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I didn't have time to gather all the facts so forgive me for being so brief but here it goes:“Within his first week, he signed an Executive Order ordering an audit of government contracts, and combating waste and abuse. http://1.usa.gov/dUvbu5Created the post of Chief Performance Officer, whose job it is to make operations more efficient to save the federal government money. http://n.pr/hcgBn1On his first full day, he froze White House salaries for the duration of the Great Recession.http://on.msnbc.com/ewJUIxHe appointed the first Federal Chief Information Officer to oversee federal IT spending and efficiency. http://www.cio.govHe committed to phasing out unnecessary and outdated weapons systems and signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, in an attempt to limit waste, fraud and abuse in the defense procurement and contracting systems. http://bit.ly/hOw1t1http://bit.ly/fz8GAdHe created the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. http://bit.ly/hwKhKaSigned an Executive Order instructing federal agencies to review all federal regulations and remove any unnecessary and/or burdensome regulations from the books.http://1.usa.gov/Lpo5bdDismantled the Minerals Management Service, thereby cutting ties between energy companies and the government. http://nyti.ms/bw1MLuBanned gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the Executive Branch. http://bit.ly/fsBACNBanned anyone from working in an agency they had lobbied in previous years and placed strict limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House. http://nyti.ms/gOrznVHeld the first-ever first online town hall from the White House, and took questions from the public. http://bit.ly/gVNSgXBecame the first president to stream every White House event, live.http://1.usa.gov/kAgOP5Established a central portal for Americans to find service opportunities.http://www.serve.govRestored the 30-day time frame for former presidents to review records and eliminated the right for the vice president or family members of former presidents to do the reviews, giving the public greater access to historic White House documents, and curtails the use of executive privilege to shield them. http://1.usa.gov/gUetLbImproved the Freedom of Information Act and issued new guidelines to make FOIA more open and transparent when processing FOIA requests. http://1.usa.gov/gjrnp2Streamline the Department of Education’s procurement policies and made them more transparent. http://bit.ly/1r9oQvhProvided the first voluntary disclosure of the White House Visitors Log in history. http://1.usa.gov/hQ7Signed a law to completely reform NSA Data Collection program and keep phone records in the hands of the phone company. http://bit.ly/1dG34vDStaved Off a Bush Depression, Improved the EconomyPushed through and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as “the stimulus package.” He also launched http://recovery.gov, a website that allows taxpayers to track spending from the Act. http://1.usa.gov/ibiFSshttp://1.usa.gov/e3BJMkBy the end of his first year, the economy created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economy by 3.5%. http://reut.rs/i46CEEHe created the massive TARP financial and banking rescue plan and forced banks and other entities to pay back virtually all of the bailout money.http://1.usa.gov/eA5jVShttp://bit.ly/eCNrD6He created the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan. http://1.usa.gov/goy6zlIn 2010, more jobs were created than had been created during Bush’s eight years.http://bit.ly/hrrnjYHe pushed through and implemented an auto industry rescue plan that saved as many as 1 million jobs and possibly the entire auto industry.http://bit.ly/ibhpxrhttp://bit.ly/gj7mt5Through his investment in GM, returned to the company to its place as the premiere car company in the world. http://lat.ms/zIJuQxIn February 2016, GM was in such good financial shape, they gave a share of the profit to each worker, with checks up to $11,000. http://detne.ws/1mk7JryDoubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, to improve manufacturing efficiency. http://bit.ly/eYD4nfIncreased infrastructure spending after years of neglect. http://bit.ly/f77aOwSigned the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which helped millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures and provided $2.2 billion to combat homelessness and stabilize the housing market. http://bit.ly/eEpLFnSigned an Executive Order creating jobs immediately by instructing them to reduce the time needed for review and permitting of infrastructure projects. http://1.usa.gov/GHxaYtThrough the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, he and Congressional Democrats provided tax credits to first-time home buyers, which helped the U.S. housing market recovery. http://bit.ly/dZgXXw http://bit.ly/gORYfLPlayed a lead role in getting the G-20 Summit to commit to a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. http://nyti.ms/gHlgp5Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saved at least 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors that would have otherwise been lost. http://1.usa.gov/ez30DWith Congressional Democrats, provided funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police and firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession. http://bit.ly/g0IKWRChina’s largest manufacturer, Foxconn, is building a large plant in Pennsylvaniahttp://cnnmon.ie/1k7LT4SWorked with Apple Computer to get them to build more product here, and thecompany is building two large plants to manufacture products here; one in Texashttp://zd.net/1nkpt2O and one in Arizona http://bit.ly/1mXY5VgCreated an institute to invest in more manufacturing jobs in the technology fields of the future. http://nyti.ms/1egyXrVOrdered all federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour, leading the way to a national increase. http://wapo.st/1iaU5kdOrdered the completion of the International Trade Data System, a digital trade record book, by 2016. This move will streamline and simplify the process through which small- and medium-sized businesses set up the export of US goods. http://bit.ly/1nwSRF4Specific Examples of Economic ImprovementAs of January 2016, a record 64 consecutive months of overall job growth.http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQAs of January 2016, Unemployment drops below 5% for the first time in eight years and without a significant bubble. 4.9% http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQAs of January 2016, there have been 71 consecutive months of private sector job growth. http://on.msnbc.com/1TKFCPQSince February 2010, when job numbers hit their lowest point, 13.7 non-farm jobs have been created. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/C... (Republican budget cuts reduced public employment by about 700,000)Oversaw a reduction in the federal budget deficit by two-thirds since taking office.http://bit.ly/1xKMmjYReduced the federal budget deficit from 9.8% of GDP in Fiscal Year 2009 under Bush, to 2.9% of GDP in FY 2014. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/4...Scolds Congress and gets passed a $305 billion highways bill, which will have the added benefit of created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and creating incentives for green cars. http://bit.ly/1NsL2ZqAddressed Wrongdoing in the Financial SectorSigned the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud in every corner of the financial system, and create a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud that led to the economic meltdown. http://abcn.ws/g18Fe7Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money. http://huff.to/eAi9QqAlong with Congressional Democrats, pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression.http://bit.ly/hWCPg0http://bit.ly/geHpcDCreated and implemented rules to reduce the influence of speculators in the oil market.http://bit.ly/MDnA1tCreated and implemented rules so banks can no longer use depositors’ money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against depositors’ interests. http://bit.ly/fnTayjSupported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation.http://bit.ly/fnTayjEndorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax avoidance loopholes. http://bit.ly/esOdfB http://bit.ly/eG4DPMNegotiated a deal with Swiss banks permitting the US government to gain access to bank records of criminals and tax evaders. http://bit.ly/htfDgwSigned the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, closing many of the loopholes that allowed companies to send jobs overseas, and avoid paying US taxes by moving money offshore. http://1.usa.gov/bd1RTqThanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, inflation in the healthcare sector dropped to its lowest point in 50 years. http://on.wsj.com/1E6cYjFImproved Conditions for Consumers and Small BusinessesSigned the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.http://1.usa.gov/gIaNcSGuided the housing market all the way back from total collapse, which led to a rally for housing starts. http://reut.rs/1NTAOVU http://reut.rs/1NTAOVUBrought airline industry back to their highest profitability since before the recession. http://lat.ms/1O8H1iEBlocked a monopolistic merger of Staples and Office Depot, to preserve at least some competition. http://bit.ly/1kcY2KvStock market has reached record highs, restoring most of the economic losses felt during the Bush Recession. http://bit.ly/1z4FAtLCreated and Implemented the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau http://1.usa.gov/j5onG http://bit.ly/fnTayjConsumer confidence continues to inch up to its highest level more than a decade.http://bit.ly/1PZLRcKInitiated a $15 billion plan designed to encourage increased lending to small businesses. http://1.usa.gov/eu0u0bCreated BusinessUSA, to allow online collaboration between small businesses and experts re managing a business. (The program has since merged with U.S. Small Business Administration.) http://www.business.govTook steps to improve minority access to capital. http://bit.ly/f9xVE7Used recovered TARP money to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. http://on.msnbc.com/i1i8eVCrafted and signed an executive order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. http://bit.ly/eyqsNEOversaw the most sweeping food safety legislation since the Great Depression.http://thedc.com/gxkCtPThrough the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, extended the False Claims Act to combat fraud by companies and individuals using money from TARP and Stimulus programs. http://bit.ly/SLTcSaSet up rules for banks in handling legal marijuana money. http://nyti.ms/1b80o2KAdded greater protections to consumer financial transactions to reduce identity theft.http://1.usa.gov/1pjfUFqTook steps to prevent pirate fishing and protect fish populations, and ordered stricter labeling requirements on labeling of seafood products in stores. http://1.usa.gov/1BYhTUnSigned the RAISE Act, which should encourage more people to open small businesses and help improve the economy. http://bit.ly/1QhTqkFSigned a bill that allows low-volume vehicle manufacturers that will increase entrepreneurship among small car manufacturers, who often build replicas of classics but who