Al Mohler clarifies remarks after Richard Land accuses him of endorsing a religious test

# What happened

# Where the controversy began At a panel tied to the book held Aug. 7 at New Saint Andrews College (event title: "Which Way America?"), Mohler said officeholders should make "public and authentic acknowledgment of the nation's formal commitment to the God of the Bible, specifically the Holy Trinity," and of "the binding moral authority of the Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments." That phrasing led critics to say Mohler proposed a religious test for office.

Mohler appeared alongside other contributors such as Doug Wilson and spoke about the Christian foundations of America. He argued that without some form of theism, the American system risks collapsing into legal positivism, and he appealed to natural law and a Christian understanding of creation order.

# Richard Land's objection Richard Land, formerly a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention's conservative movement and a past head of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, publicly criticized Mohler. Land's central objection: Mohler's statements resembled a constitutional prohibition against non-Christians holding office, which would conflict with the U.S. Constitution's ban on religious tests for public office. Land noted that Mohler's view, if applied, would disqualify figures like Thomas Jefferson.

# Mohler's response and clarification In a Sept. 14 World Opinions piece, Mohler said his comments were given in response to a hypothetical future scenario posed by the book editors — a speculative situation in which the United States had fractured and smaller regional nations emerged. Mohler described the setup as awkward and said he is not inclined to address such hypotheticals.

• He explicitly rejected calls for conventional blasphemy laws, saying "I was not calling for conventional blasphemy laws" and that he has supported religious liberty "energetically and forcefully." He added he fully supports the current constitutional order.

Mohler conceded he "blew it" regarding how his comments on blasphemy were received, indicating regret for the phrasing that suggested support for criminalizing certain speech.

# The substantive argument Mohler offered

# Why this matters