Last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson caused a stir by stating in an interview that "the separation of church and state is a misnomer." Johnson was responding to a skeptical interviewer on CNBC who asked whether it was appropriate for Johnson to be seen praying on the House floor. In response, Johnson said the following:
The Founders wanted a vibrant expression of faith in the public square because they believed that a general moral consensus in virtue was necessary to maintain this grand experiment in self-governance….
The separation of church and state is a misnomer. People misunderstand it…. It comes from a phrase that was in a letter Jefferson wrote. It's not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is, they did not want the government to encroach upon the church, not that they didn't want principles of faith to have influence on our public life."
We need more faith in public life, he continued:
