WASHINGTON (RNS) — Members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, a group which advocates advocate for separation of church and state, and other House Democrats are speaking out against Speaker Mike Johnson’s sponsorship of a controversial pastor as a guest chaplain and accusing Johnson of importing a radical brand of Christian faith into the House.

On Thursday (Feb. 15), 26 lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman of California, sent a letter to Johnson and the House Chaplain’s Office expressing outrage that Jack Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California, was allowed to deliver the House’s opening prayer on Jan. 30, in an appearance sponsored by Johnson, who is an evangelical Christian.

The letter raised questions as to why Hibbs was approved as a guest chaplain at all, given that the pastor lives in California, not in Johnson’s Louisiana district.

“He was violating the guidelines by bringing in someone who wasn’t even his constituent,” Huffman told Religion News Service.

“Pastor Hibbs is a radical Christian Nationalist who helped fuel the January 6th insurrection and has a long record of spewing hateful vitriol toward non-Christians, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community,” read the letter.

The Freethought Caucus and other liberal members have been wary of Johnson, who formerly served as a lawyer for a conservative legal group. Some have expressed concern that he could use his position to further conservative Christian and Christian nationalist causes.

Pastor Jack Hibbs, top, leads a prayer in 2017 at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. (Video screen grab)

“We know that some of these hate preachers were very involved in inciting people to attend on January 6, and giving them a religious permission structure that contributed to the violence,” Huffman told Religion News Service. “To now have those people not only have zero accountability for what they said and did … but to be given the prestige of a congressional invocation … should be alarming to people who care about this threat to our democracy, as well as the continuing attack on church-state separation.”

The letter detailed a long list of Hibbs’ inflammatory statements throughout his career, including his suggestion that Islam is used by Satan as a “vehicle” to bring about the Last Days; that a “true Jew” is one who worships Jesus; and that transgender people are part of a “sexually perverted cult.”

Hibbs gave voice to a Christian vision of the country’s future in his prayer before Congress, calling on God to bestow wisdom on lawmakers present because a “coming day of judgment draws near when all who have been and are now in authority will answer to you, the great judge of heaven and of Earth.”

Hibbs, a well-known figure in conservative political circles, frequently hosts conversations with Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing advocacy group that has sought to enlist pastors in its efforts to push conservative political views. Kirk, in turn, has championed Hibbs, and the pastor has often appeared on radio programs with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman. (Official U.S. House of Representatives photo/Creative Commons)

The lawmakers pointed to remarks Hibbs delivered to his congregation days before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, that “there is no president-elect,” referring to Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election. Hibbs, who participated in the pro-Trump rally that day but did not go to the Capitol, told Perkins, “This is what you get when you eject God from the courts and from the schools,” according to NPR.

In addition to Huffman, the signers of the letter include U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut. The signers represented Christians, Muslims, Jews and secular humanists.

Speaker Johnson has rejected the Christian nationalist label, but as an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom before running for Congress, he has forwarded disputed arguments challenging the separation of church and state. He has conducted seminars at churches in the past that championed the United States as a “Christian nation,” according to Mother Jones.

Huffman described Johnson to RNS as part of “the Christian nationalist movement,” who, as a rank-and-file member, helped lead “the effort to overturn the election, through the legal system.” Johnson was among the more than 100 House Republicans backing an amicus brief signed in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the 2020 election results in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“I think there’s a real problem with our new speaker and his ability to accept religious pluralism, diversity and inclusion in a way that can work for our country and our diverse Congress,” Huffman told RNS. “He’s got a very extreme and specific religious agenda, and it sure seems like he’s seizing every opportunity to drive it through his position.”

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., takes the oath to be the new Speaker of the House from Dean of the House Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Huffman added: “If someone like this can be given the platform of a congressional invocation, then there really is no quality control. It’s really like saying, ‘We don’t care what you or anyone else thinks. We’re just going to platform all of these extremists and drive the Christian nationalist agenda, whether you like it or not.’”

The lawmakers’ letter also noted that the GOP House leadership has declined requests to allow secular humanist chaplains to do the same.

“The decision by the Speaker and House Chaplain to welcome Pastor Hibbs is especially galling in light of the Chaplaincy’s refusal to allow some signers of this letter to sponsor Guest Chaplains who meet all the stated expectations of the program,” the letter reads. “We should all be able to agree that the Guest Chaplain program should not be used as a political tool, nor should it be implemented in a way that favors one religion over others or applies inappropriate religious tests.”

House Chaplain Rear Admiral Margaret G. Kibben, a Presbyterian minister who ministered to members during the Jan. 6 attack, declined to comment on the lawmakers’ allegations. Representatives for Johnson, when asked about the letter, asked to see a copy but did not respond to follow-up questions.