Oh, happy day! Trump’s victory restores faith and fire



About a week before Election Day on November 5, my wife and I participated in early voting. After filling out our ballots and placing them into the machine, I noticed the name on the side of the box belonged to a company that had sparked concerns during previous elections.

I turned to the attendant and asked, “Did our ballots get processed properly?” She laughed and replied, “Yes, everything is good. But if you’re worried, you can always come back tomorrow and vote again.” I shook my head and said, “No, we can’t. We’re Republicans.”

Remember that the deep state remains entrenched, so men and women of good will still need to keep up the fight through Inauguration Day.

A week later, we learned that everything had indeed worked as it should. While New York State, where we voted, predictably turned blue, Donald J. Trump secured an impressive number of electoral votes and won the popular vote by a healthy margin.

To borrow the title of an old gospel song: “Oh, Happy Day!”

However ...

Many of us on the right have friends and family members on the left who struggle to cope with Trump’s election victory. Some have chosen to shun us simply because our candidate delivered a resounding win on election night. They had fully expected a different outcome. After all the impeachments, slander, Justice Department weaponization, assassination attempts, and the $1 billion Democrats poured into campaigning against him, they were certain Trump’s defeat was inevitable, and his goose was properly cooked.

The Democrats threw everything at him, yet nothing stuck. For many of us, Trump’s victory wasn’t about him being “Teflon Don” but rather a sign that God isn’t done with America. It seems the Almighty intends to use Trump to steer this nation back toward righteousness. Proverbs 14:34 comes to mind: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”

This victory was a collective effort. Whether people fasted and prayed earnestly or engaged politically as awakened citizens, everyone played a role — from "the greatest to the least." Across the country, the battle raged. Key figures like Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy hit the campaign trail to support the Trump-Vance ticket. Influential voices on X.com, such as Jack Posobiec and even the satirical account Catturd, added to the momentum. Together, they rocked the deeply entrenched deep state until the giant refrigerator toppled over with a mighty crash.

Kamala Harris proved to be the worst candidate in at least half a century, projecting an even less favorable image than Michael Dukakis riding in a tank. Her candidacy floundered under its own weight, but Joe Biden’s influence didn’t help either.

Biden, battling the effects of senility, repeatedly undermined the Harris-Walz campaign. He appeared to emerge from his fog at the worst moments, throwing shade on the ticket. The image of Biden in a MAGA hat, paired with his habit of rambling incoherently like an out-of-control Slip ’n Slide, further eroded the Democrats’ credibility on a near-daily basis.

But the last-minute awakening of the church cannot be overstated.

The Democrats’ allegiance was unmistakable throughout the campaign, and it became painfully clear during a Harris rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in mid-October. When two pro-lifers shouted, “Jesus is Lord!” and “Christ is King!” from the crowd, Kamala’s knee-jerk reaction was to dismiss them, saying, “You’re at the wrong rally!” One wonders what David French and the “Evangelicals for Harris” crowd would have to say about that.

Scripture encourages Christians with the words, “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Perhaps, the Great Political Awakening has helped to allay a heavenly judgment on this country.

One must also be reminded of the Prodigal Son, specifically, the verse that tells us “when he came to his senses.” It is as if the church writ large, Catholics and Protestants alike, came to its senses and congregants rose out of their pews and poured into the voting booths. The religious faithful could no longer be oblivious to the evil of a runaway government — the destruction of our society and culture had become all too palpable, something I point out clearly in my book “Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It.”

So now something has been done about “the evil in plain sight,” but it is only the beginning. We must not return to a state of slumber. America’s “Happy Day” is still quite a number of years down the road.

Remember that the deep state remains entrenched, so men and women of good will still need to keep up the fight-fight-fight right on through Inauguration Day. President Trump’s triumphant return to the White House is just the beginning of the long, hard road to uprooting a bloated bureaucratic regime and returning America to the glorious constitutional republic we were always meant to be.

When Governments Hire LGBT Activists, They Target Christians

‘It was easier to work for free speech in China, downtown Berlin, and Moscow than in London.’

