want to express clearly today to the American People that my administration will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty in our land. Host carl is joining us from chicago. Good morning. I dont know whats wrong with callers who are buying into this the trumpet is raising. At history. Look all throughout World History theres been problems when you have religion being used against people. Im africanamerican. My history is full of woe. Christians wanted to discriminate because of the color of my skin. You have to be a slave because you are black. We are doing fine just the way we are. This of places they have influence of religion and politics. Those who really want to buy into this, christ probably was crucified because they had religion in politics. The people in the church wanted to to, wanted the government crucify him because they said he was committing sacrilege. We dont need this. I dont know how these people youunderstand just because think you should be discriminating against someone because thats your religion . I dont know a religious faith that really when you get down to the core discriminates against other people. Its just not consistent. I just wish some of these people would stop liking to this. The president who put this forward. Donald trump . Youre going to buy into this from somebody like donald trump . Talking about religion . A lot of these people who are religious are not all true. More tweets. If you believe the bible there should be only one religious test. Linda says the First Amendment meant to protect religion from government not government from religion. The most important part of freedom of religion is the freedom not to participate or practice it. Timespage of the new york. The trumpet administration moving to appeal the ruling that places restrictions on travel. Its playing in great britain. The Appeals Court rejects the white house request to reinstate the ban. The tweet from adam schiff. Hes the House Democrat on the intelligence committee. Read the socalled constitution. Thinkence said he did not trumps criticism of the judge undermined the separations of power. I think the American People are very accustomed to this president speaking his mind. Pence saying the court ruling was the first in what could be months of legal challenges. That from the guardian newspaper. The issue of religious liberty. Caller good morning. I have to laugh at the attacking of the church like its a new thing. I think its a dog whistle. This hour has really shown that. It has nothing to do with freedom of religion. In the First Amendment concerns. I think what this comes down to is 501 c 3 tax breaks versus 501 c 3 or. 4 . Donation to a church is fully taxdeductible. I think this is a dog whistle. Its as simple as how do you shift more money around without getting it taken by uncle sam. Reporting tomn perez to be the next head of the dnc. This is the story with the photograph of the Vice President. To tina in minneapolis. Good morning. To me it seems like religious liberty just based on what i know and understand kind of sounds like an oxymoron. When we think about religious liberty in america currently muslims dont have religious liberty. They are being harassed at the coming and going into america. We are not expressing religious liberty currently in this country. I read an article in the newspaper about native americans in prison werent able to practice their religious belief. It went on for a while. I dont know what ever became of that. To me it seems like religious liberty, it sounds like an oxymoron. Good conversation to have. It got me online this morning. Host thanks for the call. Another tweet. Several of the Founding Fathers held religious beliefs that would the unrecognizable today. Our entire system on judeochristian values. The constitution says no state religion. Joining us from bakersfield, north carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Is taking the bible out of context. I live in the bible belt and everybody is preaching a perverted gospel. Ive been watching christian tv and i have learned the true gospel of christ. Host what does that mean to you . It means everything. I am free to receive jesus christ. Number one. We are not under law. This is what jesus died for. Free to receive him. And its amazing. First corinthians 1555, the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. When you are living under law it makes you sin. Jesus freely gave himself. Knowing that the law is not made for the righteous man. Host we will go to Stephen Roberts film in zurich. Robertsviille lle, missouri. I had a supernatural encounter with god. I was 15 years old in 1946. It happened over 40 years ago. I didething something to make my mom mad. She said, god is going to punish you. I said i dont believe in god anymore and i slammed the door. Outside and my conscience bothered me really bad all day. Face. My mom right in my gods going to punish you. I started to slammed the door in my dream. Slammed in this voice and how dare you say that. I woke up and slapped myself in the face. Dareth you say that. I was trembling and shaking and i heard this popping noise. The curtains were flapping above my head. If you read in the book of job it says the lord answered from the whirlwind. What does religious liberty mean to you . To evenit is being able if you dont believe what other that they have the right to believe what they want. Theres only one way to eternal life and thats jesus christ the son of god. And he died for the sins of the world. Host herbert joining us on the independent line. What is your take on all of this . Caller i believe in god. I believe in doing the right thing. Thats my business. I want everybody to mind their own business. You have a lot of killing and people dying over religion. God wants you to mine your own business and believe what you want to believe because hes the ultimate. Saying whatocrites they believe and somebody should follow them. You follow god. Hes the judge. Nobody on