Jonathan Shelley, a preacher of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas, who has previously made headlines for his extremist anti-LGBTQ+ views, declared that women should not be allowed to hold political office.
He went even further, saying he wouldn't even vote for Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene—a darling of the far-right who has used her own platform to promote conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric of her own—because she's a woman.
During a recent sermon, Shelley expressed annoyance with the Republican Party because "Most of their recent candidates are women" and went on to target Greene specifically.
You can hear what Shelley said in the video below.
Shelley said:
“Why are we letting women teach us? Why are we letting women lead us?"
"You know the Republican Party seems doomed to me because while we’re kicking on the Democrats, let’s kick on the Republicans for a minute: Most of their recent candidates are women.”
"I’m thinking: ‘Joe Biden bad. A woman politician replacing him? Not better.'”
“I will never vote for a woman politician. Oh Major- Taylor Greene or whatever… Marjorie Taylor Greene! She’s a conservative! She’s on Infowars.'”
“It’s sick how many men today let women just run our country because they’re too cowardly to stand up to silly women."
"We need men to stand up and say, ‘Get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich!' And you know what? Some pastors need to tell their wives to do that.”
The video of Shelley's remarks quickly circulated online and many noted that it offered a striking example of the misogyny within the Republican Party.
So striking is this misogyny, in fact, that the far-right is willing to eat their own—even hardliners like Greene.
Funnily enough, Greene has made numerous remarks—especially misogynistic ones—that would likely be right at home within Shelley's congregation.
In May, Greene evoked a similarly ecclesiastical glee when she claimed that women choose to get abortions because Satan himself "whispers" that men will marry them if they do.
Greene issued the remark during an interview with Catholic activist Michael Voris, who produces catechetical and news videos and articles on the website Church Militant and has, like Shelley, been condemened by anti-hate groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Greene has also been regularly criticized for being one of the more openly anti-LGBTQ+ members of Congress, often using her platform to attack transgender people.
Shelley himself generated significant controversy this spring after he declared that LGBTQ+ people should be executed because "God has already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment.”
