In a radio segment released Tuesday, conservative anti-feminist writer Phyllis Schlafly claimed that President Barack Obama is “trying to treat Christians like smokers” by eradicating “all evidence of religion from public places.”

She pinned her theory on a speech given by President Obama in 2010 in which he misquoted the Declaration of Independence by leaving out a reference to man’s “creator.” That, Schlafly suggested, is indicative of a secret intent to wage a silent war against followers of his own religion.

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“Changing the words of the Declaration of Independence is part of his determination to remove everything religious and every mention of God from every aspect of our public life in order to ‘fundamentally transform’ us from ‘one nation under God’ into one nation under the Federal Government, especially the executive branch, with no higher power recognized,” she insisted.

“I think Obama is trying to treat Christians like smokers. You can do it in the privacy of your own house and maybe inside your church, but never where the public can see you. The Founding Fathers were very public about their religion, and we have the right to be, too.”

Far from existing on the Republican Party’s fringes, Schlafly occupied the same stage as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Committeee (CPAC).

Her latest book, “No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom,” chronicles what she calls “the greatest assault on American liberty in our time.” In it, the popular conservative personality explains that President Obama’s second term will lead to every Christian military chaplain being court marshaled, every Catholic hospital being shut down and every pro-life doctor being forced to assist in abortions.

Schlafly’s “pro family” group, Eagle Forum, boasts that it has about 80,000 paying members across the nation, each of them paying $20-$25 a year to subscribe to Schlafly’s newsletter. Her activism is widely credited with helping defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in 1975, which would have guaranteed gender equality under the law.

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This audio was published by Schlafly’s Eagle Forum on Tuesday, August 7, 2012.



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