NASHVILLE (BP)—A coalition of conservative evangelicals, including about 70 Southern Baptists, issued a statement on biblical sexuality countering the idea that Christians “should agree to disagree” in their views of homosexual practice and transgenderism.

The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood announced the release of The Nashville Statement, which consists of 14 affirmations and denials consistent with the church’s traditional teaching on human sexuality.

Not a matter of ‘moral indifference’

“We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness,” the statement says in part. “We deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.”

The statement arrives at a time when some Christians, including some who identify as evangelicals, have revised their views on human sexuality, particularly by affirming same-sex relationships and marriage.

Others have asserted the issues are not essential to the Christian faith and evangelicals should be able to disagree on homosexuality and transgenderism without breaking fellowship.

The statement gained its name from a meeting the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood convened in Nashville at which a coalition of scholars, pastors and other evangelical leaders discussed and endorsed the document. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission hosted the meeting during its national conference and in conjunction with its research institute meeting.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, however, took exception to the name and the content of The Nashville Statement, tweeting: “The @CBMWorg’s so-called ‘Nashville Statement’ is poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.”

In “the hope of serving Christ’s church,” the statement includes these declarations:

• God designed marriage as a covenantal union of only a man and a woman that is the sole context for sexual intercourse.
• God created male and female as equals but with differences intended for human flourishing.
• Adoption of “a homosexual or transgender self-conception” is inconsistent with God’s purposes.
• Same-sex attraction is not part of God’s original design, but people who experience such attraction may live fruitful lives through faith in Christ as they practice purity.
• God graciously empowers sinners “to forsake transgender self-conceptions” and “accept the God-ordained link between one’s biological sex and one’s self-conception as male or female.”
• People born with a sex development disorder possess the same “dignity and worth” as all other image-bearers of God.

‘Declare the goodness of God’s design’

Denny Burk, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, said the statement’s aim “is to shine a light into the darkness—to declare the goodness of God’s design in our sexuality and in creating us as male and female.”

The coalition hopes to “provide help for churches and Christian organizations that are looking for biblical guidance on how to address homosexuality and transgenderism,” said Burk, also professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

It also seeks to build a group of “like-minded evangelicals to stand together for the challenging days ahead” and to encourage young evangelicals who are under pressure to desert biblical teaching, he said.

Steve Gaines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Memphis-area Bellevue Baptist Church, decried “confusion in American culture regarding sexuality.”

“Yet the sacred Scriptures have not changed, nor will they,” Gaines said. “A faithful reading of the Bible shows that God’s standard regarding sexuality in general and marriage in particular is between one man and one woman for life. The Nashville Statement affirms that biblical viewpoint clearly and graciously. I am glad to endorse this wonderful statement of biblical truth.”

‘Urgently needed’

ERLC President Russell Moore described the statement as “an urgently needed moment of gospel clarity.”

“The Sexual Revolution cannot keep its promises, and the church must stand ready to receive with compassion the many who are in need of a better hope. The Nashville Statement is part of that mission, and my prayer is that it will help anchor churches and Christians to the gospel of Jesus Christ for years to come,” Moore said.

Among the initial signers of the document are British theologian J.I. Packer; theologian Wayne Grudem; author John Piper; pastors John MacArthur and Alistair Begg; family leaders James Dobson, Tony Perkins and Dennis Rainey; theologians R.C. Sproul and D.A. Carson; and authors Rosaria Butterfield and Sam Allberry.

The lengthy list of Southern Baptist signers includes:

• Former SBC presidents Ronnie Floyd, Jack Graham, Johnny Hunt, Fred Luter, James Merritt, Frank S. Page, Paige Patterson and Bryant Wright.
• All six SBC seminary presidents—Jeff Iorg of Gateway; Jason Allen of Midwestern; Chuck Kelley of New Orleans; Danny Akin of Southeastern Seminary; Al Mohler of Southern; and Patterson of Southwestern.
• SBC entity heads—Moore of the ERLC, Kevin Ezell of the North American Mission Board, O.S. Hawkins of GuideStone Financial Resources, Thom Rainer of LifeWay Christian Resources and Frank S. Page of the Executive Committee.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Pastor A.R. Bernard resigned from the White House’s evangelical advisory board in the wake of President Trump’s widely condemned comments on a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Bernard attributed his departure to a “deepening conflict in values” with the administration.

Bernard, 64, was a civil rights activist as a teenager and is lead pastor at the Christian Cultural Center, a predominantly African-American congregation in Brooklyn. He tweeted out his letter of resignation from the high-profile board Aug. 18.

Its members endured criticism in recent days for standing by Trump after critics said the president appeared to draw a moral equivalence between protesters and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, and as executives, in response to the president’s comments, began to resign from White House business boards.

In Charlottesville, white nationalists shouted anti-Semitic and racist slogans, and a woman died after a car driven by a Nazi sympathizer plowed into a crowd of anti-racism activists.

