National Day of Prayer - And 45 - And Religious Liberty

Today is the annual designated United States National Day of Prayer - and the majority of Americans are praying that the 45th President will soon be removed from the Oval Office, the White House, Washington D.C., and the face of the earth...  Last night, one of 45's newest come-aboard lawyers and toady cronies, admitted that 45 had re-paid the $130,000 to Michael Cohen that Cohen had paid to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels as "hush money" to not reveal an affair with 45, soon after the birth of his youngest son.   -  Yes, a day for National Prayer, indeed!
   In a Rose Garden ceremony today, 45 announced an executive order he said would expand government grants to, and partnerships with, faith-based groups.  A top faith advisor to 45 said the aim was a culture change, producing less conversations about church-state barriers  "without all of these arbitrary concerns as to what is appropriate."
   The sitting orange circus peanut has shrunk the infrastructure of many agencies, and a lot of director positions are still unfilled.  However, he has greatly expanded the access to the White House of conservative Christians.  It isn't clear if any concrete changes will come from this executive order, but Johnnie Moore, spokesman for 45's evangelical advisory group (the only faith-based group that has regular access), said the initiative included an order to every department "to work on faith-based partnerships."  That, Moore says, "represents a widespread expansion of a program that has historically done very effective work and now can do even greater work. Johnnie Moore mentioned an emphasis on faith-based partnerships focusing on prison reform, education, mental health, and "strengthening families."  Faith based groups have always been in such partnerships, but federal law requires that the government not show preference for one faith, or put recipients in the position where they are essentially proselytized in order to receive care.
   At the ceremony, the orange orangutan said he's responsible for people saying "Merry Christmas" more, and talking more openly about prayer.  "Don't you notice a big difference between two or three years ago and now?  Now it's straight up."  (Give me a break!)
  Melissa Rogers, who served as executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships under President Obama, said in a statement that protecting religious freedom should be a key aim of the government.  "At the event today, the President should retract and apologize for his call for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,' " she wrote in an e-mail. He "should also pledge to respect and vigorously protect the equal rights of Americans of all faiths and none, including the rights of American Muslims to religious freedom."
  Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who runs the policy-outreach arm for the Reform Movement, the largest segment of American Judaism, said in an e-mail that he has "grave concerns" about the new executive order and its ability to let faith groups play a key role in government programs, while also protecting "the rights of all people, regardless of their faith.  We have already seen efforts by this administration to undermine essential rules... thereby threatening religious liberty."
   ** I, personally, have no problems with any religion, or with a person who claims no religion.  My own personal belief is that we should love and support one another, through good times and bad - with religious beliefs totally disregarded. **