By Rev. Gregory Quinlan
Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill’s statement following the House resolution condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk reveals a surprising lack of knowledge and a tendency towards the cheapest political posturing. What’s more, her statement is an attack on Christianity itself, and a denial of the role that faith has always played in shaping American liberty.
Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey, claims to revere the First Amendment. She even waxes eloquent about having sworn oaths to defend the Constitution since her time at the Naval Academy. But in the same breath, she berates Christians—especially Bible-centered Christians—by lumping them in with racists, misogynists, and enemies of freedom.
Congresswoman Sherrill confuses Charlie Kirk with Nick Fuentes, which is as grotesque as confusing Mikie Sherrill with Marjorie Taylor Greene. She throws around the pejorative “Christian nationalist” the way some use the term “Feminazi.” Is that really the right language for someone who wants to be Governor of a state as diverse as New Jersey?
Hasn’t her campaign briefed her that approximately 63% of adults in New Jersey identify as Christians? That’s according to the Pew Research Center’s 2023 – 24 Religious Landscape Study, which is a very reputable source.
If she wants to be a Governor for ALL the people, she should refrain from applying the name of any faith to the dog-whistle of “nationalism.” Would Congresswoman Sherrill link other faiths to the word “nationalism”? Why link people who practice the Christian faith that way?
The Republican Party is not the Bharatiya Janata Party of India. The GOP is not the BJP. The Congresswoman knows that. So, stop pretending that it is.
Stop showing contempt for people who openly practice their faith. It is their right under the Constitution. The same First Amendment that shields Jimmy Kimmel protects people of faith as well.
People are allowed to acknowledge that America’s institutions were built on biblical values, that the family is the cornerstone of a free society, or that religious conviction should not be banished from civic life. Mikie Sherrill is free to disagree with that, but she shouldn’t – if she wants to be Governor of ALL the people – use pejorative language to smear those she seeks to lead.
It is ironic that the Democratic Party nominee for Governor praises the Constitution while attacking the very foundations upon which it was built. The Declaration of Independence appeals to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and grounds human rights in our “Creator.” The First Amendment, she claims to defend, was written not to drive religion out of public life, but to protect it from government interference.
As the face of the Democratic Party in New Jersey, she should know the important part played by her party in forming the institutions of our Republic. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the progressive wing of our nation’s founders, to popular democrats like Thomas Jefferson (the primary author of our Declaration of Independence) and James Madison.
That same James Madison, the father of the Constitution and author of the First Amendment, observed: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation… upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.” In other words, America’s survival depends not just on parchment and politics, but on obedience to the laws of God.
Was James Madison a “Christian Nationalist” or was he simply a practicing Christian? He was one of your party’s founders. So, what does that make you?
By suggesting that Christians who want their faith to inform their politics are dangerous, Congresswoman Sherrill is revealing contempt for the very people who made this country free. This is a mistake for someone who wants to be Governor of us ALL.
George Washington warned in his Farewell Address that religion and morality are “indispensable supports” of political prosperity. John Adams wrote that our Constitution was made for a “moral and religious people” and is wholly inadequate to the governance of any other. Were they “Christian nationalists” too?
America is not free in spite of its Christian foundations, but because of them. I am free to believe this, just as someone is free to disagree with me.
No faith should suffer being cowed by smears and slanders emanating from those who seek to govern us. That is an assault on justice because, knowing their hostility, how can we expect them to govern justly?
We should not retreat when politicians equate faith with “hate”. Our task is to live and speak the truth with courage: that every right we enjoy is rooted in the truth that we are made in the image of God.
Mikie Sherrill says she will “never give up on protecting the rights and freedoms we hold sacred.” Yet her rhetoric betrays her. By treating faith as the enemy of freedom, she shows an intolerance that has no place in public leadership.
_
Rev. Gregory Quinlan is the Founder and President of the Center for Garden State Families, a Christian family advocacy organization located in New Jersey.
