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David Corn: Mike Johnson Urged a Religious Test for Politicians
https://link.motherjones.com/public/33196514The elevation of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to House speaker was a shocker. Not since John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate has a heretofore little-known politician been lifted so quickly to a position of prominence and importance. Though Johnson now is second in the line of presidential succession, we’re still finding out basic and important facts about him and how he sees the world. This includes his alarming record as a hardcore conservative cultural warrior, motivated by a Christian fundamentalist belief, who has fiercely opposed gay rights (comparing homosexuality to pedophilia), called for a total nationwide ban on abortion, proposed the end of no-fault divorce, and urged a return to “18th century values.” One more significant thing I’ve discovered is that Johnson appears to believe in a religious litmus test for politicians.
This weekend I broke the news that Johnson and his wife, Kelly Johnson, a self-described Christian counselor, a few years ago created a seminar that promoted the premise that the United States has been a “Christian nation.” I found a video of one of these sessions they held in 2019 at the Baptist church they belong to in Bossier City, Louisiana. At that event, from the pulpit, Kelly declared that “biblical Christianity”—that is, a literal reading of the Bible as fundamentalists interpret it—is the only “valid worldview,” and nothing else makes sense. (This worldview includes creationism—believing that the Earth was created by God in six days 6,000 years ago—and the denial of evolution.) Mike Johnson called for “biblically sanctioned government.” In this venue and many others, including a podcast they have hosted together, the pair have contended that there is only one truth: “Jesus’ truth.”
The Johnsons are diehard fundamentalists who believe every religion other than their brand of Christianity is false and that whatever is written in the Bible should dictate all conduct, rules, policies, and laws. As I reported earlier, Mike Johnson in 2016 exclaimed, “We’re living in a completely amoral society.” The only way out, according to him and Kelly, is to abide by the Bible.
This is a lot to absorb. We’re often uncomfortable discussing a politician’s faith. But in this case, Johnson acknowledges that his fundamentalism determines his politics and policy positions. As he said during a Fox interview, “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, 'It's curious, people are curious: What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?' I said, 'Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview.'"
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no_hypocrisy
(54,908 posts)He won in the USSC with a decision that prohibits religious tests for any government office.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins
underpants
(196,502 posts)no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-6/
NowISeetheLight
(4,002 posts)They didn't really mean it. It's like Jefferson and the wall of separation. It's only to keep government out of religion. Religion in government is OK.
This guy is the epitome of "Christian Taliban".
Moostache
(11,179 posts)I have no use for anyone who wants to use their flavor of invisible sky daddy (and its ability to beat up my sky daddy) as a north star. The separation of Church and State was one of the most fundamental genius moves of the United States Constitution and any effort to move away from that is anathema to America the idea and America the existent Republic.
LastDemocratInSC
(4,242 posts)Thank you for sharing.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)will tell you the bible takes precedence over the Constitution.
Moostache
(11,179 posts)Preferably some Black mambas or equally lethal serpents...
LastDemocratInSC
(4,242 posts)was added to the book of Mark by scribes who didn't like the ending that Mark wrote. The last 12 verses, in the book, including the snake stuff were added many years after the original to make Mark's ending more dramatic.
So, all those Appalachian moonshining snake handlers are betting their lives on a forgery.
Moostache
(11,179 posts)But I think the Appalachian moonshining snake handlers" (LOL) are betting their lives on a lot of things, including the distilled drink of choice!
Roy Rolling
(7,632 posts)underpants
(196,502 posts)
Evolve Dammit
(21,777 posts)
AllaN01Bear
(29,498 posts)but, wait ! the r$ can igonore the constitution.
Caliman73
(11,767 posts)AllaN01Bear
(29,498 posts)I had forgotten what that treaty was called/who it was with, but boy, does it say a mouthful!
hunter
(40,691 posts)Believers and non-believers die all the same when they do stupid shit. Do not throw yourself over a cliff expecting the angels will gently lower you to the ground. Gravity is universal.
Mike Johnson is some stupid shit.
Wingus Dingus
(9,173 posts)We all should be afraid of this.
