The version of the religious right that put Donald Trump in the White House is the one that stepped onto the national stage in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan. It gathered force with another iteration of its founding lie—that it represented the “moral majority” of the nation—and this lie is yet another source of its weakness. The movement does not speak for a majority. It is a militant minority. The 26 percent of the voting age population that voted for the movement’s favored candidate in 2016 are far outnumbered by the slightly larger number of Americans who voted for a different candidate and over 40 percent of eligible voters that did not cast a ballot at all. We don’t need to create a new majority; we just need to give our existing majority the power to which it is entitled.
Addressing gerrymandering, voter suppression, and other abuses of the electoral process that continue to hobble American democracy will be a central aspect of any effort to meet the challenge of Christian nationalism. Even more than the Republican Party itself, the movement’s electoral power depends on its sway over primaries and general elections in states and districts that are disproportionately represented. A democratically elected government in America is much more likely to favor democracy over a theocratic order. Everything that restores the power of people to govern ourselves undermines the pretensions of those who would dominate us in the name of God.
There are of course many other threats facing our nation today. But the answers to those challenges are in some instances the same as the answers to religious nationalism. Reactionary authoritarianism doesn’t come out of nowhere. It draws much of its destructive energy from social and economic injustices that leave a few with too much power and many others with too little hope. Rising economic inequality and insecurity has created a large mass of people, on all ends of the economic spectrum, who are anxious for their future and predisposed to favor calls for unity around an identity that targets others for vilification and degradation. And it has elevated the power of a small group of people with the means and desire to control the social order for their own benefit. Addressing inequality won’t by itself resolve the challenges of the Christian nationalist movement, but it will take some air out of its bellows.
In some ways, Christian nationalism is the fruit of a society that has not yet lived up to the promise of the American idea. There is work to be done, but for now we are free to do it. We have met challenges in the past—well enough, at least, to make it to the present moment. Religious nationalists are using the tools of democratic political culture to end democracy. I continue to believe those same resources can be used to restore it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work would not have been possible without the scholarship, assistance, and encouragement of so many others. Here I would like to acknowledge them, fully aware that I will not be able to name them all or thank them enough.
Many people invested their time and tested their patience relating their experiences to me, both on and off the record. I have acknowledged some directly in the text. Others, however, prefer to remain anonymous, and I thank them anonymously.
Some sections of the book draw on my journalism. Portions of this book appeared, in different form, in the New York Times, the American Prospect, the Nation, and the Advocate. It has been my very good fortune to work with some of the most talented editors in the field. They include Aaron Retica, Matt Seaton, Gabrielle Gurley, Kathryn Joyce, Amanda Teuscher, Harold Meyerson, Lizzy Ratner, Neal Broverman, Matthew Breen, and Marianne Partridge.
This book benefited from consultation with people with in-depth knowledge of the legal and policy landscape. Many of them are included in the following list, which is in no particular order and should not be taken to suggest that any of them endorse the views expressed in the book: Rob Boston, senior advisor for Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Jennifer E. Copeland, executive director of North Carolina Council of Churches; Rev. Jennifer Butler, founder and CEO of Faith in Public Life; Jennifer C. Pizer, law and policy director for Lambda Legal; Valerie Ploumpis, national policy director for Equality California; Katherine Franke, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Elizabeth Boylan, and Elizabeth Platt at the Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Columbia Law School; Miranda Blue, author at Right Wing Watch; Steve Martin, director of communications and development at the National Council of Churches; Caroline Fredrickson, president of the American Constitution Society; Will Harris, former global head of external communications at Marie Stopes; Samantha Sokol, legislative advocate at Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Maggie Garrett, vice president for public policy for Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Alison Gill, national legal and policy director at American Atheists; Téa Braun, director at Human Dignity Trust; Ira C. Lupu, professor of law at George Washington University; Mercedes K. Schneider, author at Teachers College Press; Andrew Seidel, director of strategic response at the Freedom from Religion Foundation; and Richard Katskee, legal director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
