Christian Right Observer Weekly (Volume 1)

CROW's 7 stories on the Christian Right that you need read this week.

1. Moms for Liberty, Besieged by yet Another Scandal, to Hold Event in Manhattan on January 18

“Moms for Liberty,” a religious-right organization that targets public (secular) schools and the LGBTQ+ community, took another public relations hit last week with the Jan 5 shoplifting arrest of one of its affiliated school board members. The group is closely tied to the Council for National Policy, a Christian Right umbrella organization, as I reported here. One of its advisory board members, Erika Donalds, declared during an event in 2021 that “We will … rise up as the most powerful voting bloc and political force in the entire world as Christians!”, as reported here. 

Moms for Liberty was already dealing with the fallout from reports that Bridget Ziegler, one of the group’s founders, was in a three way sexual relationship with her husband and another woman. The woman has accused Bridget’s husband, former Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, of rape stemming from a separate encounter without Bridget. The scandal has caused the Florida GOP to oust Christian from his position as chairman, while Bridget has “resigned” from the Leadership Institute, a powerful Christian Right training center that employed her before the scandal.

Even before these scandals, Moms for Liberty’s influence had waned, as evidenced by its many losses during the November 2023 elections. The group, however, refuses to close shop and has scheduled a conference in traditionally “blue” Manhattan at the Bohemian Hall on January 18, 2024, at 6:30 pm. 

2. America First Policy Institute Launches 19-County Project on World Prayer Network 

America First Policy Institute (AFPI) Chief Engagement Officer Ashley Hayek made a surprise appearance on Christian dominionist NAR Apostle Jim Garlow's World Prayer Network call on July 23, 2023. She unveiled Project 19 which lies under America First Agenda's Pathway to 2025: The 5 Pillars to Save America.

Project 19's goal is to target 9 swing states and 19 counties (including Bucks County, Pennsylvania) for the 2024 election through leveraging churches to educate them on the America First agenda through their Biblical Foundations initiative. Targeted states include Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

America First Policy Institute is enlisting another Christian dominionist,  NAR Apostle Lance Wallnau, in encouraging pastors to get involved in the election process through the Why Faith & Politics Do Mix Curriculum. Wallnau announced this collaboration at the Colorado Springs Fire & Glory Tour in July 2023. Both Apostles Garlow & Wallnau were at Mar-a-Lago for a November 2023 AFPI event with former President Trump.

3. Southern Baptist Convention Settles Suit Alleging that Former SBC Leader Had Raped a 14-year-old Boy

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), America’s largest evangelical denomination, has reached a confidential settlement in a high profile lawsuit alleging that Paul Pressler, a former SBC stalwart and GOP strategist, had raped plaintiff Duane Rollins for decades, beginning when Rollins was 14 years old, as reported by journalist Robert Downen last month, Pressler is a former president of the Council for National Policy, a powerful Christian Right umbrella organization, which was heavily involved in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. In 2010, House Speaker Mike Johnson was hired as the “inaugural dean” of Pressler’s namesake law school (which never opened).

According to Downen, “at least six men have accused Pressler of sexual abuse or misconduct,” including two (Rollins and another alleged victim) who say they were minors when the abuse allegedly occurred. The allegations against Pressler led to an investigation of other sex abuse allegations involving the SBC, culminating in an explosive Feb 2019 report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News titled “Abuse of Faith,” identifying 380 alleged sexual abusers within the SBC and 700 alleged victims.

The Christian Right has deflected from this massive sex abuse scandal by accusing public (secular) schools of “grooming” children. Tellingly, the viral “OK Groomer” slur used against public schools was started by James Lindsay, an academic “hoaxer” and former massage therapist who works for “conservative” Christian activist Michael O’Fallon at New Discourses, a nonprofit owned by O’Fallon. Lindsay and O’Fallon fanned the flames of Critical Race Theory panic in the SBC long before the panic went mainstream. Lindsay has claimed that O’Fallon works for him, rather than vice versa, but a corporate filing for New Discourses lists O’Fallon as the owner and Lindsay as the manager.

