CV NEWS FEED // After CatholicVote President Brian Burch and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council demanded an apology from a prominent journalist who “smeared” Christian voters during a TV appearance, she published a column stating she is “sorry” for her “clumsy” words.
“Reporters have a responsibility to use words and convey meaning with precision,” wrote Politico National Investigative Correspondent Heidi Przybyla in her Thursday response, “and I am sorry I fell short of this in my appearance.”
Burch and Perkins had sent a letter the day before to the leadership of Politico demanding that the news outlet hold Przybyla accountable for blasting “Christian nationalists” during an MSNBC interview.
“Ms. Przybyla owes people of faith an apology, as does her employer,” the letter stated. “Politico must confirm that such offensive comments have no place within its organization.”
Przybyla had warned during the MSNBC segment that the “thing that unites” Christian nationalists “is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority.”
In the “Christian nationalist” view, she went on, Americans’ rights “don’t come from Congress, they don’t come from the Supreme Court. They come from God.”
In her followup column Thursday, Przybyla conceded: “To state the obvious, the above is not a good definition of Christian Nationalism. Many people have views about our rights as Americans that would coincide with those of many of our nation’s founders.”
Burch and Perkins had pressed the journalist on that point in particular the day before, calling her out for failing to acknowledge that the American Republic “was founded on the belief that our rights come from God, not earthly kings or government.”
“As a National Investigative Correspondent for Politico, Ms. Przybyla is charged with reporting accurately on American government, politics, and law,” Burch and Perkins wrote:
It is deeply disturbing, therefore, that she appeared unaware of the opening of the Declaration of Independence or to its references of ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. Equally concerning is Ms. Przybyla’s smearing of the Christian faith reflected in her comments. Her statements constituted an attempt to spread misinformation about Christians by creating the perception that they hold unique beliefs that pose a distinct and, in her words “extremist,” threat to our country.
“Setting aside the inaccuracy of her commentary, she was manifestly trying to demonize the Christian community and sow fear through propaganda,” Burch and Perkins continued:
Przybla’s attacks on God as the source of our dignity and rights are also a direct attack on the unifying call of the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr., who reminded us of our common creed, which grounded human dignity and rights explicitly in a creator God, that no government has a right to take away. Her public platform and ability to reach millions makes this case even more disturbing.
FOX News reported:
The two leaders went on to insist Przybyla’s comments “are representative of a consistent pattern of singling out Christian organizations and individuals,” citing a report she authored in December about the effort by activists for a publicly funded Christian school in Oklahoma. They claim such comments “can and often do have life and death consequences for faith communities,” pointing to the uptick in violent incidents at places of worship.
“Rhetoric like Ms. Przybyla’s, which demonizes religious groups, is profoundly dangerous. It can motivate disturbed individuals who may be predisposed to commit violence against faith communities…”