This project has also benefited from the direction of professional academic researchers and other experts. (I’d like to reiterate that the opinions expressed in this book should be blamed on me, not on those who have been generous enough to assist me.) Some of these experts are credited directly in the text. Others include Linda Woodhead, professor of politics, philosophy, and religion at Lancaster University; Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College; Warren Throckmorton, professor of psychology at Grove City College; Nancy MacLean, professor of history and public policy at Duke University; Angelia Wilson, Political Studies Association Chair at the University of Manchester; Julie Ingersoll, professor of philosophy and religious studies at University of North Florida; Richard Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation; Andreas Knab, former graduate student at Oxford University; Roberta Cook, cooperative and extension specialist and Lecturer Emerita in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California Davis; Jill Hicks-Keeton, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma; Andrew Whitehead, associate professor of sociology at Clemson University; Hector Solon; Mark Chancey, associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University; David Brockman, Nonresident Scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Eric C. Miller, assistant professor of education studies at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Mitchell Robinson, chair of music education at Michigan State University; Paul Weller, Emeritus Professor at the University of Derby; Bill Mefford, adjunct professor at Wesley Theological Seminary; and Professor Steven K. Green, the Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and director of the Center for Religion, Law, & Democracy at Willamette University.
I owe so much to contemporary writers and researchers in this field, a large number of whom I quote directly, cite or otherwise acknowledge in the work. Other writers who have generously shared their ideas and offered their deep knowledge of America’s religious landscape include Diana Butler Bass, Ann Neumann, Peter Montgomery, Bruce Wilson, Jonathan Larsen, Cole Parke, Pagan Kennedy, Doug Mesner, and Rachel Tabachnick.
A special thanks to Julie Silberger, Alissa Quart, Briallen Hopper, Maria Quintal Castillo, Frederick Clarkson, Maia Szalavitz, and Matthew Shakespeare for their generous assistance with various aspects of the work, including points of fact and language.
Then there are those who hosted me as I traveled for research on this book specifically, including Steve and Lorraine Saulovitch, Jill and Neil Levinson, David Lonsdale, Sara Lipton, Michelle Gittelman, Dana Lehmer, and David and Jocelyn Williamson.
I am especially grateful to all the staff at Bloomsbury for embracing and supporting the project. A special thanks to my brilliant editor, Anton Mueller, for his superlative guidance. Cheers to my agent, Andrew Stuart, for his literary acumen and friendship.
Above all I’d like to thank my husband, the writer Matthew Stewart.
NOTES
CHAPTER 1: CHURCH AN
D PARTY IN UNIONVILLE
1. Watchmen on the Wall, Testimonials, http://www.watchmenpastors.org/national-event-testimonials.
2. Dr. Kenyn Cureton, Culture Impact Team Resource Manual: How to Establish a Ministry at Your Church (Family Research Council, 2011).
3. Resisting the Green Dragon homepage, www.resistingthegreendragon.com. Archived March 15, 2016. Archived pdf on file at DeSmog blog.
4. “Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation,” DeSmog, www.desmogblog.com/cornwall-alliance-stewardship-creation.
5. John Bowden, “GOP Candidate Preaches That Wives Should ‘Submit’ to Husbands,” The Hill, August 7, 2018.
6. Brian Tashman, “Charlotte Prayer Rally Repents for ‘Homosexuality and Its Agenda That Is Attacking the Nation,’ ” Right Wing Watch, September 6, 2012, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/charlotte-prayer-rally-repents-for-homosexuality-and-its-agenda-that-is-attacking-the-nation.
7. Alexander Zaitchik and Daniel Adell, “Fringe Mormon Group Makes Myths with Glenn Beck’s Help,” Intelligence Report, February 23, 2011, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2011/fringe-mormon-group-makes-myths-glenn-beck%E2%80%99s-help.
