As we’ve noted previously on “The Wall of Separation,” Florida is facing a ballot initiative that would protect reproductive rights. Americans United is urging Sunshine State residents to vote “yes” on Amendment 4.
Some of Florida’s leaders, among them Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette M. Nuñez, are panicking at the thought that voters might instill protections for reproductive rights in the state constitution. In their attempt to derail Amendment 4, they’ve employed questionable tactics and offensive rhetoric.
Most recently, Nuñez, speaking at an anti-Amendment 4 rally, told the crowd, “We cannot go to church and pray like Christians and turn around and vote like atheists.”
That’s troubling on many levels. First of all, it demonizes people who don’t believe in God by implying that there’s something wrong with the way they vote. Imagine if Nuñez had said, “We can’t vote like Jews,” “We can’t vote like Buddhists” and so on, and you’ll see the problem. Tarring an entire class of people for what they believe or don’t believe about God is crude and offensive.
It’s also simplistic. Nuñez’s implication seems to be that decent, God-fearing folks will vote against Amendment 4, while only those immoral atheists will support it. In fact, a lot of religious people in Florida support reproductive rights, and if the measure passes, it will do so with widespread support from religious people and communities. (This has been the pattern in other states. In Missouri, where Americans United is in court with its allies to protect reproductive freedom, our plaintiffs are members of the clergy, representing 14 clergy members across seven denominations.)
If DeSantis and Nuñez have some policy arguments against Amendment 4, we’re sure Florida residents would like to hear them. So far, what they’ve had to offer is the same old extremism, fearmongering and division we constantly hear from Christian Nationalists.
Nuñez’s comments are just more of that. Here’s hoping that next week, Floridians see right through such hateful rhetoric and reject it by approving Amendment 4.
Photo: Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez speaks to reporters in 2021. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
