Mike Johnson says Rep. Andy Ogles' anti-Muslim remarks reflect 'popular sentiment'

A day after Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said on social media that Muslims don’t belong in America, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that although he questioned Ogles’ choice of words, he pointed to a widely shared sentiment among Americans.

“Muslims don’t belong in American Society. Pluralism is a lie,” Ogles posted on his X account on Monday (March 9).

Johnson told reporters at a congressional retreat in Doral, Florida, on Tuesday that he spoke about Ogles’ remarks with members of Congress and discussed what language they should use on the issue. Ogles’ selection of words, he said, is “a different language than I would use.” Still, Johnson said he believes his comments resonated with many Americans who view Islam as incompatible with American culture.

“There’s a lot of energy in the country and a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Shariah law in America is a serious problem,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a serious issue. Shariah law and the imposition of Shariah law is contrary to the U.S. Constitution.”

Religion & Politics

Photos of the Week: Holi, Tibet anniversary

Devotees cheer as colored powder and water is sprayed on them in celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, at the Kalupur Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

In Opinion

And finally, How one Chinese American healed from growing up in Western evangelicalism

Raised in Iowa, Kristin T. Lee grew up attending her parents’ Asian immigrant evangelical church while being steeped in the white evangelical Christian culture of the Midwest. She was left, however, with a disconnect between her Chinese American identity and the American version of evangelicalism. In her debut book, “We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American Christianity,” Lee reflects on her experience, and what it means to navigate faith, culture and belonging in the United States.

Using the Japanese art of Kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with gold — as a metaphor for a faith that acknowledges wounds rather than hiding them, Lee explores the legacy of Western-dominated theology and her own search for a more expansive Christian faith, rooted in solidarity with marginalized communities.

“One of the themes of the book is the fractures in our lives, whether that’s feeling disconnected from the version of Christianity that we grew up with or the fractures in our family life or the fractures in our country of origins’ histories,” said Lee in a recent interview. “Both in some Asian immigrant church spaces and in American evangelicalism, there can be a tendency to want to ignore or paper over or minimize that suffering. The Japanese art of Kintsugi inspires me because it uses fractures not as things to be hidden, but as an integral part of what forms us.”

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