Of the many currents at the nexus of American religious and political life, Christian Nationalism is unquestionably the dominant force. Christian Nationalists and allied elements of the far right have taken over the Republican Party; purged moderate Republicans from the precinct level as well as their side of the House and much of the Senate; taken control of the Supreme Court; and are now assumed to have at least a 50-50 chance of regaining the presidency, while presenting a blueprint for governance that would make the world’s leading authoritarians proud.

Indeed, many of the key provisions of Project 2025, the playbook for another Trump presidency drawn up by former members of the Trump administration and sponsored and paid for by organizations supportive of his candidacy, were inspired by authoritarian regimes that Trump admires.

In the five years since Anne Nelson published Shadow Network, her authoritative book on the confluence of the religious right and economic interests, she has argued to me that the faith constituencies are not monolithic and that not every evangelical denomination was enamored of Christian Nationalism and Donald Trump. (You can find all of Anne Nelson’s writings for the Spectator — free of charge — by entering Nelson in the search field at washingtonspectator.org).

Anne grew up in Oklahoma and Nebraska, and speaks on these questions with first-hand knowledge, but I was skeptical. And irrespective of what I thought about it, the political classes have been generally dismissive of this observation, and national Democrats in particular have tended to assume that religious voters were lost to them.

This was all before this spring, when Stephen Ujlaki asked me if we would help him expand the audience for Bad Faith, his superb and unsettling documentary on the history of Christian Nationalists and their desire to convert this country to a Christian-only nation. Based largely on Anne’s book Shadow Network, the film launched earlier this year to rave reviews (Variety placed it on their “Best of 2024” list) and is now available on various streaming platforms — YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Tubi, etc. Stephen believed there might be an opportunity during this season of enhanced political awareness to produce community screenings of his film around the country.

Everything that has transpired since that initial discussion has been a revelation. Our team of promoters, sales agents, scholars, authors, activists and funders by now have helped facilitate nearly two hundred of these screenings around the country, with another hundred in the pipeline.

We set up the Bad Faith Outreach Project at The Public Concern Foundation, which is the parent organization of The Washington Spectator. The project’s educational role has been to help prospective screening hosts with logistics and to provide expert speakers for these events. Washington Spectator contributors Anne Nelson and Duke history professor Nancy MacLean (Democracy in Chains), together with the journalist and author Kyle Spencer (Raising Them Right), are crisscrossing the country, speaking and responding to audience questions at screenings in places like Omaha, Sioux Falls, Scottsdale, Fort Worth, Durham, Athens (GA), Concord (NH), Tulsa, Little Rock, and East Lansing.

I’ve been in awe of the many hundreds of co-hosts who have stepped up to organize screenings of Bad Faith in their communities. But in particular — and returning here to Anne Nelson’s admonition — I’ve worked throughout this roller-coaster summer with dozens of pastors from mainstream religious traditions and executives (mostly women) of state church organizations.

For many of them, the contradictions inherent in the alliance between Christian Nationalists and Trump were unbearable. They have watched from the sidelines as leaders of values-based communities openly and unapologetically wrapped their arms around an avowed predator, convicted felon, acknowledged rapist, tax dodger, serial liar — the list goes on.

The speaking engagements have also been opportunities to listen and learn from the attendees. In Fort Worth, churchgoers reported that Christian Nationalists have taken over their city council, where they’re slashing the budgets for public schools and public health. In Omaha, they’ve recounted how a local MAGA megachurch is recruiting and financing its own candidates to run for local office. In Kansas City, they describe the ways Missouri health professionals have been harassed and threatened for vaccinating patients and providing reproductive health care. Every Bad Faith screening yields more stories and equips the audience with more tools for defending their democratic institutions.

The faith leaders have told us that these screenings offer the opportunity to distinguish the integrity of their values and their beliefs from the bigotry, political opportunism and hypocrisies of Christian Nationalism. As many as half of our screenings have been hosted by mainstream churches not wishing to be lumped together with the Trumpian mob.

If you want to find out more about hosting a screening of Bad Faith, please contact me at [email protected] and we’ll put you in touch with a member of our Outreach Team. Anyone wishing to support our work around the Bad Faith Outreach Project is encouraged to visit the publicconcernfoundation.org website where you can click on the Donate button for more information.