Urging others to speak out

On Don Lemon’s show on CNN, Bernard said other members of the advisory council should be more willing to publicly criticize the president.

“I would love to see more of the evangelical leaders who are on the board make strong statements in reaction to it, and that doesn’t mean they have to abandon him,” he said. “But they should come out and say something of substance.”

The Trump campaign announced its Evangelical Executive Advisory Board in June 2016 as the then-candidate became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. It was tasked with convening regularly to “provide advisory support to Mr. Trump on those issues important to Evangelicals and other people of the faith in America,” according to a statement at the time.

The board was not convened officially by the administration after the election. But it did not disband either, and, since then, “its relationship with the White House has been informal but certainly active,” said Johnnie Moore, an evangelical author and advocate who has served as unofficial spokesperson for the group.

“The members of the board have been the anchor attendees/invitees of all the evangelical meetings and a number of us have acted as unofficial advisors in various ways across the government, all in our capacity as private citizens,” Moore continued.

The White House has hosted several meetings of prominent evangelical Christians since Trump took office, including a May dinner the night before the National Day of Prayer in the Blue Room of the White House and two gatherings in July. One has been described as a day of meetings with White House staff at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in July that ended with a prayer for the president in the Oval Office.

James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in suburban Chicago, was the first to resign from the evangelical advisory board last fall after the release of a 2005 recording of Trump making lewd remarks about women.

Bernard said in a tweeted statement about his resignation that he had distanced himself from the evangelical advisory board months ago.

Business leaders distance themselves from Trump

After Trump’s comments Tuesday, in which the president referred to the “fine people” among both protesters and counter-protesters, CEOs began to resign from two White House business advisory councils, citing their own commitments to tolerance and racial equality and how, as the councils pursued a stronger economy, politics had become a distraction. The president later announced he was disbanding both his Strategy and Policy Forum and his Manufacturing Council.

The remaining members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities all also resigned Aug. 18 in a letter sent to the White House.

Attention then turned to the president’s religious counselors, with critics asking why evangelical advisory board members wouldn’t break with Trump.

“While America’s manufacturing giants take principled moral stands against white supremacy and Donald Trump’s failure on Saturday to renounce racists by name, none of the members of his ‘Evangelical Advisory Council’—the so-called court evangelicals—have resigned their posts,” John Fea, a professor at Messiah College in Pennsylvania who studies Christianity and American history, wrote.

“Apparently in the United States it is the manufacturers, not the evangelical clergy who advise the POTUS, who now deliver moral messages to the White House.”

Not abandon president or Bernard

While multiple members of the evangelical advisory group spoke out against bigotry on social media and from their pulpits, they also declared it would be wrong to abandon a president more in need of faithful advisers than ever.

Neither did they abandon Bernard, with several tweeting statements or making remarks on weekend news shows complimenting the pastor.

Moore issued a statement noting his longstanding respect for Bernard, noting “sometimes friends disagree,” but disagreement “doesn’t change our commitment to our shared faith and friendship.”

“We have every intention to continue to extend invitations to him to contribute his perspective on issues important to all of us,” Moore said.

More than 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump, the largest proportion of all religious groups polled. These voters often say they do not always approve of Trump’s personal behavior, but they admire his leadership skills and business acumen and appreciate that he kept his promise to nominate a conservative to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A coalition of African-American clergy called on churches to serve as sacred spaces for healing in the aftermath of violence in Charlottesville, Va., and as the nation grapples with racism and other bigotry.

“We urge churches across the country to create safe and sacred spaces for prayer, healing, dialogue and honest conversations about the history and reality of racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism and white supremacy in this nation,” the black clergy said. “Our youth and young adults especially need a place to process this assault on their being and the very soul of this nation.”

The group, which spearheaded the first-ever “African American Clergy Advocacy Day” on Capitol Hill a month ago, also denounced the hatred displayed recently in Charlottesville and the “subsequent inflammatory and detestable words of President Donald Trump” critics asserted placed equal blame on protesters and counter-protesters in Charlottesville.

The 10 initial signatories include leaders of the National African American Clergy Network, the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative and the National Council of Churches, as well as officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the United Church of Christ.

Speak out against white supremacy

The black clergy called on Congress, denominational leaders and particularly white evangelical church leaders to speak out against the “evil” of white supremacy.

They also took issue with President Trump’s assertion that “many sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville.

Declaring, “No, Mr. President. There are not many sides,” the group questioned his contention that “fine people” were among both sides in the protests that turned violent and left three people dead.

“These ‘fine’ people intimidated churchgoers, attacked clergy and threw bottles from the tops of steps into the crowd of counter protesters—those who were standing against their hatred, bigotry and white supremacist values,” the online statement said.

