How far-right white evangelicals will jettison 'Christian values' in their quest for domination: author

The Christian Right is not a new movement in Republican politics. Far-right white evangelicals achieved prominence in the GOP with Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980, much to the chagrin of the late conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona).

Long before Donald Trump made evangelical fundamentalists a key part of the MAGA movement, Goldwater slammed the Christian Right as dangerous fanatics who wanted to turn the United States into a theocracy — which, according to journalist/author Tim Alberta, is still their goal in 2023.

Alberta takes an in-depth look at Christian nationalists' thirst for power in his new book, "The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism," due out December 5. Politico has published an except from the book in which Alberta argues that Christian nationalists have jettisoned "Christian values" in their thirst for power and control.

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Alberta himself comes from a Christian background, and he believes that Christian nationalists illustrate "the deterioration of American Christianity."

"I was raised in the evangelical tradition: the son of a white conservative Republican pastor in a white conservative Republican church in a white conservative Republican town," Alberta explains. "My faith in Jesus Christ has never faltered; I believe him to be the Messiah, the mediator between a perfect God and a broken humanity. And yet, as I grew older, my confidence in organized Christianity began to crumble. The disillusionment I felt was rooted in something deeper than sex scandals or political hypocrisies or everyday human failures."

In their quest for political power, Alberta laments, Christian nationalists have developed an "obsession" with "worldly identity" and "made deals with the Devil." Their alliance with Trump, he argues, underscores their obsession with "winning" at any cost.

"Unsavory alliances would need to be forged," Barton writes. "Sordid tactics would need to be embraced. The first step toward preserving Christian values, it seemed, was to do away with Christian values.

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The full excerpt from Tim Alberta's book is available at this link.