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Johnson’s ‘Symbol of Christian Warfare’ Exposes His Ties to Aggressive Christian Nationalism: Report
As Mike Johnson’s far-right religious beliefs have become a subject of concern for many, two authors who have written on Christian nationalism reveal in a Rolling Stone op-ed just how strongly tied to the far Christian right the new Republican Speaker of the House appears to be.
“The newly elected House speaker has ties to the far-right New Apostolic Reformation — which is hell-bent on turning America into a religious state,” write Bradley Onishi and Matthew D. Taylor.
Johnson, they write, is “a dyed-in-the-wool Christian conservative, and there’s a flag hanging outside his office that leads into a universe of right-wing religious extremism as unknown to most Americans as Johnson was before he ascended to the speakership.”
“The flag — which Rolling Stone has confirmed hangs outside his district office in the Cannon House Office Building — is white with a simple evergreen tree in the center and the phrase ‘An Appeal to Heaven‘ at the top. Historically, this flag was a Revolutionary War banner, commissioned by George Washington as a naval flag for the colony turned state of Massachusetts. The quote ‘An Appeal to Heaven’ was a slogan from that war, taken from a treatise by the philosopher John Locke. But in the past decade it has come to symbolize a die-hard vision of a hegemonically Christian America.”
The flag, Onishi and Taylor write, is now a “symbol of Christian warfare.”
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“It is simply untenable to think that Johnson is unaware of what the Appeal to Heaven flag signals today,” they write. “It represents an aggressive, spiritual-warfare style of Christian nationalism, and Johnson is a legal insurrectionist who has deeply tied himself into networks of Christian extremists whose rhetoric, leadership, and warfare theology fueled a literal insurrection.”
Onishi posted photos of the flag outside Speaker Johnson’s office. Jeff Sharlet, the well-known Dartmouth College professor and author of books on right-wing Christian nationalism including “C Street” and “The Family,” responded, writing: “I believe that’s Mikki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbitt’s mom—who since her daughter’s death has moved wildly right to become a minor fascist icon—outside Mike Johnson’s office w/ the Christian nationalist Appeal to Heaven flag Brad writes about in @RollingStone.”
I believe that’s Mikki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbitt’s mom—who since her daughter’s death has moved wildly right to become a minor fascist icon—outside Mike Johnson’s office w/ the Christian nationalist Appeal to Heaven flag Brad writes about in @RollingStone. https://t.co/wgDBRHvPVC
— Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) November 10, 2023
Onishi and Taylor do a deep dive into the background of the “Appeal to Heaven” flag and the “world of Christian extremism animated by modern-day apostles, prophets, and apocalyptic visions of Christian triumph that was central to the chaos and violence of Jan. 6.”
They focus on The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) “networks of Christian leaders that formed in the 1990s around a renegade evangelical seminary professor named C. Peter Wagner,” and “one of Wagner’s key disciples, an apostle-prophet named Dutch Sheets.”
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“In 2013, Sheets was given an Appeal to Heaven flag by a friend who told him that, because it predated the Stars and Stripes, it was the flag that ‘had flown over our nation at its birthing.’ Sheets describes this experience as revelatory, and he seized upon the flag as a symbol of the spiritual-warfare driven Christian nationalist revolution he hoped to see in American politics.”
That’s important, according to Onishi and Taylor, because “Hundreds of Christian figures supported Trump’s effort to overthrow the 2020 election, but, having spent years researching and tracking the direct influences on Christians who actually showed up on Jan. 6, we contend that no single Christian leader contributed more to this effort to mobilize Christians against the very structures of American democracy than Sheets.”
Read their full Rolling Stone op-ed here.
See the photos above or at this link.
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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted child sex offender and associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has filed court documents seeking to be released from prison, reportedly “throwing a wrench” into the Justice Department’s efforts to release “scores” of files released to her case.
“Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Epstein counterpart, wrote in a letter filed Wednesday in federal court that she plans to soon file a court petition challenging her detention, a long-shot bid that, if successful, could result in a new trial,” The Hill reported.
Maxwell’s attorneys “said Maxwell does not take a position on the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts,” but, “to do so could imperil a retrial if her challenge, called a habeas petition, prevails.”
