While most of Washington was eagerly awaiting former FBI director James Comey’s Thursday appearance before the Senate intelligence committee, they may have missed an important confirmation hearing that occurred a day earlier. On Wednesday, Russell Vought, Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy director of the White House office of management and budget appeared before the Senate budget committee where he was subjected to stiff questioning by Bernie Sanders.
At issue were a number of statements Mr Vought had made in support of Wheaton College’s decision, last year, to suspend and then fire a tenured African-American professor, Larycia Hawkins. The reason: Wheaton College is a Christian school and Ms Hawkins, who is Christian, not only donned a hijab in a gesture of solidarity with America’s Muslim community but then later declared that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God”.
In an article defending Wheaton’s action, Mr Vought argued that Ms Hawkins’ views were in err since “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology, they do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned”. At Mr Vought’s confirmation hearing, Mr Sanders read the above quote and then asked the nominee: “Do you believe that statement is Islamophobic?”
Mr Vought responded: “Absolutely not, Senator. I’m a Christian and I believe in a Christian set of principles based on my faith. That post [the one quoted by Mr Sanders] ... was to defend Wheaton College ...”
Mr Sanders: “Do you believe people in the Muslim religion stand condemned?”
Mr Vought: “Again senator, I’m a Christian and I wrote that piece in accordance with the statement of faith at Wheaton College.”
Mr Sanders: “What about Jews? Do they stand condemned?”
Mr Vought: “Senator, I’m a Christian ...”
Mr Sanders: “I understand that you are a Christian, but this country is made up of people who are not just [Christian] ... there are other people of different religions in this country ... In your judgement, do you think that people who are not Christian are going to be condemned?”
Mr Vought: “As a Christian, I believe that all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs. I believe that as a Christian that’s how I should treat all individuals”.
Mr Sanders: “You think that your statement ...[that] they do not know God because they rejected Jesus Christ, His Son, and they stand condemned, do you think that’s respectful of other religions?”.
Mr Sanders concluded his questioning saying, “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is not really someone who this country is supposed to be about.”
Following this exchange, Sanders was attacked for what one National Review writer termed, a “disgraceful and unconstitutional line of questioning” and in a few more mainstream publications for “imposing a religious test for public office”.
I cannot agree with Mr Sanders’ critics. He is right. Mr Vought is not what America is “supposed to be about” and he is not fit to serve for two important reasons.
In the first place, it is Mr Vought who has used a religious test to support the firing of a tenured professor. His intolerance is a disturbing trait for someone in public service.
Mr Vought may claim that all are “worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs”, but when it came to Ms Hawkins, Mr Vought behaved quite differently, precisely because her description of her faith did not comport with his narrow interpretation of Christian theology.
Secondly, to have a deputy director of the White House office of management who has not only expressed intolerance towards those who do not share his interpretation of his faith, but who has also demonstrated this intolerance in practice is worrisome.
As the ACLU noted in its comment on this controversial nomination: “religious freedom is such a fundamental liberty that the framers of our Constitution enshrined it in the first amendment. That’s why it’s so disturbing that Trump continues to pack his administration with appointees like Russell Vought, whose views threaten that very freedom ... We know that diversity is one of our nation’s greatest strengths, and it is vitally important that Americans have confidence that their public servants will serve our entire nation in good faith.”
Mr Sanders is right. At issue is not Mr Vought’s Christian faith or his theology. It is his intolerance for the faiths of others, including a fellow Christian whose termination he supported because he did not agree with her theology. His nomination should be rejected.
Dr James Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute
On Twitter: @aaiusa
