A University of Notre Dame professor, with a long public record of supporting abortion, has stepped down from a senior leadership role at the Catholic university following weeks of pressure from students, faculty, and Catholic leaders nationwide.
Susan Ostermann, an associate professor in Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, will no longer assume the role of director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, <a href="https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/2026/02/breaking-ostermann-declines-liu-institute-directorship-following-backlash-over-abortion-advocacy">according</a> to a February 26 email from Keough Dean Mary Gallagher. Ostermann had been slated to take the position on July 1.
Gallagher said Ostermann “decided not to move forward” with the appointment and thanked her for her “willingness to serve.” Ostermann will remain on the faculty in her prior role as associate professor.
The decision follows widespread backlash after Notre Dame announced Ostermann’s appointment in January. Critics pointed to her extensive public advocacy for abortion, including multiple articles in which she described restrictions on abortion as “violence” and rejected the claim that abortion ends human life.
The controversy quickly escalated beyond campus. Two faculty members resigned from their roles at the Liu Institute in protest, and students organized prayer events and demonstrations calling on the university to uphold its Catholic identity.
Notre Dame <a href="https://meca.nd.edu/our-catholic-mission/">describes</a> itself as an institution where “Catholic character” informs all it does, a claim critics said was incompatible with elevating an outspoken abortion advocate to a leadership role.
The news of Ostermann’s withdrawal from the leadership role was met with positive reactions from pro-life advocates, though some said it did not go far enough. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, called the move “a good start,” but argued that Ostermann’s continued presence on the faculty remains incompatible with Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.
“It’s clear from her aggressively pro-abortion body of work, including her association with the Population Council, that she needs to be terminated,” Hawkins said in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire. “The premier Catholic school in America should not allow professors to blatantly oppose central teachings on the value of all human life, including babies in the womb. Her elevation was extremely troubling, but stepping down is not enough. She needs to go.”
Pressure intensified earlier this month when Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, whose diocese includes Notre Dame, <a href="https://diocesefwsb.org/statement-of-most-reverend-kevin-c-rhoades-on-appointment-of-new-director-of-the-liu-institute-at-the-university-of-notre-dame/">issued</a> a public statement condemning the appointment. Rhoades said he had “strong opposition” to the decision and warned it was “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.”
Ostermann’s “extensive public advocacy of abortion” and her “disparaging and inflammatory remarks about those who uphold the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death,” Rhoades said, directly conflicted with a core principle of Notre Dame’s mission.
Catholic lay-leaders framed Ostermann’s withdrawal as a necessary step to preserve the university’s identity and credibility. Mary FioRito, a senior fellow at The Catholic Association, said the decision was a “win for consistency, clarity, and common sense” at the University of Notre Dame.
“As an explicitly Catholic university, Notre Dame owes its students and faculty truth in advertising,” FioRito said in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire, arguing that “Ostermann’s public advocacy of legal abortion would have overshadowed the good work of the Liu Center and significantly hampered its ability to form students.” FioRito also credited alumni, students, faculty, and staff who raised concerns through prayer and public advocacy, as well as Bishop Rhoades and other bishops who issued statements opposing the appointment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I want to express my strong support for the statement that Bishop Kevin Rhoades made this morning concerning a controversial appointment at the University of Notre Dame. Please read his communication in full, for he makes the case more completely and eloquently than I could.…
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/BishopBarron/status/2021613562842489042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
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On Tuesday, Rhoades <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/cna/bishop-rhoades-leads-rosary-for-notre-dame-s-catholic-identity">joined</a> students, faculty, and staff at the university’s Marian grotto for a public rosary “for the cause of life.”
In a statement included with Gallagher’s email, Ostermann said her acceptance of the directorship was motivated solely by a desire to serve the institute’s faculty and students. She added that the ongoing controversy risked overshadowing the institute’s work and said there was “work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”
The Catholic Church teaches that human life is sacred from conception to natural death and that direct abortion is a grave moral evil. In recent remarks honoring Mother Teresa, Pope Leo XIV <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-01/pope-leo-political-innovation-hackathon-one-humanity-one-planet.html">described</a> abortion as “the greatest destroyer of peace.”
Church teaching on Catholic higher education is laid out in St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which calls on Catholic universities to safeguard their identity while exercising academic freedom within the bounds of faith and reason.
Student organizers say demonstrations and prayer events will continue, framing Ostermann’s withdrawal not as an endpoint, but as evidence that sustained, faithful pressure can produce results.

University of Notre Dame Golden Dome

Pro-Abortion Professor Finally Caves To Pressure At Historic Catholic Institution

Student And Clergy Protest Leads Pro-Abortion Professor To Bow Out Of Notre Dame Director Role

