Obama-Era ‘Thugs’ Are Threatening Christian Business Owners

Family Research Council Vice President Jerry Boykin issued the following statement in a fundraising email obtained by Charisma Caucus:

Obama-era government thugs have threatened to shut down a private business and put dozens of individuals out of work simply because Christian business owner Donald Vander Boon operates his family meatpacking plant according to biblical principles.

Before leaving office, President Obama snuck in a new rule that allows government officials to have incredible power to police private businesses.

This “rule”—which is unlawful, unconstitutional, and a threat to Christians across our nation—has allowed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to leave Vander Boon and his wife hopeless: They are being forced to either remove brochures about natural marriage from their company break room or close their doors.

Family Research Council (FRC) has launched a national petition drive urging President Trump to issue an executive order protecting religious liberty so business owners like Don and his 45 employees don’t have to choose between their conscience and their livelihood.

Please sign the National Petition to Protect Religious Freedom immediately, and help us reach 100,000 signatures to show President Trump the importance of this Executive Order.

As a meatpacking plant, Don’s business is subject to inspections by the USDA, and he happily complied with their routine visit in the summer of 2015.

But little did Don know that the USDA was there to inspect his beliefs, not his beef.

That’s when his nightmare began.

While touring the plant, the inspectors noticed newspapers in the break room that discussed the recent Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, mixed in with brochures about natural marriage.

These government “police” claimed the brochures were “harassment,” and in a matter of minutes Don was faced with either closing the doors of his third-generation beef packing business or bowing to the demands of an overreaching government.

No American should ever be faced with this choice. And with your signature today, you can help ensure that this injustice never happens again.

FRC has been the nation’s leading organization advancing faith, family and freedom for more than three decades.

As one of America’s most effective policy organizations, we are leading the fight to protect wrongfully targeted Christians who are at the mercy of Obama-era government officials who have been tasked with eradicating religious freedom.

Whether it’s the IRS stripping away nonprofit status from Christian organizations, religious groups being forced under Obamacare to choose between crushing fines and violating their deeply held beliefs or a U.S. Navy Chaplain being targeted for expressing biblical views … we have been there to support them.

And we will continue leading this fight as long as Christianity and our right to glorify God are being threatened.

The threats against the Vander Boon family—to either close their doors or stop openly expressing their Christian beliefs in their private business—are illegal and must be stopped immediately.

After eight years of a liberal Democrat in the White House, Washington bureaucrats have been hard-wired to beat conservatives into submission, forcing us to hide our biblical values.

Romans 13:4 reminds us that our government is God’s servant for our good. Government officials should be serving the Lord, not trying to eradicate Him from our nation.

It’s unclear how President Donald Trump’s executive order will directly impact the Vander Boons’ case with the USDA. But the president did make it clear he intends for every department of the federal government to comply with his order. {eoa}