The Power of Worshippers

 

Katherine Stewart, “The Power of Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, Bloomsbury, 2019, 277 pp.

For too long the Religious Right has masqueraded as a social movement preoccupied with a number of cultural issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In her deeply reported investigation, Katherine Stewart reveals a disturbing truth: this is a political movement that seeks to gain power and to impose its vision on all of society. America's religious nationalists aren't just fighting a culture war, they are waging a political war on the norms and institutions of American democracy.

Stewart pulls back the curtain on the inner workings and leading personalities of a movement that has turned religion into a tool for domination. She exposes a dense network of think tanks, advocacy groups, and pastoral organizations embedded in a rapidly expanding community of international alliances and united not by any central command but by a shared, anti-democratic vision and a common will to power. She follows the money that fuels this movement, tracing much of it to a cadre of super-wealthy, ultraconservative donors and family foundations. She shows that today's Christian nationalism is the fruit of a longstanding antidemocratic, reactionary strain of American thought that draws on some of the most troubling episodes in America's past. It forms common cause with a globe-spanning movement that seeks to destroy liberal democracy and replace it with nationalist, theocratic and autocratic forms of government around the world. Religious nationalism is far more organized and better funded than most people realize. It seeks to control all aspects of government and society. Its successes have been stunning, and its influence now extends to every aspect of American life, from the White House to state capitols, from our schools to our hospitals.

My Notes:

Pg. 6:  The widespread misunderstanding of Christian nationalism stems in large part from the failure to distinguish between the leaders of the movement and its followers.  The foot soldiers—the many millions of churchgoers who dutifully cast their votes for the movements favored politicians—are the root source of its political strength.  But they are not the source of its ideas.

Pg. 8:  In the age of Trump, the Republican party’s resolute rejection of the democratic and constitutional norms that it once at least pretended to champion would not have been possible without the prior success of Christian nationalism in training millions of supporters to embrace identity-based, authoritarian rule over pluralistic, democratic processes.  The roots of the present crisis in American political party system lie at the juncture of money and religion.

Pg. 17:  Passed in 1954, the Johnson Amendment was intended to prevent public money from passing through churches via tax deductions into the hands of politicians.  In theory, religious organizations that engage in activities to directly sway elections could lose their tax-exempt status.  Christian nationalists regularly decry it as an infringement of their religious freedom.

Pg. 63f:  It wasn’t until 1979—a full six years after Roe—that evangelical leaders seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as a rallying-cry to deny Carter a second term.  Why?  Because the anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious rights real motive: protecting segregated schools.  The IRS was attempting to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because of its racially discriminatory policies.

Pg 127:  In 2014, the Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc, ruled 5-4 that business corporations may be said to possess religious belief systems and enjoy the right of freedom of conscience.  Even if that means refusing to comply with federal law regarding the provision of comprehensive health insurance to female employees.

Pg. 130:  Engel v. Vitale Supreme Court ruling in 1962:  The majority, via Justice Black, held that school-sponsored prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The majority stated that the provision allowing students to absent themselves from this activity did not make the law constitutional because the purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent government interference with religion. The majority noted that religion is very important to a vast majority of the American people. Since Americans adhere to a wide variety of beliefs, it is not appropriate for the government to endorse any particular belief system. The majority noted that wars, persecutions, and other destructive measures often arose in the past when the government involved itself in religious affairs.

(In 1963 with the case of School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp the Court declared that school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional.)

Pg. 190:  In the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, vouchers first came to prominence in the 1950s and ‘60s as a way to funnel state money to racially segregated religious academies. 

Pg. 232:  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the US spent $668 billion on public primary and secondary education for the 2014-15 fiscal school year.  Christian nationalists understand that if they can capture a portion of that figure in the name of religious liberty, the money will flow without end.