Mike Johnson: America Patriot or Danger to Democracy?

When Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, described himself as a “Bible-believing Christian,” the mainstream media and Johnson’s Democrat colleagues in Congress, who pride themselves on being tolerant, had a total meltdown.

MSNBC host, Jen Psaki, called Johnson a "religious fundamentalist" and mocked his faith. The Daily Beast compared Johnson to the "Taliban and the mullahs in Iran." Hakeem Jeffries, the Minority leader in the House, ripped into Johnson, calling him an “extreme, right-wing idealogue.” Others referred to him as "dangerous" and a "threat to democracy."

Their unhinged reaction demonstrates how far we, as a nation, have fallen from our origins as a nation founded on Judeo-Christian values. For example, I am sure they do not realize that the first English Bible printed in America included a recommendation from Congress.

The publisher, Robert Aitken, had written a letter to Congress in which he asked for that government body’s sanction of his work. In the letter, Aitken called this Bible, “a neat Edition of the Scriptures for the use in schools.”

Congress enthusiastically responded to his request by commending his work and declaring that they “recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States and hereby authorize him to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper.”

Indeed, in early America, the Bible was cherished and quoted far more than any other book. America’s founding generation found in the pages of the Bible its moral compass, its guide for ethics, and the lens through which it viewed and interpreted all of life.

A 10-year study to determine where America’s founders derived their ideas for America’s founding documents, found that they quoted the Bible far more than any other source. In a letter from John Adams, America’s 2nd president, to Benjamin Rush, another Founding Father, Adams said,

The Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, and the most refined policy that was ever conceived on earth. It is the most republican book in the world (Hyatt, The Book that Made America Great, 80).

With this sort of pervasive esteem for the Bible in early America, no one was surprised when George Washington took the first presidential oath of office with his hand on a Bible. It was the American thing to do. This act showed his great respect for the Bible, for when someone swears an oath, they swear by something greater than themselves. For Washington, the Bible was the highest tangible authority by which he could swear to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Andrew Jackson, America’s seventh president, understood this prominent role of the Bible in the founding of America. In a conversation with a colleague, he gestured toward a Bible and declared, “That book, sir, is the rock on which our Republic rests.”

Ronald Reagan declared 1983 to be the “Year of the Bible” and to coincide with his proclamation, Newsweek carried an article entitled, “How the Bible Made America.” In this article, the authors correctly stated,

For centuries, the Bible has exerted an unrivaled influence on American culture, politics, and social life. Now historians are discovering that the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document (Hyatt, The Book that Made America Great, 17).

Yes, it was the Bible that made America great, and it is obvious that Mike Johnson is an American patriot. His values and vision are amazingly compatible with those of Washington, Adams, Madison, and Jefferson. It is the likes of Jen Psaki, Hakeem Jeffries and the entire Democrat Party that strayed from the vision of America's founding generation, not Johnson. 

This article was derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt's latest book, The Book that Made America Great, which is available from Amazon and his website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com.