Arizona GOP Rep Condemns Non-Christians And LGBTQ People As Worthy Of Eternal Damnation In Floor Prayer

April 3, 2024 Christianists, Republicans

The Arizona Mirror reports:

Every day, the House and Senate open their floor sessions with a prayer that is meant to be non-denominational, but Republicans who control both chambers have long only allowed Christians to speak.

But Rep. Lupe Diaz (R-Benson), who is also a minister, went a step further in his opening prayer Monday, and spent nearly five minutes on a fire-and-brimstone-styled sermon against non-Christians: “Eternal life is not available just to everybody, it is available just to those that acknowledge Jesus Christ,” Diaz said on the House floor.

Diaz does not hide his preference of combining state politics with his personal religion. His main website brandishes a large cross overlaying the American flag.

From the Arizona LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus:



On Monday, during a time reserved for a welcoming opening prayer on the House floor, Representative Lupe Diaz instead preached a five-minute sermon that condemned the LGBTQ+ community, President Biden, the United States as an “unrighteous nation,” and non-Christians as sinners worthy of eternal damnation.

Today, LGBTQ Committee Co-Chairs Patty Contreras and Oscar De Los Santos spoke out on using House opening prayers to score culture war political points and to target vulnerable communities and non-Christians.

“Monday’s sermon was a coordinated and cynical display of religious intolerance, which used a coincidence in the calendar to attack LGBTQ+ Arizonans, and anyone who doesn’t fall in line with one member’s view of Christianity,” said Contreras.

“For one member to use this time of welcoming to condemn to Hell anyone he doesn’t agree with was deeply offensive to me, and to tens of millions of Americans. Fortunately, Representative Diaz doesn’t get to decide who is, and is not, worthy of salvation.”

De Los Santos added, “I am proud to be a member of a welcoming and inclusive caucus that looks out for and has the back of our most vulnerable communities. I stood and respectfully listened as my colleague damned me to Hell, but it is outrageous to hear such intolerance, divisiveness and disrespect directed at so many Arizonans inside the People’s House, with Republican members standing in support. This was a shameful moment.”

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