Walleye
(44,807 posts)Going to hear voices that tell him that God wants him to assassinate the president and vice president so that the Jesus guy can become president. I bet there’s idiots working on it in their heads right now
Wingus Dingus
(9,173 posts)What else could happen?
Walleye
(44,807 posts)They just can’t get it through their brains that American white guys are really the ones perpetrating political violence in this country
Lonestarblue
(13,480 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)where it says that in the bible.
Postal Grunt
(255 posts)Given what I've read, I'd suggest that President Biden and VP Harris request a thorough vetting of their SS agents assigned to their offices. MAGA Mike seems to be willing to twist the Bible to whatever is convenient for him. I see no reason to trust him.
OMGWTF
(5,131 posts)The president is already the president.
William Seger
(12,443 posts)"Do you believe you're on a mission from your God to shove your religion down everyone's throat?"
(Edit: Sorry, misplaced reply.)
mountain grammy
(29,035 posts)unimagineable but possible. Terrifying.
usaf-vet
(7,811 posts)..... that helps the majority of all Americans. Not just the top 1%.
And, of course, TERM LIMITS.
Preventing people from staying in Congress as one of the better easier ways to become a millionaire.
leftieNanner
(16,159 posts)Tommy Tooberville would have failed.
usaf-vet
(7,811 posts)You are right about a Civics test when I went to high school in the mid-1960s. We had to take civics.
Now, many schools in the southern states don't teach civics anymore. They don't teach cursive writing anymore. They don't teach essential math skills anymore. Just add these three subjects missing from today's primary curriculums, and you have what we see daily on our TVs.
Adults who can't reason for themselves. Adults will believe any far-fetched stories they hear on TV, talk radio, blogs, podcasts, in the local pubs, and at political rallies.
Cultists believing in Jewish space lasers. Stolen elections. MSM that lies to the Trumpers. Fox News only tells the Trumpers the REAL news. A president who has the biggest and best brain of any president EVER. A delusional former president who knows more about the military and military strategy than any general with 30 years of wearing a uniform.
We have the dumb, dumber, and dumbest citizens who have 30 years of republican designing, lying, and purposely destroying public education. To mold dumb electors who will drink a poisonous cup of cool aid if told to. But won't take vaccines to prevent deadly viruses. But will drink bleach and take veterinarian medicines meant to treat horses. To cure Covid in minutes. All while hundreds of thousands of friends and family members die.
And now we have a Speaker of the House who could quickly become a Taliban leader by just changing what he wears. He already preaches the hatred they embrace.
We are so F if we don't rid ourselves of this planned destruction of democracy.
Probatim
(3,286 posts)Like Scripture, MAGA Mike would like you to do what he says, not what he does.
erronis
(23,882 posts)Seems a no-brainer, but that's the (r) line.
MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)to bother reading the Constitution.
sanatanadharma
(4,089 posts)It seems too many so-called Christian fundamentalists are actually preaching to God, insisting that they are right and he is wrong.
Or, since God hasn't able to get the message across for 2000 years, they are going to fix the problem and make clear that what God wants is not what God said god wants.
Walleye
(44,807 posts)
ancianita
(43,307 posts)first claim about separation of church and state with his famous "Render unto Caesar..." statement:
Initially the questioners flattered Jesus by praising his integrity, impartiality, and devotion to truth. Then they asked him whether or not it is right for Jews to pay the taxes demanded by Caesar. In the Gospel of Mark[3] the additional, provocative question is asked, "Should we pay or shouldn't we?"
Jesus first called them hypocrites, and then asked one of them to produce a Roman coin that would be suitable for paying Caesar's tax. One of them showed him a Roman coin, and he asked them whose head and inscription were on it. They answered, "Caesar's," and he responded: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". Matthew 22:21
[/excerpt
Tertullian, one of Christianity's first theologians, explained what Jesus meant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Render_unto_Caesar
Which is why Jesus called the Roman coin users hypocrites, as Jews -- because they, as Jews, would want the benefits of Roman money use but not want to pay Caesar for the economic benefits of his Roman rule.
