Johnson, Hegseth Join Far-Right Christian Bible Study
Theocratic evangelical Ralph Drollinger heads study groups at the White House and Congress
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have signed on as sponsors of right-wing Bible study groups held in Congress and the White House, along with two other members of Pres. Donald Trump’s cabinet and two U.S. ambassadors, according to a study guide posted online.
The study groups are run by Ralph Drollinger’s Capitol Ministries, a controversial, right-wing organization created to keep politicians in line with Drollinger’s biblical views. Drollinger is a supporter of Trump who opposes LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights and presses politicians in his Bible studies to do the same.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was already listed as a sponsor before this week, albeit not in his Senate leadership capacity until this week.
Drollinger’s study groups include politicians who oppose some aspects of church/state separation. This week’s study guide appears to be the first to list Johnson, Trump administration leaders, and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought, now director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Johnson has worked to elevate right-wing Christian causes, including the Fellowship Foundation’s National Prayer Breakfast; co-founded the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins; and before Congress was a lawyer for a right-wing Christian organization.
Last year, Johnson reportedly spoke about Capitol Hill ministries. “[T]hese ministries in the Capitol, this is pivotal stuff,” Johnson said. “This is important work."
Since taking over at the Pentagon, Hegseth has unapologetically used his position of public trust to advance his own religious beliefs. (His Christian, and allegedly anti-Muslim, tattoos were said to have gotten him barred from working the 2021 presidential inauguration.)
Just last week, the On Democracy Substack revealed that Hegseth initiated an unprecedented monthly Christian prayer meeting at the Pentagon.
According to the New York Times, the Pentagon wouldn’t say whether the service will be ecumenical and include non-Protestant denominations in the future. Last week’s was led by Hegseth’s pastor, of the sexist and anti-LGBTQ+ Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
“This is … I think exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Hegseth reportedly said in the Pentagon auditorium at a lectern emblazoned with the Defense Department seal, “in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
As secretary of Defense, Hegseth swore to uphold the Constitution. But according to the Times, Hegseth referred to “King Jesus” and then spoke in the third person, for the audience — which included closed-circuit Pentagon viewers: “It is in the name of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God’s people say amen.”
The Times noted that Hegseth got an “Amen” from at least one general.
Hegseth’s involvement with Drollinger’s group drew fierce criticism from the leading organization fighting to ensure that those in uniform aren’t subjected to the religious imperatives of their commanders.
Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder and President Mikey Weinstein told me, “As if Pete Hegseth could not fall further from integrity, character, courage and intelligence, by signing up for these weekly completely noxious White House Bible studies he is defecating on the US Constitution, which he swore a sacred oath to support.”
Hegseth’s name doesn’t appear in last week’s Capitol Ministries Bible-study guide. But other leaders close to Trump or serving in his administration can be found listed as sponsors along with Hegseth.
Drollinger says he does not believe the U.S. government should be a religious institution. But he does believe that U.S. officials should lead based on his interpretations of Biblical teachings.
Like Hegseth’s church, Drollinger opposes women in many leadership roles.
People for the American Way reported in March that Drollinger had resumed his White House Bible studies, which were dropped while Pres. Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was in office. (During Trump’s first term, Drollinger’s White House Bible study was sponsored by Vice President Mike Pence and some cabinet members.)
Last week’s study guide included a category for “current and former governors.” But that expanded this week and is now called “White House cabinet, ambassadors, and governors.”
The new names on the list this week include:
Dr. Ben Carson, former Trump Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary
Hegseth
Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel
David Perdue, U.S. ambassador to China
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
HUD Secretary Scott Turner1
Vought
Thune’s title was added this week, but he has been connected to Drollinger, his wife Danielle, and Capitol Ministries for at least a decade. “Ralph and Danielle are there to instruct, admonish, encourage, exhort, and inspire elected officials to lead their lives and conduct themselves in a way that brings glory to God,” Thune said in 2015, “to remind us of what is important, what our priorities should be.”
