Ohio Right to Life dismissed communications director Elizabeth Marbach after a Republican congressman, whose wife sits on the entity’s board, publicly rebuked her for sharing the gospel on social media.
Marbach said in exclusive comments to The Sentinel that she “absolutely” does not regret making the post because “now millions have read the gospel message.”
Marbach, a former Trump campaign and Ohio Republican Party staff member, tweeted on Tuesday that “there's no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.” Representative Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio whose wife, Emily Moreno Miller, serves as a board member of Ohio Right to Life, then called on Marbach to “delete” the tweet.
“This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen,” Miller said on social media. “Delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You have gone too far.”
Miller, who is Jewish, said in another post that “God says that Jewish people are the chosen ones, but yet you say we have no hope” and thanked Marbach for her “pearl of wisdom today.” Ohio State Representative Casey Weinstein, a Democrat who also identifies as Jewish, backed Miller in a now-removed post which likewise called on Marbach to “delete” her comments.
Marbach refused to delete the post from social media, noting in a response to Miller that Jesus said he is “the way, the truth, and the life” without whom one cannot come to the Father. “No one has hope outside of Jesus Christ and every knee will bow one day,” she added.
Christian theology has historically confessed that only those who place their hope of salvation in Jesus Christ can be redeemed from their sins, but also affirms that all people, regardless of their self-described religious identity, are image-bearers of God with inherent worth and value.
Miller later publicly apologized for his rebuke. Marbach accepted the apology and repeated that “it is not me from whom you need forgiveness, but God himself,” adding that she would “genuinely pray you seek him and find salvation.” Emily Miller meanwhile acknowledged that her husband was “wrong to ask someone to stand down from her religious views” while asserting that the couple had been asked to “back down from our Jewish faith.”
Internal communications at Ohio Right to Life reviewed by The Sentinel showed that Marbach was offered the opportunity to resign from the entity or receive a transition period before her official dismissal, both of which she declined.
The dismissal came days after Marbach and another senior Ohio Right to Life employee disagreed about a separate post from Marbach, in which she called a pro-abortion activist a “murderous liar” in reference to a proposed state constitutional amendment that would expand the legality of abortion in Ohio. The employee was concerned about the tone of the post.
The Rooster, a progressive political newsletter in Ohio, meanwhile hinted in a Tuesday article about the exchanges between Miller and Marbach that her career “was in jeopardy earlier today,” an allusion to the internal disagreement over the earlier “murderous liar” post. The senior Ohio Right to Life official confirmed in a text message to Marbach that “someone shared confidential information I shared with the board discussing our agency” with the leftist outlet.
Marbach said in additional comments to The Sentinel that she trusts “God will continue to use this situation to bring glory and honor to his name.” She expressed hope that Ohio Right to Life would defend the lives of preborn babies in the state without political entanglements.
“Preborn lives are being slaughtered every day, and Ohio Right to Life is one of the few organizations in a position to stop it,” she contended. “I hope and pray that they would prioritize abolishing abortion in Ohio going forward and not be distracted by politics.”
