Inside Mike Johnson's close ties to 'extreme Christians' who cheered J6

30 October 2023

After Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was confirmed as House speaker, countless pundits noted that he has a much different temperament from Rep. Jim Jordan — the Ohio Republican, far-right firebrand and speaker nominee who had lost three votes in a row. Jordan is flamboyant, theatrical, performative and in-your-face; Johnson, in contrast, is much more reserved.

Yet from a policy standpoint, Jordan and Johnson aren't far apart. Johnson is a far-right Christian fundamentalist known for his-gay and anti-abortion views as well as his efforts to help former President Donald Trump stay in office despite losing the 2020 presidential election to now-President Joe Biden.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on October 30, religious scholar Matthew D. Taylor emphasizes that Johnson's politeness doesn't make him any less extreme.

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"Hot-off-the-presses profiles of Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, contain a seeming paradox," explains Taylor, a prominent figure at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. "Some emphasize that he is a 'mild-mannered,' 'soft-spoken,' and temperamentally courteous individual. They similarly describe him as a 'Christian conservative' and a 'deeply evangelical Christian.' But many of the same profilers have also highlighted Johnson's troubling activity surrounding the 2020 election and Trump's attempt to overturn the American people's verdict. Johnson’s involvement was substantial enough that he has even been labeled the 'mastermind of the January 6 plot' and “a threat to democracy.'"

Taylor continues, "So, which is he: an anti-democratic politician and an insurrectionist, or a mild-mannered Christian? Part of the problem is that we have come to imagine that a person cannot be both at the same time. Mike Johnson shows that you can."

The religious scholar notes that he has "spent nearly three years researching the Christian theologies and Christian leaders that drove the January 6th insurrection," emphasizing that "many of them are mild-mannered, conservative, deeply evangelical."

"There are principled, conservative Christians with heartfelt moral views on abortion, LGBTQ-rights, and a host of other cultural issues who value democracy and pluralism and recognize their preferred policies won't always win the day," Taylor argues. "Think Russell Moore and David French. And there are politically extreme conservative Christians who might hold the exact same views on the same issues as Moore and French, but who are also willing to upend democracy to see their agendas realized, which Moore and French simply are not."

Taylor continues, "Politically extreme conservative Christians were some of the foremost leaders who bought into and bolstered Trump's 2020 election lies, who used theology to justify their own authoritarianism, and who have brought their extremist theologies into the heart of right-wing politics. Mike Johnson can be located in this group."

Taylor goes on to point out that the "key Christian instigators of January 6^th" who he has "tracked" are "part of an amorphous, nondenominational network called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)."

"They believe and propagate extreme theologies that provide a mandate for Christians to take over society, and they have become increasingly influential in Republican politics in the past eight years," Taylor observes. "Several New Apostolic Reformation leaders — they usually call their leaders either apostles or prophets — were influential evangelical advisers to Donald Trump. Presumably, some of them still are."

The religious scholar adds, "While he is not formally attached to the NAR movement, Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, has spent years hanging around with NAR leaders, looking to them as mentors and friends, and pursuing their agenda."

Read Matthew D. Taylor's full article for The Bulwark at this link.

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