Issues

“America is in a battle for her children. We weep for the breakdown of the family. We weep for fatherless homes. We weep for the lack of respect for fellow men. We weep over the countless Black men murdering each other. We weep at the onslaught against the liberty of thought and expression……

…..We will endure. For the sake of our children’s children. Our children will not just survive, they will thrive. Because we will leave it better than we found it. Our children are depending on us. There is no other refuge like America.”
Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears

Marriage & Family

He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?” So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Matthew 19:5-6

Marriage is more than a social institution. It is a sacrament of faith, a reflection of God’s perfect plan for humanity and the living embodiment of Jesus’ love for the church and the church’s devotion to Him.

Faith & Freedom Coalition supports public policies that strengthen traditional marriage and families as the building block to a moral, healthy, and thriving society to include the following pro-family, pro-marriage objectives:

Faith & Freedom helped double the child tax credit to $2,000 per child as part of the “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017”.

An estimated 22 million Americans benefited from the child tax credit in 2015 and it has helped to lift over nine million people out of poverty.

This is a $600 billion tax cut targeted directly at middle-class working familiest hat is pro-life, pro-child and pro-family.

Faith & Freedom supports the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) to ensure that no federal agency can discriminate against any individuals or institutions who adhere to deeply held religious beliefs about marriage.

Religious Liberty

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution

People of faith, including our Founding Fathers, understood that our rights come from God and not government and Faith & Freedom Coalition continues to work to protect the First Amendment rights of Christians and other Americans of conscience and faith.

Faith & Freedom Coalition is activity engaging the administration and the U.S. Congress to repeal two of the most blatant violations of our religious liberties in the Johnson Amendment, and the Obamacare contraceptive/abortifacient mandate:

The Johnson Amendment is an amendment to the U.S. tax code inserted by then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson that prohibited all political speech by churches. This provision has been used by the IRS to intimidate, harass, silence, and persecute churches and ministries for six decades, violating the First Amendment right to political speech of millions of Americans.

The Obamacare mandates that violate the religious faith of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other faith-based nonprofits, has forced people of faith to endure years of litigation, harassment and persecution simply for expressing their religious beliefs.

Faith & Freedom Coalition supports full statutory repeal of the Johnson Amendment restore the right to political speech by pastors, churches and ministries and supports legislative repeal of the Obamacare mandates that violate our religious conscience

Support for Israel

The over 1.8 million members of the Faith & Freedom Coalition support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands.

The Christian community in the United States has a long history of solidarity with the people of Israel and it is imperative that the U.S. government continue its support. There is no greater proof of God’s sovereignty in the world today than the survival of the Jews and the existence of Israel. This truth explains in part why Christians and other conservative people of faith stand so firmly in their support of Israel.

Americans support for Israel derives from the simple fact that its land was cradle of both Judaism and Christianity.

Israel is the only genuine democracy in the Middle East and remains one of the most reliable allies of the United States. The shared democratic values and common strategic interests of Israel and the U.S. have engendered a deep bond that transcends the domestic politics of either nation and survives the triumph and tragedy of diplomacy.

Americans of faith recognize Israel’s struggle for what it should be for all the world’s citizens–a struggle to maintain free and open access to the holy sites of the world’s faiths, a struggle to build a beacon of democracy and hope in a region that has for too long known bloodshed and hatred.

President Donald J. Trump’s policies toward Israel, including the move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 and the ending of the disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal embodies this bond and his administration has ushered in a golden age of U.S – Israel relations.

Pro-Life

Truly children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3

Abortion stops a beating heart and ends an innocent human life. A life that is a gift from God and one that we ordain our government to protect.

Though legalized by the Supreme Court in 1973, abortion on demand has never rested easy on the collective conscience of the American people.

Faith & Freedom is working diligently to protect life by working with elected leaders in Washington, DC and in State Capitols throughout the country to enact pro-life laws and executive action that protects women and their unborn children including:

President Trump issued an Executive Order re-instituting President Reagan’s Mexico City Policy to require that foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) agree, as a condition of their receipt of U.S. federal grant money, to neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning overseas.

H.J. Res. 43 to overturn an Obama era U.S. Department of Health and Human Services directive that forced states to provide Title X funding to Planned Parenthood and other organizations performing abortions.

The “Pain-Capable Unborn Protection Act” to stop the abhorrent practice of taking the life of an unborn child after the 20th week of pregnancy when medical science shows the child can feel pain.

“The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion

Millions of people of faith expect the U.S. Senate to bring both of these pieces of legislation to the floor for a recorded vote where Senators must decide whether or not to protect the most innocent among us.

The Pennsylvania Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and Dismemberment Ban, which would end late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy throughout the Commonwealth

Banned abortions after prenatal tests reveal Down syndrome in any child

Immigration

The Bible instructs God’s people to show compassion and love for the foreigner and the immigrant. Scripture bases this command on the fact that the Israelites were themselves aliens in Egypt and experienced harsh mistreatment at the hands of their task masters. Deuteronomy 10:19. Throughout the Bible, God shows concern for the immigrant. Abraham “lived as an alien in the land of promise”, and Jesus lived as an alien while a child in Egypt after his parents fled persecution under Herod.” Hebrews 11:9, Matthew 2:14.

Scripture combines this obligation to care for the alien with a corollary responsibility of the immigrant to obey the law and respect the customs of the nation in which he resides. In the Old Testament, the same law applied “to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.” Exodus 12:49. Those immigrants who obeyed the law were to share in the inheritance of Israel as if they were native-born.” Ezekiel 48:22

How these Biblical principles apply to immigration reform is a matter of prudential judgment in enacting sound public policy. Our immigration system is broken. Illegal immigrants have crossed a porous border, many fleeing abject poverty, authoritarian regimes, drug cartels, and crime. The current visa system is inadequate for our economy. Leaving illegal aliens in the shadows allows them to be exploited by those who break the law and do not pay payroll taxes. All this undermines the rule of law, breeds cynicism, and destroys trust between the government and the American people.

We believe the faith community has much to contribute to this discussion. Immigration reform is not only an economic and national security issue; it is a moral issue that is best advanced by applying principles from Judeo-Christian tradition. To this end, we offer the following principles that should guide immigration reform:

Immigration should strengthen, not undermine the family.
The intact, loving family is the most successful department of health, education, and welfare ever conceived. Just as our forebears came to America to seek a better life for their children and grandchildren, so too do today’s immigrants. Family values do not end at our shores or on the banks of the Rio Grande. Priority in the issuance of green cards should be given to spouses and children of legal residents who have obeyed the law and played by the rules. There are currently an estimated one million spouses and children of legal residents of the United States awaiting green cards. Under current law it could take 3 to 10 years before these spouses and children can join their loved ones. We believe a newly arrived American who is joined by their husband or wife and children will make a better employee, employer, member of the community, and future citizen.

Respect for the rule of law.
The first act one commits on the path to becoming an American should not be to violate our nation’s laws. For this reason, those who have come to the U.S. illegally must pay a sizeable fine, pay back taxes, undergo a criminal background check, learn English, and wait for an extended probationary period before they can apply for a green card. If they have committed a violent crime or felony, they should be deported. Those who entered the country illegally (as opposed to those who came legally on a student or work visa and stayed past its expiration) should not be guaranteed a path to citizenship. There are currently 38 million people in the United States who are foreign-born. Over two-thirds of them entered the country legally and played by the rules. Of the 11 million here illegally, an estimated 40% came legally and over-stayed their visa. The number of aliens who entered the country illegally is small relative to our population. If the 1986 Simpson-Mazolli legislation is any guide, the vast majority of these will not apply for non-immigrant resident visas.

