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Madison CawthornPBS NewsHour / YouTube

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HENDERSONVILLE, North Carolina, November 18, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A newly elected 25-year-old Republican congressman says he has converted a number of people to Christ, which caused some uproar among the political left.

Madison Cawthorn is the United States’ youngest congressman since 1920. He defeated the Democrat incumbent for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, Moe Davis, in the recent elections. An Evangelical Christian deeply committed to his faith, Cawthorn told the Jewish Insider online magazine that he had preached the Gospel to both Muslims and Jews.

In case he ever had the opportunity to preach to Muslims, Cawthorn read the Quran. “The thing I found when I was actually reading through the Quran is that Christianity — that is a very easy switch to make to lead a Muslim to Christ,” he told the magazine.

“[Muslims] believe Jesus is a real person,” Cawthorn went on to say. “They believe he was a prophet, though. And so when you’re trying to lead an atheist to Christ, or, say, kind of a traditional Jewish person, you kind of have to make people really — you have to sell Jesus a lot, because, one, they don’t really believe that, you know.”

The newly fledged congressman told the magazine that he had brought “several Muslims to Christ” through his conversations, including someone he met “down in Atlanta” when he was in rehabilitation after the accident that almost killed him and left him partly paralyzed.

“It was pretty incredible,” he said of this Muslim’s introduction to Christ.

The Jewish Insider asked the congressman if he had ever tried to convert Jews, and Cawthorn said that he had, although he had not had any success with the devout.

“I have switched a lot of, uh, you know, I guess, culturally Jewish people,” he told the magazine. “But being a practicing Jew, like, people who are religious about it, they are very difficult. I’ve had a hard time connecting with them in that way.”

Cawthorn, a pro-life politician who was home-schooled in Hendersonville, was brought up Baptist and occasionally gives sermons. His candid remarks about sharing the Gospel with Jews have been republished by a number of publications, including the Times of Israel.

While some observers on the political left tried to create a controversy based on Cawthorn’s remarks, the young man commented, “I am being attacked because I share my faith with others? Is the left fully anti religious freedom now? This is dangerous for America!”

David Harsanyi, an atheist Jew writing for National Review, verbally shrugged at the controversy.

“As a Jew, I’ve had a number of Christian friends try to turn me toward Jesus — Lutherans, Catholics, and Evangelicals,” Harsanyi said. “Though denominations seem to adopt different philosophies on how best to proselytize in a secular world, they have all been exceptionally polite about it.”

“My assumption is that they wouldn’t be very good Christians if they weren’t spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is, from what I gather, one of the central premises of the entire enterprise. To be honest, I’m often surprised at how shy Christians are at performing this task.”

Harsanyi declared that the idea that “Jews should be offended by Christians approaching us with theological ideas is un-American.”

In fact, he finds Christians who argue for their faith less coercive than elements of the American left.

“Trust me, Jews are not helpless in the face of arguments,” Harsanyi wrote.

“And Christians do not have the power to compel us to believe. Unlike progressives — who try to force nuns to fund abortions or Evangelicals to participate in same-sex weddings — no Christian has ever endeavored to coerce me to perform any of their rites.”

The author accused those who have objected to Cawthorn’s remarks of “feigned rage” and of desiring to smear evangelical Christians.

“… [A]ll the feigned anger directed at Cawthorn is, as is usually the case when the topic arises, about smearing Evangelical Christians — all orthodox Christians, really — and little do with anti-Semitism,” Harsanyi declared.

“I know this because many of the very people who pretend to be insulted for Jewish people are constantly excusing genuine anti-Semitism.”

Harsanyi pointed out that there are real, serious threats against Jews, and they don’t include American Christians who want to share their faith in Jesus Christ.

“For more than a century now, attacks on Jews have predominantly emanated from secular fascists and leftists, Arab nationalists and Islamists — not Christians spreading the good word,” he wrote.

“It is in secular France, where gruesome murders of Jews are now an annual event, that men can’t wear yarmulkes in public. And, rest assured, it is not because of Mormon missionaries,” he continued.

“An American Jew is far more likely to encounter anti-Semitism on progressive campuses than anywhere else in this country. If an Evangelical Christian approaches you while saying God is Good, the only thing you are likely to lose is your time.”