Frequently mistaken Sen. Marco Rubio is adding another misinterpretation to his resume. The Florida Republican chose to float a clip on Twitter Wednesday of Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and rebrand it as anti-military rhetoric. In the clip, Warnock can be heard giving various examples to bring home the message that there can be no substitute for God. “America, nobody can serve God and the military. You can't serve God and money,” Warnock said. “You can not serve God and Mammon at the same time. America, choose ye this day who you will serve.”
Rubio’s interpretation, however, was quite different. “Not shocked,” he said in his tweet. “#Georgia Democrat Senate candidate Raphael Warnock said ‘You cannot serve God and the military’ at the same time. These & even crazier things is what the radicals who control the Democratic party’s activist & small dollar donor base believe.” Only, Warnock’s communications director Terrence Clark explained quite clearly what Warnock believes in an email to Daily Kos Wednesday.
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“This sermon is based on a biblical verse that reads ‘No man can serve two masters … Ye cannot serve God and mammon,’ a biblical term for wealth,” Clark said. “Reverend Warnock was speaking about the need to commit to moral life before pursuing other priorities. As the video of the congregation’s response makes clear, this is another blatant effort by Kelly Loeffler to take Reverend Warnock’s words completely out of context. Given her own decision to spend her first days in the U.S. Senate profiting off the pandemic, perhaps she should watch the sermon more closely.”
Its meaning wasn’t particularly difficult to decipher. Several Twitter users were able to do so with little trouble. Journalist Wesley Lowery tweeted: "this is extremely standard Christian rhetoric about "serving two masters" [Matthew 6:24, since I know you like verses]"
Journalist Sam Stein asked: "Why are Raphael Warnock’s faith and sermons fair game for attack but Amy Coney Barrett’s religious views not?" The newly appointed Supreme Court justice has been associated with the religious group People of Praise, which isn’t in and of itself some crime of consciousness. But being a complete stranger to a judge’s responsibility to remain unbiased, Barrett apparently likes to spew her religious teachings to law students to teach them “how God can use them as judges, law professors and practicing attorneys to help keep the door open for the spread of the Gospel in America.”
But in following GOP logic, we should all overlook that and focus instead on what Warnock—who's been quite upfront about being the pastor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s church home Ebenezer Baptist Church—says on the pulpit. Feel free to roll your eyes now.
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