President Barack Obama's recent comments on religious issues shows that "he has a very strange definition of freedom of religion," says Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary.
"He believes in freedom of religion as long as you agree with him, but if you disagree with him on gay marriage, for instance, then he wants to weaponize the government against you," Land told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
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"He doesn't speak up for florists and bakers and photographers who don't want to be coerced into having to participate in a gay wedding when they find this to be morally reprehensible," he said.
"I believe they have a right to say, 'we are not going to provide that service for you,'" he said. "There is no community in America where they won't be able to find people to provide that service.
"Why do they want to compel someone to, under penalty of law, violate their conscience?" Land asked.
"This is the weaponization of government, and it's one of the things that Mr. Obama is very good at," he added.
At an
Easter Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, Obama said that while he reflects on his Christianity, "I am supposed to love, and I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned."
Land said that he thought "it was a curious venue, an Easter breakfast, to take a sly pot shot at Christians.
"Most people feel that he was referencing the recent flap in Indiana," he said.
"In the recent flap in Indiana, it was the Christians who were the objects of hate, it was the Christians who were the objects of prejudice, it was the Christians who were bullied and it was the Christians who were threatened, not non-Christians," he said.
"The president has an odd way of looking at things."
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