As some may recall, I became a fundamentalist as an undergraduate. In 2005, as I began graduate school in mathematics I began to rethink my worldview. I saw my fundamentalism as inextricably tied to being a republican. So, when I began recognizing the fact that structural discrimination remains to this day and understanding that humans were causing our planet to warm by carbon dioxide emissions, then I also began "losing my religion". Unfortunately, I also lost my marriage. That's still incredibly painful to me to this day. I gradually became more and more progressive. I started lurking on Daily Kos in 2005. I joined sometime in 2005/2006. (I later lost my password and couldn't retrieve it because I changed technology devices). I earned a couple more degrees in mathematics and was shunned.
I had a complex childhood leading to self-harm and suicide attempts starting in middle school. As this reached a nadir or an apex as a freshman, I literally burned a Bible and said, "God, if you exist which I doubt, then come down and do something about it." Six months later, my next door neighbor in the dorms shared the broad jump and the gospel with me and I became a fundamentalist Christian. I had two mentors. One mentor was a pastor's kid and a missionary kid and he grew up in Africa. He got me started in learning hermeneutics and having a daily quiet time in which I would study the Bible and pray through my prayer list. He also got me started in Scripture memory. I memorized hundreds of verses and several books of the Bible, word for word. He also taught me the Bible, going through books, word by word, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter to use context to understand what the author meant by what the author said. I was an adherent to Augustinianism also known as the sovereignty of God (aka Calvinism/predestination both in general for human events but also for individual salvation). I developed an extensive library of reformed works by the leading teachers in the reformed tradition. I studied apologetics extensively. Unfortunately, I caused a philosophy professor who had been an atheist to say that he had to rethink his views. I had another mentor who was a counselor in the public school system. He helped me temporarily recover emotionally from my life. I developed a huge number of friends. I served on eight mission trips to Mexico. I mentioned other young men. I worked at a Christian book store for more than three years. I served on Evangelism Explosion for multiple years, sharing the gospel with my fellow students on campus at night. I was involved in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ and with my large and growing Bible church's college ministry. I taught hermeneutics and Bible studies. I could tell you where you were reading from within five verses if you read anywhere in the New Testament in any translation. I knew the Old Testament very well. I became an expert in Biblical theology, truly. I read many books on "scientific creationism". After my experience within fundamentalism, logical problems within it, and for other reasons, I became an agnostic.
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Thus, I am very leery of fundamentalism and fundamentalists within our government, especially our federal government. I believe that the theocracy, ignorance, bigotry and all manner of evil that they yield is an extremely dangerous threat to our country, to democracy, to liberty, and to equality. I believe "scientific creationism" is a real danger to this country. It attempts to prop up fundamentalism's base, a literal interpretation of Genesis. Every dangerous doctrine of fundamentalism depends upon a literal interpretation of Genesis. Many of them are found in incipient form there.
I apologize for the long introduction. However, I wanted to share with my family here my interest in this topic and why I would write about this.
This is what a Google search for Mike Johnson and Answers in Genesis . For me, the results are ominous.
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He begins with an awful quote from Chief Justice John Roberts:
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Losing Liberty Without Losing Hope
“The majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment . . . . The Court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the States and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia.”
—John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges (June 26, 2015).
When the United States Supreme Court
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Roberts is quoted regarding a concern that the word 'exercises' from the First Amendment is not used. But is he protesting that in matters of public policy which involve the government the 'exercise' of religion to discriminate is not upheld? Because marriage is an act of the government. There was nothing in the decision that said that they cannot teach bigoted views in their church services or Bible studies. As long as it's not public policy, they may have freedom to express their bigotry. But then Alito, approvingly quoted by Johnson, expresses concern that if say something bigoted, they might be called a bigot. Alito say, 'if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots' . What happened to the concern about the First Amendment? Or is Alito saying that when fundamentalists say something bigoted that it should be illegal to call them a bigot? Then he says that the bigots might be treated as bigots' by 'government, employers, and schools'. First, such language is unlikely. Second, a citizen's private views are not going to be considered by 'government, employers, and schools' and I think he knows this. In fact, I have experienced employers seeking religious people in interviews. The opposite is unlikely in my view and it is illegal in any event.
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Then Johnson asks about what bigotry is legal, asking, 'Should a Christian charity be denied tax-exemption simply because it supports traditional marriage? Should a Christian college be denied accreditation for allowing only heterosexual couples into married housing? Should a Christian social worker be denied a professional license simply for declining marriage counseling to a same-sex couple?'