For Christians, the only choice is Donald Trump



In 2016, the night before the presidential election, I posted a few paragraphs on how I was feeling. I was in an environment where I was surrounded by left-leaning coworkers, and I felt immense pressure not to voice what I really thought.

So instead, I posted that I was exhausted by the divisive rhetoric on both sides and that, while I believed Hillary Clinton would win, it didn’t matter as much as we made it seem because we would move on.

While most of us can agree that abortion is wrong, it’s easy to be swayed into believing that 'loving our neighbor' means allowing those living in worse countries into ours for a 'better life.'

I got a barrage of comments from both sides saying, “Wow, this is exactly how I feel!” I felt validated. I felt like I had pleased everyone. The problem was that I didn’t actually say anything.

In an effort to be winsome and relatable to everyone, I ignored the glaring siren in front of me: It DID matter who won this election, and Christians had no business voting for Hillary Clinton despite Donald Trump’s many flaws.

It was true then, and it’s even more true now. In 2016, we didn’t have a clue how Donald Trump would actually lead or what policies he’d truly care about. Now we do. We also have three years — and an entire abysmal career before that — of record on our other candidate, current Vice President Kamala Harris.

False empathy

Yet I don’t blame the Christian for being confused. We’re bombarded with media lies claiming that Kamala Harris is the empathetic choice. She’s the choice that will be “compassionate” to the illegal immigrant (but not to the victim of rampant immigrant crime) and to the woman with an unwanted pregnancy (but not, needless to say, to the baby being murdered).

A few weeks ago, Pastor Ray Ortlund, president of Renewal Ministries and founding pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, posted on Instagram Threads: “Never Trump. This time Harris. Always Jesus.”

Last week, Glennon Doyle, lesbian self-love guru, who still has a large Christian, female following, posted a series of slides on Instagram claiming that if Donald Trump is elected, “we lose birth control, IVF, abortion, insurance coverage, and LGBTQ+ rights.” Note that quite literally none of that is even remotely true.

In the past few weeks, I’ve seen other pastors contribute to the irresponsible lie that “both sides are just as bad” or, even worse, that “both sides are valid options.” From a Christian standpoint, not only is that untrue, it’s unbiblical and dangerous.

If you find yourself convinced by the progressive left that it would be “unloving” to vote for Donald Trump, or that it doesn’t matter as long as you “vote your conscience,” I urge you to look a little deeper at what your vote actually means.

A higher authority

As Christians, we obey a higher authority than our feelings. If we examine each candidate's proposals in the light of biblical truth, deciding how to cast your vote isn’t so confusing after all.

Clips from Pastor Jonny Ardavanis of Stonebridge Bible Church and Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church were making the rounds on X last week after both pastors preached excellent sermons on how Christians should view this year's election. You can view a clip from Pastor Jonny’s sermon here and Pastor Josh’s sermon here.

The clips went viral because the church as a whole is starved for good Christian teaching that speaks to how the Christian should apply the Bible to the ballot box. These are two of the pastors who actually cared to answer.

As much as Christians like to pretend like politics and culture are outside the church, they’re not, and it’s vital that the Christian understands where Kamala Harris stands and what she represents in this election.

Abortion

Proverbs 6:16-17: “The Lord hates … hands that shed innocent blood.”

Kamala Harris is the most radically pro-abortion presidential candidate in history.

It’s true that we do not have a consistently pro-life candidate in this election, with Donald Trump refusing to support a federal abortion ban and openly and consistently supporting abortion exceptions and term limits, but the Democrats are undeniably, radically worse.

While Republicans now think abortion should be rare, as Democrats used to, Democrats celebrate it and flaunt it.

It’s not just about exceptions or limits. Harris will not name a single abortion restriction that she supports. Eight states and Washington, D.C., impose no term restrictions on abortion, and more will follow under Harris.

In 2019, she voted to block the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have required medical care for babies born alive in botched abortions.

Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act in January 2023, which repealed the state's Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, codifying a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and essentially prohibiting any restrictions on abortion, including gestational age limits.

The bill also removed the requirement for abortion providers to report cases in which infants survive abortion attempts, a measure that had been in place since 2015.

