The Dangerous Cynicism of Christians in Name Only
How Fake Christians Have Sold Their Souls for Power, and Debased Faith
Welcome to the Civic Way journal. This is the second essay in a four-part series on faith, politics and the future of the American experiment. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving public agencies.
Once you have made the world an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing,” – C. S. Lewis (The Screwtape Letters)
Introduction
Pope Francis showed all of us how to serve our faith and neighbors (see last essay). In the US, far too many politicians and fundamentalists have chosen another path. Their mission has been to exploit—more often sully—theology for political power.
Since the 1980s, many right-wing politicians and preachers have conspired to manipulate religious fervor to empower themselves. They drape themselves in religious symbols, misuse biblical passages and speak glowingly of their God and savior. However, they have become an embarrassment to the very religion they profess to advance—Christianity—and a threat to all religions and faiths.
This essay focuses on fake Christianity—the abduction of one faction of Christian fundamentalism for political purposes. Given the existential threats plaguing our nation and world, our need for hope and faith has never been more acute. The infestation of right-wing, power-driven heretics and hucksters may be the gravest barrier to sustaining that hope and faith.
How Fake Christianity Perverts True Christianity
The modern manifestation of fake Christianity evolved incrementally. In the late 1970s, some fundamentalist leaders opted to pursue political power. After meeting with GOP strategists, they recognized an opportunity. Jerry Falwell Sr. launched Moral Majority to mobilize evangelicals around Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. By the mid-1980s, many evangelical churches became enthusiastic advocacy and fundraising engines for the GOP.
This unholy marriage of politics and religious zealotry didn’t just benefit the GOP. In return for supporting GOP candidates, fundamentalist leaders gained political access and prestige which, in turn, helped them attract more followers and make more money (for their churches and themselves).
To attain their aims, fundamentalist leaders made a pivotal choice. Instead of building a true faith-based political agenda, they culled biblical passages to support a narrow right-wing agenda. They exploited the worst fears, biases and grievances of their congregants. They demonized migrants, gays and diversity. In doing so, they traded the spiritual for the political and became “Christians in Name Only.”
These charlatans perverted Christian teachings, often prostituting biblical ideals to promote sharply dissonant policies. They scorned empathy[i] and “Lamb Jesus.” They turned the Beatitudes on their head by shilling incongruous policies: shift public funds from the poor to the wealthy, reduce public school and childcare funding, neglect the hungry, sick, and disabled, and weaken voting rights.
In their quest for political power, Christians in Name Only replaced their moral compass with false idols. Since at least 2015, they have backed deeply flawed politicians[ii]. Cabinet nominees like Robert Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth. Congressional candidates like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Herschel Walker[iii], and Madison Cawthorn. State candidates like Mark Robinson, Doug Mastriano and Ken Paxton.
And then there is our president, perhaps our most unfit and morally challenged politician[iv]. Christians in Name Only are quick to defend his despicable conduct[v], often portraying him as some God-ordained warrior against “dark forces[vi].” For those hungering for faith, nothing damages Christianity’s credibility so much as a prominent preacher’s ardent endorsement of a politician so corrupt and cruel.
How GOP’s Marriage to Fake Christians Could Backfire
Since the late 1970s, GOP politicians have done backflips to win evangelical votes. Reagan praised “old time religion,” spoke warmly of creationism and reversed his abortion position. As fundamentalist leaders grew disenchanted with what they saw as Reagan’s lip service (and judicial appointments), GOP strategists began tailoring more messaging and policies to retain fundamentalist support[vii].
GOP leaders won big. With evangelical influencers, they exploited cultural issues to turn white evangelicals into the GOP’s most reliable voters. Exploiting their fears, paranoia and biases about minorities, migrants and LGBTQs. Selling them on nativism and a nostalgic past. Manipulating them with callous policies. Using messianic rhetoric to appeal to their sense of victimhood[viii].
However, the GOP‘s electoral success with white evangelicals may ultimately prove pyrrhic. There are growing signs that the GOP is losing its ability to restrain the Fake Christians they attracted.
Fake Christians are extremely well-organized with a network of well-financed advocacy groups[ix] and affiliates[x]which, together, possess the capacity to dominate federal, state and local politics.
The GOP has become extremely dependent on—and beholden to—white evangelical voters[xi], a highly disciplined voting bloc that wields enormous influence, especially in GOP primaries.
GOP campaigns are increasingly dominated by evangelical advocacy groups and ground troops, especially in gerrymandered districts and swing states[xii].
Fake Christians have largely commandeered the GOP’s political agenda, turning a party once firmly dedicated to conservative principles to one promoting Christian nationalism.
The GOP’s jettisoning of traditional conservative principles—like small government, fiscal discipline, personal liberties, free trade, national security and the rule of law—has been breathtaking. In some cases, the GOP has merely placated Trump (e.g., tariffs and deficits). More surprising has been the GOP’s seamless embrace of the Christian Nationalism agenda, including stances of little interest to Trump[xiii].
