The film Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy certainly qualifies as one of the most contemporary and war-oriented films of the time. This film revolves around the spread of Christian nationalism and the Christian right evolution that many journalists have been covering for the past few years. Yet, Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones, the directors, delve into these events in detail, locating the origins in a different time frame alongside current US electoral politics, which has emerged as a unique and disturbing feature. With the presidential elections around the corner, and what seems to be a conservative tendency growing among the Christians, it is one that changes the environment dramatically.
Trump leaving office did not receive any advertising deals for his company. He is losing followers on all social networks. Seems he managed to lose the election and ruin his business at the same time. Earlier it was discussed about nationalistic tendencies of the man in the White House. He had everything to build a totalitarian structure in the US. He only lacked the support from people. So, how long does it take to do that? All in all, Ex-president Trump planned a path for himself that led to becoming their president. It fuels the ideology of Christian Nationalism. The objective of the movement is to build a Christian state where God is above any constitution.
Without a doubt, the events that took place on January 6th were clear evidence of the power that the Christian Nationalist movement holds, and it has only become apparent that their modus operandi is to embrace sheer hatred for the United States government while being willing to engage in excessive violence. In regard to this, the editor of Christianity Today – Russell Moore has a critical stance over an emerging type of Christianity, “For some, there’s a kind of simmering and performative zeal that gives the impression of great conviction and resolve. It’s a church growth movement but for mad people.” However, on the sixth day of January, these ‘rebels’ were hampered from exacting their revolution, though, for the most part of, Trump did give them encouragement. Once more Christian nationals are going to be the shock troops in a second Trump presidency. It is much worse, however. What “Bad Faith” documents have this potential?
Trump’s and Christian Nationalism’s partnership is stronger than an embarrassment. The alliance gospel is not too well with progressives: Christians, whose religion is based on the teaching of their savior, Trump, who they have labeled a sinner and scoundrel, describes as everything they oppose. The documentary aids in filling in the blanks that were uncrossed for quite a while: that to some, today’s Trump is God Cyrus, the God who after Alexander was possessed by pagans for there was a good cause and many of them were God’s willing. With this opportunistic approach, there is no need for Donald Trump to believe in Christianity; in itself, his own imprudence gets him included in a grand plan. For some, and many Christians too those nihilists, who are in support of the ‘stumped’ (working class) Trump basically always consider the demolisher of idolized perfectness democratically disguised in him as his follower’s perception of it.
Or rather: it is merely a cover which is nothing more than that. Bad Faith has been trying to the point, how Trump, as his predecessors have done, has also made a mutually beneficial deal with the Christian Right.
In exchange for their backing in 2016, he agreed to support a list of judicial nominees they would be comfortable with and to change his views on abortion to theirs. Once again, his victory was assured by the Christian right’s support, just like Reagan’s in 1980. But what he assures them this time is the overthrowing of the American political system under which they have been yearning forever.
It surprises everyone even the most seasoned viewer to see how thoroughly embedded the theology dependency is within the movement. In 1980, Jerry Falwell, who headed it, draped himself with the nation’s attention during the early days of the Moral Majority. (A perverse version of this phenomenon is that the more riches, renown, and distinctions there were around such evangelical TV preachers as Falwell, Pat Robertson, and later Joel Osteen, the more zealously it was said they were raised by God to be the leaders.) But Falwell, no matter what headlines he was associated with, was not the leading figure of the inseparable portion of the moral majority.
This was Paul Weyrich who wields immense power as a vital pillar of the Christian right. He’s responsible for forming the Council for National Policy that defies the limits placed on Christianity and conservatism as a political movement. He is the person who approached Falwell and Robertson with the idea of consolidating all their supporters in a single political cadre, a Christian one, that was better than the sum of its parts. They had a machine of 72 thousand preachers at their service, operating with an innovative multi-level balancing system for the primary purpose of reducing Evangelical Christianity to being mostly political in nature. The G.O.P. turned into ‘the party of God incarnated’ and the election of Reagan was The Evangelical’s first victory. We’re shown a film fragment of Reagan promising to do everything possible to Make America Great Again and that all is just but the beginning of how much of what Trump used had originally been in Reagan’s playbook.
Weyrich was, in a word, a head-banger-bye, a Steve Bannon type of a person who had a lot of the ideas but preferred to deal with them behind closed doors. He did not hesitate to author a manifesto that called for the overthrow of the state by means of guerrilla warfare. From the beginning, he has repeatedly advanced the idea, first of a culture war, and then, who knows, maybe even a civil war, to decide what kind of America we want. Among many others, he said: “Our strategy will be to bleed this culture dry”, “Make no mistake about it: We are talking about Christianizing America”, and “We will weaken and destroy the existing institutions”. But rather, 15 years ago, so USA’s Weyrich organization sounds rather familiar. There is nothing unusual about all that has become. Now it is at the forefront of the traditional Republican Party.
In his book Growth of a Storm which investigates the history of Christianity becoming a political force in America. Balmer updates the reader about the political landscape and context from the 1970s, in an interview, Balmer states that Jerry Falwell began to speak against abortion in the late 1970s and that Roe V Wade in 1973 was not the cause for the creation of the Christian right. He elaborates that there was a lower court ruling in 1971 that removed social institutions that discriminated and segregated races from being classified as charitable organizations, and that was when Rogan’s factors fulcrum was to be moved.
This event seems to have acted in the same way as pouring gasoline on a fire. The churches, for example, Falwell’s were not integrated, and did not wish to integrate, but were more than happy to have tax benefits. Such legislation gave rise to the anti-state feelings which pervade the Christian right today. The same pattern can be seen as the Ruby Ridge and Waco sieges transformed into a central pillar of the Alt-Right. To do this also helped to solidify the idea that there was no difference between Christian and white nationalists which had roots in the K mosque terrorism in order to the cross.
As stated in “Bad Faith“, Christian nationalism is a concept based on an error and the error is that They believe that the phrase contentedly embedded itself in the American mindset and became an indisputable shibboleth: America was a nation that was birthed a Christian nation.. true. It is true that the Founding Fathers had some influence from Judeo-Christian civilization in their moral precepts, but a very specific caveat has been made when it comes to the First Amendment, that is the freedom of religion, to prevent any religious tyranny. Even now, there are people who think that a time when the citizens would be the ones who determine how and which God to worship is a very bizarre idea. It is in fact, Christian Nationalism does dislocate the citizens, most importantly, the very idea of free will that Christianity is based on and most importantly the belligerent rights guaranteed by the Constitution. When the belief of being a follower of Jesus Christ is imposed on a people, it is no longer their choice.
This society has an all-encompassing view of being puritan, due to the outlook that Christian Nationalists have placed on it, and as the film suggests, Americans belonging to Christian nationalism or in sympathy to the ideology cover almost thirty percent of the population. If this claim holds weight, It is not a promising statistic for the United States. As such, Christian Nationalists can be described as true religious extremists, but in reality, they practice the politics of money and corruption only. Weyrich cut a deal with oil and gas billionaires such as the Koch family during the Reagan era and what was the reason for that? Now this type of chop does not sound credible, a ‘Christian nationalist’ hawking his movement in exchange for pay. I am certain, going ahead there shall be more queries like, but what is it, what are Christian Nationalists, many of them?! To be honest, there are a lot of Christian bathers who don’t care about God or ethics, they only care about the relief of corporate taxes and like many others, they have sold their souls to the USA wanting an easier life. Man will unravel this mystery as to whether this sort of extremist ideology will be the barb of morality for Trump’s supporters and whether he will be able to break free from the leash of corporate America to reorder his country.
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