While Trump is not standing strong against abortion as he should, he would inevitably surround himself with many who do. He will be supported by people who have the potential to change his mind. Harris will not.

Immigration

Acts 17:26: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Perhaps no issue today divides Christians more than illegal immigration.

While most of us can agree that abortion is wrong, it’s easy to be swayed into believing that “loving our neighbor” means allowing those living in worse countries into ours for a “better life.”

But is it really loving to open our borders and put our own citizens at risk?

How were we loving our neighbor Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student, when our border failed to protect her from the unvetted illegal immigrant who brutally murdered her?

Were we loving Mollie Tibbetts, Kate Steinle, and Lizbeth Medina when they, too, died at the hands of illegal immigrants? Are we loving our neighbors in Colorado as we allow apartment complexes to be taken over by Venezuelan gangs?

Harris and Walz have repeatedly blamed Trump for rejecting a border bill that they claim would have properly vetted illegal aliens. In reality, the “border security bill” would have allowed 5,000 illegal border crossings per day before closing the border, kept catch-and-release in place, sent hundreds of millions of dollars to NGOs to facilitate illegal immigration, and required that any illegal immigrant who claims asylum be released into the country and granted work authorization almost immediately.

The fact is that Harris has no plan to secure our border. We know because she’s been asked repeatedly and has never been able to answer.

Gender and sexuality

Gen 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

If you follow Libs of TikTok on X, you already know what the Democrats advocate in this department: books that read like porn being available to young children in schools, gender indoctrination baked into curriculum, and the normalization of drag shows, preferred pronouns, and “gender-affirming care” — dangerous hormone “treatments” and experimental genital mutilation surgeries.

I could write a lengthy book on the amount of corruption within the “transgender care” industry, but suffice to say that proponents in this industry are creating lifelong slaves to the medical industrial complex by selling experimental surgeries and hormone “treatments” that they know have an absurdly high complication rate.

It’s a neglect of responsibility for us to reject God’s design for sexuality and gender to begin with, and it’s a dereliction of duty to ignore the physical and mental harm being inflicted upon not only adults but children as well.

On “Transgender Day of Visibility” in 2022, Harris and Admiral Rachel Levine welcomed six “transgender” and “nonbinary” youth and their families to the White House. Levine said it was “deeply impactful to speak to some amazing trans kids at the White House. Gender-affirming care is the medical standard and allows these kids to be themselves and live a normal life.”

The same year, the White House posted a message from president Joe Biden and Harris that read, “Efforts to criminalize supportive medical care for transgender kids, to ban transgender children from playing sports, and to outlaw discussing LGBTQI+ people in schools undermine their humanity and corrode our Nation’s values.”

In a 2019 interview with the National Center for Transgender Equality, Harris crowed that as attorney general of California, she ensured that the state changed its policy "so that every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and need."

When running for president in 2019, she pledged on an ACLU questionnaire that if she became president, she would use "executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care."

Due to Harris’ policy, a man who is sitting on death row for gruesomely killing three people, known as the “Yacht Killer,” has received taxpayer-funded “sex-change” surgeries and is expected to transfer to a female prison soon.

Compare this to Trump’s pledge to keep men out of women’s sports and to stop child genital mutilation surgeries. Which candidate aligns more with our God-given duty to protect the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9)?

Religious liberty

David Daleiden, project lead at the Center for Medical Progress, was investigated for criminal activity in 2015 by then-California Attorney General Harris after he released undercover footage showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of baby body parts from late-term abortions.

In 2016, Harris sent 11 armed agents along with K-9 dog units to Daleiden’s one-bedroom apartment, a raid in which the California DOJ seized dozens of hours of his unreleased undercover tapes.

Harris, upon request from her donors at Planned Parenthood, opened a criminal investigation into Daleiden and the CMP. Eight years later, he still faces charges under California’s never-before-used eavesdropping/recording law.

A few months ago, half a dozen pro-life activists were found guilty of violating a federal law that forbids protesters to block the entrances to abortion clinics. Jonathan Darnel, who remained outside the clinic, received a nearly three-year sentence. Others in the case received two-year sentences, and another — the only one who pleaded guilty — received a 10-month sentence.

