Getty Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) in April 2019.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw was seen at a Tea Party event telling a young woman not to question his faith, after she asked him a question about Jesus being an archetype during a Q&A session in Montgomery County. While many referred to her on Twitter as being 10-years-old, Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune later tweeted that she was 18 and a supporter of Crenshaw’s primary opponent. Watch the video below and learn more about what happened.
Crenshaw is the Republican U.S. representative for Texas’ 2nd congressional district. The district covers southeastern parts of Texas, including parts of northern and western Houston. The primary election for this district is March 1, 2022, and the general election is November 8, Ballotpedia shared.
Crenshaw Told the Young Woman She Was Twisting His Words from an Earlier Podcast
The young woman, whose name is not known, quoted Crenshaw in a podcast, saying he said: “The most important thing here is that we have important hero archetypes that we look up to. Jesus is a hero archetype, Superman is a hero archetype. Real characters too. I could name a thousand: Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan.”
Then she commented, “I can’t wrap my head around this.”
Crenshaw replied, “Well, I’ll help you. Put a period after the word Jesus and don’t question my faith.”
The full video was shared by Scott T. Parkinson on Twitter below. Parkinson is the VP of Government Affairs for Club4Growth, according to his Twitter bio. Club4Growth describes itself as being focused on pro-growth, limited government Americans.
Raw Story reported that the exchange took place at a Montgomery County Tea Party on Monday night, January 17. The girl’s name was not released, but some people online referred to her as being 10-years-old, while Raw Story referred to her as a young woman. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune later shared on Twitter that she was actually 18-years-old.
I don’t think Dan Crenshaw is gonna raise a lot of money off *this* video.
You can hear people in the background booing after Crenshaw said this. Someone yelled something that sounded like: “Can’t talk to a kid like that.”
Crenshaw continued: “Don’t question my faith. You guys can ask questions about all of these things and I will answer them. But don’t question my faith.”
The girl replied, “I can question your faith if this is what you said.”
Crenshaw replied, “That’s… Read the quote again. Nowhere in that quote am I saying Jesus is not real. That’s a ridiculous statement. … Of course he’s the son of God… And of course he’s real.”
The girl replied, saying that she felt like he was saying one thing on the podcast and one thing here.
“On the podcast we would have understood it that way,” Crenshaw said. “I think you’re twisting it that way… Which is not very Christian… It’s not. And I’m not gonna have my faith questioned.
Another video, shared on YouTube by Sarah Burris, shows the same exchange from a different angle and a few of the things she said before the viral Twitter video.
You can see from this video that she started out by telling Crenshaw that she felt like “…When you claimed Jesus is a hero archetype, you not only lied about Jesus not being real, but you lied about being a Christian.”
Crenshaw’s Primary Opponent Said She Was a Supporter, But No One from the Campaign Suggested She Confront Crenshaw
In a statement shared by Crenshaw’s primary opponent, Jameson Ellis said that the young woman was a supporter of Ellis, but no one from the campaign had suggested she confront Crenshaw. The statement was shared on Twitter by Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune.
.@DanCrenshawTX primary challenger acknowledges 18-year-old who challenged Crenshaw in today’s viral clip is a supporter, but says no one from his campaign put her up to it:
The statement can be read in full above.
Ellis wrote, in part: “While she is a supporter of my campaign, no one from my campaign remotely suggested she confront Crenshaw. With that being said, we are VERY PROUD of her for her courage and willingness to engage in politics at such a young age…”
Her Question Was Referring to a Podcast Interview from March 2020
The young woman in the video was referring to an interview Crenshaw gave in March 2020 with the Jocko Podcast, according to a report last year by National File. The interview took place in Episode 222.
The full quote, according to National File, read: “The important thing is that we societal hero archetypes that we look up to. Jesus is a hero archetype, Superman is a hero archetype. Real characters too, you know, I put, I could name a thousand. You know, know Rosa Parks, Ronald Reagan, all of these people embody certain attributes that the American people think ‘This is good.’”
You can see the full video from the podcast above or at this link. It was published on March 25, 2020.
The clip of his talk about archetypes is in the Twitter clip above.
Raw Story reported that he made the statements while promoting his book, “Fortitude,” and expanding on pages in his book where he discussed role models like Jesus, Superman, and Rosa Parks.
Crenshaw has talked about his faith before, including in an interview with CBN where he said he only survived the injuries to his eyes while he was a Navy SEAL because of his faith.
“If I had been anxious about it, I couldn’t have dealt with that mentally. I think I would have had irreparable PTSD consequences,” he said about his recovery. “Looking back on that, there’s no other way to describe it except God giving me the strength to believe the impossible.”
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WATCH: Dan Crenshaw Tells Woman During Q&A, ‘Don’t Question My Faith’