Ohio, Senate candidate,
Josh Mandel doesn't believe
in the United States Constitution.
At least he made that clear during
a recent GOP, Senate debate,
where he talked about
the separation of church and state.
Let's watch.
>> I think the worst thing
happening to kids today is that
the secular left, the fake news
media, the Uni party in Washington,
they're trying to take God out
of all aspects of society.
And they're trying to water down on
the Judeo-Christian bedrock of
America.
And my personal feeling is,
we shouldn't be watering down,
we should be doubling down.
We should be instilling faith in
the classroom, in the workplace,
and everywhere in society. The
secular left, the ACLU,
the Southern Poverty Law Center,
a lot of these
Soros Funded Organizations.
They advance the argument that
the separation of church and state
exists, and for that reason you
can't teach kids about religion.
My personal feeling is,
there's no such thing as
separation of church and state.
>> Well, a conservative once said
that the facts don't care about
your feelings.
And if you look at literally
the First Amendment of
our Constitution,
it states that Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof.
So while he's talking about
implementing lessons
about God in public education and
everywhere that you possibly can in
public life,
which God are we deciding on here?
Because the government,
meaning these public institutions
are not supposed to endorse one
particular religion.
So, or is he advocating for Allah,
is he advocating for
a Christian God?
The Constitution bars this.
It's not about your feelings.
That's what this country is
supposed to be about.
It's supposed to be about religious
liberty, not specifically for
Christianity, but
for all religions.
So the government endorsing one
particular religion is literally
unconstitutional.
What is happening right now?
>> Yeah, well,
the right wing has decided,
we don't like this country.
We don't like the constitution.
So look guys, just the Josh
Mendel's of the world, just you're
going halfway towards something
that is at least clear, right?
So Mandel there is saying,
we should establish a religion.
He does not believe that there
should be any separation of church
and state.
There's a word for that,
it's theocracy.
So for example,
Saudi Arabia has a theocracy
>> Iran has a theocracy.
>> Iran does, the Vatican does, so
there's different theocracies, and
they're of slightly different
shades.
But generally,
that's the idea where the state
is combined with the church, and
there is no separation between
church and state.
By the way, you know who also had,
the Ottoman Empire did.
They had the Islamic caliphate, and
they combine the church and
the state, in their case,
the mosque and the state.
>> And I was led to believe by the
right wing that that was monstrous
and horrible and despicable when
Saudi Arabia does it, etc, right?
But here they're saying no,
we should do it.
But then you have to add the next
part which is, I don't agree with
the US Constitution.
Because, Anna read it for you,
there's no lack of clarity at all,
says you shall not establish
a state, you shall not establish.
I'm sorry, you shall
not establish a religion, right?
And then the next part of it is
equally obvious,
you get an appointed enemy.
If you say no,
the Constitution is wrong,
I hate the US Constitution,
I want a theocracy instead.
Well, then you got to tell us which
religion and which sect of that
religion should rule us all.
So, now funny enough Josh Mendel,
he keeps talking about Judeo
Christian heritage, later he's
going to admit to being a bigot.
We'll show you that clip.
But he doesn't use
the words theocracy.
He doesn't use the word bigot, but
he says exactly
what those things are.
>> Right.
>> So, but he's Jewish.
So, should Judaism rule us all?
>> Okay, let's say that,
that's not the case.
When we have majority
Christian countries.
So let's go with Christianity.
Well, then Josh Mandel, what if the
sect is Pentecostal and they think
you are full of crap being Jewish.
The leaders,
because you're not going to have
a vote among the Pentecostals.
The leaders are going to decide,
that's always what happens if
theocracy >> Right.
>> Mohammed Bin Salman decides, not
some sort of democratic election of
Muslims in Saudi Arabia.
So what if the Pentecostal leader
decided, it's not
a Judea Christian heritage,
it's just a Christian heritage.
What happens then?
And by the way, why would
the Episcopalians agree to that or
the Lutherans?
But Josh, just give us a little bit
more clarity.
I get that you hate
the Constitution, but
which sect of which religion should
be combined with the state?
>> It's almost as if this idea of
religious liberty is about freedom,
right?
And it's about the freedom to
practice a religion or the freedom
to not practice any religion.
I'm an atheist, I don't believe in
any of the religions, but I believe
in religious liberty, right?
Now in this case, I also want to
give you a statement from founding
Father, Thomas Jefferson.
I don't know if Mandel's ever read
any of this stuff, but
it's relevant to
the argument he's making here.
This is Jefferson's letter to
the Denbury Baptist Association
where he said the following.
Says in 1802, believing with you
that religion is a matter which
lies solely between man and his
God, that he owes account to none
other for his faith or his worship,
that the legitimate powers of
government reach actions only, and
not opinions.
I contemplate with sovereign
reverence that act of the whole
American people which declared that
their legislature should make no
law respecting
an establishment of religion.
Or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof, thus building a wall
of separation between church and
state.
Founding Father,
Thomas Jefferson right there.
>> Thomas Jefferson wrote
the Declaration of Independence,
and James Madison framed
the Constitution based on what
Jefferson wrote for
the Virginia constitution.
So if anyone would know whether
there should be a wall between
church and state,
it would be Thomas Jefferson.
And he said it in that direct
quote, there should be a wall
between church and state.
How much clearer did he have to be?
So by the way,
does Josh Mendel know all these?
He does, he went to Ohio State.
He's got a lawyer's degree.
He's not a dumb guy.
He's basically saying to all my
Jewish friends, if you ask any
Muslim or atheist friends,
I doubt they'll give him the next
clip we're going to show you.
To everyone who believed in
the United States constitution,
I don't care about you.
I just want to win, and
I'm going to appeal to these right
wingers who want to establish
a theocracy.
And my power and my greed is more
important than any of you.
>> Right, and he went on to talk
about how, he wanted kids to learn
about Christianity because
it's better than Islam.
Okay, and then later on he did
double down by saying, shut down
government schools and put schools
In churches and synagogues.
Okay, so basically,
get rid of public education, only
have religious private education.
But how about we keep public
education the way it is?
Increase its funding, and for
parents who want a religious
education experience for
their kids, go to a private school.
But other than that,
keep your damn religion out of our
public institutions,
including public schools.
>> The framers of the Constitution
envisioned a country where in
the classroom,
kids would learn about God.
That in the classroom, kids would
learn about good versus evil.
And that Judeo-Christian ethic
separates itself from Islam and
atheism, and all these other belief
sets on so many levels.
But one of the main levels is our
acknowledgement of good
versus evil, and teaching our kids
to fight for good over evil.
>> When he says that we should
basically exclude Muslims and
atheists.
That is the most un-American thing
you could say.
Saying we should establish a
religion, and those guys are in it.
You're declaring yourself a bigot,
there's no question about it,
you just said it