A number of Republicans, especially those aligned with the religious right, held their noses and voted for Donald Trump, despite his many outrages, for only one reason–a chance to maintain the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The Republicans in the Senate even went as far as to throw a year-long tantrum to keep President Obama from picking Antonin Scalia’s replacement, in hopes that they would win the White House in 2016. Well, they got their wish when Trump picked Neil Gorsuch.
But one religious right luminary thinks that isn’t enough. To his mind, anyone who isn’t an evangelical Christian need not even apply for the highest court in the land.
Even by religious right standards, Dave Daubenmire is staggeringly extreme. He believes Christians have no business sitting in judgment of other Christians, and thought Hillary Clinton’s candidacy should have been rejected out of hand because she’s a woman. He also joined a group of fundies who held federal judge David Bunning in contempt of Jesus’ court for daring to send Kim Davis to jail.
But Daubenmire arguably had one of his worst moments yet on Thursday’s edition of his daily YouTube podcast, “Pass the Salt Live.” People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Daubenmire claimed the country started going off the rails when the number of Protestants on the Supreme Court declined. He doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that when that happened, Supreme Court decisions started “going more and more left.”
He then spouted the longstanding religious right urban myth that this country was founded on Christian principles. If that’s the case, Daubenmire said, then it can only be governed by those “who understand and promote and support biblical principles.” For that reason, he didn’t think it made sense to put people on the Supreme Court “who do not share Christian biblical beliefs.” In his eyes, the fact that there are such people on this nation’s highest court amounts to nothing less than a Communist coup from within.
He then openly admitted that if he had his way, the nine current justices would all get their walking papers. Five of them–Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Sonia Sotomayor–are Catholic. Three–Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan–are Jewish. The newest justice, Gorsuch, is Episcopalian.
But none of them meet Daubenmire’s standard. He bluntly stated that Jews are not qualified because “without Christ, Jews are not going to heaven.” Neither would “unsaved Episcopalians” or “unsaved Catholics.” While he noted that Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito “might be moral men,” they didn’t have the Holy Spirit guiding their decisions, but “the philosophies of men.” He added that a century ago, it was “unthinkable” to have a non-Christian on the Court–and now there are at least three, “four maybe.”
Later, Daubenmire took a swipe at his critics.
“Some of you watching right now think I’m crazy because you don’t have the Holy Spirit and the personal testimony in your own heart of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why you hate me so much, call me bigoted and judgmental. I’m just telling you the truth, what the Bible teaches. Believe it or don’t!”
No, Dave. We just don’t have much time for your attempt to gut the Constitution. Your proposal not only tramples on the First Amendment, but is the very definition of an impermissible religious test.
And we also don’t have time for your anti-Semitism. We remember how you showed your true colors when you blamed Jewish organizations for eroding this nation’s culture. And now you’re showing them again by saying Jews should not be allowed on the Supreme Court.
It’s safe to assume that this is exactly how a lot of religious right leaders speak in their unguarded moments. Deep down, they want to turn this country into a Christian version of ISIS, Afghanistan under the Taliban, or the current regime in Iran. From where I’m sitting, the only difference between Daubenmire and the mullahs in Iran is that while Daubenmire wears a cap with a cross on it, the mullahs wear black turbans.
(featured image courtesy Daubenmire’s Facebook)