Appeal to Congress

On July 18, members of the clergy group protested the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts affecting programs including food stamps and Meals on Wheels; 16 people were arrested. A week later they joined others in a protest of the Senate’s unsuccessful efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act; 31 people were arrested.

Leslie Copeland-Tune, who drafted the statement, said the group plans to return to Capitol Hill in September to urge members of Congress to be more outspoken against white supremacy. The clergy also plan to visit five states represented by Congress members who hold key roles in considering the proposed budget.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—More than 4,000 religious leaders signed a letter urging Congress to maintain the Johnson Amendment—the law that bars churches from endorsing political candidates without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.

 “As a leader in my religious community, I am strongly opposed to any effort to repeal or weaken current law that protects houses of worship from becoming centers of partisan politics,” reads the letter faith leaders who support church-state separation delivered to Congress Aug. 16. “Changing the law would threaten the integrity and independence of houses of worship.”

Baptists who helped deliver a message to Congress in support of the Johnson Amendment included (left to right) Katie Morgan-Harper and Meg Thomas-Clapp from McLean Baptist Church in McLean, Va.; Will Thomas-Clapp from Westwood Baptist Church in Springfield, Va.; Elijah Zehyoue from Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.; and Jennifer Hawks, Charles Watson Jr. and Amanda Tyler from the Baptist Joint Committee. (Baptist Joint Committee Photo)The letter signed by a wide range of clergy and lay members—from Methodists to Muslims to those who hold metaphysical beliefs—was spearheaded by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. About one-fourth of the individuals who signed the letter are Baptists.

“We have heard an outcry from faith leaders across the country about changing the tax law to encourage churches to issue campaign endorsements,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee. “They are concerned that weakening the Johnson Amendment would divide their communities and distract from their mission. 

“In response, we worked with other groups to create this platform for leaders to lift their individual voices. This effort is ongoing, and I encourage clergy and lay leaders to join these 4,000 early-adopters in sending a strong message to Congress.”

Following up on a campaign promise, Trump vowed in a National Prayer Breakfast speech in February he would “totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear.”

In a Rose Garden ceremony on the National Day of Prayer in May, he signed an executive order asking the IRS not to enforce the amendment, which allows it to strip the nonprofit status from any tax-exempt organization that endorses a political candidate or participates in a political campaign.

In July, the House Appropriations Committee voted to keep language in a spending bill that would defund IRS efforts to enforce the amendment. The House and Senate must pass the bill before it can be signed into law by the president.

The letter-signing initiative started before the introduction of that language as religious leaders responded to the president’s vow to get rid of the law, said Maggie Garrett, Americans United’s legislative director.

The letter notes there is nothing in current law that bars faith leaders from supporting or opposing political candidates in their personal capacities.

“Faith leaders are called to speak truth to power, and we cannot do so if we are merely cogs in partisan political machines,” said the letter signers from all 50 states. “Particularly in today’s political climate, engaging in partisan politics and issuing endorsements would be highly divisive and have a detrimental impact on congregational unity and civil discourse.”

With additional information provided by Cherilyn Crowe with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—God has given President Donald Trump the “authority to take out Kim Jong-Un,” according to Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and one of the president’s key evangelical Christian advisers.

Jeffress’ statement Aug. 8 followed the president’s warning earlier in the day that North Korea would “be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen” if the North Korean leader continues to threaten the United States.

Jeffress has been an outspoken Trump supporter since early in the presidential campaign. He is one of dozens of conservative evangelical leaders who have been getting what one of them described as “unprecedented access” to this president who, they say, seeks their views on policy.

Tensions escalate between U.S. and North Korea

Jeffress released his statement as tensions between the two nuclear powers escalated, and as Democrats and some Republicans criticized Trump’s remarks as reckless.

For the first time last month, North Korea successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach California, according to the New York Times. And the Washington Post reported North Korea may have miniaturized a warhead that could fit inside such a missile.

In a written statement released early Tuesday evening, Aug. 8, Jeffress said he believed the Bible makes clear that “God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary—including war—to stop evil.”

Jeffress praised Trump for not tolerating North Korea’s threats and panned his predecessor’s handling of world affairs, saying former President Barack Obama had made “empty threats” and drawn “imaginary red lines” in dealing with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

“I’m heartened to see that our president will not tolerate any threat against the American people. When President Trump draws a red line, he will not erase it, move it or back away from it,” Jeffress said.

“Thank God for a president who is serious about protecting our country.”

Romans 13 gives government ‘authority to do whatever,’ Jeffress asserts

In an interview with the Washington Post, Jeffress cited the biblical verse Romans 13, saying it “gives the government to the authority to do whatever, whether it’s assassination, capital punishment or evil punishment to quell the actions of evildoers like Kim Jong Un.”

Jeffress was a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory committee during the 2016 presidential election and since has attended several meetings of prominent evangelicals at the White House. That includes a dinner ahead of the National Day of Prayer, at which he assured, “Mr. President, we’re going to be your most loyal friends.”

