Phyllis Schlafly, president and founder of the conservative grass-roots public policy organization Eagle Forum, charged in an exclusive Newsmax TV interview that President Barack Obama “is really trying to rewrite the First Amendment.”
“Our Founding Fathers and all the presidents in our country looked upon the First Amendment as a very wide right to speak about and practice your religion and to talk publicly about your religion,” Schlafly tells Newsmax. “Obama wants a country, apparently, where it would be OK to go into your church and shut the door and say a prayer. But he doesn’t want any reference to religion or to Jesus or anything to do with religion that is in the public where people can hear it or say it.”
Watch the exclusive interview here.
She cited, for instance, the National Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, instituted by President George Washington in 1789.
“Practically every president since George Washington has called for public observance and thanks to Almighty God for the blessings he’s given America – and yet, last year, Obama issued a proclamation that thanked a lot of people, but God didn’t make the cut. In so many ways, he’s trying to restrict religious freedom to the inside of a church.
“The Christian denominations, for example, have started schools and colleges and hospitals – and they have been serving the public in so many ways and they’re entitled to speak publicly about their religion. Certainly, when we pledge allegiance to the flag, we talk about one nation under God and we resent very much the effort to take down the crosses that are on public property, most of which are erected to honor our veterans who fought in our wars.
“So it’s a real war on the meaning of the First Amendment and the scope of religious liberty that is tied up with the election or defeat of Barack Obama,” she said.
Schlafly, who single-handedly took down the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, has recently published her 22nd book, “No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom.”
Long an outspoken opponent of abortion, Schlafly said she believes Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney “would sign any pro-life legislation that the Republican Congress passes” should he be elected president.
She also has endorsed embattled Missouri GOP Rep. Todd Akin in his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in their race for the U.S. Senate.
Akin said in August that the female body could avoid pregnancy after "legitimate rape." He has since apologized and retracted the statement.
He also has picked up endorsements from former presidential candidate Rick Santorum and GOP Sen. Jim DeMint, a tea party star from South Carolina. Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has also raised money for Akin.
“It will be a terrible embarrassment for the powers at be in the Republican Party if Todd Akin loses, because we need every vote in the Senate,” Schlafly said. “We can’t pass any legislation as we want. We can’t repeal Obamacare unless we have Republican control of the Senate.
“Todd Akin is an extremely fine man – and some people are upset that he doesn’t do what the powerbrokers and the establishment want him to do, but he’s an independent conservative who does what he thinks is right,” she added. “I’ve known his family for four generations, and I admire them very much – and we would be very fortunate to have him as the senator from Missouri.”
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