I Prayed have prayed
Lord, we pray for statesmen to be empowered and bold in standing for the intrinsic value You give us all as individuals created in Your holy image.
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All people are made in the image of God. So treating them with the dignity they deserve should always be high on leaders’ minds (and all our minds). Elevating a culture that honors that intrinsic human value is an endeavor worth praying and sweating for.

At least that’s what I think. I suspect you do, too. So even in the midst of discouraging developments in Washington that undermine a culture of life, I took heart this week when I saw a ray of bipartisan sunshine for a good and just cause.

U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) started off March on a strong note when they introduced a resolution calling for the establishment of a Senate Human Rights Commission. According to the legislation, this new commission would be a bipartisan forum to discuss and promote  international principles honoring human dignity.

Coons and Tillis already chair a human rights caucus, but a commission is a significant step up. It actually would receive financial resources from the Senate to hold hearing and briefings. It couldn’t move legislation, but I expect it would produce strong reports — reports that can catalyze and move the needle on efforts in Congress and beyond.

That is one of the benefits of such commissions. They are not the primary standing or select committees of the legislature, but commissions like the Helsinki Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China can be invaluable as places to raise matters that may not otherwise easily come to the forefront. As Senator Coons said in a release announcing the resolution, this bipartisan commission could “provide more resources to advocate for those who suffer from violence, oppression, and wrongful imprisonment, and shine a light on abuses around the world.”

Among those cheering this effort are the Republican and Democrat leaders of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Vice Chair Tony Perkins (also president of Family Research Council) applauded Coons and Tillis. He said, “The Senate Human Rights Commission would be an important initiative for institutionalizing the kind of public discourse needed to highlight and find solutions for the most egregious situations facing our times, such as the Uyghurs in China, the Rohingya in Burma, and Christians in Nigeria.”

A commission like this can focus energy and shine a bright light.

Such a step up would also be fitting for the Senate, particularly since the U.S. House of Representatives has had a similar commission for years — one that has stayed true to its roots and principles. The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission graduated from caucus to commission in 2008, largely in honor of its namesake, the late Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.). Lantos was a Hungarian Jew born in Budapest and later pressed into a forced labor camp by the occupying Nazis. He is the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, and — while certainly a very liberal statesman — his leadership pursuing human rights for those in need transcended party lines.

And that is another good that could come from such a commission. It provides a place where legislators can work together for those around the world who need real help. It gives them a natural forum in which to stand together for principles of life and liberty that are at the heart of our republic. These partnerships may not make headlines, but they can build trust and may open the doors for understanding and honest dialogue — even on the matters that stir us the most and where the stakes seem highest.

At least that is my hope.

Would you pray for efforts like this to elevate international human rights? Pray that they won’t be derailed, co-opted by agendas or other matters, or treated only as vain photo-ops. Please pray for leaders who will build bridges of trust and take their work as statesmen seriously, who will stand tall for God-given intrinsic human dignity, and who will (whether they use the term or not) advance a culture of life in this land and beyond.

How will you pray for statesmen who will stand for human life and dignity?

Aaron Mercer is a Contributing Writer with two decades of experience in Washington, D.C.s public policy arena. He reflects on faith, technology, and the public square at FTPolicy.com. (Photo Credit: Unsplash.)

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Maris Spiers
March 6, 2021

In the opening remarks of this article it is mentioned, the human rights of individuals and their dignity. It’s also mentioned made in the image of God!
These two are what I want to address in this article. The fact remains that all of us are molded and shaved in a mother swing by the hand of the Father God. Even those who are not Christian know if that’s true!

When we are made in the image of God we are made perfectly we are formed perfectly we’re brought forward. When the children are raised or they have influences around them they begin to develop their own views of what life should be. Anytime those views take them outside of the Word of God then they become skewed.

Which means when you say something outside of what the will of the Father God, then you were looking at something that’s in balanced, it is completely wrong, that has no value for life, no value for morals, no value for ethics, and no value for truth!

When that happens you find statements that are being made by people who have no relationship with a father God telling everyone around them that in their opinion, and it’s only their opinion, Their views only that God has no place here. Since win? The father God has placed throughout this nation from one side of the nation to the other and everything in between. Because one individual says that they don’t believe in God does not mean that everybody else around them does Not have the right to believe in the father God the way that they so desire. And they should not by any means even in the United States it up in Capitol Hill be treated by anything less than a wonderful human being with dignity because they do love the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you really want to start someplace you start a Capitol Hill were so much per person has leaked out of that building today it’s outrageous!

That only has perversion increased across this nation but the hatred for those who want to follow the word Jesus Christ come with it. Who do you think you are? If you chose to live a perverted lifestyle and I repeat the word chose because it is a choice! If you chose to do that that’s your business but you don’t have the right to force it on others around you.

The one good thing that it is causing it throughout this nation is causing Christians to stand up. They’re fed up! They told write it during Obama‘s administration which was more than anybody should’ve ever had to begin with. Then we had a wonderful administration under President Trump where we saw such dignity, such as self respect, on all levels you saw professionalism from the very top all the way down to the lowest person in his administration. It was wonderful. Now to see this administration that exact opposite of what we had under President Trump that is so perverted there is no light in there whatsoever it’s a darkest of darkness that’s in there. And people are fed up there’s such a clear distinction between the two administrations the Christians in this nation do not want that. No I’m not talking about the fake Christians, I’m not talking about the façade no one is talking to them! I’m talking about the true Christians who are rising above this and standing up strong and say not here not now not on my watch!

Homosexual sectors always trying to force their wheel on somebody somewhere. They don’t consider themselves to have one anything or gain anything if they don’t force their ideologies on you and force you to think like they do since when is that the American way of life? Since when? Well the answer is never!

Enough is enough with us. As far as that gentleman go to made that statement in Capitol Hill that you don’t believe that God is welcome there that pertains to you and you alone. That pertains to the four corners inside your office, in your life, in your thoughts, in the way that you see life but that does not pertain to us it does not pertain to those who are Christians up in Capitol Hill it does not pertain to the Americans who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! And I want to make that perfectly clear!

God Bless You

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R
March 6, 2021

It is a good step – worthy of our country and other countries around the world. It is a good step by all human beings of all faiths. Prayers have been said for many years as we pray for those who are persecuted and imprisoned for their faith. It, like the right to life, is needed and required for life to continue with God-given rights. I am a supporter of praying for the vulnerable, persecuted and marginalized people of the world. It is good to see such a step being attempted. I will pray for such a commission.

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