Democratic rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised some eyebrows with recent commentary during a committee hearing when she said her faith looks nothing like that of modern-day Republicans in congress.
Aside from blatantly ignoring her own views on abortion, which is the murder of people in the womb, she articulated quite an unusual theology as well.
At one point she declared that it is part of her faith that “all people are holy” despite the fact that the Bible preaches the exact opposite.
“It is part of my faith that all people are holy and all people are sacred,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Unconditionally. And that is what prompts us to transform because it is unconditional.”
God alone is holy, we are absolutely not. Paul declares that there is “none righteous, not even one” in Romans 3:10 while Jeremiah 17:9 says our hearts are “deceitful above all things and beyond cure” and yet still, Ecclesiastes 9:3 says the hearts of men are “full of evil” and there is even “madness” in our hearts.
Perhaps she was merely inarticulate and trying to say that humans have value. We do, precisely because we are made in the Imago Dei, the image of God. Apparently, Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t have the same level of passion for the most vulnerable in our society today.
She then went on to criticize what appeared to be Republican stances on the issues as not being Christian-like. “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 turning someone away from a hospital. There is nothing holy about rejecting a child from a family. There’s nothing holy about writing discrimination into the law.”
The comments stem from a court case about a woman, Evan Minton, who says she identifies as a male (a transgender man) and sought “gender-affirming” healthcare at a Catholic hospital. When the hospital found out the procedure had to do with the gender transition (hysterectomy), the hospital refused to provide for the woman because of their religious beliefs. Minton is suing the hospital.
In a world where people can see and understand differing belief systems and understand why Christians would want to avoid engaging in certain types of business, this disagreement wouldn’t have amounted to anything.
But we’re living in a world where bullying and intimidation are used to cause submission and forced acceptance of everything, no matter what.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed conservative Christians only use religious freedom cases as “bigotry.”
“I am tired of communities of faith being weaponized and being mischaracterized because the only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination. I’m tired of it,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“My faith commands me to treat Mr. Minton as holy. Because he is sacred. Because his life is sacred. Because you are not to be denied anything that I am entitled to. That we are equal in the eyes of the law and we are equal in my faith in the eyes of the world.”
“It is deeply disturbing, not just what is happening here, but what this administration is advancing, is the idea religion and faith is about exclusion. It is not up to us to deny medical care. It is up to us to feed the hungry. To clothe the poor. To protect children. And to love all people as ourselves.”
This is what happens when you put politics above your faith.
The fact that Ocasio-Cortez cannot see her own hypocrisy, as someone who clearly does not advocate for human beings in the womb, helps reveal how obviously political these comments are. She advocates for the individual right to kill those children when it is convenient and feels no shame lambasting Christians who don’t support her political views.
Those with a real reverence for God’s Word would see how off-base Ocasio-Cortez truly is on this issue. Jesus didn’t come to be “inclusive” of everyone and every belief. In fact, he came to do the opposite.
From Luke 12:
“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Thinking people are the holy ones and that Jesus is some hippie inclusivity addict are just two indications Ocasio-Cortez is either misinformed about the Christian faith or purposefully misusing Scripture in order to make a political point.