Abortion

Catholicism

Christianity

Christians

Notre Dame University

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1916-they-just-made-elmo-muslim?elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
A woman who presents herself as a “priestess” — a role that does not exist in Christianity — just went viral. This priestess puts on a collar and a stole and pretends to be a priest. And to make the whole presentation even more satanic, she includes the Planned Parenthood logo on the priestly stole.
Here is her defense of the Left&#8217;s highest sacrament, abortion:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Headline: RELIGION MEETS PLANNED PARENTHOOD
A female pastor is sparking a firestorm after claiming she &#8220;felt God’s presence&#8221; while deciding to end two pregnancies—all while wearing a Planned Parenthood stole at the pulpit <a href="https://t.co/sUvgk7HIRz">pic.twitter.com/sUvgk7HIRz</a>
— BuzzBrief (@_BuzzBrief__) <a href="https://twitter.com/_BuzzBrief__/status/2023078105242640722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @_BuzzBrief_X.com &amp; @OilLondonTV/X.com
<blockquote>In the abortion imaginary, all people of faith are against abortion. This imaginary has colonized our minds, traumatizing many people with its toxic theology and shaping a culture of stigma and shame that has silenced millions of women and people who have had abortions, erasing their voices, their stories, and their witness from the public sphere. As a child of God, I can certainly appreciate the lyrical beauty of this text, as well as the descriptions in Jeremiah and Job of their certain knowledge that God was with them in the womb. I too feel that I am known by God in these ways. As a woman who has borne two children, I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies. I can also attest that I felt God&#8217;s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies, and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.</blockquote>
Okay, this is horrifying. 
But you have to give this murderous woman, this truly sacrilegious heretic, some credit for honesty. She is openly acknowledging something that most pro-abortion Christians will not: something sacred was going on in my womb when that baby was being knit there. 
She goes on to basically say, Jeremiah and Job describe being knit in the womb. And yeah, that&#8217;s all real. I totally grant that. And I felt it. I personally know it&#8217;s real — but I chose to kill my kids and I felt that that was cool too.
So, of course, the difference between real Christianity and a lot of pagan cults is that Christianity is a definitive religion. Our Lord is a real person who lives in real time and space and picks real people to build his Church with and upon, like Saint Peter, to whom he gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and to loose. It is a religion that has real, visible authority in the world throughout history.
During that history, our Lord says, I will send the helper, I will send the Holy Spirit to you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, because our Lord is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. It is a real, definitive religion.
We can definitively say Christianity outlaws abortion.
We can definitively say Christianity has a real view of marriage, and it doesn&#8217;t change.
We can really say all of that.
And this woman kind of admits that, which is why you have to give her points for honesty. She says there was a divine thing happening when babies were being created in her womb. But she killed them anyway because her autonomy trumped even the spark of the divine. In other words, her autonomy trumps even God himself.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1916-they-just-made-elmo-muslim?elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
And it&#8217;s nuts when you hear it that way from a forthright liberal woman. But that is the premise of liberalism today — nothing is more important than my autonomy. I will make of myself the highest god.
We saw this in the Biden administration. Joe Biden believed he could be a liberal and a Christian, he was happy to do it. He called himself the most devout Catholic in the world. However, when his liberalism conflicted with his Christianity, he always chose liberalism.
And this is what liberalism tells us to do. We can believe a wide number of things. We can engage in a wide number of behaviors. We can even join many political parties. But the highest good is my autonomy. I&#8217;m really number one. I will make a god of myself. It&#8217;s a fulfillment of what the serpent promises to our first ancestors in the garden: “You will be like gods.”
You don&#8217;t have to listen to him.
And that&#8217;s what this woman is saying. It&#8217;s all the more shocking because she admits: Jeremiah and Job talk about the divine spark in the womb. I felt it too — and I killed them.
Press them on that.
Press the Democrats and the liberals on that: If you&#8217;re a Christian, what happens when Christianity contradicts your liberalism? Which side do you pick?

MixCollage-20-Feb-2026-05-00-PM-2889

WATCH: Liberal ‘Priestess’ Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion

WATCH: Liberal 'Priestess' Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion

Catholic Church

Church

Leftists

Michael Knowles

Planned Parenthood

Valentine’s Day is here, and so I thought, as the resident Catholic at Daily Wire (take that, Michael Knowles!), it would be appropriate and, who knows, maybe even helpful, to talk about it.
Now, the first thing I should tell you is that I am not American. I&#8217;m Australian. When I moved to America back in 2005, I was genuinely shocked at how many holidays you guys have. Hallmark and unbridled capitalism. That’s who I’m blaming!
But the truth is that I have a knee-jerk reaction to being told that I must celebrate something. When that happens, I take the reverse position and refuse to celebrate it. This is how I feel about Valentine&#8217;s Day. As my dear wife can attest, not once in our 20 years of marriage have I bought her flowers on Valentine’s day. It’s my petty way of fighting back against the commercialization of Catholic feast days. That’ll show ‘em!
But enough about me, who is this St. Valentine fella, anyway? How might we as Catholics celebrate a day named for him despite — or even in answer to — the marketing blitz that accompanies it?
<h3>St. Valentine</h3>
Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about St. Valentine is how extraordinarily little we know about him. Almost nothing. Maybe nothing at all.
One thing we can say with certainty is that “Valentine” is English for the Latin Valentinus, a fairly common name in the early Church. Valentinus comes from the root-word valens, meaning strong or worthy. But here&#8217;s where things get fuzzy: Early Christian records point to at least three martyrs named Valentinus, all honored on February 14.
So, briefly, one of these martyrs was a Roman priest who lived during the third-century persecutions and was executed for refusing to renounce Christ. Another was the Bishop of Terni, also martyred around the same time. Both were said to be buried along the Via Flaminia. By the Middle Ages, pilgrims were honoring “Saint Valentine” without being quite sure which one he was. Some historians even suspect they were the same man, remembered differently by different communities. And then there&#8217;s a third Valentine, a North African martyr and his companions. This Valentine is only mentioned in passing, without a story, like so many early Christian witnesses.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/hosts/matt-fradd?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Hosts&amp;rowType=Hosts+Portrait+Carousel">Watch Matt Fradd&#8217;s Pints With Aquinas On DailyWire+.</a>
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You can see why there would be some confusion about St. Valentine. When several men share the same name, live in the same period, die in similar ways, and are remembered by different Christian communities, their stories naturally begin to overlap. What survives in the historical record is not one clear biography, but several distinct witnesses remembered under the same name. What this means is that once we move beyond the bare historical facts, we’re no longer dealing with a single, settled biography. All that survives are traditions. Some early, some later, some more detailed than others.
But there is value to be found in these traditions. Let&#8217;s look at two stories that may or may not have happened. Each, in its own way, nourishes our faith, and our understanding of what it means to live as a Christian.
<h3>First Story</h3>
In one particularly popular account, Valentine was a third-century Italian bishop from Terni, a city north of Rome. He ran into trouble for the usual reasons Christians ran into trouble back then: He kept being Christian. This did not sit well with Emperor Claudius II.
Valentine was placed under house arrest in the home of a Roman judge named Asterius, presumably so he could think about what he’d done and change his ways. Instead, he spent his time doing what Christians are famously bad at not doing. He talked about Jesus. A lot.
Eventually, Asterius, who was unconvinced and likely a bit worn down, decided to turn the situation into a test. If Valentine’s God were real, surely he could prove it by curing the judge’s blind daughter. Valentine agreed, placed his hands on the girl’s eyes, and she received her sight.
This, understandably, made an impression.
Asterius, now trembling with wonder, asked Valentine what he should do in response to such a miracle. Valentine told him to destroy the false gods in his house and be baptized. Which Asterius did. Asterius, along with his entire household, was baptized, standing, we’re told, among the broken fragments of their former idols. A strong visual.
Word of all this eventually reached the emperor. Valentine was summoned before Claudius himself, who, according to the story, found him quite charming. Sadly, charm only gets you so far when you refuse to renounce your faith. Claudius ordered Valentine executed.
And, so, Valentine was beaten with clubs and beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269. But not before writing a note of comfort to the girl whose sight he had restored, signing it, “From your Valentine.”
It’s a lovely story. Whether it’s true or not, we don’t know.
<h3>Second Story</h3>
Another story has Valentine as a Roman priest quietly helping Christians during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius decided that unmarried men made better soldiers than married ones. Wives, apparently, were bad for morale. Some things never change&#8230;which is also why I don’t buy my wife flowers. That’s a joke, a bad one, but a joke nonetheless.
Anyway, the point is that the emperor outlawed marriage for young men altogether.
Valentine, undeterred by the imperial decree, carried on marrying couples anyway, but discreetly. The side benefit was that married men could then avoid being drafted into the emperor’s pagan army. Obviously, Claudius took a dim view of this situation once he noticed. Valentine was eventually hauled before the emperor. Claudius rather liked him, found him charming, and very nearly let him off. Unfortunately, Valentine would not stop being Christian, and this proved a deal-breaker. He was sentenced to death.
From there, the stories begin to multiply, and rather enthusiastically. In one telling, Valentine refuses to worship the Roman gods, is thrown into prison, and heals the blind daughter of his jailer. In another, he leaves her a note before his execution, signed, “From your Valentine,” which is either deeply moving or suspiciously tidy, depending on your temperament.
So, what can we take away from these varying traditions?
Well, we could reflect on the certainty of death and what remains after us in this world. There may be stories told about us after we are gone — for a while — until the people telling those stories themselves are gone. A deeper reflection leads us to the truth that ultimately only one person will remember us; only one person knows the inner truth of our lives. And that person is God.
This being true, we Christians should place our stories in the hands of the only One who&#8217;s remembrance matters. As the ancient saying goes, &#8220;Preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.&#8221; Yes, forgotten to the world, but remembered by God. St. Valentine may exist for us in the hazy record of varying traditions. But God knows the truth. In God, Valentinus or the several men for whom he stands, is known and loved for eternity.
<h3>A Prayer to Saint Valentine</h3>
Let’s end where the Church has always ended: in prayer.
<blockquote>Saint Valentine, faithful martyr of Christ, 
you who bore witness to love stronger than fear and hope stronger than death, 
pray for us. 
Pray for those who are married, 
that their love may be patient, enduring, and rooted in truth. 
Pray for those who long for love, 
that they may seek not merely affection, but holiness. 
Pray for those who are wounded by love, 
that they may find healing in the Heart of Christ. 
Teach us that real love is not fragile or fleeting, 
but willing to suffer, to remain, and to give itself fully. 
Saint Valentine, 
martyr of faithful love, 
pray for us. 
Amen.</blockquote>
And now, if you will excuse me, I&#8217;m going to pick up some flowers for my wife!

