As Brian noted yesterday, Republican Colorado state representative Gordon Klingenschmitt finds himself at the center of a controversy stemming from a clip that we posted earlier this week from one of his recent “Pray In Jesus Name” programs in which he proclaimed that a brutal attack upon a pregnant woman in his state was part of “the curse of God upon America” for legal abortion.
Klingenschmitt is refusing to back down from his comment, insisting that he is being criticized for simply quoting the Bible and opposing evil: “I’m against evil and I’m in favor of good.”
He added that he was speaking as a preacher when he made those comments and not an elected representative and so “if other people are offended by the Bible, that’s okay, they don’t have to agree with me or come to my church or watch my TV show. It’s a free country.”
Klingenschmitt was interviewed on KOA News Radio 850 in Denver this morning about his comments, where he absurdly stated that “if you were offended because I quoted the bible in church, I ask you to forgive me but I will not apologize for quoting the Bible in church.”
Repeatedly insisting that the things that he says on his television program should not reflect of his role as a legislator, Klingenschmitt went on a claim that his religious freedom is somehow being violated by all of the criticism that he is receiving.
“If the government is now going to step into my church on Sunday and say ‘oh, you’re not allowed to do that because you are an elected official,” he said, “I would ask people to take a step back and think about how the government should be protecting your freedom of worship on Sunday and maybe cut me a little slack”:
At one point during the interview, Klingenschmitt said that it “was a demonic spirit” that was behind this brutal attack on Michelle Wilkins and bragged that his charity had donated a thousand dollars to a GoFundMe effort set up to help her.
As it turns out, the Wilkins family has rejected Klingenschmitt’s donation:
Just wanted everyone to know:
Payment Refunded.
A refund of $1,000.00 has been issued for a payment made by Gordon Klingenschmitt for “Michelle Wilkins Fund (Longmont CO)”. The money has been removed from your account: “Michelle Wilkins Trust Fund (Longmont CO)”.
