The Power Worshippers

November 25, 2019
Journalist Stewart (The Good News Club) provides a comprehensive, chilling look at America’s Christian nationalist movement, which she convincingly portrays as a highly organized political coalition that has “already transformed the political landscape and shaken the foundations upon which lay our democratic norms and institutions.” Arguing that Christian nationalism has been misunderstood as focusing on social issues (mainly abortion and gay marriage), Stewart shows, through painstaking reporting over the past decade, that the movement aims “to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity... that also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders.” For example, she writes, Christian nationalists have embarked on an extensive, coordinated campaign to radically reform public education, particularly within the charter school sector, where “egregious examples of church-school fusion are far from anomalous,” an effort spearheaded by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Stewart also explores how Catholic ultraconservative Leonard Leo used the Federalist Society to target judgeships and “establish religion in the name of ‘religious liberty’ ” and how multinational Christian organizations, such as the World Congress of Families, are organizing to fight a grassroots “global holy war” against secularism. Her insightful investigation places the power of Christian nationalism into full context.

Starred review from December 1, 2019

Journalist Stewart (The Good News Club) paints a disturbing picture in this thorough accounting of the rise of religious nationalism, which promotes that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that the government should pass laws informed by a particular reading of the Bible. The movement consists of an ever-changing group of activists, leaders, and organizations and relies on donations from some of the wealthiest families in America, such as that of late publisher Richard Mellon Scaife as well the as the family of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Stewart explains how, under the Trump administration, religious nationalists have regular access to senior government officials through Bible studies attended by legislators and cabinet officials. Religious nationalists have had great success in getting jurists appointed to federal courts and have seen courts rule in their favor on the funding of private religious schools with public money, along with the erosion of the separation of church and state. VERDICT A must-read for those interested in the influence of religion on politics and the effects on our political institutions.--Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2019
An exposé of the righteous hypocrisy driving Christian nationalism. In the late 1970s, a self-appointed group of radical right-wing Christians decided to take on an impossible-sounding task that would, in their view, restore America's moral foundation. They would form a political organization with the goal of taking over every element of government in the U.S.--first Congress, followed by the presidency, the federal courts, state legislatures, and local governments--and imbue them with their religious ideas. However, according to Stewart (The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children, 2012, etc.), the initial purpose of the Christian nationalists, as she calls them, had little to do with religion or morality. In the beginning, their efforts were focused on overcoming the Internal Revenue Service's attempt to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University. To succeed, they knew they needed a hot-button issue they could ride to success; they settled on abortion even though Judaism teaches that life begins at birth, and Jesus never challenged that. Nevertheless, the plan worked so well that today, four decades later, Christian nationalism has become a frighteningly powerful voice in the Republican Party. It was instrumental in getting Donald Trump elected president, and now it has a committee that suggests candidates for the federal bench that Trump rubber-stamps and blindly sends out for confirmation. Currently, the Christian nationalists are moving rapidly in their plan to take over state legislatures, which they're accomplishing through "Project Blitz." Though its stated aim is to advance religious freedom, Stewart argues convincingly that the true goal is to inundate as many states as possible with so many right-wing bills that it will jam the state legislative processes. Many readers will consider the book advocacy journalism because the author didn't seek out her targets' comments, but the thoroughly researched facts as she lays them out are hard to argue with. A one-sided but undeniably powerful examination of the Christian right's political motives.

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