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Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) told USA Today that he believed that House Democratic leadership was purposely attempting to strike God from committee hearings, something he says would upset Americans.
Johnson confronted House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on Wednesday after Nadler left off “so help you God” out of an oath to a witness, continuing a skirmish that began last week.
Tarrant County Republicans in Texas will vote Thursday on an effort by a faction to remove their vice chairman, Shahid Shafi, because he’s Muslim, the Texas Tribune reports.
“Those in favor of the motion to recall Shafi, a trauma surgeon and member of the Southlake City Council, have said he doesn’t represent all Tarrant County Republicans. They’ve also said Islamic ideologies run counter to the U.S. Constitution — an assertion many Texas GOP officials have called bigoted and Shafi himself has vehemently denied.”
Pew Research: “The 116th Congress includes the first two Muslim women ever to serve in the House of Representatives and is slightly more religiously diverse overall than the prior Congress. Still, 88% of the members are Christian, compared with 71% of U.S. adults overall.”
“I never said he was the best example of the Christian faith. He defends the faith. And I appreciate that very much.”
— Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, in an interview with Axios, on why he supports President Trump.
The Atlantic: “Publicly disgraced, out of money, and facing both jail time and a suddenly-surging challenger—what was an indicted congressman to do?”
“Eventually, Hunter seemed to arrive at his answer: try to eke out a win by waging one of the most brazenly anti-Muslim smear campaigns in recent history.”
“In the final weeks of the election, Hunter has aired ominous ads warning that his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, is ‘working to infiltrate Congress’ with the support of the Muslim Brotherhood. He has circulated campaign literature claiming the Democrat is a ‘national security threat’ who might reveal secret U.S. troop movements to enemies abroad if elected. While Hunter himself floats conspiracy theories from the stump about a wave of ‘radical Muslims’ running for office in America, his campaign is working overtime to cast Campa-Najjar as a nefarious figure reared and raised by terrorists.”
North Carolina congressional candidate Mark Harris (R), a former Baptist pastor in Charlotte, said in 2011 that there would be no peace in Israel unless Jews and Muslims converted to Christianity, The Forward reports.
Said Harris: “You cannot be in that land, as powerful and as moving as it is, without realizing the incredible tension that is constantly in that land between the Palestinians and the Jews. There will never be peace in Jerusalem until the day comes that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Washington state Rep. Matt Shea (R) acknowledged he had distributed a four-page manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War,” which describes the Christian God as a “warrior,” details the composition and strategies of a “Holy Army” and condemns abortion and same-sex marriage, the Seattle Times reports.
The document is organized in 14 sections with multiple tiers of bullet points and a smattering of biblical citations. Under one heading, “Rules of War,” it makes a chilling prescription for enemies who flout “biblical law.”
“Two days after the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, Vice President Pence bowed his head at a rally in Michigan as a religious leader who casts himself as a “rabbi” offered a prayer for the victims in Pittsburgh,” the Washington Post reports.
“But the man who shared a stage with Pence, Loren Jacobs, preaches Messianic Judaism, a tradition central to Jews for Jesus, a group condemned by Jewish leaders as faux Judaism that seeks to promote Christian evangelism.”
NBC News: “The ‘Messianic rabbi’ who outraged many Jews by invoking the name of Jesus while delivering a prayer in memory of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre victims was also spurned Tuesday by the organization that ordained him.”
“Worried their chance to cement a conservative majority on the Supreme Court could slip away, a growing number of evangelical and anti-abortion leaders are expressing frustration that Senate Republicans and the White House are not protecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh more forcefully from a sexual assault allegation and warning that conservative voters may stay home in November if his nomination falls apart,” the New York Times reports.
“The pleas are, in part, an attempt to apply political pressure: Some evangelical leaders are warning that religious conservatives may feel little motivation to vote in the midterm elections unless Senate Republicans move the nomination out of committee soon and do more to defend Judge Kavanaugh from what they say is a desperate Democratic ploy to prevent President Trump from filling future court vacancies.”
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed that what he described as “atheist litigation groups” in California were trying to get hidden video of Christian student activities at a local high school, the Shreveport Times reports.
“Johnson’s claims are the latest chapter in a saga involving a federal lawsuit alleging that teachers and other staff have consistently promoted Christianity in Bossier Parish Schools in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit also alleges that some teachers or staff have sought to shame or coerce non-Christian students.”
The childhood rabbi to Stephen Miller, special adviser to Donald Trump and a key architect of his “zero-tolerance” immigration policies, criticized his former charge as a purveyor of “negativity, violence, malice and brutality” who had learned nothing from his Jewish spiritual education, The Guardian reports.
Vice President Mike Pence turned to the Bible when asked recently what he makes of a new critical biography, The Shadow President, that calls him a “Christian supremacist,” USA Today reports.
Said Pence: “The Bible says count it all joy when you endure trials of many kinds. Any time I’m criticized for my belief in Jesus Christ, I just breath a prayer of praise.”
Our recent podcast episode with the authors of the book is very good.
“For the first time in two decades, American Arabs and Muslims are stepping up to run for public office in record numbers, registering to vote and bundling money for candidates from their community,” NBC News reports.
“With inflammatory rhetoric on immigration and his active push for a travel ban aimed primarily at Muslim-majority countries, Trump has put a national spotlight on the community’s long running travails. Trump has called for the monitoring of mosques and appointed Cabinet members and political advisers who have disparaged Muslims.”
“He’s also likely put the final nail in the coffin for the community’s waning support for the GOP.”
“The former top Vatican diplomat in the United States alleged in a letter published on Sunday that Pope Francis knew about the abuses of a now-disgraced American prelate years before they became public,” the New York Times reports.
“The bombshell accusation, leveled by Carlo Maria Viganò, a staunch critic of Francis, immediately threatened to derail the pope’s difficult mission to demonstrate his commitment to combating the clerical sex abuse scandals that threaten his church on the same day he begged “the Lord’s forgiveness” at a shrine in Ireland.”
Janelle Wong: “My research indicates white evangelical conservatism correlates strongly with their perceptions anti-white discrimination, even after taking into account economic status, party, age and region. Fully 50 percent of white evangelical respondents to our 2016 survey reported feeling they face discrimination that’s comparable to, or even higher than, the discrimination they believe Muslim Americans face. Those who hold this perception are more likely to hold conservative attitudes on issues as wide-ranging as climate change, tax policy and health-care reform.”
“Here’s what is not behind these beliefs: economic anxiety. Like PRRI and political scientist Diana Mutz, I find economic anxiety isn’t a primary reason for supporting Trump. Rather, white evangelicals fear losing racial status. White evangelicals’ perceptions they’re the targets of discrimination – more so than other groups — influence far more than simply their votes for Trump.”
“Yes, 80 percent of white evangelicals supported Donald Trump in 2016. And the racial fears and anxieties that underlie their support for the president will probably remain the driver in their political views long after he leaves office.”
“A collaboration between an independent Christian filmmaker and one of America’s largest evangelical universities is showcasing the growing prominence of a provocative belief about President Trump ― that he was divinely appointed to lead the United States,” the HuffPost reports.
A prosperity gospel televangelist is asking his followers to “pray about becoming a partner” to his mission of obtaining a $54 million private jet, CBS News reports.
The Louisiana-based ministry of Jesse Duplantis has already paid cash for three other private planes, but he says God told him, “I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7X.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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