During a Wednesday hearing of a subcommittee that is part of the House Oversight Committee, member Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) condemned prominent Republican colleagues of his for their promotion of openly extremist ideologies. Their approach has meant, in general, a reliance on claims of nationalism and dominance for the church and, in specific, harsh applications of their specific ideals like drastic abortion restrictions, rollbacks of rights for LGBTQ+ communities, and ideology over the scientific record in dealing with climate change.
“My colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert said, ‘The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.’ Junk being the Constitution and Bill of Rights,” Frost observed. He then argued that “Christian nationalism,” for which he noted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) expressed allegiance, contradicted basic Biblical principles.
“I condemn religious extremism everywhere, globally and domestically, and we have to recognize the threat it poses to our most sacred freedoms and root it out everywhere,” Frost continued. “And I think it’s incumbent, especially upon us as Christians and me as a Christian, to be at the forefront of the fight to ensure that white nationalism and Christian nationalism doesn’t see the light of day.” Frost emphasized his personal background in Christian religion amid his comments and conversation with witness Amanda Tyler from an organization called the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Tyler, in turn, argued that the concept of Christian nationalism was used to effectively provide cover for an ethno-nationalist, supremacist agenda. “True religious freedom requires equality for all people regardless of religious belief, and that’s why it’s so important, as our Constitution promises, that the government will stay neutral when it comes to religion to allow all religions to flourish,” she said. And that line of argument leads back to the difference between the understood legal standard that emanates from the Constitution and what Greene, Boebert, and others promote while in government.
Check out the hearing below:
