Speaker Mike Johnson calls separation of church and state a 'misnomer'

Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sopa Images/ShutterstockSpeaker Mike Johnson calls separation of church and state a 'wrong term'

House Speaker, Christian nationalist bemoans the «misunderstanding» of one of the founding principles of the United States

House Speaker Mike Johnson has delivered his verdict on the separation of church and state: it is a «misnomer.»

A second presidential nominee told Americans Tuesday that their time-honored concept of one of the country's founding principles is a «misunderstanding.» Speaking to CNBC's Squawk Box, he tried to turn the conventional wisdom about the founders' intentions on its head and said that what they really wanted was to end government interference in religion, not the other way around.

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“The separation of church and state is a misnomer,” the speaker said in an interview with the TV channel from the US Capitol. “People misunderstand this. Of course, it comes from a phrase in a letter written by Jefferson. This is not in the constitution.”

Johnson was referring to Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, written in 1802 while the third president was in the White House. This clearly shows that the Founding Fathers supported the powerful separation of church and state, which they enshrined in the First Amendment.

Jefferson, in his letter, cites the Establishment Clause, which states that Congress shall “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” He goes on to say that this erects “a wall of separation between the Church and the church.” State.»

Johnson's controversial remarks are consistent with a decades-long effort on his part to put Christianity at the center of American politics. The New York Times called him the first Christian nationalist to hold the powerful position of Speaker. >In an interview with CNBC, Johnson was asked to explain the unusual sight of him praying with a group of other members of Congress kneeling on the floor of the House of Representatives shortly after he was sworn in as Speaker.

He did not try to hide his religious fervor. He told Fox News that anyone who wants to know what he thinks on any issue should «take the Bible off the shelf and read it — that's my worldview.»

This Worldview goes so far as to present the US not as a democracy, but as a “biblical” republic, as he stated in a 2016 interview. Before entering politics as a member of the Louisiana Legislature in 2015, he worked for many years as a senior attorney at the Extremist Alliance Defense Fund.

The same group, renamed Alliance Defending . Freedom (ADF) led the attack on LGBTQ+ rights in the US Supreme Court and was instrumental in overturning abortion rights in the Dobbs decision.