Screenshot

Valentine’s Day Talk

Catholics

Matt Fradd

Valentine's Day

Country rock star Kid Rock pointed viewers toward Jesus and the Gospel during his set on Sunday as the headliner at the TPUSA All-American Halftime Show. 
The &#8220;Cowboy&#8221; singer delivered on all fronts as the alternative to the NFL’s Super Bowl halftime show that featured Bad Bunny, who performed his entire set in Spanish. The All-American Halftime Show drew millions of viewers eager for something different. 
Rock opened his set with his viral hit “Bawitdaba” from 1999. But later, the recording artist changed tracks entirely. As his set came to an end, Kid Rock came back out on stage and was reintroduced by his real name, Robert Ritchie. 
He said a new verse to Cody Johnson’s song “‘Til You Can’t” came to him one Sunday morning when &#8220;something or someone spoke to me.&#8221;
Ritchie said he believed there was “a verse that still needed to be written for this song.”
&#8220;There&#8217;s a book that&#8217;s sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off,&#8221; he sang. &#8220;There&#8217;s a man that died for all our sins hanging from the cross. You can give your life to Jesus and he&#8217;ll give you a second chance. &#8216;Til you can&#8217;t.&#8221;
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His performance ended with a tribute to TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last year. 
“If you’re gonna love somebody, hold ’em as long and as strong and as close as you can. Until you can’t,” Rock sang as an image of Kirk showed up on the screen with the caption, “In Remembrance of Charlie Kirk.” There were photos of Kirk and his widow, Erika, followed by the Bible verse Isaiah 6:8: &#8220;Here am I, send me.&#8221;
Brantley Gilbert and other country artists, Gabby Barrett, and Lee Brice also performed at the TPUSA All-American Halftime Show, which outperformed all expectations. Millions of people tuned into the YouTube livestream, Charlie Kirk’s YouTube channel, and other partner sites streaming it, including DailyWire+. 
“We’re approaching this show like David and Goliath,” Kid Rock said in a statement before the show, The Daily Wire previously reported. “Competing with the pro football machine and a global pop superstar is almost impossible, or is it? He said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”
Social media lit up with fans celebrating the Super Bowl halftime show alternative, and later with viewers proud of how many people turned up and tuned in. 
“All in English, all talented, beautifully done,” one social media response <a href="https://x.com/mattvanswol/status/2020680122739609810">said</a>.
“It was truly awesome. Felt so good. And so proud,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/GNFranzia/status/2020681341726036350">agreed</a>. 
“I was proud of my country. Felt blessed for my family. This is what it should be!” a third person agreed, echoing what so many others were saying.
As of Monday, the All-American Halftime Show had close to 20 million views on the official TPUSA YouTube channel.

Kid Rock

‘Died For All Our Sins’: Kid Rock Points To Jesus And The Gospel During All-American Halftime Show

Kid Rock Adds Verse To Song During All-American Halftime, Tells Fans To Follow Jesus

