FFRF Action Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” is U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, for his recent remarks deriding October’s No Kings protests and professing that Jesus is king.
In a news conference on the 20th day of the government shutdown, Roy joined House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus, in chastising the No Kings movement and expressing Republican unity. Roy is also a member of the Freedom Caucus.
In his remarks about the widespread, peaceful No Kings protests, Roy said, “The truth is, the Marxists, the radicals, and the Islamists the Democratic Party promoted this weekend, they cannot handle the truth.”
“And the truth is that there is a king, and that king is Jesus,” Roy professed. “And the president has been willing to say it. His administration has been willing to say it. And Charlie Kirk was willing to say it, and he got killed for it.”
Millions of protesters joined No Kings rallies across the country on Oct. 18, proclaiming: “America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.” Notably, FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, was among more than 250 nonprofits partnering in support of the movement. One of Roy’s X accounts reposted conservative coverage of Roy’s speech, with the post describing the No Kings protests as being “chock full of leftists celebrating violence against conservatives.”
Roy reposted another video of his remarks on X, with the caption, “Christ is King.”
Roy’s remarks completely disregard the constitutional separation of state and church and misrepresent the democratic No Kings protests. The U.S. Constitution prohibits the establishment of religion, and clearly there are no kings in the United States. Roy’s personal religious beliefs do not represent the whole nation, and they certainly do not declare Jesus as king for all Americans.
The FFRF Action Fund celebrates the peaceful No Kings protests that have showcased the American people’s commitment to our secular democracy and emphatically disagrees with the theological remarks that Rep. Roy proffered as a critique.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.