The idea of Trump suddenly selling Bibles struck many as just his latest grift since there is no record of him ever attending church services, of being affiliated with any sect, praying, tithing, quoting scripture, or living by Christian tenets given his multiple marriages, adultery with a porn star, criminal enterprises, and violation of numerous commandments.
But he does want to be re-elected and is willing to pander in any way necessary to win votes and avoid prison. It obviously hasn’t escaped his attention that Christians make up a considerable fraction of the population and that white, evangelical Christians are especially worth his attention since polls show they tend to favor the Republican party.
Many Republican tilting organizations that pose as think tanks raise money, support candidates, promote conservative ideology, peddle propaganda, and try to influence elections, line up behind Trump. The Center For Renewing America (CRA), for instance, is one of several that style themselves champions of Christian Nationalism.
In effect, they serve as evangelical storm troopers to advance Trump’s messianic ambitions. They try to win adherents by claiming their aim is to protect their sort of Christians who they claim are being persecuted by Americans who adhere to other religions or are, to their minds, godless atheists.
Their extremism is clear since they advocate using the federal government to purge or punish such apostates. In effect they are rejecting the idea of separation of Church and State enshrined in the First Amendment which forbids the government from creating a state religion or favoring one over another.
CRA and other Christian Nationalist influence peddlers also favor the use of the power of government to use the Insurrection Act to quash objections to or protests of their agenda which favors America withdrawing from NATO, using military force against Mexican drug cartels, restricting immigration to “those who accept God’s laws,” and banning same sex marriage, abortion and access to contraception.
The CRA is not alone in extremist territory. Project 2025, funded and scripted by several far right think tanks including the Heritage Foundation, has as a goal the installation of not just “the most conservative executive branch of government in modern American history” but one “designed by God, not man” in order to “institute biblical based policies, save souls, and induce sabbath observance.
Trump’s lack of religiosity would seem to make him a very unlikely leader for such a project, but they want changes to government that only a wannabe authoritarian would embrace or attempt. And he was sure to get aboard since this coalition of the far right has managed to amass a $22 million war chest. If it makes an offer to help fund the Trump campaign it can expect the next Trump administration to implement its agenda which includes expanding protestant power over the federal government, rolling back environmental protections, prioritizing “god given rights,” and defending “biblical based” definitions of family and marriage.
These Christian extremists will also expect Trump to purge anyone not embracing their beliefs. This is not a far-fetched dream since Trump relishes punishing his enemies and critics and loves pandering to his acolytes. In an Iowa appearance he showed he is singing their tune when he described his campaign as “a divine mission from God to eliminate marxists and fascists.” And. of course. he boasts of having given America a 6-3 Supreme Court wiling to reverse Roe v. Wade and make other rulings at the extremes.
Trump choosing to exploit the sharp turn the Republican Party has taken to the evangelical right is not new. He helped it elevate zealots to power, notably Mike Johnson to Speaker of the House after then congressman Johnson tried to help Trump in 2020 by concocting a failed legal justification for rejecting millions of ballots favoring Biden in four swing states, the goal being to tilt the electoral college in Trump’s favor.
Other powerful backers of the Republican Party have taken note of the shift by the Heritage Foundation and other influential partisan right-wing organizations in favor of Christian Nationalism and are also helping fund the campaigns of Trumpian candidates at the extremes.
The founder of the Center for Renewing America argues that “The United States was founded as a Christian Nation and Christian values should be a priority for government and public life.” Bbut historians and legal scholars might beg to differ. So might the 31 percent of Americans who embrace non-Christian faiths and the 21 percent who are unaffiliated with any religion.
Ours is a big, complicated, diverse country which makes any attempt to persuade its people to conform to a single ideology unlikely to succeed. A majority of Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Historically Black Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and the religiously unaffiliated tend to vote Democratic. A majority of White Evangelical Protestants vote Republican, but Mainline Protestants are evenly divided.
Voters who think for themselves, make their choices based on their own lives, economic situation, age, race, hopes and dreams, doubts and fears, knowledge, self-interest remain the best bulwark against our democracy being replaced with a theocracy.