Christian Nationalists no longer occupy the margins of political life in America, says Katherine Stewart in her new book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism . Slowly and methodically over many years, Christian nationalists have used religion as a vehicle for obtaining political power, and with Donald J. Trump in the White House, they have a powerful ally in their quest to order American life along a rigid set of values. Stewart pulls the veil off the individuals, organizations, and networks that advance the Christian nationalist agenda.
In the 2016 presidential election, white, evangelical Christians voted overwhelmingly for Trump, a man few people would associate with Christian values. That Trump received such support seems counterintuitive, even hypocritical, until one understands that Christian nationalism is first and foremost a political movement focused — as all political movements are — on gaining, consolidating, and wielding power. Trump’s bullying style and autocratic bent isn’t viewed negatively because, as Stewart brilliantly illustrates, the movement is profoundly anti-democratic, hierarchical, and authoritarian. Christian nationalists see Trump as someone who will advance their radical agenda, and as long as he does, they will overlook his crude and boorish behavior. The ideological character of the judges Trump has nominated for the federal courts and Supreme Court are a clear indication of the movement’s influence.
Every social movement stands on a foundation of thought and belief about how the world should be ordered and who should rule. Stewart introduces two figures who are not well known outside the universe of the Christian right but who have laid and reinforced the foundation of the movement. R.J. Rushdoony was a theologian and staunch proponent of the idea that America is God’s “Redeemer Nation,” a line of thought that predates the Civil War. It was pro-slavery then, using scripture to justify the institution of slavery and rail against the separation of church and state. Rushdoony’s writing extols the virtue of homeschooling and the privatization of public education.