Harris has voiced support for efforts to strengthen protections for “reproductive health care providers,” particularly in the context of increasing “threats” to clinics and their staff. In other words, this will only happen more under her watch.

In California, under Assembly Bill 957, a child's gender identity must be considered in custody decisions during divorce or custody disputes. This includes custody disputes involving whether the state should have custody of the child.

In Oregon, the state can refuse Christian couples the opportunity to foster and adopt if they don’t comply with their potential future child’s “gender identity” and pledge to seek “gender-affirming care” accordingly.

This is religious “liberty” under Democrat rule.

Boiling it down

Trump or Harris? It’s really not that complicated, after all. And the same logic applies to local elections. When considering your vote, take a cue from Howerton's sermon, in which he suggests asking the following questions.

Which candidate:

  • Promotes policies most likely to slow societal decay?
  • Will best protect our national security?
  • Is more likely to protect religious liberty?
  • Will oppose the erasure of gender?
  • Is more likely to stop the corrosion of the definitions of the family?
  • Will best limit the taking of unborn lives?

It may feel uncomfortable to admit when it’s tempting to reject party lines, but I’m more than confident that the answer to whom the Christian should vote for will simply never be “blue.”

It’s not because the Republican Party is right all the time or because Republicans don’t have their own glaring issues that need to be addressed.

It’s that the Democratic Party is a cancer to society that promotes baby murder, child genital mutilation, the destruction of the family and parents’ rights, and the unfettered influx of (sometimes violent) illegal aliens, who are draining taxpayer resources while citizens suffer. Been to North Carolina lately?

There is only one alternative. Christians, we must choose it.

The reality is that it is your duty to vote, because in a constitutional republic, you lead by electing representatives. As a Christian, you’re the leader appointing people to represent you as close to the biblical view on these issues as you can get.

To neglect to do so is a dereliction of duty. And the answer on whom to vote for isn’t complicated. As Howerton says, “Personalities are temporary; policies last a long time.”

Yes, Donald Trump is uncouth at times and posts silly little name-calling rants on X, but he also appointed Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

Imagine the numerous lives that were spared and will be spared because of that decision. That is what you’re voting for.

Around 30 million Bible-believing Christians didn't vote in the last presidential election. That election is argued to have been decided by 42,000 votes.

That is why your vote matters.

As President, Kamala Would Wage Legal War On Churches

A Harris-Walz Administration would thrust intrusive, expensive, and time-consuming lawsuits on religious organizations.

Pastors called to action: Ignite the faith vote, save the nation



Amid political division and societal unrest, the faith community must be a beacon of hope and unity. The National Faith Advisory Board recognizes the vital role of faith leaders, especially pastors, in shaping the nation's moral and ethical fabric. Through today’s inaugural National Faith Summit and its commitment to empowering pastors, the NFAB aims to unite and mobilize the faith community to speak with one strong voice in the political arena.

Recent studies reveal a concerning trend: 104 million people of faith, including a significant number of Christian churchgoers, are likely to abstain from voting in the upcoming election. This apathy is not insurmountable, however, and the voice of the faithful need not be lost. Research shows that millions of these individuals would be motivated to vote if their pastors encouraged them. This underscores the immense influence that pastors wield and the potential they have to sway the course of the election — and therefore lead America back to righteousness.

Now is the time for pastors to stand boldly where faith intersects with civic responsibility, leading congregations from the pulpit to the polls.

Dr. George Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University, sums it up well:

Pastors often seek opportunities to have a positive influence in people’s lives and upon the culture and to help the community in which their church is located. This research underscores the fact that simply encouraging people to vote in order to fulfill their biblical responsibility would not only be seen as doing their job while helping the community, but an estimated 5 million regular churchgoers would be likely to vote as a result of that simple exhortation.

Pastors, as spiritual leaders, can bridge faith and civic duty by addressing policy issues through moral and ethical perspectives. This guidance helps congregations make decisions rooted in biblical values. The NFAB supports over 32,000 faith leaders, equipping pastors with resources to engage their congregations on critical issues.