Both Lindsay and O’Fallon have remained mum about the Pressler/SBC sex abuse settlement. It’s almost as if they don’t care about actual grooming.

4. Sponsor of New West Virginia Anti-trans Bills Belongs to Christian Lawmakers Association Tied to the New Apostolic Reformation

West Virginia State Senator Mike Azinger introduced a slew of anti-trans bills on Jan. 10, 2024, as reported by Jurist.org. Azinger belongs to the National Association of Christian lawmakers for whom House Speaker Mike Johnson gave a keynote address inDecember last year. The organization is led by Jason Rapert, an anti-LGBTQ+ religious zealot who is affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). 

The NAR is a global network of fanatical Christian leaders who speak in tongues, characterize LGBTQ+ rights as “demonic,” and advocate dominionism, the belief that Christians have a divine mandate to control all aspects of society and culture, including government, education, media, business, etc., as I reported here and here. Several prominent NAR leaders were at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as was Azinger. 

5. Trump Promises Far Right Evangelicals to Use the DOJ to End the “War on Christians” (Which Doesn’t Exist) 

During an Iowa rally last month, former President Donald Trump told far-right white evangelicals that, if elected in 2025, he would end the (non-existent) “war on Christians” by setting up a new task force within the U.S. Department of Justice to “investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment and persecution against Christians in America,” as reported by AlterNet. 

Meanwhile, the Jan 6 Committee largely ignored Christian nationalist involvement in the events of Jan 6. Such involvement was initially documented by The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation in a report that the committee overlooked. 

6. Trump Advisor Roger Stone Confirms Ties to Alleged Anti-gay “Hate” Church Linked to the CNP and America First Policy Institute

Political consultant Roger Stone, a top architect of the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign and a longtime confidant of former president Donald Trump, confirmed in October 2023 that he’s a parishioner of the Coral Ridge megachurch in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated the church as an anti-gay hate group, prompting the church to sue them (unsuccessfully) for defamation. 

As of September 2020, the church’s former president, Frank Wright, belonged to the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a Christian Right umbrella organization whose members sought to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. The church was founded by the late D. James Kennedy whose ministry reportedly received millions of dollars from the DeVos family, which is closely tied to the CNP.  Kennedy reportedly once said that, “Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost… [W]e are to exercise godly dominion…over every aspect and institution of human society.” 

In April 2023, Stone interviewed Coral Ridge’s current lead pastor, Rob Pacienza, who is a Senior Fellow at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI). AFPI was co-founded in 2021 by Larry Kudlow, a former Trump official who has called Stone a “longtime friend.” The Institute, which also collaborates with New Apostolic Reformation leaders (such as Lance Wallnau and Jim Garlow), has reportedly received $1 Million from Trump’s Save America PAC.

7. Congressional Report Documents House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Ties to Christian Nationalism

The Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC) released a report last week raising the alarm about how “Speaker Johnson is deeply connected in political practice and philosophy to Christian Nationalism, more so than any other Speaker in American history.”

The problem is there has been virtually no media coverage, with the exception of Truthout.

The CFC’s investigation and report is the result of the Speaker refusing to answer an invitation by the caucus to engage in a dialogue about an agenda for protecting religious freedom and toleration in America. The report is separated into four sections: church-state separation, using public education and public resources to promote Evangelical Christianity, curtailing civil rights and liberties in the name of religion, and undermining democracy and the extreme Christian nationalist agenda. In each, they interrogate the Speaker’s views, and also ask unanswered questions the public deserve responses to, such as “Does he support [New Apostolic Reformation] NAR’s Seven Mountain Mandate?” and “Will he continue attempting to promote or mandate sectarian religious teachings, materials, or practices in our public schools?”

These are the type of questions journalists need to ask, and ask again until they get straight answers.