Andrew Walker: Is the American project over?

ANDREW WALKER, COMMENTATOR: The American project ended on Wednesday with the ascendency of Congressman Mike Johnson to speaker of the House. That’s what the political left is telling the American people.

The label “Christian Nationalist” has been invoked over and over again in the last few days to describe him. TV host Bill Maher compared Speaker Johnson’s prayer life to the same “voices” allegedly running through the Maine mass shooter’s head. It’s as though the Bat Signal alert has flickered, churning out the same talking points whenever conservative Christianity is brought into political discourse.

All this is supposedly valid because Speaker Johnson believes the Bible is God’s Word—and is unapologetic about his social views. Those views include supporting pro-life legislation, religious liberty, and the natural family. Thus, expulsion, ridicule, and banishment are justified.

Historian Kristen Kobes Du Mez linked advocacy for religious liberty to “a kind of desperation, urgency, ruthlessness in pursuing this agenda. Religious freedom was at the center of that.” Such framing of Johnson’s views is as despicable as it is laughable.

Critics also note that Johnson challenged the 2020 election results in support of former President Trump. That’s an important subject worthy of a separate commentary, but critics want his social views and his beliefs about election integrity fused together in one big authoritarian stew.

If Speaker Johnson represents the danger of conservative Christianity to the media and academics, then let me remind you of something: You, a Bible-believing Christian, are just as much an object of liberal sanctimony and disdain as Speaker Johnson is. It does not matter how polite or winsome you may be. Just look at the religious slurs and invectives hurled at Speaker Johnson with no care for nuance. All these plays are yet another example of secularism—and even progressive Christians—looking to delegitimize Biblical Christianity from the public square.

We should recognize this reality and carry on witnessing to the truth of the Bible as the only source for objective morality and human flourishing. The secular media that sees itself as the vanguards of democratic order is interested in neither democracy nor order. By wishing to brand anyone who does not comply with social progressivism as some sort of anti-democratic subversive, they demonstrate their unwillingness to practice what they preach: democratic pluralism and a respect for viewpoint difference.

The efforts to ridicule Speaker Johnson’s faith stand in a long tradition of trying to sanitize American public life of any religious trappings. But Congressman Johnson’s election as speaker of the House shows that the secular tsunami many believe has washed over America is still out at sea. Biblical views are apparently far more plausible—conceptually and numerically—than many in this nation are willing to acknowledge.

In the face of such criticisms of Biblical Christianity, we would all do well to take the advice from Speaker Johnson himself. When asked about his worldview, he replied, “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.” He means what he said.

I’m Andrew Walker.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.