often build green vehicles. http://bit.ly/1QhTqkFStrengthened the Middle Class and Fought PovertyWorked to provide affordable, high-quality child care to working families.http://bit.ly/fNfidSThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, cut taxes for 95% of America’s working families. http://bit.ly/eSEI4FTax rates for average working families are the lowest since 1950. http://bit.ly/f74pD8Extended and fully funded the patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax for 10 years.http://bit.ly/eFeSdPExtended discounted health coverage under the COBRA health insurance law for the unemployed from 9 months to 15 months, and he’s also extended unemployment benefits more than a few times. http://aol.it/evtVxDhttp://nyti.ms/emrqKJhttp://bit.ly/hOtIpg http://bit.ly/fTT7kzProvided a $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). http://nyti.ms/gfLqyMSigned an Executive Order that established the White House Office of Urban Affairs.http://wapo.st/eWECA8Included the Buffet Rule in his 2014 budget proposal, in order to fulfill a campaign promise to make sure tax rates are fair between the rich and the middle class. http://1.usa.gov/19PkdQoUsed the fiscal cliff negotiations to extend for five additional years the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides tax credits to families for college-related expenses, thus saving those families up to $10,000. http://onforb.es/17zYg3uIncreased protections for the unemployed who are seeking a government job.http://1.usa.gov/1jgXATuUpdated and modernized overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) http://1.usa.gov/1iGDO8eSigned and implemented the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, to improve nutrition in schools and make children healthier. http://1.usa.gov/GAXkSkTo make college more affordable and accountable, will begin rating colleges with regard to affordability and value. http://bit.ly/14Dn7ULInitiated a reform of federal job training programs, to make them more relevant to the current economy and the job market. http://1.usa.gov/1kZLQHGUnder Obama, the bottom 95% of taxpayers pay lower federal income taxes than at any time in the last 50 years, including under Reagan, or either Bush. http://bit.ly/1w1W8NsSigned a presidential memorandum authorizing six weeks paid leave for all federal employees with a new baby and encouraged Congress to do the same for all workers. http://bit.ly/18613XA2014 marked the first time since 1984 that unemployment dropped in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 1.usa.gov/1E25u0CTook steps to improve workplace safety by creating an Advisory Board to study workers’ exposure to toxic substances. http://1.usa.gov/1M4s8IGChanged overtime rules to make it far more difficult for employers to avoid paying overtime to workers. http://politi.co/1KHfiBeChanged rules for federal contractors, guaranteeing that all workers earn paid leave; this should affect about 300,000 workers. http://1.usa.gov/1LcHZWlNegotiated a law to finally replace “No Child Left Behind” and remove much of the onerous government “oversight” that caused children to stagnate, not improve, academically. http://bit.ly/1Up9pMlAddressed Civil Rights and EqualityFormed a commission to examine and make recommendations for fixing the broken voting system. http://wapo.st/16K0DAt a press conference August 9, 2013, gave up a small measure of executive power, promising to create adversarial process in FISA regarding NSA surveillance.http://1.usa.gov/1dQmnyQProposed rules to enhance Fair Housing Laws, to give HUD and other enforcement agencies more enforcement power. http://bit.ly/1qkz4uQOrdered a review of capital punishment policies after several botched executions.http://nyti.ms/RDJp58Appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy. http://1.usa.gov/fi5IY0Concentrated immigration enforcement on those who commit crimes, and vowed to stop breaking up families. http://1.usa.gov/1uTZ8gVStreamlined the visa process, to make it more responsive and humane for those who want to be here legally. http://1.usa.gov/1tgDRtiTook steps to tighten the reins when it comes to providing local law enforcement agencies with military-style equipment and exercising more control over the equipment they receive. http://1.usa.gov/1ATWV3KChanged fair housing rules to make more affordable housing available to more people. http://cnn.it/1JcR3qBHelped Democrats in Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act.http://bit.ly/th0JC8Established the White House Council of Native American Affairs, to improve government-to-government relations with Native American nations. http://1.usa.gov/1cIEeEvLimited local police acquisitions of military-style equipment, to reduce the likelihood of overkill. http://n.pr/1NGkBjTSigned Blue Alert Law, which provides police officers with more information when they are threatened. http://bit.ly/1NGksgaImproved Workers’ RightsHe issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees’ rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including all websites and intranets.http://1.usa.gov/qu2EhQObama’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clarified and strengthened rules prohibiting discrimination against pregnant workers. http://alj.am/1mo0kjVRequired companies who bid on federal contracts larger than $500,000 to publicly disclose all previous violations of labor law, including unpaid claims for back wages. http://1.usa.gov/V54qY3Made it illegal for federal contractors with more than $1 million in contracts to force employees into arbitration in workplace discrimination accusations. http://1.usa.gov/V54qY3Vetoed Republican bill that would have blocked new NLRB rules that were designed to speed up the time it takes workers to unionize. http://reut.rs/1agujMO He also added a Memorandum of Disagreement to make his reasons for the veto clear and made a major statement in support of unions. http://1.usa.gov/1NG7RuACracked down on companies that were previously denying sick pay, vacation and health insurance, and Social Security and Medicare tax payments through abuse of the employee classification of independent contractor. http://nyti.ms/fOGLcjProtected the Rights of Gay PeopleSigned and implemented the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. http://bit.ly/gsMSJ7Oversaw and implemented the repeal of the reprehensible “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.http://bit.ly/fdahuHhttp://bit.ly/mZV4PzExtended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. http://1.usa.gov/g2RLCjAppointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. http://bit.ly/g1lA7DAppointed first openly transgender Cabinet Official in History. http://bit.ly/58zUp7Advocated that United Nations adopt a policy supporting gay rights worldwide.http://lat.ms/pQe1RSAs soon as the Supreme Court invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, he moved to extend federal benefits to same-sex couples. http://wapo.st/1avDjueIssued an order requiring hospitals to allow visitation by same-sex couples.http://reut.rs/llNJekChanged HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing bit.ly/9RxEnPChanged his mind and publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage.http://bit.ly/JsiFKpIssued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/aUueGTAppointed several prominent gay athletes and others, and plans to show US government’s commitment to gay rights to anti-gay Russia. http://on.cpsj.com/1fckN9hDepartment of Agriculture propagated new rules to better enforce non-discrimination when it comes to USDA investigations and to extend non-discrimination to gender identity. http://bit.ly/1yChJhiBanned all federal contractors from discriminating against gay workers. http://1.usa.gov/1ok1gfHPersevered with his campaign to turn “gay marriage” into “marriage” and won in the Supreme Court. http://cbsloc.al/1M4qLKbImproved Conditions for WomenEstablishing the White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider the effect of their policies and programs on women and families. http://bit.ly/e1puTk http://1.usa.gov/rFfqMMImplemented the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which restored basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. http://bit.ly/fT3CxgEliminated federal funding for abstinence-only education, and rescinded the global gag rule. http://bit.ly/eCFAI1 http://bit.ly/f92drFImproved the Paycheck Fairness Act, making it possible for employees to talk about their salaries without retaliation, and ordering salary data collection, so as to make it harder for employers to pay women less. http://huff.to/1nwVOWfSigned an Executive Order pledging support for efforts to end the global problem of violence against women and girls. http://1.usa.gov/MHTRVUShattered another glass ceiling by naming Janet Yellen chair of the Federal Reserve beginning Feb. 1, 2014. http://usat.ly/1gqMBfkExpanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/dSbI0xOrdered companies with 100 employees or more to disclose pay data based on race and gender, to address the pay gap. http://theatln.tc/1Q04XPLAddressed Criminal Justice Failings and the Gun CultureMade significant reductions in drug sentencing guidelines for current prisoners. http://n.pr/1mWBLkMOversaw the first drop in the federal prison population in 32 years. http://bit.ly/1B5h8rWIncreased his use of clemency to release thousands of non-violent drug offenders from prison. http://nyti.ms/1KE8DJGOrdered a ban on solitary confinement for juvenile offenders in federal prisons.http://bit.ly/20ObRzATook executive action to promote smart gun technology, to make them safer.http://1.usa.gov/1RhK1tUAfter a failure by Congress to act, proposed executive orders to create more background checks and to fully staff the background check system. http://cnn.it/1JXmUg6Relaxed HIPAA rules enough to allow for more information to be available to the background check system. http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZOrdered the tracing of guns as part of criminal investigations to provide data to researchers. http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZOrder the Justice Department to look at the categories of mental health problems prohibited from owning guns to make sure people aren’t falling through the cracks, getting guns. http://onforb.es/1nUAGw3Expanded the definitions of gun dealers and expanded the information available and required in background checks for firearm purchases. http://bit.ly/1K5aXeeSet up a task force to figure out what other measures can be taken to limit gun violence in the wake of Congressional inaction. http://1.usa.gov/1QjYMGJImproved Treatment of Soldiers and VeteransProvided active combat troops with better body armor. http://bit.ly/hzSv2hCreated a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program for military personnel, in order http://abcn.ws/1ghLrEshttp://abcn.ws/1ghLrEs to improve the quality of their medical care. http://1.usa.gov/f4yaxWPut an end to the Bush-era stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan beyond their enlistment date. http://nyti.ms/e2YQ7QSigned and implemented Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, making more money available to enable better medical care for veterans.http://1.usa.gov/fN4ur1With Congressional Democrats, oversaw largest spending increase in 30 years for Department