Book Review: The Power Worshippers

The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, is a 2019 book by investigative journalist Katherine Stewart. She spent 10 years doing a deep dive into what Christian nationalism (CN) is, what its antecedents are and who drives it today. This book reinforces my belief about the seriousness and urgency of the attacks on democracy and the rule of law by America's fascist right, which now constitutes mainstream conservatism. 

One lesson that comes out loud and clear is Stewart's description of the ordinary Americans in this radical plutocratic political movement. The rank and file are generally not intentionally and/or knowingly fascist or cruel. Most sincerely believe that they are fulfilling God's commands as they are told by their religious and political leaders. Most believe that (i) they are saving America and democracy from evil Satanic forces, and (ii) working to build a vision of America that the Founders wanted to establish. The vision is a lie. What the CN movement is trying to build is not what the Founders wanted. 

The book makes clear the depth and control of the toxic social mind trap that decades of propaganda and social institution building by American plutocrats has achieved. There is no ambiguity here. One has to be ignorant or reject or distort relevant history, facts and reason to see this political movement for anything but what it obviously is. Specifically, it is a deeply anti-democratic, anti-pluralistic, fascist power grab by and for plutocrats. 

My guess is that about 85% of adult Americans, including most of the CN rank and file, are either ignorant and/or reject or rationalize the history, facts and reason. The minds of the rank and file are mostly sincere and well-meaning but deceived, manipulated and betrayed. By contrast, the minds of the plutocrats are clear, focused, ruthless and profoundly immoral, if not outright evil. 

Despite rank and file sincerity, they are being coaxed and manipulated into an intolerant social revolution by propaganda-fomented emotional responses, mainly irrational fears, anger, resentments and bigotry. The myth of severe religious persecution is a core propaganda lie that helps keep the movement glued together. 

The following is is how Stewart describes the CN movement. 

It is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power. It does not seek to add another voice to America's pluralistic democracy but to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity, answering to what some adherents call a "biblical worldview" that also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders. The movement is unlikely to realize its most extreme visions, but it has already succeeded in degrading our politics and dividing the nation with religious animus. This is not a "culture war." It is a political war over the future of democracy.

Here, one can push back on Stewart's assertion that CN is unlikely to realize its most extreme visions. On one can know how far this will go. For extremists to get what they want, a necessary part of the pathway to fascist plutocracy in America is to degrade politics and divide the nation with religious animus and any other animus that propaganda can foment. Many animus are available for dividing society and undermining trust in democracy and the rule of law. It looks to me like CN is pushing all the buttons of social and political division that are available to it, religious, race, gender, political ideology, economic ideology legal theory, and whatever else there is. CN plutocrats are engaged in a war with multiple major fronts. They fight hard and dirty on every level.

Also, note that there is culture war deeply embedded in what is the main goal, which is subversion of democracy, the rule law and civil liberties. Most of the public rhetoric has focused on the culture war, but that is the wedge the plutocrats use to divide Americans and distract from the ultimate goal of power and wealth for fascist elites. Since the 1/6 coup attempt, public discourse has become increasingly aware of the importance and centrality of the CN political agenda. Despite that progress, most Americans have no idea of the urgent, grave threat to democracy, civil liberties and the rule of law that CN poses.

Stewart continues:

[CN] is not organized around any single, central, institution. It consists rather of a dense ecosystem of nonprofit, for-profit, religious and nonreligious media and legal advocacy groups, some relatively permanent, some fleeting. Its leadership cadre includes a number of personally interconnected activists and politicians who often jump from one organization to the next. .... the important thing to understand about the collective effort is not its evident variety but the profound source of its unity. The movement has come together around what its leaders see as absolute truth -- what the rest of us may see as partisan agitation.

Christian nationalism is also a device for mobilizing (and often manipulating) large segments of the population and concentrating power in the hands of a new elite. It does not merely reflect the religious identity it pretends to defend but actively works to construct and promote new varieties of religion for the sake of accumulating power. It actively generates or exploits cultural conflict in order to improve its grip on its target population.

