Thread by @SethCotlar

Left: One of our contemporary conservative originalists
Right: Article VI of the, um, Constitution

If you think the word “values” makes the statement acceptable, pause to imagine what this Governor would say if a Governor of a different state said they’d only appoint people who shared their Islamic values.

While the MO Governor's statement about only appointing "Christian" officials is fairly standard for the GOP these days, there was once a time when such statements were considered wholly inappropriate. Atiyeh was elected GOP Gov in 1978. Salem Statesman Journal, 10 August 1978.

Walter Huss, a fundamentalist who'd just become chair of the Oregon GOP, had stated that he preferred Republican candidates to be "Christian." Atiyeh, the GOP candidate for Governor, firmly called him out on this.

I'm not sure how aware Atiyeh was of this, but Huss's strong "pro-Christian" stance was connected to his virulent antisemitism. Huss generally kept his hatred of Jews quiet, but it suffuses his personal papers which are housed at the University of Oregon.

https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1428412815115649030?s=20&t=tC73e2h__6SIZDZtCY6S9g

Anyway...there's obviously nothing wrong or inherently antisemitic about a public figure identifying themselves as a Christian. But when a politician says they see being a Christian as a *qualification* one should have to serve the public, then that's a very different thing.