When Mike Johnson became Speaker of the House he said,
“I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, '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."
The phrases, Biblical worldview or Christian worldview, are known as empty signifiers or Humpty Dumpty words. Ideas about signs, symbols, words, signified and signifier, and the cultural heritage or specialized knowledge required to interpret them are interesting to learn about. I'm pretty sure Wittgenstein was onto something in talking about the limits of language when he said, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
Mike Johnson is trying to communicate something with his statement but only he knows what that something is. Members of his tribe with their specialized knowledge and cultural heritage perhaps know what he's pointing at - but for the average Joe or Jane he could be saying anything or nothing.
Mike Johnson makes another interesting comment in his "biblical worldview" interview with Hannity about how the two political parties used to want to do what was best for their country. This is no longer the case for the "Democrat" party that wants some form of European Socialism, which of course we all know is a terrible idea. You can smell the Schmittean fascist ideology of the friend vs. enemy distinction here. It's of some interest to note the rhetorical use of the phrase Democrat Party, rather than the grammatically correct Democratic Party as Mike provides another signifier for his tribe of billionaires and those owned or fooled by billionaires. Some people disagree and would like a new game instead of the current one where a tiny group owns all the Monopoly properties (and politicians, and media outlets, and Supreme and other judges)..
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Moses Mike represents the great state of Louisiana, which ranks at or near the bottom of all states in education, healthcare, and childhood poverty.
It's interesting to note that Mike's state of Louisiana, along with Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and West Virginia have passed laws allowing (or requiring) the use of the Bible as a textbook in public schools.
Saying the Bible represents your worldview while ignoring the plight of the people you represent may seem odd to Christians familiar with the Gospels but as history teaches us religion can be used to justify most anything - slavery, genocide, capital punishment, war, torture, misogyny, patriarchy, greed - but most of all hate not for the sin but the sinner.
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"The daughters of the biblical patriarch Lot appear in chapter 19 of the Book of Genesis in two connected stories. In the first, Lot offers his daughters to a Sodomite mob; in the second, the daughters have sex with their father, without his knowledge, to bear him children.”
Lot is living in Sodom and Gomorrah in this story, so this must be a story of corruption - but I have no clue. It's almost like a person could spend a lifetime studying the Old Testament and still not understand it ;-)
Two angels come to rescue Lot and are in his house which draws a crowd. Before Lot offered his daughters to the crowd, the Bible tells us -
"Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
A little later Lot's wife, Betty - looks back at the city and turns into a pillar of salt - which just goes to show you, it's always something.
If you have ever read the Bible, you know this is just one of many incomprehensible stories it contains.
There’s a weird story a little earlier in Genesis about Noah getting drunk and falling asleep naked. One of his sons Ham walks into the room backwards to avoid embarrassing Noah but it still ends up with Noah putting a curse on Ham’s son Canaan. This was before America’s Funniest Home Videos and before today, when kids say about most anything - That’s On YouTube. The story unsurprisingly is called “The Curse of Ham” and its meaning has been debated for a couple of thousand years.
The Bible also contains some beautiful ideas, poetry, good advice and wisdom. You will be missing out on a lot if you don’t become acquainted with the Bible.
I need a guide to help me with the Bible. In some ways I think the Catholics are correct in leaving the Bible-reading and interpretations to the priests.
Protestant theology is more oriented towards a personal connection to the Bible. but you still find parishioners leaving the interpretation to the minister to present in the Sunday sermon or Bible study class, which works fine as long as the minister isn't a nut. Unfortunately leaving the Biblical interpretation to a minister who is a nut - that is a grifter white Christian Nationalist, or a shill for billionaires causes all sorts of problems.
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This is a poem by Andrea Cohen that was in the April 23, 2026, issue of the NYRB.
Lot’s Wife
I always get confused.
I think it’s Lot’s
turning back that turned
her to salt. A whole
pillar of it. I always think
he’s an Orpheus of sorts,
though Orpheus was
gorgeous and a knockout
on his lute. But Lot?
There’s not a whole
lot we can say in his favor.
I have to think his wife
had a name other than
Lot’s wife, that she
might have looked back
to glimpse the life she
had before him, before
he offered her daughters
to that mob, before
what lay ahead—
Lot himself with their
daughters, Lot telling
everyone how blameless
he was. And her conversion?
You can see why a woman
might opt for what she did—
a mineral goats or camels
could lick, a stinging Lot
could do nothing with.
—Andrea Cohen
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I'm more partial to a Christianity, or other religion or no religion, that celebrates the beauty of the world and the creatures living on it. Like Kierkegaard I’m not particularly interested in going to church. More of a Thoreau/Emerson point of view, perhaps some form of Transcendentalism with a little Isaiah Berlin Pluralism and Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhism, a bit of Dorothy Day Catholic Anarchism and a hodgepodge, or should I say tapestry, of ideas from various philosophers, thinkers and religions.
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