This newsletter is free and goes out to over 25,000 subscribers, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can subscribe via Patreon or the Subscribe button below! You can also make one-time donations through Venmo, CashApp, or PayPal.
Conservative Christians, faced with the prospect of not being allowed to get away with anything they want, are now falsely claiming New Jersey has made prayer illegal.
(They have not. Shocking, I know.)
Here’s what actually happened: Last Thursday, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law that, among other things, makes it a crime to get in the way of anyone accessing or providing reproductive or gender-affirming health care. It’s a necessary way to punish anyone who physically blocks access to a health care facility or intimidates patients, especially in the face of the Trump administration already doing everything it can to make it harder for people to get the care they need.
The word “physically” is key there. The bill goes after anyone who tries to “inflict bodily injury” on a patient, obstructs their path into the building, intimidates or threatens staffers through force, etc.
But because women will be able to access abortion care without having to worry about conservative Christians blocking their path, those religious zealots are now lying to their supporters about what this bill does.
It may have started with this irresponsible bit of projection from one right-wing activist, who said that prayers could be construed as a form of intimidation, therefore this bill would prevent protesters from praying outside clinics:
“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled ‘intimidation’ by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression,” said Marie Tasy, executive director of the anti-abortion group New Jersey Right to Life.
All of that is an exaggeration. Protesters still have their First Amendment rights even if patients and pro-choice allies don’t like it. This bill doesn’t prevent the prayers or legal protests.
In fact, that’s exactly what the governor’s office said:
… Maggie Garbarino, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said peaceful prayer is protected under the law.
“This legislation protects patients and providers from threats to their safety, and defends the fundamental freedom to make personal healthcare decisions without fear or intimidation. Nothing in this law prevents lawful, peaceful protest or the exercise of constitutionally protected speech,” Garbarino said in a statement to NJ.com.
“What is not protected is violence, threats, intimidation, physical obstruction, or property damage intended to interfere with someone receiving or providing reproductive healthcare,” she added.
Case closed. But being honest about this legislation doesn’t help Christian Right groups with fundraising, nor does it help zealots rile up their base.
That’s why the Christian group Intercessors for America sent emails to supporters over the weekend claiming “They Just Made Prayer Illegal,” directing people to a petition that included even more blatant lies about what the New Jersey bill does (emphases theirs):
New Jersey just signed the "shield law bill" that criminalizes prayer outside of abortion clinics statewide. This chilling eradication of the First Amendment for believers is now happening in New Jersey—it could be coming to a state near you. IFA is providing a way for you to make your voice heard to protect the First Amendment for people of faith. Sign the petition today to stop making prayer illegal and then be sure to pray for those leaders who represent you in government to protect religious freedom and freedom of speech.
Again, none of that is true. Prayer has not been criminalized. The First Amendment isn’t under attack through this law. And signing this petition won’t accomplish anything except getting your email address added to a Christian mailing list that will never stop spamming you.
But that group wasn’t alone.
The same lie was spread by anti-abortion activist Lila Rose who told her gullible followers that the bill is “effectively preventing Christians from praying outside abortion facilities,” adding that “No person should be punished for praying for the unborn.”
She’s lying. No one’s stopping Christians from praying outside health clinics. No one’s punishing them. Unless they’re praying in front of the door to a clinic, preventing someone from getting inside, they are still free to waste all the time and energy that they want. But notice she used that weasel word “effectively,” suggesting that even she knew prayer wasn’t under attack.
The website LifeNews.com didn’t even bother with that. Their headline made it sound like the New Jersey law banned prayer, period.
In fact, a lot of influential right-wing social media users put out statements saying the law CAN or COULD punish protesters. (Like Rose, a lot of them used the word “effectively.”) They’re equivocating because they know damn well the law doesn’t do what they’re saying, but they don’t care. They have to rile up their extremely ignorant base. By the way, good luck finding any prominent conservative Christians admitting that the law doesn’t do what these zealots are suggesting.
It’s honestly laughable to listen to these people whine because just think about what they’re saying. Can the prayers of anti-abortion protesters only be heard by God if they’re within a few feet of an abortion clinic? Are they admitting their God is hard of hearing? Or that their prayers aren’t as powerful as we thought? Can God not hear them if they’re praying against abortion from home? Apparently not! Who knew their God was this weak?
None of that logic, however, led any of these people to admit the law doesn’t actually prevent peaceful prayers and protests.
So why are they lying? Because they’re conservative Christians who aren’t interested in facts. These are the same people who overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in the past three elections despite all the cognitive dissonance and blatant lies. They lie because nothing in their faith convincingly taught them lying is bad. They lie because the truth gets in the way of their preferred narrative. They lie because they know, deep down, they’re the bad guys in this entire situation but they don’t want to admit it.
They’re also lying because this bill protects the rights of patients to get the health care they need from the doctors they want to see, and the Christian Right has spent years interfering with that bond. They see the space outside health care clinics as places where vulnerable patients can be confronted, shamed, frightened, and harassed, all while using euphemisms like “sidewalk counseling.” In New Jersey, lawmakers said that patients deserve to enter those facilities without threats or obstruction, so now these activists are screaming persecution. They don’t actually give a shit about prayer because even they know their prayers are ineffective. They just want to impose their will on patients who want nothing to do with them. This law prevents them from harassing people, and conservative Christians can’t handle being told “no.”
So they lie.
That’s why conservatives can’t honestly describe this law. If they admitted that peaceful prayer, even outside clinics, remains perfectly legal, their entire martyrdom narrative would collapse. Then they might have to confront reality: that they’re actually upset because the law prevents violence and intimidation and physical obstruction… and that’s exactly what they want to do. Saying New Jersey banned prayer is much better for fundraising than saying New Jersey won’t let us terrorize women, even though only the latter is accurate.
By the way, on Wednesday, the right-wing group 40 Days For Life announced that it would pay the legal bills for any Christians arrested under this law:
“Prayer is not a crime. Holding a sign is not intimidation. Offering a woman help is not coercion,” the group’s CEO Shawn Carney told The Post. “This law is designed to scare people of faith off the sidewalks outside abortion facilities by creating the constant threat of prosecution and costly lawsuits.”
“We will not be intimidated,” he went on. “If the state tries to weaponize this law against constitutionally protected speech, our Institute of Law & Justice will be there to defend them at no cost.”
Carney’s group stressed that the protesters must have been engaged in peaceful activity in order to get its legal support.
It’s a brilliant PR tactic. They get free press and they won’t have to spend a single cent on any legal bills since, again, peaceful prayers aren’t being targeted by this bill, and everyone knows that except for willfully ignorant Christians.
Christians fight hard to violate Matthew 6:5-6. Far, FAR harder than they do to keep predators in their ranks away from children. They sure as hell don't put a consistent effort into feeding, clothing and housing the poor. But if they even PERCEIVE any attempt to prevent them from praying in public, out come the fangs and claws.
If your hobby is standing around outside of medical facilities that do nothing to harm you, you really need to reevaluate your life choices.