Trump steadily fulfills goals on religious right wish list

When Donald Trump assumed the presidency, conservative religious leaders drew up "wish lists' of steps they hoped he'd take to oppose abortion and rein in the LGBTQ-rights movement. With a flurry of recent actions, Trump's administration is now winning their praise for aggressively fulfilling many of their goals.

Mat Staver, president of the legal advocacy organization Liberty Counsel, said Trump has fulfilled about 90% of the goals on a list that Staver and other conservative leaders compiled.

"In the first two years of his administration, he's achieved more than all of the presidents combined since Ronald Reagan," Staver said. "He's been the most pro-religious freedom and pro-life president in modern history."

FILE - In this May 30, 2019, file photo, abortion-rights supporters stand on both sides of a street near the Gateway Arch as they take part in a protest in favor of reproductive rights in St. Louis. The Department of Health and Human Services implemented a new rule for the federal family planning program known as Title X. Planned Parenthood, long a target of religious conservatives because of its role as the leading U.S. abortion provider, quit the program rather than comply with a new rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions. (AP PhotoJeff Roberson, File)

One of the most dramatic steps — hailed by conservatives and decried by liberals — came this week when the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a new rule for the federal family planning program known as Title X. Planned Parenthood, long a target of religious conservatives because of its role as the leading U.S. abortion provider, quit the program — walking away from tens of millions of dollars in grants — rather than comply with a new rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.

Last week, the Labor Department proposed a rule that is expected to shield federal contractors from discrimination complaints regarding hiring and firing decisions motivated by religious beliefs. Critics say the rule, if implemented, would enable employers to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

On Friday, the Justice Department filed a brief telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers for being transgender. The brief is related to three cases that the high court will hear in its upcoming term related to LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace.

FILE - This Sept. 8, 2015, file photo shows attorney Mat Staver in Grayson, Ky. With a flurry of recent actions, Trump's administration is now winning the praise of conservative religious leaders for fulfilling many of their goals opposing abortion and reining in the LGBTQ-rights movement. Staver said Trump has fulfilled about 90% of the goals on a list that Staver and other conservative leaders compiled. (AP PhotoTimothy D. Easley, File)

Earlier this year, Health and Human Services issued a waiver allowing a state-contracted foster care agency in South Carolina to deny services to same-sex and non-Christian families. HHS also moved to revoke newly won health care discrimination protections for transgender people.

These and other actions aimed at curtailing abortion rights and LGBTQ rights have helped many conservative Christians overlook other aspects of Trump's presidency, such as his often-divisive rhetoric on Twitter and at rallies.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the Southern Baptist megachurch First Baptist Dallas and a frequent guest at the White House, predicted that Trump would win more evangelical votes in 2020 than he did in 2016, when they helped provide his margin of victory.

FILE - In this July 1, 2017, file photo, the Rev. Robert Jeffress, of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, speaks as he introduces President Donald Trump during the Celebrate Freedom event at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. When Trump assumed the presidency, conservative religious leaders drew up "wish lists' of steps they hoped he'd take to oppose abortion and rein in the LGBTQ-rights movement. "When they look back now, they see he checked off all of those goals... He'll win by an even larger margin on basis of promises kept," Jeffress said. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

"When he ran in 2016 and promised pro-life, pro-religious freedom policies, most evangelicals who voted for him didn't know whether he would or could fulfill those promises," Jeffress said. "When they look back now, they see he checked off all of those goals. ... He'll win by an even larger margin on basis of promises kept."

The same phenomenon being celebrated by religious conservatives is viewed with alarm by liberal activists.

For the religious right, "Every day is Christmas," said Rachel Laser, president & CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She worries that the mantra of "religious freedom" is being used to protect some Americans while hurting others.

FILE - In this July 1, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump is greeted by Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Dallas Church as he arrives to speak during the Celebrate Freedom event at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. When Trump assumed the presidency, conservative religious leaders drew up "wish lists' of steps they hoped he'd take to oppose abortion and rein in the LGBTQ-rights movement. "When they look back now, they see he checked off all of those goals... He'll win by an even larger margin on basis of promises kept," Jeffress said. (AP PhotoCarolyn Kaster, File)

"It can't be religious freedom just for white evangelical Christians — it has to be religious freedom for all of us," she said. "We're witnessing divisiveness as Trump and his cronies and religious extremists across the country continue to chip away at church-state separation."

The American Civil Liberties Union is among several organizations seeking to block some of the administration's moves in court.

"This is essentially the wish list of groups that have a very extreme and discriminatory perspective on what religious liberty means," said Ian Thompson, the ACLU's senior legislative representative in Washington.