of Veterans Affairs, for improved medical and extended care facilities for veterans. http://1.usa.gov/gY8O3xImplemented the Green Vet Initiative, which provides special funding to provide veterans with training in green jobs. http://bit.ly/epwUQYInitiated and signed a recruitment and employment plan to get more veterans into government jobs. http://bit.ly/b48coiOversaw a $4.6 billion expansion of the Veterans Administration budget to pay for more mental health professionals. http://bit.ly/gjzTxXSigned the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, which ensures that spouses of military personnel who are forced to move because their spouse is posted for military duty can avoid state taxes in their temporary residence. http://bit.ly/1Gh0NXOrdered improvements to access to mental health care for veterans, military personnel and their families. http://1.usa.gov/TP7PVZGot Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons without military firing a single shot or dropping a single bomb. http://nyti.ms/1lVEkU7Along with Congressional Democrats, not only reauthorized families of fallen soldiers to be able to visit when the body arrives at Dover AFB, but also provided funding for it. Ended the media blackout on coverage of the return of fallen soldiers. Pentagon Will Help Families Travel to Dover http://bbc.in/gWSSkAFunded Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with an extra $1.4 billion to improve veterans’ services. http://1.usa.gov/huhqfoSigned into law a bill that provides support, counseling, and breastfeeding supplies to military moms who are covered under TRICARE, the health insurance provided to veterans. http://bit.ly/1yNxL8OSigned into law a bill that makes it easier for military dogs to retire at home with their handlers. http://bit.ly/1J78Y2UImproved America’s Reputation Around the WorldVisited more countries and met with more world leaders than any previous president during his first six months in office. http://bit.ly/hZycdaAs he promised, he gave a speech at a major Islamic forum in Cairo early in his administration. http://nyti.ms/dKvY4gMade a speech at a US mosque to demonstrate his commitment to religious rights and send a message to Muslims around the world. http://cnn.it/1PGU1uIRestored America’s reputation around the world as a global leader.http://bit.ly/h743y7http://bit.ly/ho4TCrRe-established and reinforced our partnership with NATO and other allies on strategic international issues. http://1.usa.gov/e7QuDjClosed a number of secret detention facilities. http://nyti.ms/rpUc9lImproved relations with Middle East countries by appointing special envoys.http://1.usa.gov/tiGAGePushed forward the first realistic Middle East peace strategy in more than a decade, without abandoning the two-state solution. http://wapo.st/1avystePushed for military to emphasize greater development of foreign language skills. http://bit.ly/AxUCLVOffered $400 million to the people living in Gaza, while calling on both Israel and the Palestinians to stop inciting violence. http://bit.ly/9axfWhRefused to give Israel the green light to attack Iran over their possible nuclear program.http://bit.ly/xVmSZKOrdered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, although blocked by Congress.http://bit.ly/eW6CVFOrdered a review of our detention and interrogation policy and prohibited the use of “enhanced interrogation.” http://bit.ly/g6MTuCOrdered all secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere to be closed.http://bbc.in/h6N9axReleased the Bush torture memos. http://bit.ly/hWJ5z0On his second day in office, banned torture, reversed all Bush torture policies and put the US in full compliance with the Geneva Convention.http://1.usa.gov/dL6Zvehttp://nyti.ms/hzWWysIn response to the emerging “Arab Spring,” he created a Rapid Response fund, to assist emerging democracies with foreign aid, debt relief, technical assistance and investment packages in order to show that the United States stands with them. http://bit.ly/zfmGv9Ended the F-22 program, saving $4 billion. Though the 187 aircraft cost $358 million each to build, it had never flown a combat mission. http://slate.me/PYzmzTPassed the Iran Sanctions Act, to prevent war and encourage the Iranian government to give up their nuclear program. http://1.usa.gov/wLtNjbEnded the Iraq War. http://tgr.ph/ru0tySWorked to keep our withdrawal from Afghanistan on track, despite GOP opposition.http://reut.rs/1cIOsF1 Reiterated that commitment in 2014.http://nyti.ms/1exnmRFConducted a secret mission by SEAL Team Six to rescue two hostages held by Somali pirates. http://bit.ly/y8c9FzThrough United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split of Sudan into two countries, creating an independent South Sudan. http://reut.rs/qzE0TjHelped make donations to Haiti tax deductible in 2009. http://huff.to/6YkAVYEstablished a new U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. http://1.usa.gov/eX28DPIssued Executive Order blocking interference and helping to stabilize Somalia.http://1.usa.gov/hxdf8UEstablished new, more reasonable policies in our relations with Cuba, such as allowing Cuban-Americans to visit their families and send money to support them.http://n.pr/hY3Kwa http://nyti.ms/emQBdeThe new policies in Cuba led to thawed relations and the first US Embassy in Cuba in more than 55 years. http://abcn.ws/1ghLrEsNegotiated a deal with Iran that will prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon anytime soon, without firing a shot or invading the country. http://cnn.it/1M3HpvvAs a result of the Iran agreement, Iran shipped pretty much all of it nuclear material to Russia. http://nyti.ms/1PrzLtyBecame the first US President to visit Jamaica in more than 30 years, worked to restore relations with the country and signed a natural gas distribution agreement with the country. http://bit.ly/1JtpFqiChanged US Approach to “Defense” and National SecurityCreated a comprehensive new strategy for dealing with the international nuclear threat.http://1.usa.gov/gDX1nEAuthorized a $1.4 billion reduction in Star Wars program in 2010. http://1.usa.gov/gLFZl2Restarted nuclear nonproliferation talks and built up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols to where they had been before Bush. http://lat.ms/gkcl3iSigned and got ratification of a new SALT Treaty. http://bit.ly/f3JVtwNegotiated and signed a new START Treaty that will stay in force until at least 2021.http://1.usa.gov/cI1bC4Committed the US to no permanent military bases in Iraq. http://bit.ly/hk73OJDeveloped a comprehensive strategy with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan designed to facilitate the defeat of al Qaeda, the withdrawal of most troops and the rebuilding of Afghanistan. http://wapo.st/ee4XcsRe-focused on Afghanistan, stabilized the country, and began the process of withdrawing troops from the country. http://bit.ly/lNXUnaNegotiated a deal with Afghan government, to withdraw troops and military support, while assisting in rebuilding and modernizing of the country. http://bit.ly/K362anTook steps to severely weaken al Qaeda and limited their ability to terrorize the world.http://yhoo.it/n5lXs6Negotiated and signed a nuclear nonproliferation treaty with India.http://1.usa.gov/aHp0CnWorked with NATO to limit the slaughter of innocents in Libya, so that Libyans could topple the despotic Khadaffy government and determine their own fate.http://aje.me/qAh4SjGot Egyptian President/dictator Mubarak to leave the Egyptian government to the people, to determine their own fate. http://f24.my/efvgNZIn 2011, reoriented American focus from the Middle East to the Asian-Pacific region by simultaneously engaging China and crafting new alliances with Asian countries uncomfortable with Chinese behavior. http://bit.ly/RGlMDiRestored federal agencies such as FEMA to the point that they have been able to manage a huge number of natural disasters successfully. http://bit.ly/h8Xj7zIncreased border security http://bit.ly/1JQDGz9Ordered and oversaw the Navy SEALS operation that killed Osama bin Laden.http://bit.ly/jChpgwEstablished the Homeland Security Partnership Council, to enhance the nation’s ability to “address homeland security priorities, from responding to natural disasters to preventing terrorism, by utilizing diverse perspectives, skills, tools, and resources.”http://1.usa.gov/VJjLXOSigned agreement with Afghanistan to end war, turn security over to Afghans.http://nyti.ms/1xSjgBdBreaking with recent presidential tradition, instead of just attacking Syria in the wake of chemical weapons attacks on Syrians, Obama ordered a full report on the decision-making process. http://cbsn.ws/184RFguInstead of holding hearings and creating a political football, he quietly captured a suspect who actually committed the Benghazi terrorist attack. http://wapo.st/1jFlmzv He is also getting a lot of useful information from the suspect. http://nyti.ms/UfE2KaInstituted rules to order sanctions against individuals and groups that threaten national cybersecurity. http://1.usa.gov/1HWcGMGImproved Education and Educational OpportunitiesThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, invested heavily in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. http://1.usa.gov/gGRIArCreated the Race to the Top program, which encouraged states to come up with effective school reforms and rewards the best of them. http://bit.ly/NHtZ7LOversaw major expansion of broadband availability in K-12 schools nationwide.http://bit.ly/fNDcj3Oversaw major expansion in school construction. http://bit.ly/fYwNrVThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, put $5 billion into early education, including Head Start. http://1.usa.gov/tzT2RrSigned the Democratic-sponsored Post-9/11 GI Bill, also known as GI Bill 2.0, to improve veterans’ access to education. http://bit.ly/hPhG7JOversaw expansion of the Pell Grants program, to expand opportunity for low and middle income students to go to college. http://bit.ly/hI6tXzSigned and implemented the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provided an extra $12.2 billion in funds. http://1.usa.gov/dQvtUeTook major new steps to protect students from ineffective for-profit colleges through “gainful employment” measures, whereby schools have to demonstrate that its students actually find work to get federal aid. http://1.usa.gov/jkzQe2Repeatedly increased funding for student financial aid, and at the same time cut the banks completely out of the process, thus us creating greater accountability.http://bit.ly/gYWd30 http://bit.ly/e9c7Dr http://bit.ly/eEzTNqReformed student loan program, to make it possible for students to refinance at a lower rate. http://nyti.ms/dMvHOtCreated a rating system for colleges, so that those applying for student financial aid know better what they’re paying for. http://bit.ly/14Dn7ULRestored the Adult View on Science and TechnologyCreated a Presidential Memorandum to restore scientific integrity in government decision-making. http://1.usa.gov/g2SDuwOpened up the process for fast-tracking patent approval for green energy projects.http://bit.ly/j0KV2UThrough the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, committed more federal funding, about $18 billion, to support non-defense science and research labs. http://nyti.ms/fTs9t7Obama EPA reversed research ethics standards which allowed humans to be