Why Did Senator Kennedy (R-LA) Ask a Biden Nominee if He Believes in God?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings for a number of Joe Biden’s nominees, including Hampton Dellinger, whom the president selected to serve as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy. An outspoken progressive, Dellinger surely expected Republican senators to grill him about his past political tweets on controversial topics, including abortion. He probably did not expect these senators to ask about his religious beliefs, which the Constitution expressly forbids. But that’s what GOP Sen. John Kennedy did during a startling exchange in which the lawmaker asked Dellinger: “Do you believe in God?”

Link to tweet

Kennedy’s question arose in the context of a tweet in which Dellinger asserted that male Republican politicians are the driving force behind abortion restrictions. “If there were no Republican men in elected office,” he tweeted, “there would be no abortion bans.” Kennedy read this tweet aloud, then asked Dellinger: “Do you think that my votes with respect to abortion are based on the fact that I want to control women?” When Dellinger responded that he “cannot speak to that,” the senator responded: “Then why’d you say it in front of God and country?” Dellinger told the senator that, to his mind, the Supreme Court’s decisions protecting reproductive rights “are important.” After further back and forth, Kennedy asked the nominee whether he believed in God. When Dellinger told him that “I have faith, I believe,” the senator shot back: “A lot of people have faith. Did it ever occur to you that some people may base their position on abortion on their faith?”

At no point did Kennedy, who was christened in the Catholic church, mention the fact that seven ministers sent the Senate a letter in support of Dellinger’s nomination. Several of these ministers lead churches in which Dellinger has worshipped. “Throughout his career, Hampton has advocated for just causes and operated with care and concern for his fellow human beings,” the ministers wrote. “He has displayed the kind of compassion, humility, and integrity we should demand for our public servants, affirming the dignity of all fellow citizens in the process.” Nor did Kennedy note that, while serving in the North Carolina Attorney General’s office, Dellinger helped to combat a wave of arson against Black churches.

Grilling a nominee about their past tweets is certainly fair game at a Senate confirmation hearing, even if Kennedy spent the better part of four years pretending not to see Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. The obvious problem here is the senator’s demand that Dellinger tell him, under oath, whether he believes in God. In addition to guaranteeing free exercise of religion, the Constitution states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-did-a-republican-senator-ask-a-biden-nominee-if-he-believes-in-god/ar-AAMIdp6

[louslobbs]

1. It's a question, I believe, that is used to throw

People off. There is only one answer as far as I’m concerned, and that answer, is a question right back at the the person who asked the question to you.

Which god are you referring to? Who’s god? And then watch them squirm. There are many gods, to which many people claim to follow, which god are you talking about? And as they stutter, you keep asking the question again and again with more urgency……lol. I’ve done this and it is quite amazing to watch them stammer and stutter.

[vapor2]

2. Senator Kennedy is a moron

and I think he asked Kavanaugh the same question at his hearing

[louslobbs]

5. Well, that too....

He knew the answer he would get from Kav….he knew also knows who the question might sandbag and cause an awkward hesitation. Kennedy is a fake, phony, and fraud.

[TomSlick]

17. It's worse than that. Kennedy is not a moron, he just acts like one for the folks back home.

Kennedy graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt. While in the University of Virginia School of Law, he was the executive editor of the law review and Order of the Coif. He earned a Bachelor of Civil Law with first class honors from Magdalen College at Oxford. He is published in respected law reviews and was an adjunct professor at LSU law.

The aw shucks country boy act is well practiced to con the voters in Louisiana. He knows better than to ask such a question. He does so because the folks back home like it.

A moron would be pitied. A con man is despised.

[bluedevil4]

3. Lol I thought you were kidding nt

[Thomas Hurt]

4. The answer to these stupid questions should be "Article VI, Section 3"

[louslobbs]

6. True, but I'm all for throwing crap

Back at these losers.

[Liberal In Texas]

16. Yes. Should be our stock answer every time they start on this crap. n/t

[Cha]

7. FO magat

[rickyhall]

8. I always answer that question with, "Ain't none of your goddamned business."

[Chainfire]

13. I like your answer, but I always reply with another question. Which god?

It will put a Bible thumper in a tailspin every time.

[Maraya1969]

9. If these men really thought they were working to save lives they would support

free contraception for all women because more than anything contraception stops abortions. But they not only don't support it they often vote to make it more difficult to get for poor women

So they are just full of shit and I wish someone would point that out to them.

[samsingh]

10. Repugs don't believe in God. Repugs seem to be liars, traitors and murderers

they steal from the poor.

Repugs are the type of people the Bible warns us to mistrust

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Kennedy is not an idiot that he pretends to be

Why is is Kennedy doing this?

[3catwoman3]

12. None of his...

…bleepin’ business.

[UTUSN]

14. All I knew about this KENNEDY was how repulsive he is. He's an erstwhile Democrat, supported KERRY

Beyond the frequent threads about how stupid CRUZ and RUBIO are, here's this KENNEDY a-hole applying a religious test to a government job. He's so full of proto-phoniness: Yes, it's his own name but is a constant reference to somebody else's name; yes, a real lawyer who fails legal knowledge; yes, an Oxford alum whose Aw-Shucks persona grates; yes, the Massachusetts KENNEDYs reference includes their appearances but he looks and is like a Munster.

I say "proto-" phoniness, because it's his real name, he's technically a real lawyer, and his down home background is real - yet everything about him suggests phoniness.

Kudos to the nominee who threw subtle shade at him with the "difference between ... a private citizen and working as a lawyer ..." !

But beyond all that, he's an erstwhile Democrat, did we know that?

**********QUOTE******

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/do-you-believe-in-god-senator-john-kennedy-hectors-biden-doj-nominee-over-religious-beliefs/

‘Do You Believe in God?’ Senator John Kennedy Hectors Biden DOJ Nominee Over Religious Beliefs

…. Dellinger replied “I sincerely appreciate that people have a different position on abortion than I do,” adding, “I recognize the difference between someone saying something inartfully as a private citizen and working as a lawyer, and I think I’ve got a 30-year track record of being open-minded.”

Senator Kennedy makes frequent appearances on cable news where he is known for his homespun folksiness, even though he studied at Oxford University and has been mocked for his past support of 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry. ….

*******UNQUOTE********

[gratuitous]

15. Do I believe in God, Senator?

Do you mean the God of the poor and oppressed? The defender of widows and orphans? The God who ordered us to feed the hungry, care for the sick and imprisoned, clothe the naked? That God? Because after a quick review of your career as an elected official, it's clear you're not familiar with that God.

Or are you talking about the God you've fashioned in your own image - mean, selfish, oppressive? On the side of the wealthy and the well-to-do? The God who would never tell the story of the rich man and Lazarus? That appears to be the God you know.

If you want to have a theological discussion, I'm all for it. But that's not really what we're here for, is it, Senator?