The New York Times added, “Although the judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, previously denied a request by the Justice Department to release those documents, Ms. Bondi made her latest motion under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed by Mr. Trump last month.”
According to CNN, “lawyers for Epstein’s estate told the judge they do not take a position as to the unsealing of records given the government’s ‘commitment’ to redacting victim and personally identifying information.”
READ MORE: Trump Urges Judge Aileen Cannon to Keep Jack Smith Report Secret
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Public domain
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is coming under fire after a report revealed he expects to swear in this week the newest Republican elected to Congress, Matt Van Epps, for whom Johnson campaigned. Van Epps won a narrow victory Tuesday night in a deep red Tennessee district. The move comes after Johnson most recently delayed seating Democratic U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona for 50 days.
Johnson offered an array of explanations for why he would not swear in Congresswoman Grijalva, who won her September election for a seat vacant since March but was not seated until November.
Among his reasons were that the House was not in session, there was a federal government shutdown, and her election had to be officially certified. Critics noted that other members-elect had been sworn in under similar circumstances.
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In October, The Guardian reported that Grijalva “thinks she knows the reason why Johnson is in no rush to administer the oath: in addition to co-sponsoring bills on the environment, public education and other issues she campaigned on addressing, Grijalva plans to provide the final signature on a petition that would force a vote on legislation to release files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein – which the speaker and Donald Trump oppose.”
Now, critics are blasting Johnson, after Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman reported on the Speaker’s expected timeline.
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“I was led to believe that waiting almost two months was customary and totally normal,” snarked Robbie Sherwood, communications director of the Arizona House Democratic Caucus.
“Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the last member had to wait 50 days,” observed political commentator Molly Jong-Fast.
“Oh so he can just swear anyone in immediately if he feels like it,” noted Hemant Mehta, who writes the Friendly Atheist on Substack.
“Guess the speed of democracy depends on who you voted for and what they look like,” charged Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko.
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Image via Shutterstock
After Democrats’ strong showing in Tuesday’s deep-red Tennessee special election — losing by single digits in a district Trump won by 22 points — political pundits and anonymous Republican lawmakers have begun predicting a large GOP exodus from the House of Representatives after the winter break.
Already, Speaker Johnson has a razor-thin margin, and numerous Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have announced their retirement.
“More than two dozen GOP lawmakers have already announced their decision to leave their seats at the end of the term, and the number is expected to grow in the coming weeks as lawmakers visit their families for the holidays, complicating Republican efforts to fend off a blue wave and keep their slim majority,” The Hill reported on Wednesday.
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According to the House Press Gallery, 24 Republicans have announced they are retiring or seeking another office.
“Ultimately, the number of Republican retirements that we see compared to 2018 — I would imagine it would be close to the same number when all is said and done,” Erin Covey, House editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told The Hill. The news outlet noted that in 2018, “Republicans got clobbered.”
“Overall,” The Hill added, “34 House Republicans chose not to seek reelection and 14 had resigned during their term in the 2018 cycle. Democrats ended up winning control of the House that year.”
Some have suggested that Speaker Johnson could lose his gavel before the end of this Congress if Republicans continue to resign.
Reasons for leaving Congress are myriad. Some, like U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former White House Physician to the President, “noted many of his fellow colleagues he knows are stepping away to spend more time with their families.”
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U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told the Hill that House Republicans are “consigned to be automatons.”
“They just have to do whatever Trump wants them to do. What fun is that, if you’re an adult?” he asked.
But one House Republican has a different take on what The Hill is calling House Republicans’ “exodus problem.”
U.S. Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), who just took office in April, welcomes the expected changes to the GOP conference.
“Fresh blood is good,” he told The Hill. “I don’t think people serving for 50 years is a great thing, so I think turnover is a good thing.”
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Image via Reuters
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Ghislaine Maxwell to Request to Be Freed From Prison
Ghislaine Maxwell to Request to Be Freed From Prison
Johnson Slammed After Timeline to Swear In Newest GOP Member Revealed
Amid Johnson’s ‘Exodus Problem’ One House Republican Declares ‘Fresh Blood Is Good’
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