Johnson gives ‘glory to God’ for Trump’s big bill but others say God is mocked

While Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gave glory to God for final passage of the “big beautiful bill,” other religious leaders decried the legislation as un-Christian, un-American, evil and dangerous.

On July 3, after the House passed the bill in a process known as “reconciliation” with the Senate version, Johnson tweeted: “Soli Deo Gloria,” or “Glory to God alone,” followed by a Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 5:18 — “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”

Johnson appeared to compare the reconciling love of God that Christians believe is the source of eternal salvation to the Congressional process of reconciling versions of legislation — in this case, legislation evangelical Christians support but many other Christians do not.

Earlier Johnson said on the House floor: “See, we are the first nation in the history of the world that acknowledged our rights do not derive from government, they come from God. You see those words up there? It says, ‘In God we trust.’ We’re different. We’re distinct. We’re exceptional, because we acknowledge that right there.”

As the final debate was happening, Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Jack Graham posted a note of encouragement for the bill on X: “Please be alert and supportive of the big beautiful bill that is before Congress for vote. As to the faith community we know the bill is the most faith and family centric in history. It advances child tax credit, school choice, and offers a $1,000 investment fund for newborns. The bill DEFUNDS 500 million from planned parenthood and much more for the benefit of average Americans. It’s time for lawmakers to act now and decisively.”

Other Republican leaders and lay commentators lambasted Senate Democrats for voting against the bill, saying they voted against tax breaks for average families.

In reality, while the legislation does extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, its overall effect is to make life harder for the poor and sick while giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy. Those tax cuts and increased spending on ICE and border security are paid for partially by deep cuts to health care and nutrition programs, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the new law will add $3.4 trillion to federal deficits over the next 10 years and leave millions without health insurance. Republicans insist that’s not true.

The legislation includes more than $46.5 billion for border wall construction, $45 billion to expand detention capacity for immigrants in custody and $30 billion in new funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The law also shifts the costs of SNAP, or food stamps, to some states and adds stiffer work requirements for those receiving aid.

Texas Rep. James Talarico, a leading voice for Democratic resistance to Trump among progressive Christians, tweeted: “Senate Republicans just sold out the sick and the hungry to cut taxes for the rich and the powerful. What would Jesus do about this ‘Big Beautiful Bill?’ I think he would flip over the tables of injustice and call on us to do the same.”

Significant opposition to the bill from church-state separationists is due to its creation of a federal school voucher program.

“By creating a national school voucher scheme, Congress has opened the door for taxpayer dollars to fund private religious education — undermining both public schools and religious freedom,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of BJC. “Families and faith communities — not the federal government — should guide religious formation.”

Also, BJC stood against the bill “not just because it attacks religious freedom, but because it slashes funding for critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP to bankroll tax cuts for the wealthy, while adding trillions to the national debt,” she said. “On a day meant to celebrate liberty, this legislation erodes it. We will keep fighting for religious freedom for all and the public good.”

Stephen Reeves, executive director of Fellowship Southwest, said he is “disappointed and saddened” by passage of the bill.

“The stranger, the sick, the widow, the orphan and the hungry have been forsaken in favor of the wealthy.”

“We advocated against many of the provisions that, with the president’s signature, will now become law,” he explained. “As an organization committed to justice for the vulnerable, we fear what is to come. The cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other social safety net programs will harm those whom Jesus called us to serve. The vast increase in immigration enforcement funding will no doubt rip families apart, deport those seeking refuge from persecution, and those working to feed their families. The stranger, the sick, the widow, the orphan and the hungry have been forsaken in favor of the wealthy. We pray for all those for whom life will be harder.”

Erol Kekic, chief strategy officer at Church World Service, said the legislation “betrays the displaced, the disabled and those most in need in our country. It is passed in the name of correcting our deficit but will add trillions to our debt. It will deprive millions of our neighbors, including children, from needed food and medical care, while endowing unpopular agencies like ICE with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to carry out inhumane policies that will tear apart families and treat children as criminals.”

He cited specifics of what the new law does:

• Present the largest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance (SNAP) in history, with more than 17 million people projected to lose Medicaid coverage due to new eligibility restrictions
• Deprive more than 2.6 million children in the United States from the anti-poverty benefits of the Child Tax Credit — simply because a parent lacks a Social Security Number
• Strip refugees, asylees and other humanitarian entrants — all of whom are here lawfully — from accessing Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance (SNAP), the Affordable Care Act marketplace and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Use these cuts to provide $150 billion to ramp up immigration enforcement, including for the hiring of more ICE agents, the jailing of families and the indiscriminate deportations of immigrants contributing to our communities
• Decimate protections for immigrant children, allowing them to be jailed indefinitely and allowing officials to conduct invasive examinations of their bodies

Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, warned the bill is ensconced in Christian nationalism and presents a twisted perception of national prosperity.

“The Senate’s vote to pass the mislabeled ‘big beautiful bill’ is a complete and utter betrayal of all Americans, especially the most vulnerable in our communities. Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill may proclaim the Lord’s name, but their actions do not match their words. This is made plain by their support for a bill that cuts aid for vulnerable communities and pits them against one another while using that money to provide tax cuts for Trump and his billionaire friends to line their own pockets.”

Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, decried the school voucher provision.

“The American people don’t like vouchers, which is why this harmful provision received bipartisan opposition,” she said. “But President Trump and a majority in Congress ignored the will of the people and hatched the nation’s first national private school voucher scheme, advancing a Christian nationalist agenda called for in Project 2025.

“Public funds belong in public schools, which are open to all and educate 90% of America’s students. With this voucher [program], Trump and Congress will divert billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools that indoctrinate and can discriminate against students and their families based on the schools’ beliefs.

“The separation of church and state means we each should get to decide how and whether to support religion. It also protects the independence of religious schools. Yet this voucher program opens the door to the federal government’s regulation of private, religious schools.

“Private school vouchers don’t just trample our religious freedom — they also don’t work, breed fraud, foster discrimination and enrich the wealthy. We need a national recommitment to keep church and state separate. Our public schools and our democracy depend on it.”

Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, warned of the immorality of the way this legislation treats the vulnerable.

“Nearly every word of this legislation puts politics above protections for the most vulnerable among us, including unaccompanied children fleeing war, trafficking, human rights abusers and other child predators, and other dangers,” she said. “This turns back the clock on decades of bipartisan consensus about the need to keep unaccompanied kids safe and out of the hands of those who exploit their inherent vulnerability for financial gain. Just as appalling are the bill’s provisions that permit strip searches of minors at the border and in government care, fund the indefinite detention of families, establish a pay-to-play legal protection system, and impose new requirements that threaten to prevent family unity. For example, no child should be expected to pay $5,000 for access to protections under our justice system.

Historian Jemar Tisby, who teaches at Simmons College of Kentucky, focused on the massive increase in spending for ICE, which he called “Trump’s Personal Army.”

The $170 million increase given ICE “makes ICE more well-funded than any other U.S. law enforcement agency and richer than the entire military budget of all but 15 countries,” he said.

Further, he warned: “ICE is a paramilitary force with ultimate allegiance to the president. Not to the Constitution. Not to the people. … ICE is the president’s personal goon squad.”

Historian Kristin DuMez of Calvin University republished some of Tisby’s comments and added: “Members of the military vow to support and defend the Constitution. ICE agents aren’t required to do the same. And given our political climate, it’s not hard to imagine that many new recruits will be signing up precisely in order to do Trump’s bidding. To serve him, not fellow citizens.”