Josh Mandel’s Push For Theocracy: Wants Govt. to Impose Religious Beliefs

Josh Mandel wants the US government to impose on Americans’ religious belief and practice. He is running to be a lawmaker in Congress, yet has little regard for the 1st Amendment’s opening text which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Separation of Church and State

Mandel says that the US Constitution should not be separate from the Christian Bible. If they were not separate, you could be legally given a death sentence for working on Sunday, because Exodus 31:15 says, “whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.” US Christians currently have the freedom to interpret that passage differently, and many work on Sunday out of necessity, but that could be outlawed if the Constitution were not separate from the Bible. You also could not get gas for your car on your way to Church or pick up a gallon of milk for your Sunday potluck since gas stations and grocery stores would have to be closed.

Mandel claims, “There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution”, calling it “a made-up weapon of the ACLU.” However, it was our Founding Father Thomas Jefferson who wrote in 1802 that the Constitution’s 1st Amendment builds a “wall of separation between Church and State”, more than a century before the ACLU existed. Furthermore, Article IV of the Constitution says, “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The concept of separating religion from government clearly does exist in multiple places in our Constitution.

His website’s Issues page lists slogans like “using the Constitution and Bible as my guide” and “protecting the Judeo-Christian bedrock of America”, with zero details on how exactly he plans to do that as a member of Congress without violating the 1st Amendment.

What if US laws were based on the Bible?

Our Constitution provides protections against religious beliefs which violate basic human rights or otherwise infringe on others’ freedom. Mandel’s push for “biblical justice” could include cutting off your hand over a domestic dispute (Deuteronomy 25:11-12). It could mean bringing back legal slavery, since according to Leviticus 25:44-46, God Himself told Moses, “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.” The Theocratic States of America could prevent you from eating bacon and sausage, since Leviticus 11:7 says, “And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.” It could punish women for wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt, since Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.” Although these are not common Christian practices today, a US theocrat could choose any Bible verse to impose on the nation at any time.

We should protect freedom of religion, not impose it

We are a nation governed by allegiance to our Constitution, which does not mention God. “Under God” was not in our Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. The danger of theocracy is that anyone in power can lie about having divine knowledge of what God wants in order to exert their own evil will over the people. We cherish our freedom to individually interpret the Bible and other written works to apply their message to our own lives in the way that makes sense to us. We don’t want The Ministry of Truth, the Thought Police or any other government official telling us what religion we have to believe or how to practice our faith, which is why all religious texts are separate from our Constitution.

Mandel recently said, “we need a Judeo-Christian revolution in this country” and that “we should be doubling down and instilling belief in God in the classroom, in the workplace, and throughout society.” He complains about “indoctrination of our kids in the schools,” but he wants to do just that by imposing religious belief on our kids.

Although Mandel’s ideas may seem pro-Christian, they actually threaten to oppress the religious practice of major US Christian denominations such as Catholics, Protestants or Orthodox, depending on which one gains power. Public schools might teach your kids that baptism is unnecessary, or that without baptism they’ll go straight to hell. Maybe your boss could legally require that you convert to Lutheran in order to keep your job. Imagine the United States giving authority to the Pope’s decrees, requiring that only Methodists could run for President, or charging higher taxes if you don’t attend a state-approved church. American theocracy would not only be a major blow to the freedoms of 27% of Ohioans and 30% of Americans who don’t identify as Christian, but also to the freedoms of many Christians as well.

The threat to Mandel’s own Jewish family

Mandel wrote an op-ed this year saying he would “defend religious liberty” and “freedom of religion”, but only mentions the defense of Christmas displays, Boy Scouts’ oath to (the Christian) God, and praying to Jesus in the Ohio Statehouse. He gives no mention of defending the right to practice Buddhism, Islam, or no religion. Although he says “pastors should be free to give any prayer they choose”, it is unlikely Mandel would defend an Islamic prayer in the Statehouse. By rejecting the separation between the Constitution and the Bible, he’s really defending the freedom to openly practice mainstream Christianity, while restricting protections for minority denominations and other religious beliefs, including Judaism.

Many US theocrats push for America to be recognized as a “Christian nation” to the exclusion of Judaism, but Mandel consistently calls it a “Judeo-Christian” nation in order to carve out the inclusion of Jewish people in his theocratic vision. This demonstrates that he recognizes a mere-Christian nation would threaten the rights of his own Jewish family, as well as 4.2 million American Jews, in the same way that Mandel threatens the rights of non-Judeo-Christian Americans.

