I was just saying to someone yesterday that people used to understand that the separation of church and state protected us all. Oh well, so much for that outdated idea! Via the Texas Tribune:

For nearly four decades, Texas activist David Barton has barnstormed statehouses and pulpits across the nation, arguing that the separation between church and state is a myth and that America should be run as a Christian nation.

Now, he’s closer to power than perhaps ever before.

One day after little-known Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected as the new House speaker last week, Barton said on a podcast that he was already discussing staffing with Johnson, his longtime ally in deeply conservative, Christian causes.

"We have some tools at our disposal now (that) we haven't had in a long time," Barton added.

Well, if that doesn't send a chill down your spine!

Johnson recently spoke at an event hosted by Barton’s nonprofit, WallBuilders; he’s praised Barton and his “profound influence on me, and my work, and my life and everything I do”; and, before his career as a lawmaker, Johnson worked for Alliance Defending Freedom — a legal advocacy group that has helped infuse more Christianity into public schools and government, a key goal of Barton’s movement.

Just what we need. More whackjob fundies dictating to us all how we should live. By the way, his talk about Benjamin Franklin not really being a Deist? WRONG. And just to really curl Barton's toes: Franklin wrote about reincarnation for the tombstone where he's buried.