Republicans Are Twisting a Congressman’s Defense of Church/State Separation February 27, 2021

Republicans Are Twisting a Congressman’s Defense of Church/State Separation

On Thursday, just before the U.S. House passed the Equality Act, which would expand the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Rep. Jerry Nadler gave a speech responding to some of his Republican colleagues’ points.

Some of them were saying the Equality Act was “anti-faith” and that the bill would move the country “away from our Judeo-Christian values.”

Rep. Greg Steube was even more blunt with his lie:

“The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God’s good design,” he said. “Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences.”

Nadler responded by saying “Mr. Steube, what any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” You can see it around the 3:02:22 mark in the video below.

Nadler, of course, was right. We don’t live in a theocracy. Plenty of Christians would tell you the Equality Act doesn’t reject God’s “good design” because it provides civil rights protections for more of God’s creations. But even if it did, who cares? This isn’t church. We are ruled by the Constitution, not the Bible.

Nadler was making that very point, saying “God’s will” isn’t how we run our government.

Yet conservative liars online ran with the misinterpretation, claiming that Nadler had mocked their God on the House floor. One image on Facebook misquoted Nadler as saying “God has no authority in the House of Representatives.”

Professional liar Greg Locke joined in, claiming Nadler would be tortured by God in the afterlife for saying the thing he never actually said… and suggesting Nadler meant something other than church/state separation.

Nadler was right. He didn’t even say the statement in a sloppy way. He correctly told a religious member of Congress that his personal beliefs had no bearing on whether or not a bill should become law. He should be applauded for that.

Leave it to Republicans to misrepresent a statement that accurately reflects the Constitution they claim to love so much.

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