'Air they breathe': This evangelical 'political propagandist' had 'a profound influence' on Mike Johnson

27 October 2023

On Wednesday, October 25, far-right Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) accomplished something that fellow House Republicans Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer were unable to accomplish: He became House speaker. The vote came down along party lines, with Republicans voting for Johnson unanimously and Democrats voting unanimously for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).

Johnson's history has been drawing a great deal of scrutiny since he became House speaker, including his Christian nationalist views and long-time association with the Religious Right. One of Johnon's allies is far-right evangelical fundamentalist David Barton, who heads the nonprofit WallBuilders.

NBC News' Mike Hixenbaugh examines their alliance in an article published on October 26, noting that in 2021, Johnson described Barton as "a profound influence on me, and my work, and my life and everything I do."

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Hixenbaugh explains, "Johnson's effusive praise for Barton, an influential background figure in the conservative evangelical political movement, sends an unmistakable signal about how the devout Christian Republican lawmaker — now second in the line to the presidency — views the role of religion in government and public life, said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah University in Pennsylvania."

Fea told NBC News, "David Barton is a political propagandist. He's a Christian Right activist who cherry-picks from the past to promote political agendas in the present, to paint a picture of America's history as evangelicals would like it to be. Mike Johnson comes straight out of that Christian Right world, where Barton's ideas are highly influential. It's the air they breathe."

The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment clearly promises freedom of religion, stating, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The Religion Right has long claimed that the U.S. is a "Christian nation," but their critics have emphasized that according to the First Amendment, the U.S. has a secular government that doesn't favor any one religion over another.

Hixenbaugh notes, "In Barton's telling, America was founded not as the world's first secular republic, but as an explicitly Christian nation. According to Barton, the separation of church and state is a myth, invented by progressives based on a misreading of Thomas Jefferson's famous 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists."

At a WallBuilders event in 2021 where Johnson was a featured speaker, Barton claimed, "The first purpose of public schools is to teach students to love and serve God. The second purpose of public schools is to teach students to love and serve their country."

Read NBC News' full report at this link.

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