Bernie Dislikes A Central Tenet Of Christianity And Will Vote Accordingly
By Aiden Pink June 9, 2017
The normally staid Senate Budget Committee became quite tense on Wednesday when Senator Bernie Sanders lit into an executive branch nominee for writings that he perceived as privileging Christianity over other faiths.
Russell Vought, whom President Trump nominated to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in the evangelical blog The Resurgent that based on his reading of the Gospels of Luke and John, “Muslims … do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.”
“There are other people of different religions in this country and around the world. In your judgment, do you think that people who are not Christians are going to be condemned?” Sanders asked.
Vought repeated that as a Christian, he believed that all people ought to be treated with respect, to which Sanders replied, “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about. I will vote no.”
Sanders was criticized by Russell Moore, the head of the political arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, for not understanding that for Christians, faith in Jesus is the only way to gain salvation.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