Jeffress also recently hosted a Fourth of July concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the president pledged his support to the military and to people of faith. First Baptist’s choir and orchestra premiered a musical arrangement of Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Trump, who was raised as a Presbyterian, has gone out of his way to embrace evangelicals. White evangelicals gave him 81 percent of their votes in November, a higher percentage than any other religious group.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—President Trump’s seemingly spontaneous announcement on Twitter that he was banning transgender people from serving in the military reportedly caught some administration officials and congressional leaders by surprise.

But evangelical Christian leaders who informally advise the president discussed reversing the year-old policy two weeks ago at a meeting arranged by White House staff in Washington, D.C.

The discussion came during a previously reported daylong meeting of evangelical leaders—including a number who had been on Trump’s evangelical advisory board during the campaign—July 10 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

The building is next door to the White House and houses the offices of most of the White House staff. Various staff members were present throughout the meeting, listening and taking notes, said one of those who attended the meeting, evangelical author and public relations consultant Johnnie Moore.

“It’s not the administration propagandizing,” he said. “It’s religious leaders, it’s the administration sitting at the table, taking notes, listening to them, asking questions and vice versa, and attempting to understand the needs of the community.”

The policy on transgender people serving in the military had not been on the agenda for the meeting, Moore said. It was one of many topics that came up throughout the day, including health care, taxes, religious liberty and judicial appointments.

“We briefly discussed this issue,” Moore said.

The evangelicals followed up with a signed letter asking the president to reverse the Obama-era policy allowing transgender people to serve in the military, Moore added.

The evangelicals were more concerned about the nomination of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Moore added. The White House subsequently announced President Trump plans to nominate Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to fill that position.

Photos shared widely on Twitter showed evangelical leaders laying hands on the president in prayer afterward in the Oval Office.

“When we went to the Oval Office, we didn’t discuss a single issue. We just prayed with the president,” Moore said.

The letter urging the president to reverse the policy was written by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who also was at the meeting, and signed by a number of prominent evangelicals, according to Moore. He did not know if the president had read the letter.

The announcement of the ban July 26 drew both cheers and condemnation from leaders of all faiths.

But there will be no change to the military’s policy “until the president’s direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance,” according to internal communication reported on by Politico.

The New York Times and other outlets reported the ban came in response to a fight on Capitol Hill over whether taxpayer money should pay for gender transition and hormone therapy for transgender people in the military.

WASHINGTON—President Trump announced his intention to nominate Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as the next ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom—a decision that drew widespread but not universal praise.

In a tweet soon after the July 26 White House announcement, Brownback called religious liberty “the first freedom,” noting it centers on “the choice of what you do with your own soul.” 

“I am honored to serve such an important cause,” he wrote.

Before Brownback, 60, was elected governor, he served as a U.S. Senator from 1996 to 2011 and member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1995-96. As a senator, he was a co-sponsor of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. He also was co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Importance of filling the post stressed

Since David Saperstein stepped down from the role as ambassador-at-large for international religious liberty seven months ago, various religious liberty advocacy groups publicly had urged the president to fill the position.

Randel Everett Randel Everett, founding president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, expressed confidence Brownback will “build on the excellent leadership of the previous ambassador.”

Everett, former executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, called Brownback “a strong person of faith, who was a key leader in Congress as a voice for the voiceless.”

“With three-fourths of the world living under religious persecution or oppression, the need for this position to be filled is urgent. We are asking that Gov. Brownback’s confirmation be fast-tracked so that he can begin work immediately.”

Elijah Brown, executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, likewise emphasized the importance of the Senate “swiftly” confirming Brownback for the ambassadorship.

“This nomination comes at a crucial time to improve religious freedom worldwide and to give hope to millions persecuted for their beliefs,” said Brown, general secretary-elect of the Baptist World Alliance.

Amanda Tyler Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, emphasized the importance of the ambassador’s position.

“It is critical that this important post in the State Department be filled,” she said. “Promoting religious freedom for all around the world is a mission that has garnered broad bipartisan support. While the Baptist Joint Committee does not take positions on appointments, we will be watching the process closely and look forward to working with Gov. Brownback in this capacity, should he be confirmed.”

Brownback praised as ‘an outstanding choice’

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called Brownback “an outstanding choice” who will make “an exceptional ambassador” for international religious freedom.

Russell Moore“This ambassadorship is a key piece in our nation’s responsibility to act on behalf of the persecuted around the world, one that requires a seasoned, respected leader who brings conviction and gravity to the work of this crucial post. Gov. Brownback is exactly this kind of leader,” Moore said. 

He noted Brownback’s leadership role in the Senate in dealing with genocide in Darfur and the spread of HIV-AIDS in Africa, as well as advocating for persecuted religious minorities.

“We need all the diplomatic and intellectual power we can muster in addressing these critical matters of human rights and global security. I urge the Senate to confirm Gov. Brownback without delay,” he said.

