Did you catch @realDonaldTrump’s White House presser w/ @BetsyDeVosED & @Paula_White when they invited violations of students' religious freedom - on #ReligiousFreedomDay?! Can you count all the lies told about church-state separation? Here’s just a few: washingtonpost.com/education/2020…
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White Trump LIE: “In public schools around the country, authorities are stopping students and teachers from praying, sharing their faith, or following their religious beliefs.”
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White FACT: Students already have the right to pray in school, as long as they’re not coercing others to participate. It’s called the First Amendment.
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White Trump LIE: “There is a growing totalitarian impulse on the far left that seeks to punish, restrict or even prohibit religious expression.”
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White FACT: Religious freedom means everyone has the right to pray, or not, without government coercion. That’s not partisan, totalitarian or new – it’s guaranteed by the Constitution, and AU has been protecting it for almost 75 years.
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White DeVos LIE: “Too many misinterpret a separation of church and state as an invitation for government to separate people from their faith.”
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White FACT: The separation of church and state prevents government from favoring one religion over others or religion over nonreligion. Government officials cannot impose religion on the rest of us – that’s up to every individual to decide for themselves.
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White DeVos LIE: “Our Constitution doesn’t exist to protect us from religion, it exists to protect religion from government.”
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White FACT: Church-state separation is good for BOTH religion AND government. It protects religion from government interference, and it protects our shared secular laws from being shaped by the religious beliefs of a select few.
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White White LIE: “President, you continue to be such a fighter for people’s freedoms, for their liberties. As you often say, we worship God, not Government.”
@realDonaldTrump @BetsyDeVosED @Paula_White FACT: Americans can choose to worship whatever they want, or nothing at all. But Trump is pandering to a small faction of religious extremists that wants to establish the U.S. as a Christian nation. That’s not fighting for religious freedom; that’s fighting to destroy it.
