As Right Wing Watch has noted multiple times in the past, one of the defining characteristics of Christian nationalist activists is a willingness to not only misrepresent history but to just make things up, as time after time they spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology
Jack Hibbs, a far-right anti-LGBTQ pastor, conspiracy theorist, and Christian nationalist, is among the most egregious violators, as he routinely uses his pulpit and public appearances to spread demonstrably false claims about the Founding Era.
He did it again during a sermon last Sunday, when he claimed that the Founding Fathers banned Catholics from serving as president or in Congress.
"Anybody remember JFK? John F. Kennedy?" Hibbs asked his congregation. "You want to know why it was very controversial for him to become a president? Because he was a Catholic. We had never had a Catholic president. Did you know that our Founding Fathers refused to allow a Catholic to be not only in Congress, but to be a president?"
"They wrote it," Hibbs continued. "They said the person may be very moral and very, very knowledgeable, but the problem is for a Constitution to work, if he's loyal to the Catholic Church, it will mean that he's loyal to the Pope and we can't have the Pope interfering in the operation of the Constitution. They didn't want to have that distraction. Think of that for a moment. Man, you mention that today and it's like, 'You can't say that!' But what a remarkable thing."
That would be remarkable thing were it true, which it is not.
In fact, any religious test that would have been necessary to keep Catholics out of the government was explicitly banned by Article IV of the Constitution itself:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Just to emphasize how wrong Hibbs’ history is, a few easily researchable facts: Charles Carroll, a Catholic, signed the Declaration of Independence and was elected to the first U.S. Senate in 1789. His cousin Daniel Carroll was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, signed the Constitution, and was elected to the first U.S. House of Representatives.
