Katherine Stewart exposes the rise of Christian nationalism as a coordinated, anti-democratic movement fueled by disinformation, authoritarian alliances and religious extremism.
Katherine Stewart’s third book on the anti-democratic right-wing, Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (out Feb. 18), features a diverse cast of allied characters: right-wing Catholic, evangelical and Pentecostal clergy and their loyal congregants; atheist billionaires; conservative intellectuals; deep-pocketed funders; misogynists eager to reverse feminist gains; Jewish devotees of Ayn Rand; white supremacists; anti-vaccine activists; and opponents of public education, environmental protections and the so-called “Deep State,” among them.
This unprecedented coalition, Stewart writes, involves a dizzying array of organizations and individuals, all of them hellbent on winning more than “a seat at the noisy table of American democracy.” Instead, she writes, they favor “burning down the house.”
What’s more, Stewart describes the movement as “more political pathology than political program” and notes that the overarching aim of this well-coordinated campaign is the destruction of democracy and the elevation of Christian nationalism.
It’s a chilling finding.
But Stewart also reports that these anti-democratic forces do not always operate in lockstep, and are divided by numerous internal contradictions: Should they support free speech or push for book bans? Should they advocate for small government or work to bring government into reproductive decision-making?
Stewart spoke to Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader about her research shortly before Money, Lies and God was released.
Eleanor J. Bader: Let’s start by addressing how you collected your information. Do you attend conferences and lectures as a journalist or as a participant observer?
Katherine Stewart: I am an independent journalist and attend events that are open to the public. I do this because I don’t think we can understand what is happening in U.S. politics today without understanding Christian nationalism and the motivations of its leaders and adherents. The movement is leadership-driven and organization-driven, and we would do well to understand its modes of operation, its capabilities and its messaging.
When I attend right-wing events, I listen for what’s new and distinctive. I also spend a lot of time reading their books and listening to right-wing radio and podcasts. I also conduct interviews. I look for themes and trends, information that I hope will be of value to readers.
Bader: You write that wage stagnation, economic inequality and declining life expectancy have contributed to the rise of Christian nationalism. Have racism and predicted demographic changes in the U.S. population contributed to the movement’s growth?
Stewart: It’s complicated.
Economic inequality has tended to make life more stressful for everyone, and this stress accounts for much of what drives voters to the right. Similarly, racial division is really a way of promoting paranoia and fear of the supposedly “other” or “deviant.” This fear and paranoia, not just racism itself, are driving factors in the rise of Christian nationalism.
It is also important to note that the leadership, as well as the rank-and-file of the Christian nationalist movement, involves more than white evangelicals. The movement also includes some conservative Catholics as well as a sector of Pentecostals and neo-charismatics. Neo-charismatic movements, such as the New Apostolic Reformation, are multi-racial and transnational.
Supporters of Christian nationalism are the largest and most reliable slice of Trump voters. Nonetheless, right-wing religious leaders see demographic shifts as clearly as you or I do. They understand that if the movement remains exclusively white it will not succeed at the ballot box. This is why groups like Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, the Family Research Council’s Watchmen on the Wall and Faith Wins have reached out to pastors, including pastors of color, drawing them into networks that persuade them of the need to become politically engaged.
Some political commentators have scratched their heads over the fact that Latino support for Republican candidates has shifted so dramatically over the past eight years. This shows that they haven’t been paying attention to religious organizing on the ground.
The pastors are given messaging, organizational contacts, and data tools to help them turn out their congregations for favored candidates. Movement leaders know that many pastors are trusted voices in their communities, and if they can get people to vote on just one or two “biblical” issues, they can control their vote.
The messages directed at these pastors and their congregations are typically either false, lurid, or misleading. They are repeatedly told that babies are being aborted after birth, that same-sex marriage is destroying their families, and that public schools are nothing more than Marxist indoctrination factories intent on promoting gender confusion.
