MAGA fundamentalists 'panicked' by rise of Christian progressives

Donald Trump with Pastor Paula White at the National Faith Advisory Summit, in Powder Springs, Georgia, U.S., October 28, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

On March 25, the James Dobson Family Institute published an article by far-right evangelical Christian fundamentalist Gary Bauer — president of American Values and former president of the Family Research Council — headlined "The Left Wants to Hijack Jesus! Don't Let Them." Bauer argued that "the secular left" is "trying to recast Christ as a 'woke' socialist who favors open borders and aborting innocent children."

Christian liberals, however, are not a new phenomenon. Over the years, liberal church figures have ranged from the Rev. Al Sharpton and the late Rev. Jesse Jackson to Sister Mary Scullion (a Catholic nun known for her activism in Philadelphia). Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) is a Baptist minister.

In an op-ed published by Religion News Service (RNS) in late March, Paul Brandeis Raushenbush points to Bauer's article as an example of how "panicked" the Religious Right is feeling because of James Talarico (a Presbyterian seminarian and the Democratic nominee in Texas' 2026 U.S. Senate race) and other Democrats who aren't shy about discussing their faith.

"Christian nationalists are sounding a bit panicked these days," Raushenbush argues. "I can't say I am surprised. On Saturday (March 28), 8 million Americans of diverse faiths and beliefs joined together in streets and squares around the world for No Kings protests. The next day, the Christian holy day of Palm Sunday, thousands more came out again. All of these people were rejecting the rising autocracy of our current moment, and many of them were Christians. No wonder, then, that the late James Dobson's Family Institute recently published an article blaring an alarm: 'The Left Wants to Hijack Jesus! Don't Let Them.'"

Christian nationalists in general, Raushenbush observes, are feeling threatened by Talarico and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

"Pete Hegseth's pastor, Brooks Potteiger, was so incensed by Talarico's faith and politics that he went so far as to wish for his death," Raushenbush writes. "Others have tried to paint Talarico and Beshear's faith convictions as deviant, completely out of step with Christian thought. In reality, they aren't. According to the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute, the majority of Christians actually support LGBTQ+ equality and abortion rights."

Raushenbush continues, "Meanwhile PRRI's most recent survey shows that only a third of Americans sympathize with Christian nationalism, and two-thirds of Americans are skeptical or outright reject the ideas and goals of Christian Nationalists. The majority of Christian nationalists are white evangelical Protestants, a group that, Robert P. Jones, president of PRRI, says is shrinking."

Raushenbush describes Christian nationalists' "preferred framing of American politics as secular left vs. Christian" as "false" and ignorant of history.

"For one thing, while humanists and atheists rightfully take their place in the public square, Christians have been joined by Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indigenous and many other faith traditions in our body politic," Raushenbush explains. "None of them fit neatly into partisan lines, and none of them are secular. To try to paint the left as entirely secular, and the right as entirely Christian, is to choose to be willfully ignorant of 250 years of history of Christian thought in America. Much of this thought can broadly be described as progressive, insofar as it has inspired the country toward broader liberty and justice for all."

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