Mike Johnson said during prayer calls with right-wing pastor Jim Garlow that "depraved" America deserves the wrath of God.

He cited, as supposed evidence, the decline of national church attendance and the rise of LGBTQ youth — the fact, Johnson lamented, that “one-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight.”

  • DarkGamer@kbin.social
    392·
    1 year ago

    Talking to pastor Jim Garlow on a broadcast of the World Prayer Network, Johnson spoke ominously of America facing a “civilizational moment.” He said, “The only question is: Is God going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins? … Or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to Him?”
    The segment was filmed Oct. 3, just weeks before Johnson’s unexpected rise to become speaker of the House. Garlow pressed the clean-cut Louisiana congressman to say “more about this ‘time of judgment’ for America.” Johnson replied: “The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable.” He cited, as supposed evidence, the decline of national church attendance and the rise of LGBTQ youth — the fact, Johnson lamented, that “one-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight.”
    Discussing the risk of divine retribution, Johnson invoked Sodom, the Old Testament city destroyed by God for its wickedness with a rain of burning sulfur. Johnson is a polished orator, but in a closing prayer with Garlow he grew tearful. Johnson intoned, “We repent for our sins individually and collectively. And we ask that You not give us the judgment that we clearly deserve.”

    Oh no, gay people aren’t being persecuted and people don’t believe in my brand of absurdity. My imaginary friend hates that!

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
      14·
      1 year ago

      Funny enough, he doesn’t exactly get why Sodom was destroyed. They wanted to take a guest in their town and rape them. Lot offered his daughters instead of the guest, who was an angel, and they refused. (And for some reason, God said Lot was alright despite that.)

      What brought down the divine retribution itself wasn’t being gay, but hostility and violence to guests. It wasn’t even sexual assault, since God found Lot to be upstanding and he was going to offer his daughters.

      I feel like this interpretation jives pretty well with what Jesus actually said, and ironically enough for Johnson, that places him and his party squarely under God’s wrath. I mean it’s no surprise, but the dramatic irony is hilarious.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        1 year ago

        Yeah the story of Sodom is a pretty clean example of a hospitality myth. Basically don’t be an asshole to those showing you kindness.

        I wonder if the reason these myths seem relatively universal in the eastern Mediterranean is due to the bronze age collapse and raiders. Basically raiders pretend to be refugees to get into a city which that cant easily take from without.

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
          2·
          1 year ago

          It’s definitely interesting, because the message is to be kind to guests, which runs counter to what you’ve described. Could be this is well enough after that early society has started to see it as unnecessary caution.

          Now that I think about it, the story feels like a complete myth, you’re right. The people who refuse to be hospitable are from the worst town ever and they want to do horrible things to the guest, and so God destroyed them all – but spared the person who was kind to the guest. Everything is so exaggerated that it fits perfectly.

      • DarkGamer@kbin.social
        132·
        1 year ago

        One doesn’t do this unless they have an unhealthy relationship with sexuality and porn:

        he and his teenage son monitor each other’s every keystroke in an effort to make sure they don’t expose themselves to pornography.
        This was recently revealed in a clip that was posted by the user Receipt Maven on X. Last year, Johnson spoke on a panel during a “War on Technology” conference sponsored by a Baptist church in Benton, La. In it, Johnson enthusiastically endorsed a surveillance app called Covenant Eyes. The app, which is promoted by churches and other conservative religious groups such as Promise Keepers, has users designate “accountability partners” to hold them to task in the event they stray into illicit digital outer space. Often the accountability partner is a pastor or fellow church member.
        Covenant Eyes, which costs about $15 a month, takes one screenshot per minute, Wired reported last year in a story about what it called “anti-porn shameware,” which is a multimillion-dollar industry.
        Johnson’s accountability partner, he said, was his teenage son Jack. Once a week, he said, he and Jack receive a report of what the other has been doing on his phone, laptop or tablet.
        “If anything objectionable comes up, your accountability partner gets an immediate notice,” Johnson said. “It looks for keywords, search terms and also images. It’s really sensitive.” Johnson said he once got an alarm about Jack’s questionable internet usage involving a blurry image of two women. “I had to zoom in on it and unblur it,” Johnson said, “and it’s two middle-aged teachers.”

        I suspect the only way he can stop looking at that sweet sweet man-flesh on the internet is knowing his son is looking at his screen over his shoulder at all times.

        • Pandemanium@lemm.ee
          4·
          1 year ago

          I sure hope he isn’t able to access any government documents on that phone. Think about how much information that app gathers by taking a screenshot every minute.

          • reptar@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 year ago

            Holy shit.

            Even if Covenant Eyes is honest in their (batshit) intentions, all that eavesdropping and compromised devices makes them a juicy target.

    • TechyDad@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 year ago

      If he referenced Sodom and Gemorah then he doesn’t really know why the Bible says those cities were overthrown. It wasn’t because they had gay sex. It was because they abused travelers.

      The modern day version of the travelers are immigrants. Remind me which party is a fan of abusing immigrants again?

    • AdamHenry
      2·
      1 year ago

      I find it curious that they described Johnson as “cleancut.” It’s an odd adjective to use for a fifty plus guy.