On Friday's Outnumbered, former Obama State Department spokesman Marie Harf was "sort of ... offended" when asked why there is "such an open animosity to Christianity from those on the left."
Harf rejected the idea "that there is something inherent among the left that means we don’t like Christianity." Gosh, what would make anyone believe that?
There were several direct, Christianity-hostile actions taken during the Obama administration. Additionally, the Obama years were marked by a serious, undeniable "spike in government driven religious hostility," primarily directed at Christians.
The segment opened with a brief replay of one of MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle's sarcastic, condescending Wednesday comments Larry Kudlow, recently selected as the Chairman of the Trump administration's Council of Economic Advisers. Kudlow had the unmitigated gall to mention "God's will" in a CNBC interview. Fox & Friends co-host Lisa Boothe then mentioned Joy Behar's description of Mike Pence and Christians in general as "mentally ill," and Senator Bernie Sanders' grilling of Trump nominees, including one for a budgeting post(!), over their Christian beliefs. That set up Boothe's question: "Why is there such an open animosity to Christianity from those on the left?"
Harf demonstrated that she is in denial:
Selected portions of transcript:
(0:35-0:51)
MARIE HARF: ... Well, I sort of am offended by the question as someone who —
LISA BOOTHE: I'm offended by those comments from the MSNBC host, and Joy Behar for the record.HARF: Well, so, first of all, I think, at root I think faith is private, and none of us have to go out and publicly proclaim it to be faithful or religious.
(1:18-1:37)
HARF: ... I don’t agree with the things they (Behar and Ruhle) said. I don't like them mocking —
BOOTHE: I wouldn't think that you would.
HARF: No, that's where I was trying to get. I don’t like that. And I think people express their faith publicly or privately, whatever they're comfortable with. Nothing Larry Kudlow said was offensive to me or should have been challenged. I think that was a low blow by Stephanie Ruhle. I do.
(1:59-2:08)
HARF: ... I just don’t like the idea that there is something inherent among the left that means we don’t like Christianity. There are a lot of us who are incredibly religious who don’t like talking about it publicly.
(2:36-2:42)
HARF: ...But Mike Pence does not represent Christianity, and the idea that if you challenge Mike Pence you're challenging Christianity is not fair.
In the three bolded instances above, Harf seemed to indicate that faithful Christianity can include keeping one's faith private matter with no accompanying public effort. That isn't how it works. Since we're in this neighborhood, do these Christian leftists who claim to practice their faith in private ever pray for an end to the objective evil of abortion?
As to Pence, if you're calling him "dangerous" as a Christian and, because of that, someone who has a "mental illness," as Behar did, you are indeed "challenging Christianity."
The Obama administration spent eight years "challenging Christianity," and it involved far more than not mentioning "Christmas" eight consecutive times on official holiday-season cards. Just a few of many examples:
- The administration was notoriously slow to recognize the existence of Muslim-inspired Christian genocide in the Middle East. In September 2016, Shawn Steel at the Sacramento Bee wrote that "Christian genocide will be the enduring legacy of Barack Obama’s administration, and Hillary Clinton must share part of the blame."
- Under the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare, the Obama administration tried (and fortunately failed) to force private companies and religious organizations to violate their consciences by demanding that they include abortion and/or abortifacient drugs in their employer-sponsored health plans.
- Anti-Christian hostility in the military also increased.
- In the most visible, irrefutable example of leftist hostility towards Christianity and religion, "God" was at first not included in the 2012 Democratic Party platform. "It was reported that Mr. Obama had seen and signed off on the original godless platform, but then the campaign denied he had approved it." "God" was re-inserted into the platform over the loud objections of Democratic National Convention delegates, who "denied God three times from the convention floor."
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
