472

Mike Johnson conducted seminars promoting the US as a “Christian nation”. (www.motherjones.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican House speaker, used to conduct a seminar in churches premised on the idea that the United States is a “Christian nation.” This ministry, as he has referred to it, is yet more evidence that Johnson is committed to a hardcore Christian fundamentalism that shapes his views of politics and government.

The seminar, titled “Answers for Our Times: Government, Culture, and Christianity,” was organized by Onward Christian Education Services, Inc., a company owned by his wife, Kelly Johnson, a Christian counselor and anti-abortion activist who calls herself a “leader in the pro-family movement.” The website for her counseling service—which was taken down shortly after Johnson became speaker—described the seminar, which featured both her and Johnson, as exploring several questions, such as, “What is happening in America and how do we fix it?” The list includes this query: “Can our heritage as a Christian nation be preserved?” There were different versions of the seminar running from two-hour-long lectures to retreats lasting two days.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

The closest America comes is in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

"Their Creator" is about as non-denominational as it gets. It's not like it's saying "endowed by Jesus God." It's more of a generic "men are born with these rights" statement than any statement of religion.

Yet the Christian Fundamentalists will point to that and say "See? That means God and clearly it refers to our God so that means it's a Christian country!"

Oh, and a big reason why the US is secular? We broke off from England where the king was the head of the Church. If you weren't part of the Church of England, you were persecuted against. The founding fathers were trying to avoid that in the US.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Yep, good points. Even though the Declaration holds no legal bearing, they will try to point to that (but ignore the Treaty of Tripoli, LOL). Though I think some of today's Christopaths would probably burn the Deist Founders as heretics if they had the chance.

Lastly, yes, the Founders were well aware of the worst impulses and excesses of religion that is given any power, given that the Inquisition was still going during their lifetimes. Given that many were Deists, surely they had to know that kind of heresy [1] would not be tolerated by the most fanatical of xtians.

[1] - Heresy literally means "choice". Kind of ironic that today's right wing that has co-opted terms like "liberty" and "freedom" are the very ones that would be America's own Morality Police, zealously trying to stamp out any and all heresy (choice) if they had the chance. Also, the same bunch constantly concern troll over things like "Shariah Law" - more irony, I guess, since they only differ on small matters of doctrine dealing with unverifiable superstitions, but don't really differ at all on the outcomes and the methods on who should be subjugated (women, LGBTQ, the "other" faiths).

this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023

472 points (98.6% liked)

politics

18863 readers

3984 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News