Lauren Boebert (left), Adam Kinzinger.Photo: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Rep.Adam Kinzingeris slamming fellow Republican Rep.Lauren Boebertafter the Colorado politician said she was"tired of this separation of church and state junk."
“There is no difference between this and the Taliban,” 44-year-old Kinzinger, who represents Illinois, wrote onTwitter.
“We must opposed [sic] the Christian Taliban,” he added. “I say this as a Christian.”
In alater tweet, he described his intention as calling out “Christian nationalism,” writing, “I can’t find anywhere Jesus said that the Govt matters to him.”
Two days beforeher primary election, Boebert, 35, preached to churchgoers at an event, “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church.”
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk,” she continued to tell the Colorado Springs crowd on Sunday. “This is not in the Constitution, it was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does.”
Judicial interpretations of theFirst Amendmentstate that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Legal scholars, government officials and the Supreme Court have upheld this clause as establishing what people refer to as the “separation of church and state.”
In 1802,Founding Father Thomas Jefferson coined the “separation” phrase in his correspondencewith the Danbury Baptist Association. Jefferson, a central figure in establishing the U.S. government, wrote that the First Amendment built “a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Boebert has made controversy a key part of her political brand, while Kinzinger has staked out a decidedly more moderate tone.
Kinzinger, a former Air National Guard pilot who served two tours in Iraq and is now a member of the committee investigating theJan. 6 Capitol riots, has become one of the most prominent Republican lawmakers to speak out against Trump, 76. He was one of10 Republicans in the House of Representativesto vote toimpeach the former presidentfor “incitement of insurrection” after thedeadly U.S. Capitol riotin 2021.
In 2020, the Illinois lawmakerspoke with PEOPLEabout his push against conspiracy theorists amid the presidential election, which featured a handful of congressional candidates who had voiced support for QAnon, a bizarre and macabre network of beliefs including that Trump is at war with secret evildoers.
Boebert — who won her GOP primary bid for reelection on Tuesday — has previouslyexpressed support for some QAnon conspiracies.
But asThe Guardianreports, she hasn’tcalled herself a follower. She has, however, said: “Everything that I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real because it only means that America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values.”
source: people.com
