On Wednesday, Mrs. Kay C. James, president of The Heritage Foundation, joined Dr. Frank Wright, President and CEO of D. James Kennedy Ministries, for an exclusive call with the NRB Board of Directors and President’s Council.
Mrs. Kay C. James has served as the president of The Heritage Foundation, America’s premier conservative think tank, since 2018. Throughout her tenure at Heritage, she has been dedicated to helping formulate and promote solutions to the many issues Americans face—from fighting poverty to improving our schools and our health care system to reducing the size and scope of government. These public policy solutions are developed under her direction as president and are based on the principles of individual freedom, limited government, free enterprise, traditional American values, and a strong national defense
Wright began the call by asking James about what her greatest concerns were regarding the Biden administration—what it has already acted on and what it has potential to do in the future. While James mentioned a number of things, one of her greatest concerns related to attacks on religious liberty.
“We must begin immediately to help people to understand the implications of what it’s going to mean for their daily lives and for the future and the kind of America that we’re going to leave our kids,” James said.
James encouraged those on the call to be proactive in defending religious liberty.
“I think it’s going to be difficult years ahead, but I think we have to be watchmen on the walls,” she encouraged. “We’ve got to be ready to stand firm, to push back, to fight back, but even more importantly to be able to explain to the American people why this stuff matters and why it matters who they vote for.”
They also discussed concerns about the power of big tech companies. Again, James addressed several concerns but focused on how Christians should respond to these concerns and the impact of technology on our lives. She said that the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” impacted how she thought about the influence of technology and the profound implications that has for the way we raise the next generation.
“While I’m concerned on the public policy front, I’m also very concerned about how we raise up a generation that may have to survive in a hostile environment,” James warned.
Wright asked James to speak to some of her concerns about the use of executive orders — specifically President Biden’s recent executive order regarding transgender issues.
“[The transgender issue is] just one of the issues, but the really big issue is the erosion of freedom and the erosion of religious liberty—the erosion of our ability to practice our faith in culture,” James noted. “It may be this issue today, but it will be another very soon.”
She spoke passionately about how the church has a responsibility to equip young people to think about these things biblically.
“We need to do some work with our young Christian high schoolers and college students who want to perceive themselves as being kind and generous and compassionate and help walk them through what it looks like to be a man or young woman of God,” James said. “They are so tempted to adopt the left’s perspective because they just don’t want to be mean, and they don’t want to be intolerant. We have not done a good job of helping them understand how to walk out their faith in compassionate and compelling ways while holding true to Scripture.”
James also discussed the implications of President Biden’s action rescinding the Mexico City Policy.
“Yes, it is about taxpayer funding paying for abortions, and no American should do that, but I am more concerned about what it says to the world about who we are as a nation and what it says to a poor woman in a third world nation about how our God can solve the problems she faces on a daily basis,” James said.
She concluded her time on the call with some personal encouragement for servants of Christ, saying that she wishes she would have known and believed earlier in her life that God is worthy to be trusted.
“I really believe that God has a plan for my life. He has a plan for this country. He has a plan for his world,” James said. “I have to play my role in it. I will do what he calls me to do without fear and without hesitation and rest in that.”
James encouraged Christian communicators to trust God and walk through life “unbothered.”
“What’s going to get us through these difficult years is a faith that teaches us that God is in control,” James said. “He has not left the universe. He has a plan for our lives and for our country. He has given us assignments, and what I have to do every day when I wake up is to be faithful to my assignment.”
To learn more about the NRB President’s Council, click here.
