Freethought Caucus Leaders Ride to Przybyla's Rescue

The Politico writer is under fire from the Christian right for her remarks on Christian nationalism

Politico staff writer Heidi Przybyla, during her Feb. 22 MSNBC appearance discussing Christian nationalism. (Screengrab.)

The co-chairs of the Congressional Freethought Caucus are going on record to support Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla, who’s been embroiled for more than a week in right-wing outrage over remarks that were construed as suggesting that Christians who believe human rights derive from God are Christian nationalists.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) tells me that he and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), caucus co-chairs and co-founders, are drafting a letter to Przybyla “expressing our support.” Huffman said he expects other members of the Freethought Caucus to sign on.

Przybyla apologized last week for her Feb. 22 remarks on MSNBC. She said she chose “clumsy words” in extemporaneous remarks characterizing Christian nationalism. “Reporters have a responsibility to use words and convey meaning with precision,” she wrote, “and I am sorry I fell short of this in my appearance.”

During the segment, Przybyla said, “there’s many different groups orbiting [former Pres. Donald] Trump, but the thing that unites them as Christian nationalists — not Christians, by the way; because Christian nationalist is very different — is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as human beings, don’t come from any earthly authority. They don’t come from Congress, they don’t come from the Supreme Court, they come from God.”

Her full remarks made clear she was distinguishing Christian nationalists from most Christians. But even so, her apology wasn’t good enough. And the letter from the Freethought Caucus leaders comes as Christian nationalists are ramping up their attacks.

Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins has led the chorus of outrage, demanding an apology from Politico. Today, the FRC announced a mobile billboard campaign targeting Politico for “demonizing” Christian voters and “attacking religious freedom.”

An FRC petition lets signatories tell Politico they are “outraged by the malicious smears made against the Christian faith by Heidi Przybyla,” but doesn’t say what they were. The petition calls on Politico to “stop attacking religious freedom in America.”

Perkins said in a statement, “Make no mistake: It's all connected. The Left's coordinated use of 'Christian nationalism' and the rise in hostility against houses of worship. It's an intimidation game designed to silence Christians and suppress our votes.” 

Przybyla pushed back early on against right-wing mischaracterizations of her larger point — that the idea of God-given rights is now being weaponized to justify specific political positions, such as discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and limiting reproductive rights. But she has been largely silent on Twitter since.

“Jamie Raskin and I are going to write a letter to Heidi Przybyla expressing our support in the face of these terrible intimidation and these threats that she’s getting from Tony Perkins,” Huffman said.

Huffman suggested that Przybyla had been “forced into a quasi-apology when in fact, she had nothing to apologize for.” According to Huffman, “Everything she said in that interview was true and needs to be said.”

The pressure campaign against Politico comes amid heightened political conflict along increasingly overt religious lines. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), the most openly theocratic speaker in modern American history, has shown little restraint in remaking the House as an organ of his personal religious beliefs.

And the Congressional Freethought Caucus lately has been taking stands once seen as perilous third rails for Democrats. The caucus objected when Johnson flouted House rules to let a radical Christian pastor with a history of hate rhetoric deliver the invocation.

For the first time since its 1953 origins, the National Prayer Breakfast was held in the Capitol building, again with Johnson’s say-so. But caucus member Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) has pushed back there, too.

Huffman said that Przybyla “showed a lot of courage in the interview, and by reaffirming most of her points in her most recent Politico article. That takes guts and integrity, and there's no question she's going to be brutalized by the Christian right.”

Wade Miller of Citizens for Renewing America suggested that Przybyla and MSNBC had “disdain” for Christian nationalists broadly. Miller wrote, “The radical Atheist Globalists are coming to try to crush ordinary American citizens."

Other Christian-right leaders responded by quoting America’s founding documents, without noting that the founders were largely Deists and often used oblique language such as “Creator” rather than “God” to describe natural phenomena, such as human life, that science had yet to explain.

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Jonathan Larsen is a veteran reporter and TV news producer, having worked at MSNBC, CNN, and TYT. You can support his independent reporting by becoming a subscriber.