This week, so-called prophet of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Lance Wallnau, tweeted that anti-Christians and anti-nationalists who believe in the existence of NAR Christian Seven Mountains dominionists (like himself) and their agenda to set up a theocratic state in America are as whacky as QAnon supporters.(1) This was a brazen attempt to cover his own tracks of course. Unlike the QAnon conspiracy, there are mountains of evidence, pun intended, that Christian dominionists are actively working towards setting up a theonomic state. This evidence has been uncovered by academic and journalistic researchers like Frederick Clarkson, Andre Gagne, Kevin Kruse, Bruce Wilson, Jenny Cohn, Samuel Perry, Andrew Whitehead, and the anonymous Twitter account Kira Resistance. They are all worth following on social media and I applaud their work in highlighting in great detail the dangers of Christian extremists like Lance Wallnau, David Barton, Speaker Mike Johnson, Abby Abildness, and Doug Mastriano – the latter two are far too prominent here in politics in Pennsylvania where I live.

As a result of Clarkson’s work for instance, I learned of the existence of the Project Blitz playbook entitled “Report and Analysis on Religious Freedom Measures Impacting Prayer and Faith in America”, so I downloaded it from the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPFC) website. I decided to read it in its entirety as research for an episode of Tell Me Everything with host John Fugelsang as part of a theological panel where we often talk about Christian nationalism and right wing fundamentalism in American politics. The document is about model legislation that the dominionists at the CPFC want to see implemented in the U.S. as they seek to put American democracy in a pot of warm water while incrementally increasing the heat until the last vestiges of democracy are boiled away leaving behind a Christian dominionist hellscape of theocratic fascism. Reading the document was illuminating.

Like a fundamentalist proof-texting Bible verses and removing them completely from their contexts, the CPFC “Report” relied heavily on cherry picking historical data to make their spurious argument that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation. For example, one of the documents mentioned multiple times in the “Report” was the Mayflower Compact. This was not a founding document of America, but rather a document written and signed in 1620 by religious dissenters who wanted to set up a Puritan colony which remained loyal to England and that was essentially theocratic. No wonder they highlight that document so often. The “Report” also has quotes from Jefferson that make reference to God, but they conveniently leave out his quote from a letter to Danbury Baptist church where Jefferson wrote that the first amendment created “a wall of separation between church and state.” And they certainly did not quote James Madison, who wrote in the document “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments” in 1785, “Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?” Madison later went on to draft the Bill of Rights including the first amendment.

What the CPFC hopes to gain by these model bills is quite clear – Christian supremacy. this can be seen easily when one looks that the kinds of model legislation they propose. Some of the more egregious proposals to me are: The Biblical literacy act; Christian Heritage Week; The Year of the Bible; Public Policy Acts Favoring Intimate Sexual Relations Only Between Married, Hetero Sexual Couples; Reliance on and Maintenance of Birth Gender; Marriage Tolerance Act.

I have no issue with a school teaching courses about religious texts including the Bible. It is important as both a collection of texts canonized as scripture and historically. The problem I have with the CPFC’s plans though are that they only want the Bible taught while complaining later in the “Report” about “Islamic indoctrination in our schools.” As someone with multiple degrees in humanities disciplines, I believe it is important that students learn the rudiments of religious beliefs and how those beliefs have shaped history and cultures around the world. Privileging Christianity in education only reinforces Christian supremacy and potentially stokes sectarian hatred towards non-Christians. If schools are going to teach religion courses, teach about all of the major faiths and ethical systems without bias or prejudice.

The Acts favoring conservative Christian views on marriage, sexuality, and gender are all violations of the first amendment because they favor one religion over others, and they favor a narrowly defined form of Christianity as well. There are multiple denominations that are open and affirming of LGBTQIA people not only as church members, but as pastors, chaplains, lay leaders, and married couples. Like the cherry picked historical argument, the “Report” relied heavily on a debunked non-peer reviewed article by Drs. Paul McHugh and Lawrence S. Meyer which was cited many times in the CPFC report. Geneticist Dr. Dean Hamer in speaking of the McHugh-Lawrence report said that it was “pure balderdash,” and that, “this report will have zero impact on the scientific world,” before comparing the “journal” it was published in to the National Enquirer. (2) Dominionists seek to control what others do in the privacy of their homes while dictating that Christianity be the public religion. To advance their agenda they rely on lies, obfuscations, and cherry picked data from non-credible sources and then pretend they aren’t doing any of it.

Lance Wallnau’s ridiculous claim that the NAR doesn’t exist and has no agenda is sheer nonsense. Dominionists had been trying to operate in plain sight, but are now scurrying like cockroaches when a light suddenly gets turned on. They are likely going to regroup and re-strategize the way they did when Frederick Clarkson first made the Project Blitz playbook known a few years ago. Americans of every faith and no faith should be vigilant in recognizing and countering dominionists in local, state, and national politics – from the school boards to the halls of Congress. Their actions and plans are more out in the open thanks to the work of the above mentioned academics and journalists as well as others and we must keep them from hiding again or letting the media pretend the issue doesn’t exist.

One final note for Christians who wonder why there is any push back against Christian nationalism, dominionism, and the NAR – Jesus never taught that his supporters should seek political power and when he was offered that power, he turned it down emphatically. There is no love in dominionism except for the love of power and as Paul said, without love he would have been a clanging cymbal despite speaking with the tongue of angels, he would have been nothing without love even had he possessed all knowledge, and would gain nothing despite giving all away, including his body, if he had not love. As evangelical scholar Klyne R. Snodgrass wrote in his commentary on Matthew 25:31-46 in Stories With Intent, “The strongest witness to the Gospel will be lives of mercy and compassion.” Foisting one’s beliefs on others is not loving, it is not merciful, and it is not compassionate. Christian nationalists of every stripe should take note.

(1)

(2) https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/8/29/new-scientific-study-sexuality-gender-neither-new-nor-scientific