this earth is the judge of anybody. I believe in him. Pray fordy doesnt you that person. You dont put them down. You tell them the word. Lord wants you to tell the word. If they dont heed the word thats up to them and god. Its not up to you. Its not up to me. Mind your own business. In the world will be a better place. These socalled religious people saying what they should do. Do your thing. Sweep around your own front door before you try to judge somebody else. Take the log out of your eye. God is the only judge someone your business. Thats my comment. Thank you. No need forsays, church today. We are getting our bible study on the washington journal. Can i get an amen. A lot of Facebook Comments as well. Charlotte says it means not having to wonder who is what. My mother always wanted to know what his father does for a living. Jermaine says being able to force others to abide by your religion like the taliban while also being able to discriminate. Liberty religious because half of those people dont care for the poor and voted for the devil. Patricia says there must be separation of church and state. Karen. You are next. Cincinnati. Good morning. You are talking about religious freedom. Means everybody should be able to practice their Religion Without someone pushing their will on to others. Point it seemsis like they dont really want people to practice religion. They want to push their will on someone. Ake you believe a certain way as far as my religious belief if someone has a view they should be able to crack is that. Thats what makes the world go round. As long as its not hurting anyone. Or killing or breaking laws. I think a lot of laws are being broken and no one is doing anything about people breaking the law. People that have religious views are being penalized for their beliefs. A couple of stories from the Washington Post. The white house staff refocusing its effort. Story about some of the executive orders. How those decisions are executed. Theres a photograph of a bunker trump. Paying respects to the navy seal that was killed in yemen. Betsy devos confirmation hearings included her opening testimony and a lot of questions on her credibility. Also her beliefs on charter schools. On tuesday expected and right now there are 50 democratss and 48 expected to vote against her. Mike pence would cast the tiebreaking vote. A story about Chuck Schumer inside the Washington Post. There is a regular big five dinner meeting. States are all up for reelection in 28 team. Senator schumer trying to deal with the wing of the democratic party. These key swing state democrats. Kevin in marshall, texas. Religious liberty. What does it mean to you . I reference one of the founders of religious liberty in this country. What is it to me if a man believes in one god are many gods . Bones nor breaks my picks my pocket. When jefferson said that he was referring to morality shouldnt have to be paid by other people. We look at the way the government is run today. So much of it is based on morality. Its based on morality. And yet progressivism is a godless religion. They seem to be exempt from forcing normal morality on other people. Host another viewer saying please ask does it allow one to discriminate . That is the underlying question. This is from stan. What is the difference between someones religious belief and someones point of view or worldview . Charles. Next on the democrat line. Caller yes. I believe people have the right to worship whoever they want to worship. To have the freedom to worship. If you want to worship a cow, worship a cow. From stanford connecticut. Independent line. Good morning. Freedom to meous is just living here in the United States. Thats what we have here. Religion youip any want. You can be a devil worshiper if you would like to be. Didnt mike pence come up with this in his state . Its not needed for anybody in the whole country anywhere. And the constitution says so. Have a nice day. Go pats. Have a good super bowl. Host religion and politics. The nfl super bowl game today between the falcons and the patriots. You get the last word on the issue of religious liberty. To me religious freedom means that i can go to church to a Peaceful Place to meditate to hear the word the gospel and to love the lord and not the confronted with political speech to support a particular candidate. If i want to support the candidate i will go to a political rally. My fear is politics will so infiltrated our churches that there will be no place to worship god on sunday morning. Thank you. Host conversation continues online. Nan aaron is going to be joining the president s choice for the u. S. Supreme court. She is with the alliance for justice. Will be here to talk about the trump administration. Represented us in iraq and afghanistan. Andans Newsmakers Program our guest this week is the senior democrat on the Senate Foreign relations committee. Ben cardin talking about some of the issues the president will be facing. Rex tillerson who was sworn in late last week. On so many areas of Foreign Policy we really dont know mr. Trumps coherent policy. Hisave seen his tweets and oneliners but we dont know his policy. Thats true in china and taiwan. So many areas of Foreign Policy. Policy inegards to israel is still something we want to find out about. His statement in regards to is not inconsistent with former policies by the executive branch. To tell what his policy is going to be. Mr. Tillerson has a full plate. You mentioned the dissent cables. I have urged him to make sure that remains intact. Secretary saidhe an intimidating people not to use that line of communication in the state department which has been there since the vietnam war and is an important way for to make sure the line opens without intimidation. He has a lot of issues. He has north korea in their innert to build an ballistic missile. Weavwhhaeng sya. Soucisoi o weeehitoowethe clatfo cert s. Renli. Hes r cefiar. Hes e rs w t ca rol tsesss thtliryor. Ilanhitochve ho he rki doct e