Now is the time for pastors to stand boldly where faith intersects with civic responsibility, leading congregations from the pulpit to the polls. With a strong moral foundation, pastors can inspire believers to make choices that honor God's Word and transform the nation. The National Faith Advisory Board provides over 32,000 faith leaders with the tools to rally congregations on the issues that matter most.

The National Faith Summit in Atlanta, hosted by the NFAB, will gather more than 1,000 pastors committed to defending life, promoting national strength, upholding family values, and protecting religious freedom. President Donald J. Trump will also attend, emphasizing the faith community's role in shaping the nation’s future and reflecting on his administration’s collaboration with the church.

The Pastor's Bill of Rights, a key component of the NFAB's platform, will be shared with faith leaders at the summit. Many pastors feel apprehensive or fearful about discussing policy from the pulpit, so we aim to empower them by reminding them of their fundamental freedoms and protections. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom from discrimination, and protection from unwarranted government intrusion. By advocating these rights, the NFAB ensures that pastors can exercise their faith and guide their congregations without fear of persecution.

As our nation faces mounting challenges, the faith community stands as the last line of defense — a powerful force ready to change history. United under shared values and unwavering biblical truth, we hold the strength to make a profound, lasting impact on America’s soul. The National Faith Summit marks a defining moment — a call to action empowering thousands to restore and protect our beloved nation. Now is the time to rise together, to draw strength from unity, and to launch a movement that will preserve America for generations to come.

As Christianity Declines, We Must Confront The Threat Of Pagan America

Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson's new book, Pagan America: The Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come, offers a sobering assessment of the threats to the American way of life as religiosity declines.

38 Chaplains Ask Supreme Court To Stop U.S. Military From Punishing Their Faith

The chaplains say the Department of Defense continues to defy a 2023 law rescinding its Covid vaccine mandate.

‘Gender Identity’ Law Spells The End Of Religious Liberty In Minnesota

'Already, at least one faith-based school is facing an employment complaint at the department of human rights because of the removal of the exemption.'

State religious freedom laws protect fundamental rights



State legislatures in Iowa, Utah, and Georgia have joined the movement to pass state laws protecting religious freedom. Commonly known as Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, these laws should be fairly uncontroversial. They simply ensure the free exercise of religion against government interference. Yet, the laws are being labeled by opponents as attempts to foster discrimination.

Search the internet for news about “religious freedom restoration acts,” also known as RFRAs, and the results might lead one to conclude that some far-right religious plot was afoot. Typical headlines include, “Human rights campaign strongly condemns the West Virginia legislature for hastily passing dangerous religious refusal bill, calls on gov justice to veto bill” and “Religious liberty steps too far, could destroy the common good if we let it.”

To claim that protecting religious liberty is an attempt to foster discrimination against LGBT rights is to make that discriminatory claim about the First Amendment itself.

What is going on here? What is a RFRA anyway? Is it a legitimate protection of religious liberty or a license to discriminate?

Let’s begin with some history. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1990 held in Employment Division v. Smith that a law is constitutional under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment if it is “facially neutral and generally applied” — even if that law, in fact, burdens religious exercise. The decision effectively allows government actions to burden religious exercise, as long as the burden is applied to religious and nonreligious persons alike.

Congress responded by passing a bipartisan bill in the 1993-1994 session — when Bill Clinton was president — prohibiting the government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability. The government would need to demonstrate that its action advances a compelling state interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. This is the same standard the government must meet (called “strict scrutiny”) when burdening a fundamental right under the Constitution.

When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 ruled in City of Boerne v. Flores that the federal RFRA cannot be applied to state laws, individual states responded by passing their own state RFRAs. Currently, 24 states have religious freedom laws on the books.

So, let’s be clear about what a state RFRA is. The First Amendment was enacted in part to protect the people’s right to free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court in Smith held that “neutral” laws can burden the free exercise of religion, undermining the very purpose of the U.S. Constitution’s intent to protect that free exercise. A RFRA, then, is nothing more than a statute to ensure adequate protection of the fundamental right to free religious exercise.