8. Rob Boston, “Skouson’s Scandalous Schools,” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, October 2016, https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2016-church-state/featured/skousens-scandalous-schools; Carmen Green, “Students at an Ariz. Public Charter School Are Being Taught Religious Belief in Government Class, so Americans United Filed Suit,” Wall of Separation Blog, September 07, 2016, https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/students-at-an-ariz-public-charter-school-are-being-taught-religious-belief.
9. The suit was eventually dropped because the plaintiffs were unable to proceed anonymously. See Chapter 9, “Proselytizers and Privatizers.”
10. Matthew Cole, “The Pentagon’s Missionary Spies,” The Intercept, October 26, 2015.
11. Sarah E. Jones, “Pentagon Problems: Family Research Council VP Once Paid Christian Missionaries to Spy for America,” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, October 8, 2015, https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/pentagon-problems-family-research-council-vp-once-paid-christian.
12. C. Peter Wagner, Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World (Chosen, 2008), 144, 148–49, 154–55.
13. Dan Wooding, “Never Surrender, Become ‘Kingdom Warriors,’ ” https://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=66032&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0. Last accessed April 19, 2019.
14. www.potusshield.org. Last accessed February 17, 2019.
15. http://awake88.org/church-voter-analysis/. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
16. Rebecca Klar, “Christian Group Warns Against Rise of ‘Christian Nationalism,’ ” The Hill, July 29, 2019, https://thehill.com/homenews/news/455157-interfaith-group-warns-against-creating-second-class-faiths-in-us.
17. Evangelical Environmental Network, “The Caring for Creation Pledge,” www.creationcare.org, https://www.creationcare.org/the_caring_for_creation_pledge.
18. From FRC email dated October 25, 2018.
19. David Saperstein and Amanda Tyler, “Trump Has Vowed to Destroy the Johnson Amendment. Thankfully He Has Failed,” Washington Post, February 7, 2018.
CHAPTER 2: MINISTERING TO POWER
1. “Capitol Ministries 20th Anniversary Report,” https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/748914-20th-anniversary-report-capitol-ministries/5?m4=. Last accessed March 2019.
2. “Steve Taylor Working with Capitol Ministries to Make Disciples of Jesus Christ in the Political Arena,” Capitol Ministries, https://capmin.org/resources/ministry-updates/steve-taylor-working-with-capitol-ministries-to-make-disciples-of-jesus-christ-in-the-political-arena. Last accessed March 1, 2019.
3. See warzone.cc, “Leadership” biographies, https://www.warzone.cc/leadership.
4. Von Lucas Wiegelmann, “Meet the Preacher Who Teaches the Bible to the U.S. Cabinet,” Welt am Sonntag, October 29, 2017.
5. Ralph Drollinger, “The Profound Theological Importance of Husband-Wife Marriage,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, September 24, 2018, https://capmin.org/the-profound-theological-importance-of-husband-wife-marriage. Last accessed April 22, 2019.
6. “Protestant Pastors Name Graham Most Influential Living Preacher,” LifeWay Research, February 2, 2010, https://lifewayresearch.com/2010/02/02/protestant-pastors-name-graham-most-influential-living-preacher.
7. John MacArthur, “The Willful Submission of a Christian Wife,” Grace to You, February 19, 2012, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-382/the-willful-submission-of-a-christian-wife.
8. Ibid.
9. Tom Krattenmaker, Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009), 137.
10. Ralph Drollinger, Rebulding America: The Biblical Blueprint, 2nd ed. (Nordskog Publishing, 2016), 4–5.
11. Evan Halper and Jordan Rau, “Pastor’s Remarks about Women Lawmakers with Young Children Spark Furor,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2004; Evan Halper, “He Once Said Mothers Do not Belong in State Office. Now He Leads the Trump Cabinet in Bible Study,” San Diego Union-Tribune, August 3, 2017.
12. Larry Mitchell, “Religious Right? Bible Teacher Hits Keene’s Capitol Fellowship,” Chico Enterprise Record, March 1, 2008.
