Lauren Boebert Called Out by Dem for Referring to Constitution as 'Junk'

Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost has called out his Republican colleague Lauren Boebert for previously referring to the U.S. Constitution as "junk."

Frost's statements came on Wednesday during a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs, which heard from a group of witnesses as part of its proceedings on global religious extremism.

Democrats on the subcommittee invited Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, to testify at the meeting.

Tyler told House members that Christian nationalism—the belief that the U.S. is defined by Christianity—is the "single greatest threat to religious liberty in the United States today."

Some conservatives have argued that the Republican Party should embrace Christian nationalists, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has previously described herself as one.

While prompting questions to Tyler, Frost spoke about how Christian nationalism posed a threat to democratic institutions.

"And this threat to democracy has made its way to Congress," Frost said, mentioning Greene's past statements that praised the ideology.

He went on: "My colleague, Representative Lauren Boebert, said: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk.'"

Frost added: "Junk being the Constitution and Bill of Rights."

Newsweek has reached out to Boebert's press office via email for comment on Frost's statement.

Frost was quoting a statement Boebert made in June 2022 during a speech to the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colorado. She told the crowd: "The reason we had so many overreaching regulations in our nation is because the church complied."

"The church is supposed to direct the government," Boebert continued. "The government is not meant to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. And I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk, that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does."

Boebert was referring to an 1802 letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, in which he called for the separation of church and state. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is not permitted to make laws "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Boebert's statements were previously condemned by political experts, including Andrew Seidel of Americans United, who told The Denver Post at the time: "We are about to get a very brutal real-world lesson in what it's like to live in a country that doesn't have that separation."

The congresswoman has also faced calls from American Christians to resign and repent after indirectly making a death wish toward President Joe Biden. In a petition posted in March, the online Christian community Faithful America said Boebert was "known for weaponizing religion to seize power and restrict the rights of anyone different than her." It added that her comments regarding Biden were an "entirely new level."

Correction 10/26/2023, 11:35 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Amanda Tyler's surname.