Entertainment

Halftime Show

Music

Super Bowl

TPUSA

On Thursday, President Trump returned to the National Prayer Breakfast and proceeded to give a speech that was reasonably religious in overtones.
Something fascinating about the president is that he&#8217;s been able to do things that a lot of Christian conservatives and religious Jews appreciate while maintaining a largely secular coalition.
What would appear to be a marginal increase in non-Christian affiliation inside the Republican Party is not marginal because the overall loss in the traditional religious constituency in the Republican Party is reflective of an overall loss of religiosity in the American public more generally.
Today, the majority of Republicans are religious, but an increasing percentage are not particularly religious, and it is pretty religiously diverse.
That does not mean that the Republican Party should somehow abandon the moral issues that make the Republican Party the Republican Party. That&#8217;s not my case.
My case is that making the Republican Party non-ecumenical as opposed to ecumenical is a mistake. We’ve seen this sort of move being made on behalf of some parts of the sort of the trad-Catholic Right, some of the quasi-integralists on the Right, who seem to be making a move to break up the Republican coalition by suggesting that there is a vast religious revival that is happening in the country that is going to drive Republicans to victory.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2363-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Those numbers do not exist. I wish there were; I wish there were a vast religious revival in the country and that the Republican Party was closer to its biblical moral values. I wish that were the case.
But that is not supported by the data, which is why Trump is the right president for this moment, and it&#8217;s why Republicans have to watch out for coalition building and how not to break it up.
When you talk about the increasing irreligiosity of the body politic, that is correct. That doesn&#8217;t mean that Republicans should abandon social issues. They absolutely should not.
But it does mean that the more overt you are about marginal social issues, the more you are likely to lose the Trump coalition. Trump is winning outsized shares of Christian evangelicals, Catholics, and religious people because the Left is crazy, not because he is campaigning as some sort of religious figure.
If you wish for Republicans to win, then presenting good policy with a moderate face — even if you have outsized rhetoric like President Trump — is a better path to victory than embracing the fringe positions taken by so many on X and elsewhere.
President Trump can go to the National Prayer Breakfast and give what are, at best, sort of vague religious statements. And that&#8217;s fine with people. President Trump literally joked about making it to heaven at the National Prayer Breakfast, saying:
I said, “I’m never going to make it to heaven. I just don’t think I qualify.” I don’t think there’s a thing I can do, but all of these good things I’m doing, including for religion — you know, religion’s back now hotter than ever before — but I said, “Even though I did that, and so many other things” —  I named things. I said, “I won’t qualify. I’m not going to make it to heaven.”
And the New York Times did a front-page story that Donald Trump is questioning his life and the meaning of his life. No, I was just having fun. I really think I probably should make it; I mean, I’m not a perfect candidate, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people.
That last line, that he&#8217;s done a lot of things for people, is the reason he’s been elected president twice. 
President Trump says, listen, you have to believe in something. You have to have a religion in general. 
This is the American position. The American position is that Biblical values are good and that we like religious practice in this country. Freedom of religion and freedom from government intervention in religion are in the same amendment for a reason. That broad ecumenism is a winning approach for the Republicans.
And pointing out the anti-religious secularism of the Left is a winning approach for Republicans.
President Trump has the pulse of the American people on the vast majority of issues, which is why he usually takes the 80% on 80/20 issues.
Republicans need to continue to do that.

US-POLITICS-RELIGION-PRAYER-BREAKFAST-TRUMP

The Big Tent: Trump’s Ecumenical Path To Victory

Ben Shapiro

Bible

Donald Trump

Jews

Judeo-Christian Values

Opinion

Prayer

Religion

Republican Party

White House

President Donald Trump announced at the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning that the United States would be &#8220;rededicated as one nation under God&#8221; as he touted his administration&#8217;s defense of religious values.
Trump discussed religious freedom and Christianity and announced that Americans are invited to &#8220;come together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks,&#8221; on May 17.
&#8220;We are going to do something that everyone said, &#8216;That&#8217;s tough.&#8217; We&#8217;re going to rededicate America as one nation under God,&#8221; Trump said, adding, &#8220;I&#8217;ve always said, you just can&#8217;t have a great country if you don&#8217;t have religion. You have to believe in something. You have to believe that what we&#8217;re doing, there&#8217;s a reason for it.&#8221;
Throughout his speech, the president also sprinkled in criticism of his political opponents, specifically calling former President Joe Biden &#8220;the worst president we&#8217;ve ever had&#8221; and former President Barack Obama &#8220;a terrible divider of our country.&#8221;
&#8220;He was a divider, and believe it or not, we&#8217;re bringing the country together. You know what&#8217;s bringing it together, tremendous success. We&#8217;re having tremendous success,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I really don&#8217;t, and I know we have some here today, and I don&#8217;t know why they&#8217;re here. They certainly don&#8217;t give us their vote.&#8221;
As he often does, Trump drifted from his prepared remarks for most of the speech and even commented on how he had been ignoring the teleprompter.
&#8220;At some point, I&#8217;m going to get right back onto the teleprompter and you&#8217;re going to say that was a wonderful speech,&#8221; he said before looking back into his prepared remarks.
&#8220;On that momentous day in 1776, history changed forever when our founders proclaimed the immortal truths that echoed around the world and down all the way through time. They declared that all of us are made free and equal by the hand of our creator. A lot of presidents refuse to say that,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Some major politicians refuse to say the word &#8216;God.&#8217; They don&#8217;t want to say it. I say it.&#8221;
&#8220;We are endowed with our sacred rights to life and liberty, not by government but by God Almighty himself,&#8221; he added.
Throughout his second term, Trump has focused on addressing &#8220;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/">anti-Christian bias</a>&#8221; in the United States as well as the persecution of Christians in Africa and the Middle East. Last February, Trump established a task force to look into attacks on Christians, condemning the Biden administration for &#8220;targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.&#8221;
&#8220;My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians,&#8221; Trump stated in his order on February 6, 2025.
In the past year, Trump has also called out attacks on Christians in foreign countries, such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-next-peace-push-focuses-on-nigeria-and-sudan-where-christians-are-killed-by-the-thousands?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%E2%80%99s+Next+Peace+Push+Focuses+On+Nigeria+And+Sudan%2C+Where+Christians+Are+Killed+By+The+Thousands">Nigeria</a>. The president designated Nigeria as a &#8220;Country of Particular Concern&#8221; in October, saying that “Christianity is facing an existential threat.”
During his speech on Thursday, the president spent a considerable amount of time talking about how he targeted ISIS terrorists in the Middle East during his first term and then slammed the Biden administration&#8217;s failure to keep the region stable after he left office.
&#8220;The election was rigged and I wasn&#8217;t there, and for four years, ISIS rebuilt, rebuilt, rebuilt, and they have a little bit of ISIS now again,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And we knocked the hell out of them the other day in Nigeria because they were killing Christians. I said, &#8216;You can&#8217;t do that.'&#8221;