Accusations that the movement to pass state RFRAs is a radical shift in religious liberty law in America or that such laws attempt to discriminate against LGBT rights fall flat. The First Amendment is clearly meant to protect religious individuals and organizations, so that the free exercise of religion is not jeopardized by government action.

Since the current Supreme Court precedent in Smith does not adequately protect the free exercise of religion, state RFRAs step in to fill in the gap. State RFRAs are not a novelty. They do not constitute any sort of revolutionary new protection for religious exercise. To claim that protecting religious liberty is an attempt to foster discrimination against LGBT rights is to make that discriminatory claim about the First Amendment itself.

The movement to pass state RFRAs is not a legal revolution, but a modest restoration of the fundamental right to the free exercise of religion. To oppose this restoration is to stand against the foundational role of religion in society. It is not discriminatory to demand that religious exercise be free from burdensome government action. RFRAs are not about discrimination; this is a distraction. RFRAs are about protecting the fundamental right to religious exercise that stands at the heart of our American experiment. If state governments are free to burden religious exercise with hostile laws, Americans are not free to live out their faith in the public square. That is not “nondiscrimination.” That is un-American and threatens the liberties our nation was founded to protect.

Frank DeVito is an attorney and counsel at the Napa Legal Institute.

Federal court rules Biden administration can't force Christian businesses to pay for employees' sex changes



A federal judge ruled Monday that the Biden administration cannot compel religious employers and health care providers to compromise their sincerely held religious convictions by paying for or performing sex-change medical interventions.

The background

In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case Bostock v. Clayton County, expanding the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include employment discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual preferences or transvestism.

Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services subsequently interpreted the so-called Affordable Care Act and Title VII as requiring employer health insurance plans to cover elective sex-change procedures.

The Christian Employers Alliance, a religious business group, sued the EEOC, HHS, and various officials in the Biden administration in October 2021, stressing the two federal regulatory mandates exceeded the "government's statutory and constitutional authority."

"Many religious employers — including CEA and all its members — hold sincerely held religious beliefs that such gender transition surgeries and procedures are morally wrong," said the original complaint. "Providing these gender interventions contradicts their beliefs that God purposefully created humans as either a biological male or female and that a person's biological sex is immutable."

The CEA's complaint noted that neither the EEOC nor HHS provided religious exemptions from the mandates and that a failure to comply would expose its membership to heavy fines, burdensome litigation, possible criminal penalties, and other costs.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the CEA requested that the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota prevent the Biden administration from imposing the mandates on the CEA.

The ruling

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor acknowledged in his Monday ruling that HHS' interpretation of Section 1557 of the ACA and the EEOC's interpretation of Title VII would require Christian businesses to provide "insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures that violates their sincerely held religious beliefs without satisfying strict scrutiny under the [Religious Freedom Restoration Act].

"Performing or providing health care coverage for gender transition services under the EEOC and HHS coverage mandates impinges upon CEA's beliefs," wrote Traynor. "CEA must either comply with the EEOC and HHS mandates by violating their sincerely held religious beliefs or else face harsh consequences."

He also found that the Biden administration had failed to demonstrate that it could not protect transvestites' rights in a manner that didn't infringe upon the Christian employers' religious liberty.

Accordingly, Traynor slapped both agencies with permanent injunctions, precluding them from imposing their respective interpretations on the CEA in a manner that would require the complainants to perform or pay for sex-change procedures.

The reaction

Shannon Royce, the president of the CEA, said the court's ruling was "a resounding victory for all present and future members of the Christian Employers Alliance."

"We are overjoyed our members will not have to choose between the biblically based employee benefits and quality health care they provide, and the threat of federal enforcement and massive costs for practicing their faith," added Royce.

Matt Bowman, senior counsel and director of regulatory practice at the Alliance Defending Freedom, similarly celebrated the ruling.

"All employers and healthcare providers, including those in the Christian Employers Alliance, have the constitutionally protected freedom to conduct their business and render treatment in a manner consistent with their deeply held religious beliefs," said Bowman. "The court was on firm ground to stop the administration from enforcing these unlawful mandates that disrespect people of faith."

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