Isaac Six, advocacy director for International Christian Concern, praised Brownback as “a strong supporter of religious freedom.”

“The filling of this post sends the right message to the international community that religious freedom is a strong priority for the United States and that we will not turn a blind eye to those who suffer from persecution for their fundamental religious convictions,” Six said. “We look forward to working with Mr. Brownback to further the cause of respect and tolerance for people of faith around the world.”

Montserrat Alvarado, executive director of the Becket religious liberty law firm, commended Brownback’s nomination, saying his “legacy of promoting and defending religious liberty both in the United States and overseas is strong.”

“His robust experience defending religious freedom for people of all faiths makes him uniquely qualified to lead America’s international defense of this most sacred and fundamental of human rights, religious freedom,” Alvarado said.

Critics cite record as governor

However, some groups criticized Brownback’s record as Kansas governor.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations pointed to his approval of a 2012 anti-Sharia law bill, which prohibits state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. law when making decisions.

“Gov. Sam Brownback’s history of rushing to sign anti-Islam legislation designed to vilify Muslims in Kansas state courts should under any normal circumstances disqualify him from the office of U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom,”  said Robert McCaw, government affairs director for CAIR.

“Only under the Trump Administration would someone so opposed to the constitutional rights of an American faith community be appointed to safeguarding international religious freedom.”

Brownback also drew fire two years ago, when he signed an executive order that reversed a previous order barring discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state workers.

Last year, he signed into law the Campus Religious Freedom Bill, which allows student groups on state university campuses to establish religious beliefs as qualifications for membership.

Jesse Ferguson, political consultant and former deputy national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, took to Twitter to criticize Trump’s nomination of Brownback.

“I know Rabbi David Saperstein who had this post for President Obama. Sam Brownback is no Rabbi Saperstein,” Ferguson tweeted. 

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Three-quarters of the nation’s Muslims say they sense a lot of discrimination against their faith group, and half say being Muslim in this country has been more difficult in recent years, a new Pew Research Center survey shows.

But even more Muslims—89 percent—say they are proud to be both American and Muslim. A significant majority also profess a continuing faith in the American dream.

“The survey makes clear that the early days of the Trump administration have been an anxious time for many Muslim Americans,” said Greg Smith, one of the lead authors of the new survey of 1,001 Muslims conducted for several months after President Trump’s inauguration.

“At the same time, however, the survey also shows that Muslims express a persistent streak of optimism and positive feelings about their own lives and their place in American society.”

Rising sense of support

In the last decade, an increasing percentage of Muslims say they have experienced support from others because they are Muslim—49 percent in the most recent survey, up from 37 percent in 2011 and 32 percent in 2007.

“In a sense, with rising Islamophobia has come more support from the general public. So, I think that’s one of the reasons why Muslim Americans feel more comfortable in their place in the U.S. today,” said Amaney A. Jamal, a Princeton University professor of politics who served as an adviser on the survey.

But even as Muslims have a growing sense of American support, they report increasing instances of religious discrimination in the past year—from being treated with suspicion to physical attacks. Almost half—48 percent—say that was their experience, compared to 43 percent in 2011 and 40 percent in 2007.

The study also pointed to some clear divides in gender.

“Muslim women are more likely than men to say that Muslims face a variety of challenges,” said Farid Senzai, a political science professor at Santa Clara University and a survey adviser.

For example, 70 percent of Muslim women believe it is likely the government is monitoring their emails and calls, compared with 48 percent of men. And 69 percent of Muslim women say the GOP is unfriendly toward Muslim Americans, compared with 49 percent of men. More than half of Muslim women (54 percent) say Trump makes them angry, compared with 37 percent of men.

Muslim concerns noted

Overall, the majority of Muslims surveyed disapprove of Trump’s job performance, but President George W. Bush received similar levels of disapproval 10 years ago during his second term. While 65 percent of U.S. Muslims disapprove of Trump in the 2017 survey, 69 percent disapproved of Bush in 2007. In contrast, 14 percent disapproved of President Obama in 2011.

Muslim Americans are less likely than the general public to say Trump makes them hopeful (26 percent vs. 40 percent) or happy (17 percent vs. 30 percent) but are on par with the general public about whether he makes them feel angry or worried.

Researchers report a growing U.S. Muslim population—increasing from an estimated 2.35 million in 2007 to 3.35 million people of all ages today—with almost six in 10 born outside the U.S. The vast majority of Muslims living in the U.S. (82 percent) are American citizens.

While respondents came from at least 75 nations, their diversity extended beyond the place of their birth.

More than half (55 percent) identify with the Sunni branch of Islam; 16 percent say they are Shiite; 4 percent associate with other groups (such as Ahmadiyya or the Nation of Islam); and 14 percent don’t specify a tradition.

