Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has had an adversarial relationship with people of faith. Four bishops have banned the reportedly practicing Catholic from receiving sacraments in the church because of her staunch advocacy of abortion.
In recent months, Archbishop Cordileone informed the former speaker she would have to renounce her support for abortion and go to confession before she would be allowed to receive communion in the church.
Seemingly surprised that evangelicals oppose many of the “progressive” policies she has championed, Pelosi once said, “I’m a devout Catholic, and I honor my faith and love it… but [Christians] have this conscience thing.”
The Horn News ran an article titled “Nancy Pelosi SPITS IN THE FACE of Christianity (disgusting!).” The outlet quoted Pelosi as saying, “Conservatives pray in church on Sunday and prey on people the rest of the week.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Pelosi (D-CA) shared with MSNBC host Joy Reid her frustrations about opposition coming from people of faith.
Reid presented Pelosi with a leading question: “Give some advice to those who are frustrated by our politics now.”
Reid also prompted Pelosi to convince Americans to set aside religious convictions and “to vote not on how politics will impact your religion, but how it will impact your life.” Reid added that Pelosi was “a religious person” and had the moral authority to speak to the issue.
Pelosi responded by referencing a well-loved and fellow Catholic, the late President John F. Kennedy. Pelosi shared that Kennedy was once asked by a gathering of religious (and primarily non-Catholic) leaders about his faith and how that would impact his political decisions.
Pelosi shared that Kennedy reportedly replied: “‘It’s not important what religion I believe in. What’s important is what America I believe in.'”
Pelosi told Reid Americans should not use their faith as a compass to guide their voting. She used Kennedy’s phrase, “It’s not important what religion I believe in” as a springboard to say “that’s what we have to be thinking in terms of taking it to people.”
However, Kennedy’s statement was designed to assure protestant Christians that he would advocate policies that were good for America not policies particularly aligned with the Catholic church. Historians today note that Kennedy’s pro-America policies did align with and support America’s Christian heritage.
Notably, Kennedy has a pro-life legacy — he appointed Byron White to the Supreme Court. Later, Justice White would write the dissenting opinion in the landmark Roe v. Wade case.
During the interview, Pelosi also swiped at Trump and the people of faith who support him, saying:
“I do think that many of the people who fell for what’s-his-name’s line, because they just didn’t see a path in the future, in the economy the way it was. I think many of them are really patriotic. I think some of them are racist and bigots, but I think many of them are very patriotic.”
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