This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A so-called “Christian nationalist” is now in charge in the U.S. House.

At least that label has been attached to U.S. Representative Mike Johnson as he now functions as Speaker of the House.

Originally, I wrote about Johnson, suggesting that I would give him the benefit of the doubt in his new job until he performed badly.

I said that, at least in part, because one of his firsts acts in the job no one else could get was to reach out to the U.S. House Democrat leader, Representative Hakim Jeffries, to say he wanted to work with the Ds on issues facing Congress.

Might have been a platitude.  It hasn’t taken long for him to eschew bi-partisan actions.

So far, he has performed like any other hard-right Republican, so hopes for some type of middle ground appear to have been misplaced.

Columnist Kate Cohen, writing in the Washington Post, goes farther.  Not a surprise because, in past columns, Cohen has advocated for atheism as a major answer to all of this country’s problems.

In Johnson, she sees the opposite.

She wrote under this headline:  “Mike Johnson is a pro-gun Christian nationalist. Yes, be afraid.”

Cohen went on:

“The day after he was elected Speaker of the House, which was also the day after 18 people were shot to death in Lewiston, Maine, Representative Mike Johnson smoothly executed the rhetorical three-point turn that Republicans often use after mass shootings:  (1) invoke prayer; (2) declare that now is not the time for politics; and (3) dismiss the foolish notion that gun violence is related to guns.

“To that point, Johnson told Sean Hannity, “At the end of the day, the problem is the human heart.”

Perhaps.

But, in the fallout from the most recent gun deaths, it also is clear the House, under Johnson, will continue to ignore calls to ban assault weapons — a ban the majority of Americans want — not only because its new speaker is a Republican, but also because he is a “Christian nationalist.”

Cohen defines:  “A Christian nationalist is someone who, like Johnson, believes the United States is a Christian nation and does not believe in what Johnson dismisses as the “so-called ‘separation of church and state.’”

For example, part of Johnson’s Christian nationalism is that Americans – all Americans – deserve to keep their guns.

I challenge you to tell me in Scripture where you find the notion that every citizen has the right to carry – and perhaps use – a gun.  You can’t because such a reference doesn’t exist.

As for me, I am a Christian.  But I staunchly refuse the “Christian nationalist” label.  And I believe in a clear separation of church and state. 

If I was in public office, my Christian faith would motivate how I looked at public policy issues, but I would not wear my faith on my sleeve.  And I would not join those who want Christianity to become just another political movement, one where those involved seek to impose their views on others.

I reflect on this back to my tenure at Salem Alliance Church here in Salem, Oregon, where I served on the Governing Board of Elders for a number of years, including 12 as chair.

Our agreement then was that we would not allow “our church” to become just another political organization. 

We would emphasize the role of Christ in our lives, either for those who might be making a decision to accept his free gift of salvation or for those who already had done so.

We were emphasizing Christ, not politics.

Speaker Johnson goes the other way.

As Cohen puts it:  “Experts project that this kind of nonsense will spew from the Capitol now that the most powerful man in Congress is someone who has said that every Christian should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness.”

So, back to the main point of this blog post:  I may have been wrong to want to give the new speaker space and time to take over the job. 

If his avowed Christian faith is personal, not political.  Good. 

But, if he continues to aver that God wants him to do all that he and the right want to do – in  other words, use Christianity as a political movement — then, with Cohen, I say we are in trouble.

THIS CONCLUSION:  There is an easy fix, but one that never will happen, given the current state of politics in the Nation’s Capital.  I twould be to assign the U.S. House Speaker, once elected, to be the leader of the entire body, not just those from his or her party.

Easy?  Yes.  Workable?  No.  Will it happen?  No.

If it did, we’d have a branch of Congress that spent its time legislating, not one that spent its time using every opportunity to pine for the next election.