Western civilization — heavily influenced over the course of two thousand years by the Judeo-Christian worldview — serves as the foundation of the United States’ intellectual, religious, and cultural realities.
The teaching of the Puritans and the earliest evangelicals informed the American Revolution and its resulting philosophy of government. As a result, American politicians for nearly 250 years have invoked Christian theology when addressing the public.
While modern American Leftists have attempted to follow in these footsteps, they often miss the mark. Here are seven theological mishaps from leading Democrats.
Eric Swalwell
During an MSNBC interview about President Trump’s impeachment proceedings, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) referred to the Creator of the cosmos as “God herself.”
“The choice was, do we chase those people, not knowing what they’re going to say, to the courts for years or do we go forward with the powerful, thundering case that we have?” asked Rep. Swalwell, who served as an impeachment manager despite reports of his involvement with a Chinese spy. “And also knowing that Mitch McConnell was already telling us that he believed the challenge was a jurisdictional one.”
“So we could have called God herself, and the Republicans weren’t going to be willing to convict, so we’re proud of the case we have put forward,” Swalwell added.
Both the Old and New Testaments consistently reveal God in male terms (Psalm 68:5, Romans 1:7). Jesus Christ is described as the Son of God (Psalm 2:7, Matthew 16:16) and as the husband of the Church (Ephesians 5:22-24).
Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently grilled Russ Vought — President Trump’s nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget — for his adherence to biblical Christianity.
During the confirmation hearing, Sen. Sanders repeatedly cited a 2016 article that Vought had written about the relationship between Christianity and Islam.
Sen. Sanders focused particularly on Vought’s affirmation that “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.”
“Are you suggesting that all of those people stand condemned?” Sen. Sanders asked Vought. “What about Jews? They stand condemned, too?”
Vought clarified that he believes “all individuals are made in the image of God” no matter their religious convictions.
“Senator, I wrote a post based on being a Christian and attending a Christian school that has a statement of faith that speaks clearly with regard to the centrality of Jesus Christ in salvation,” he added.
Indeed, Vought’s assertion is almost identical to several Biblical statements about the doctrine of salvation. The Gospel of John, for instance, teaches that “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:18)
Critics argued that Sen. Sanders’ line of questioning violated Article 6 of the Constitution, which states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
Joe Biden
In spite of his support for abortion and transgenderism, the 46th President often touts his Roman Catholic religion. Nevertheless, he recently mispronounced one of the most foundational books of the Bible.
During his Thanksgiving address, Biden said “And if we do, and I’m sure we can, we can proclaim the palmist (ph), with the palmist (ph) who wrote these following words, ‘The Lord is my strength and my shield.’” Presumably, Biden was quoting Psalm 28.
The word “psalm” is pronounced with a silent “p.” Because the book of Psalms is among the longest in the Old Testament and among the most quoted by the authors of the New Testament (Acts 4:25-26, Romans 3:10-18), most casual church attendees would be familiar with its pronunciation.
Emanuel Cleaver
As he opened the 117th Congress of the United States, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) — an ordained Methodist minister — appealed to a Hindu god and ended his invocation with “amen and awomen.”
Rep. Cleaver’s prayer borrowed many Christian references and themes, but ended on a note that left many Americans scratching their heads.
“We gather now in this consequential chamber to inaugurate another chapter in our roller coaster representative government,” he prayed. “The members of this august body acknowledge your sacred supremacy and therefore confess that without your favor and forbearance, we enter this new year relying dangerously on our own fallible nature.”
“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and ‘god’ known by many names by many different faiths,” said Cleaver. “Amen and awomen.”
In Hinduism, Brahma is a four-faced god who emerged from the navel of another deity named Vishnu. In contrast, the Athanasian Creed — professed by all Christian denominations — states that “the Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.”
The word “amen” is used throughout the Bible in reference to completeness or affirmation (Numbers 5:22, 1 Corinthians 16:24). In the original Hebrew, amen means certainty or truth.
Raphael Warnock
Weeks before the Georgia runoff election, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) proudly announced his support for abortion.
Warnock, who worked as a Baptist minister for several decades, tweeted “I am a pro-choice pastor” — a comment that earned over 260,000 likes.
Two dozen African-American ministers wrote a letter in rebuke of then-candidate Warnock’s proclamation.
“As a Christian pastor and as a Black leader, you have a duty to denounce the evil of abortion, which kills a disproportionate number of Black children,” they wrote. “Your open advocacy of abortion is a scandal to the faith and to the Black community.”
Citing Psalm 139, the pastors affirmed that “abortion is fundamentally in conflict with the plain reading of the Bible.”
“Can you in good conscience defend abortion, knowing that abortion kills 474 Black babies for every 1000 live births?” they asked. “Abortion decimates Black communities, disrupts Black families and inflicts untold harm on Black women.”
Sean Penn
In addition to powerful political figures, prominent celebrities with left-leaning views tend to offer ill-informed opinions about theology.
Following President Trump’s impeachment proceedings, actor and director Sean Penn suggested on Twitter that “evangelical leaders should themselves be impeached by the Vatican if they themselves don’t follow Nikki Haley’s lead & clearly state they should not have followed Satin into the bowels of hell.”
Commentator Allie Beth Stuckey pointed out the multiple errors in his statement.
“I don’t know if anyone’s given you a clear explanation of what you got wrong here, but the pope is Catholic and evangelicals are not, so he has no authority over what they do,” she tweeted. “That’s one. Two, they can’t be impeached. Three, it’s velvet. Velvet is in hell, not satin.”
The evangelical movement began in Protestant territories during the eighteenth century. As Protestants, evangelicals do not submit to the authority of the pope.
Alyssa Milano
Actress and singer Alyssa Milano — a staunch advocate of abortion — misquoted the New Testament while attempting to defend her belief in “scientific facts.”
“I love God. I believe in God,” she tweeted. “But I don’t believe my personal beliefs of which we can’t confirm should override scientific facts and what we can confirm.”
She then cited John 3:12 to support her point: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
The third chapter of John records a conversation between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus about the nature of salvation. Milano, therefore, fell subject to an interpretive fallacy called “eisegesis” — reading one’s own ideas into a biblical text.
“‘I believe in something but I have no idea why exactly I believe it so killing babies is OK with me,’” quipped The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.