It’s unclear what their real intentions are, or whether or not they’ve simply taken in biased liberal mainstream media reports and are mistaken, but two Washington, D.C., pastors are now repeating the worn-out lie that President-elect Donald Trump has supported a “Muslim registry.”
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition and pastor of Church on the Hill, both based in Washington, and Rev. Kris Keating, International Director of Hillside Missions Organization based in Richmond, Virginia, are both calling on Trump to “clarify” his position on the issue. In a press release sent out to Christian media Tuesday morning, they assert the president-elect has made statements about forcing Muslims to register with the federal government.
Even the most far-left of “fact-checkers” state there is no evidence that Trump has ever advocated for or supported the idea of forcing any American to register with the federal government solely on the basis of his or her religious affiliation. The only reference to registry and databases made by the president-elect have been with regard to Syrian refugees and the threat that ISIS has used the refugee resettlement program to insert terrorists into the U.S.
Trump correctly pointed out that the vetting of Syrian refugees has been almost non-existent during the presidential election campaign. He said national security demands we know who these people are, where they have come from and what their ideology is before we bring them into our communities.
The idea of a registry was brought up by liberal mainstream media reporters, and Trump unequivocally stated he would not support singling out any Americans on the basis of religious beliefs. Using a database to track refugees and their placement within our country, on the other hand, would be a commonsense measure, he said.
In their press release, Mahoney and Keating state they have “traveled extensively in Muslim nations and worked with the Muslim community here in America.” Mahoney also famously went to Gainesville, Florida in an effort to stop Rev. Terry Jones from burning copies of the Quran.
They say their goal is to protect religious freedom in the U.S. But the fact that they would bring this fully-debunked attack on the president-elect’s character back up at a time when he is attempting to bring the nation together may speak to their motive. {eoa}