FILE - In this June 26, 2015, file photo, a crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the U.S. On Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, the Justice Department brief filed telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers for being transgender. The brief is related to a group of three cases that the high court will hear in its upcoming term related to LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace. (AP PhotoJacquelyn Martin, File)

"It's important not to see any one of these policies in isolation but to see them as part of a coordinated effort by the administration across agencies," Thompson said. He urged the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to go on record against the policies, and investigate those which seem particularly problematic.

From both the right and left, activists noted that Trump's numerous appointments of federal judges have been welcomed by the religious right as a potential long-term boost to its causes.

"We are heartened by the appointment of constitutionalist judges, including two excellent Supreme Court justices (Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh), and look forward to more such appointments throughout the federal court system," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family.

Peter Montgomery of People for the American Way, which is often critical of religious conservative groups, said their Trump-supported agenda "is bad news for women in the U.S. and around the world, for LGBTQ people, and for the principle that taxpayer money should not be used to fund discrimination."

"Trump is advancing religious right priorities in the short term through administrative actions and in the long term through his appointment of young, right-wing ideologues to lifetime positions on the federal judiciary," Montgomery added in an email.

The Trump administration actions represent a sharp turnaround from the presidency of Barack Obama, who supported abortion rights and same-sex marriage, mandated that contraception be covered by the Affordable Care Act, enabled transgender people to serve openly in the military, and issued guidance to school districts that they should let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice.

Alliance Defending Freedom is among the conservative legal groups that has litigated against numerous Obama-era initiatives and has welcomed Trump's moves to reverse them.

"The defense of life, free speech, and religious liberty should never be subject to political and cultural whims," said Kristen Waggoner, an ADF senior vice president. "They are constitutional guarantees, and we are grateful that this administration recognizes that reality and is taking serious steps to correct injustice and protect all Americans."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has determined that an Israeli military unit committed gross human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the war in Gaza began, but it will hold off on any decision about aid to the battalion while it reviews new information provided by Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The undated letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, defers a decision on whether to impose a first-ever block on U.S. aid to an Israeli military unit over its treatment of Palestinians. Israeli leaders, anticipating the U.S. decision this week, have angrily protested any such aid restrictions.

Blinken stressed that overall U.S. military support for Israel’s defense against Hamas and other threats would not be affected by the State Department's eventual decision on the one unit. Johnson was instrumental this week in muscling through White House-backed legislation providing $26 billion in additional funds for Israel's defense and for relief of the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The U.S. declaration concerns a single Israeli unit and its actions against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. While the unit is not identified in Blinken's letter, it is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda, which has historically been based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The unit and some of its members have been linked to abuses of civilians in the Palestinian territory, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalion's forces in 2022.

The Israeli army announced in 2022 that the unit was being redeployed to the Golan Heights near the Syrian and Lebanese borders. More recently, its soldiers were moved to Gaza to fight in the war against Hamas.

Blinken said the Israeli government has so far not adequately addressed the abuses by the military unit. But "the Israeli government has presented new information regarding the status of the unit and we will engage on identifying a path to effective remediation for this unit,” he wrote.

A 1997 act known as the Leahy law obligates the U.S. to cut off military aid to a foreign army unit that it deems has committed grave violations of international law or human rights. But the law allows a waiver if the military has held the offenders responsible and acted to reform the unit.

The Leahy law has never been invoked against close ally Israel.

After State Department reviews, Blinken wrote Johnson, he had determined that two Israeli Defense Force units and several civilian authority units were involved in significant rights abuses. But he also found that one of those two Israeli military units and all the civilian units had taken proper and effective remediation measures.

The reviews come as protests and counterprotests over American military aid for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza are roiling U.S. college campuses as well as election-year politics at home and relations abroad.

Although the amount of money at stake is relatively small, singling out the unit would be embarrassing for Israel, whose leaders often refer to the military as “the world’s most moral army.”

The U.S. and Israeli militaries have close ties, routinely training together and sharing intelligence. It also would amount to another stinging U.S. rebuke of Israel’s policies in the West Bank. The Biden administration has grown increasingly vocal in its criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and recently imposed sanctions on a number of radical settlers for violence against Palestinians.

Lee contributed from Beijing. Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem.

FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. In a letter from Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson obtained by the Associated Press Friday, April 26, Blinken says the U.S. has determined that an Israeli military unit committed gross human-rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the war in Gaza began six months ago. But he says the U.S. will hold off on any decision about aid to the battalion while it reviews new information provided by Israel. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

Mother of Palestinian Shadi Jalaita, 44, cries upon the arrival of her son's body at the family house for the last look during his funeral in the West Bank city of Jericho Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in China, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)