President Donald Trump stressed Tuesday night during his State of the Union address that America is a faith-filled nation.
The president said:
My administration is … defending religious liberty and that includes the Constitutional right to pray in public schools. In America, we do not punish prayer. We do not tear down crosses. We do not ban symbols of faith. We do not muzzle preachers and pastors. In America, we celebrate faith. We cherish religion. We lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the Glory of God!
Trump added that all that America did to change the course of history was based on the concept that, before God, all are equal:
This is our glorious and magnificent inheritance.
We are Americans. We are the pioneers. We are the pathfinders. We settled the new world, we built the modern world, and we changed history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God.
Trump continued with an eye toward the future:
This Nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American Epic, the American Adventure, has only just begun!
“Our spirit is still young; the sun is still rising; God’s grace is still shining; and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come!” the president exclaimed.
Reacting to Trump’s address, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins called the president’s speech “powerful and inspiring” and one “that touched on all that makes America great.”
Perkins added:
President Trump gave a cheerful and unifying vision of what America can be. The president spoke very movingly about protecting the most vulnerable among us including unborn children. He championed the values that have made America a truly exceptional nation: strong families, religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, a strong military and pro-growth economic policies.
Perkins said Americans “can be grateful that to this president, actions matter more than words.”
“In my twenty-five years in the political arena, I’ve seen no president who has done more to advance the sanctity of life and to protect and restore religious freedom at home and abroad,” he said.