Respondents were young, with 60 percent of Muslim adults under the age of 40. Only 38 percent of the overall U.S. adult population is that young.

They also were racially and ethnically diverse: 41 percent were white, 28 percent Asian and 20 percent black. Eight percent were Hispanic and 3 percent were other or mixed.

“Regardless of how you split it up, there’s not a single racial or ethnic group that’s dominant within the Muslim community,” said Besheer Mohamed, a senior researcher at Pew and a lead author of the study.

Ihsan Bagby, an Islamic studies professor at the University of Kentucky, said the American ideals expressed by U.S. Muslims reflect a change from the 1980s and ’90s.

“This idea of being both American and being Muslim obviously is now the clear consensus view of Muslims,” said Bagby, another adviser on the study. “And to me it’s actually quite remarkable that we’ve come that far.”

The findings of the survey, conducted between Jan. 23 and May 2, had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.8 percentage points.

Here are a dozen other findings about U.S. Muslim adults:

• 85 percent say believing in God is essential to what it means to be Muslim.
• 82 percent are concerned about extremism in the name of Islam around the world.
• 80 percent fast during Ramadan.
• 76 percent say targeting or killing civilians is never justified.
• 65 percent say religion is very important in their lives.
• 65 percent don’t think there is a natural conflict between Islam and democracy.
• 64 percent say there is more than one true way to interpret Islam.
• 53 percent of Muslims are married.
• 52 percent say homosexuality should be accepted by society.
• 44 percent are employed full time.
• 43 percent attend mosque weekly.
• 21 percent are converts.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Squeezed among two-dozen other evangelical supporters of the president, Southern Baptist Richard Land added his hand to the others reaching to pray for President Trump.

Evangelical supporters place hands on and pray with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. (RNS Photo/Courtesy of Johnnie Moore)The July 10 Oval Office prayer session, which has been panned and praised, is just one example of the access Trump and his key aides have given to conservative Christian leaders—from a lengthy May dinner in the White House Blue Room to an all-day meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door.

“This is unlike anything we’ve experienced in our career or ministry—unprecedented access, unprecedented solicitation of opinions and viewpoints,” said Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, N.C., and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Mainline Protestants, minority religions lack access

But while some religious conservatives are granted such intimate contact with the chief executive that they can literally “lay hands” on him, other faith leaders are kept at arm’s length.

Steven Martin, the communications director for the National Council of Churches, a group that includes mainline Protestant, Orthodox and historically black denominations, declared: “I’d absolutely say we’re frozen out.”

Manjit Singh, a co-founder of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, called interaction with the White House at a “very limited level to practically nonexistent.”

Minhaj Hassan, a spokesman for Islamic Relief USA, said: “In the first six months of the Trump presidency, there hasn’t been any direct communication with the White House.”

‘Different center of gravity’

Randall Balmer, chair of Dartmouth College’s religion department, calls the political shift in the White House “a whole different center of gravity religiously” from the recent past.

In the 1960s, “representatives of the National Council of Churches could pretty much knock on the door almost any time and be granted access, and now you just don’t have that any longer,” he said.

Melissa Rogers, who was director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships under President Obama, said it was “very common” for various offices to hold briefings for a diverse range of U.S. religious communities.

“That certainly included evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and others,” said Rogers, whose former position still hasn’t been filled by the Trump administration. Rogers is former general counsel with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

In the 1980s, President Reagan welcomed conservative Christian leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell to the White House. But political scientist Paul Kengor called Reagan “a Protestant with a healthy respect for non-Protestant faiths, especially Catholic and Jewish faiths.” Reagan had relationships with Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Cardinal Terence Cooke and “carried in his jacket a list of Soviet Jews held in prison or denied the right to emigrate.”

Religions other than conservative evangelicals have limited communication

Today, some groups outside the fold of conservative Christianity report a limited amount of communication with the 6-month-old Trump administration. They describe connections with Cabinet-level offices, such as Hindus with the Justice Department and Baha’is with the State Department.

Officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “frequently send letters to relevant departments and agencies on vital issues of the day,” said Judy Keane, spokeswoman for the bishops’ conference. Some of those letters differed with the administration on capping the number of refugees and withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement.

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said leaders of the Reform movement have met with administration officials and voiced their concerns about issues such as the two-state solution and religious pluralism in Israel.

“Despite profound disagreements on issues including immigrant justice, access to health care, voting rights and more, members of the administration have heard our concerns with respect,” he said. “Every administration is different, but we have always found a way to make the voices of Reform Judaism heard.”

There have been a few examples of interfaith approaches by the Trump White House, such as when Vice President Mike Pence praised the contributions of Sikhs in a June speech in his home state of Indiana. Days later, he traveled to Colorado to celebrate the 40th anniversary of conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family.

And turbans, habits and an array of other religious attire were seen at the National Day of Prayer ceremony and the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral on the day after the inauguration.

