A 501c4 group called Faithful America that advocates for social, climate, and racial justice activism using faith as a backdrop has started a petition against Mississippi U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith following her recent comments objecting to voting on Sundays.
Hyde-Smith spoke out in opposition to the Democrats’ “For the People Act” that would radically change the way elections are run in the U.S., essentially federalizing them in favor limiting Voter ID, expanding mail-in voting, and allowing full no excuse absentee voting, among other things.
Faithful America was founded in 2004. In their plea for signing their petition against Hyde-Smith, the group says Hyde-Smith ignored the separation of church and state, “while also claiming Black churches offend God with their tradition of marching to the polls after Sunday worship.”
Senator Hyde-Smith never mentioned black churches or marching to the polls.
Yet, Faithful America’s petition says Hyde-Smith’s “rant about Sunday being the Sabbath day was directed at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — who is Jewish, and observes the Sabbath on Saturday.” Hyde-Smith’s comments did not refer to Schumer or the Jewish faith.
Faithful America attempted to characterize Hyde-Smith’s comments as “white supremacism” and “Christian nationalism.”
“Sadly, Hyde-Smith is not alone in her white supremacism or her Christian nationalism,” the group states. “The Georgia legislation in question is part of a rampant, nation-wide attack on voting rights — just one of 253 bills in 43 states. Instead of taking away the rights of Black and Brown voters, Hyde Smith should work to strengthen democracy by supporting S.1, the For the People Act.”
Hyde-Smith is not alone, however, in the attack Faithful America has attempted on her. Their political bona fides include previous protests against the likes of prominent Christian leaders in America, such as Franklin Graham and Tony Perkins. They have targeted Hobby Lobby, the removal of Donald Trump as President, a pipeline in Minnesota and also opposed the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Democrats and mainstream media in Mississippi have gone out of their way to seize on her comments, pointing out that Hyde-Smith was sworn-in to office on a Sunday and had campaigned on a Sunday before an election day. Chairman Tyree Irving told WLBT news that the state could do better than Hyde-Smith.
Check out Chairman Irving's @turning_MS_Blue interview on WLBT regarding @SenHydeSmith hypocrisy #HYPOCRITE https://t.co/N44Plepk68
— MS Democratic Party (@msdemocrats) March 26, 2021
Faithful America for its part portrays itself as “largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice.”
“Our members are sick of sitting by quietly while Jesus’ message of good news is hijacked by the religious right to serve a hateful political agenda,” they say. “We’re organizing the faithful to challenge such extremism and renew the church’s prophetic role in building a more free and just society.”
Faithful America actively challenges what it calls the “Catholic hierarchy in the United States” and works to promote immigrant and refugee rights, climate justice, and full LGBTQ inclusion, among other important social, economic, and racial justice causes that they claim “reflect the values Jesus taught.”
As reported by CBN, before becoming independent in 2018, Faithful America was a creation of the National Council of Churches and then was a part of the Citizen Engagement Lab, which was funded by George Soros.
So far, over 11,000 people have signed the petition against Hyde-Smith.
Frank Corder
