Mike Johnson Says Americans 'Misunderstand' Separation Of Church And State
Nick Visser
Updated Wed, November 15, 2023
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that the notion of separation of church and state was a “misnomer” and that the nation required “everybody’s vibrant expression of faith.”
Johnson made the comments in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” after host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked about an image of the lawmaker praying on the House floor earlier this year.
“When the Founders set this system up, they wanted a vibrant expression of faith in the public square because they believed that a general moral consensus and virtue was necessary,” Johnson said. “The separation of church and state is a misnomer; people misunderstand it.”
“Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the Constitution,” he continued. “And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite.”
Johnson, a religious conservative, was elected speaker last month and quickly sparked concern among Democrats for his efforts to oppose abortion and gay rights. He took a Bible to the rostrum in the House before taking his oath of office, saying the “Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority … each of you, all of us.”
“Someone asked me today in the media, ‘People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue?’” Johnson recalled later that week on Fox News. “I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.’”
On Tuesday, Johnson said he believed the Founders “knew” religion would be “important to maintain our system” of democracy.
“That’s why I think we need more of that,” he said. “Not an establishment of any national religion, but we need everybody’s vibrant expression of faith because it’s such an important part of who we are as a nation.”
Speaker Mike Johnson calls separation of church and state ‘a misnomer’
Ed Pilkington
Wed, November 15, 2023
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has delivered his verdict on the separation of church and state: it is a “misnomer”.
The second-in-line to the presidency informed Americans on Tuesday that their time-honored conception of one of the founding principles of the country was a “misunderstanding”. Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, he tried to turn the conventional wisdom about the founders’ intentions on its head and claimed what they really wanted was to stop government interfering with religion, not the other way around.
Related: Mike Johnson, theocrat: the House speaker and a plot against America
“The separation of church and state is a misnomer,” the speaker said in an interview with the TV channel from the US Capitol. “People misunderstand it. Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the constitution.”
Johnson was referring to Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, written in 1802 when the third president was in the White House. It makes clear that the founding fathers subscribed to a powerful separation of church and state, which they enshrined in the establishment clause of the first amendment.
Jefferson in his letter quotes the establishment clause saying that Congress should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. He goes on to say that it builds “a wall of separation between Church & State”.
Johnson’s contentious remarks fall in line with years of effort on his part to bring Christianity into the center of American politics. The New York Times has dubbed him the first Christian nationalist to hold the powerful position of speaker.
FUNDAMENTALISTS TAKE OVER CONGRESS
Mike Johnson and other Republican members of Congress kneel in prayer in the House chamber on 6 January 2023. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Reuters
In the CNBC interview, Johnson was asked to explain the unusual sight of him praying along with a group of other members of Congress on bended knee on the floor of the House shortly after he was sworn in as speaker.
He has made no attempt to obscure his religious fervor. He told Fox News that anyone who wanted to know what he thought about any issue should “go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview”.
That worldview goes as far as to cast the US not as a democracy but as a “biblical” republic, as he stated in a 2016 interview. Before he entered politics as a member of the Louisiana legislature in 2015 he worked for many years as senior lawyer for the extremist Alliance Defense Fund.
The same group, renamed the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has spearheaded attacks on LGBTQ+ rights before the US supreme court and played an important hand in the overturning of the right to an abortion in the court’s Dobbs decision.
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Speaker Johnson: Separation of church, state ‘a misnomer’
Lauren Sforza
Tue, November 14, 2023
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pushed back Tuesday on the belief that there should be separation between church and state on the U.S., arguing that the founding fathers wanted faith to be a “big part” of government.
“Separation of church and state … is a misnomer. People misunderstand it,” Johnson said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked about him praying on the House floor. “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote is not in the Constitution.”
“And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church, not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite,” the Speaker added.
The letter that Johnson referred to is Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut, who had expressed concerns about religious liberty. In his reply, Jefferson said that the First Amendment, which bars Congress from prohibiting free exercise of a religion, built “a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Johnson argued that “faith, our deep religious heritage and tradition is a big part of what it means to be an American” in his comments Tuesday. He further argued that “morality” must be kept among Americans “so that we have accountability.”
“That’s why I think we need more of that,” he said. “Not an establishment of any national religion, but we need everybody’s vibrant expression of faith, because it’s such an important part of who we are as a nation.”
He is not the only member of Congress who has who has suggested that faith should influence the government. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) faced backlash last year after she said she believes “the church is supposed to direct the government.”
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk — that’s not in the Constitution,” Boebert said at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colo. “It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like they say it does.”
Mike Johnson and other Republican members of Congress kneel in prayer in the House chamber on 6 January 2023. Photograph: Jon Cherry/Reuters
In the CNBC interview, Johnson was asked to explain the unusual sight of him praying along with a group of other members of Congress on bended knee on the floor of the House shortly after he was sworn in as speaker.
He has made no attempt to obscure his religious fervor. He told Fox News that anyone who wanted to know what he thought about any issue should “go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview”.
That worldview goes as far as to cast the US not as a democracy but as a “biblical” republic, as he stated in a 2016 interview. Before he entered politics as a member of the Louisiana legislature in 2015 he worked for many years as senior lawyer for the extremist Alliance Defense Fund.
The same group, renamed the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has spearheaded attacks on LGBTQ+ rights before the US supreme court and played an important hand in the overturning of the right to an abortion in the court’s Dobbs decision.
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Speaker Johnson: Separation of church, state ‘a misnomer’
Lauren Sforza
Tue, November 14, 2023
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pushed back Tuesday on the belief that there should be separation between church and state on the U.S., arguing that the founding fathers wanted faith to be a “big part” of government.
“Separation of church and state … is a misnomer. People misunderstand it,” Johnson said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked about him praying on the House floor. “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote is not in the Constitution.”
“And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church, not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite,” the Speaker added.
The letter that Johnson referred to is Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut, who had expressed concerns about religious liberty. In his reply, Jefferson said that the First Amendment, which bars Congress from prohibiting free exercise of a religion, built “a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Johnson argued that “faith, our deep religious heritage and tradition is a big part of what it means to be an American” in his comments Tuesday. He further argued that “morality” must be kept among Americans “so that we have accountability.”
“That’s why I think we need more of that,” he said. “Not an establishment of any national religion, but we need everybody’s vibrant expression of faith, because it’s such an important part of who we are as a nation.”
He is not the only member of Congress who has who has suggested that faith should influence the government. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) faced backlash last year after she said she believes “the church is supposed to direct the government.”
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk — that’s not in the Constitution,” Boebert said at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colo. “It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like they say it does.”
Johnson, who was elected as Speaker last month, faced criticism of his Christian faith. An op-ed in The New York Times published earlier this month claimed the Louisiana Republican’s election as Speaker “reflects the strength of white evangelical voters’ influence in the House Republican caucus.”
Before taking the oath of office last month, Johnson brought his Bible to the rostrum, saying, “The Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority … each of you, all of us,” according to The Associated Press.
Before serving in Congress, Johnson served as a professor at the government school of Liberty University in Virginia, a Christian school, according to AP. From 2004-12, Johnson also served on the board of the policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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