Calling People of Faith

The Time to Act is Now

The following is a (edited for ease of reading) speech I gave to a gathering of pro-democracy activists convened by the Interfaith Alliance and the Western States Center in Boise, Idaho on September 10, 2025.

Before you read the speech, here is a demographic profile of Idaho that may be helpful for context:

Idaho Religious Demographics

Mormons (LDS): Approximately 23% of Idaho's population are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), making it the largest religious denomination in the state. Idaho has the second-highest percentage of Mormons in the United States after Utah.

Evangelical Protestants: Approximately 21-22% of Idaho's population are Evangelical Protestants. Evangelical Protestants make up the largest Protestant tradition, comprising about 21% of the state's population.

Mainline Protestants: Approximately 16% of Idaho's population are Mainline (or mainstream and often ecumenical) Protestants. This percentage has remained relatively stable over time, representing 16% in both 2008 and 2014 studies

THE SPEECH:

We are living through what may be the most dangerous convergence in human history.

According to the V-Dem Institute, authoritarianism now governs over 70% of the world's population. Freedom House, another global democracy watchdog, reports that only 20% of the people of the world live in countries they rate as “free.”

In the last fifteen years we have witnessed the fastest decline in global democracy since these organizations began tracking. From Hungary to Hong Kong, from India to the United States, democratic institutions are crumbling at unprecedented speed.

Authoritarians today are not taking over via coups as they often did in the last century, but are instead exploiting the vulnerabilities built into democracy and are taking over via elections. Generally, these autocrats establish electoral autocracies, where elections are still held, but are highly manipulated to ensure that autocrats remain in power. But, over time, the global pattern indicates that many of these electoral autocracies will evolve into direct dictatorships.

But there’s a second crisis unfolding simultaneously - one that receives far less attention but may be even more destabilizing. Across every major faith tradition - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism - deep divisions are growing as power hungry, financially motivated supremacists are exploiting the loneliness, fear, and anxiety that cultural displacement breeds, and drawing people into prophetic visions that justify purging society of perceived enemies of Christian dominion, taking over secular institutions, and replacing them with theocracy. Battlelines are being drawn, and violent rhetoric and violence itself is on the rise.

These two crises, the rejection of democracy and the rise of cosmic warriors, are feeding each other.

Globalization and technological revolution have shattered the foundations of both secular authority and traditional faith. Governments can no longer control global markets or information flows. Religious institutions can’t maintain moral authority in the face of scientific knowledge and cultural change. When both your government and your God seem powerless, people tend to reach for more radical versions of each, and as fear, loneliness, and anxiety are the emotional fuel, radical in this context usually means authoritarian.

The result? As faith in democracy weakens, people turn to authoritarian strongmen. As traditional religion feels inadequate, believers embrace radical theology. As both fail to deliver on their promises, conspiracy theories and cults flourish. And each of these failures reinforces the others.

This is the context for what I want to talk to you about today. About the way in which globalization and technological evolution, collapsing social capital, and extreme wealth inequality has contributed to a crisis of faith in the age of authoritarianism.

The Tearing of the Sacred Canopy

There's a concept in sociology called "the sacred canopy"—the idea that religion creates a protective dome over communities, giving people shared meaning, shared values, and a sense of security about their place in the universe from cradle to grave. For most of human history, these canopies held.

But, the sacred canopy is tearing. All around the world. In every major faith tradition.

When people lose that sense of sacred protection, when old certainties no longer hold in a rapidly changing world, something dangerous happens. They become susceptible to authoritarian radicalization, becoming what scholars call "cosmic warriors," people who believe they're fighting not just political battles, but cosmic ones. Battles between ultimate good and ultimate evil, where compromise becomes impossible and violence becomes sanctified.