used as “guinea pigs” in tests of the effects of chemicals, to comply with numerous codes of medical ethics. http://bit.ly/bKgqdSConducted a cyberspace policy review. http://1.usa.gov/gmbdvCProvided financial support for private sector space programs. http://bit.ly/fn8ucrOversaw enhanced earth mapping, to provide valuable data for agricultural, educational, scientific, and government use. http://bit.ly/dNTRyPThrough American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, provided $500 million for Health Professions Training Programs. http://bit.ly/ecQSgAIncreased funding for community-based prevention programs. http://bit.ly/frMPG3Expanded space exploration and discovery options to include more players.http://1.usa.gov/13qmZpmThrough the Connect America Fund, pushed through and received FCC approval for a move of $8 billion in subsidies away from telephone landlines to assist lower-income rural families in accessing broadband. http://lat.ms/vhRUEs http://bit.ly/129V3SYIn the wake of the West Fertilizer tragedy, formed the Chemical Safety and Security Working Group, to work on measures to prevent another such events.http://1.usa.gov/18kHSlAEstablished a Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, a recommendation made by the 9/11 Commission, to coordinate efforts to fight cyber-crime and terrorism. http://1.usa.gov/1A0aEoSThe Obama FCC, with his leadership, adopted strong net neutrality rules, to keep the Internet open and equal for everyone. http://fcc.us/1MhTlIAOrdered rules to speed up deployment of a more comprehensive broadband infrastructure.http://1.usa.gov/M7rVpeSet up a National Strategic Computing Initiative, to “maximize benefits of high-performance computing (HPC) research, development, and deployment.” http://1.usa.gov/1IN3FZaOrdered a federal level change in national earthquake standards.http://1.usa.gov/1T5wGoRImproved Our HealthEliminated Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and provided increased federal support for biomedical and stem cell research. http://bit.ly/h36SSOhttp://ti.me/edezgeSigned Democratic-sponsored Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, the first comprehensive attempt to improve the lives of Americans living with paralysis.http://bit.ly/fOi2rbExpanded the Nurse-Family Partnership program, which provides home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income expectant mothers and their families, to cover more first-time mothers. http://bit.ly/jRRRJc\Along with Democrats in Congress, ushered through and signed a bill authorizing FDA to regulate tobacco and order tobacco companies to disclose their ingredients and to ban cigarettes falsely labeled as “light.” http://on.msnbc.com/fiKViBHas overseen a 50% decrease in cost of prescription drugs for seniors.http://bit.ly/e5b1iq http://1.usa.gov/fVNkt9Eliminated the Bush-era practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with drug companies on price. http://bit.ly/fOkG5bTwo weeks after taking office, signed Democratic-sponsored Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which increased the number of children covered by health insurance by 4 million. http://bit.ly/fDEzGvUrged Congress to investigate Anthem Blue Cross for raising premiums 39% without explanation. http://yhoo.it/e8Tj9CPushed through and signed Affordable Care Act, which expanded health insurance coverage greatly and ended many detrimental insurance company practices. He also established Get 2016 health coverage. Health Insurance Marketplace . http://www.healthcare.gov/Through ACA, allowed children to be covered under their parents’ policy until they turned 26. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, provided tax breaks to allow 3.5 million small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, millions of people receive help in paying their health insurance company premiums. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VThrough the ACA, expanded Medicaid to those making up to 133% of the federal poverty level. http://nyti.ms/ekMWpo (Note: except for those states whose Republicans refused to take the extra money.)By 2014, the Affordable Care Act dropped the number of uninsured Americans by 22.3%, which amounts to more than 10.3 million people with insurance who didn’t have it before. Only 13.9% of Americans are uninsured, a drop from 18.9% in 2013. http://on.msnbc.com/1r4kjGnThe Affordable Care Act has increased the life expectancy of Medicare greatly.http://on.wsj.com/1yuNco6Through the ACA, health insurance companies now have to disclose how much of your premium actually goes to pay for patient care. http://nyti.ms/fNB26VMedicare costs actually declined slightly, for the first time in decades in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. http://1.usa.gov/oMxpThSince passage of the ACA, health care inflation is at its lowest level since 1960.http://1.usa.gov/1vXR0LdCreated the HIV Care Continuum Initiative, to strengthen the government’s ability to respond to the continuing domestic HIV epidemic, after years of Republicans weakening the government’s ability to deal with the crisis. http://1.usa.gov/1iLED0tSigned bill that will provide health insurance premium support to workers who lose their health insurance due to foreign competition. http://bit.ly/1evvVDFIn response to the confusion triggered by the asinine Hobby Lobby decision, which essentially declared that corporations could have “religious rights” and lord them over employees, created new rules to give all women with insurance the right to free birth control. http://on.wsj.com/1O44a1tImplemented the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for 2015-2020, which is a follow-up to the first such strategy in US history, which he implemented in 2010. http://1.usa.gov/1IXknHmSigned and will implement new child safety standards for e-cigarettes.http://bit.ly/1XaFCISSet up a White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, in order to implement ways to develop a cure for cancer. http://1.usa.gov/20AeKY4Addressed the Environment While Dealing with Energy NeedsDoubled federal spending on clean energy research. http://bit.ly/iN0sCEPushed through a tax credit to help people buy plug-in hybrid cars. http://bit.ly/j8UP5YCreated a program to develop renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that will produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents.http://1.usa.gov/fgfRWqReengaged in the climate change and greenhouse gas emissions agreements talks, and proposed one himself. He also addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference, officially reversing the Bush era stance that climate change was a “hoax.” http://bit.ly/dX6Vj3 http://bit.ly/fE2PxK http://nyti.ms/hfeqvvFully supported the initial phase of the creation of a legally-binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions worldwide. http://bit.ly/eJ6QOORequired states to provide incentives to utilities to reduce their energy consumption. http://bit.ly/lBhk7PUnder Obama, our dependence on foreign oil has dropped to its lowest rate since 1985, and continues to drop. http://1.usa.gov/1p6kTUyMeanwhile, oil consumption is way down because of reduced driving and higher mileage standards. http://ti.me/1z4HFG8Improved siting, review and permitting stations for power plants, in an attempt to seriously improve the nation’s electric grid. http://1.usa.gov/1l8zNqnReengaged in a number of treaties and agreements designed to protect the Antarctic.http://bit.ly/fzQUFOCreated tax write-offs for purchases of hybrid and electric vehicles. http://bit.ly/glCukVEstablished a quadrennial review of our energy infrastructure, to encourage a modernization of the grid, and to encourage the transition away from fossil fuel use. http://1.usa.gov/1nx2oMoMandated that federal government fleet purchases be for fuel-efficient American vehicles, and encouraged that federal agencies support experimental, fuel-efficient vehicles.http://1.usa.gov/hmUSbk http://1.usa.gov/fLWq5chttp://bit.ly/h5KZqyEncouraged BP to pay $20 billion to establish Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to reduce the need for taxpayer funds to be used for compensation and clean up.http://wapo.st/ds2BxT (Note: it took 20 years to get $1.3 billion for the Exxon Valdez spill. )Oversaw and pushed through an amendment to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 authorizing advances from Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.http://1.usa.gov/yTRYVoActively tried to amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to eliminate the liability limits for those companies responsible for large oil spills. http://nyti.ms/bxjDi3Became the first President to simply say “Climate Change is a fact,” and set up the first federal government protocols for dealing with the impacts of climate change. http://1.usa.gov/1b7V67BInitiated Criminal and Civil inquiries into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.http://nyti.ms/bVuB7aAsserted federal legal supremacy to bar Texas from authorizing new refinery permits on its own.http://bit.ly/ww8eMdSet up new, stricter standards limiting power plant emissions. http://1.usa.gov/1mML2M3Strengthened the Endangered Species Act. http://bit.ly/hscjsHStrengthened protection for wildlife, and expanded enforcement of laws against wildlife trafficking. http://1.usa.gov/1fce1AiObama EPA improved boiler safety standards to improve air quality, and save 6500 lives per year. http://bit.ly/jYH7ntThrough the EPA, attemped to take steps to severely limit the use of antibiotics in livestock feed, to increase their efficacy in humans. http://bit.ly/fBuWd2Through new EPA regulations, he created a pretext for closing the dirtiest power plants in the country, by limiting emissions of mercury and other toxic gasses. http://bit.ly/rQCIgAIncreased funding for National Parks and Forests by 10% http://bit.ly/fbJPjYAnnounced greatly improved commercial fuel efficiency standards.http://1.usa.gov/oQiC1KAnnounced a huge increase in average fuel economy standards from 27.5mpg in 2010 to 35.5mpg starting in 2016 and 54.5 starting in 2025 http://1.usa.gov/qtghsWFacilitated investment in industrial energy efficiency to create jobs and strengthen US manufacturing while saving businesses $100 billion over a decade.http://1.usa.gov/WsIgbxSet up the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to oversee Gulf Coast restoration efforts after the 2010 BP oil spill. The money to fund the restoration efforts comes from fines against BP. http://1.usa.gov/Rxjb29Engaged in the most comprehensive plan to combat climate change in a generation.http://bit.ly/13lXhETOrdered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources like wind and solar, by 2021. http://reut.rs/fV155pOversaw the creation of an initiative that converts old factories and manufacturing centers into new clean technology centers. http://bit.ly/mjnq2RGuided a 418% increase in solar power capacity between 2010 and 2014. http://bit.ly/1rHkWJCAs of May 2015, 74% of new electrical capacity was provided by solar and wind power. http://bit.ly/1T5r0LCBypassed Congress and ordered EPA to begin regulating and measuring carbon emissions.http://bit.ly/froaP5Oversaw a tripling in the use of wind power to generate electricity. The US now leads the world in increased wind power capacity. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5448Ordered the federal government to incorporate climate resilience and climate science into all international development in which the United States engages. http://1.usa.gov/YV1EpWFast-tracked regulations to allow states to enact fuel efficiency standards that exceeded federal standards. http://nyti.ms/e8e94xFast-tracked increased fuel economy standards for vehicles beginning with the 2011 model year. It was the first time such standards had been increased in more than a decade.http://politi.co/hiaPKMOversaw establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, to create more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. http://bit.ly/lZp73yObama EPA reversed a Bush-era decision to allow the largest mountaintop removal project in US history. http://bit.ly/lP3yELOrdered the Department of Energy to implement more aggressive efficiency standards for common household appliances. http://1.usa.gov/g3MTbuObama EPA ruled that excess CO2 is a pollutant. http://bit.ly/iQTSNNClosed a deal with China to limit carbon emissions to slow down climate change. http://nyti.ms/1xzyS8KBlocked all oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska, one of the most pristine environments in North America http://lat.ms/13xUVFDSigned an Executive Order to improve environmental efforts in the Arctic region and to combat climate change by better coordinating the efforts of the 23 federal agencies operating in the area. http://usat.ly/ZEzLzEVetoed a bill to fast track construction of the parallel Keystone XL pipeline.http://nbcnews.to/1DVDFo7Expanded clean water regulations to more stringently protect all of the nation’s waterways, even when states fail in their duty. http://bit.ly/1RdQpTcSigned an Executive Order committing the federal government to lead the way in building a sustainable economy. It’s his fifth doing just that. http://1.usa.gov/1EzO2neBanned the use of antibiotics in food served in US Government-run cafeterias and ordered agencies to only use antibiotic-free meat. http://bit.ly/1G1vUxi http://bit.ly/1KHkl4NDeveloped new rules to address climate change and to create a significant boost to clean energy. http://bit.ly/1UnQcuRNegotiated and signed a virtually Republican-Proof global agreement on climate change, with 190 countries signing on. http://bit.ly/1RkjVG8Became one of 196 countries that signed onto a UN Framework on Climate Change.http://unfccc.int/2860.phpOrdered a moratorium on new coal leasing on federal land, and they will examine the whole leasing process. http://wapo.st/23Q6en8There’s a Lot More!Nominated Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic Justice in the court’s history, and the women represent only the third and fourth women to serve on the court, out of a total of 112 justices.http://huff.to/eOChg6http://bit.ly/i02wgPAppointed the most diverse Cabinet in history, including more women than any other incoming president. http://bit.ly/dX6vNBLoosened the rules and allowed the 14 states that legalized medical marijuana to regulate themselves without federal interference. http://huff.to/eQfa7jSigned national service legislation, increasing funding for national service groups, including triple the size of the Americorps program. http://bit.ly/idgQH5Signed a bill that provided $4.3 billion in additional assistance to 9/11 first responders.http://bit.ly/o7cWYSSigned the Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who had been cheated out of government loans and natural resource royalties in the past. http://1.usa.gov/dGppUaTo help those communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy, issued an executive order setting up the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and asked Congress to approve $60 billion in supplemental assistance to aid in storm recovery. http://1.usa.gov/134L7hlProduced 23 Executive actions designed to make it easier for law enforcement to identify those who shouldn’t have guns, thus helping them enforce the law.http://on.wsj.com/SX9xaZExpanded trade agreements to include stricter labor and environmental agreements in trade pacts like NAFTA. http://bit.ly/etznpYOversaw funding of the design of a new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History, which is scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015. He protected the funding during budget negotiations.http://on.fb.me/fD0EVO http://bit.ly/ff5LuvOversaw and passed increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.http://bit.ly/dFb8qF”And Did You Know?Despite the characterizations of some, Obama’s success rate in winning congressional votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7% for his first year in office. Though he is often cited as superior to Obama, President Lyndon Johnson’s success rate in 1965 was only 93%.http://n.pr/i3d7cYAnd of course…Despite the odds, became the first black president, and then was reelected by a wide margin of the population.

Take a lesson from the experience of the Soviet Union.In August of 1917 the Tsarist government in Russia collapsed. By November of 1917, the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment was established along with the All-Russian Union of Teachers-Internationalists, whose purpose was removing religious instruction from the schools.It was believed atheists were more politically astute and virtuous individuals, and that given the opportunity, religion would die a natural death after removing the institutions, the state supported powers of religion, and through teaching atheism in the schools. They genuinely believed religion would simply disappear. It didn’t happen.Soviet law never officially outlawed the holding of religious views, and the various Constitutions the Soviets wrote over the years guaranteed the right to believe, however, the reality was different from the public statements. Acts of violence and terror aimed at the religious always spoke of ‘violations of State policy,’ but the State policy referred to was about religion. It was a Catch 22.There are those who attempt to claim atheists did not persecute the religious—it was the Soviet State or a cult of personality or something else—but the purpose and motivation of that persecution is the key to understanding it accurately: the purpose of the persecution that occurred on and off over the next nearly a century was disseminating atheism and eliminating religion. Claiming otherwise is like arguing the civil war wasn’t really about slavery. The Holocaust wasn’t anti-semitic.There were additional peripheral purposes and justifications, but the driving force was ideological. The State’s campaign against religion was designed to spread atheism.Lenin was an atheist who saw religion as an obstacle. In his name, the State officially pronounced religious beliefs as ‘superstitious and backward.’ "Lenin demanded that communist propaganda must employ militancy and irreconcilability towards all forms of … religion" and militant atheism was born; it became central to the ideology of the Communist Party and an important policy of all Soviet leaders.In 1918, Lenin decreed the ‘Separation of Church and State’ and denied the church its former status as a legal person, the right to own property, or to teach religion in both state and private schools, or to any group of minors. Religion could only be taught privately and never in a group.The church Patriarch responded by excommunicating the Soviet leadership.The Soviet leadership responded by arresting and killing dozens of bishops, thousands of the lower clergy and monastics, and multitudes of laity and then by seizing church property. The next few years were marked by a brutal campaign of violent terror. 579 monasteries and convents were liquidated during this period and there were widespread mass executions of monks and nuns.Propoganda about these events claimed it was the church’s own fault because the church opposed the Soviets and supported a return of Tsarism. The fraudulence of these claims is shown by the fact that none of the documented acts of brutalities against members of the clergy by the Reds involved anyone who actually took up arms against them, as well as by the fact that slicing up unarmed prisoners, scalping and torturing believers, shooting priests' wives and children, and many other such acts recorded in the documented acts of brutality by the Reds against the Orthodox had nothing to do with acting in 'self-defense'.In 1921, church leaders demanded freedom of religion. The Communists responded by murdering the metropolitan of Kiev, twenty-eight bishops, and 6,775 priests.But religious faith still persisted.Anti-religious atheistic propaganda was important to Lenin's party, going all the way back to its early pre-revolutionary days, and shortly after it came to power, the regime was quick to create atheist journals whose main purpose was attacking religion.The leadership of the new state did not take long to come to the conclusion that religion would not disappear on its own and greater efforts should be given to propaganda. For this purpose, the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the CP Central Committee (Agitprop) was created to promote atheism and the national anti-religion campaign was consolidated under their control. In 1920, using the guidelines of article 13 of the Russian Communist Party (RCP) adopted by the 8th party congress, they stated:As far as religion is concerned, the RCP will not be satisfied by the decreed separation of Church and State... The Party aims at the complete destruction of links between the exploiting classes and... religious propaganda, while assisting the actual liberation of the working masses from religious prejudices and organizing the broadest possible education-enlightening and anti-religious propaganda.Religious faith persisted.The church's successful competition with the ongoing and widespread atheistic propaganda, prompted new laws to be adopted in 1929 on 'Religious Associations' as well as amendments to the constitution, which forbade all forms of public, social, communal, educational, publishing or missionary activities for religious believers.This also prevented, of course, the church from printing any material for public consumption or responding to the criticism against it. This caused many religious tracts to be circulated as illegal literature… Numerous other measures were introduced that were designed to cripple the church, and effectively made it illegal to have religious activities of any sort outside of liturgical services within the walls of the few churches that would remain open, and even these would be subject to much interference and harassment. Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious publications were all illegal and/or banned.Religious faith persisted—though much of it went underground.After the revolution, until 1929, public debates between Christians and Soviets were held. People would line up for hours to get seats to see them. The authorities sometimes tried to limit the speaking time of the Christians to ten minutes, and on other occasions the debates would be called off at last minute. This may have been a result of the high quality of some of the religious debaters, such as V. S. Martsinkovsky, who was arrested and sent into exile in 1922. Debates were eventually canceled and replaced with public lectures by atheists.In the years 1917–1935, 130,000 Russian Orthodox priests were arrested; 95,000 were put to death, executed by firing squad. The Orthodox church suffered terribly in the 1930s, and many of its members were killed or sent to labor camps. Between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to fewer than 500. The watershed year was 1929, when Soviet policy put much new legislation in place that formed the basis for the harsh anti-religious persecution in the 1930s.After 1929 and through the 1930s, the closing of churches, mass arrests of the clergy and religiously active laity, and persecution of people for attending church reached unprecedented proportions. Soviet Union | Iconic PhotosThe League of the Militant Godless, was given special powers and employed terror tactics to assist the State in meeting the ultimate socialist goal of eliminating religion. From 1932 to 1937 Joseph Stalin declared the 'five-year plans of atheism' and the LMG was charged with completely eliminating all religious expression in the country. Church documents record that, during the purges of 1937 and 1938, 168,300 Russian Orthodox clergy were arrested; of these, over 100,000 were shot.Official Soviet figures reported that up to one third of urban and two thirds of the rural population still held religious beliefs by 1937. Faith persisted.However, the anti-religious campaign of the past decade and the terror tactics of the militantly atheist regime, had effectively eliminated all public expressions of religion and communal gatherings of believers outside of the walls of the few churches that still held services.Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Three months later, the last anti-religious periodicals were shut down when Stalin ended the anti-religious campaign in order to rally the country and prevent a large base of Nazi support. This was a short rapprochement. Riga priest Nikolai Trubetskoi (1907–1978) did missionary work in the occupied territory near Leningrad; he wrote: “We opened and re-consecrated closed churches, carried out mass baptisms. It's hard to imagine how, after years of Soviet domination, people hungered after the Word of God. We married and buried people; we had literally no time for sleep. I think that if such a mission were sent today [1978] to the Urals, Siberia or even the Ukraine, we'd see the same result.”And there is your explanation for why religion will never disappear: people hunger after the Word of God.Even in the midst of war there was still occasional use of terror tactics against religion. When the Red Army would recapture occupied territory, clergy in these territories were arrested and sent to prisons or camps allegedly for collaboration with the Germans, but effectively for their rebuilding of religious life. For example, in April 1946 there was a wave of arrests in Moscow of clergy that were sentenced to long terms of hard labor. Many laity were arrested and imprisoned as well including the religious philosopher SI Fudel; most of them had already been in prison and few of them would see freedom until after Stalin died.In 1945 Soviet authorities arrested, deported and sentenced to forced labor camps in Siberia and elsewhere, the church's metropolitan Josyf Slipyj and nine bishops, as well as hundreds of clergy and leading lay activists. With the exception of Slipyj, (who was released after 18 years of imprisonment and persecution thanks to the intervention of Pope John the 23rd), all nine of the bishops, and a significant part of the clergymen died in prisons, concentration camps, internal exile, or soon after their release.In that same year, the state determined it would not tolerate priests who actively promoted the expansion of religion. For example, Bishop Manuil sparked a religious revival in the Southern Urals and was subsequently arrested and sentenced to eight years of hard labour. Dmitri Dubko was arrested for writing religious poems. Ilia Shmain, a 16- to 17-year-old youth and a student of philology started a religio-philosophic study group in the late 1940s at Moscow University. They were all arrested and sentenced to 8–10 years of hard labour under the charge of criticizing the atheistic teachings of Marxist–Leninism.The Ukrainian Greek Catholic church and its clergy became one of the victims of Soviet authorities in the immediate postwar era.Still, it was not the far-ranging persecution of the past. The rapprochement lasted till 1959 when Krushchev picked up the anti-theist baton and began his own campaign against religion; his first step was forcing the closure of about 12,000 churches that had been reopened during the war.Members of the church hierarchy were jailed or forced out, their places taken by docile clergy, many of whom had ties with the KGB.New instructions were issued in 1958 that attacked the position of monasteries by placing them under high taxation, cutting their land, and working to shut them down. From 1959 to 1964, the persecution operated on several key levels:There was a massive closure of churches (reducing the number from 22,000 to 7,000 by 1965.)Closures of monasteries and convents as well as reinforcement of the 1929 legislation to ban pilgrimages.Closure of most of the still existing seminaries and bans on pastoral courses.Banning all services outside of church walls and recording the personal identities of all adults requesting church baptisms, weddings or funerals. Non-fulfillment of these regulations by clergy would lead to disallowance of state registration for them (which meant they could no longer do any pastoral work or liturgy at all, without special state permission).The deprivation of parental rights for teaching religion to their children, a ban on the presence of children at church services (beginning in 1961 with the Baptists and then extended to the Orthodox in 1963) and the administration of the Eucharist to children over the age of four.The forced retirement, arrests and prison sentences to clergymen who criticized atheism or the anti-religious campaign, who conducted Christian charity, or who made religion popular by personal example.It also disallowed the ringing of church bells and services in daytime in some rural settings from May to the end of October under the pretext of field work requirements. (How would bells interfere exactly?)A more aggressive period of anti-religious persecution began in the mid-1970s.And still religion persisted.The 1980s, on the other hand, marked a new attitude of acceptance towards religion by a state that decided that the best it could do was simply to minimize what it considered the harmful impact of religion.The state tried to intensify persecution for awhile during the 1980s, but the church saw this increasingly as merely rearguard attacks by an ideologically bankrupt, but still physically powerful, enemy.After Khrushchev's fall, Soviet writers began to cautiously question the effectiveness of the … anti-religious campaign. They came to a general conclusion that it had failed in spreading atheism.The principle of persecuting religion in order to spread atheism did not disappear, however, even if the methodology was re-examined after Khrushchev. Many of the secret, unofficial, instructions aimed at suppressing the Church were made into official laws during Brezhnev's control, which thereby legally legitimized many aspects of the persecutions.The total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range between 12-20 million. Religious beliefs and practices persisted among the majority of the population in the domestic and private spheres, but also in the scattered public spaces allowed by a state that recognized its failure to eradicate religion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture war. Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union - WikipediaAfter the fall of the Soviet Union, the government of Russia, to some extent, openly embraced the Russian Orthodox Church, and there was a renaissance in the number of the faithful in Russia. Religious faith survived and revived.What lessons can we learn from this? How does any of it apply to us?Here on Quora there have been frequent calls for the United States—(indeed the call has gone out to all countries)—to move from the partial secularism it has practiced from its beginnings into the full secularism that would remove all religion from any and all public spaces. This was one of the Soviet Union’s early tactics. A refusal to allow the free practice of religion is, on a practical basis, a repression of religion.There are advocates here that clamor for the removal of the church tax exemption. That too was one of the Soviet Union’s early tactics.The Soviets attempted to monopolize education, remove all religion from the schools and thoroughly saturate the school system with “scientific” atheist teachings. That too has been happening here in America. Any attempt to introduce discussion of alternative religious views on any subject meets with vehement attack and can result in arrest and/or lawsuits or losing your job if you’re the teacher.Evangelism was not only denigrated there but eventually became illegal. Is that what we are destined for here?Are we destined for the same kind of long and brutal culture war because the anti-religious cannot bring themselves to practice the tolerance they advocate—and religion just won’t disappear?That’s the one lesson to be sure and take away from all this: it didn’t work.Religion did not disappear and it never will because of the hunger in men’s hearts for the things of God.Given the opportunity to do so freely—it didn’t disappear.Given opposition and repression—it didn’t disappear.Given downright persecution—it didn’t disappear.What do you imagine could ever make religion disappear?Kill everyone—atheists included because, like me, they might someday convert. It’s your only answer. Kill everyone—or become tolerant of religion and the religious.

