Perusing the news is beginning to feel like reading my Bob Jones University handbook a quarter century ago. Every page unveils another clutching of control that mortifies and confounds until the reader doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry or rage.
This isn’t a new observation. Chrissy Stroop, a writer and scholar on modern Russian history, wrote two years ago, “It’s like the whole country is turning into a Christian school.”
Rick Pidcock
In my two decades growing up in fundamentalist Christian institutions, the schools dictated to our families where we could go to church, how we were to dress, what music we were allowed to listen to or movies we could watch, even what coffee shops we could patronize. In short, they had complete authority over our family.
So imagine those people expanding their territory to include entire cities, states and countries.
That’s what led Stroop to observe this week on Threads: “The term ‘Christian nationalism’ is too narrow to be really useful in the fight against America’s (mostly white) Christian oppressors. I suggest we use the term ‘authoritarian Christianity’ instead.”
Republican revival strategy retreats
Authoritarian Christianity’s expansion of territory begins with prayer.
As Republican leaders of the House of Representatives met for a retreat to discuss their plans to maintain control of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly turned the retreat into a “pray for revival” meeting.
Sources who were in attendance said Johnson was complaining about the government and claiming those who refuse to submit to God will worship the government instead. It’s an ironic accusation given Christian nationalism’s worship of state power. Since authority and control are the lenses evangelicals like Johnson interpret reality through, it’s not surprising.
But one anonymous attendee complained, “I’m not at church.”
A judiciary-led revival
While praying for revival is often thought about in terms of conversions, baptisms and church attendance, authoritarian Christianity adds a political component.
In 2006, Tom Parker announces plans to run for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court on the steps of the state judicial building in Montgomery, Ala., April 5, 2006. The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a ruling critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatments. (AP Photo/Jamie Martin, File)
Perhaps the most talked about example this week came from Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, who referred to the book of Genesis, invoked the name of God 41 times, and warned against “effacing his glory” and “incurring the wrath of a holy God” in his ruling that brought IVF treatments for Alabama women desiring to become pregnant to a halt.
Parker’s authoritarian Christianity is so front and center that it led to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins discussing Parker’s support of the “Seven Mountain Mandate” in prime time. This is the belief of some Christians that they are called to ascend to the highest places of power across a variety of cultural contexts.
The mountain of government is now being defined more specifically as the judiciary. Writer and religion scholar Matthew Taylor shared an Alabama prayer call where Parker cited New Apostolic Reformation prophecies about judges having a “forecast role in revival in this nation,” and explained how he is recruiting fellow judges to “help spark that revival.”
“I am asking the Lord to put revival on their hearts, in light of what has transpired at Asbury and beyond, that there will be a growing hunger in the judges of Alabama and around the nation for more of God,” Parker prayed.
If one wonders what implications a judiciary-led revival would have on democracy, listen to what alt-right political activist Jack Prosobiec declared at CPAC: “Welcome to the end of democracy! We’re here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here (holding his fist in the air). That’s right, because all glory is not to government, all glory to God.”
Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist under President Trump, responded, “All right! Amen!”
Violent retribution against those who don’t submit
For those who won’t submit to the Christian judiciary-led revival, a justice of violent retribution awaits. Referring to looters, Trump said on Feb. 17: “You can stop that in one day, in one hour if you got really nasty and really tough. Once they see things happening that they never thought were going to happen to them, and I mean tough, it’ll all stop overnight. … And your police would love to be the ones to do it, but they’re not allowed.”
After Last Week Tonight host John Oliver offered Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas $1 million a year to retire from the Supreme Court due to the ethically questionable gifts Thomas regularly receives from conservatives who bring cases before the court, conservative commentator Matt Walsh responded: “That’s punishable by up to 15 years in prison. And I would love to see — I mean, if Trump wins in 2024, he should really go after John Oliver and try to put him in prison for bribing a federal official. 100 percent he should do it.”
Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk increased the stakes even more, calling for the death penalty for some of Trump’s political opponents. “As far as other death penalties, I think what some of those guys did to Donald Trump, to use the instruments of government to destroy the constitutional order, that should be under consideration,” he claimed on his ThoughtCrime podcast.
