Are you a Christian who opposes Christian nationalism?
Millions of American Christians oppose Christian Nationalism. We need you to raise your voice – loudly – and with others.
Despite the rising power of Christian Nationalist leaders, there are millions of Christians across the U.S. who oppose this ideology, worldview, and political agenda. Though it is certainly bad news that portends scary visions for the future that one-third of Americans are either Christian Nationalist Adherents or Sympathizers according to PRRI’s latest data, the good news is that two-thirds of Americans are Christian Nationalist Skeptics or Rejecters. More specifically, PRRI states, “In 2024, three in ten Americans qualified as Christian nationalism Adherents (10%) or Sympathizers (20%), compared with two-thirds who qualified as Skeptics (37%) or Rejecters (29%).”
The problem is that the Christians who are skeptical of or outrightly reject this agenda are not saying as much – certainly not as loudly or as directly as is necessary to stem the rise of Christian Nationalism. And as Christian Nationalists continue to build toward their vision of capturing/dominating all aspects of American (and international) life through the “Seven Mountains Mandate,” we’re seeing the impact of that capture all around us. Based on PRRI’s data, an entire political party has been captured by Christian Nationalism: “A majority of Republicans qualify as either Christian nationalism Adherents (20%) or Sympathizers (33%), compared with about two in ten or fewer independents (6% Adherents and 16% Sympathizers) and Democrats (5% Adherents and 11% Sympathizers).” And news media is well on the way to full Christian Nationalist capture: “Two-thirds of Americans who most trust most far-right TV news sources qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents (26%) or Sympathizers (40%), as does a majority of those who most trust Fox News (18% Adherents and 34% Sympathizers).”
We are also already seeing the ways in which Christian Nationalism is causing a full-scale regression on issues of gender roles and the family. From PRRI: “More than seven in ten Christian nationalism Adherents (72%) and 63% of Sympathizers agree that society as a whole has become too soft and feminine, compared with 46% of Skeptics and 18% of Rejecters. While about one-third of Americans (35%) agree with the statement ‘Society is better off when men and women stick to the jobs and tasks they are naturally suited for,’ majorities of both Christian nationalism Adherents (61%) and Sympathizers (54%) agree.”
And this movement is driving people toward political violence and conspiracy theories at an alarming rate. From PRRI: “Nearly four in ten Christian nationalism Adherents (38%) and three in ten Sympathizers (30%) agree that ‘because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country,’ compared with only 15% of Skeptics and 7% of Rejecters. Half of Christian nationalist Adherents (50%) and one-third of Sympathizers (32%) endorse QAnon beliefs, compared with 19% of Americans nationally.”
Are you a Christian who opposes Christian Nationalism? There are lots of ways for you to raise your voice – and we’re happy to help you find a path to do so, inside or outside of your denomination/tradition. Click here to go to the contact form and select “I oppose Christian nationalism” from the drop-down menu.
So what can you do if you’re a Christian who opposes Christian Nationalism and wants to get more vocal about it? We are not asking you to leave your church. We are not asking you to reject your theology. We are not asking you to agree with us about everything – or even about most things.
We are asking you to do what Christianity already demands of Christians:
- Allow survivors to tell the truth. When a brother or sister in Christ tells you they've been harmed, our first response should never be to instinctively defend the institution. “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 17:15). Far too often, survivors’ stories are treated with suspicion for the mere fact that they invoke discomfort. We fear that the American church may have “grown weary of doing good.” (Galatians 6:9) We hope to be proven wrong.
- Insist on accountability. Ask your church leadership what structures exist to prevent and address abuse. Ask whether your church has a formal abuse response policy. In particular, ask whether there are independent channels for reporting that don't go directly through the person being accused. If these structures don't exist, especially that last one, advocate for them. If your leaders resist the conversation, take note of that resistance. Truth never fears accountability.
- Stop funding silence. If an institution you support financially has demonstrated a pattern of covering up abuse, protecting abusers, or retaliating against survivors, your continued financial support is an endorsement of that pattern. Generous stewardship includes stewardship of accountability.
- Educate yourself. The dynamics of spiritual abuse are specific and well-documented. Resources like Diane Langberg's Redeeming Power, Wade Mullen's Something's Not Right, and the SBC's own Caring Well curriculum are all written by and for evangelicals. Understanding how abuse operates in religious contexts is not an attack on the faith; it is a defense of the flock.
- Support the work of survivor advocacy. Deconstruction Doulas is one of the very few organizations working at the intersection of spiritual abuse recovery, exit support, and public education. We have operated for years with virtually no support from outside the survivor community itself – funded entirely by the people we serve. This work is sustainable only if the broader Church decides that caring for survivors is worth investing in.
If you believe the Church should be the safest place for the vulnerable – if you believe that “pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27) – then we are asking you to act on that belief.
How can you take action?
Start where you are. You don't have to overhaul your entire church to make a difference. Here are concrete steps:
- This week: Learn one survivor's story. Watch the CNN documentary with an open heart. Read one of the resources listed below. Let yourself sit with the weight of what these families have experienced.
- This month: Have a conversation with your pastor or elder board. Ask what your church's policy is for handling reports of abuse. Ask whether your leadership has received any training on spiritual abuse or religious trauma. Ask whether there are independent accountability structures in place. Notice how the conversation goes. A church that is healthy will welcome the question.
- This year: Become the person in your church who takes this seriously. Advocate for trauma-informed policies. Read Langberg, Mullen, or the Caring Well materials. If a survivor comes to you, be someone who listens without defending the institution first. Make yourself a safe person.
And there are also some concrete steps you can take in this moment to support the survivors who bravely risked everything to share their stories with the country via this CNN documentary:
- Amplify. When the CNN documentary airs on March 22, share it. Talk about it. Post about it. The single most predictable response from the institutions exposed in this documentary will be to wait for the news cycle to pass, reframe the story as an anti-Christian attack, and target individual survivors to discredit them. The longer these stories stay visible, the harder that playbook is to execute. Every share extends the window during which the people still inside these systems might see it and realize that what they're experiencing has a name and that help exists. And it is especially powerful for Christians to amplify these stories – and to explicitly name in that amplification that you are Christian and you oppose the Christian Nationalist agenda.
- Give. Deconstruction Doulas is one of the very few organizations doing this work, and they are running on almost nothing. If the strategic case is convincing – that helping people exit is how you fight the movement at its root – then funding the organization that's actually doing it is one of the highest-leverage contributions available. Monthly support: patreon.com/deconstructiondoulas. One-time gifts: gofund.me/cfea5cc1.
- Connect. If you know a donor, a foundation, a journalist, an attorney, or an organization that should know about this work, make the introduction. Deconstruction Doulas doesn't have a development office or a PR team. We have an email address and a track record. An introduction from someone with credibility in your world can open doors that DD can't reach on our own. Reach us at info@deconstructiondoulas.com.
- Stay engaged. This is not a one-news-cycle issue. The movement that produced the abuses described in this documentary is not going away, and the survivors who spoke up will face sustained backlash for months and years. Following DD, engaging with our content, and staying informed about the intersection of Christian Nationalism and political power is itself a form of support: it keeps the issue visible and tells survivors they haven't been forgotten.
And if you’re looking for organizations that specialize in helping Christians find ways to oppose Christian Nationalism through education, training, and organizing, check out Christians Against Christian Nationalism and Faithful America as two cross-denomination, cross-tradition efforts.
Are you a Christian who opposes Christian Nationalism? There are lots of ways for you to raise your voice – and we’re happy to help you find a path to do so, inside or outside of your denomination/tradition. Use the button below and choose “I oppose Christian nationalism” from the drop-down menu.