Attacking Gianforte's faith is a smear campaign

I was shocked recently when I viewed a campaign ad from Kathleen Williams attacking Greg Gianforte for his Christian faith. The video was purportedly taken when Gianforte was sharing his faith with a group of young people who were studying the Bible. The Williams campaign ad appears to mock Gianforte for believing the Bible and extrapolates that belief to claim he will therefore inflict some kind of misery upon elderly people.

I have worked with Kathleen Williams in the past, and have found her to be a likable, fair, reasonable and open-minded person. So why has she allowed the close-minded liberal attack machine hijack her campaign and denigrate her opponent for expressing his faith to a receptive audience? This is the mark of scorched-Earth campaign operatives, not the Kathleen Williams that I know and respect.

In recent years, the leadership of the Democratic Party has increasingly communicated there is no room for people of faith among its ranks. In the past several campaigns, I can recall specific instances of Democrat candidates criticizing their opponents as irrational because they believe in God. This close-mindedness will surely backfire on the Democrats, as more and more people of faith realize they are not at home among liberals who have abandoned Liberalism.

Recall the famous poem by Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller, describing the progressive crack down in Nazi Germany against the socialists, then the trade unionists, then the Jews, then everyone else who did not bow to Fascism. At the heart of this tragedy is the rejection of individual freedom of conscience. While clearly less extreme, today’s identity politics, which rules the Democratic Party, threatens to exclude all who follow their own conscience, rather than the fickle rule of the mob.

I’m a Christian. I believe in the Bible. I learn many spiritual truths from stories of Abraham, Hannah, David, Esther and especially Jesus. Does this mean I am irrational and have no place in our community square? Based on this recent attack ad against Greg Gianforte, it appears the Democratic Party would like to exclude me from that forum.

Maybe it’s easy to ridicule a Christian. Or perhaps you can recoil from a Muslim and your friends won’t condemn you. Possibly you can criticize Jews who believe too strongly in the State of Israel, while claiming you are not really anti-Semitic. How many categories of individuals can one exclude from the crowd while still calling yourself a fair and accepting person?

If you believe in anything — anything — with passion, then you necessarily believe something that someone else thinks is weird or irrational, and vice versa. Yet in this country, we reason with each other, we accept each person’s freedom of conscience, as well as their right to express it. We feel empathy towards others, because we see a little bit of ourselves and our own struggle in their lives. And, if the moment demands, we lay down our lives for another, as God taught us by example.

Let’s keep this election about policies, not personalities. Let’s focus on someone’s qualifications and record, not their faith in God or lack thereof. Let’s be inclusive, not exclusive. Let’s have a Montana discussion on the issues between two respectable and qualified candidates, instead of surrendering the conversation to liberal activists who will do or say anything to win.

Finally, please join me in voting for Greg Gianforte, who has shown care and respect for people regardless of their faith, or the intolerance of the Democratic mob.

Cory Swanson is the Broadwater County Attorney and a resident of Townsend.