“By the way, I would totally tune in to see some pedo get their head chopped off.”
Kirk imagined corporate sponsorships becoming involved. “It should be public. It should be quick. It should be televised. … You could sell, you could fund the government. You could have like, ‘Brought to you by Coca-Cola.’ And, no, I’m not kidding. By the way, I would totally tune in to see some pedo get their head chopped off.”
It’s noteworthy, given the fact so many conservative denominations are guilty of harboring pedophiles in their pulpits, that they would create conspiracy theories about Democrats being pedophiles and then desire to decapitate them publicly.
When Kirk asked at what age children should watch executions as an “initiation,” RNC Committeeman Tyler Bowyer said the age should be 16, while Blake Neff, Kirk’s producer, suggested 12-year-old children should be allowed to watch.
We are a Christian state
Speaking of children, after a 16-year-old, nonbinary student named Nex Benedict was assaulted in an Oklahoma high school restroom and somehow died the following day, state Sen. Tom Woods was asked to comment. His response? “I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma. We are a religious state and we are going to fight to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state, we are a moral state.”
When asked to clarify, Woods doubled down. “I support my constituency, and like I said, we’re a Christian state, and we are tired of having that shoved down our throat at every turn. I’ll let my words speak for theirselves, but that is my statement, and I stand behind it, and I stand behind the Republican Party values, and that is my statement.”
Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin
Authoritarian Christianity’s fascination with Russia
The largest national-scale example of authoritarian Christianity can be found in Russia, especially regarding their discriminating policies toward LGBTQ people. While evangelicals have a history of fearing Russia, there has been a growing appreciation for Russia among those who are inclined toward Christian nationalism. Even Focus on the Family has been embracing Tucker Carlson while he embraces Vladimir Putin.
One conservative Christian family in Canada was so offended by the presence of LGBTQ people in Canada that they decided to move to Russia in order to live in a more “Christian” environment for their family. The couple said they didn’t believe their children were safe in Canada: “There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with they teach there now.” He also complained about “homosexual flags everywhere.”
They were drawn to Russia because of Russia’s “strength” to “stand up against Western pressures,” specifically in regard to what they considered to be “woke” ideology.
But after they sold their farm in Canada and received their money in Russia, their Russian bank accounts were frozen. So the woman posted a video on YouTube saying she was “very disappointed in this country at this point.”
Then she suddenly deleted her video, while her husband apologized, admitting their “thoughts aren’t always conveyed properly,” and that his wife’s complaint was not a complaint about Russia.
John Stewart explained the struggle on The Daily Show: “The old civilization battle was Communism vs. Capitalism. … Russia was the enemy then. But now, they think the battle is woke vs. unwoke. And in that fight, Putin is an ally to the right.”
That is, Putin would appear to be an ally to the right until the right has to bend the knee to his greater power.
Authoritarianism may feel like a refuge for those who want to exercise it over others. But authoritarianism in a glory hierarchy that extends all the way to God will always trap those who seek refuge in its arms in a self-fulfilled prophecy of bondage to those who are more powerful than they are. To put it another way: He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.
Freedom vs. control
When I lived under the iron fist of the Christian school handbook, I was under the impression Republicans favored freedom while Democrats promoted government control. I figured the authoritarianism conservative Christians wielded over me would stop at our church, school and home walls.
Regarding politics, one of the most common statements my teachers told us was that the United States is not a democracy, but is a republic, which means “rule of law.” What mattered wasn’t whether what they said was true or not, but what their intentions were in saying it. They seemed to imply that Democrats allowed everyone’s voices to choose the laws and thus caused the moral chaos of woke ideology, while Republicans were committed to the inspired, inerrant law of the U.S. Constitution.
Thus, it was ultimately an argument to ignore the concerns of our neighbors and exercise legal authority over them instead.
Looking back at their authoritarianism over our church and school families along with their obsession with the United States being defined by the “rule of law,” the current events of authoritarian control over society by Christians defining the rule of law according to their theology make total sense.
