Readers rebut column about Speaker Mike Johnson being a policy wonk who lives his faith

Speaker Mike Johnson stokes Christian nationalism

Re: “New speaker a policy wonk who lives his faith, values,” by Cameron Smith, October 28.

Columnist Cameron Smith, characterizes newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson as, somewhat unassumingly and benignly, “a policy wonk who lives his faith.”  However, under the facade of Johnson’s “Everyman” persona lurks a raging and vociferous crusader for Christian nationalism.

The foundation of Christian nationalism was built on the premise that white Christians have a mandate from God to dominate the sociopolitical hierarchy. Devoid of empathy for the marginalized within society, their self-righteousness renders them blind to the prevailing injustices which surround them. Christian nationalists view it as their prerogative to define cultural norms, and take umbrage should their dictates be challenged.

Circumstances notwithstanding, the Speaker has stridently condemned abortion as “a holocaust,” and sententiously written off homosexuality as “inherently unnatural” and a “dangerous lifestyle.”  In a 2004 published article Johnson wrote, “Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic”.

While ever ready to play the victim card, Christian nationalists are actually the victimizers, persecuting any group perceived as a threat to their self-proclaimed privileged status. Within a diverse democratic society, no predominant religion should pretend to assume religious hegemony, which is precisely the motivation driving Christian nationalism. Rather, Christians should seek to find common ground with those from other faith traditions, in order that harmony might transcend inherent differences. For Christ never intended his followers to lord it over their contemporaries, ceding to them the power, not to dominate, yet to serve.

Robert Judkins, Hendersonville 37075

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New Speaker Mike Johnson must answer this question

Tyranny of the Christian Nationalists is marching forward with glee.

Republicans elevated Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, Speaker of the House.

Rep. Mike Johnson: “Some people are called to pastoral ministry and others to music ministry, etc. I was called to legal ministry and I’ve been out on the front lines of the culture war.”

The new Speaker has been steadfast in trying to shred the Constitution of the United States. He does not believe in the separation of church and state. He's anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-religion other than his own, pro-gun.

Mike Johnson, a Bible toting Baptist, tried to overthrow the 2020 election but has not answered the big question: Does he still believe in the “Big Lie”? He answers questions with scripture. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, after the House vote, quoted scripture introducing him before the House claiming the “Republicans were following God’s direction in selecting him.”

He has asked people to read the Bible to discover “how God intends for us to live out our faith in a hostile world.” And “despite the radical secularists’ efforts to convince the public otherwise,” he argued, “it is not ‘bigotry’ to remind people of God’s claims on our lives and biological reality.”

You see where this could go. Can Mike Johnson handle the job with a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other? I doubt it. Until he answers the big question about the “Big Lie,” with the truth, Yea or Nay, he’ll always be Maga Mike Johnson, trying to take the country down his Maga wormhole view.

Vote Blue.

Mary Sanford, Lebanon 37087

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Speaker Mike Johnson column draws rebuttal from readers