Texas Pastor Joel Webbon claims there’s ‘no place’ for non-Christians in American leadership

A Texas pastor and YouTuber has claimed that the United States belongs exclusively to Christians, and that means non-Christians shouldn’t hold public office.

Joel Webbon, a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and leader of Covenant Bible Church in Georgetown, made that assertion during the March 7 episode of his “Right Response Ministries” podcast, in which he explained his understanding of how the Founding Fathers viewed non-Christian Americans in the late 18th century. 

Webbon said while the Founding Fathers largely held positive views of Jewish Americans in the colonial era because of the Bible and their knowledge of the Hebrew language, “they were pretty adamant about […] no mistreatment or anything like that, and yet, simultaneously, without racial animus, they also were just able to say, ‘No, America is for Americans and it is predominantly an Anglo-Protestant project.’”

Read Christian nationalism: What it is, what it isn’t and why it matters — a guide for people of faith

He continued: “Jews cannot hold public office. They can live here, and they can live here peacefully, and all these kinds of things, but, no, this is a Christian nation, and those who reject Christ and hate Christ, they can be in the car, and we shouldn’t mistreat them, but they don’t get to drive.

He continued: “It’s OK to have a country. Listen to me, Christian, you are allowed to have a country. You are. It is OK to say ‘No, this country, this nation is for us and our posterity.’ It’s not for Hindus. It’s not for Muslims. And it’s not for Jews. It belongs to Christians.”

Webbon argued that while Reformed theologians historically believed in a “future spiritual revival for the Jewish people” and that “they would eventually be saved,” they did so while “simultaneously recognizing that the Jews were against Christ, and that they were not Christians. They were very much anti-Christ and that they had no place in leadership in America.”

The pastor’s comments come amid growing scrutiny of Christian nationalism, a movement that seeks to fuse Christian identity with American governance, often at odds with the First Amendment’s prohibition on establishing religion.

According to positions he has articulated in sermons and podcasts over the past year, Webbon’s vision includes amending the U.S. Constitution with the Apostles’ Creed and outlawing abortion, pornography and no-fault divorce, as well as restricting voting rights for women.

CP reached out to Pastor Webbon for comment on Thursday. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Webbon’s comments on non-Christians in government point to a complicated historical record in the U.S., particularly in its infancy.

Throughout the 18th century, most American colonies enacted statutes that required office holders to swear an oath to affirm some form of Protestant Christianity, which effectively prevented Jews in most colonies from holding public office. 

Georgia’s first constitution in 1777, for example, explicitly barred Jewish Americans from high office, and similar requirements existed in other states, such as Massachusetts, which required officeholders to swear belief in the Christian religion. 

But beginning in the early 19th century, a number of states passed laws that removed such restrictions, including Maryland, where lawmakers in 1827 passed the “Jew Bill” which eliminated any restriction against Jewish people from holding public office.