With yesterday’s big January 6th hearing collapsing over the last 12 hours, including its “emergency” witness being caught in multiple falsehoods, I suppose Rep. Adam Kinzinger needed something else to focus on. With all of his considerable wisdom, he selected Rep. Lauren Boebert fresh off Tuesday night’s major primary victory, to be his opponent.
Kinzinger used social media to make the claim that Boebert is not different from the Taliban, passing out hot take such as Oprah’s gift bag giveaway. These are the words of Kinzinger and the comment from Boebert as quoted by The Hill. Let’s just say that I’ve got thoughts on both.
It is not possible to distinguish between the Taliban and this. The Christian Taliban must be defeated. This is what I believe as a Christian.
https://t.co/zt8mFKc3Jt
— Adam Kinzinger🇺🇦🇺🇸✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) June 29, 2022
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk — that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like they say it does,” Boebert said, earning a round of applause from the audience.
…“The reason we had so many overreaching regulations is because the church complied,” she said. “The church is supposed to direct the government. The church is not to be directed by the government. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.”
Let’s take this bite by bite, starting with what Boebert actually said. Context is important in all situations. She was speaking on behalf of the Colorado congresswoman in a church. This is the most important thing to remember when considering her comments. Her statement that the church should direct the government was clear. She meant Christians were not to become disengaged and be subordinated to authority. They remain the majority of the nation and are therefore eligible to vote.
As to the actual idea of “separation of church and state,” Boebert is right that it isn’t in the Constitution. Rather, the Bill of Rights stipulates that the government can’t make any law establishing a religion. This was obviously intended to safeguard religious people against discrimination by the state. That’s why it’s in the Bill of Rights, which stipulates protection of the individual from government power.
Although the founding fathers desired that the government be independent from religious institutions, they were not able to imagine a Christian worldview being completely detached from the institution’s machinations. Since centuries, the United States has had a tradition of government officials citing God. That is not out of bounds regarding policy assuming no one’s constitutional rights are violated given that everyone derives their beliefs on what is right and wrong from somewhere.
Regardless, I think all of that is giving Kinzinger’s insane accusation too much credit. Even if Boebert were actually calling for a literal theocracy, that would not make her the same as the Taliban, and there is no such thing as a “Christian Taliban.” Islamism is uniquely violent and repressive, as evidenced by what has occurred in Afghanistan since the US withdrawal. Comparing the views of an American Christian with those of the Taliban would be disgusting and dishonest. Kinzinger knows that, but he’s gunning for an MSNBC. There’s nothing he won’t say or do to get it.
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