ABC News hits Mike Johnson for attending 'controversial' purity ball with daughter eight years ago

ABC News shared a video of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with his daughter at a Christian "purity ball," calling it a "controversial formal dance event." 

"This looks like a wedding," a German news reporter said in a 2015 n-tv news segment that ABC News uncovered. "But they are not bride and groom -- but rather father and ... daughter," the reporter said of Johnson and his then teenage daughter. 

ABC portrayed the event as "controversial" in an article from Wednesday.

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ABC News shared a video of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a Christian, with his daughter at a "purity ball," calling it a "controversial formal dance event."  (Getty Images)

"The German news segment documented Johnson and his family preparing for and then attending a purity ball, a controversial formal dance event, popular among some conservative Christians, that gained notoriety in the early 2000s," the outlet wrote. 

A purity ball, which usually features a father and daughter dance and encourages sexual abstinence before marriage, is a family-centered event. 

ABC also described purity balls as a subject of intense debate within Christian circles. "Since growing in popularity in the 1990s and early 2000s," the outlet wrote, "purity balls and purity pledges have faced increased scrutiny from both inside and outside the Christian community, ranging from criticism that the practice places too much of a burden on young women to accusations that the balls themselves objectify young girls."

ABC continued: "At a typical event, fathers and their teenage daughters dress in formal ball attire for a night that involves dinner and dancing and culminates with the daughter signing a pledge to her father to abstain from dating and to remain sexually abstinent until marriage," ABC wrote. 

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"If you truly believe in the Bible’s commands, and you seek to follow those, it’s impossible to be a hateful person because the greatest command in the Bible is that you love God with everything you had, and you love your neighbor as yourself," Johnson said. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

ABC highlighted Johnson's wife, Kelly Johnson, who spoke out against contraception in an interview with the German outlet.

"We don't talk to her about contraception," she said. "Sex before marriage is simply out of the question."

Speaker Johnson, a Southern Baptist, has received intense scrutiny over his Christian faith. NPR featured Johnson in a November article headlined, "Speaker Johnson's close ties to Christian right — both mainstream and fringe." HBO host Bill Maher in October compared Johnson to the mass shooter suspected of killing nearly 20 people in Maine because the shooter "heard voices." Former White House press secretary turned MSNBC host Jen Psaki bashed Johnson on her show in October, calling him a "religious fundamentalist." 

Johnson has defended his faith in God and said that the Bible is his "worldview" since being elected as speaker. 

"If you truly believe in the Bible’s commands, and you seek to follow those, it’s impossible to be a hateful person because the greatest command in the Bible is that you love God with everything you had, and you love your neighbor as yourself," Johnson said.

Johnson's office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History. 

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