The Bible says all over the place that men's already existing laws are right and good. But Johnson hasn't read it, which makes him both stupid and dangerous, and not at all the Christian he thinks he is.
What Johnson wants to do is exactly what Jesus did NOT say -- render unto Caesar the things that are God's -- christianize our law -- which makes him both a faithless christian and a despicable, conniving, power monger politician.
sanatanadharma
(4,089 posts)Or, as I understand the story, Jesus was poorly recorded when seeking to teach people to make the necessary discrimination between the temporal (Caesar's world) and the absolute, limitless, permanent world of God (limitless-conscious-beingness.)
Neither can be weighted and measured by the scales of the other realm.
We do harm to knowledge and logic when the permanent and the temporal are misunderstood and confused.
It is a huge problem among 21st century evangelicals.
ancianita
(43,307 posts)Last edited Tue Oct 31, 2023, 07:22 PM - Edit history (1)
is to not go to the source, Jesus, and in their ignorant pride, just cherry pick lines to confirm their worldly prejudices and small minded judgy mcjudge view of others who Jesus called children of God -- which is all humankind. They drive toward social mischief, do real harm to society, and even worse, start all kinds of believer wars.
Right now, our democracy is endangered by this so-called christian who hasn't himself, for all his reading, understood the "Jesus truths" spoken by Jesus, as quoted in the Bible,.
What we're witnessing right now is Johnson’s ignorant, harmful attempt -- to “render under Caesar the things that are God’s” -- to wipe out democracy and replace it with what he thinks should be the one. guiding. religion. of an American theocracy. God, who honors all current laws in place, would never accept Johnson's attempt as anything but some dupe of “the enemy.” I also have learned that all along, he’s been funded by corporations who would turn this country fascist behind the religious facade.
ancianita
(43,307 posts)bible study (like literature or history or philosophy or ANY study in schools) during which time, in the Bible's case, people also access theologians' broader and deeper understanding of the lines of thought that run through both the OT and the actual Jesus quotes of the NT that fulfill all the law and the prophets of the OT.
ShazzieB
(22,591 posts)People like Johnson are 100% sure that their understanding of what the Bible says is the one and only correct one. That's what makes them so dangerous.
I was raised in a fundamentalist denomination that taught a lot of the same things Johnson believes. As a kid, I remember learning Bible verse after Bible verse that appeared to support the teachings they wanted us to believe, but they never bothered to mention that they were pulling out verses from all over the Bible and stringing them together in ways the original authors never intended.
I thought I was learning about the Bible at the time, but I was actually learning a "cut and paste" version of it that ignored a lot of problematic things and used strings of unrelated verses to "prove" certain things that they didn't actually "prove" at all. I didn't realize the extent of the cutting and pasting or how little support there actually was in the Bible for some of the things I was taught until I decided to read the whole Bible for myself as an adult.
People like Johnson know all the cut and pasted Bible passages that appear to support their own beliefs backward and forward and can spout them all day. Unfortunately, those who were raised to regard the Bible as the "divinely inspired" word of God without ever acquiring any real knowledge of its contents (i.e., an alarming percentage of Americans) can be easily impressed and influenced by the seemingly encyclopedic Biblical knowledge of someone like him. That is what makes Johnson and his ilk so dangerous.
ExWhoDoesntCare
(4,741 posts)In forcing rape victims to marry their rapists who can pay her daddy enough to assume property rights to her?
Just wondering.
Because if that had happened to this rape victim, I would have gone totally Gentileschi on both father and rapist:
rubbersole
(11,223 posts)NowISeetheLight
(4,002 posts)Having this guy two heartbeats from the White House is scary. He reminds me of Martin Sheen in The Dead Zone. He wasn't playing a religious kook, just a kook. But the end of the clip after he launched the missiles, and says "Hallelujah".... Throw some glasses on him and he looks like Johnson.
Xavier Breath
(6,640 posts)Yep, I stayed entirely inside the lines.
musclecar6
(1,884 posts)Another off the rails jackass.
Demovictory9
(37,113 posts)
Hermit-The-Prog
(36,631 posts)The money people behind all this ongoing attempted takeover scare me, and they've been accelerating since 2016.
