Republicans in Congress just voted to ban the Bible
The Christian scripture is on the chopping block
On May 1st, the Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a bill banning anti-Semitic speech. Did they just ban the Christian sacred text?
I’m looking into the strange case of H.R.6090, the “Antisemitism Awareness Act,” which seeks to classify a range of commentary on Jews and Israel as hate speech. Listed examples include “claims of Jews killing Jesus…”
The Bible makes this claim. Did Republicans just ban it?
Christians are often wary of “persecution.”
On this occasion it seems to be coming from within. This story concerns the House of Representatives, led by Mike Johnson, an Evangelical Christian from Louisiana. Any fears he would try to enact his religious agenda on the country have been unfounded.
He did pass a broadly supported bipartian bill banning ‘anti-Semitic ‘speech. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York and a Catholic, who doesn’t see the Bible as getting banned. He posts on X: “Calling all Jews Christ killers is a form of antisemitism. Believing in the gospel is not.”
Many others seem sure the bill does ban the Bible.
Matt Gaetz, a lawyer and conservative Congressman from Florida, voted against the bill after posting to X: “The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Republican in Congress, agreed the bill “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel…”
After the bill passed, the headline tore through Christian America:
“House passes bill to define alleging Jewish involvement in Christ’s crucifixion as antisemitism, with 320–91 majority.”
The shock rocketed around right-wing social media.
Charlie Kirk, the Republican activist, asked: “Did the House of Representatives just make parts of the Bible illegal?”
“Yes,” replied Tucker Carlson. “The New Testament.”
Indeed, not only the gospels are affected. Try 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15, where the apostle Paul says that Jews “killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets.”
Agitated Christian started posting Bible verses as ‘civil disobedience’.
One man posted the text of John 18:12–27, the narrative of the trial of Jesus, and added: “Arrest me.”
Even the moderate, non-Christian right-wingish commentator Scott Adams was vowing to read Bible verses publicly if the law goes into effect.
Christians against the bill must now place their faith in Democrats.
Will Chuck Schumer kill it in the Senate? This becomes an interesting chapter in religious history. Senator Schumer is the highest ranking Jewish official in America, and also in American history.
Will this Jewish man ban the Christian Bible?
If he does, just wait! There’s hope left.
A Christian President can intervene?
If Senator Schumer allows the bill to pass, then Christians’ next hope is that President Biden will veto it. He’s a Christian…so maybe he will?
Indeed, President Biden has often discussed being Catholic. When he speaks publicly I have often been struck by the effort to frame him like a Medieval saint, with a kind of ‘halo’ provided by a painting of George Washington in the background.
So perhaps this Catholic will not allow the Bible to be banned?
But there has been no assurances of that so far. Since the bill did pass with a large bipartisan margin, that it will go into effect seems likely.
If President Biden does sign the Antisemitism Awareness Act into law, it will be a remarkable moment in which Protestants and Catholics and Jews agreed to ban the Bible. That never happened before.
Could the Supreme Court overturn the ban?
If the Antisemitism Awareness Act is signed into law, that becomes the focus. Maybe SCOTUS will find the bill unconstitutional, and overturn it.
There seems a reasonable hope this might occur. All members of the Supreme Court are Christian, except for Elena Kagan, who is Jewish.
So Christians will decide once again if their scripture should be banned.
Maybe the Bible will then be saved?
That is, Christian lawyers might cite the secular First Amendment, and the Bible will become legal again.
Or maybe a representative of the House will clarify that the Christian hadn’t intended to ban Christian speech.
They’d only meant to ban Muslim speech! 🔶
