One of those key people in history was Thomas Becket, a former archbishop of Canterbury, who stood up to King Henry VIII over the issue of church and state. His bold stance against government control of the church cost him his life. Last week, on the 850th anniversary of Becket's martyrdom on Dec. 29, 1170, President Donald J. Trump issued a bold proclamation. In this proclamation, he retold the story of the high price Becket paid for the freedoms we enjoy today and honored his key contributions to the issue of religious freedom.

Becket's death, according to the proclamation, "changed the course of history because it eventually brought about numerous constitutional limitations on the power of the state over the church, across the West" and "serves as a powerful and timeless reminder to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not a mere luxury or accident of history, but rather an essential element of our liberty. It is our priceless treasure and inheritance. And it was bought with the blood of martyrs."

The president closed with a powerful statement that we would do well to heed: "A society without religion cannot prosper. A nation without faith cannot endure—because justice, goodness and peace cannot prevail without the grace of God." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

I hope you'll check out the full text of the president's proclamation here and listen to the entire episode of the Strang Report podcast where I explain more about it here.

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