This is precisely what we see in movements like the New Apostolic Reformation, which has systematically infiltrated evangelical churches with a theology that explicitly calls for Christian dominion over every sphere of society. These aren't fringe movements anymore. They're sophisticated, well-funded, and they've convinced millions of Christians that democracy itself is an obstacle to God's kingdom. In fact, they’ve become the fastest growing sect of Christianity - and they are growing at a time when mainline Christian denominations are losing membership, and influence.

The Pattern of Crisis

There’s a pattern to this crisis I've observed over 40 years of tracking authoritarian movements: they don't succeed by conquering strong, confident communities. They succeed by exploiting communities in crisis. Communities whose sacred stories no longer make sense of their lived reality.

In Christianity, we're seeing the rise of Christian nationalism, a distortion of Christianity as it has been practiced for most of the 20th century that bears little resemblance to the philosophy of Jesus who preached love for enemies and care for strangers. These movements promise to restore a mythical Christian America - and this is not just about nostalgia. They're building what could credibly be called Christian fascism: a political theology that sanctifies violence, celebrates authoritarian leadership, and demands complete reconstruction of society according to their interpretation of biblical law.

Take Christ Church in Moscow as a case study. Under Douglas Wilson's leadership, this isn't just a church, it's the center of a comprehensive project to build a parallel society. They've created their own schools, publishing house, political candidates, and even their own interpretation of history that glorifies the Confederacy and minimizes slavery's horrors. They preach "Federal Vision," a doctrine that explicitly rejects separation of church and state and calls for Christian theocracy.

But here's what makes them particularly dangerous: they're intellectually sophisticated. Wilson is a skilled theologian who has created a coherent ideology that makes fascism sound like faithfulness. He preaches "muscular Christianity," a misogynistic theology that glorifies hierarchy, submission, and the right of Christian men to rule over women, children, and non-Christians.

Similarly, the New Apostolic Reformation, the Christian Nationalist movement that the Southern Poverty Law Center has called "the greatest threat to American democracy that most people have never heard of," has created a theological framework that makes political domination a Christian duty. They teach that Christians are called to "take dominion" through "spiritual warfare." But this warfare isn't metaphorical. It's a literal battle plan for seizing control of governments, courts, media, and education by any means necessary.

And this pattern repeats globally: extremist movements exploit crises, promising to restore pure societies through violence and domination, weaponizing sacred texts to justify oppression.

The Fascist Opportunity

Fascistic Christians offer "sanctified supremacy" - divine election based on shared grievances, shared enemies, and a shared mission to purge and rebuild society. They say: "Your Christian heritage is under attack. Your people are being replaced. Your God is being mocked. But God has chosen you to restore Christian civilization. You are called to take dominion."

This language of purging and rebirth is central to fascist movements everywhere, but fascistic Christians have given it theological sophistication. They preach that American democracy was always meant to be Christian theocracy, that separation of church and state is satanic deception, and that multiculturalism and pluralism are sins against God's plan.

Douglas Wilson makes this explicit when he writes about the need for what he calls "new Christendom." He argues that democracy is incompatible with Christian faithfulness. The New Apostolic Reformation teaches Christians have a mandate to "take the land," language borrowed from biblical conquest narratives but applied to contemporary political struggle.

In Nazi Germany. Hitler succeeded by exploiting Christianity in crisis, offering a perverted gospel of racial superiority wrapped in national redemption. This strongly resembles what we're seeing now with Christian nationalism in America. They've taken the beautiful, transformative message of Jesus and turned it into a weapon of exclusion and domination.

The Pattern in Idaho and Rural America

Rural America is experiencing this crisis of faith in particular ways. Traditional rural communities were built around sacred assumptions: that hard work would be rewarded, that your children would have better lives, that your way of life would be respected and preserved.

But those assumptions are under assault. Family farms are being swallowed by corporate agriculture. Young people are leaving for cities. Economic opportunities are drying up and along with them.

Into this crisis, Christian fascist movements offer simple explanations and complete alternative societies. Look at what Christ Church has built: schools teaching revisionist history glorifying white Christian civilization, businesses employing only the faithful, and political candidates promising to implement biblical law.

