Democrat State Rep. Lindsay James spoke out against Education Savings Accounts on Monday and used an odd line of reasoning — her “faith.”
James is a college chaplain. And because of her faith, she opposes giving parents the ability to send their children to private schools.
She highlighted her opposition because private schools have the ability to refuse enrollment of students. She said often these private schools refuse to accept students with disabilities.
She said private schools boasting of 100 percent graduation rates are only able to be obtained because the private schools deny or drop any child for any reason without any questions being asked.
That’s when James reminded the chamber she is an “ordained Presbyterian pastor” who attended a private Catholic college. She received a foundation in Catholic social teaching.
“It instilled in me a deep commitment to the common good,” she said.
Upon graduation, she went to an Evangelical Christian seminary and received a Masters of Divinity.
“As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, I recognize the value of religious education,” she said. “But it is precisely because of my Christian faith that I do not support private school vouchers.”
James referred to the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus describes the last judgment, warning society will be judged on how it treats the “least of these.”
“The most vulnerable among us,” she said. “In this case, how we treat the very children that need us the most.
“As a Christian, I am called to defend the most vulnerable among us. I do not support vouchers because I am called by my faith to protect children with disabilities. I do not support vouchers because I am called by my faith to shelter children of childhood trauma who are struggling with behavior issues. I do not support vouchers because I am called by my faith to safeguard children who have fallen behind because of depression or other mental health struggles. I do not support vouchers because private religious schools that are more concerned, more concerned, with maintaining their 100 percent graduation rate over giving vulnerable children their best chance at life, they are missing the Gospel’s fundamental call to the least of these.”
Well. It would be refreshing to hear a Democrat offer such compelling convictions of faith if it weren’t so darn hypocritical.
If you’re curious, James has refused to protect the least of these, the most vulnerable, the unborn.
“The circumstances that surround a reproductive health decision are often deeply complex,” she wrote on Twitter in May of 2022. “That is why I trust women and their families to make these decisions.”
“I’m an ordained Presbyterian pastor with a Masters of Divinity from an evangelical seminary — and I join many religious communities in recognizing that women are morally capable of making a decision about her reproductive health,” she wrote in June of 2022.
“Our work to protect reproductive rights in Iowa is far from over,” she wrote in July of 2022.
We were able to find this photo though of James advocating for the least of these, the most vulnerable among us…
For nearly 50 years Roe protected tens of millions of people. Today, Dubuque IA put the country on notice—We will not go back! #dobbs #RoeVWade pic.twitter.com/HWq0mL3KdV
— Lindsay James (@Lindsay4Iowa) June 27, 2022
Wait. Nope. Nevermind. That isn’t the “ordained Presbyterian minister” speaking words to ensure unborn babies aren’t killed. That’s the “ordained Presbyterian minister” instead rallying for the continued legal killing of the least of these, the most vulnerable, the unborn.
It takes a real lack of awareness to stand up on the floor of the Iowa House and pretend to be so upset at how private religious schools treat kids with disabilities — the same kids that had they simply been killed before birth James wouldn’t care one iota about.
That’s okay, she can say what she wants. The Dubuque women that know better are married to Jesus and living in convents.
Actually, it may not be hypocritical. Rep. James may take the position that what some call “the unborn” is really just a mass of cells, that if allowed to continue to multiply and divide, will wind up threatening the health of the woman while also interfering with the course of her life. In other words, she may view those multiplying cells as something similar to a cancer.
She would still be wrong.
Psalm 138
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.