'Extreme intolerance is un-American': Ben Sasse blasts Beto O'Rourke for threatening to tax 'sincere Christians, Jews, and Muslims'

Sen. Ben Sasse tore into Beto O'Rourke after the former Texas congressman called for the taxing of churches that refuse to support gay marriage.

"This extreme intolerance is un-American. The whole point of the First Amendment is that, no matter who you love and where you worship, everyone is created with dignity and we don’t use government power to decide which religious beliefs are legitimate and which aren’t," the Nebraska Republican said Friday in a statement. "This bigoted nonsense would target a lot of sincere Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Leaders from both political parties have a duty to flatly condemn this attack on very basic American freedoms."

During a Thursday CNN candidate forum on gay issues, O'Rourke endorsed yanking the tax-exempt status from all religious colleges, charities, and churches that did not support gay marriage.

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