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The answer to the first is that it should, but it won't. Accreditation can and is given by fundamentalist education organizations, but accreditation organizations have their own standards for determining which educational institutions merit accreditation. Fundamentalist Christian education institutions will have a series of theological commitments that they will require for an applicant to be successful and these may include "scientific creationism" or at the least, a commitment to inerrancy in the original manuscripts. Such an institution should not and will not be granted accreditation except by fundamentalist education accreditation granting organizations and this is as it should be.
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While looking into the third question, I found some interesting websites describing situations that took place and the litigation that followed. In one, a student, Julea Ward, refused to counsel a same sex couple. She referred it to her supervisor. The university dismissed her from her program. Some have argued that her lack of expertise or her view that her own views would mean that she would be unable to help them justify her decision.
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“I believe a refusal can be ethical or unethical, depending on the context and the situation,” Woolley said. “A referral based on a therapist’s ability to provide competent services can be ethical. A referral based simply on not liking gay people is not.”
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The American Counseling Association has a code of ethics, of course. Julea Ward, nevertheless, asked, 'Who is the ACA to tell me what to do?' I am dumbfounded by the question. In many fields, there is a board or some organization that oversees those who practice within a field. Due to the impact that a counselor can have upon their patients, it is, of course, imperative that such an organization exist with real power to govern those who practice to prevent unethical or harmful practice. Nevertheless, within certain states including my own, Texas, discrimination by students studying counseling and counselors, is allowed. Hence, this fear of Johnson's appears unrealistic, unfortunately.
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Johnson then becomes an advocate of Kim Davis, the embattled bigoted state official in Kentucky who refused to sign on same sex marriage licenses.
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Kim Davis was arrested and jailed by a federal marshal simply for refusing to include her name and endorsement on the state’s new same-sex marriage licenses. The court ignored her plea, scoffed at her attorney’s legal reasoning, and chose the harshest penalty possible—placing her in federal custody as an example to all.
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We can see the extreme nature of MAGA Mike Johnson.
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Here is a little bit of the statement of faith for Answers in Genesis
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The 66 books of the Bible are the unique, written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, supremely authoritative, and sufficient in everything it teaches. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science
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- The account of origins presented in Genesis 1–11 is a simple but factual presentation of actual events, and therefore, provides a reliable framework for scientific research into the question of the origin and history of life, mankind, the earth, and the universe.
- The various original life forms (kinds), including mankind, were made by direct, supernatural, creative acts of God (i.e., not by natural, physical processes over millions of years).
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- The great flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and catastrophic in its effects. At one stage during the flood, the waters covered the entire surface of the whole globe with no land surface being exposed anywhere—the flood of Noah is not to be understood as any form of local or regional flood. The Noachian flood was a significant geological event, and most fossiliferous sediments were deposited at that time (Genesis 7:19–20; 2 Peter 3:5–7).
- Scripture teaches a recent origin of man and the whole creation, with history spanning approximately 4,000 years from creation to Christ.
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- The concepts of “social justice,” “intersectionality,” and “critical race theory” as defined in modern terminology are anti-biblical and destructive to human flourishing (Ezekiel 18:1–20; James 2:8–9).
- Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting, conscious punishment in hell, …
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MAGA Mike Johnson also defended tax breaks for their version of Noah's Ark in Kentucky.
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New U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson successfully took Kentucky to court to regain tax incentives for the Ark Encounter, a 510-foot wooden replica of the biblical Noah’s Ark located off Interstate 75 in Grant County.
The state tourism cabinet had awarded the project a sales-tax rebate worth up to $18 million, but Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration withdrew the offer in 2014, saying the Ark’s builders, Answers in Genesis, had changed the project’s mission from tourist attraction to religious ministry.
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You can see how extreme Answers in Genesis is, and, MAGA Mike Johnson is for writing for them. An excellent article by Kerry Eleveld gives us
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(From Former President Obama alum, Dan Pfeiffer)"Paul Ryan’s economic policies + Mike Pence’s views on abortion + Donald Trump’s dangerously wacky views on the 2020 election = Mike Johnson."
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Again, MAGA Mike Johnson is an election denier, a misogynist, a bigot, a theonomist. He has no business being even in the federal government, much less becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives and second in line to the presidency.