Kerby Anderson

Liberal U.S. Senators keep asking religious questions of nominees that come before their committee. Article VI of the Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office but that hasn’t stopped some of these senators.

Three months ago Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen questioned a nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. You have thought they would have asked Russell Vought about fiscal and budgetary issues. Instead they focused their questioning on a post in which he defended a decision made by the administration of Wheaton College.

Earlier this month Senators Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein asked Notre Dame Law School Professor, Amy Barrett about her religious views. Senator Durbin first asked her if she considered herself an orthodox Catholic. He then explained that he felt such questions about her faith were important to ask because they would likely influence her judicial rulings on a circuit court of appeals.

Senator Feinstein expressed concern about her religious views and said that “the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for, for years in this country.” It’s worth mentioning that fourteen years ago, Senators Durbin and Feinstein along with Senator Chuck Schumer also expressed their concerns over the Catholic faith of William Pryor.

The irony of all of this is the fact that five of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic and many of the members of Congress (including Dick Durbin) are Catholic. The issue isn’t whether they are Catholic but whether they believe orthodox Catholic teaching. You know, the stuff that Senator Feinstein calls dogma. You can be a Catholic or have Christian convictions as long as they line up with liberal and progressive dogma. Otherwise, you are in for a fight in a Senate committee.