The Obama administration's continued attempts to limit religious freedom within the United States is "emboldening" the Islamic State's attacks on Christians in the Middle East, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has warned.
In an email to FRC followers, Perkins, who is also a former member of the Louisiana legislature, first emphasized that the Obama administration has very little to prevent Islamic extremism abroad.
"Ask Christian Wives, mothers and daughters overseas. Their husbands, sons and fathers are being beheaded or shot by radical Islamic jihadists like ISIS. They are being driven from their homes. Children are being martyred," Perkins explained. "And our administration has done little to help, and for months resisted calling this massacre of Christians by Islamic jihadists what it is."
"As General [Jerry] Boykin and I testified before the United Nations on Friday April 17, our administration's persecution of Christians within our borders is emboldening the attack on Christians worldwide," Perkins continued. "Why would Islamic butchers fear our government, or believe the United States would defend Christians elsewhere when they do nothing to help Christians under attack for their faith right here in America?"
In describing how Americans are steadily losing their religious freedoms, Perkins referenced former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who was relieved of his duties after publishing a book for his Bible study in which he described homosexuality as a "sin."
"If Kelvin Cochran can be fired, any Christian is at risk," Perkins argued. "If our government won't call religious genocide overseas what it is, any Christian, any place, is at risk."
Perkins goes on to warn that Christians who truly hold to Biblical principles, both at home and in the workplace, will soon become government "targets"
"The same rampage of 'political correctness' that attacked Kelvin Cochran's freedom to believe is coming to your state, your town, your church," Perkins wrote. "Christians you know are targets... maybe Christians in your own home. The same rampage of hate that destroyed the career of Kelvin Cochran tells the killers in ISIS, who closely watch America's domestic affairs, that our government doesn't value religious freedom of belief."
He added, "No Christian is safe."
In a previous debate with Fox Business commentator John Stossel, Perkins contended that Christians living in the United States are being persecuted within their own country as the government is steadily taking away the rights of religious Americans.
"American Christians, other religious Americans are not losing their lives like they are in the Middle East," Perkins told Stossel. "But they are losing their rights. We're increasingly seeing the government come, and this line of separation that separates church from state is not being breached by the church. It's being breached by the state."
While Stossel countered that such actions against Christians were "pretty rare," Perkins responded, "I don't think so," He added, "I think that it has been increasing in the last 40 to 50 years. We've seen it in our school systems. We've seen it on college campuses...It's not isolated. It's becoming widespread in our culture today."
However, Perkins ended on a positive note, emphasizing that despite the Obama administration's attacks on religious freedoms, social Conservatives continue to have a strong presence in the federal government.
"It's amazing, when you look at the potential presidential candidates, how many of them are actually in the field vying for that social conservative vote," Perkins said. "Of the primary voters for Republicans [back in the 2012 election cycle], 50 percent were evangelical social conservatives, and in the general election it's over 25 percent. I don't think they're going away anytime soon."