They promise to restore a mythical America where rural Christian communities were the norm, where traditional hierarchies reigned supreme, where white Christian men knew their rightful place as God's chosen rulers, and the world was good, stable, safe. This vision isn't just nostalgic—it's actively eliminationist.

What makes Idaho particularly concerning is how these movements present themselves as reasonable alternatives to secular liberalism. They don't start preaching race war; they start with "educational freedom" and "family values." But scratch the surface, and you find comprehensive ideologies seeking to replace American democracy with Christian theocracy.

The Specific Challenge for Mormon Communities

I want to speak directly to our Mormon friends, because your tradition has particular vulnerabilities and strengths in this moment.

The vulnerabilities: Your ancestors were persecuted by the federal government. You have traditions of following prophetic authority and maintaining community purity. These can be exploited by Christian fascist movements claiming the government is again persecuting faith and framing diversity as spiritual contamination.

But your tradition also has profound strengths: You know what religious persecution looks like. You understand that America's promise has always been incomplete, that building Zion is an ongoing struggle, not a return to an imagined past. Your theology of continuing revelation provides resources for responding to new challenges.

The question for Latter-day Saints - and all of us - is which version of your tradition will guide you in this moment of crisis.

The Hope: Faith as Resistance

I believe people of authentic faith, not the weaponized pseudo-faith of Christian fascists, are the key to stopping this slide into authoritarianism.

Here's what I've learned: fascists can hijack broken faith, but they cannot withstand a healthy faith. They can exploit spiritual crises, but they crumble before spiritual power.

Look at history: People of faith led the abolitionist movement, the civil rights movement, and the movements that brought down apartheid and toppled communist authoritarianism. Today, they are leading democracy movements worldwide.

Why? Because authentic faith always calls us beyond ourselves. It demands we see the divine spark in others. It challenges us to build beloved communities rather than dominate and exclude.

Christian fascists can't stand that. Their project depends on fear, demonization, division, and making people believe their security depends on others' suffering. Authentic faith says the opposite: our liberation is bound together, love is stronger than death, and all are divine in the eyes of God.

What Resistance Looks Like

Faithful resistance looks like Mormon women speaking out against family separation, saying this violates everything they believe about families' eternal nature.

It looks like evangelical Christians reclaiming "pro-life" to include caring for refugees, fighting climate change, and opposing the death penalty.

It looks like interfaith coalitions explicitly challenging Christian nationalism by showing true patriotism includes religious freedom for all, not Christian supremacy for some.

It looks like biblical scholars reclaiming scripture from those who would use it to justify oppression.

7 Practical Steps for Faith Communities

First, reclaim your sacred stories. Don't let Christian fascists monopolize the Bible or any sacred text. When Douglas Wilson claims the Bible supports slavery and patriarchal hierarchy, counter with the biblical vision of jubilee, liberation, and equal dignity. When New Apostolic Reformation leaders claim God wants Christians to rule over others, counter with Jesus's teaching that "whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."

Second, build deep interfaith relationships of mutual respect and mutual aid. When the mosque is threatened, the church shows up. When Jews face antisemitic attacks, all faiths recognize that we are in danger. Christian fascist movements depend on isolation and fear of the other. Interfaith solidarity breaks their power.

Third, practice prophetic preaching. We need preachers who will speak truth to power, and call out the blasphemy of using God's name to justify hatred. We need sermons that explicitly challenge Christian nationalism, that name it as heresy.

Fourth, organize for democracy. Become civically engaged, get involved in voter registration and efforts to secure the ballot. Develop and run candidates who reflect your values.

Note: the Christian Nationalist movement took power not just via evangelical ministries, and public protests. They took power by infiltrating and taking over a huge swath of the Republican Party from the bottom-up; by volunteering to be Party precinct captains, and by running what they used to refer to as “stealth candidates” (many of them women) who ran for political office by presenting themselves as fresh faces promising reforms that would secure families and stabilize society, while concealing their larger agendas.

