I had originally thought to write about witches in honor of Halloween, and had done some research on witches in different cultures. But on further consideration, I thought Mike Johnson was scary enough.
Mike Johnson Republican from Louisiana, became Speaker of the House this week, after 22 days without a Speaker because the Republicans couldn’t get their act together. The far-right radicals refused to compromise — among other requirements, election denial seems to be necessary. Johnson is firmly in that far-right minority. He is a white Christian nationalist, believing that the US is founded on Christianity, and that the role of government is to assure that we keep to evangelical biblical principles. He is solidly MAGA, supports Trump. He is a former Christian radio host.
What are his beliefs that could affect women? He supports a ;national total abortion ban. He believes in covenant marriage. He is strongly anti-LGBTQ. I had to look up covenant marriage (it’s how Johnson and his wife were married) which makes it harder to get legal divorce or separations. It is only legal in three states.
In an op-ed he wrote in 2005, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson called abortion "a holocaust" and linked the judicial philosophy that legalized the right to an abortion to Hitler.
The op-ed was a response to the death of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose vegetative state triggered a long legal battle and federal action from Congress.
In the opinion piece published by the Shreveport Times, Johnson wrote, "The prevailing judicial philosophy is no different than Hitler's. Because the life of an unborn child (or a disabled Terri Shiavo [sic], or the elderly and infirm) may be difficult or inconvenient or even costly to society now means it can be terminated."
www.cbsnews.com/…
Covenant marriage is a legally distinct kind of marriage in three states (Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana) of the United States, in which the marrying spouses agree to obtain pre-marital counseling and accept more limited grounds for later seeking divorce (the least strict of which being that the couple lives apart from each other for two years). Louisiana became the first state to pass a covenant marriage law in 1997;[1][2] shortly afterwards, Arkansas[3] and Arizona[4] followed suit. Since its inception, very few couples in those states have married under covenant marriage law.
As of the 2015 nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage, covenant marriages now can be contracted by either opposite- or same-sex couples.
Procedure[edit]
Prior to entering into a covenant marriage, a couple must attend premarital counseling sessions "emphasizing the nature, purposes, and responsibilities of marriage"[5] and must sign a statement declaring "that a covenant marriage is for life."[6][7][8] In contrast to no-fault divorce's more lenient requirements for non-covenant marriages, a spouse in a covenant marriage desiring a divorce may first be required to attend marital counseling.[9][8]A spouse desiring a divorce must also prove that one of the following is true:[9][10][8]
- The other spouse has committed adultery.
- The other spouse has committed a felony.
- The other spouse engages in substance abuse.
- The other spouse has physically or sexually abused the spouse or a child.
- The spouses have been living separately for a minimum amount of time specified by law (one or two years, depending on the law of the state).
Couples married without a covenant marriage may also accept the obligations of a covenant marriage at a later date.[11][8]
Intent and acceptance[edit]
According to proponents of covenant marriage, the movement sets out to promote and strengthen marriages, reduce the rate of divorce, decrease the number of children born out of wedlock, discourage cohabitation, and frame marriage as an honorable and desirable institution.[12][13]
Despite the goals of covenant marriage proponents, in the three states with covenant marriage statutes, only an extremely small minority of newlyweds has chosen covenant marriage.[14] In Louisiana, between 2000 and 2010, only about 1 percent of marrying couples chose a covenant marriage, with the other 99 percent choosing to marry under standard marriage laws permitting no-fault divorce.[15] In Arizona, estimates of the rate of covenant marriage among new couples range from 0.25 percent to 1 percent.[16] In Arkansas, a similarly very small number of couples choose covenant marriage.[14][17]
en.wikipedia.org/...
Johnson proposed a federal “don’t say gay” bill that restricts any type of LGBTQ content for kindergarten through third-grade classes because the prohibition on “sexually oriented” content is defined as anything related to gender identity or sexual orientation. The Human Rights Campaign has consistently given him zeros on its congressional scorecard.
But even more concerning is what he advocated prior to his election to Congress, when he voiced strong support for the criminalization of gay sex. So-called sodomy laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003.
www.msnbc.com/...
Forewarned is forearmed.
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