New House Speaker Tells Hannity, ‘Go Pick Up a Bible Off Your Shelf and Read It – That’s My Worldview’
Newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson gave Americans a glimpse of his “worldview” on Thursday night while fielding a question about homophobic remarks he made.
Johnson was elected speaker on Wednesday, capping off three weeks of infighting among Republicans. The relatively unknown backbencher was first elected to the chamber in 2016 and has kept a low profile since – until this week.
Sean Hannity interviewed the new speaker at the Capitol, where he asked about the remarks.
“You once worked for the Alliance Defense Fund – a Christian advocacy group,” Hannity said. “And comments you made both in writing and advocacy for this group about homosexuality, calling it sinful destructive and not supporting gay marriage, quote, ‘no clear right to sodomy in the Constitution.’ You have been getting hammered on this. And I wanna ask you about it. I wanna know exactly, you know, where you stand. Some of these comments were 15 years ago.”
“I don’t even remember some of them,” Johnson replied. “I was a litigator that was called upon to defend the state marriage amendments. If you remember back in the early 2000s, I think there [were] over 35 states, somewhere in that number, that the people went to the ballot in their respective states and they amended their state constitutions to say marriage is one man and one woman. Well, I was a religious liberty defense and was called to defend those cases in the courts.”
Johnson then claimed being gay is a choice and said his worldview is, “go pick up a Bible”:
But I also genuinely love all people regardless of their lifestyle choices. This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, “It’s curious, people are curious. ‘What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?'” I said, “Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”
Hannity then added a qualifier on the speaker’s behalf.
“That’s your personal worldview,” the host said, as if to offer a suggestion.
“That’s my personal worldview,” Johnson repeated.
On Wednesday CNN’s KFile circulated comments Johnson made about gay people.
“Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do,” he wrote in a 2005 op-ed. “This is a free country, but we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”
He also wrote, “Homosexual relationships are inherently unnatural and, the studies clearly show, are ultimately harmful and costly for everyone,” and could cause people to marry their pets.
Elsewhere he wrote, “Experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”
Watch above via Fox News.