This reflects the basis in deceit of both supporters and political opposition that CN has relied on to get this far with so little public knowledge and understanding. When it comes to informing the American people of who and what CN is, the press and broadcast media have failed. They get an F on that assignment and generally earn a D due to corporate ownership and profit constraints. The political opposition also gets an F on this assignment.

Stewart comments on labels and ideology:

Labels matter so I will take a moment here to lay out some of the terms of my investigation. Christian nationalism is not a religious creed bit, in my view, a political ideology. It promotes the myth that the American republic was founded as a Christian nation. It asserts that legitimate government rests not on consent of the governed but on adherence to the doctrines of s specific religious, ethnic and cultural heritage. It demands that our laws be based on on reasoned deliberation of our democratic institutions but on particular, idiosyncratic interpretations of the Bible.

Other observers may reasonably use terms like "theocracy," "dominionism," "fundamentalism," or "Christian right." I use those terms where appropriate, but often prefer "Christian nationalism" in referring to the whole because it both reflects the political character of the movement and because it makes clear the parallels between the American version and comparable political movements around the world and throughout history.

This is not a book about "evangelicals." The movement I am describing includes many people who identify as evangelical, but it excludes many evangelicals, too, and it includes conservative representatives of other varieties of Protestant and non-Protestant religion.

Perhaps the most salient impediment to our understanding of the movement is the notion that Christian nationalism is a "conservative" ideology. The correct word is "radical." A genuinely conservative movement would seek to preserve institutions of value that have been crafted over centuries of American history. It would prize the integrity of electoral politics, the legitimacy of the judiciary, the importance of public education, and the values of tolerance and mutual respect that have sustained our  pluralistic society even as others have been torn apart by sectarian conflict. 

[CN] has no interest in securing the legitimacy of the Supreme Court; it will happily steal seats and pack the Courts as long as it gets the rulings it wants. It cheers along voter suppression and gerrymandering schemes that allow Republicans to maintain disproportionate legislative control. .... And it claims to defend "the family," but treats so  many American families with contempt. 

For context, CN ideology opposes secular public education. It wants private Christian education for all children. Stewart pointed out that in the late 1970s, Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell publicly stated that public education had to be replaced with religious education. Allegations of bigotry or even racism dog the CN movement. The basis for that includes CN animus toward the LGBQT and minority-immigrant communities. 

Finally, Stewart comments on the distribution of power in the CN movement. In short, the plutocrats and elite at the top call the shots and the rank and file obeys. Dissenters get RINO or CNINO hunted out of the movement. 

The widespread misunderstanding of Christian nationalism movement stems in large part from the failure to distinguish between the leaders of the movement and its followers. The foot soldiers of the movement -- the many millions of the church goers who dutifully cast their votes for the movement's favored politicians, who populate its marches and flood its coffers with small-dollar donations -- are the root source of its political strength. But they are not the source of its ideas.

[The rank and file] come with a longing for certainty in an uncertain world. .... [they]feel that world has entered a state of disorder. The movement gives them confidence, an identity, and the feeling that their position in the world is safe.

Yet the price of certainty is often the surrendering of one's political will to those who claim to offer refuge from the tempest of modern life. The leaders of the movement have demonstrated real savvy in satisfying some of the emotional concerns of their followers, but they have little intention of giving them a voice in where the movement is going. I can still hear the words of one activist I met along the way. When I asked her if the anti-democratic aspects of the movement ever bothered her, she replied, "The Bible tells us that we don't need to worry about anything."

One can reasonably believe that most modern authoritarian conservatives in the CN movement share the activist's lack of concern for democracy and democratic institutions or traditions. For religious people, how their religious and political leaders portray the Bible gives them comfort. That seems to make most or all concern for democracy just fade away. 

Questions: Does Stewart credibly describe the CN movement and its fundamentally fascist-plutocratic political agenda? Are rank and file CN foot soldiers mostly individualistic, adventurous people? Or are they generally rather uneasy or fearful followers who seek comfort from their leaders who provide badly needed psychological and social comfort packaged in lies, deceit, emotional manipulation and flawed motivated reasoning?