Trump Invokes Saint Thomas Becket In Defense Of Religious Liberty. Expect The Opposite From Biden-Harris by John Daniel Davidson for The Federalist
Trump’s proclamation honoring the famous saint and martyr is a stark reminder that religious liberty is under threat by Democrats.
Yesterday [Tuesday] was the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was killed by followers of King Henry II of England in Canterbury Cathedral for opposing the king and asserting the rights and privileges of the church.
Specifically, Becket was murdered because he refused to go along with the king’s efforts to reduce clerical independence and render the church in England subservient to the crown. He was canonized soon after his death by Pope Alexander III and is still honored today by both Catholics and Anglicans as a great saint and martyr.
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In America the feast days of saints and martyrs—even those as notable as Becket—usually pass without much notice. But this year, the White House issued a proclamation on the occasion, noting that “Becket’s death serves as a powerful and timeless reminder to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not a mere luxury or accident of history, but rather an essential element of our liberty. It is our priceless treasure and inheritance. And it was bought with the blood of martyrs.”
This proclamation from Trump’s White House is remarkable as much for its candid support for religious liberty as for its unapologetic embrace of religion itself. It’s hard to imagine a modern American president, of either party, issuing passages like this, calling not only for an end to religious persecution worldwide (and specifically in China) but for a revival of religion in the United States:
We pray for religious believers everywhere who suffer persecution for their faith. We especially pray for their brave and inspiring shepherds—like Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu—who are tireless witnesses to hope.
To honor Thomas Becket’s memory, the crimes against people of faith must stop, prisoners of conscience must be released, laws restricting freedom of religion and belief must be repealed, and the vulnerable, the defenseless, and the oppressed must be protected. The tyranny and murder that shocked the conscience of the Middle Ages must never be allowed to happen again. As long as America stands, we will always defend religious liberty.
A society without religion cannot prosper. A nation without faith cannot endure—because justice, goodness, and peace cannot prevail without the grace of God.
At the same time, it’s unnerving to think how diametrically opposed to this view the incoming Biden administration will be. Although he professes to be Catholic, Biden has already indicated he will once again target religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor, as the Obama administration did, in an attempt to force such religious orders to participate in state-funded abortion.
