Open Letter From Conservative Leaders: Stop Religious Intolerance

At the recent confirmation hearing of Office of Management and Budget deputy director nominee Russell Vought, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), joined by Sen. Chris van Hollen (D- MD) asked him a number of intrusive and openly hostile questions about his religious beliefs.1 We find the manner in which these questions were asked, and even more so, their substance, to be not only extremely disturbing but unconstitutional.

Senators Sanders and van Hollen were apparently bothered by a past blog post of Vought’s in which he defended a religious school’s religious doctrine. Part of the post stated: “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned.” In the hearing, Sanders asked Vought whether he really believed that Muslims and Jews and “people who are not Christians are going to be condemned.” When Vought emphasized that he was simply declaring long-held Christian truths while making a theological argument, Sanders interrupted and said his views weren’t very “respectful,” finally declaring Vought to be “not someone who this country is supposed to be about.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) decided Sanders’ line of questioning was worthy and pursued Sen. Sanders same line of questioning, saying “No one is questioning your faith. … It’s your comments that suggest a violation of the public trust in what will be a very important position.”

These questions and comments are quite disturbing. What’s particularly alarming about them is they reveal Senator Sanders’ and van Hollen’s inability to discern between private religious beliefs and public policy. There was no mention of any possible public policy application of Vought’s beliefs, either at the hearing or in his record. There can be nothing in this exchange to which Sanders or van Hollen could object aside from the nature and substance of Vought’s personal beliefs which are, as Sen. Sanders pointed out in the hearing, held by a majority of the American people.

So, in addition to engaging in an unconstitutional religious test for public office, Sanders and van Hollen display dangerously imprecise and wrong-headed thinking that exclude from public service any person whose religious views the government doesn’t like.

The very founding of our country is anchored in the idea, set forth in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, that the federal government should not order compliance with any specific theology. Thus, if Sanders and van Hollen believe their theological views are permissible for a government official but that Vought’s are not, the creation of such a paradigm would “establish” a government religion and violate the very principle of the First Amendment these Senators claim to support.

Regardless, this incident shows that the singling out of private religious beliefs during a confirmation hearing has no place in America. Candidates for public office must be assessed on the policies they propose and their ability to serve the public good. To do otherwise only furthers the type of bigotry which Sanders and van Hollen purport to condemn.