Key faith leaders including James Dobson, Beni Johnson and Lance Wallnau have signed a letter in support of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
“We are appalled that Republican leadership would choose to believe a liberal news organization famous for their bias over an outstanding member of Congress who has served the people of Iowa and the United States honorably and faithfully for 16 years,” the letter continues.
The New York Times ran an article earlier this month, accusing King of racism. According to The Times, King allegedly made the following comments. King says he was only defending Western civilization:
But at the same time, Mr. King’s margin of victory in 2018 shrank to its narrowest in 16 years. He made national headlines for endorsing a Toronto mayoral candidate with neo-Nazi ties and for meeting with a far-right Austrian party accused of trivializing the Holocaust. On Twitter, he follows an Australian anti-Semitic activist, who proposed hanging a portrait of Hitler “in every classroom.” And in October, the chairman of the Republican House elections committee, Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio, condemned Mr. King, saying, “We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms.”…
Mr. King, in the interview, said he was not a racist. He pointed to his Twitter timeline showing him greeting Iowans of all races and religions in his Washington office. (The same office once displayed a Confederate flag on his desk.)
At the same time, he said, he supports immigrants who enter the country legally and fully assimilate because what matters more than race is “the culture of America” based on values brought to the United States by whites from Europe.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive?” Mr. King said. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
After this article was published Thursday, Mr. King issued a public statement calling himself a “nationalist” and defending his support of “Western civilization’s values,” and said he was not an advocate for “white nationalism and white supremacy.” “I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I reject those labels and the evil ideology they define,” he wrote.
Republicans have since removed King from his committee assignments in the House of Representatives.
Porter says King was misquoted and does not stand by nor support what the Times printed.
“Unlike North Korea, we in the United States are innocent until proven guilty and hold to the principles of Western Civilization, as Rep. King so admirably does,” Porter says in the letter.
“The foundational principle begins with the self-evident truth that ‘all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’ These are the principles to which Rep. King was referring and which he has championed for more than two decades of public service. Don’t make the fatal mistake of turning the reigns of the U.S. Congress over to the liberal media, allowing them to target, misquote, and falsely brand any member of Congress they wish to remove,” the letter continues.
“We call on you to do the right thing as Minority Leader: issue a public apology and reinstate Rep. King to his committee assignments. If we don’t stand with this good man against the media-manufactured assault today, none of us will be safe from it tomorrow,” the letter concludes.
For the full list of those who have signed the letter, click here.
Alveda King of Priests for Life also weighed in on the debate.
In a blog post, the Priests for Life founder writes:
As “boots on the ground” in Washington, DC for the 24th Annual National Memorial Prayer Service and the March for Life today, I’m also getting calls to defend Congressman Steve King for racist remarks. Meanwhile, my family and I are in the heat and heart of the celebration of the 90th birthday of my uncle Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And people are still fighting about the wall.
I’m being asked if Congressman King a racist? Actually, from my point of view, until we all accept the scientific, philosophical and spiritual truth that we are all one human race, one Blood, we’re all a little racist.
Think about it. As long as we continue to refer to ourselves in our separate ethnic groups as different races we will never break away from racism. Acts 17:26 of the Bible (NIV) says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.” This is why Uncle MLK suggested that we should be brothers and sisters, and not be foolish.
Along with sharing our human commonality, Congressman King and I mutually share regard for the sanctity of life. So I’m praying for my brother.