The GOP can no longer hold its own. With its network, resources and mastery of gerrymandering and GOP primaries, the fake Christian right could dominate the GOP for a long time.
Facing the Threat of the Fake Christian Right
What makes the rising power of the Fake Christians so frightening is their extremism. Their utter indifference to American ideals like democracy, due process, personal freedom and the rule of law. Their cast-iron certainty and stubborn unwillingness to compromise. Their fanatical plans to impose their narrow dogma on an entire nation.
Much like Trump and his allies, the Fake Christian Right’s pharisees have become ever more strident. They frame political contests as zero-sum battles between good and evil[xiv]. They attack Democrats, humanists and other Christians as satanical. They refuse to condemn death threats against Trump’s adversaries. They are many things—dishonest, cowardly and mean—but they are likely not Christians.
Some fundamentalist luminaries spew awful rhetoric. Blaming the 9/11 attacks on “abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, and ACLU.” Predicting eternal damnation for Muslims. Labeling LGBTQ lifestyles demonic. Linking the Covid-19 vaccine to aborted fetal tissue. Calling the Statue of Liberty a “demonic idol.” Attending “Stop the Steal” rallies and blaming the failed capitol coup on others.
It is vital to see such luminaries not as crackpots but as the ringleaders of Christian Nationalism, a nondenominational political crusade to make the US a one-church nation. Bending federal, state and local government—and other institutions—to their interpretation of Christian theology. Rewriting laws to favor Christians—as they define them—over all other Americans. And this is no passing fancy. According to a recent Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) poll, over half of all Republicans support or sympathize with Christian nationalism even though most question its constitutionality.
One cannot fully grasp the perils of Christian Nationalism without examining the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Even with millions of followers, the NAR is what the Southern Poverty Law Center calls the “greatest threat to American democracy that most people have never heard of." More a political ideology than a theology, the NAR is the incarnation of Christian Nationalism.
The NAR, with global prayer networks, broadcasts and religious revivals, is a political powerhouse. Its academies train “warriors” to wage spiritual battles against “evil” forces like separation of church and state advocates. Its “Appeal to Heaven” flag is flown by figures like House Speaker Johnson and Supreme Court Justice Alito. Its advocates include many well-known extremists[xv]. And, as its leaders have gained power, its ideas have flooded the political mainstream.
What are their ideas? NAR’s policy agenda, like that of other Christian Nationalists, is fundamentally unconstitutional and un-American. It is an assault on Christian values and teachings. It also represents an existential threat to any genuine Christian faith. It includes the following plans:
Seize control of governments via democratic means, gut voting rights and other democratic controls, institute an authoritarian regime and overpower other institutions (e.g., independent media).
Kill the separation of church and state doctrine, make Christianity the US’ official religion and enhance legal rights and privileges for followers (like Hungary’s “Christian liberty” model).
End religious freedom for dissenters, institute incentives to encourage compliance with prescribed (and distorted) “biblical” principles and systematically remove barriers to those rules.
Restore male supremacy, weaken women’s rights, ban abortion (and abortion drugs), limit access to contraception, limit fertility treatment[xvi] and resist efforts to increase childcare funding.
Reverse equal rights progress, eliminate diversity and equity programs, unleash reverse discrimination efforts and whitewash American history (including the Civil War and Jim Crow era).
Eliminate LGBTQ+ rights, rescind laws banning discrimination for sexual orientation, gender identity, and transgender status, and outlaw same-sex marriage.
Promote nativism, enact harsh anti-immigration laws, and conduct mass deportations.
Build a mogul-centered economic system, cut taxes for the rich, cut worker rights, allow monopolies, weaken economic competitiveness and shift debt to the next generation.
Dismantle public education, shift public school funds to private religious schools (vouchers), impose religious dogma, sanitize curricula, ban books and eliminate the Department of Education.
The agenda’s sheer outrageousness can make it hard to take seriously. But, make no mistake, its proponents take it very seriously[xvii]. Consider Russ Vought, a Project 2025 architect[xviii] and Trump’s budget director. Vought has made it his personal crusade to use the federal budget to advance Christian Nationalism. If he succeeds, the Handmaid’s Tale won’t just be a movie or television series.
Conclusion
Evangelicals often promote the Christian salvation message as “the good news[xix].” In turn, right-wing politicians often dismiss inconvenient facts as “fake news.” The term “fake” is a better fit for describing the twisted versions of Christianity shilled by charlatans. Weaponizing Christian values for political ends warps biblical teachings, turning what should be good news into fake news.
The January 6th insurrection, with its noxious brew of political violence and Christian imagery fully embodies this unholy fusion of politics and fake religion. It shows us that, once extremists convince themselves that only they hear God, they can justify anything, including a coup d’état. For those of us who harbor hope for our democracy, there is no higher calling than stopping their revolution.
As C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian writer, once wrote, “Theocracy is the worst of all governments.” Let’s make sure it never happens here.
Incredibly well researched, reasoned, and well written Bob. You couldn't have made it any more clear. Thanks for bringing in the aspects of religion at play.
This shit is demonic, and scarey.
Passing on to my pastor friends.