Dear Revealer readers,
When I was in the seventh grade, in a public school in suburban Indianapolis, I took a required physical science class with a teacher who posted a flyer on each end of the chalkboard that displayed a large cross above the words “Fellowship of Christian Athletes.” According to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ website, the group seeks to “see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.” As a seventh grader, I had no problem with school clubs based on religious identity. But I didn’t like staring at two crosses every day in science class. I spoke to my guidance counselor and requested the crosses come down. As opposed to other flyers that announced an event or sought to recruit students at the beginning of the school year, these had no expiration date. And so, the large crosses remained at the front of the room. After a week, the guidance counselor called me into her office and explained that because the posters contained the words “Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” thereby promoting a school organization, they did not violate any rules and the crosses could stay. I lost my small battle to have them removed and was pretty sure the guidance counselor reported the complaint to my science teacher and to other faculty. The science teacher became cold, even though I usually earned the highest marks in his class. And my math teacher, who recommended I skip a year ahead in math, signed my yearbook with “John 3:16,” a reference to a New Testament biblical passage he apparently thought I needed even more than challenging math.
Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch
As I think back to that time, I am struck by the longstanding efforts to infuse public schools with religion and to use children as a way to shape the Christian character of the country. While the Supreme Court outlawed prayer in public schools decades ago, that has not stopped school districts as recently as this year from proposing that educators teach the Christian Bible (as in Oklahoma and parts of Texas) or from erecting the Ten Commandments (as in Louisiana). In fact, we are witnessing a profound resurgence from politicians, lobbying groups, and school board officials who want to lower the wall separating church and state in classrooms.
Schools are but one area currently under siege by supporters of “Christian nationalism,” a broad term that describes a commitment to the idea that America is a Christian country and should be governed accordingly. Many such supporters are white, although certainly not all, and come from conservative Protestant and Catholic traditions. They have found a hero in Donald Trump, the person they believe most likely to appoint the right justices and leaders to make their vision a reality. And this well-funded conglomerate of organizations and institutions has plans should Trump return to the White House.
One prominent plan is Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a 900-page collaboration between the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and more than 100 former Trump staffers. The document offers key insights into what Christian nationalists want. For instance, the publication calls for the government to limit abortion access by taking away the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a medication used for abortions, and to make it illegal to mail abortion medicines, equipment, and information through the U.S. Postal Service. The document also proposes cutting Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming healthcare to transgender adolescents, and for the government to sue schools that support trans students. The publication calls for the banning of pornography. And, the “Mandate for Leadership” outlines plans for the mass deportation of millions of immigrants and the cutting of federal funding to schools that teach about race, gender, and “systemic oppression.”
Project 2025 is merely one well-funded vision within a much larger network to support Christian nationalism. Others are even more extreme and insist that, for example, only Christians should be allowed to hold public office. Such goals may seem impractical, and obviously unconstitutional, but people who want them are increasingly well-connected, and their once far-right positions are moving ever more closely to the center of the Republican Party and to multiple local legislatures.
With these concerns facing us, The Revealer is dedicating this year’s special issue to “The Threat of Christian Nationalism.” For each of the past four years, the magazine has published a themed special issue on topics of significant importance, including “Religion and Reproductive Rights,” “Trans Lives and Religion,” and “Religion and Sexual Abuse.” This issue is no exception and features an all-star roster of prominent authors who have been writing and warning about Christian nationalism for the past several years.
Our special issue opens with Katherine Stewart’s “Dismantling Democracy: Christian Nationalism’s Threat to America’s Future,” where she explores the massive money trail going to and coming from organizations that support Christian nationalism so we can understand the well-funded web of institutions supporting these endeavors and their goals. Then, in “Christian Nationalism and Authoritarianism,” Andrew Whitehead examines why proponents of Christian nationalism tend to support political violence and the erosion of democracy when they believe such measures will get them the results they want. After that, in “Christian Nationalism Gone Global,” Matthew D. Taylor profiles Paula White-Cain, Trump’s longstanding spiritual advisor, and sheds light on why the sizable number of Independent Charismatic Christians believe God wants Trump in the White House—and everything they are doing to make that happen. Then, in “From Missionaries to Settler-Colonialists for Christian Supremacy,” Bradley Onishi considers how fringe rightwing voices have found alliances within more mainstream evangelical spaces and what these partnerships reveal about today’s Christian Right. Following that, in “Make America Mate Again,” Samuel Perry investigates pronatalism among Christian nationalism supporters and the growing coalition encouraging white Christians to have more babies. And in “From the Gay Agenda to Childless Cat Ladies,” Sophie Bjork-James considers shifting rhetoric about “family values” among the Christian Right and why they think marriage and maintaining patriarchal nuclear families will solve countless societal problems from poverty to child neglect.
The special issue also includes the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “Christian Nationalism, Charismatic Christians, and Political Violence.” Matthew D. Taylor joins us to discuss Charismatic Christianity, its prominent growth, and its place in the Republican Party. We explore how Charismatic Christians moved from the periphery of the Christian Right into the center, how their beliefs influence their politics, their role in January 6, and what to expect from them and other Christian nationalist supporters if Harris wins the election or if Trump does. You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As I think back to sitting in that public middle school classroom with two crosses on the chalkboard, I am reminded that there have always been people who have wanted the culture to reflect their version of Christianity. Today, many such people are emboldened by Donald Trump. They are well organized and well-funded. Should Trump win, and should the House and Senate fall into Republican control, the United States will face an extreme push from rightwing Christians who want this country and its laws to mirror their values. And, as multiple articles in this special issue make clear, proponents of Christian nationalism are more likely to support the erosion of democracy and the use of political violence to keep their people in power and to squash dissent.
The choice before Americans this November could not be starker. And so, as The Revealer did in 2020 when we made our first political endorsement, we believe we face another election where such a move is necessary: for a future that finds value in religious pluralism, for the restoration of reproductive freedom, for the expansion of transgender rights, for the upholding of the “free exercise of religion,” and to ensure the protection of our democracy and fair elections, The Revealer endorses Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice President of the United States.
May you find helpful insights in this special issue. And may you exercise your right to vote this November.
Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.
