“According to a recent study by Lifeway Research (January 2021), 49% of Protestant pastors say they frequently hear members of their congregations repeating baseless conspiracy theories.
“A recent study by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shows that 27% of white evangelicals – the most of any religious group – believe that the widely debunked QAnon conspiracy theory about political leaders running a child sex trafficking ring is 'completely' or 'mostly accurate,' and that 46% say they're 'not sure.'
“The AEI survey shows that 3 in 5 white evangelicals say Biden was not legitimately elected.”
(Dalia Mortada, Rachel Martin, and Bo Hamby. “Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit.” NPR. February 21, 2021.)
What's going on with Christians, conspiracies, and insurrections?
In the ’90s and 2000s a movement among conservatives began to explain how amazing America’s founding was: The founding was inspired by God, and, by the way, did you know that the founders made this covenant with God? And some Christians say that the United States is the next version of Israel from the Old Testament, that we are God’s chosen nation, and that is a special covenant – a two-way agreement with God.
Zack Stanton, digital editor of Politico Magazine, says …
“What [threatens] that covenant? The moment we started taking prayer out of [public] schools and allowing various changes in our culture – [the legalization of] abortion is one of those moments; gay marriage is another. They see it in cataclysmic terms: This is the moment, and God’s going to judge us.
“They view the last 50 years of moral decline as us breaking our covenant, and that because of that, God’s going to remove His blessing. When you paint it in existential terms like that, a lot of people feel justified to carry out acts of violence in the name of their faith … Christianity is going to be outlawed, pastors will not be able to teach the Bible and Christians will become persecuted.”
(Zack Stanton. “It’s Time to Talk About Violent Christian Extremism.” Politico. February 4, 2021.)
Enter the Patriot Church and the rise of Christian nationalism.
The Patriot Church is described as a movement: "a church interceding on behalf of her nation." That movement has a name: Christian nationalism. Some conservative evangelical circles have incubated and spread these kinds of conspiracy theories – some of which have led to violence – for years.
The Patriot Church movement originally referred to the late 1980s' Posse Comitatus group, a militant far-right organization. The Posse Comitatus followed an ideology based on the teachings of its founder William Potter Gale, who was also a Christian Identity minister, and the majority of the Christian Patriot movement's members still adhere to Christian Identity's white supremacist views.
This ideology holds the view that state and federal governments are agents of an arcane conspiracy to deprive Americans of their rights as "sovereign citizens." It also holds the view that this conspiracy can be undermined through various legal pleadings from English common law and other sources, such as a motion protesting the way a defendant's name is typeset in a legal complaint. The ideology persists despite numerous court rulings that have declared its theories frivolous.
(James Aho. Far-Right Fantasy: A Sociology of American Religion and Politics. 2016.)
As per the definition of Katherine Stewart in her book The Power Worshippers, Christian nationalism is based upon the myth that the American republic was created and founded as a Christian nation, and as such, the legitimate government “rests not on the consent of the governed but on adherence to the doctrines of a specific religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage.”
(Katherine Stewart. The Power Worshippers. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.)
“ … There are Christian nationalists embedded throughout our governing institutions – courts, military, legislatures, agencies, police. Many are regular figures at the Capitol and in the halls of power. Distracted by those ready to bring on the apocalypse, we have not adequately exposed this more resilient threat to religious pluralism in the United States.”
– Rabbi Rachel Mikva, the Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman Chair & Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, and Senior Faculty Fellow of the InterReligious Institute at Chicago Theological Seminary, Illinois,
One of the warriors for this “good” is Donald Trump’s lawyer Sidney Powell, whose words are posted on the churches’ social media, as an example of “fighting the good fight, saving democracy, Christianity, and the Constitution.”
A striking image from their Facebook page is a pastor standing before a television screen with the words “President Trump WON IN A LANDSLIDE,” the caption for the picture asks “How many churches will have this in their sermon?” This image appears after a picture of the church’s application to be registered as a Free Church in America, which as a 508© Faith Based Organization, are exempt from taxes under the Federal Tax Code.
(Carmen Celestini. “Patriot Churches.” Humanities and Social Sciences Online. November 20, 2020.)
Dominion Voting Systems filed a lawsuit against Powell for defamation and deceptive trade practices, after the attorney promoted a “false preconceived narrative” tying the company’s voting machines to widespread election fraud, which the company confirmed will be the first in a “series” of lawsuits targeting Trump allies who have spread the baseless claims—and potentially the president himself.
(Alison Durkee. “Dominion Voting Sues Sidney Powell For Defamation Over Election Conspiracy—And Others May Be Next.” Forbes. January 08, 2021.)
Today's Patriot churches are a new incarnation of Christian anti-communism movements from the Red Scare era, combining social heroism, conspiracy theories, and Christian nationalism. "While not everyone is hard-line, these beliefs are accepted by millions of Americans," said Andrew Whitehead, a Purdue University religion researcher and co-author of Taking America Back for God. Christian Nationalism in the United States.
