During Mike Pompeo’s Thursday confirmation hearing for secretary of state, Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) raked the CIA director over the coals for his beliefs on same-sex marriage. Booker’s vitriol towards Pompeo says a lot about how the Left has become increasingly intolerant.

Pompeo, a Christian who has taught Sunday school, holds the biblical view that same-sex marriage is a sin. He also holds the Christian view that everyone, regardless of his or her sexual attraction, deserves to be treated equally under the law and with dignity and respect.

Pompeo is far from alone in his views of government affirmation for homosexual attraction. Most Christians believe this, as did Hillary Clinton — even during her own tenure as secretary of State. But that didn’t stop Booker from berating Pompeo in a self-important filibuster during which the man who’s supposed to be answering questions barely got two words in.

At his confirmation hearing, Mike Pompeo repeatedly refused to answer a simple question: Do you believe being gay is a perversion? pic.twitter.com/VM0VqsKUlo — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) April 12, 2018

Here’s some highlights from the exchange.

Booker: “Is being gay a perversion?”

Pompeo: “Senator, when I was a politician I had a very clear view on wether it was appropriate for two same sex persons to marry, I stand by that–”

Booker: “So you do not believe it’s okay for two gay people to marry?”

Pompeo: “I stand by that view, it’s the same view, by the way–”

Booker: “And so people in the State Department, I’ve met some in Africa that are married. So under your leadership, you believe that should not be allowed?”

Pompeo: “Senator, we have married gay couples, I believe, at the CIA. You should know, I treated them with the exact same rights. . .”

Booker: “Do you believe that gay sex is a perversion? Yes or no?”

Pompeo: “My respect for every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation, is the same.”

Booker: “You’re going to be secretary of state of the United States at a time that we have an increase of hate speech and hate actions against Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, Indian Americans. Hate acts are on the increase against these Americans. You’re going to be representing this country and values abroad in places where gay individuals are under untold persecution, face untold violence. Your views do matter. You’re going to be dealing with Muslim states on Muslim issues. I do not necessarily concur that you are putting forth the values of our nation when you believe there are people in our country that are perverse, and where you think that you create different categories of Americans and their obligations when it comes to condemning of violence.”

So in Booker’s mind, it’s not okay for Pompeo, a Bible-believing Christian, to hold biblical beliefs. Further, it’s really not alright for an individual to hold these beliefs while serving in public office. A

As Obianuju Ekeocha points out, Christian beliefs have become disgusting to liberals, who apparently expect us to reject them before seeking public office.

.@CoryBooker:"You do not believe it's appropriate for two gay people to marry?" Pompeo:"Senator, I continue to hold that view" Our Christian views have become so despised tday that one is expected to renounce them in order to hold office #SoftPersecution pic.twitter.com/cnHnnLe6mf — Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) April 12, 2018

Booker’s line of questions assumes that because Pompeo thinks homosexual acts are sinful, he must want to send the gays to the gulag! That is not at all the case. Despite Pompeo’s efforts to convince everyone that he believes all people ought to be treated equally — and that he treats gay co-workers with respect — Booker still hounded Pompeo for thinking Wrong Thoughts. Note that Booker’s attack implies banning every orthodox Christian from holding public office in a country where 70 percent of citizens call themselves Christians.

The Democratic senator assumes that if you don’t agree with and condone every aspect of a person’s life, you must want them to be treated like second-class citizens. This rationale is shocking, but not surprising. That’s because liberals routinely treat others with whom they disagree as non-persons. Woke college students treat visiting speakers and professors who hold different views like they are dirty criminals who deserve capital punishment. In some cases, professors have even landed in the hospital with injuries from angry students who don’t like it when people they disagree with speak.

But the political and religious right believes in loving everyone, even our enemies, and in defending the right of people to speak and worship as their consciences dictate, even when we hold different views. That’s what both spiritual and political freedom means.

Even the way Booker treats Pompeo in this exchange indicates his anti-religious Puritanism, and that of the political party in which he is regarded as a rising star. Booker clearly thinks people who hold views that vary from one very narrow vein of liberal orthodoxy must be purged and publicly humiliated. If this is the way Booker treats those whose beliefs and choices he doesn’t like, it’s no wonder he assumes everyone else, including Pompeo, is equally prejudiced.