“Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy,” a Heretical Reason and Panarea [Film] Production, which is produced and directed by Stephen Ujlaki, with co-directors and co-producers Chris Jones and Doug Blush.
Reviewed by John R. Vile
This film documentary of about 90 minutes, which was released in 2024 and has already won a number of awards, graphically portrays the threat posed by Christian nationalism, and especially white Christian nationalism to American democracy.
Purposely or not, the title is something of a double entendre, emphasizing both that Christian nationalism is a “bad” faith that elevates nationalism over Christianity and that many Christian nationalists who act under the guise of Christianity exhibit bad faith in disguising their own thirst for political power in religious rhetoric. This topic has been the subject of a number of recent books, including Matthew D. Taylor’s “The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy,” which the film closely resembles.
Meaning of Christian nationalism
Christian nationalism is based on the premise that America was founded as a Christian nation and should be governed by godly men with Christian principles. It makes an exception for President Donald J. Trump, who is regarded by many as a modern-day Cyrus, who like the ancient pagan king who provided for the return of Jews to Israel, is fighting on the side of contemporary evangelical Christians.
The concept of America as a Christian nation is protean, but the Christian nationalists portrayed in this film seek not only to recognize that a majority of American identify as Christians, but to assure that, whether they are in the majority or the minority, Christians should govern. Advocates of Christian nationalism believe that the will of the majority is not as important as the will of God, which most Christian nationalists believe they can discern relatively easily and, as in the fictional Handmaid’s Tale, should be free to impose on others.
The First Amendment
Such a view conflicts rather starkly both with the democratic idea that the people should rule and with the idea that church and state should be separate.
Proponents of Christian nationalism rightly point out that the words “separation of church and state” are not found within the Constitution, but ignore that provision in Article VI of the Constitution that provides that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States” and the import of the words in the First Amendment forbidding Congress from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” It is thus shocking to see a Christian nationalist referring to the idea of separation of church and state as “stinking.”
The film shows how the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, involved Christian nationalists carrying crosses, statues of Mary, Christian flags, and other Christian symbols even as they threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and overturn the legitimate presidential election results.
Roots of the Christian nationalist movement
The film observes that the idea of Christian nationalism dates at least as far back as the use of Christian symbols by the Ku Klux Klan in 1877 but does not tap into the insights in the recent book “Baptizing America,” which explains how mainline churches, particularly during the Cold War, often allied with evangelical Christians in identifying the nation with God.
The film largely dates the modern Christian nationalist movement back to Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and his alliance, and that of other evangelicals, with President Ronald Reagan. They were, however, disappointed when he nominated Sandra Day O’Connor, rather than a pro-life justice, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Giving particular attention to Paul Weyrich, and the Council for National Policy, the film reflects contemporary scholarship that indicates that the real catalyst for the modern movement was not the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) legalizing most abortions, but from perceived threats to segregated education in Bob Jones University v. United States (1983), which denied tax exemptions to educational institutions that practiced discrimination.
Christian nationalists featured in the film
The film has footage from numerous Christian nationalists. They include the following:
• former Governor George Wallace;
• former U.S. senators, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond;
• Greg Locke, the pastor of the Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee;
• Ken Peters of the Patriot Church in Knoxville;
• A.J. Rushdoony, the philosopher of the Chalcedon Foundation;
• Paula White, the charismatic pastor and Trump advisor;
• Joel Osteen, the televangelist who promotes the prosperity gospel;
• Representative Marjarie Taylor Greene;
• Texas Senator Ted Cruz;
• pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas;
• Mike Flynn, the former national security advisor to Trump who proposed establishing martial law during the early days of Trump’s first administration;
• Ralph Reed, who heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition;
• former representative Michelle Bachman;
• Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and new ambassador to Israel;
• Tucker Carlson and Pete Hegseth (now Secretary of Defense) of Fox News;
• Tony Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council; and
• a host of others, most of whom have rallied around Trump, whom they view more as an earthly king than as an elected official.
References to the Council for National Policy, and its ties to Texas oilmen like the Koch and Hunt brothers, recur constantly in the film. So do references to Paul Weyrich and Watchmen on the Wall, which the film suggests have been the largely hidden hands behind the movement.
Film is not anti-Christian
Whereas some proponents of separation of church and state are atheists or agnostics (Ron Reagan, the son of the former president, often advertises on behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation), this film presents the principle of separation as one that Christians, who should also be focusing on Jesus’ messages of love, justice, and mercy in scriptures, should embrace. The film presents comments from Steve Schmidt, a former Republican political and corporate strategist; notable scholars who have written about the Christian nationalist movement; and individuals of faith such as Rev. William J. Barber II who founded the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at the Yale Divinity School, and Russell Moore who is the editor in chief of Christianity Today, a prime evangelical publication.
The film emphasizes how many adherents of Christian nationalism are racists, homophobic, anti-Muslim, and opposed to women’s rights. Others favor Dominionism, which involves taking Christian control of the seven mountains of government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family, and business. Still others openly state that they don’t want everyone to vote. The film associates other Christian nationalist spokesmen with the Puritan idea that prosperity is a sign of God’s blessings, and that American prosperity, and of the white race, is a sign that God favors them.
The movie also emphasizes the fear of white evangelicals and others that the time for Christian domination is fleeting and that demographics, and especially immigration patterns, are working against them. Some adhere to replacement theory, prominent in the Charlottesville Klan rally of July 2017, that Jews and racial minorities are out to replace white Christians. Many believe that laws and judicial decisions such as those involving prayer and devotional Bible reading in public schools, which are designed to promote separation of church and state are not simply governmental attempts to preserve equality but have specifically targeted Christians.
Contrast between Christian nationalism and view of the Founders
The movie quotes individuals, who are almost always identified as evangelicals, as saying they are the “Christian Taliban” and in favor of “total war,” carried out through guerilla tactics and force if necessary. Others are willing to use force if necessary to implement their vision of a Christian America. Many openly profess a kind of Manicheanism that sees the world as clearly divided between white and black, right and wrong, and true Christians versus communists, leftists, homosexuals, and socialists. Such views threaten democracy because they promote conflict over compromise.
American Founders drew from many intellectual streams including Christianity and leading ideas from the Enlightenment. Evangelical Christians, especially Baptists, helped persuade James Madison to propose the Bill of Rights, which included First Amendment prohibitions against an established church as well as protections for free exercise. By contrast, modern Christian nationalists have little or no respect for most of the ideas of the Enlightenment and almost no connection to Roger Williams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others who advocated separation of church and state.
The film rightly points out that some of the most repressive and totalitarian countries in the world including Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia, claim to be enforcing God’s will This movie presents a dire warning that, if Christian nationalists prevail, the U.S. is not immune from a similar fate.
The film is available on a number of streaming services and is sometimes shown in local theaters under the sponsorship of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
For Further Reading:
- Bad Faith: New Film Explores How Christian Nationalism is Threatening America: The Warning with Steve Schmidt. Podcast. April 26, 2024.
- “Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism,” by Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood.
- “Religion & Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War,” by Miles Smith. Landrum, SC: Davenant Press, 2024.
- “The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy,” by Matthew D. Taylor. Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2024.
John R. Vile is a political science professor and dean of the Honors College at Middle Tennessee State University.