Trump Vows To Rededicate America As One Nation Under God

Executive

Freedom of Religion

Politics

The following is an edited transcript from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1893-children-terrified-leftist-mob-storms-church-in-minneapolis?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
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A very controversial statement — at least according to the internet — has just come out of Jerusalem. And not just from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the chief Catholic prelate there, but from the heads of the other historic churches as well: the Armenian Church, the Syriac Church, the Greek Orthodox Church — all the Apostolic churches of Jerusalem.
Here is what they said. In a statement titled On Unity and the Representation of the Christian Communities in the Holy Land:
<blockquote>The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in the Holy Land affirm before the faithful and before the world that the ﬂock of Christ in this land is entrusted to the Apostolic Churches, which have borne their sacred ministry across centuries with steadfast devotion. </blockquote>
Here is the controversial line:
<blockquote>Recent activities undertaken by local individuals who advance damaging ideologies such as Christian Zionism mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock. These undertakings have found favor among certain political actors in Israel and beyond, who seek to push a political agenda which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the wider Middle East.</blockquote>
The statement goes on for several more paragraphs and concludes with: “May the Lord, who is the shepherd and guardian of souls, grant wisdom for the protection of His people and the safeguarding of His witness in the sacred land.” 
It is signed by the patriarchs and heads of the churches in Jerusalem.
So what is this about?
We’ve heard a lot about Zionism — the nationalist ideology that arose in the 19th century and sought to return Jews to the Holy Land, where they had lived millennia earlier, though not in large numbers for quite some time. We’ve also heard about Christian Zionism, which is a specifically Christian theological take on that project.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1893-children-terrified-leftist-mob-storms-church-in-minneapolis?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
But who exactly are these “local individuals” sowing discord and undermining proper Christian authority?
I had to look into this, because as a Catholic I don’t exactly keep up with every niche Protestant trend. And I think the patriarchs are referring to a man named Robert Stearns, who styles himself “Bishop Robert Stearns.” He is not part of any Apostolic Christian community, but he calls himself a bishop anyway. He is also a vociferous advocate of Christian Zionism.
Here’s a sample of what he recently said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“Christian” Zionist Robert Stearns apologizes to Jews at Jerusalem Post conference for 2,000 years of “Christian history” hurting Jewish people.
He says it&#8217;s “irrelevant” if Jesus was the Messiah and claims to be part of a new Christian group “serving Zion.”
Follow: <a href="https://twitter.com/AFpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AFpost</a> <a href="https://t.co/aHhMgOfpA3">pic.twitter.com/aHhMgOfpA3</a>
— AF Post (@AFpost) <a href="https://twitter.com/AFpost/status/2011500100624040442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @AFpost/X.com
I was trying to be sympathetic here, but this is just ridiculous. It violates the law of non-contradiction — a principle we’ve known about since at least Aristotle. Opposing statements cannot both be true in the same respect.
Christ’s return cannot be both His first coming and His second coming. It’s one or the other. And if you’re a Christian, I’m happy to break it to you: it will be the second coming. You actually have to believe that.
This attempt to be cute or accommodating doesn’t resolve anything. It just empties theology of meaning.
Stearns also claims that the existence of the modern State of Israel is of biblical and prophetic necessity — that it is required for the end times to unfold. I know plenty of people share this view. But here’s the thing: this theology is new. Really new. Less than two centuries old. It is not the traditional Christian position, and it is not the correct one.
Which brings us back to the Jerusalem statement.
Is it shocking? Is it anti-Israel? Is it a break with tradition?
No. Not at all.
In fact, the position expressed by the patriarchs lines up perfectly with long-standing Vatican teaching. Here is something from 1985 — forty years ago, and two decades after the Second Vatican Council. This declaration from the Vatican goes out of its way to speak respectfully of Jews and is in no way anti-Semitic:
<blockquote>The history of Israel did not end in 70 A.D., but continued, especially in the numerous diasporas, which led Israel to carry to the whole world a witness, often heroic, of its fidelity to the one God… while preserving the memory of the land of their forefathers at the heart of their hope.</blockquote>
That reference, by the way, is to the Passover Seder.
Notice what’s happening here. The Vatican is not talking about the Church as the new Israel — which Christians have always believed — but about the historical, earthly Israel of the Jewish people. It acknowledges their witness, their fidelity, and even their attachment to the land.
But then comes the key clarification:
<blockquote>Christians are invited to understand this religious attachment, which finds its roots in biblical tradition, without, however, making their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship.</blockquote>
And just to make it unmistakable, the Vatican adds:
<blockquote>The existence of the State of Israel and its political options should be envisaged not in a perspective which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the common principles of international law.</blockquote>
Bingo.
That is exactly what the patriarchs of Jerusalem are reaffirming. And they are completely right.
This is why I would not call myself a Zionist, or a Christian Zionist, or any other kind of Zionist. Not because I dislike Jews — I don’t. Not because I oppose the State of Israel — I don’t.
I am broadly supportive of the nation-state of Israel but not because of Zionist religious claims, which I don’t believe are true. I do not believe Jews are entitled to the Holy Land because of a theological premise. As a Christian, I believe the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Christ is the New Covenant. The Church is the spiritual Israel. Those Old Testament promises are fulfilled — not suspended, not postponed.
And I also don’t believe that occupying a piece of land 2,000 years ago grants a perpetual title deed. If that were the case, we’d have to hand Mount Rushmore back to the Lakota Sioux. I don’t believe that logic anywhere.
That said, I still broadly support Israel because I don’t like the alternatives. I don’t want Iran running the Holy Land. I don&#8217;t think the Muslims have been particularly protective of the holy sites. The Ottoman Empire is gone. Baldwin’s Kingdom of Jerusalem isn’t coming back anytime soon. The real-world options are limited.
From the standpoint of international law, the Jews were granted territory by the British Empire, recognized by the United Nations, and then defended it through war. Like it or not, under the modern nation-state system, that matters.
But that isn’t Zionism. And it certainly isn’t biblical prophecy.
You can support Israel without subscribing to the relatively novel theology of Christian Zionism. You can like Jews without turning geopolitics into eschatology.
I love the Jews. I grew up in New York. I’m extremely philosemitic. If you told me I had to choose between hanging out with the guys making pastrami sandwiches or the guys making shawarma, I’m choosing pastrami 100 times out of 100. Okay — 999 times out of 1,000.
And you can do that without embracing a theology invented in the 19th century and dressed up as ancient Christianity.
That is clearly what the patriarchs of Jerusalem are saying. And anyone pretending this is antisemitic, radical, or some kind of rupture with tradition is, frankly, completely insane.

Skyline of the Old City in Jerusalem from north, Israel.

