The only thing more disconcerting than hearing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez transform government force into liberty is the fact that, once again, her remarks have gone viral. During a hearing of the House Oversight Committee last Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez likened healthcare providers who refuse to perform medical procedures that violate their religious views to “white supremacists,” people who “justified slavery,” and those “who fought against integration.”
“It’s very difficult to sit here and listen to arguments in the long history of this country of using Scripture and weaponizing and abusing Scripture to justify bigotry,” she said. “There is nothing holy about rejecting medical care of people, no matter who they are, on the grounds of what their identity is. … There is nothing holy about writing discrimination into the law.”
Let me first commend Ocasio-Cortez for her frank appeal to the Gospel in her criticism of what she describes as the Trump administration's “religious liberty assault on LGBTQ rights.” While I disagree with most of what she says, it is good when politicians who describe themselves as Christians take a public stand for their convictions and what they see as the policy implications of their faith. Even when, as in this case, I disagree with what is said, I’m glad to hear religious and specifically Christian arguments in the public square.
I am even happier when they meet serious scrutiny. Though I think her views are fatally flawed, given their implications, we should take Ocasio-Cortez’s analysis and prescriptions seriously. That is precisely when she fails.
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