I have no problem with politicians quoting Scripture. In fact, I think if more politicians replaced their own empty promises with the words of the Bible, our politics would be more substantive by leaps and bounds. But when politicians — or anyone else, for that matter — misuse Scripture to support a position that Scripture is clearly against, they should be respectfully but unequivocally challenged.

Last weekend, as Democratic vice-presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine spoke to a far left LGBT-activist group, Kaine invoked the Bible as evidence that his church was wrong on the issue of marriage:

And you know, like many people of faith including maybe many in this room, my support for marriage equality now — my full, complete, unconditional support for marriage equality — is at odds with the current doctrine of the Church that I still attend. But I think that’s going to change too. I think that’s going to change too.

And I think it’s going to change because my church also teaches me about a Creator — in the first chapter of Genesis — who surveys the entire world, including mankind, and said, “It is very good. It is very good.” Pope Francis famously said, “Who am I to judge?” And to that I want to add, “Who am I to challenge God for the beautiful diversity of the human family?” I think we are supposed to celebrate it, not challenge it.

If you didn’t follow the logic there, you’re not alone. Tim Kaine is saying that his church should change its position on same-sex marriage because in Genesis 1:31 God declared His creation “very good.” Never mind that one doesn’t have to read much further to find that same-sex marriage was not what God was talking about here — in just the next chapter of Genesis it says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). It’s a pronouncement that Jesus specifically affirms in Matthew 19.

And on the issue of Kaine’s church flipping on the issue, Catholic Diocese of Richmond’s Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo issued a statement to clear up any confusion Kaine might have, saying, “[T]he Catholic Church’s 2000-year-old teaching to the truth about what constitutes marriage remains unchanged and resolute.”

Radical views on Christianity aren’t new to Senator Kaine. As FRC Action’s own Ken Blackwell pointed out recently, when Kaine was in Honduras in the 1980s, according to The New York Times, he was a follower of a Marxist-infused ideology called liberation theology in which the gospel is replaced with a message of social reform.

This may explain why, just like with marriage, on abortion policy Kaine is at odds with both his church and apparently himself. He says he’s personally opposed to abortion, yet has a 100 percent voting record with NARAL Pro-Choice America. He has claimed to support the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding of abortion, yet he fully supports Hillary Clinton’s agenda, which (along with the Democratic platform) promises to repeal it, forcing Americans to pay for the killing of innocent babies.

Truth is resilient. In fact, it is unchanging. Try as they might, the Left has not been able to eradicate it. So the next best thing is to redefine it. They may succeed for a moment, but ultimately the truth will prevail.

Originally published here.

Continuing Un-resolution on Capitol Hill

Congress has two more weeks of work before they plan to leave town until after the election, but that hasn’t generated much bi-partisan effort to complete the spending bills prior to the government funding expiration September 30th. With none of the 12 spending bills having hit the president’s desk, debates over a “continuing resolution” (CR) — the measure that will fund government into December — continue. House Speaker Ryan (R-Wisc.) has opposed an “omnibus” spending bill, saying, “I hate omnibus bills and I don’t like doing these last-second bills.” The past history of massive omnibus spending bills has conservatives concerned. Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas), who leads the Republican Study Committee, said, “The senate’s got to resolve the appropriations dysfunction that they’ve had.”

That’s because Senate lacks 60 votes to pass the 12 spending bills and even a longer term CR. So Senate Republicans are again engaged in a negotiation with Senate Democrats, led by out-going Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to fund the government into December and add emergency spending for the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The sticking point is funding additional research on vaccinations for Zika and funding for health care for those in affected areas, especially Puerto Rico and Florida, which could create additional pots of money for Planned Parenthood.

The House did pass a spending bill with the Zika funding in it, but Democrats’ shameless attempt to hold up funding intended to target mosquitoes, not babies, is evidenced by having three times blocked a bill just because it did not contain new money for Planned Parenthood.

Speaker Ryan corrected the media’s adoption of the Democrats false narrative, saying: “First of all, there’s no Planned Parenthood [provision] in this bill, and to put an earmark for Planned Parenthood is something we won’t do.” Reid however announced they don’t yet have a deal yet, delaying a vote till Monday on any new CR/Zika deal. Pro-lifers have raised concerns over caving to the Democrats demands to provide additional funding to Planned Parenthood.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Idaho) are seeking to block the Obama administration’s plan to shift oversight of the internet domain system over to the foreign-controlled Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on October 1, and the Freedom Caucus led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has raised concerns over not funding the administration’s policy on Syrian refugees.

With so much at stake, and with 24 Senate Republicans running for re-election compared to 10 Democrats, Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) bleakly stated: “If I were a partisan Democrat I would want us to stay here until Election Day.” While that’s unlikely, Congress will continue to slug it out on the CR and these issues before getting out of town for what is shaping up to be one of the most important elections in our lifetime.

Originally published here.