Why Christian Zionism Is Not Traditional Christianity

Israel

Jerusalem

Jesus Christ

Zionism

Most Americans want more faith in the public square and want to have more say over what their children learn in the classroom, according to a new survey of attitudes toward religious liberty released Friday.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty released its annual Religious Freedom Index, documenting a rise in support for Americans to practice their faith in public and private. The index surveyed over 1,000 Americans and asked them for their opinions on a range of topics from curriculum opt-outs to sharing faith in public.
“This year’s Index shows that Americans – and especially younger generations – increasingly share a vigorous vision of religious liberty, one that is not confined to churches and private homes but expressed openly in the public square,” Becket wrote in its report, which was first obtained by The Daily Wire.
Becket found that 73% of Americans believe that parents should be able to opt their kids out of public school curriculum. That is a ten point increase since 2021 and comes after the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-sides-with-parents-says-schools-cant-mandate-lgbt-curricula">ruled</a> last year that a group of Maryland parents should be allowed to take their kids out of classroom instruction involving LGBT and sexuality-focused materials. That case was brought by Becket on behalf of a coalition of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents.
The survey found that 62% of Americans supported that decision.
“When it comes to raising children, mom and dad know best. That common-sense idea commands overwhelming support, with nearly three-quarters of Americans agreeing that parents should have the final say on what their children are taught in public school. It’s a powerful reminder that in our nation, families—not government officials—are the primary educators of the next generation,” Eric Baxter, the vice president and senior counsel at Becket, told The Daily Wire.
More Americans also believe that Americans should be free to share their faith in public, including at work and school.
“[Fifty-seven percent] of Americans agree that religious freedom is inherently public, and that Americans should be free to share their faith in public spaces, such as at school, work, or on social media — a five-point rise since 2020,” the index found.
Notably, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-trump-guidance-allows-federal-employees-to-debate-religion-with-co-workers">new guidance</a> issued by the Trump administration last year made it clear that federal workers are allowed to invite their co-workers to church and share their religious beliefs with them.
The survey also found that a plurality of Americans (47%) believe that Christian counselors should be allowed to guide children away from gender-confusion, 58% say that bakers and cake artists should not be forced to create a product that violates their conscience, and 65% approved of a recent Supreme Court decision that sided with a Catholic charity that sued Wisconsin after it made it pay certain taxes that other religious organizations were exempt from.

Beautiful White Baptist Church in Crawfordville, George built in 1889

Americans Want More Faith In The Public Square, Back Parental Rights

Education

Religious Freedom

Supreme Court

The following is an edited transcript from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1890-breaking-scotus-delivers-massive-blow-to-the-trans-movement?elementPosition=6&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
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Scott Adams has died.
It is a sad story, though not an entirely unexpected one. And it’s important to note, Scott Adams did not kill himself.
Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, was a defining cultural figure for decades. His comic strip was a genuine phenomenon — so much so that, flipping through old Dilbert panels, one can feel a kind of nostalgia, like being at a parent’s house. He was a delightful figure in American public life.
Adams did not stop at cartoons. He parlayed his success into a second career as a writer and thinker on persuasion, self-help, and politics. He became one of the earliest and most incisive commentators to notice something many others missed about Donald Trump: that Trump was not simply a big dummy saying big dummy things, but an extremely persuasive communicator. Adams could articulate that insight with unusual precision, in much more expansive terms.
In recent years, however, Adams became associated with a much darker subject: assisted suicide.
And yet, Scott Adams did not kill himself. Despite living in California, where physician-assisted suicide is legal under certain conditions, Adams ultimately chose not to end his life that way.
But he very nearly did.
In public discussions and on his own show, Adams spoke candidly about having been declared terminally ill, having received certification from doctors, having completed the paperwork, and even having obtained the lethal drugs prescribed for assisted suicide. At one point, he admitted that he had internally planned to take his own life on a specific date. That moment came and went. Adams did not take the drugs.
Here he is back in June of 2025 talking about it: 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Scott Adams Update: In May, he was in intense pain and didn’t expect to make it past today or tomorrow.
Now, his new cancer treatment has eliminated his pain and may extend his life by 1-2 years!⁰<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@scottadamssays</a> So do I feel like I’m on borrowed time? Got a little extra?
Oh… <a href="https://t.co/PWc2UR1pqN">pic.twitter.com/PWc2UR1pqN</a>
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) <a href="https://twitter.com/jayplemons/status/1939363100870005198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @jayplemons/X.com
For years prior, Adams had been one of the most vocal defenders of assisted suicide in public life. After his father’s death in 2013 — a death Adams described as painful and prolonged — he sought to defend assisted suicide in Reason magazine, writing:
<blockquote>I&#8217;m okay with any citizen who opposes doctor assisted suicide on moral or practical reasons, but if you have acted on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a slow, horrible death too.</blockquote>
The argument was blunt: opposition to assisted suicide was, in Adams’s view at the time, complicity in torture.
But something changed.
Only after Adams had committed to the process — after he had received the drugs and contemplated using them — did he realize it was more complicated. He began to grasp what assisted suicide actually entailed. It was not, as it is often advertised, a clean or painless “going to sleep.” The process could involve vomiting, prolonged unconsciousness, and hours of dying while loved ones stood by, waiting, checking repeatedly to see whether the person was dead yet.
The act that had been sold as a mercy turned out to be something else entirely. Whatever pain the dying person sought to avoid would instead be imposed on family and friends. The poor family not only has to endure the scandal of watching a loved one kill himself, the very thing that is much more likely to persuade the loved ones around them to kill themselves. Suicide, after all, is not merely an individual act; it is a social contagion — it is long-documented as a contagion, especially among those who admire or identify with the person who chooses it.
Adams eventually summarized this realization while speaking to Dr. Drew Pinsky and Greg Gutfeld, saying, “It’s not as cool as I thought it would be.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1890-breaking-scotus-delivers-massive-blow-to-the-trans-movement?elementPosition=6&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
And there’s the irony of Scott Adams’s final chapter. A man who had spent years publicly advocating for assisted suicide ended his life by rejecting it. And in doing so, Scott Adams offered us one of the best examples of dying well. An amazing irony in the grand scope of Providence. 
He was calm. He was loving. He did not hide it. 
Today, we hide death. We institutionalize it. We rush through funerals and euphemize loss. We prefer not to look at dying at all. In earlier eras, particularly in the Middle Ages, a “good death” was understood as one in which a person knew death was coming, put their affairs in order, reconciled relationships, and prepared spiritually for what followed.
That is what Adams did.
We should pray for him. We should pray for his soul.
Though he was not a lifelong believer, Adams spoke openly near the end of his life about being persuaded by Pascal’s Wager and by his loving Christian friends. He did not pretend to believe. Instead, he adopted an attitude of humility that is almost shocking in its simplicity: I want to believe. I want to spend eternity with Jesus. If I wake up in heaven, that will convince me.
Some will quibble over the theology of those words. But there is something undeniably childlike about them — in the best sense. Not childish. Childlike. As Scripture reminds us, it is precisely this posture that Christ holds up as the model for entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
Adams could have scandalized the world. He could have taken his life and inspired others to do the same. Many people looked up to him as an “internet dad,” a guide through cultural and political chaos. His suicide would have rippled outward, causing real harm.
Instead, he chose restraint, honesty, and peace.
The reaction from the legacy media was, sadly, predictable. The New York Times and Boston Globe framed Adams’s death not with reflection or mercy, but with denunciation, labeling him racist even in death.
Here’s the breaking news alert from The New York Times:
<div id="attachment_1028183" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1028183" class="size-full wp-image-1028183" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-14-at-6.17.48-PM.png" alt="Screenshot: iPhone" width="865" height="222" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-14-at-6.17.48-PM.png 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-14-at-6.17.48-PM-300x77.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-14-at-6.17.48-PM-768x197.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Screenshot: iPhone</div>
This is what they do. Listen, we&#8217;re talking about the political Left which celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk. So, yes, when a prominent Right winger dies, they&#8217;re going to find some way to attack him, even in his death. If they&#8217;re willing to do it to Charlie, they&#8217;re willing to do it to anybody. It’s sad, but they will celebrate your death.
Contrast this with how the Right generally responds to tragedy: even when acknowledging wrongdoing or responsibility, there remains sorrow. There is room for grief.
The New York Times wants to define Scott Adams by his worst comments. But I don&#8217;t think their narrative sums up his life at all. Then again, I don&#8217;t believe most of what I read in the New York Times.

