In January, California pastor Jack Hibbs was invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to serve as the House of Representatives’ guest chaplain.
Twenty-six House Democrats then signed a letter condemning the pastor’s opening prayer.
The letter, led by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Mark Pocan (D-WI) called Hibbs a “radical Christian Nationalist who helped fuel the January 6th insurrection and has a long record of spewing hateful vitriol toward non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community.”
“He should never have been granted the right to deliver the House’s opening prayer on January 30, 2024,” the letter read.
“When his opening prayer invoked ‘holy fear’ and ‘repentance’ for ‘national sins,’ these were allusions to the militant and fanatical agenda he preaches about the LGBTQ+ community, Jews, Muslims, and anyone who conflicts with his ‘biblical worldview,'” the Democrats added.
Hibbs’ said in his prayer, “Hear my cry in this hour of great need that we might be humbly blessed before You in repentance of our national sins,” and, “So please come upon those here who are the stewards over the business of our Nation with Your wisdom which comes from above and with Your holy fear knowing that Your coming day of judgment draws near when all who have been and are now in authority will answer to You, the great judge of heaven and of Earth.”
“These facts suggest a breathtaking lack of consideration for the religious diversity of our Congress and pluralistic nation,” the representatives wrote. “It appears that Speaker Johnson – with the tacit approval of the House Chaplain – decided to flout the Chaplaincy guidelines and use the platform of the Guest Chaplain to lend the imprimatur of Congress to an ill-qualified hate preacher who shares the Speaker’s Christian nationalist agenda and his overriding antipathy toward church-state separation.”
“We should all be able to agree that the Guest Chaplain program should not be used as a political tool, nor should it be implemented in a way that favors one religion over others or applies inappropriate religious tests,” they added, going on to suggest that “Nonetheistic Chaplain Dan Barker” is a “fully qualified” individual for the program.
Rep. Huffman shared his sentiments on the situation to X, writing, “I’ve said from the start that Mike Johnson is a dangerous Christian Nationalist,” adding, “I’m calling out his egregious violations of church-state separation – otherwise we’re all going to be frogs in the pot of boiling water that leads to theocracy.”
