MAGA and Christian Nationalism: An Unholy Alliance

Christian Nationalism is on the march in America

Russell Vogt by ChatGPT

This is not an indictment of those millions who choose to worship peacefully and who choose to embrace the teachings of Christ. This is about the unholy alliance between Christian Nationalism and MAGA. It is about the alliance that’s tearing at the foundations of American democracy.

MAGA Christianity doesn’t look inward and say, “I have sinned.” No. It looks at the country and snarls, “You have.”

This isn’t faith. It’s fury cloaked in scripture. And it’s no longer a fringe movement. It’s the engine driving the political machinery of the United States, and it is preparing to destroy those who do not believe as they do.

The Christian Right has gone from loud to lethal.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk in September 2025 during a Turning Point USA event in Utah should have been a moment of national mourning and reflection. Instead, it’s being canonized into something much darker: a martyrdom myth, fueling a growing movement that views America not as a democracy, but as a battlefield between God and the godless.

Kirk’s memorial service didn’t look like a civic tribute — it looked like a religious crusade. Packed stadium. Gospel music. Fiery sermons. Crosses and flags hoisted side by side. It wasn’t about grief. It was about mobilization.

The man steering much of this revolution from inside the government is Russell Vought, a rabid Christian Nationalist and the current Director of the Office of Management and Budget under the bizarre offices of Donald Trump.

Vought is not just trimming budgets or cutting red tape. He’s orchestrating a purge. So far, more than 4,000 federal employees have been fired for failing to align with the regime’s hardline ideological stance. His goal? To remove over 10,000 more — most of them from agencies that lean liberal, diverse, or inclusive — and replace them with what he considers “faithful servants.” In reality, it’s a loyalty test wrapped in religious extremism.

The replacements are not technocrats. They’re true believers. God-botherers. Zealots. People who think climate change is a hoax because “God controls the weather,” who view diversity efforts as “anti-white,” and who openly state that government should reflect “Biblical values.”

This is not a return to values. It’s a return to authoritarianism — with a cross on top.

Vought is not shy about this. He’s part of Project 2025 — a blueprint crafted by right-wing think tanks, designed to dismantle the administrative state and replace it with a Christianized command center. Its guiding principle? If you’re not ideologically pure, you’re disposable.

This movement is gaining steam, especially among younger conservatives. Church attendance is rising again — not for spiritual nourishment, but for political indoctrination. Across America, churches are doubling as recruitment hubs for a Christian nationalist future. Sermons sound like war briefings. Pastors speak more about drag queens than the Sermon on the Mount.

Let’s be clear: this is not Christianity. It is Christian nationalism. And it’s not just un-American — it’s anti-American.

The U.S. Constitution was deliberately designed to prevent precisely this kind of merger between church and state. The founders weren’t godless — they were cautious. They knew from history what happens when religious zeal controls government:

• The Inquisition, where torture was state policy in the name of faith.

• Puritan New England, where dissenters were banished or executed.

• Nazi Germany, where state churches blessed fascism and stayed silent on genocide.

• Modern Iran is a country where the morality police and clerics wield more power than courts or voters.

In every instance, when religion overtakes governance, liberty dies.

Yet, today in America, Christian nationalists openly talk about rewriting the Constitution to reflect “Biblical law.” Some even call for the death penalty for blasphemy or same-sex marriage. They want a country where non-Christians are second-class citizens, and where dissent is not debated — it’s crushed.

It’s not culture war anymore. It’s a conquest.

Democracy doesn’t survive this kind of mission. Pluralism doesn’t survive it. The rule of law doesn’t survive it. What you get is soft theocracy — until it’s not so soft, but hard like the horrors depicted in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Women, in particular, should be terrified of the coming storm.

If this sounds extreme, look around.

We now live in a country where political purges are underway, and where civil servants are fired not for incompetence, but for not praying the right way. It is where Supreme Court justices attend Christian nationalist gatherings, and where presidential speeches quote Bible verses more than policy plans. It is where United States senators, such as Missouri’s Josh Hawley, plan the takeover.

This is not the natural evolution of American conservatism. It’s a radical deviation — and it’s being sold as salvation.

But salvation doesn’t require the destruction of civil rights. It doesn’t mean criminalizing opposition. It doesn’t mean turning a multiracial, multi-faith democracy into a theocratic fortress.

If we don’t push back now — forcefully, unapologetically — we will lose more than elections. We will lose the republic. We must resist.

Christianity doesn’t need political power to thrive. In fact, when it chases power, it often loses its soul. But Christian nationalism doesn’t care about souls — it wants control. And it will use every lever of government to get it.

Don’t call it revival. Don’t call it populism.

Call it what it is: a Christian revolution aimed at dismantling democracy from the inside out.

If that doesn’t terrify you, it should.

Resist.

Professor Mike is a university lecturer. He teaches, among other subjects, justice studies and global security, which includes the study of international terrorism. In his spare time, he writes for Medium and Substack. His work has been published on CNN.