Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso.
Rep. Justin Everett.
Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt.
A state lawmaker says it was wrong of House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso to kick Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt off a committee because of the controversy surrounding Klingentschmitt’s “curse of God” comments following an attack on a pregnant woman whose fetus was ripped from her womb.
Rep. Justin Everett, R-Littleton, said he’s not endorsing what Klingenschmitt said, but he is defending his right to say it. Everett said that if allowed he plans to address the entire House Tuesday morning because he is concerned about what he sees as a “dangerous precedent.”
Klingenschmitt said his committee removal was unfair, but he suspended his ministry for six weeks.
Meanwhile, one of Klingenschmitt’s fellow El Paso County Republicans, state Sen. Owen Hill, weighed in on the controversy, with a newsletter entitled “Klingenschmitt’s biblical blunder.” Klingenschmitt referenced a passage from Hosea in his remarks; Hill said it was more appropriate to “turn to Jesus’s words and actions in Luke 13.”
“Klingenschmitt,” Hill wrote, “is not the first to misuse Scripture … .”
Michelle Wilkins, who was attacked.
Klingenschmitt has taken heat since last last week for comments he made on his daily online show “Pray in Jesus Name” concerning the attack on the 26-year-old Longmont woman by a stranger. Michelle Wilkins lived, but her baby girl, a 34-week-old girl, did not.
“This is the curse of God upon America for our sin of not protecting innocent children in the womb and part of that curse for our rebellion against God as a nation is that our pregnant women are ripped open,” Klingenschmitt said.
He apologized during his show on Monday for his remarks. The program was taped Sunday in Colorado Springs.
from the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee, saying he felt he had to take some sort of disciplinary action because of the lawmaker’s “insensitive remarks.”
But Everett said voters in Klingenschmitt’s Colorado Springs district “knew what they were getting” when they voted for him in November. After the former naval chaplain won the primary, about his controversial statements on everything from gays to President Obama.
“Gordon was duly elected by the voters. I don’t think it’s Brian DelGrosso’s duty or within the scope of his responsibility to take Gordon off of committee,” Everett said. “I think it really hurts the integrity of the institution. It’s a dangerous precedent. If we all have to worry about retaliation for anything we say outside the chamber, whether it’s in vogue now or not, it’s going to completely suppress free speech.”
Legislative leaders have removed lawmakers from committees before. In 2008, then House from the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee after the Colorado Springs Republican refused to co-sponsor a military affairs appreciation resolution.
Everett said the two incidents can’t be compared.
“That happened in the chamber and he (Bruce) tried to kick a reporter, too, during the morning prayer,” Everett said.
Here’s what Klingenschmitt said about being booted from committee:
I ask forgiveness from everyone offended by my Sunday sermons. But I disagree with Leader DelGrosso’s decision, because it clearly establishes an unprecedented religious litmus test for which representatives can sit on what committees. I was not driving drunk, I was not arrested by the police, I am literally being punished for quoting unpopular Bible verses in my Sunday church, or interpreting the Old Testament differently than Leader DelGrosso interprets it, during my private ministry outside the Capitol. Is that suddenly a crime?
This is what he said about suspending his ministry:
Today I am announcing that I am suspending my Sunday television preaching ministry for a six-week sabbatical. My Christian ministry has overshadowed my job as a state rep, and my constituents deserve my full attention while I’m here at the Capitol. By punishing my sermons, the government seems intent on forcing me to choose between voting on committees or preaching on Sundays. That’s a hard choice for me. I will pray, and ask for God’s wisdom. I will not quit either job. But for now I am 100% devoted to representing the voters of House District 15.
Klingenschmitt’s “curse of God” remarks were first posted by Right Wing Watch, which said when he discussed the incident in Longmont he “ in which God curses the people of Samaria for their rebellion by declaring that ‘their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.’ “
Here’s what Sen. Hill had to say in his e-mail letter:
Sen. Owen Hill.
All of Colorado is grieving over the tragic loss of an unborn baby viciously cut from her mother’s womb earlier this month. Adding insult to this horrific injury, State Representative Gordon Klingenschmitt declared that “this is the curse of God upon America for our sin.” He doubles down by saying “part of that curse […] is that our pregnant women are ripped open.” Klingenschmitt justifies his statement by quoting a prophecy against an ancient culture found in the biblical book of Hosea.
Klingenschmitt invokes the Bible, so it is important to examine what the Bible really says about this heartbreaking incident. It turns out that Jesus dealt with nearly the exact same problem in Luke 13. Some Jews had been murdered and their blood used in an unholy sacrifice. Jesus responded by saying that this horror and another similar instance–the tower of Siloam falling and killing 18 lives–are not examples of collective judgment but rather a reminder that evil exists in the world and each of us must repent of our individual sins.
Jesus’s response highlights the difference between collective judgment and individual responsibility. The difference is life-changing because Jesus’s message was that we have all sinned and the final collective judgment in history was Jesus himself bearing the weight of all evil upon the cross.
Klingenschmitt is not the first to misuse Scripture in this way. In 1823 Clergyman Frederick Dalcho quoted an obscure prophecy to justify slavery in the United States. He argued the prophecy in Genesis was fulfilled “not in the individuals named, but nationally in their descendants.” Who were the descendants he was referring to? The Africans.
Like the Pharisees in Jesus’s day, Klingenschmitt and Dalcho join those who exalt themselves by condemning others. By making statements of collective judgment, the accuser absolves themselves of their own personal guilt. This is what Jesus called whitewashed tombs, clean and white on the outside, while the inside is dead and rotting.
We should all see the perversion of the truth Jesus taught in Gordon’s response and instead, turn to Jesus’s words and actions in Luke 13. Immediately after condemning the idea of collective judgment, Jesus broke Jewish law to heal a woman whose sickness the ruler argued was an example of God’s wrath. What he said and demonstrated, both here and elsewhere in scripture, is that the world will know Christians by their love of others and its outpouring in loving action.
In reflecting on Jesus response, Klingenschmitt should take heed when Jesus says that many will pray in Jesus name and cast out demons in Jesus name, but when held individually accountable for their actions before God’s judgment seat, his response will be “depart from me, I never knew you.” Indeed, every one of us who claims to be a Christian should consider these words regularly.
Gordon calls for collective judgment, and we honor that request. Collectively we reject Gordon’s statements as antithetical to the Christian gospel and to the idea of representative democracy. We should all call for his resignation, Christian leaders included.
As a Republican, it is only fitting to end this commentary by quoting Abraham Lincoln in saying: “My concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”
