“You’re going to be asked to bow down to the idols of the popular culture,” veep warnsIn Vice President Michael R. Pence’s view, those graduating from college this year have great prospects for employment, thanks to a good economy under the Trump administration. But grads who are committed Christians have much to be concerned about.
“Throughout most of American history, it’s been pretty easy to call yourself Christian,” Pence told the class of 2019 at Liberty University. “But things are different now.”
“Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” Pence said on Saturday, at the Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. “As you go about your daily life, just be ready because you’re going to be asked not just to tolerate things that violate your faith, you’re going to be asked to endorse them. You’re going to be asked to bow down to the idols of the popular culture.”
Pence cited his own family’s experience as an example of the kind of persecution that is increasing for committed Christians. When his wife, Karen, took a job teaching art at a Christian elementary school recently, “we faced harsh attacks by the media and the secular left,” he said. The school where Mrs. Pence teaches requires that students and employees profess faith in Christ and follow certain moral codes.
The vice president also cited the case against the Little Sisters of the Poor, who fought a long court battle over the federal government’s insistence that they cover contraception in the health insurance they provide employees of their institutions.
In addition, Pence noted that “a bevy of Hollywood liberals,” including filmmakers, vowed to boycott the state of Georgia because the legislature passed and the governor signed a restrictive bill banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Pence’s advice to grads? be ready to be “shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible.”
But, he said, the Trump administration has taken action to protect religious liberty.
“On our watch, no one is going to prevent you from practicing your faith or preaching what is in your heart,” he vowed.
