Democratic Senator Attacking Religious Views of Secretary of State Nominee Mike Pompeo
TUPELO, Miss.—President Donald Trump has nominated CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, but it won’t be an easy road to the new post.
This week, AFA Action (www.afaaction.net), the governmental affairs affiliate of the American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net), sent an Action Alert to its more than 1 million friends and supporters, urging them to call on their senators to vote for Pompeo, especially in the wake of attacks on his religious views.
Pompeo testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month, and the committee is expected to vote this week, reports The Atlantic. With no Democrats supporting Pompeo, he could become the “first top diplomat in the nation’s history to win confirmation without the public endorsement of the panel that oversees the State Department.”
“During a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Mr. Pompeo was asked about past comments he made about his religious views on marriage and sexuality,” said AFA Action President Tim Wildmon. “At a church event in 2015, Mr. Pompeo commented on the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that forced states to recognize homosexual ‘marriage.’ Mr. Pompeo quoted a pastor who had said our nation had ‘endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.’”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) took issue with Pompeo’s past acknowledgement of the national sin of condoning homosexuality, reported AFA Action, and wanted to know if he still held that view, to which Pompeo answered he did. Booker further stated that he does not “concur that you are putting forward the values of our nation when you believe that there are people in this country who are perverse.”
“Sen. Booker is saying that Mike Pompeo’s views on homosexuality ‘do matter’ as an individual, but such a person as Mr. Pompeo cannot hold these religious views and still be a qualified nominee for the U.S. Secretary of State,” Wildmon said. “Mike Pompeo asserted that he maintains that he holds the biblical view that homosexuality is a sexual sin and a perversion before God. But he continued that his ‘respect for every individual, regardless of sexual orientation, is the same.’ Christians can and should detest sin, but still love the sinner."
Wildmon added that Booker’s lack of concurrence or refusal to vote for Pompeo on the basis of his religious beliefs is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. Article VI, Clause 3, which clearly provides that there shall be no religious test for any person to public office.
“When Sen. Booker took the oath of office to the U.S. Senate, he swore he would ‘bear true faith and allegiance’ to the Constitution of the United States,” Wildmon concluded. “Sen. Booker has violated his oath of office, and the Senate should censure or condemn his radical, unconstitutional comments.”
Leading up to the Senate vote, AFA Action continues to call on Americans to urge their senators to vote for Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State.
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