This is long but worth the read;The media is not subtle about its ridicule of ‘creation science.’ John Rennie, editor-in-chief of Scientific American, gets right to the point in ‘15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense’ [see our point by point response from June 2002]. He asserts,‘Creation science’ is a contradiction in terms. A central tenet of modern science is methodological naturalism—it seeks to explain the universe purely in terms of observed or testable natural mechanisms. [SA 84]Now we get to the key issue. It’ not about scientific facts at all, but self-serving materialistic ‘rules of the game’ by which the evolutionary establishment interprets the facts. So it should be instructive for people to understand what’ really driving Rennie and his ilk—a materialist or naturalist agenda that excludes God. This is not a tenet deducible by the experimental method, but a philosophical assumption from outside science.Rennie illustrates his view of ‘modern science’ with an example from physics:Physics describes the atomic nucleus with specific concepts governing matter and energy, and it tests those descriptions experimentally. Physicists introduce new particles, such as quarks, to flesh out their theories only when data show that the previous descriptions cannot adequately explain observed phenomena. The new particles do not have arbitrary properties, moreover their definitions are tightly constrained, because the new particles must fit within the existing framework of physics. [SA 84–85]What has this to do with evolution? Creationists agree that the particles would not behave arbitrarily, because they were created by a God of order. But an atheist has no philosophical justification from his underlying religious premise, i.e., ‘God does not exist,’ for a belief in an orderly universe.Deceptive attacks on creation ‘science’Evolutionists tend to lump all opponents of materialistic ‘science’ under the same category, whether they call it ‘creation science’ or ‘intelligent design,’ ignoring the profound differences among the various camps. As a result, they make some outlandish claims that simply do not apply to Bible-believing Christians. For instance, Scientific American attacks ‘creation science’ because it promotes some shadowy intelligence that is beyond scientific inquiry and that offers few answers to scientific questions:Intelligent-design theorists invoke shadowy entities that conveniently have whatever unconstrained abilities are needed to solve the mystery at hand. Rather than expanding scientific inquiry, such answers shut it down. (How does one disprove the existence of omnipotent intelligences?)Intelligent design offers few answers. For instance, when and how did a designing intelligence intervene in life’ history? By creating the first DNA? The first cell? The first human? Was every species designed, or just a few early ones? Proponents of intelligent-design theory frequently decline to be pinned down on these points. They do not even make real attempts to reconcile their disparate ideas about intelligent design. [SA 85]In reality, the founders and leaders of modern ‘creation science’ base their views on the Bible, believing it is God’s inspired account of history given to mankind. It is wrong to confuse this group with other, more recent advocates of ‘intelligent design’ who wish to avoid all appeals to biblical authority. Christians don’t advocate just any ‘designer’ who may or may not be capricious. Rather, they identify the Designer with the faithful triune God of the Bible.We base our science on the biblical framework of history, which provides much information about when and how the Designer performed special acts of design. That is, during creation week about 6,000 years ago, He created distinct kinds of creatures. Shortly after that, Adam sinned and brought death and mutations into the world. About 1,500 years later, God judged the world by a global Flood that produced most of the world’ fossils. But two of every kind of land vertebrate (seven of the few ‘clean’ ones and birds) were rescued on an ocean-liner­sized ark. After they landed on the mountains of Ararat, the ark animals migrated and diversified, adapting to different environments—including some speciation. Mankind disobeyed God’s command to fill the earth, and migrated only when God confused the languages at Babel about 100 years later. This explains why human fossils are higher in the post-Flood fossil record than other mammals.Evolutionists often attack advocates of intelligent design for perfectly admissible types of logical arguments (which evolutionists also use). For instance, Scientific American condemns advocates of intelligent design because ‘they pursue argument by exclusion—that is, they belittle evolutionary explanations as far-fetched or incomplete and then imply that only design-based alternatives remain.’ [SA 85]This is not wrong. It is simple logic, called the law of the excluded middle. Evolutionists from Darwin to today have used the same tactic, i.e., ‘God wouldn’t have done it that way, therefore evolution must explain it.’It’ notable that Darwin often used pseudo-theological arguments against design rather than direct arguments for evolution. But this form of argument presupposes the ‘two-model approach,’ i.e., that creation and evolution are the only alternatives, so evidence against creation is evidence for evolution. Ironically, many evolutionists scream loudly if creationists use this same form of logic to conclude that evidence against evolution is support for creation!Scientific American goes on to claim:Logically, this is misleading: even if one naturalistic explanation is flawed, it does not mean that all are. [SA 85]This attack overlooks the obvious fact that the ‘intelligent design’ arguments are based on analogy, a common scientific procedure, about what we can observe being produced by intelligent and unintelligent causes. There is nothing wrong or ‘misleading’ about that approach. The article continues with another misleading objection:Moreover, it does not make one intelligent-design theory more reasonable than another. Listeners are essentially left to fill in the blanks for themselves, and some will undoubtedly do so by substituting their religious beliefs for scientific ideas. [SA 85]Here Scientific American is accusing their opponents of doing something that evolutionists do all the time. Editor John Rennie has no objection to substituting (and confusing) his own atheistic religious ideas for scientific ones, but he finds it offensive when other people’ religious ideas are brought into the discussion!Confusing ‘origins science’ with ‘operational science’; the real origins of scienceScientific American also repeats the common claim that evolution and ‘methodological naturalism’ are the basis for modern advances in science:Time and again, science has shown that methodological naturalism can push back ignorance, finding increasingly detailed and informative answers to mysteries that once seemed impenetrable: the nature of light, the causes of disease, how the brain works. Evolution is doing the same with the riddle of how the living world took shape. [SA 85]This fails to note the distinction between normal (operational) science, and origins or historical science.Normal (operational) science deals only with repeatable observable processes in the present, while origins science helps us to make educated guesses about origins in the past.Operational science has indeed been very successful in understanding the world, and has led to many improvements in the quality of life, e.g., putting men on the moon and curing diseases. And it’ vital to note that many historians, of a wide number of religious persuasions, from Christians to atheists, point out that the founders of operational science were motivated by their belief that the universe was made by a rational Creator. An orderly universe makes perfect sense only if it were made by an orderly Creator. But if atheism or polytheism were true, then there is no way to deduce from these belief systems that the universe is (or should be) orderly.Genesis 1:28 gives us permission to investigate creation, unlike say animism or pantheism that teach that the creation itself is divine. And since God is sovereign, He was free to create as He pleased. So where the Bible is silent, the only way to find out how His creation works is to experiment, not rely on man-made philosophies as did the ancient Greeks.These founding scientists, like modern creationists, regarded ‘natural laws’ as descriptions of the way God upholds His creation in a regular and repeatable way (Col. 1:15–17), while miracles are God’s way of upholding His creation in a special way for special reasons. Because creation finished at the end of day 6 (Gen. 2:1–3), creationists following the Bible would expect that God has since mostly worked through ‘natural laws’ except where He has revealed in the Bible that He used a miracle. And since ‘natural laws’ are descriptive, they cannot prescribe what cannot happen, so they cannot rule out miracles. Scientific laws do not cause or forbid anything any more than the outline of a map causes the shape of the coastline.Because creation finished at the end of day 6, biblical creationists would try to find natural laws for every aspect of operation science, and would not invoke a miracle to explain any repeating event in nature in the present, despite Scientific American’ scare tactics. This can be shown in a letter I wrote to an inquirer who believed that atoms had to be held together by miraculous means:‘Natural laws’ also help us make predictions about future events. In the case of the atom, the explanation of the electrons staying in their orbitals is the positive electric charge and large mass of the nucleus. This enables us to make predictions about how strongly a particular electron is held by a particular atom, for example, making the science of chemistry possible. While this is certainly an example of Colossians 1:17, simply saying ‘God upholds the electron’ doesn’t help us make predictions.And in my days as a university teaching assistant before joining CMI, I marked an examination answer wrong because it said ‘God made it so’ for a question about the frequency of infrared spectral lines, instead of discussing atomic masses and force constants.So, Scientific American is wrong to imply that creationists are in any way hindered in real operational scientific research, either in theory or in practice.In contrast, evolution is a speculation about the unobservable and unrepeatable past. Thus, it comes under origins science. Rather than observation, origins science uses the principles of causality (everything that has a beginning has a cause) and analogy (e.g., we observe that intelligence is needed to generate complex coded information in the present, so we can reasonably assume the same for the past). And because there was no material intelligent designer for life, it is legitimate to invoke a non-material designer for life. Creationists invoke the miraculous only for origins science, and as shown, this does not mean they will invoke it for operational science.The difference between operational and origins science is important for seeing through common silly assertions such as:… evolution is as thoroughly established as the picture of the solar system due to Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton.However, we can observe the motion of the planets, but no one has ever observed an information-increasing change of one type of organism to another.To explain further: the laws that govern the operation of a computer are not those that made the computer in the first place. Much anti-creationist propaganda is like saying that if we concede that a computer had an intelligent Designer, then we might not analyze a computer’ workings in terms of natural laws of electron motion through semiconductors, and might think there are little intelligent beings pushing electrons around instead. Similarly, believing that the genetic code was originally designed does not preclude us from believing that it works entirely by the laws of chemistry involving DNA, RNA, proteins, etc. Conversely, the fact that the coding machinery works according to reproducible laws of chemistry does not prove that the laws of chemistry were sufficient to build such a system from a primordial soup. The PBS producer even admitted that the naturalistic origin of life was a major problem for evolution.For some specifics, it’ notable that creationists have made many of the great scientific advances that Scientific American and other evolutionary magazines like to mention! Isaac Newton discovered the spectrum of light (as well as co-inventing calculus and formulating the laws of motion and gravity); James Clerk Maxwell discovered the laws of electromagnetism which led to the prediction of electromagnetic radiation; Louis Pasteur formulated the germ theory of disease and disproved spontaneous generation; Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery; Raymond Damadian pioneered magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that is a vital tool in brain research.In spite of the evidence, Scientific American asserts,Creationism, by any name, adds nothing of intellectual value to the effort. [SA 85]This blind assertion shows John Rennie’ willing ignorance concerning the contributions made by creationists to the major branches of modern science in general and to his own magazine in particular.Example of the naturalistic assumptions driving evolutionScientists have a reputation for impartiality and rigid honesty in their treatment of the facts, but it does not take much digging to find examples of how powerfully a materialistic mindset can cloud a scientist’ judgment. One of the greatest influences on Darwin, for example, was a book he took on the Beagle voyage, Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell, which pushed the idea of slow and gradual geological processes occurring over millions of years, and denied Noah’ Flood. Modern evolutionists acknowledge that Lyell was biased and unscientific, driven by anti-biblical philosophical assumptions, whereas the ‘catastrophists’ of his day (who believed in one or more Flood catastrophes) were rigid followers of the scientific method. Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002), himself a leading evolutionist, wrote:Charles Lyell was a lawyer by profession, and his book is one of the most brilliant briefs published by an advocate. … Lyell relied upon two bits of cunning to establish his uniformitarian views as the only true geology. First, he set up a straw man to demolish. … In fact, the catastrophists were much more empirically minded than Lyell. The geologic record does seem to require catastrophes: rocks are fractured and contorted; whole faunas are wiped out. To circumvent this literal appearance, Lyell imposed his imagination upon the evidence. The geologic record, he argued, is extremely imperfect and we must interpolate into it what we can reasonably infer but cannot see. The catastrophists were the hard-nosed empiricists of their day, not the blinded theological apologists.One infamous example of Lyell’ bias was his decision to ignore eyewitness accounts of the rate of erosion of Niagara Falls, and publish a different figure to suit his purpose. But Lyell convinced Darwin, who eventually linked slow and gradual geological processes with slow and gradual biological processes. For example, he said that mountains were products of thousands of small rises. PBS Episode 1 portrays Darwin saying, ‘Time, unimaginable tracts of time, is the key,’ and arguing that just as small changes over ages can throw up mountains, why couldn’t small changes accumulate over ages in animals to produce new structures?Not only Darwin, but also many prevailing churchmen of his day had capitulated to Lyell’ ideas. The prominent view was that God created organisms in their present locations. In his arguments against creation and for evolution, Darwin wondered why God would create not-quite-identical finches in almost identical islands.In this case, Darwin rightly thought that the island animals were descended from mainland ones. But this is what biblical creationists would believe too, with a global Flood and subsequent migration from Ararat via continents to islands. So Darwin’ arguments work only against a compromised creationist view, not the biblical view. (Present-day ‘progressive creationists’ hold essentially the same view as Darwin’ opponents, so they are trying to fight a battle that was lost 150 years ago but wouldn’t have been if Christians had not compromised on the earth’ age and the global Flood.)Darwin’ attempt to explain variations between finches underscores a fundamental point in the debate between evolution and creation: that facts do not speak for themselves, but are always interpreted within a framework. Creationists don’t deny a single observation an evolutionist makes, but find that they virtually always make better sense when interpreted within the biblical framework, as opposed to a compromised one. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that many of the alleged ‘evidences’ for evolution actually turn out to support the biblical model.Scopes trial and SputnikEvolutionists frequently point to two emotion-charged incidents in the 20th century that supposedly confirm the danger of mixing creation and science—the famous Scopes trial (1925) and the launch of Sputnik (1957). PBS 7 talks about the Scopes trial and says that William Jennings Bryan was victorious, and that it had the ‘chilling effect’ of expunging evolution from science curricula from many states. Surprisingly, for a series containing millions of dollars worth of misinformation, it didn’t present the play and film Inherit the Wind as a serious account of the trial. A good thing, because of its gross distortions documented in the article ‘Inherit the Wind—an Historical Analysis.’Then PBS 7 showed Sputnik, and claimed that American authorities were so alarmed that the Soviets beat them into space that they decided to make science education a priority. Somehow, evolution was smuggled in there. However, the science that put spacecraft on the moon is nothing like evolution. Rocket science involves repeatable experiments in the observable present; evolution is a just-so story to explain the unobservable past without God’s direct intervention. It’ especially ironic that the leader of the Apollo program, Wernher von Braun, was a creationist!It’ also blatantly revisionist history to claim that the Scopes trial paved the way for the Sputnik. During this alleged scientific nadir between Scopes and Sputnik, American schools produced more Nobel prizes than the rest of the world combined. America produced twice as many as all other countries—this was especially pronounced in the biological field (physiology and medicine), supposedly one that can’t do without evolution. The Soviet Union beat the USA into space merely because the totalitarian government made it a top priority. While the USA had a good space program, there were other spending priorities, such as helping a war-torn world to rebuild. When the USA put its mind to it, it quickly surpassed the USSR, and was the first to land men on the moon in 1969. If it had needed scientists trained in evolution, the moon landing wouldn’t have happened till the next generation had gone through the public school system.PBS and science journals are not the only ones trying to equate ‘science’ with evolution. One of the most vociferous anti-creationist organizations is the pretentiously named National Center for Science Education. This is a humanist-founded organization, and its chief spokesperson, Eugenie Scott, is the winner of humanist awards and was also a consultant for the PBS series. It’ significant that the only ‘science education’ NCSE seems interested in is evolution—not chemistry, physics, astronomy, or even experimental biology (or rocket science for that matter).Creation in public schools?The debate about religion and science has practical ramifications today, and it has spilled over into the public schools again. Evolutionists are terrified that criticisms of evolution (which they equate with teaching biblical creation—when it suits them!) may be allowed into the schools, and they are doing everything they can to stop it. (It’ important to note that, although it would be nice to give teachers the freedom to present alternatives to evolution, Creation Ministries International and other major creationist organizations have not been lobbying for compulsory creation in schools, despite common accusations. For one thing, one school of thought is that sending kids to public schools is like Joshua sending the Israelite children to Canaanite schools. But mainly, would Christians want an atheistic teacher to be forced to teach creation, and deliberately distort it?)PBS 7 extensively featured Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana. A student petition requested that the science curriculum should include the creation model. One teacher admitted that the signatories included ‘outstanding students’ and even some teachers. Of course this shows that one can be a top student without swallowing the evolutionary story.But several teachers claimed the petition was dangerous (i.e., for them to listen to students and parents). One teacher, Clare McKinney, claimed to be a Christian, but she claimed that science can’t involve God, swallowing the belief that science and religion do not overlap. Yet this claim is only possible if the Bible and the real world have nothing to do with each other, or if God and reason are mutually exclusive.Another teacher at the school said that science is peer-reviewed, testable, and repeatable. He failed to explain how a claim such as ‘a reptile turned into a bird 150 million years ago’ is testable or repeatable! Although evolutionists like to condemn creation as non-science, they have a hard time coming up with a definition of ‘science’ that includes evolution and excludes creation unless it’ blatantly self-serving. Sometimes these definitions are self-contradictory, e.g., some evolutionists, including Gould, have claimed that creation is not scientific because it’ not testable, then explained how it has allegedly been tested and shown to be wrong.The school board, led by School Superintendent Ed Eiler, refused the Jefferson High School petition, claiming that creation is not part of science. Amazingly, the teacher Clare McKinney lamented how biology would be unteachable if evolution were censored, but that was not what the petitioners requested. Ironically, they wanted the curriculum to teach more about evolution than the establishment wants the students to learn! But the upshot was that any criticisms of evolution are censored instead.There are numerous instances of teachers who face severe discrimination simply because they want to present their classes with the scientific evidence against evolution. One chemistry teacher was constructively dismissed simply for having [former] Answers in Genesis (US) speaker Geoff Stevens, who is qualified in physics as well as theology, address his class on chemical evolution, surely an appropriate topic for chemistry class. Mr Stevens presented a purely scientific case that non-living chemicals could not form a living cell by natural processes (see chapter 9), and he didn’t mention God or religion at all. But Eiler issued a formal letter of reprimand to the teacher of the class, Dan Clark, falsely accusing him of introducing ‘religion’ to his classes. The real problem was that ardent evolutionists refused to tolerate any challenges to their materialist faith.When tested by logic and reality, the evolutionists’ contention that ‘creationism is a religion that has nothing to do with science’ is hypocritical. Both creationists and evolutionists accept the same facts of science, they just interpret them based on different frameworks. One interpretation is based on atheistic materialism, and the other is based on God’s perfect, revealed Word.