Written by Rob Chambers

President Donald Trump nominated Mike Pompeo, current Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, to become the next U.S. Secretary of State.

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. 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.”

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) took issue with Mr. Pompeo’s past acknowledgment of the national sin of condoning homosexuality and wanted to know if he still held that view. Sen. Booker asked Mr. Pompeo: “Is gay being a perversion?”…”Yes or no – do you believe gay sex is a perversion?”…”So, so you do not believe it’s appropriate for two gay people to marry?”

Mr. Pompeo answered Sen. Booker in the affirmative saying, “Senator, I continue to hold that view…” Meaning Mr. Pompeo maintains the biblical view that homosexuality is a sexual sin, a perversion before God. Mr. Pompeo continued saying, “My respect for every individual, regardless of sexual orientation, is the same.” Christians can and should detest sin, but still love the sinner.

Sen. Booker offered a conflicting response to Mr. Pompeo saying, “Your views do matter…and I do not necessarily concur that you are putting forward the values of our nation when you believe that there are people in this country who are perverse…” (Emphasis added).

Sen. Booker is saying that Mr. 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.

Sen. Booker’s lack of concurrence or refusal to vote for Mr. Pompeo on the basis of his religious beliefs is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution clearly provides that there shall be no religious test for any person to public office. It states:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. (Emphasis added.)

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. Sen. Booker has violated his oath of office, and the Senate should censure or condemn his radical, unconstitutional comments.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email to U.S. Senator’s Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to urge them to confirm Mike Pomeo’s nomination. Ask them not to ignore the fact that U.S. Constitution specifically forbids religious tests for office.

This article originally posted at AFA.net

After an embarrassing rant about Christianity somehow disqualifying an individual from public office and impying that a religious test should be implemented for those seeking to hold public office, California Democratic U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein is doubling down on her remarks.

On Wednesday, September 6, 2017, Feinstein attacked U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation hearing. Barrett, a mom of seven children, and a former clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was basically told her Catholic religion should keep her from being qualified for the judgeship.

“When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you,” said Feinstein. “And that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for, for years in this country.”

WATCH: Sen. Feinstein to appeals court nominee Amy Barrett, @NotreDame law prof/#Catholic mother of 7: "The dogma lives loudly within you." pic.twitter.com/mpDgNZGRsa

— Jason Calvi (@JasonCalvi) September 6, 2017

There was justifiably a huge backlash against Feinstein’s comments, but rather than retract them and issue an apology, Feinstein instead is doubling down on her statement, while unsuccessfully trying to explain away her obvious prejudice for people of faith.

On an appearance this weekend with CNN’s State of the Union, Feinstein said:

“This is a woman who has no real trial or court experience,” she argued. “And, therefore, there is no record. She’s a professor, which is fine, but all we have to look at are her writings, and in her writings, she makes some statements which are questionable, which deserve questions.”

Barrett was nominated by President Trump to fill a vacancy on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Perhaps Feinstein is concerned with the idea of having a judge who clerked for Scalia, a “lion of the law” on the Circuit Court of Appeals. However, Feinstein’s comments are representative of a larger feeling within the Democratic party. This is illustrated by the fact that during the same hearing in which Feinstein told Barrett, “the dogma lives loudly within you,” another prominent Democrat, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, asked her, “Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?”

Questions and statements like these are entirely inappropriate and have no bearing whatsoever in determining Barrett’s qualifications and abilities.

Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins says:

The reality is, liberals have as many deep convictions as conservatives — they’re just not as often rooted in the Christian religion. So to suggest that they can be impartial and believers can’t is not only untrue, it’s unfair. Telling Barrett that the “dogma lives loudly within [her]” is to ignore the dogma that lives even louder within Senate Democrats.

C.C. Peckhold, writing for the Wall Street Journal says:

Sens. Feinstein and Durbin were troubled not by Ms. Barrett’s Catholicism, but by her failure to prove her religion could conform to a more dogmatic progressivism. The “religious test” Democrats want to impose isn’t about religion per se; it’s about ensuring that every religious claim can be bent to more comprehensive political aims. It’s about defining anyone who dissents from the mores of the sexual revolution as disqualified from public office. That’s what makes Ms. Feinstein’s questioning so chilling.

Yet Feinstein stressed during the CNN interview that she has no animosity towards people of faith. “I think Catholicism is a great religion. I have great respect for it,” Feinstein said. “I’ve known many of the archbishops who have been in our community, we’ve had dinner together, we’ve spoken together over many, many decades, and I’ve tried to be helpful to the church whenever I could.”

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