Scott Adams

Scott Adams, Assisted Suicide, And What It Means To Die Well

Assisted Suicide

New York Times

When my parents sent me to college at age 16, they were naturally nervous. But their nerves were calmed by the fact that I would be attending a Christian school — a school that avowed the same beliefs and values as they did.
As it turns out, that shouldn’t have reassured them.
According to a <a href="https://studentsforlife.org/2026/01/13/shocking-1-in-7-faith-based-schools-connected-to-abortion-industry/">stunning new report</a>, more than 1 in 7 Christian colleges directly violated their professed faith in the 2024-2025 school year by maintaining a relationship with Planned Parenthood or the abortion industry. That’s fully 1 in 7 colleges publicly proclaiming Christ while privately violating the most basic Christian value: the dignity of life.
That’s not counting the myriad of colleges that plaster the name of Christ on top of an otherwise completely secular school. The study, conducted by Students for Life of America’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement (IPA), only looked at schools directly affiliated with a Christ-centered denomination — schools that publicly affirmed faith in their mission statement.
Nor were the schools’ infractions minor in nature. More than one-fourth of the offending schools were Christian schools that referred students to Planned Parenthood as a “health resource.”
That fact would be distressing even if the schools in question were secular. Reports from outlets as left-wing as the New York Times document the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/us/planned-parenthood-clinics.html">abysmal standard of care</a> at Planned Parenthood facilities, including staff instructions to limit appointments to just 10 minutes in order to churn through as many patients as possible.
But for Christian schools, such referrals don’t just pose a threat to student health; they’re a direct betrayal of the faith they proclaim.
Students, parents, and donors expect schools bearing the name “Christian” to live out their faith. But IPA’s report shows just how many fall short of that calling.
And unfortunately, the problem is only growing. According to IPA, Christian schools have increased their support for abortion by 19.82% overall since the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Since 2024, that support has increased by a full 38.63%.
And while some might seek to dismiss the problem as limited to a single rogue denomination, that’s simply not the case. IPA eliminated from its study schools belonging to denominations that have affirmed abortion — like the Disciples of Christ, Quakers, and Moravians. Even after eliminating those denominations, IPA found that over half the remaining denominations — those that have not expressed support for abortion — had at least one school with ties to abortion.
Clearly, the issue is not one that can be avoided by simply attending a school from a different denomination. For Christian pro-lifers seeking an education aligned with their values, the future seems grim.
But fortunately, the news isn’t all bad. According to IPA’s report, a full 50 ties between Christian schools and Planned Parenthood were severed during the 2024-2025 school year, thanks to interventions and awareness fostered by IPA. And after researchers reached out to offending schools in July 2025, four schools cut all ties to the abortion industry, and another four removed some.
This success points to the path forward. Higher education institutions depend on the support of students, parents, alumni, and donors. If these groups express undeniably—with their words and, if necessary, their pocketbooks—that they will not stand for compromise, Christian colleges will have no choice but to cut ties with the abortion industry or to stop falsely claiming the name of Christ.
I’m thankful that the school I attended, The Master’s University, a small Christian college north of Los Angeles, lives out its professed faith. Notably, it received an “A” rating in IPA’s report — meaning no ties to Planned Parenthood/the abortion industry were found. But the same should be true of all schools claiming Christianity.
If a student decides to attend a Christian school, they should know exactly what they’re getting: a school that affirms biblical truth, starting with the simple reality that every human life is sacred.
* * *
Mary Mobley is a press specialist and online editor at Students for Life.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE-UNIVERSITY

