(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Sneaker Mike Johnson: Man is Evil and Must Be Restrained [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-11-21 CNN has been researching some of the things the new Sneaker ™ has done over the years: Mike Johnson’s America: Revisit landmark SCOTUS decisions and use government to ‘restrain evil’ It boils down to this: “One of the primary purposes of the law in civil government is to restrain evil,” Johnson said on one radio show in 2010. “We have to acknowledge collectively that man is inherently evil and needs to be restrained.” He wants our secular government to be a morals proctor. And of course he gets his definition of “evil” from the Bible: CNN’s review of more than 100 of Johnson’s interviews, speeches and public commentary spanning his decades-long career as a lawmaker and attorney paints a picture of his governing ideals: Imprisoning doctors who perform abortions after six weeks; the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in public buildings; an elimination of anti-hate-crime laws; Bible study in public schools. From endorsing hard labor prison sentences for abortion providers to supporting the criminalization of gay sex, his staunchly conservative rhetoric is rooted in an era of “biblical morality,” that he says was washed away with the counterculture in the 1960s. CNN is being too kind in calling this “conservative rhetoric.” This is far-out over-the-wall batshit-crazy rhetoric. The idea that human beings are “inherently evil” is a fundamentalist Christian one; we are all depraved sinners without hope unless we accept our depravity and call on Jesus to save us. This is Luther and Calvin. This is Jonathan Edwards thundering at “sinners in the hands of angry God.” It is not what most Americans believe, nor is it reality. But Johnson isn’t interested in reality, only in his historical and scientific fantasies. Johnson wants “creation science” taught in public schools, believes in “God’s design for government” (as defined by God’s self-anointed spokesman, i.e., him), and thinks that separation of church and state is a recent invention of the ACLU. “They have convinced an entire generation of Americans that there’s this so-called separation of church and state,” Johnson said in 2008 about the ACLU. And of course he thinks Trump won in 2020. There’s a lot more in the CNN article, enough to curl your hair even if you’re bald. But I want to close on one interesting side note: Johnson’s rhetoric has tapped into a “persecution complex” for evangelicals as American culture leans increasingly left on social issues, said Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University and a Baptist pastor. “They want to feel embattled. They want to fight the culture war,” Burge told CNN. “When he talks about Griswold and Lawrence, evangelicals know that what he really is saying to them is: ‘Our way of life is under attack and liberalism is on the march. Stand firm in our convictions,’” added Burge, referring to the landmark cases that legalized gay sex and contraception use. (By the way, Griswold, which blocked the government from banning contraceptives. has been the law of the land since 1965, almost 60 years ago. So it’s always been the “way of life” for most people alive today.) It’s the “persecution complex” part that caught my eye. When I was researching the history of Christianity, I noticed several peculiar things about their attitude toward persecution. Early Christians thought they were being persecuted far more often than they really were, and according to Church Fathers such as Tertullian, they actively welcomed it. In the New Testament says that “if you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed” (1 Pet. 4:14). Second, once Christians got power, they used that power to start persecuting others, primarily Jews but also other Christians who held differing views, a persecution that has never really been put to rest. Third, despite all their power, their wealth, their influence, their sheer numbers, many Christians today, especially the uber-right, are quick to cry “persecution” whenever any of their beliefs or practices or politics are challenged or even just questioned. This is part of Trump’s appeal to the evangelicals and the fundamentalists, even though his behavior goes entirely contrary to their Bible. He speaks their language of persecution (“I’m being indicted for you!”) and promises to restore them to their rightful place — their foot on everyone else’ s neck. The “persecuted” will once again get to be the persecutors. That is true evil. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/21/2207289/-Sneaker-Mike-Johnson-Man-is-Evil-and-Must-Be-Restrained?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/