House Speaker Mike Johnson is making no apologies for his strong Christian faith.
Almost immediately after the Louisiana Republican won the speakership on Wednesday, Democrats and the media began hammering him. One issue in particular — gay marriage — has received more attention than others.
In the mid-2000s, Johnson was an attorney for a conservative Christian legal advocacy group, today known as the Alliance Defending Freedom. During his tenure with the organization, Johnson defended a traditional Christian view of marriage and negatively spoke about homosexuality. At the time, most politicians did not openly support gay marriage, many states had laws against gay marriage, and it was around the time that the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
Johnson is facing backlash for his comments because CNN unearthed them after he became speaker. The news outlet, however, failed to establish the social and political context in which Johnson made the comments. The failure to contextualize allowed CNN to claim that Johnson’s “anti-gay rhetoric was harsh.” In reality, it was normal for the time.
Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Johnson about the backlash on Thursday. In response, Johnson defended his Christian worldview.
“I am a rule-of-law guy. I made a career defending the rule of law. I respect the rule of law. When the Supreme Court issued the Obergefell opinion, that became the law of the land,” Johnson said.
“But I also genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choices. This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian,” he declared. “Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘It’s curious, people are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it — that’s my worldview.’ That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.
“That’s my personal worldview,” he clarified.
Johnson went on to explain that there are differences between personal convictions and the law, but his only agenda as speaker is “to do what’s best for the American people and to defend the rule of law.”
Speaker Johnson Sits Down with Sean Hannityyoutu.be
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