Marjorie Taylor Greene (Credit: Unite America First)
Elham Asaad Buaras
A Republican congresswoman who once said Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib were not official congress representatives because they were sworn into Congress on the Qur’an and that their 2018 election was part of “an Islamic invasion of our government” has been appointed to the task force charged with, among other things, protecting freedom of worship.
House Republican Leader, Kevin McCarthy, of California, appointed Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent conspiracy theorist to the new Future of American Freedoms taskforce, led by far-right Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
They will be tasked with ‘defending foundational American freedoms, including the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and the right to bear arms.’
Greene of Georgia was stripped of her committee assignments for spreading deranged conspiracy theories and endorsing the execution of her now-colleagues on social media before her election.
In a video that resurfaced in January, Greene—then a private citizen—showed up to Capitol Hill and marched through the halls of Congress to badger Omar of Minnesota and Tlaib of Michigan—the first Muslim women elected to Congress—to swear in on a Christian Bible. Greene said in the video, “We have the Bible. We’re gonna talk about how to swear in on the Bible with them and let them know what our law says. That you can’t swear-in on the Qur’an.”
She and her cohorts went on to make several Islamophobic statements before ultimately failing to confront the Congresswomen.
Reacting to Greene’s appointment, Omar tweeted, ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to force me and @RashidaTlaib to retake our oaths of office on the Christian Bible instead of the Quran, she doesn’t believe in religious freedom or the constitution. This is who the GOP wants on the task force overseeing our “freedom to worship”??’
In a recording obtained by Politico, Greene said that Muslims who believe in Sharia law should not be in the US Government.
Greene said that the election of Omar and Tlaib in the 2018 midterm elections was part of “an Islamic invasion of our government”, and in 2021, she called the Squad supporters of “terrorism” and “Hamas” who “don’t belong in Congress” and referred to them as the “Jihad Squad”.
