by By Todd Starnes
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a sweeping hate crime bill that will outlaw passages of the Holy Bible.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act passed with overwhelming support – the House’s response to the violent riots that have broken out on many university campuses.
The legislation would force the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism to enforce antidiscrimination laws.
But it turns out no one in Congress bothered to read the working definition of antisemitism as written by the IHRA. According to them, any claim or accusation that Jews killed Jesus are now considered to be antisemitic.
In other words, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans just criminalized the entire New Testament.
“I oppose antisemitism in all its forms. The pro-Hamas, pro-genocide, anti-Israel events happening across the nation are sickening and should be condemned in the strongest fashion,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). “This bill is little more than an effort to score political points and is so poorly drafted that it violates the Constitution and could have serious ramifications for the Christian community,” the congressman warned. “For a matter as serious as this, the House should have considered the bill through regular order where those concerns could have been considered and alleviated.”
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was also a no vote on the legislation and warned that Christians could face significant blowback.
“This legislation is written without regard for the Constitution, common sense, or even the common understanding of the meaning of words,” Gaetz said. “The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!
Congressman Troy Nehls of Texas told me there are already laws on the books outlawing antisemitism. He said the intent of the most recent legislation was to send a message.
Unfortunately, that message got lost in translation. Unless, Republicans actually intended to ban the Word of God. I doubt that’s the case, so I’m going to chalk this up to incompetence.