But two very different recent administrations—those of Presidents George W. Bush and Obama—have made more particular efforts to be inclusive, especially in relation to government partnerships with faith groups on social services, said Bob Tuttle, professor of religion and government at George Washington University.

Is Trump seeking ‘seal of approval’ from evangelicals?

So what benefit is there for Trump to emphasize his ties to evangelical leaders? Balmer said they provide Trump a seal of approval.

“Whenever Billy Graham showed up at the side of any politician, it provided some sense that the politician was on the right track or doing the right thing,” Balmer said.

Although he doesn’t consider Trump’s evangelical supporters to have equivalent authority as Graham, “nevertheless they do represent that constituency, a constituency that voted for Trump at 81 percent.”

While it may not be surprising that any president would welcome those with whom he agrees more than others, Carlos Malavé, executive director of Christian Churches Together, says Trump risks losing a channel of communication to an important constituency.

“If the president is interested in listening to the wisdom of American Christians in general, he should be open to give access to a broader representation of these leaders,” said Malavé, who hasn’t been able to get a meeting for himself and other anti-poverty advocates.

Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who defended the recent prayers for the president at the White House, called those who attended the July 10 gathering “his Faith Advisory Board” who “meet from time to time to speak about issues that are important to that community.” Johnnie Moore, an evangelical author and advocate for persecuted Christians who was at the Oval Office gathering, noted the only people who attended were evangelicals.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Vice President Mike Pence told evangelical supporters of Israel that God had a hand in creating the state of Israel, and Pence said his support for the country is rooted in his faith.

He also promised the Trump administration will move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“Indeed, though Israel was built by human hands, it is impossible not to sense that just beneath its history lies the hand of heaven,” Pence told the annual summit of Christians United for Israel July 17.

The group, founded by San Antonio pastor John Hagee, bills itself as the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States. It is composed largely of evangelicals and met in Washington in part to celebrate a new administration its members consider far friendlier toward Israel than its predecessor.

Linked to dispensational theology

Many evangelicals look upon the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948 and the “ingathering” of the Jews as a necessary step toward the end times, when they believe Jews either will accept Christianity or face eternal damnation.

Pence thrilled his audience, quoting from the Prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones: “Ezekiel prophesied, and I quote, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live.’

“The state of Israel and her people bear witness to God’s faithfulness as well as their own. How unlikely was Israel’s birth? How more unlikely has been her survival and how confounding against the odds has been her thriving?” he said.

Since Israel’s founding, Pence continued, “the Jewish people have awed the world with their strength of will and their strength of character.”

American Jewish voters, however, preferred Democrat Hillary Clinton to Republican Donald Trump by a nearly 3-1 ratio. Few cited Israel as a top reason for their choice.

Move the embassy to Jerusalem

Pence also promised Trump would make good on his own promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “It is not a question of ‘if.’ It is only ‘when,’” the vice president said to cheers.

Although the move is a priority of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and many conservative Jews and Christians, Palestinian leaders have said it would stymie peace negotiations.

Congress passed a law in 1995 requiring the move, but every president since has found it practical to delay it for fear of damaging chances for peace. Trump did the same last month, signing the waiver—which expires every six months—that keeps the embassy in Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem is holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews and is claimed as a capital by Israel but also the Palestinians, for the future state they aim to build on disputed land now controlled by Israel.

At the summit, Hagee dismissed any Palestinian rights to Jerusalem, a stance even many Israelis consider too rigid and an obstacle to peace.

Trump has reneged on his promise to move the embassy, said Barbara Goldberg Goldman, a member of the executive committee of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

Goldman, who listened to Pence’s speech, said Pence also was wrong to claim the new administration is any more committed to Israel than the last.

“In terms of deliverables with respect to Israel, nothing has happened,” Goldman said. And many, including former Israeli President Shimon Peres, considered President Obama a steadfast friend of Israel.

“To present this as a new day? No. It is a continuation of the strong unwavering bond that Israel has had with America and America has had with Israel,” she said.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill that includes a provision weakening the Johnson Amendment—the law that bars churches and other nonprofit organizations from endorsing political candidates without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.

Advocates for separation of church and state, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, insisted the committee’s July 13 action exposes churches to political pressure from candidates.

“In the name of protecting the church from the IRS and without any evidence of an overreaching bureaucracy, the appropriations committee acted today to expose the garden of the church to the woolly wilderness of partisan campaigning,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee soon after the July 13 committee action.

Committee rejects amendment

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., proposed an amendment that would have deleted the section of the funding bill that included the provision regarding enforcement of the Johnson Amendment. The committee rejected the amendment by a 24-28 vote.

“Gutting potential enforcement of the law gives candidates and campaign donors a green light to press churches for their endorsements and possibly their tax-deductible offerings, too,” Tyler said. “Vast majorities of clergy and churchgoers oppose endorsing candidates from their houses of worship, knowing it would divide their congregations and distract from their mission.”

