Story at a glance
- Former Trump advisor Michael Flynn’s comments over the weekend that America should have “one religion” were met with fierce backlash from Democrats.
- Religious freedom is protected under the U.S. Constitution.
- Flynn has previously been the subject of controversy and was fired from a senior advisory role by President Obama and resigned from his position as a national security advisor to President Trump after just 23 days.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was widely criticized for comments that the U.S. should have “one religion.”
Flynn over the weekend told an audience at a rally in San Antonio, Texas, that “if we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion.” The rally was staged by the Christian nonprofit and news media network American Faith.
His comments were met with almost immediate backlash.
“These people hate the US constitution,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) wrote Saturday on Twitter. A cornerstone of the Constitution, the First Amendment protects Americans’ religious freedom, and Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
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“Wow look how much Michael Flynn hates America,” Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote.
“I’m Catholic and do we really want government to force everyone to go to confession?,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) tweeted, adding that Flynn would probably “fall asleep in Church class.”
“Sure glad we live in a Constitutional Republic instead of a theocracy,” he said.
But Flynn’s comments were met with some support, and former Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel tweeted: “We stand with General Flynn.”
Flynn is no stranger to controversy. He was fired from his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by former President Barack Obama before becoming an advisor to former President Trump in 2017, a role he resigned from after just 23 days for misleading administration officials about his communications with Russia.
He pleaded guilty to one charge under special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference. He was later pardoned by Trump.
Flynn is also the subject of a subpoena from a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol. He told Fox News last week he has nothing to hide.
“There is nothing there,” he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
In September, he spoke about his Christian faith on the YouTube channel “Truth Unveiled TV” to refute QAnon claims that he worshiped Satan.
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Published on Nov 15,2021