Fifth, create alternative spaces. Support Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, and Islamic scholars developing theological alternatives to dominionism. Create educational programs teaching the real history of Christianity's relationship with democracy and pluralism.

Sixth, commit to nonviolent resistance. This nonviolence must be strategic and confrontational, not passive. It must name evil as evil and resist it with everything we have. And it must be rooted in strategic civil resistance, in the knowledge that strategic nonviolence has been twice as effective as violence in defeating authoritarians and advancing democracy.

In order to defeat authoritarianism, we need to build a mass mobilization nationwide. Harvard University political scientist, Erica Chenoweth, has demonstrated the historical record shows it takes about 3.5% of the public to commit to sustained action for us to have a solid chance at winning. This is a historical pattern, not a rule, but it gives us a baseline goal to shoot for.

But, there’s more to this. In order for that 3.5% to be effective, millions of people need to be inspired by what they are doing and saying. A majority of Americans abhor political violence. Nonviolence is more effective than violence for many others reasons as well, making it a strategic imperative, not just a principle.

Seventh, expose the networks. Authoritarian religious movements are part of sophisticated networks sharing resources and strategies. Learn how they operate. Follow the money. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.

The Particular Power of Rural Faith Communities

Some of the most important democracy work in America is happening in rural states like Idaho. This is absolutely essential to our ability to protect and expand democracy. Rural communities have things fascists need: land, natural resources, food production, military bases. You are central to American power.

When rural communities embrace inclusive democracy, it breaks the fascist narrative that "real America" belongs to them. It shows patriotism and pluralism can go together.

This is particularly important in challenging movements like Christ Church, which have made rural Idaho a laboratory for Christian fascist community-building. When rural faith communities model different ways of being Christian, ways rooted in love rather than domination, it exposes the lie that faithfulness requires domination and control.

You have organizing advantages: You know each other. You see each other daily. It's harder to demonize people you know. You understand that your flourishing depends on your neighbor's flourishing, an idea that embodies a more accurate understanding of democracy than the hyper-individualism fascists promote.

Don’t count yourselves out - you are not marginal to this fight, no matter what the numbers crunchers within political parties may believe.

The Invitation

Don't wait for permission. The crisis is now. Democracy is under threat now. Christian fascism is advancing now.

Start small. Organize prayer vigils for immigrant families. Host community conversations about Christian nationalism and why it's dangerous. Create mutual aid networks. Build beloved communities one relationship at a time.

But also think strategically. Christian fascist movements have been planning for decades. Those of us who believe in democratic faith need to be equally strategic, equally coordinated, equally committed to long-term change.

Trust the process, but understand the urgency. Faith communities have been in this work for centuries, but we've never faced a threat quite like this - a movement using our own sacred language to justify destroying everything we hold dear.

The Promise

The sacred canopy may be tearing, but that doesn't mean we're left without protection. It means we get to weave new ones. Stronger ones. More beautiful ones. Ones that can shelter all of us.

The old sacred stories may not be adequate for our new realities, but that doesn't mean we abandon them. It means we let them grow, speak to new circumstances in new ways. We rescue them from those who would weaponize them for fascist ends.

Here in Idaho, you have everything you need to build the movement that can save democracy and renew faith. You have each other. You have your sacred traditions. You have your love for this place and these people. You have your knowledge that God's love is bigger than any human hatred, and that the gospel of Jesus is incompatible with the gospel of Christian supremacy.

The Christian fascists want you to believe the choice is between Christian dominion and godless chaos. But people of authentic faith know better. We know the choice is between love and fear, between liberation and domination, between beloved community and subjugation to the idea that there is a master race.

We choose love. We choose liberation. We choose community.

And with those choices, we choose democracy. We choose justice. We choose hope.

The work is hard. The stakes are high. The opposition is sophisticated and well-funded.

But we have something they don't have: we have the truth. We have authentic faith that calls us to love our enemies and work for justice.

So with that knowledge, let's get to work.