House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gave CNBC a history lesson on prayer and the constitution this week after they asked him about the “public perception” of his decision to pray on the House floor after being sworn in as speaker.
Speaker Johnson gave CNBC’s “Squawk Box” host Andrew Ross Sorkin a history lesson this week when the host asked him about the “public perception” of a Speaker of the House praying on the house floor after being sworn in as speaker, and suggesting that Johnson had violated rules of Separation of Church and state.
“Faith — our deep religious heritage and tradition — is a big part of what it means to be an American. When the founders set this system up, they wanted a vibrant expression of faith in the public square because they believed that a general moral consensus and virtue was necessary to maintain this grand experiment in self-governance that we created: a government of, by, and for the people. We don’t have a king in charge,” Johnson told Sorkin. “So, we’ve got to keep morality amongst us so that we have accountability.”
“People misunderstand it,” Johnson said about the the separation of church and state “misnomer.” “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite.”
Johnson went on to quote from the farewell address of President Washington.
In Washington’s farewell address he said “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports”.
“They knew that [faith] would be important to maintain our system,”Johnson explained.
“And that’s why I think we need more of that — not an establishment of any national religion — but we need everybody’s vibrant expression of faith because it’s such an important part of who we are as a nation,” he said.