Reform the visa system to meet the needs of the U.S. economy.
Recruiting foreign workers to meet national needs is as old as human civilization itself. When Solomon built the temple in ancient Jerusalem he recruited workers from Lebanon and elsewhere to perform most of the work. Completing the temple would have been impossible without the highly-skilled artisans and stonemasons from other countries. 1 Kings 5:6. The same is true in the U.S. today, especially regarding the scientists, engineers, and software designers needed by our technology sector. Too many U.S. companies must locate facilities in China or India because of a shortage of Americans with undergraduate or advanced degrees in these fields. The current immigration system is based on country quotas rather than one’s skill or education. Only 6.5% of current legal immigration is skill-based. This model, enacted under Lyndon Johnson nearly a half-century ago, is antiquated and inadequate to today’s economy. We call for the expansion of H-1B visas so foreign-born engineers can assist our technology and manufacturing sectors. We need guest workers for agricultural and other sectors. We should staple a green card to every college or graduate-school diploma so we can keep the best and the brightest as we compete with the rest of the world in an increasingly global economy. We should also create a visa program for those immigrants who have started a business and are employing others. One of these immigrants might well be starting the next Facebook or Google in their garage.

Secure the border and strictly enforce the law.
U.S. border security has improved in recent years, with border apprehensions falling by roughly 50% to just over 300,000. The number of border guards has more than doubled since 2004 to 22,000 agents. However, more must be done. We must control our border through “enforcement triggers” as a predicate to anyone in the country illegally being able to apply for a green card. These enforcement triggers should include the appropriation of funds for the completion of a fence and other border security measures along the U.S.-Mexico border that have already been authorized by Congress, a further increase in border agents, and at least an additional 50% drop in apprehensions along the southern border. In addition, the visa system must be modernized to allow for the tracking of entrance and exit of all visa holders to and from the U.S. We also support an e-verify system that allows employers to conduct immigration status and criminal background checks on prospective employees, along with reasonable fines and penalties for those who employ illegal immigrants.

Human Trafficking

A sinister industry has crept across the globe and into the United States—the systematic buying, selling, and enslaving of human beings for sex and for illegal labor.

In the shadows, the dark world of human trafficking has lived and, tragically, grown.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that nearly 200,000 unique incidents of sexual exploitation of minors happen annually in the U.S. America at large remains unaware of the problem, as is the American faith community.

The grisly and perverse details of human trafficking make it a hard reality to stomach and confront, but this must change—and indeed, such change has already begun. More and more people of faith are coming together to protect life and innocence, however they are threatened.

Faith & Freedom has joined the fight to combat trafficking to include:

Passed the “End Modern Slavery Initiative Act” as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act to allocate federal funds for a non-profit foundation dedicated to cutting human trafficking.

Working with Congress to pass “The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable and victims can get justice.

Faith & Freedom Executive Director Timothy Head, top left, along with various allies in the effort to combat human trafficking, meet with President Donald Trump at the White House.

Justice Reform

I was in prison and you came to visit me … I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
Jesus (Matthew 25:36-40)

These words, probably more so than any others, have helped define how conservatives, and those from the faith community, view the nation’s incarcerated. Judeo-Christian values balance personal responsibility with forgiveness and mercy. And the words of Christ, taken as a mandate for action, have driven the faith community and the Faith & Freedom Coalition to engage in justice reform.

America incarcerates a far higher percentage of our citizens than similar nations. In the United States, a staggering 693 out every 100,000 people are incarcerated. That statistic should worry anyone who cares about the size, scope, and cost of government.

America’s high incarceration rate takes a massive human toll by tearing families apart and making our communities less safe. U.S. jails and prisons resemble a revolving door with almost 7 in 10 inmates rearrested within three years of being released from prison, and 4 in 10 offenders are sentenced to return to prison, which makes the public less safe.

However, things are changing for the better because conservatives at the state-level are leading the way. Since 2007, more than 30 states have passed significant reforms designed to prioritize prison beds for serious offenders, reduce incarceration, reduce recidivism rates and contain costs. Red states like Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah and others have seen real results. Texas, for example, saved taxpayers over $2 billion while dropping its crime rate to its lowest level since 1968.

Conservatives are proving you can be both “smart on crime” and “tough on crime.”

Conservatives must continue to lead on criminal justice reform because our solutions have increased public safety, saved taxpayer dollars and restored the lives of both offenders and victims. Faith & Freedom Coalition will continue to work towards justice reform that accomplishes the following goals:

Prioritizing public safety resources

Narrowing the net of incarceration

Increasing public safety through effective rehabilitation programs

Breaking down barriers in communities

Ensuring prompt and fair outcomes for both the accused and the victim(s)