Drollinger’s Bible study groups appear to meet on the grounds of the branches they serve, based on listings in this week’s guide:
I didn’t spot any Democrats on Drollinger’s lists, but he claims some have been involved. And in January I revealed that Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) was helping Drollinger recruit members of Congress for the study groups.
When constituents asked her about my reporting at a town hall that month, she reportedly responded, “I’m there because I need more Jesus, not because I need more politics.”
According to another report, she confirmed signing a letter along with Republicans urging fellow members of Congress to join Drollinger’s group. She said she uses Biblical arguments with her study-group partners, but the reporting didn’t include any accounts of her saying it worked.
Not on the list of administration sponsors is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. As I’ve reported, Rubio has been an insider of the secretive and much-less public Fellowship Foundation, which runs the National Prayer Breakfast.
Drollinger has been an outspoken critic of The Fellowship, for not pushing The Bible as hard as he does. The Fellowship’s use of prayer breakfasts to build right-wing networks isn’t enough for Drollinger. And for his taste, The Fellowship’s own weekly congressional prayer breakfasts are too focused on member sharing. Not enough on The Bible.
The Fellowship, Drollinger says, has "lost its marbles, Biblically."
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I meant to write on your NPB stack and didn't get the chance.
Great piece and update as I lost track of it since the religious hierarchy, such as Trauma Vought, Bible, Accountability App, Johnson, No Spiritual Awakening Hegseth, hell he hasn't accomplished step ONE yet, and the many many MAGA, and others, behemoths of IMPIETY, have now come to wash ones own feet in someone else's anguish.
SO MANY BULLS THE CHINA SHOP HAS GONE TO BULLSHIT.
Drollinger's opinion, as if he were a marketeer of Kool Aid, the Bible needs to be PUSHED. I'd say that is a telling flag. Unless, one is marketeering their own bible. Same is true for "The Family" but I'll let that go for now.
That is why the actions and words, of those in this admin, are so deeply contradictory, manipulative, deceitful, and deceptive. Just ask the previous SCUM and Jake Tapper.
Some even sit in black robes on a high bench.
Anyone who takes an oath, that actually understands the meaning of said oath, or affirmation, which is what government officials should technically take, includes truth and reality, not a reality TV show, of the legal binding commitment to "swear", an active verb, a solemn vow.
The right wingers forget that they hype the vow of marriage, and between whom they deem acceptable, but rescind themselves, freely, of the same vow they took upon being elected, appointed, or otherwise to serve in a role that requires this vow to the constitution, not the Bible/RELIGION. A Vow is a vow is a vow is an OATH.
One needing more Jesus can find it in many places that don't require the vow of a document that separates CHURCH AND STATE.
They can also read the New Testament instead of stopping at the Old Testament BEFORE Jesus appears. That's helpful.
God may be said to be the same in both testaments however, in the NEW TESTAMENT, He gave his only son to take upon the fulfillment of HIS MERCY, NO LONGER WRATH, and that is THE problem with any radical right-wing christian nationalist movement. We are witnessing it in real time.
The holy rolling assholes need to read past the end of their own impiety to get to the GRACE OF GOD, in the teachings of JESUS, as taught in The Sermon on the Mount and, in particular, The Beatitudes. The Blessings.
I see none of those blessings being handed down from our leaders, of today's frightening examples of who and how not to be someone or something, that they need to keep their RELIGION OUT OF THE GOVERNMENT AS THEIR VOW(S) REQUIRES.
Too bad they don't accept reality, facts, or truth. Nor legality.
All one has to do, today, is read the message from the POTUS to our fallen service members on Memorial Day.
I could write and write and write but it is a HOLIDAY, right?
Jonathan, Nick Surgey at Documented has provided an excellent investigation on Mike Johnson and his longtime connection with the Council for National Policy. Johnson is on video saying he has told his wife he wants to grow up to be just like Bob [McEwen].
https://documented.net/connecting-the-dots/mike-johnson-cnp