Christian nationalism may sound like a religious movement or an innocent expression of faith, but it‘s actually an extremist political ideology. It weaponizes a far-right version of Christianity to justify hate, censorship, and stripping rights from those who don’t fall in line.
Backed by a small number of powerful billionaire funders, Christian nationalism has gone from a fringe belief to a present and active threat. Read on to learn about the Christian nationalist ideology, how it threatens true religious freedom and democracy, some of its key players, and how you can fight back in Texas.
What Is Christian Nationalism?
Christian nationalism is an extremist political ideology that seeks to fuse one narrow, highly conservative interpretation of Christianity with American identity and government.
Its followers falsely claim that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. They oppose fundamental American values like the separation of church and state, and seek to build a Christian theocracy where, ideally, only conservative, evangelical Christians hold public office and non-Christian expression in public spaces is restricted.
No, it’s not — and it never has been.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the federal government from declaring a national religion.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Christian nationalists love to make claims like “the U.S. is a Christian nation,” and “the separation of church and state is a myth.” They can repeat these claims over and over again. It doesn’t make them true.
“One Nation Under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, and “In God We Trust” wasn’t our national motto until 1956.
Both of these changes came about during Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency at the height of the Second Red Scare, when religious conservatives were pulling out all the stops to assert the superiority of American capitalism over “godless” Soviet communism. Eisenhower was influenced by a now-infamous sermon he attended by Reverend George Docherty in 1954, in which he called American atheists “spiritual parasites” and argued that belief in God was “the characteristic and definitive factor in the American way of life.”
Christian Nationalism in Texas
Over the years, Christian nationalism has gone from a fringe belief to one of the most powerful forces in Texas politics.
BANKROLLED BY FAR-RIGHT BILLIONAIRES
Fueled by massive funding from a handful of billionaire donors, far-right organizations, and megachurch pastors, Christian nationalism has reshaped the Republican Party.
Followers have launched ceaseless attacks on public education, the separation of church and state, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive rights, and any communities or movements that don’t fit their narrow worldview.
CO-OPTING OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM
From banning book after book to forcing the Ten Commandments into classrooms, Texas’s far-right leaders shamelessly misuse their power to turn public schools into Sunday schools. The State Board of Education (SBOE) even passed a reading list full of Biblical texts, making Texas the first state in the country to mandate schools teach the Bible.
Many Christian nationalism sympathizers also support voucher schemes that use taxpayer funds to pay for private, often religious, schools.
Key Players
Far Right Watch: James Leininger
Texas Public Policy Foundation, Founder James Leininger is a major Republican donor and founder of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based…
Far Right Watch: David Barton
Founder of WallBuilders David Barton is a former school teacher and self-proclaimed historian who was once named one of the 25 “most influential evangelicals in…
Far Right Watch: Dan Patrick
Lt. Governor of Texas (R) As Lieutenant Governor of Texas (2014-present), Dan Patrick presides over the Texas Senate where he has considerable power to dictate…
Christian Nationalism & Islamophobia
Christian nationalists still traffic in fears of “godless communism” leftover from the Eisenhower era. But after 9/11, many also turned their attention to anti-Muslim fearmongering, spreading baseless, Islamophobic claims that Sharia law was going to replace the Constitution.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly targeted Muslim Texans and their religious expression. He recently designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim Civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., as a foreign terrorist organization. Islamophobia has also become a recurring feature of State Board of Education (SBOE) hearings, where Muslim Texans are regularly subjected to hateful comments and hostility from far-right members.
At the 2026 Texas GOP convention, extremists shunned and rejected Muslim delegates, sending the message that even politically conservative Muslims are not welcome.
Fight Christian Nationalism in Texas
For more than 30 years, Texas Freedom Network has served as a watchdog against far-right extremism, and continues to advocate for the rights of all Texans to this day.
TFN’s Reports & Research
As a respected thought leader and watchdog of the religious right, TFN keeps a growing library of original research on a wide range of church-state issues — especially on the intersection of religious freedom, Christian nationalism, and public education.
- Turning Texas Public Schools into Sunday Schools? A Review of the State’s Proposed K-5 Reading Curriculum (2024 report)
- Can This Class Be Saved? The ‘Hobby Lobby’ Public School Bible Curriculum (2014 report)
- Reading, Writing & Religion II (2013 report)
- Reading, Writing & Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools (2006 report)