New Study: Planned Parenthood Has Quietly Invaded Christian Colleges

Christian Colleges

Dobbs

Pregnancy

Christians in Syria saw the largest increase in persecution among any country in the world last year as regime change and terrorism threw the Islamic nation into chaos, according to the Christian organization Open Doors, which published its annual persecution watch list Wednesday morning.
The Open Doors <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/countries/">2026 World Watch List</a> revealed that Syria jumped up to No. 6 in overall Christian persecution, after coming in at No. 18 in last year’s list. Syria is now only behind North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, and Eritrea.
Open Doors CEO Ryan Brown told The Daily Wire that the recent political turmoil in Syria is the main contributing factor to the increase in persecution.
“With the fall of the Assad regime and as HTS [Hay&#8217;at Tahrir al-Sham] came into power, it created a lot of vacuums of control and authority,” Brown said. “The rule of law is weak in a number of areas, and in that, there’s just been a number of extremists that have just stepped into those voids.”
Brown pointed to multiple recent Islamic terror attacks targeting Syrian Christians, such as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jihadist-suicide-bomber-kills-20-wounds-dozens-more-at-orthodox-church" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suicide bombing</a> in June, when a terrorist opened fire on worshipers and then detonated a suicide vest, killing more than 20 Christians and wounding over 50 more. Christians in Syria are more likely to come under attack from Islamic terrorists who are fighting for control of certain areas in the unstable country, not from the government, which is now led by former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.
“The church is coming under attack especially in these areas where the government is not having a strong rule of law as part of this transition,” Brown added. “Traditionally, in some of these areas in Syria where the rule of law has not been strong, the tribalism becomes the ruling force and provides safety. Christian converts from Islam are typically rejected from these tribal infrastructures.”
It remains to be seen if al-Sharaa, a former terrorist leader, will tolerate Christians in Syria if he establishes a firm grip on the country. So far, the new Syrian leader has been actively seeking to take out Islamic terrorists that remain in Syria.
President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa at the White House as he seeks to broker peace in the Middle East. The meeting marked the first time a Syrian leader and former jihadist met with the President of the United States.
Brown said the 12-spot change in Syria&#8217;s ranking between 2025 and 2026 was the largest year-over-year move for any country on the persecution watch list in more than a decade.
Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, Libya, and Iran round out the top 10 of countries where Christians experience the most persecution, meaning that eight out of the top 10 countries on the 2026 World Watch List are majority Muslim nations.
<h3>Nigeria Was The ‘Epicenter’ Of Violence Against Christians In 2025</h3>
More Christians in Nigeria, which came in at No. 7 on the list, were killed for their faith than in any other country. Open Doors reported that 3,490 Nigerian Christians were killed last year, which was an increase from the estimated 3,100 killed in 2024. For comparison, 1,359 Christians are estimated to have been killed for their faith in all other countries combined in 2025.
Brown told The Daily Wire that Nigeria didn’t rank No. 1 on the persecution list because Open Doors considers multiple factors, not just violence, when ranking countries.
“The World Watch List looks at danger, but looks at a number of other factors as well. Nigeria would be the deadliest place to be a Christian, not necessarily the most difficult because there are places in the country where Christians are able to freely worship,” Brown said. “But Nigeria continues to be an epicenter of violence in parts of the country, in parts of the middle belt as well as in the northern parts of the country.”
Recent violence against Christians in Nigeria <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-next-peace-push-focuses-on-nigeria-and-sudan-where-christians-are-killed-by-the-thousands?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%E2%80%99s+Next+Peace+Push+Focuses+On+Nigeria+And+Sudan%2C+Where+Christians+Are+Killed+By+The+Thousands" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gained the attention</a> of President Trump, who has pressured the Nigerian government to do more to protect Christians and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-threatens-to-completely-wipe-out-the-islamic-terrorists-killing-nigerian-christians?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Threatens+To+%E2%80%98Completely+Wipe+Out+The+Islamic+Terrorists%E2%80%99+Killing+Nigerian+Christians" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> to take out terrorists in the country if they continue to target them.
<h3>Iran Increased Pressure On Christians During Internal Turmoil And Conflict With Israel And U.S.</h3>
Iran, which ranks No. 10 on the World Watch List, has ramped up its crackdown on Christians in the country as they are viewed as “enemies of the state” and “agents of the West,” Brown explained.
The Iranian regime has arrested numerous Christians in recent months as it seeks to keep control amid growing tensions. The regime believes that Christians are influenced by the West and, therefore, plotting the overthrow of the government, and recent events have likely made the regime’s crackdown on Christians even harsher. Iran was humiliated in 2025 in its war with Israel and then by the United States, when President Trump ordered the U.S. military to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Iran is in the midst of massive demonstrations as protesters have taken to the streets, mainly over the regime’s failure to address an economic collapse. Trump has warned that he could take more action against Iran if it massacres protesters. One report indicates that the Iranian government has killed at least 12,000 demonstrators.
<h3>China Continues To Target Christianity</h3>
China dropped from No. 15 on the list in 2025 to No. 17 this year, but the communist country remains brutal toward Christians. In September, the Chinese government began to monitor the online activity of Christians, especially clergymen, more closely.
“This was in continuation to the churches they closed down the previous year — there’s been an increase in that — but now looking to clamp down on some of the online activity of Christians in the area, making it difficult for them to communicate or to worship,” Brown said.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-escalates-persecution-of-christians-with-more-shocking-arrests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> earlier this month that China arrested more prominent church leaders, detaining at least seven Christians affiliated with the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China.
Brown said that people in China also face persecution from their local communities when they convert to Christianity, adding that many converts lose out on job or school opportunities, while some get their water or electricity cut off.
See the full list, and read a detailed report on each country in this year&#8217;s list <a href="https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/persecution/countries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Suicide Bombing Targets Church In Damascus, Leaving 20 Dead And Dozens Injured

2026 Watch List Reveals Biggest Increases In Christian Persecution Across The Globe

China

Christian Persecution

Iran

Islam

Nigeria

Syria

The former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has claimed baptism denies babies their human rights.
Her comments were highlighted in an article in the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/01/11/mary-mcaleese-baptism-is-a-key-catholic-recruitment-tool-it-denies-babies-their-human-rights/">Irish Times</a> with the headline: “Mary McAleese: Baptism denies babies their human rights.”
This woman is nominally Catholic, but doesn’t agree with the teaching or practice of the Catholic Church. I believe she is a canon lawyer, but somehow she was radicalized. She also says this is the real issue we need to focus on — the great injustice in the world today.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
No one is Catholic by birth and the notion of ‘Baptismal promises’ is risible, writes Mary McAleese <a href="https://t.co/8WopKFeMhi">https://t.co/8WopKFeMhi</a>
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/IrishTimes/status/2010386279486136346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @IrishTimes/X.com
She’s not a prelate. She’s not a theologian. She’s a politician. And she says the real injustice, the real violation of human rights in our world, is not immigration, not foreign policy, not the economy, not how we treat the poor. It’s not even abortion, the wholesale slaughter of little babies, no — it’s baptism.
It’s difficult to see how one arrives at that conclusion or that obsession without demonic influence. Now, I’m not someone who says there’s a demon under every rock. We live in a world where the material and immaterial are not totally separable, nevertheless, I’m not demon-hunting all the time.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1889-president-trump-fights-anti-white-racism?elementPosition=6&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
It’s very difficult to understand how the former president of Ireland can say the great human rights violation of our time is baptizing babies. Because it is supposedly “bad.&#8221;
One could try to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you could argue that infant baptism is technically a violation of human rights because, after the Fall, humans deserve death. Sin and death pervade the world, and in our fallen nature what we deserve is death, and baptism saves us from death.
Many people have different views of baptism, but you do see it in Scripture. Our Lord <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A14&amp;version=RSVCE">says</a>, “Let the little children come to Me.” You see baptisms of children in the book of Acts multiple times. In 1 Peter 3:21, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%203%3A20-22&amp;version=NKJV">Saint Peter essentially says</a> baptism now saves you. There are many theological discussions about what that means exactly, but baptism is what demarcates us as Christians. Plenty of people disagree with infant baptism, but it is the traditional practice of the Catholic Church.
But setting those theological debates aside, the closest one could get to her argument is that baptism denies babies their human rights insofar as it saves them from the consequences of the Fall of man. And that’s a good thing. Isn’t that a good thing?
My last point: this woman, who says baptism violates babies’ human rights, supports abortion. She supports legally murdering babies in the womb, but not baptizing them once they are born. The only way to reach that conclusion is either to follow the perversity of liberalism to its end, or through demonic influence. I don’t see any other explanation.
And it really makes me raise an eyebrow at other Left-wing politicians.

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