Andrew Whitehead, who has spent several years researching Christian nationalism at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, defines it as the belief that America is a Christian nation, one that should privilege white, native-born politically conservative Christians.
"We do find evidence that Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are much more likely to embrace conspiratorial thinking," Whitehead told NPR. "The leaders of those movements have continually cast doubt on who you can really trust or even the federal government."
(Dalia Mortada, Rachel Martin, and Bo Hamby. “Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit.” NPR. February 21, 2021.)
Trump embraced the opportunity to exploit Christians' distrust for his own political survival. He won their blind loyalty by championing evangelical social issues – abortion being at the top of the list. A slow burn of conspiracy theories has been within the church for many years.
White evangelicals were especially prone to subscribe to the QAnon movement's conspiracy theories – believing “Trump has been secretly fighting a group of child sex traffickers that include prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites." That share was higher than for any other faith group and more than double the support for QAnon beliefs evident among Black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and non-Christians.
"I began to see on social media people ignoring or pushing away Black Lives Matter by saying, you know, oh, well, no one's over here talking about trafficking," said Jared Stacy. who left a job ministering to young parishioners at Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., last year.
Stacy said the concern about child trafficking started out as legitimate – it is an awful truth that exists. But he quickly noticed that his parishioners started using it as shorthand for a lie: that Democrats with prominent roles in business, media and government are running child trafficking rings.
What can come off as a benign plea of ignorance and a feigned desire to learn the truth is enough to keep the theory going – and have it gain steam.
However, a division within Christian nationalism is evident. In many families, older members are entertaining conspiracies while younger members are pushing back.
Insurrection and Christians
On January 7, 2021, Tish Harrison Warren – priest in the Anglican Church in North America and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, which was Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year – wrote …
“We worship with the Magi, not MAGA … The responsibility of yesterday’s violence must be in part laid at the feet of those evangelical leaders who ushered in and applauded Trump’s presidency. It can also sadly be laid at the feet of the white American church more broadly.”
(Tish Harrison Warren. “We worship with the Magi, not MAGA.” Christianity Today. January 07, 2021.)
Many Christian Nationalists connect “Jesus, guns and Trump” and “red, white and blue.”
Ryan Dunn, provisional deacon in the North Carolina Conference and staff member United Methodist Communications, says, “These words in that setting are an expression of Christian nationalism – an often distorted conflagration of national identity and Christian identity.”
And, Christian nationalism provides moral cover a step further, noting that Christian nationalism adheres to “the belief that America is God’s chosen nation and must be defended as such.”
Dunn explains …
“The events of January 6, 2021, expose the dangers of Christian nationalism. Uniting a religious fervor with domestic events incites a passion and sense of priority that many of us consider out of place – especially those of us in the Christian sphere who reject a Christian nationalist perspective. National priorities are simply not equal to the priorities of God. We become acutely aware of this when we have disagreements over what our national priorities are.
“Many of those who stormed the Capitol did so under a presumption they were defending democracy. The rest of us believe they were trying to overturn democracy. To assume that one side works on behalf of God while the other works in rejection of Divine order is a perversion of the unity that could exist in, at least, recognizing shared spiritual ideals. That spiritual unity cannot exist when we suggest that true Christians either wear red hats and carry 'Don’t Tread on Me' flags or do not.
“The danger is in conflating our Christian identity and our national identity. We can be Christian, we can also be American. But to assume that being American means being Christian and that being Christian means holding to a narrow view of what it means to be American is limiting to all of the above.”
(Ryan Dunn. “What is Christian nationalism?” Rethink Church. 2021)
Whatever you believe Christian nationalism may be, the truth is that many people who believe they are both Christian and nationalists are mobilizing through both religion and politics. Their beliefs include assumptions of nativism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and heteronormativity, along with divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism. By calling forth a defense of mythological narratives about America’s distinctively Christian heritage and future, this group seeks political power as its ultimate goal. They are actively engaged today.
Need proof? I'm sure you remember this scene from January 6, 2021 …
“After a portion of the mob entered the Senate chamber, a handful of men mounted the podium. One of them lifted his hands and cried out, “Jesus Christ, we invoke your name. Amen.”
“Then Jacob Chansley, sometimes called the 'QAnon Shaman,' took his bullhorn and announced gratitude to God for being able to 'send a message to all the tyrants, the communists, and the globalists that this is our nation, not theirs.' Bare-chested to expose his white supremacist tattoos, he had paused briefly to remove his Viking-inspired horned headdress and cap — presumably to assume a properly humble posture as he claimed the United States for himself and his fellow-believers.”
(Rachel S. Mikva. “Christian nationalism is a threat, and not just from Capitol attackers invoking Jesus.” USA Today. January 31, 2021.)
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