Secular liberals and the mainstream media are playing a dangerous game when it comes to their criticism of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s faith.
By painting their opinions with too broad a brush, they risk alienating a wide swath of Christians in the process.
This thought first occurred to me after Johnson had just won the speakership. Explaining why his wife couldn’t be there, he said, “She’s spent the last couple of weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord. And, um, she’s a little worn out.”
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Now, maybe you think that statement is phony, cheesy, or sanctimonious, but the general reaction on Twitter (often from people with “#Kindness” in their Twitter bios) was to elicit blowjob jokes.
Photos of Johnson praying have also been circulated on cable news b-roll, typically with the suggestion that he’s a religious fanatic. And maybe he is. But many average Americans believe deeply in prayer and a host of other things that might be labeled as odd.
The next time this attempt to otherize Johnson’s faith caught my attention was when Rolling Stone ran a story about how Johnson and his then-17-year-old son used an app to monitor each other’s porn usage.
This also was portrayed as “weird.” But online porn addiction is a real problem, and it seems reasonable to say that certain types of porn—certainly graphic porn—can impact everything from brain development to future relationships. In the internet era, where porn is easily accessible, if not ubiquitous, this doesn’t strike me as crazy.
Now, you and I might not have this problem. But just as I wouldn’t mock a recovering alcoholic for being a teetotaler, I don’t want to judge someone who wants to take precautions and provide some sense of accountability when it comes to this problem. Rather than celebrating a father’s proactive involvement in his son’s life, or the fact that the relationship is reciprocal (the son can also monitor the father’s computer), the media response is to mock him as a weirdo.
This one reminded me of Mike Pence’s rule about not being alone with a woman who is not his wife. Aside from hindering false accusations, it can also prevent opportunities for temptation. And like so many of these incidents, if a Hindu or Muslim chose to follow this practice, right-thinking liberals and the mainstream media would probably respect their devoutness and celebrate the diversity. That’s not the case with devout Christians.
The media has also chosen to mock Johnson for believing in a young Earth and that events like Noah’s Ark literally happened. (Personally, I am inclined to believe that God used evolution. Having said that, I have zero problem with a fellow believer who takes a different theological position on this.)
Does this sound weird or cult-like to you? Yeah, pretty much everything religious people believe (turning water into wine, walking on water, a virgin birth, etc.) can be mocked or dismissed as weird or impossible. Of course, the only bigger leap of faith would be to believe we came from nothing. But I digress.
Most recently, Johnson was criticized for his comments on CNBC about the separation of church and state. “People misunderstand it,” he said. “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s 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.”
Johnson was certainly right about the Constitution, and (though liberal scholars no doubt disagree) his interpretation of Jefferson’s intent isn’t far off, either.
Consider this 2022 report from Reuters: “It was President Thomas Jefferson who famously said in an 1802 letter that the establishment clause should represent a ‘wall of separation’ between church and state. The provision prevents the government from establishing a state religion and prohibits it from favoring one faith over another.”
Now, this does not mean that I want a theocracy. I don’t. I’m a fan of tolerance and pluralism, even as I work to try to see that my values are reflected in our laws and policies. I have criticized Christian nationalism, and I have warned against believers turning Donald Trump into an idol.
I’m not saying there aren’t things that Johnson believes that are worthy of criticism. His support for overturning the 2020 election seems like a good place to start. In fact, that should be the focus of our criticism.
Anyone who wants to extirpate illiberalism from our political culture should do so in a very targeted manner that avoids collateral damage. Use a scalpel, not a shovel. Otherwise, erstwhile non-Trumpy people of faith will be pushed, via tribalism, into the MAGA camp, and believers, in general, will see the media and Democrats as either hostile or simply out of touch with middle America.
Making matters worse, this feeds into a preexisting narrative. Many devout Christians in America right now have a persecution complex and believe they are being discriminated against.
With the attacks on the fairly normal/mainstream parts of Speaker Mike Johnson’s faith, secular liberals and the media seem hellbent on proving them right. As the saying goes, you’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.
