'Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview.'"

Speaker Mike Johnson

Newly-minted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has made it clear his actions are driven by his faith and looks to the Gospels to form policy positions.  Echoing evangelical and Christian Nationalists ideologies, he openly advocates a radical conservative agenda, suggesting he would be more comfortable were the United States to be transformed from a democratic Republic into a Christian-centric theocracy.

Ignoring science and dismissing the views of people who hold different social or religious belief systems, Speaker Johsons vacillates where parental choice is concerned, championing it when it aligns with his values while willing to override it when it conflicts with his conservative personal principles.

On several “hot button” issues dividing Americans:

  • The 2020 election – He actively recruited House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 results despite no evidence of voter fraud which would have changed the results.
  • Same-sex marriage – He has called same sex marriages “counterfeit legal arrangements” and suggested they are a” dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest Republic.”
  • Women’s reproductive freedom – Johnson said reproductive freedom in America was a “truly an American holocaust,” and is “grateful to be from Louisiana” making it “an abortion-free state, pro-life,” banning abortions, with no exceptions and criminalizing abortion providers.
  • Contraception – He voted against the Right to Contraception Act, protecting access to birth control..
  • No Fault divorce – The Speaker wants to end no-fault divorces despite overwhelming evidence it has resulted in dramatic decreases in domestic violence, suicide and femicide as women were no longer trapped in violent, coercive, or loveless marriages; rejecting married partners from determining their own futures absent governmental interference.
  • Transgenders – He cosponsored legislation criminalizing transgender health care to minors even if it is deemed in the best interest of children by their doctor and the informed desires of the child’s parents.
  • Teaching evolution – He has suggested teaching evolution leads to mass shootings.

Mike Jonson rejects the separation of church and state, obviously forgetting;

  • Our nation’s Founding Fathers, not the Apostles, wrote the Constitution;
  • They added a Bill of Rights, not the Ten Commandments; 
  • Despite most being Christians or deists, the Founders’ clear intent was freedom of religion not the establishment of or control by any specific religion;
  • The Founders created a pluralistic democracy, not a theocracy which many came to this country to escape;
  • Nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation or the Constitution is “Christianity” mentioned; and
  • Where claims of America being a “Christian nation” are concerned, he might check Section 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, approved by the United States Senate and signed by then President and one of the nation’s Founders, John Adams, which states, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion …”  

One wonders how Mike Johnson, who has been quoted as saying, "I believe that Scripture, the Bible is very clear,” is supportive of such biblical directives as:

  • Selling one’s youngest daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7);
  • Putting to death those working on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2), who take the Lord’s name in vain (Leviticus 24:16), or members of our military who kill people in battle (Leviticus 19:17); or
  • Marrying a divorced woman making one an adulterer (Matthew 5:31-32).

Every American, including Speaker Johnson, has the inalienable right to worship and live a life-style according to their personal or religious beliefs. 

However, they have no right to impose their values systems on, discriminate against or interfere with the rights, personal life-styles or beliefs of others.  Permitting such authoritarian actions can easily lead to a Taliban-style environment of intolerance, oppression, lost liberties, and ultimately the demise of our fragile constitutional republic and the liberties it provides its citizens.  

Speaker Mike Johnson must decide whether he is willing to place his Congressional oath of office, “I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God,” above a fealty to any other entity or creed.  If he cannot do so, he should, in good faith, resign as Speaker of the House of Representatives.