Trump: If you're persecuted for your religion, you have a haven in the U.S.

[left-of-center2012]

C-SPAN is showing Trump at his "Religious freedom" session at the U.N.

Trump said "If you're persecuted for your religion, anywhere in the world, you have a haven in the U.S."

He's reading awkwardly from a prepared script. and it sounds as if he's never seen it before.
Most of the examples of religious persecution are of Christians and Jews.

He'll read a paragraph or two and stop to say:

"That's horrible. Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"That's shocking. Did you know that?"

The small audience includes no 'world leaders' and those there look bored as hell.

[gratuitous]

1. Would that include Muslims, Donny?

Because one of the first fights you picked was to stop accepting Muslim refugees from looking to the United States for asylum.

[struggle4progress]

10. +

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. I look forward to him inviting in the Rohingya as religious refugees (nt)

[spanone]

2. Lying to the United Nations. How trumpian.

[GoCubsGo]

3. That's unless you aren't a Christian.

Then, you are shit out of luck. Especially if you are Muslim or an atheist.

[dawg day]

4. I noticed Pence and Pompeo are there too.

He should have gotten Pence to do this. He would have been really boring, and of course avoided the whole non-Xian "persecution" problem. But at least he probably would have read the script before.

[Ohiogal]

6. How could Pence possibly read that out loud

without choking? Or without being hit by a bolt of lightning?

Do these religion hypocrites have any frigging idea how they sound?

[Tanuki]

8. They are too busy trying to strangle women's reproductive rights worldwide.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/18/trump-administration-steps-up-war-on-reproductive-rights/

"U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar appealed in a draft letter to a select group of conservative governments to “push back on harmful efforts” to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, which they say promote pro-abortion policies around the world. The statement—which was sent to 72 countries—is expected to be issued on the same day that U.S. President Donald Trump, who will not attend the health care summit, is scheduled to host an international meeting at the U.N. on religious persecution, titled the “Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom.” He will be introduced by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

“We respectfully request that your government join the United States in ensuring that every sovereign state has the ability to determine the best way to protect the unborn and defend the family as the foundational unit of society,” they wrote, according to a leaked copy of the draft posted late last month on the web site of the Center for Family and Human Rights, a conservative anti-abortion organization. “We remain gravely concerned that aggressive efforts to reinterpret international instruments to create a new international right to abortion and to promote international policies that weaken the family have advanced through some United Nations fora."

The U.S. campaign comes against a backdrop of international negotiations on a declaration being prepared for world leaders at the U.N. Universal Health Care summit on Sept. 23. Some 45 world leaders and 70 foreign ministers are scheduled to attend the meeting, which will take place on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly debate, to promote the expansion of health care. The United States will be represented by Azar.

For an administration that often pays little attention to the United Nations, the intervention of two U.S. cabinet members underscores the importance it places on curbing sexual and reproductive rights, a key objective of Trump’s religiously conservative base, which views the term “sexual and reproductive rights” as code for abortion.
.......

The Trump administration has granted extraordinary power to social and religious conservatives, placing them in influential positions in the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Health and Human Services, where they have taken their fight against abortion, gender equality, and same-sex marriage global. The effort has resulted in a realignment of U.S. alliances on social issues, bringing the United States closer to countries such as Russia, Bahrain, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican.

The White House has been struggling to turn back the clock on the U.N.’s long-standing commitment to promote women’s sexual and reproductive health care services, which have been recognized internationally since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, a landmark 1995 agreement that stands as the progressive blueprint for women’s rights. Previous Republican administrations, including that of George W. Bush, have sought to counter any suggestion that the nonbinding declaration conferred legal rights, including the right to abortion. But Trump has gone further, seeking to strike any mention of the term in U.N. agreements.
.....

“Removing [the phrase ‘sexual reproductive health’] from a discussion about universal health coverage is a rejection of science,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, the director of public policy at the Center for Health and Gender Equity, a Washington-based advocacy organization that promotes reproductive health care access. “It ignores a central aspect of health, one that cannot be isolated from the rest of health in good faith.”
.......

“I think it is incredible that they list out the World Health Assembly allies in the letter with pride, because it is just a rogues’ gallery of autocrats or other countries struggling with democracy,” said Roose-Snyder. “It is wild that the United States wants to put itself on the side of those countries, that is wild.”....(more)

[Tanuki]

5. Yeah, tell that to the Chaldean Christians he's deporting.

[Doreen]

7. This country was founded

on the idea that religion is not supposed be persecuted. Well, that did not happen because ALL religions have been persecuted or persecute by one group or another including those with no religion also.

Would that in FACT make the U.S a haven for everyone?

[Democrats_win]

9. What if it's religion doing the persecution?

Lets review: religion has persecuted gays, blacks, women, Jewish people and generally, other religions.

Somehow humanity must straighten this out. Religion and others try to make certain groups or individuals second-class citizens. This should never happen. Does this trump religious freedom? Religion refuses to acknowledge the inherent right of democracies to regulate behavior that fragments our societies. "You are a Serb, I refuse to serve you." Do you want our country to be so split that we refuse service to people of another state or region as happened in the past in the Balkans? You are from Alabama, I refuse to serve you. You are Gay, I refuse to serve you.

What about the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How can the Christian religion seemingly ignore this rule and demand the "right" to discriminate against other people? Would Jesus do this? Heck, Jesus "broke bread" with all sorts of "second class citizens" of his day, even showing compassion and complimenting them in comparison of the hypocrites of his time. Let's get real: some Religious organizations have become political. The seriousness of our "Religious problem" should not be minimized. They are condemning trifling matters while ignoring huge issues like greed and global warming. Congratulation, rich greedy people, you've bought yourself a religion!

From the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3. Are you listening pedophile church? crazy Southern Baptists? Many religions do the right thing, it's those that don't that are causing real problems.

[Vinca]

11. He must not have read the whole sentence. You have a haven in the U.S. IF

you are a right wing, batshit crazy, self serving, money-grubbing Evangelical.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

12. Bullshit

In rural America followers of the Islamic faith or any faith other than Christianity are considered heretics.