Some political commentators have scratched their heads over the fact that Latino support for Republican candidates has shifted so dramatically over the past eight years. This shows that they haven’t been paying attention to religious organizing on the ground.
Katherine Stewart
Bader: How does this connect to funders and conservative business interests?
Stewart: Money is a huge part of this story. Many of these funders are not especially religious, although others are.
The funders are supposedly committed to libertarian ideology; in practice, many are associated with extractive industries that seek government subsidies and protection from market forces. A good portion of their money is devoted to funding right-wing media and disinformation networks because a fractured and ill-informed public is easier to control than a well-informed one.
The right constantly undermines the legitimacy of fact-based media, and instead promotes outrage politics and outright lies, such as the idea that Trump won in 2020; vaccines are part of a nefarious “Deep State” plot; and American Christians are being persecuted for their faith. The apocalypticism and persecution narratives have generated momentum for the right-wing among the rank-and-file.
Moreover, disinformation is critical to the right’s ability to maintain power. The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on our Capitol could have ushered in a new era of democracy, but Trump called it “a day of love” and continued to repeat the lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. Leaders of both the Christian nationalist movement and the New Right have duplicated these lies.
A good example of the disinformation in motion is the ReAwaken America Tour. It’s a festival of the craziest conspiracy theories going. It draws in the fearful and it makes them paranoid; it draws in the skeptical and makes them nihilists. Speakers promote the idea that a “Radical Left” will come for people in their homes, change their children’s gender, and poison them through vaccines. These lies have had a discernible impact on MAGA supporters.
Authoritarians, of course, always love a misinformed populace, which is why so much funding is devoted to messaging. In these spaces, those who are not on board with the MAGA agenda, including moderate Republicans, are liable to be called demonic, radical leftists or controlled by Satan.
Missionaries have for decades spoken rapturously of the ‘4/14 Window,’ meaning children from the ages of four to 14, as their most important target for potential conversion.
Bader: Let’s shift to gender. Despite overt misogyny on much of the right, a few women have risen to prominence. Does this cause divisions?
Stewart: The women who have risen on the right don’t refute misogyny but confirm it. Some of them openly advocate for the submission of women, arguing that women fare better in a stable gender hierarchy than they do in equitable arrangements. Others simply trade away the rights of other women so that they can have a seat at the table with the boys.
As for the rank-and-file, some have been persuaded that the MAGA agenda will best support their values on issues such as abortion or the integrity of female spaces. Other women appear to believe that their best chance for some dignity in a deeply unequal society is to force men to be “manly” and support their families; the only way they see to do that is subservience.
Outsiders don’t appreciate just how extreme the patriarchy is on the right. I have attended conferences where speakers and participants actively promote a return to male-only voting, or what they call “head of household” voting; the elimination of some of the most popular and effective forms of birth control; the end of no-fault divorce (but without changes in current alimony arrangements); and the creation of gender-segregated workspaces.
Among the leadership of the movement, and within the New Right especially, you’ll find a lot of very angry men who resent women and women’s power. Some blame the massive economic shifts over the past decades on women entering the workforce. The solution, in their view, is to return women to traditional roles within the family. It’s as if going back to a “once-upon-a-time” that never existed in the way they think it did will solve the problems of a complex modern economy.
Authoritarians, of course, always love a misinformed populace, which is why so much funding is devoted to messaging.
Bader: Is there any dissonance between movement leaders and congregants or foot soldiers?
Stewart: Yes. Leaders of the New Right and the Christian nationalist movement frequently bash “elites.” But they want to create a new elite. They want to be the ones in charge of every aspect of government and society.
Some of them make this explicit with their endorsement of an idea called the Seven Mountains Mandate. This is the idea that Christians of a certain reactionary disposition should be in charge of all seven “mountains” or “molders” of society, including government, business, education, media and the like.