President Donald Trump promised at the National Prayer Breakfast in January he would “get rid of, totally destroy, the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear.” 

Polls show most don’t want political endorsements at church

A March 2017 poll commissioned by Independent Sector showed 72 percent of U.S. voters want to keep in place the law that prohibits nonprofit organizations from engaging in political activity without endangering their tax-exempt status. 

That lines up with earlier research. In a poll of 112 evangelical Christian leaders in February by the National Association of Evangelicals, 89 percent said pastors should not endorse politicians from the pulpit, although some said the government should not penalize pastors who make political endorsements. 

A LifeWay Research survey conducted in September 2015 showed 79 percent of U.S. adults believe it is inappropriate for pastors to endorse political candidates during church services, and three-fourths said churches should not make endorsements. However, the LifeWay survey revealed fewer than half—42 percent—wanted churches to lose their tax-exempt status if they endorsed candidates.

‘Render to Caesar in God’s house’

The day before the House Appropriations Committee voted on the bill with language that weakened the Johnson Amendment, Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee sent a letter to the committee outlining its opposition to that provision. The agency also joined more than 100 faith and nonprofit organizations to ask the committee to oppose the provision. 

“Current law strikes the right balance in protecting the integrity and independence of our religious sector,” the BJC letter said.

Tyler’s letter noted pastors and other religious leaders remain free to endorse or oppose candidates in their personal capacities, but most ministers recognize how divisive it would be in their congregations if political campaigning occurred in houses of worship.

“Jesus taught us to render unto Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God’s. Curtailing the enforcement of the law could put pressure on churches to render to Caesar in God’s house,” Tyler wrote. “This approach does not bode well for religion or religious liberty.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—President Trump touted his support from evangelical Christians and his friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with Pat Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s The 700 Club.

The president also continued to strike at his Democratic opponent in last year’s presidential campaign, insisting Putin would have preferred a Hillary Clinton presidency.

“There are many things that I do that are the exact opposite of what he (Putin) would want,” Trump told Robertson, the 87-year-old host of The 700 Club.

“I keep hearing about that he would have rather had Trump. I think probably not, because when I want a strong military, you know, she (Clinton) wouldn’t have spent the money on military. When I want a strong military, when I want tremendous energy, we’re opening up coal, we’re opening up natural gas, we’re opening up fracking, all the things that he would hate, but nobody ever mentions that.”

Still, the president said, he and Putin “get along very well, and I think that’s a good thing. That’s not a bad thing.”

“People said, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t get along.’ Well, who are the people that are saying that? I think we get along very, very well. We are a tremendously powerful nuclear power, and so are they. It doesn’t make sense not to have some kind of a relationship.”

Trump sat for the interview with Robertson, himself a former Republican presidential candidate, July 12 at the White House. That was two days after the president gathered evangelical Christian leaders around him to pray in the Oval Office. The leaders were in Washington, D.C., to attend a daylong meeting organized by the White House Office of Public Liaison.

No questions about Russia investigation

The interview also comes as new evidence of possible collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election was released, including a series of emails by the president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Robertson did not ask the president about the Russia investigation, although he seemed to reference it afterward, saying, “I dealt with so many issues in that interview, and we didn’t once talk about all that garbage because the American people don’t care about it.”

The conversation between Trump and Robertson aired in its entirety on the July 13 episode of The 700 Club on CBN, a channel Trump has turned a spotlight on as president that, like Fox News, is viewed as friendly to him.

“As long as my people understand. That’s why I do interviews with you. You have a tremendous audience. You have people that I love—evangelicals—and sometimes you say ‘the evangelical Christians,’” Trump told Robertson.

The president previously had given CBN News his third one-on-one interview in office, and Robertson, who founded the network in 1961, has been a vocal supporter of Trump.

Support from evangelicals noted

The host pointed to Trump’s support from evangelical Christians, noting many had voted for him and “thousands and thousands” were praying for him.

In return, the president said, “We’ve really helped, because I’ve gotten rid of the Johnson Amendment.”

“Now they’re going to be able to speak, and that’s a great thing for Christianity, believe me—a great, great thing—and it’s a great thing for religion,” he said.

Under the Johnson Amendment, churches and other 501(c)(3) organizations can lose their nonprofit status for endorsing political candidates or participating in political campaigns. It has been enforced only a handful of times, and Trump noted during the interview he first learned who Robert Jeffress was because the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas was “always speaking so well of me” on TV.

A presidential executive order issued May 4 advises the IRS not to enforce the Johnson Amendment. To make it permanent, Trump added during the interview, Congress would have to repeal the amendment.

Robertson also asked the president about two things he said were important to Americans—cutting taxes, as well as repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, referring to the latter as “iniquitous.”

Asked what would happen if efforts to get rid of the ACA, popularly known as “Obamacare,” fail, Trump answered he “will be very angry about it.”