Mike Johnson’s legal views 'openly promote' his 'strain of Christianity above all over faiths': expert

After Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was confirmed as House speaker, many reports focused on his far-right evangelical views. Johnson favors a severe, ultra-strict form of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity that is as anti-gay as it anti-abortion, and he has been very active on the Religious Right.

But in an op-ed published by Politico on November 20, University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle goes beyond describing Johnson as a GOP politician who favors Christian nationalism. Wehle warns that Johnson brings an extreme legal philosophy to the table and firmly believes the law should favor "his strain of" fundamentalist Christianity "above all over faiths."

"The newly elected speaker of the House of Representatives, J. Michael Johnson (R-La.), spent years as a practicing lawyer before his election to Congress in 2016, focusing in particular on free speech and free exercise of religion cases under the First Amendment," Wehle explains. "Johnson's hard-right political and religious views are well-known. Johnson is an evangelical Christian who has condemned homosexuality as 'inherently unnatural' and called same-sex marriage 'the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic'….. Less understood is Johnson's litigation history, and what it suggests regarding his beliefs on the nature of individual rights under the U.S. Constitution and the role of religion in government."

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Johnson's legal philosophy, Wehle notes, has much in common with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett. Both of them are Catholics, not evangelicals, but they have been major allies of the religious right.

"Johnson's litigation stance mirrors a belief that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that modern Christians are being selectively persecuted by secularist influences in government," Wehle observes. "He has described the Declaration of Independence — with its references to men 'endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,' 'nature’s God,' and the 'firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence' — as a 'religious statement of faith.'"

Johnson, Wehle adds, has been "pursuing a legal strategy" that "treats the Christian faith as under assault in America by the political left — which has infiltrated government — and aggressively defends religious rights for fear that 'those freedoms will be taken away' by a secular government."

"In (a) 2015 interview," Wehle points out, "Johnson explained his position as being that 'the government should not be hostile to people who have religious viewpoints.' For him, the real problem is 'these atheist organizations from around the country' who feel a 'need to silence and censor viewpoints with which they disagree.' Under Johnson's version of the Constitution, it's the job of government — through the courts — to bring those 'atheist' groups into compliance with his conception of religious freedom, one that openly promotes his strain of Christianity above all over faiths."

READ MORE: Mike Johnson says separation of church and state is a 'misnomer'

Read Kimberly Wehle's full op-ed for Politico at this link.