religious right

Pat Robertson Helped Make Intolerance a Permanent Plank in the Republican Platform

by Anthea Butler

Pat Robertson lived at the intersection of public piety, apocalyptic rhetoric, and the pursuit of profit, and did as much as anyone to make the vilifiation of opponents as threats to the moral fiber of the nation a part of conservative politics. 

Leaked Emails Show Christian Nationalist Anti-Trans "Holy War"

“Stopping the existence of transgender people and the acceptance of trans people in the public sphere is to them some sort of religious imperative,” according to historian Thomas Lecaque. 

DeSantis Knows Path to Victory Runs Through Right-Wing Churches

by Katherine Stewart

Ron DeSantis's efforts to outflank Donald Trump to win the allegiance of Christian nationalists will determine whether he can become the GOP nominee. The lengths he's gone to already to court that constituency should scare supporters of democracy. 

Will MAGA Be the Last Straw for Conservative Jews' Partnership with the Christian Right?

by Eric Alterman

Since the 1970s, an alliance between Christian and Jewish conservatives has been brokered over mutual support for Israel's occupation and settlement of the West Bank. Are changing attitudes toward the occupation among American Jews and the naked antisemitism of the MAGA right breaking the alliance? 

Who Is a Christian Nationalist?

by Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead

New survey data says that the growing Christian Nationalist movement is broader than previously believed, and a potential political force in many places. 

The Growth of the Right-Wing Sect Advancing Christian Nationalism

Beneath broadly held notions of Christian nationalism lies a distinct theology. If you hear "spiritual warfare" in political speech, you're hearing the New Apostolic Reformation—though its adherents are secretive about it. 

Theocracy Now! The Forgotten Influence of L. Brent Bozell on the Right

Long overshadowed by compatriot (and brother-in-law) William F. Buckley, Bozell's aggressive advocacy of theocratic reaction was a key wellspring of resurgent Christian nationalism, particularly its Catholic varieties. 

Trump Has Mainstreamed Christian Nationalism, Despite its History of Violence

by Samuel Perry

The Trump administration and the current wave of MAGA candidates have openly embraced Christian nationalist themes that were once confined to the far-right and white supremacist fringe. It's vital that the historical violence associated with these ideas is not forgotten. 

Katherine Stewart Joins Jane Coaston to Discuss the Rise of Christian Nationalism

"This is not a new movement. It long preceded Trump. But the ideology is just becoming much more widespread as the movement has seized control, I believe, of the Republican Party."

Kathleen Wellman on How the Religious Right Hijacked History

"These textbooks, unlike the work of historians, dismisses much of human history and denigrates most human accomplishments. Only human efforts undertaken to support 'biblical truth,' meaning evangelical Protestantism, are godly and have any value; all others reflect sinful 'humanism'."

"They Want Your Children!": Right-Wing School Panics Seek to Repeal Modernity

by Rick Perlstein

"Reactionary panics about what children learn in school are about as old as time. And they won’t ever go away."

The Christian Right's History is Bad Scholarship, But Great SCOTUS Lobbying

by Lauren R. Kerby

Two consequential court rulings hinged on historical interpretation of abortion and gun rights. The court's majority borrowed this history from the religious right's campaign to craft a historical narrative to justify white Protestant nationalism.

Is the Right Now Post-Religious? If Only!

by Jacques Berlinerblau

A high-profile op-ed by Nate Hochman obfuscates the continued significance of strains of Christian nationalism to the rising far right and falsely claims this movement is a secular one. 

How the Evangelical Movement Embraced the Abortion Issue

Kristin Kobes Du Mez discusses how Evangelical Christians came to drive the abortion debate in the US in the context of a backlash against feminism and a growing infrastructure of conservative voter mobilization.

Hawley's Attacks on KBJ Part of Long History of Politicizing Child Abuse Panics

Historian Paul Renfro explains the rising fears of child abduction in the 1980s and the way those fears have been used politically. 

The Rise and Fall of Jerry Falwell Jr. at Liberty U.

The ousted leader speaks to reporter Gabriel Sherman about the scandal and meltdown that ended his leadership of an evangelical empire. 

The Shock Troops of the Next Big Lie

by Katherine Stewart

A historian of the religious right argues that the movement has recently integrated the Trumpist myth of stolen elections into its political mobilization of evangelical pastors. 

"The Eyes of Tammy Faye": When the GOP Got in Bed with the Christian Right

The scandals involving the PTL television ministry of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker allowed Jerry Falwell to expand the inluence of the Moral Majority and connect the religious right more firmly to the Republican Party. A new film highlights that moment. 

Megachurches like John MacArthur's Led Evangelical Resistance to COVID Mandates

by John Fea

Historian John Fea rounds up recent writing on the role of star pastors in directing some evangelical churches toward resistance to pandemic measures while other churches engaged with meeting their members' health needs. 

The Connection Between Conservative Christianity and Fast Food Franchises

by Marcia Chatelain

Many fast food chains have roots in two pillars of 20th-century conservatism: Christianity and free markets.