Vice President JD Vance criticized Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton at a campaign rally in Olathe, Kansas, accusing his church of financially supporting a Pride event associated with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Speaking Monday at Webco Manufacturing, Vance urged voters to back Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who is seeking reelection against Hamilton, pastor of Resurrection, a multi-campus United Methodist congregation in Leawood.
Vance, a Catholic, also accused Hamilton of telling congregants “that you need to repent for your white privilege” and that they “need to atone for eating meat.”
Calling Resurrection “a key financial sponsor” of a Kansas City LGBT pride event this summer, Vance said, “[Hamilton] took the donations from his congregants, from people who show up and try to support the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you know what he did? You know where those dollars went? To events at this festival that were led by strippers and drag queens.”
Vance then linked the church’s sponsorship to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag activist group whose members dress as nuns and stage provocative religious-themed performances, including annual Easter events that mock the crucifixion of Christ.
Vance claimed the church sponsorship supported a group he described as “the devil-worshipping group that was saying special blessings before LA Dodgers games and insulting every Christian in this room in the process.”
“We got to be clear about what this group is. This is an anti-Christian hate group,” Vance declared. “Its whole purpose is to mock the Christian religion. It mocks nuns. It insults the Cross. It desecrates the Eucharist and thinks every person of faith in the United States of America is a joke.”
Resurrection has sponsored Kansas City PrideFest, where members of a local Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence chapter have participated.
“Democrat Pastor Adam Hamilton thinks it’s a sin to be white and a sin to raise cattle and eat meat, but he’s OK with supporting groups that spit on God-fearing Americans and mock everything that we hold dear,” said Vance. “Ladies and gentlemen, that is not Christianity. That is left-wing radicalism dressed in the skin suit of our religion. Let’s send it packing in November.”
Hamilton responded Wednesday by calling Vance’s remarks a “false and sad attempt to distract from the real hardships facing Kansans.”
“They aren't just attacking me. They're attacking our church, the mainline Christian tradition, and the Christian beliefs of many Kansans,” said Hamilton. “Trying to demean or marginalize the faith of other people, that's just wrong. It's also against the Christian teachings to love, serve and care for one another.”
