Ocasio Cortez Faith
Earlier this year, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York spoke up about her personal faith in a hearing, citing that Jesus Christ would be maligned in our current Congress. She believes some members are using religious freedom as a way to defend “bigotry and discrimination”.
The hearing on LGBTQ rights was organized to “examine the Administration’s actions to erode LGBTQ rights in multiple areas, including healthcare, employment, adoption, and foster care.” Witnesses like Evan Minton, a transgender male, spoke at the hearing. Minton is suing a Catholic hospital for not providing a hysterectomy.
“I cannot, it’s very difficult to sit here and listen to arguments in the long history in this country of using scripture and weaponizing and abusing scripture to justify bigotry,” she said. “White supremacists have done it, those who justified slavery did it, those who fought against integration did it, and we’re seeing it today.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) used her Christian faith to ardently defend the rights of LGBTQ Americans during a congressional committee hearing on Thursday ― calling out the “bigotry” of. ‘The only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination. I’m tired of it’ — AOC just flipped the entire ‘religious freedom’. Faith in Action, Truth in Love What stands out for me with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is that her faith feels like a part of who she is.
The congresswoman then went on to suggest that her colleagues would go as far as driving Jesus Christ out of Congress.
“Sometimes, especially this body, I feel as though if Christ himself walked through these doors and said what he said thousands of years ago, that we should love our neighbor and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, fight for the least of us … he would be maligned as a radical and rejected from these doors.”
Listening to Mintons story, AOC responded saying, “There is nothing holy about rejecting medical care of people, no matter who they are on the grounds of what their identity is; There is nothing holy about turning someone away from a hospital,” Ocasio-Cortez said during her remarks.
“My faith commands me to treat Mr. Minton as holy because he is sacred, because his life is sacred, because you are not to be denied anything that I am entitled to,” the congresswoman later said. “That we are equal in the eyes of the law and we are equal — in my faith — in the eyes of the world.”
Toward the end of her remarks, AOC said she was “tired of communities of faith being weaponized and being mischaracterized because the only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination. I’m tired of it,”
AOC has said previously that she is a Catholic, but many Evangelicals question her faith due to her beliefs on abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. which don’t align with church values.
A Democratic Socialist candidate secured a historic victory in a New York congressional primary last week, winning the Democratic bid over a prominent, 10-term incumbent Congressman. Following this race, you may want to know more about what Democratic Socialists believe and what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the victorious candidate, envisions for the future of the United States.
According to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)'s website, Democratic Socialists believe that democracy and socialism can coexist. Moreover, they support the notion that 'both the economy and society should be run democratically — to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few,' and argue that extensive changes need to occur to ensure that these institutions are made more equitable and democratic.
Ocasio-Cortez explained her take on democratic socialism during an interview with Stephen Colbert on June 29. Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that, for her, democratic socialism means ensuring that everyone's fundamental rights and needs are met and respected. As the congressional candidate described:
For me, democratic socialism is about ... I believe that in a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live ... Seems pretty simple. So what that means to me is health care as a human right. It means that every child no matter where you are born should have access to a college or trade school education if they so choose it. I think that no person should be homeless, if we can have public structures and public policies to allow for people to have homes and food and lead a dignified life in the United States.
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign platform reflects some of these views. For example, she supports 'improved and expanded' Medicare for all and free public college tuition along with one-time student debt cancellation. She has also indicated her support for housing as a human right and for the notion that anyone who is 'willing and able to work' should be able to find employment.
The Congressional candidate further discussed her thoughts on democratic socialism during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. She emphasized that, while she identifies as a Democratic Socialist, she is not necessarily encouraging other Democrats to do the same, noting that, for her, shared values override party labels. As Ocasio-Cortez put it:
Ocasio Cortez
It’s [democratic socialism] part of what I am; it’s not all of what I am ... And I think that’s a very important distinction ... I'm not trying to impose an ideology on all several hundred members of Congress. But I do think that, once again, it's not about selling an ‘-ism‘ or an ideology or a label or a color. This is about selling our values.
Following Ocasio-Cortez's victory in New York's Democratic primary, the DSA reported a significant spike in memberships. According to the Daily Beast, on June 27, the day after Ocasio-Cortez's win, the organization had 1,152 new memberships. According to Lawrence Dreyfuss, a program associate for the DSA who spoke with the Daily Beast, this represents 35 times more membership sign-ups than those on an average day.
Alexander Ocasio Cortez
The Daily Beast also reported that the DSA similarly grew in size after Donald Trump was elected president in Nov. 2016. According to the outlet, in the month after Trump's election, the party had around six times more membership sign-ups than during the month prior. Moreover, since Trump's election, the DSA has grown in size from around 5,000 members in Nov. 2016 to around 40,000 members.
Overall, it seems that the DSA is certainly making waves in the Trump era — and Ocasio-Cortez's victory last week serves as an indicator of the appeal of its platform to many members of the public. The DSA's members, and Americans more broadly, will likely be closely observing to see if Ocasio-Cortez will secure a win in November's general election.