3catwoman3
(29,406 posts)…for anyone running for office. Only agnostics and atheists can hold office - we have no interest in trying to force others to think, believe or behave in an exclusionary way.
modrepub
(4,109 posts)There are quite a few of them. Which one is the "right" one? And what about the other ones? Shouldn't the Bible be written in Greek or Hebrew so you don't loose something in translation?
That should be the first response from a reporter when some person or politician they're interviewing starts going down this path.
Martin Eden
(15,629 posts)They want to impose their own extremely narrow minded strictures on everyone else.
3auld6phart
(1,683 posts)You people are in for a hellish time. Where the fuck do you find asshole Roundheads to lead and make rules to live by.?. It is a lot worse than I thought imaginable. What a dangerous feckin joke.
azureblue
(2,728 posts)Yes, let's have a religious test.
Start with the Ten Commandments, especially "Do not Lie". If they lie, they do nto get seated.
Then move on to Matthew 25: 31- 46, in which Jesus himself says that if you d not help the poor, the sick, the lederly or if you do not welcome the stranger, you will go to hell. So all the anti immigration, barb wire at the border, cuttign SS benefits, cuttign aid to poor families and children, etc. , well, we just tell them they are going to hell and they can't be seated.
The next, pray in private, judge not, the rich give their money to help the poor. If their words and actions do not reflect those words of Jesus, then out the door they go.
And remind them of Jesus' warning about those would claim his name but refuse his teachings. I would even go so far as to ask every Republican if they are a Christian, right there on the House floor. Then ask them what, if any, of Jesus' teachings they are living by? And when they try to dodge, then you say, "so you deny Christ, like Judas?"
My proposal is to throw this in Mike's face every time he croaks about "Christian values" Make him explain why he refuses to do what Jesus teaches, especially if he claims to be a Christian. I would love it if some Democrat would stand up with a Bible and read Matthew 25: 31- 46 at the start of every House session. Just think - the GOP would try to shut it down, but oops, that would be suppressing Christian values, wouldn't it? Oh no, not THOSE values----------
Who in the House can we get to do this?
Farmer-Rick
(12,667 posts)Unless they believe in an imaginary creature and super daddy in the sky. Everyone who thinks that imaginary beings should NOT rule your life, gets kicked out. And you better pick the correct super daddy in the sky or you're kicked out too.
They are making all this crap up in their heads and they think it should be used to rule a country.
MAGAt Mike isn't even biblically accurate in what he poops out of his mouth.
And he's hiding all his money. What about that eye if the needle hypocrite?
Emile
(42,293 posts)azureblue
(2,728 posts)Hey Mike, remember Jimmy Carter? A man who walked the talk, who put the teaching of Jesus into action. who taught Sunday school? Your party drove this fine Christian man, a Christian in the truest sense of the word, out of office, for being "weak". this shows clearly why you aren't even fit to shine his shoes, much less lead the House. Go home you hypocrite.
meow2u3
(25,250 posts)When the Constitution reads "No Religious Test", it means no religious test!! The Founders didn't make exceptions for fundamentalist Christianists, Mikey!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)using, but how are they reconciling all the many contradictions?
OMGWTF
(5,131 posts)nun teachers used, “There are some things that you aren’t supposed to understand.”
Abigail_Adams
(333 posts)Or willfully ignoring it: they are not the policy makers for only the Christian people in their district or the nation. They are responsible to all Americans, Jewish, none-of-the-above, Zoroastrian, etc. What they do affects people who do not share their faith, and they should weigh the consequences of that. But obviously they don't; witness all the anti-choice state legislation.
Similar are some in the Catholic Church who say that pro-choice politicans like Biden (and in the old days, Ted Kennedy) should be denied Communion at Mass. That's not a valid position either, IMO, because Biden isn't just the president of the Catholics, but of non-Catholics too.
prodigitalson
(3,193 posts)
Old Crank
(7,078 posts)Fred Phelps would get a job from his administration.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)and it's ramifications. I suppose the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes are similarly understood and are universal.
Religion is not the enemy. The enemy is the misunderstanding of religion and using it as a weapon.
But we are human.