One of the movement’s key goals involves significant changes in the way education is delivered and funded. Studies show that vouchers, for example, primarily benefit people with means, folks who would be able to pay private or religious school tuition for their kids without government help. This is part of a larger war on public education. The end game is taxpayer money going to religious schools or ideologically right-wing charter school networks.
Bader: How does the right bring young people into the movement?
Stewart: The evangelical movement has a long history of recruiting young people. The Child Evangelism Fellowship, one of the organizations that first piqued my interest in this movement, targets children in public schools who are too young to read.
Missionaries have for decades spoken rapturously of the “4/14 Window,” meaning children from the ages of four to 14, as their most important target for potential conversion. There is a huge Christian film and music industry that also appeals to youth.
More recently, social media has opened up new avenues for reaching the young, and the right has been very diligent in pursuing them. There’s a whole podcasting universe now aimed at young people. Organizations like Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and the Conservative Political Action Conference tailor programming for young would-be activists. A lot of the male-focused outreach gets attention, but we shouldn’t overlook longstanding organizations like March for Life which has been effective at recruiting significant numbers of young women to right-wing causes.
Bader: The right has also developed many think tanks and institutions.
Stewart: Right-wing donors have invested in building a movement. Left-wing and moderate donors tend to focus more on pushing this or that specific policy or promoting particular politicians. Over the long term, the movement builders have done better because they have nurtured a cadre of people who have built careers within the movement and are committed to it.
Bader: Can you speak about the international networks between right-wing groups throughout the world?
Stewart: It turns out that reactionary authoritarians share a lot of the same ideas, even in very different countries and contexts. So it is not surprising that they have formed international alliances, often aimed at reducing the rights of women, controlling reproductive health, enforcing favored religions, punishing sexual minorities, defending plutocratic wealth and so forth.
These international alliances have worked to bring authoritarians around the world onto the same page. Russia, Hungary, and the U.S. under Trump have played central roles; they draw on a collection of global activist groups. A prime example is the Alliance Defending Freedom, which American researchers often think of as an American group—but it has international outposts.
Reactionary governments and NGOs spread huge amounts of money and influence around the world and pursue initiatives almost everywhere. If you find a group in West Africa promoting celibacy and heterosexual monogamy as the only protection against HIV, or supporting punitive laws against sexual minorities, chances are good that you can chase the money and influence back to a globally-networked group.
That said, there are always nuances specific to different countries and regions. Russia’s theocrats favor slightly different approaches than America’s theocrats. I am old enough to remember when Republicans were associated with extreme anti-Russian sentiment as an extension of their anti-communism. So it still surprises me, and yet it is true, that the leaders of the conservative side of America’s culture wars began building ties with Russia’s right-wing several decades ago, and that those ties have blossomed into an anti-liberal, anti-democratic global movement.
Bader: What roles does retribution—punishing feminists, people of color, unionized workers and the LGBTQIA+ community—play?
Stewart: Paranoia, a sense of persecution and promises of retribution are key parts of today’s right-wing thinking. Trump won by promising to crush “the enemy within,” stomp “liberal dominance,” and smash what he calls “the Deep State.” Many of his supporters are expecting retribution; they are the angriest victors I’ve ever seen.
It’s about punitive instincts against a supposedly demonic “other.”
This is particularly important because evangelical and Charismatic churches preach about spiritual warfare, and they see this “warfare” played out in political headlines. Members of these churches often explicitly favor creating a government of, by and for conservative Christians, with everyone else present by invitation only.
Bader: You write that if those who reject the politics of domination and conquest that the movement represents take the long view, pro-democracy movements can succeed. What needs to happen?
Stewart: As I write in Money, Lies, and God, we need to create a big tent for those who wish to restore our democracy and defend our institutions. We could benefit from a more progressive system of taxation. We need to expose the role of dark money in politics and take on disinformation. We need to build a more robust separation between church and state and we need to defend public education and voting rights, the integrity of the judiciary, and other democratic institutions. We also need to think long-term and invest in institutions and organizations that promote democracy.
