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Indiana Republican Dan Coats Retiring from Senate

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At least one Republican senator will not be returning to the Senate in 2017. Sen. Dan Coats, 72, of Indiana announced his retirement this spring.

Coats returned to the Senate in 2011, following an 11-year absence, motivated by two major threats. He calls the first "the debt bomb."

"Just from a practical standpoint -- you can't just keep borrowing money," Coats told CBN News. "It will go off some day and have a devastating effect on our country's economy and on our kids' future."

That concern is topped only by what Coats describes as "the terror bomb." The worst nightmare is terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, he said. That could translate into the greatest loss of life ever on U.S. soil.

"We'd be talking about numbers in the 3 million range, not the 3,000 range," he said.

A major disappointment for Coats this year is the so-called U.S. Freedom Act lawmakers recently approved to replace the Patriot Act.

"Because it was so misrepresented: 'They're listening to all your calls -- the government is in your house, in your bedroom' -- which is not the case," he said. "Politically, the decision was made to compromise that down, and I think that makes us vulnerable."

Since his return to office, another threat has surfaced: the hostility facing Christians who are open about their faith.

The Wheaton College graduate says faith in God is the foundation of his life.

Coats said he was stunned this spring by the attack on religious freedom in his home state of Indiana.

"It was almost like an assault on people who were attempting and trying to do the right thing and that is recognize the Constitutional rights of freedom of religion and not to have those abused or taken away or discounted," he explained. "So I was in shock that the assault was so direct and so strong and so intolerant, frankly."

Indiana lawmakers are expected to take the issue up again next year and he hopes they respect religious beliefs and behave in what he calls a responsible way.

In the meantime, Coats will spend his last 18 months as senator fighting for freedom at the national level at a time when he says the threat level has never been higher.

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim