Eric Trump says his father 'literally saved Christianity' from 'atheist Democrats who want to close churches'
President Trump ‘literally saved Christianity’ by protecting the religion against a ‘full-out war on faith’ by Democrats who have become ‘the party of the atheist’ and who want to ‘close churches,’ Eric Trump has said.
The president’s 36-year-old son gave an interview to a radio station in North Dakota on Friday in which he praised his father’s job performance.
‘He’s protected the Second Amendment, he’s literally saved Christianity,’ Trump’s second-oldest child told South Fargo-based WZFG radio.
‘I mean there’s a full-out war on faith in this country by the other side.
‘I mean, the Democratic Party, the far left has become the party of the atheist.
‘I mean, they want to attack Christianity, they want to close churches … they’re totally fine keeping liquor stores open.
Eric Trump, 36, said his father, President Trump, 'literally saved Christianity.' Eric Trump is seen above addressing the Republican National Convention in Washington, DC, on August 25
‘But they want to close churches all over the country.’
Eric Trump, who along with his brother, Donald Trump Jr, has headed The Trump Organization while their father has been in the White House, gave the interview before it was learned that the president tested positive for COVID-19.
The president spent three days at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
He returned to the White House on Monday evening.
Since becoming president, Trump has relied heavily on his base of Evangelical Christian supporters, many of whom see the president as fighting for their causes.
Trump most recently named Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
Ginsburg, widely regarded as a liberal feminist icon, died last month at the age of 87. Her passing will allow Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate to tilt the nation’s highest court more firmly into the conservative camp.
Barrett, who has faced scrutiny over her religious background and whether it has impacted her decisions as a judge, will in all likelihood be confirmed.
Last month, Trump hosted a reception for Barrett at the White House which was attended by hundreds of supporters. Several individuals who were present at that event, including the president, contracted coronavirus.
In his rise to the presidency, Trump has relied on his core base of Evangelical Christian supporters. The president is seen above with faith leaders during a prayer in the Oval Office in September 2017.
The lack of mask-wearing and social distancing at the reception has led many to consider the reception a COVID-19 'super-spreader.'
Eric Trump’s comments about ‘closing churches’ while keeping liquor stores open is an apparent reference to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that banned religious gatherings.
In several states, liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries were allowed to continue functioning since those businesses were viewed as essential.
But a more controversial move by some governors was to ban mass gatherings, including at churches and other houses of worship.
In states like Kentucky and Kansas, Democratic governors have been sued by religious organizations who claim that bans of group gatherings in churches were unconstitutional.
In August, churches in California and Minnesota, backed by a conservative legal group, filed lawsuits against the governors of their states challenging restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak that they contend are violations of religious liberty.
In Minnesota, a lawsuit was filed in federal court challenging Governor Tim Walz’s executive orders requiring six-foot social distancing and the wearing of face masks at worship services.
‘Governor Walz, a former teacher, gets an F in religious liberties,’ said Erick Kaardal, special counsel for the Thomas More Society.
‘Other states, including Texas, Illinois and Ohio, have excluded churches from COVID-19 mask mandates.’
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison reiterated his defense of Walz’s order, saying it was legally and constitutionally sound.
Walz had been embroiled in a battle with Roman Catholic and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregations across Minnesota over restrictions he placed on gatherings of more than 10 people.
Several churches have filed lawsuits against Democrat-led states who have tried to impose limits on services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in Los Angeles have filed a lawsuit in August to challenge California's cap on church attendees
He relented and said they could hold services at 25 per cent of capacity if certain conditions were met after they made it clear they planned to defy the order.
Also in August, a pastor in Palmetto, Florida, filed a suit challenging Manatee County’s mask mandate.
The Reverend Joel Tillis of Suncoast Baptist Church said the order shouldn’t extend to houses of worship because it hinders prayer.
Earlier this year the Supreme Court upheld state COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings in a suit filed by South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California.
Most recently, the Supreme Court rejected on July 24 an appeal by a rural Nevada church in a 5-4 decision joined by Chief Justice John Roberts but sharply criticized in three separate conservative dissents.
In addition to lax enforcement of social-distancing at protests, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley argued Nevada’s 50-person cap on worship services was unconstitutional because casinos and other businesses currently can operate at 50 per cent of capacity.
Justice Neil Gorscuch wrote, ‘There is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.’
Religious plaintiffs have prevailed in some litigation, however.
In June a federal judge blocked New York state from enforcing restrictions on indoor religious gatherings to 25 per cent capacity when other types of gatherings were limited to 50 per cent.
The plaintiffs, represented by the Thomas More Society, were two Catholic priests from Upstate New York and three Orthodox Jewish congregants from Brooklyn.
They argued that the restrictions violated their First Amendment rights to practice their religion.
The society also claimed a victory in May when Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker withdrew certain pandemic-related mandates on houses of worship.