Quotes from Katherine Stewart

Russian leaders see America's Christian right as a tremendously useful vehicle for influencing American politics and government in a manner favorable to Russian interests.

Other observers may reasonably use terms like "theocracy," "dominionism," "fundamentalism," or "Christian right." I use those terms where appropriate, but often prefer "Christian nationalism" in referring to the whole, because it both reflects the political character of the movement and because it makes clear its parallels between the American version and comparable political movements around the world and throughout history.

The version of the religious right that put Donald Trump in the White House is the one that stepped onto the national stage in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan. It gathered force with another iteration of its founding lie — that it represented the moral majority of the nation — and this lie is yet another cause of its weakness. The movement does not speak for a majority. It is a militant minority.

a feminist agenda … that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians

Christian nationalists and their allies continue to stand behind the most corrupt, divisive, and chaotic president in history because they believe that he can supply, via the courts, the abortion ban that they see as a necessary prelude to making America a righteous nation again.

an especially effective way to reduce abortions is to promote access to long-acting contraception.

Churches and preachers are some of the most valuable political operatives in America today, and they work mostly (though not exclusively) on the side of the Republican party. Since churches are subsidized with public money through tax deductions and other tax advantages, one could say that the United States now has a publicly subsidized political party that promotes an agenda of religious nationalism.

Republican party as a host vehicle for a radical movement that denies that the other party has any legitimate claim to political power.

We find in Scripture the imperative to love our neighbors and care for the least of these. That is by far one of the clearest messages

The Bible is inherently political in that it routinely speaks against people who abuse their power in order to oppress other people.

Stopping at a red light, Chris picks up his Bible and turns to the Old Testament book of Amos. "Here, for instance, in chapter five, the prophet says, 'You, Israel, you were supposed to take care of the poor and you're not doing it,' " Chris says. " 'You're using power and wealth to tilt the system in your favor.

Their father told the kids that there is no hell! And my daughter says she wants to move away from our 'fundamentalism.' So I guess it's up to me." Her voice is almost ragged with exasperation.

It is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power.

The religious right is quick to extol the principle of free speech when it comes to, say, public school officials preaching to children in their care or shouting at women through bullhorns outside of reproductive health clinics. And yet they are eager to regulate and restrict the speech of medical professionals delivering reproductive health services.

it must seem odd that Christian nationalists loudly reject "government" as a matter of principle even as they seek government power to impose their religious vision on the rest of society. America's slaveholders, too, revealed a similar inconsistency when they championed "states' rights" and at the same time demanded the assistance of the federal government in catching runaway slaves and defending the slave system.

The end goal is to create a new reality on the ground in which women have no real ability to exercise a right that they are supposedly guaranteed.

Forcing women to go through the side door to access essential forms of health care imposes logistical and financial burdens.

You maximize the moral anguish of those whose "values" you share and protect their "rights" wherever possible. And you minimize the suffering of those who don't belong to the group and treat their rights as merely selfish demands.

Many Americans still mistakenly believe that leaders of the religious right confine their attention to a few hot-button concerns and that if we could just find "common ground" on, say, abortion, the hostilities would cease. The religion I found in Tulare, however, is mostly about money and power.

The real issue at the Capitol Ministries fund-raiser is that the proponents of this antidemocratic vision no longer seem to feel the need to disguise their ambitions. They, too, are getting ready to king.

California may look to the world like a blue state. But one in five adults are evangelical Christian, and the state has more megachurches than any other.

From the beginning, the New Right sought radical change. They would establish themselves "first as the opposition, then the alternative, finally the government," according to Conservative Caucus chair Howard Phillips.

I believe that some of the most powerful resistance to Christian nationalism may ultimately come from those who identify as Christians themselves.

reducing public education to a consumer experience for parents that allows them to "choose" to funnel taxpayer money into schools that discriminate, teach pseudoscience and fake history, and promote contempt for those who are different isn't a way to improve our system of education.