US vice president Mike Pence has responded to public mockery of his faith in Christ as a “mental illness”.
His sanity as a believer was initially called into question by Omarosa Manigault-Newman, a disgruntled ex-staffer of President Trump.
She used her status as a “Celebrity Big Brother” contestant to insinuate Pence suffers from mental illness. She said his claim — “he thinks Jesus tells him to say things [is] scary”.
Her comments then became fodder for US comedienne Joy Behar.
Behar said on ABC’s “The View” that “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you. That’s called mental illness if I’m not correct. Hearing voices.”
Pence said while he is accustomed to criticism and wanted to just laugh about it, he could not let this go.
“An overwhelming majority of Americans cherish their faith, and we have all different types of faith in this country.
“I just think it demonstrates how out of touch some people in the mainstream media are with the faith and values of the American people that you could have a major network like ABC permit a forum for invective against religion like that.
“I just call them [ABC] out on it, not because of what was said about me, but it’s just simply wrong for ABC to have a television programme that expresses that kind of religious intolerance. We’re better than that, our country is better than that.”
Behar changed her position on Pence’s faith after her co-host on “The View” Meghan McCain said Jesus speaks to her “every morning.”
“… I don’t think [Mike Pence] … is mentally ill even though he says he is hearing voices,” Behar said.
“I don’t think he’s that crazy. He has no charisma whatsoever.”
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