House Speaker Election Continues America’s Slide Into Theocracy

Mike Johnson encapsulates the Christian bigotry of today’s Republican Party

Official government portrait of Mike Johnson superimposed over a photo of a Bible. Johnson photo, public domain; Bible photo, CC BY-SA 4.0, by Xrayguy1969.

As my regular readers know, I am an independent voter and no fan of the Democratic Party. But I’m putting this one squarely on the Republicans.

The new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, was elected this week with no opposition from voting Republicans. This man that 220 Republican representatives voted for is an outspoken, unapologetic bigot, opposed to LGBTQ rights and abortion. When asked about his views, Johnson said that he is a “Bible-believing Christian”, yet “genuinely love[s] all people regardless of their lifestyle choices.”

'Go pick up a Bible': Speaker Mike Johnson defends anti-LGBTQ+ views

There’s a lot to unpack here.

First of all, representatives are supposed to represent. That means representing the views of all of your constituents, not just conservative Christians who consider “religious freedom” to be the freedom to discriminate against anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs. Even among Republicans, there are…