A lot of questions will be posed to Amy Coney Barrett during her days-long confirmation to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the next Supreme Court justice. But Joe Biden hopes that none of them are about her religious beliefs. The Democratic presidential candidate told a group of reporters on Monday that “her faith should not be considered” during the hearings, which are expected to be heated. So far, Democrats have stayed away from Barrett’s beliefs (ironically, “it was exclusively GOP senators who brought it up on the first day of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee”), but this isn’t sitting well with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Neither is the religious hypocrisy of supposedly God-fearing Republicans.
“Sick and tired of Republicans who co-opt faith as an excuse to advance bigotry and barbarism. Fact is, if today Christ himself came to the floor of Congress and repeated his teachings, many would malign him as a radical and eject him from the chamber,” the congresswoman tweeted, along with a clip from February, where she said, “The only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination. I’m tired of it.”
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1315700608851234817
Ocasio-Cortez also retweeted Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who wrote, “Let’s be clear about this: if a Muslim woman was nominated to SCOTUS you would see Republicans lose their mind about her religious background… ‘Sharia law’ would be trending right now. Miss me with the pearl-clutching and all this righteous talk about religious freedom.” Meanwhile, asking about Barrett being a member of the People of Praise, an insular Christian group with “a strict view of human sexuality that embraces traditional gender norms and rejects openly gay men and women,” is apparently off-limits.
AOC’s tweet echos remarks made by former-South Bend mayor and -presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, of all people, about Republicans last year. “For a party that associates itself with Christianity to say it is okay to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religious language,” he said.
This week has big “Lemon, it’s Wednesday” energy. Except it’s only Monday.
(Via Twitter/AOC)