Vice President Mike Pence responded with a full-throated defense of Christian schools after the liberal media and leftist advocacy groups criticized his wife, Karen Pence, for taking a teaching job at a private Christian school that holds to traditional views of marriage.
“To see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us,” Pence said in an interview Thursday.
Private school policies
Karen Pence has reportedly taken a position with Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia, where she will teach a twice-weekly art class for the spring semester. The institution choice wasn’t random — Mrs. Pence reportedly previously taught at the school for 12 years during her husband’s time in Congress. The couple’s daughter Charlotte also attended the school.
The liberal Huffington Post first reported on the school’s policies on Tuesday, stirring up criticism from LGBTQ activists.
The private school requires employees and enrollees to pledge to abide by the moral standards of the Christian faith, such as a professed belief in heterosexual and monogamous marriage, as well as a pledge to not engage in or promote the LGBT lifestyle or, for that matter, any other lifestyle “in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches.”
“Deeply offensive”
Mike Pence wasn’t about to sit idly by and watch the left-leaning media attack his wife and his faith. “Well, Lauren, my wife and I have been in the public eye for quite awhile, we’re used to the criticism, but I have to tell ya — to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us,” Pence told EWTN anchor Lauren Ashburn.
“We have a rich tradition in America of Christian education, and frankly, religious education broadly defined,” he continued. “We celebrate it. The freedom of religion is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States.”
“The Constitution prohibits a religious test for holding public office, so … we’ll let the critics roll off our back, but this criticism of Christian education in America should stop,” he added.
PREVIEW — @VP @mike_pence responds to critics of @SecondLady‘s new job. “The criticism of Christian education in America should stop.” Tune in tonight for part one of my full interview with the Vice President on @EWTNNewsNightly at 7 PM EST on @EWTN. pic.twitter.com/YKEHyroswC
— Lauren Ashburn (@LaurenAshburn) January 17, 2019
Freedom of religion at stake
It’s nothing new for the liberal media to attack the conservative Pence family, as that has been occurring since Pence first entered politics in Indiana many years ago.
But this latest round of media attacks went a step further than mere personal criticism — it’s a renewed attack on private Christian education and Christianity in general.
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Take a moment to consider: Would these same liberals who gleefully attacked Karen Pence and her new employer over their Christian beliefs have launched the same sort of attacks against a Muslim individual taking a job at a private Islamic educational facility that similarly required employees and enrollees to abide by the tenets of the Islamic faith?
We all know the answer to that question.