Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio accused former GOP operative Lizzie Marbach of bigotry in a tweet Tuesday.
Miller, who is Jewish, made the accusation in response to a tweet in which Marbach wrote, “There’s no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.”
“This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen. Delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You have gone too far,” the first-term congressman responded, despite Marbach’s tweet containing no mention of politics.
This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen.
Delete it, Lizzie.
Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion.
You have gone too far. https://t.co/QCx8oAT1Kr
— Max Miller (@MaxMillerOH) August 15, 2023
The belief that only Jesus Christ can offer salvation to humanity is nearly universal in Christianity. The official statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, declares that “[t]here is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.” According to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, “all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is His Body.” In Acts, the apostle Peter is recorded as saying of Christ that “[s]alvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (RELATED: State Supreme Court Says Religious Schools Can Require Teachers To Adhere To Faith-Based Principles)
In a separate response to Marbach’s tweet, Miller shifted from politics to theology, writing that “God says that Jewish people are the chosen ones, but yet you say we have no hope.”
In a response, Marbach said, “these are the words of Jesus himself,” and quoted John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
“No one has hope outside of Jesus Christ and every knee will bow one day declaring that Jesus Chris is Lord,” she continued, paraphrasing Philippians 2:10-11.
The exchange prompted a number of responses. Democratic Ohio state Rep. Casey Weinstein wrote, “We may be on opposite sides of the aisle, but I stand right with Max on this. Delete it, Lizzie,” while others posted mocking paraphrases of Miller’s original tweet, including “Delete this tweet expressing the foundational tenet of your religion because in America we believe in religious freedom” and “Christianity is literally anti-Semitic.”
In 2008, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group that combats antisemitism, condemned a Christian group known as the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) after it called for the conversion of Jews to Christianity. The ADL claimed that the idea “that Judaism is incomplete or misguided” is a “serious affront to the Jewish people.”
A spokesperson for Miller did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment before publishing.
Miller later apologized for the tweet.
“I posted something earlier that conveyed a message I did not intend. I will not try to hide my mistake or run from it. I sincerely apologize to Lizzie and to everyone who read my post,” he wrote in a separate tweet.
Then-President Donald Trump appointed Miller to the Holocaust Memorial Council in 2020. Miller also touts his Trump endorsement in his Twitter bio.