Deal Deadline Nears | Faith Under Fire

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Deal Deadline Nears -  The clock is ticking for Iran and the world's major powers to agree on a deal regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. The latest deadline expires tomorrow.

Significant disagreements remain between the two sides. Yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry said: "We are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues. This negotiation could go either way."

Western nations should have walked away on multiple occasions. But they have repeatedly caved to Tehran's demands.

Don't take my word for it.

The Washington Post editorial board recently warned President Obama against making any more concessions to Iran. And five former advisers to President Obama have publicly warned that his concessions "may fall short of meeting the administration's own standard of a 'good' agreement."

Unfortunately, it is clear that this isn't about getting a good agreement. After two years of talks, this is about Obama's legacy, and he's not about to let this chance slip away from him now -- when he is just hours from making history. Not surprisingly, there are reports that the negotiations could well be extended yet again.

And as the pressure builds to sign a deal, the Iranians, also not surprisingly, are making new demands. According to the Associated Press, Iran is now demanding that the U.N. arms embargo be lifted too.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose nation has a lot at stake in this deal and yet has been locked out of the negotiations, reacted sternly to the latest developments. The prime minister said today:"This deal, as far as we can see, comes on almost daily concessions from the [major world powers] to growing Iranian demands. Every day more concessions are made, and every day the deal becomes worse and worse. This deal will pave Iran's path to a nuclear arsenal. . . . I can say that what we see in Vienna is not a breakthrough, but more like a breakdown -- a breakdown of the principles that the [U.S. and other nations] committed [themselves] to uphold."Faith Under Fire - Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court launched another attack on faith in the public square. The court ordered a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol be removed.

The United States Supreme Court has upheld public displays of the Ten Commandments on public property, but the Oklahoma court ruled that the state's constitution prohibited it.

Reacting to this news, Reverend Franklin Graham lamented the daily assault on faith. On his Facebook page, he wrote:"When I went to school, the Ten Commandments were posted in the classroom, and the teacher led us in the Lord's Prayer before we went to lunch. There was respect throughout society for the Word of God. How times have changed!

"Today, everything related to God and His Word is coming under fire in our nation. . . . We're living in a time when our country is not only blatantly defying God's laws, but is trying to remove them completely from public view. Just think what a difference it would make if our school children today learned about the ?#?TenCommandments? and the God who wrote them."Rev. Graham praised Governor Mary Fallin for vowing to fight the decision, and some state lawmakers are calling for the justices to be impeached.

"They're trying to engage in judicial bullying of our people by issuing rulings that reflect their own elitist political prejudice," Rep. Kevin Calvey said. "We need to restore the balance in our state government and not put up with this kind of judicial tyranny."

Rep. Calvey is right. The people's elected representatives must fight back. Somewhere across the country, these judges have got be held responsible in order to send a message to other robed radicals who are deliberately deconstructing our country.

This is not a controversial issue among the American people. I'm willing to bet that if you polled voters in Oklahoma, at least 75% would support keeping the monument where it is.

But these attacks on faith will continue as long as the American people tolerate the intolerant left's assault on our Judeo-Christian values.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, President Obama, Iran, deadline nears, Fair under fire, Reverend Franklin Graham, SCOTUS, Oklahoma Supreme Court, assault on faith To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!