They Said What? (August 2021)
I want to speak with you about the greatest threat to religious liberty in America today: the increasingly militant and extreme secular-progressive climate of our state-run education system. . . . Now we see the affirmative indoctrination of children with a secular belief system and worldview that is a substitute for religion and is antithetical to the beliefs and values of traditional God-centered religion.
Former Attorney General William Barr, speaking to the right-wing group Alliance Defending Freedom.
Raw Story, 5-26-21
If the left whines, like they do, like a spoiled brat often enough, they succeed in canceling so many voices of truth. And now that they are whining like, if I may say it, the pansy babies that they are, to cancel me. . . . God is still the best doctor and prayer is still the best medicine.
Rev. James Altman, pastor of St. James the Less Roman Catholic Church in La Crosse, Wis., after being asked by the La Crosse Diocese to step down because of several concerns, including Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.
NBC News, 5-24-21
Prayer is powerful. And I encourage all Utahns, regardless of religious affiliation, to join together on this weekend of prayer.
Gov. Spencer Cox, seeking divine intervention in a proclamation declaring a “weekend of prayer” to alleviate a statewide drought (which failed).
Salt Lake Tribune, 6-3-21
I’m a teacher, but I serve God first. And I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it is against my religion. . . . And it’s sinning against our God.
Byron Tanner Cross, who was suspended from his job as a gym teacher in Virginia because he refused to acknowledge transgendered individuals. Cross is now suing the school district.
The Friendly Atheist, 6-4-21
The Gestapo wants to see your papers, please.
Wisconsin state Rep. Shae Sortwell, comparing a nonprofit children’s museum in Stevens Point, Wis., to the Nazi Germany’s police force because the museum is asking people older than age 5 who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 to continue to wear masks during their visits to the indoor space.
Wisconsin Public Radio, 6-8-21
I don’t believe in evolution. I believe in God.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, speaking to Steve Bannon on “Real America’s Voice,” where she argued that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be criminally charged over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Raw Story, 6-8-21
This is unusual for Wisconsin. Most people in Wisconsin say, ‘You are in our prayers; we are praying for you.’ . . . But you got some people here that are just sort of nasty at some points.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, after being booed by attendees at a Juneteenth Day event in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6-19-21
The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our Founding Fathers did not believe that.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, after signing into law a bill that requires schools to hold a one- to two-minute moment of silence at the start of each day in public schools.
FloridaPolitics.com, 6-14-21
I do think it is not a stretch to say, for all of us who’ve prayed for deliverance from Covid-19, the vaccines are an answer to that prayer. That is very much consistent with the way God often responds to our needs — by working through human capabilities that we’ve been given as a gift by the creator.
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, an evangelical Christian.
Religion News Service, 6-1-5-21
