A preacher who campaigned for Donald Trump attacked President Joe Biden’s administration as “ungodly” during a sermon Sunday (Dec. 5). Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, also mocked Biden’s Catholic faith during the message.
Claiming that “enemies of Jesus Christ” are trying to take away “religious liberty” rights in the country, Jeffress told his congregation that the church would not back down.
Screengrab of Robert Jeffress preaching on Dec. 5, 2021.
“I don’t care where that persecution comes from. I don’t care where that attempt to muzzle our witness comes from, whether it’s from some atheist organization like the Freedom From Religion Foundation or whether it comes from this ungodly administration we’re living under right now in Washington, D.C. That’s right, I said it! I said it,” he declared to applause
“The Biden administration is ungodly! I don’t care how many rosary beads they rub, they’re ungodly,” he added. “This is the ungodliest presidential administration we’ve had in the history of our country.”
Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, famously wears rosary beads that belonged to his late son Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015. Catholics for centuries have used such beads as a prayer guide, as have believers in other Christian traditions like the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Jeffress gave three reasons in his sermon for his judgment against Biden: opposition to an anti-abortion Mississippi law argued last week in the Supreme Court, efforts toward “spreading this immoral transgender philosophy,” and rescinding “religious liberty” executive orders implemented by Trump. While mentioning his complaint about Biden’s support for transgender persons, Jeffress attacked the administration for having as “one of their own top officials a man prancing around in a skirt playing like he’s a woman. We’ve never seen something like that before.” He added in his attack on Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health, “It’s sick! Absolutely sick and immoral.”
Jeffress claimed these three areas meant the Biden administration was the least godly in U.S. history — a tenure has included multiple administrations waging genocidal campaigns against Native Americans and others, as well as 12 enslavers who served as president (including some of whom used enslaved labor in the White House). Jeffress, who spoke at campaign rallies for Trump and served on Trump’s evangelical advisory board, often appeared on Fox News to defend Trump like after Trump defended White Supremacists, attacked Haiti and African nations, and paid off a porn star to conceal an affair.
Insisting the Biden administration was trying to persecute Christians, Jeffress claimed he and First Baptist would fight back.
“If they ever get a taste of victory, they’re coming after every Christian and they’re coming after every church. And that’s why we’re saying ‘no!’ to any attempt to inhibit our religious liberty as a church or as individuals,” he declared to a standing ovation amid Christmas lights and garland.
“We know if they ever succeed in taking the First Baptist Church of Dallas down, they’re going to go after every church everywhere that preaches the Gospel,” he added. “We’re going to preach the Gospel here no matter what it does. And if the Biden administration doesn’t like it, they can hang it on their beak.”
Earlier this year, Jeffress welcomed Paige Patterson to preach at First Baptist just days after Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary accused Patterson of theft. The school in nearby Fort Worth had previously fired Patterson for mishandling allegations of student rapes. Last year, Jeffress welcomed then-Vice President Mike Pence to campaign at First Baptist during a Sunday service amid a COVID-19 outbreak in the church.
