Wednesday morning President Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House. In his speech, the president said the U.S. cherishes religious liberty and the Pope's presence reminds us of that. Later during the White House press briefing, spokesman Josh Earnest was asked to respond to criticism that the president is not as committed to religious liberty as he had earlier claimed.
"Well, I think the simple response is that I would encourage people to take the president at his word," Earnest said.
Breitbart News' White House correspondent Charlie Spiering cited the December 2013 lawsuit where a group of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor took on the White House over the Obamacare mandate of providing birth control to their employees. The Supreme Court granted the organization temporary relief from the mandate because of their religious beliefs.
Spiering also said that the president and his administration have persecuted Christians for his stance on same-sex marriage.
Earnest said that the president has ordered the military to take aggressive action to protect the safety of religious minorities, including Christians, around the world, and that based on the president's actions, it is a value that the he holds close.
"It certainly is a value that is central to the founding of this country and as the President of the United States, and as someone who feels strongly about the values of this country he works every day to uphold them," Earnest said.
Earnest went back to Spiering's citing of the Little Sisters of the Poor court case and said that the federal judges who have looked at the case notice that the administration's efforts to protect the religious freedom of the organization were successful.
Earnest said that the case was a good example of the way the administration is working closely with religious leaders to ensure that the policies put out were beneficial to the American people and protecting their religious freedoms.