Faithful America, an online Christian group that supports social justice causes, is warning that new House Speaker Mike Johnson may be the "most dangerous Christian nationalist leader" in the U.S. government.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, was recently elected to the post after weeks of infighting among House GOP members. An evangelical Christian, he is a close ally of former President Donald Trump and has often been outspoken about putting his Christian faith at the center of his legislative career.
In a petition posted Wednesday, Faithful America, in conjunction with several Democratic and progressive organizations, said Johnson was an extreme lawmaker who has a history of hard-line conservative views on social issues like LGBTQ+ and abortion rights.
"After House Republicans embarrassed themselves for weeks before picking a new Speaker, they settled on a relative unknown—Rep. Mike Johnson—hoping to hide their extremism," reads the petition. "Make no mistake about it. The GOP choice for Speaker is [Representative] Jim Jordan with a jacket and a smile."
In another statement, Faithful American said: "Speaker Mike Johnson might be the most dangerous Christian nationalist leader in the country right now."
Other organizations promoting the petition are Daily Kos, Forward Blue and Progressive Democrats of America. As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had over 9,400 signatures.
A spokesperson for Faithful America told Newsweek that the group also placed Johnson on its second annual list of "False Prophets." The list, according to the organization, has 12 names of "public officials, faith leaders and talking heads who support a Christian nationalist agenda."
Trump and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, who at one point was a candidate for House speaker, are on the list.
Newsweek reached out to Johnson's office via email for comment.
Johnson has faced criticism for his Christian views since taking the speaker's chair, including accusations of having strong ties to Christian nationalism, which holds that the U.S. is a solely Christian nation and that its laws and government should be tied to religious values.
In his first speech as speaker, Johnson told the House chamber that he believed "God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment."
Democratic lawmakers have also raised concerns about Johnson's ascent to speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN the morning before Johnson was elected speaker on October 25 that he did not know the lawmaker well but "based on his track record, he appears to be an extreme right-wing ideologue."
In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Johnson said the attacks directed at his faith "doesn't bother me at all."
"Look, there are entire industries that are built to take down public leaders, effective political leaders like me," he said. "I'm not surprised by that. I mean, it comes with the territory."
He continued: "I just wish they would get to know me. I'm not trying to establish Christianity as the national religion or something. That's not what this is about at all."
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Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more
