In the opening days of President Barak Obama’s Administration in 2009, a chain email circulated southeast Kentucky indicating that the president could be the “antichrist” mentioned in the Bible. While accepted as a joke by most people, Obama’s actions in regard to religion in the past three years have been anything but funny.

In a well-researched and annotated column published at the conservative website, WallBuilders.com, author David Barton, compiled a chronicle of the administration’s decisions and rulings against protestant Christians, Catholics and Jews in what amounts to a purging of attributes that have helped make this country what it is today.

In parting with the traditions of his most liberal predecessors, who at least respected traditional American values and include far-left leaning men such as Woodrow Wilson and FDR, Obama has also attacked individual liberties and protection guarantees like no other. Some examples of actions taken by Obama include:

• In February 2009 — Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that violate their beliefs. He fully implements the plan in February 2011. In other words, nurses and doctors who disagree with a procedure (like abortion) would be forced to participate in those activities under this new regulation or face sanction by their employer.

• April 2011 — For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring.

• October 2011 — The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion.

• And, perhaps most shockingly, in January of this year, the Obama administration argued that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis. The argument heard before the Supreme Court prompted even the most liberal Justices’ to scoff at the administration solicitor.

No other president in the modern era has made such overt strides in removing the federal government from its Judeo-Christian character.

The above listed examples of the Obama administration attack on Christianity are only four of dozens of separate decisions, regulations or orders issued sense he took office in 2009. However, he does apparently favor other beliefs:

• May 2009 — While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

• April 2010 — Christian leader Franklin Graham is “disinvited” from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community.

On the campaign trail in October 2008, Obama said he would fundamentally change America, it stands to wonder if this change is the kind his Christian supporters expected.

(I)Barton’s column and footnotes can be found at: http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=106938.(I)