13. Staff, “Capitol Ministries State Director Leaves, Joins New Christian Group,” Capitol Weekly, November 12, 2009; “Religion-Politics Fight Flares over Bible Study Groups,” Capitol Weekly, July 28, 2011.
14. Ralph Drollinger, “God’s Word on Spanking,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, May 2, 2016, https://capmin.org/gods-word-spanking. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
15. Nina Burleigh, “Trump Cabinet Spiritual Advisor Shares His Views, and Some Find Them Spooky,” Newsweek, October 31, 2017.
16. Ralph Drollinger, “Toward a Better Biblical Understanding of Lawmaking,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, February 17, 2014, https://capmin.org/toward-a-better-biblical-understanding-of-lawmaking. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
17. Ralph Drollinger, Rebuilding America: The Biblical Blueprint, 2nd ed. (Nordskog Publishing, 2016), 58.
18. Katherine Stewart, “The Museum of the Bible Is a Safe Space for Christian Nationalists,” New York Times, January 6, 2018.
19. Ralph Drollinger, “Coming to Grips with the Religion of Environmentalism,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, April 2, 2018, https://capmin.org/coming-to-grips-with-the-religion-of-environmentalism.
20. Peter Montgomery, “EPA’s Pruitt Hears from Bible Study Leader That ‘Radical Environmentalism’ Is a ‘False Religion,’ ” Right Wing Watch, April 3, 2018, http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/epas-pruitt-hears-from-bible-study-leader-that-radical-environmentalism-is-a-false-religion.
21. Robin Wright, “Pompeo and His Bible Define U.S. Policy in the Middle East,” New Yorker, January 10, 2019.
22. https://www.wellversed.world
23. Ralph Drollinger, Rebuilding America: The Biblical Blueprint, 2nd ed. (Nordskog Publishing, 2016), 69.
24. “CM Ministry to Local Government Leaders Getting a Big Boost!” Capitol Ministries, undated, https://capmin.org/resources/ministry-updates/cm-ministries-to-local-government-leaders-getting-a-big-boost. Last accessed April 23, 2019.
25. “Please Pray for Plantings in Eastern European Nations,” Capitol Ministries, undated, https://capmin.org/resources/ministry-updates/please-pray-ministry-plantings-eastern-european-nations. Last accessed April 23, 2019.
26. http://conservativetransparency.org/donor/bolthouse-foundation/?og_tot=195&order_by=&adv=Capitol+Ministries&min=&max=&yr=&yr1=&yr2=&submit=.
27. Ralph Drollinger, “Solomon’s Advice on How to Eliminate a $20.5 Trillion National Debt,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, January 15, 2018, https://capmin.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Solomons-Advice-on-How-to-Eliminate-a-20.5-trillion-Debt-by-Ralph-Drollinger-2018.pdf. Last accessed J
uly 15, 2019.
28. Ralph Drollinger, “Toward A Better Biblical Understanding of Lawmaking,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, February 17, 2014, https://capmin.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/toward-a-better-biblical-understanding-of-lawmaking.pdf.
29. Ralph Drollinger, “Solomon’s Advice on How to Eliminate a $20.5 Trillion National Debt.”
30. Ralph Drollinger, “Government and Economics: Five Principles for Tax Policy,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, November 4, 2013, https://capmin.org/government-and-economics-five-principles-for-tax-policy. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
31. Ibid.
32. Ralph Drollinger, “Toward A Better Biblical Understanding of Lawmaking.”
33. Ralph Drollinger, “Theological Liberalism in America,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, April 1, 2019, https://capmin.org/theological-liberalism-in-america. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
34. Von Lucas Wiegelmann, “Meet the Preacher Who Teaches the Bible to the U.S. Cabinet,” Welt am Sonntag, October 29, 2017.
35. Ralph Drollinger, “What the Bible Says About Our Illegal Immigration Problem,” Capitol Ministries Members Bible Study, February 18, 2019, https://capmin.org/bible-says-illegal-immigration-problem-2. Last accessed July 15, 2019.
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