Saturday December 8, 2018
BY MORGAN GSTALTER
Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first two Muslim women elected to serve in Congress, on Friday fired back at the conservative pastor who complained that floor of the Congress will "look like an Islamic republic."
“Well sir, the floor of Congress is going to look like America... And you’re gonna have to just deal,” Omar tweeted with the laughing-so-hard-you're-crying face emoji.
The incoming lawmaker was responding to the complaints of conservative pastor and commentator E.W. Jackson.
“The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic,” Jackson said. “We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that’s that. And anybody that doesn’t like that, go live somewhere else. It’s very simple. Just go live somewhere else. Don’t try to change our country into some sort of Islamic republic or try to base our country on Sharia law.”
Jackson’s remarks followed reports that Democrats are looking to change a rule banning headwear on the floor of the House to accommodate incoming Muslim lawmakers like Omar.
Omar is the first Somali-American woman to be elected to Congress from either party and wears a hijab. The Minnesota Democrat and Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) are set to become the first Muslim women in Congress.
Jackson lost a Republican primary to represent Virginia in the Senate in May.
“The fact that we’re electing these people to Congress and electing them to office is just beyond the pale,” he said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe in the freedom of religion, I believe in the First Amendment, but I’ll tell you what, I’m not voting for a Muslim to serve in any office. Me, personally, I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it. Period. I’m not doing it.”
Jackson insisted that he is not Islamaphobic, saying he simply does not agree with the religion.
“The threat to humanity is not merely radical Islam,” he added. “The threat to humanity is Islam, period. That’s right, I said it and I mean it.”