Authoritarian Christians are not being hypocrites or being political rather than being theological. Instead, authoritarian Christians are living out their “authority and submission” theology by expanding its territory. Freedom in Christ is defined as slavery to Christ, with the reign of Christ expanding from the Christian school, church and home to the city, state and nation.
God + Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
A recent documentary meant to deal with this dangerous trend is Rob Reiner’s God + Country: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. It features very insightful interviews with historians such as Anthea Butler, Jemar Tisby and Kristin Du Mez, as well as with a variety of journalists, pastors, podcasters and professors.
But the film has come under criticism by some on the Left, including by Stroop, due to what was said during the documentary by defenders of evangelicalism such as Russell Moore, Skye Jethani and others.
In an interview with Brad Onishi on the Straight White American Jesus podcast, director Dan Partland explained his decision to feature these voices.
“We have to deliver the point that this is not Christianity, but a political movement, and prohibit the Christian nationalists from hiding behind the shield of saying, ‘This is my faith,’” Partland said. “What we need to correct for is the assertion that this has anything to do with religion.”
Instead, Partland suggested, “This has to do with politics. And if it’s politics, then it’s open to being criticized.”
And that’s precisely the problem. What kind of theology isn’t open to being criticized? Authoritarian theology.
Partland told Onishi, “It completed the picture to hear that side.” But separating the theology out from the politics, and then refusing to examine the theology, doesn’t complete the picture. Instead, it fails to deal with the source of the problem, which is authoritarian Christian theology. Their theology is not a shield they are hiding behind. Their theology is what is informing their politics. So contrary to what Partland suggests, this has everything to do with religion.
Russell Moore (photo via Christianity Today)
A Trojan Horse of authoritarian Christianity
Hearing Christians who are committed to democracy is important. If Moore and Jethani would have been interviewed to affirm the value of all voices in democracy, then their presence in the documentary would have been helpful.
But that’s not what they did.
When Jethani claims evangelicalism became about “politics” rather than “theology” sometime “over the last couple of years,” his words influence people to refrain from examining how sacralized power harmed people over the last two millennia, or how it has done so in the United States over the past few centuries.
When Moore claims, “Christian nationalism uses Christianity as a means to an end,” he makes Christians out to be the victims in our society rather than the ones living out their authority and submission theology.
Moore says, “That end being some form of authoritarianism.” Some form? Why does he speak so generically?
How about Christian authoritarianism? How about an authoritarianism that is inherent to the very gospel-informed gender hierarchies Moore himself espouses?
As Stroop notes: “When you allow numerous ‘respectable’ conservative evangelicals, including Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore, the cheap grace to distance themselves from their Christian nationalist coreligionists without interrogating the authoritarian aspects of their own theology, you inevitably fail to fully account for the causes of January 6.”
Who gets hurt by our refusal to examine the theology?
Now, let’s get specific about who gets hurt by the Trojan Horse of critiquing Christian nationalism without criticizing its theology.
It’s not Christianity that gets hurt. It’s not even the United States in general.
It’s everyone who remains under the grip of authoritarian structures, however far reaching into our local and national governments the territory of authoritarianism has spread.
To illustrate it with the Christian school analogy, it’s everyone conservative Christian schools either oppress or expel, namely: women, children, minorities and LGBTQ people.
Stroop explains: “To paper over the differences between someone like (David French) and authentic social justice Christians like (William J.) Barber is wildly irresponsible, but it’s a choice — made over and over again in varying iterations — that characterizes the representation of ‘real’ Christianity in God + Country. The ‘good’ or ‘real’ evangelicals are as opposed to Christian nationalism as Christian liberals and leftists, so let’s all sing Kumbaya and celebrate how great Christianity is as trans adults lose their health care in Florida and Ohio at the hands of Christian politicians who are simply acting on the very same theology that guides most of the conservative Christians in the film.”
She’s not asking for anything that revolutionary. She’s simply asking for us to be honest about the relationship between theology and politics for authoritarian Christians, and about how such authoritarianism hurts people like her when it’s given a pass.
Stroop concludes: “America sorely needs an honest unpacking of these points, and we will be hindered in the fight against Christian nationalism until elite journalists, pundits and filmmakers are willing to take that risk.”
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a Master of Arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.