Nick Fuentes, the founder of the America First Political Action Conference and a white nationalist who has met with Donald Trump, explicitly rejects the idea of America being a Judeo-Christian nation, saying “Christianity is the religion of this nation. Not Judaism, not the Talmud, not that stuff.” Most people reject Fuentes’ exclusionary rhetoric, and we must similarly reject Mandel’s.

Mandel’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

Mandel often associates the word “radical” with Islam, and his rhetoric suggests that he’s not just referring to specific Muslims but calling the religion itself radical. It’s true that religious extremists pose a threat to our security (including radical Christians), but the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and don’t deserve to be generalized as radicals.

He has deriding Muslim Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib as “spokesmen of Hamas” and anti-Semitic bigots, partly because of their criticism of Israeli policies. Mandel has characterized their election victories as “infiltrating the US government”, despite them being duly elected representatives. He’s even called for the deportation of Omar, who is a US Citizen.

Mandel has also called for the US to reject all Afghan refugees after the August 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, even though some were allies in our fight against the Taliban.

Mandel’s anti-Muslim rhetoric encourages religious intolerance and threatens the rights of 3.5 million Muslims living peacefully in the US.

Christianity is an American mainstay, but must remain separate from government

Christianity is an important part of American society and history, and many politicians are inspired to public service by their Christian faith. In fact, both of our current Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown are Christians, and 95% of Senators are Christian or Jewish. Most, if not all, of Mandel’s senate rivals are Christian too, including Tim Ryan who is Catholic. In America we are free to practice Christianity, including reading the Bible, praying to Jesus and putting up Christmas trees, but we must also remain free to practice Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, no religion, etc. with the same rights and protections.

Josh Mandel isn’t going to take away your bacon any time soon, but if he weakens the separation of Church and State as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment, it paves the way for government officials to outlaw your religious beliefs and persecute you for them. Mandel is dead wrong; the Constitution absolutely must be separate from the Bible or any other religious text.

Wisdom of our founder James Madison

James Madison, principal drafter of the Constitution and 4th President, wrote about “the strict principle […] of the equality of all Religious Sects in the eye of the Constitution”:

“There remains in others, a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Government & Religion, neither can be duly supported. Such indeed is the tendency to such a Coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger can not be too carefully guarded against.”

“Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical & Civil matters is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that Religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”

“We are teaching the World the great truth, that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson, that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.”

From James Madison to Edward Livingston, 10 July 1822

We must heed Madison’s advice and carefully guard against the danger and corrupting influence of that old error that Josh Mandel now espouses.

Update: One national religion?!

On 11/13, Michael Flynn suggested that America establish a national religion, saying “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, then we have to have one religion; one nation under God and one religion under God.” Soon after, Josh Mandel tweeted, “We stand with General Flynn” followed by “Freedom of religion ≠ freedom FROM religion.”

Ohioans deserve to know exactly how Josh Mandel would support one national religion as a US Senator. Is it all just bluster, or would he sponsor a bill to establish Christianity or Judaism as the official religion of the US, in violation of the Constitution? Would he repeal the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment? Would he repeal Article IV in order to disqualify Muslims from holding office? In standing with Michael Flynn’s comments, he is not a defender of religious liberty that he claims to be. Mandel is not a constitutional conservative.

Mandel’s push for theocracy continues…

Reminder: the Constitution prohibits religious tests and does not mention God.

He recognizes Jews can be liberal or conservative, but continues to only ever characterize Muslims as “radical”, ignoring the fact that plenty of American Muslims identify as Republican.

Violating non-profit tax law?

In this tweet on 3/2/22, he pushes pastors to become more political from the pulpit, which means more folks looking for spiritual guidance being told who to vote for as well:

Churches can be good for communities, but when an politician’s platform is about faith leaders telling voters that God expects them to support a particular party or person, that’s a consolidation of power between religion and government, which is bad for freedom and contrary to the vision of our founders.

Non-profit religious orgs are prohibited from participating in political campaigning, so it begs the question if his Life Change Church meeting is in violation of 501(c)(3) rules. King’s Way Fellowship DBA Life Change Church in Milford, Ohio is registered with the state as a non-profit and recognized by the IRS as a tax-deductible public charity.

In 2017, Mandel pushed to repeal these restrictions on non-profits promoting political candidates. But these restrictions are still the law for good reason. They prevent the abuse of tax-exempt “charity” status for the purpose of gaining political power. Political power is not charity, even if we believe the politician has good intentions. Spiritual leaders should let congregants vote their conscience, but if a church wants to get more political, they should at least pay taxes.