The Historic Howell Theater this week showed the documentary “Bad Faith 2026” with a Q&A afterward. The film documents the rise of so-called “Christian” nationalism and its stated, explicit threats to American democracy, including the Jan. 6 insurrection and Donald Trump’s second term as president. The “Christian” nationalist movement seeks to overthrow American democracy and the US Constitution. It wants to replace them — by force and with violence (that they have already repeatedly engaged in) — with its own white supremacist theocracy, i.e. “sharia.” The movement has become the most powerful anti-democratic force in the USA.
The documentary traces the movement’s origins to the 1970s–80s, highlighting figures like Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority, the creation of the secretive Council for National Policy, and Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA. It shows how these groups oppose secular democracy and seek to use the American government to impose their own extremist version of Christianity. They have influenced conservative politics, including the 2016 election, the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the framework of Project 2025.
The documentary interviews religious leaders, historians, journalists, activists, and former Trump administration officials. It warns that “Christian” nationalism’s fusion of religion and politics seriously threatens U.S. democracy, including repeatedly advocating violence, “guerilla tactics” and “warfare” to achieve its anti-democratic and anti-Constitutional aims.
“Christian” nationalism is neither Christian nor patriotic. It outright rejects the U.S. Constitution and democracy as anti-Christian.
This movement clearly is that “enemy within” that Trump and his administration keep warning the American people about.
What are you and the U.S. Congress doing to investigate this dangerous anti-American movement and its explicit threats to our people, our government and our country? This movement needs to be stopped and its members brought to justice for seeking to overthrow our United States of America.
The Rev. Vilius Rudra Dundzila
Brighton
