The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog, is calling on evangelist Paula White to resign her official post after she appealed to Jesus Christ to “command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now.” Long known as President Trump’s “spiritual adviser,” White was appointed late last year to a paid position with the White House’s Faith & Opportunity Initiative.
“It’s an embarrassment to our nation that White is a government employee,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “If White doesn’t step down, Trump should fire her. Such primitive thinking, superstition and bigotry should have no place in 21st century U.S. governance.”
On Friday, Jan. 24, the same day Trump became the first president to address the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., Right Wing Watch posted video of White appearing to wish miscarriages for a certain category of pregnancies defined by her. The off-the-wall sermon was given to the congregation at New Destiny Christian Center, an Apopka, Fla., megachurch, at which she was formerly senior pastor:
In the name of Jesus, we command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now. We declare that anything that’s been conceived in Satanic wombs, that it’ll miscarry. It will not be able to carry forth any plan of destruction, any plan of harm.
White’s bizarre miscarriage “command” followed a long rant, which included the following remarks:
We cancel every surprise from the witchcraft in the marine kingdom, any hex, any spell, any witchcraft, any spirit of control, any Jezebel, anything that the enemy desires through spells, through witchcraft, through any way that is manipulation, demonic manipulation, we curse that, we break it. According to the word of God, in the name of Jesus, we come against the marine kingdom, we come against the animal kingdom, any — the woman that rides upon the waters, we break the power, in the name of Jesus.
The video had more than 8 million views by Monday morning. Reaction included this tweet by reproductive health columnist and ob-gyn Jennifer Gunter: “So Paula White wants everyone at @WhiteHouse to know she is praying for abortion.”
Following widespread criticism, White claimed the reference was taken from Ephesians 6:12 and “metaphorical.” That doesn’t make it any more appropriate, FFRF contends.
FFRF condemned White’s hire last year as yet another salvo by the Trump administration to breach the wall of separation between state and church.
Now, with her recent remarks, Paula White has demonstrated her unfitness to hold that position.