People For the American Way Foundation has partnered with analyst and commentator Kat Abughazaleh to produce a video series on the dangers of white Christian nationalism, a political ideology with deep roots in our country’s white supremacist history that has built power in the U.S. since the rise of the religious right as a political movement.
The threat that white Christian nationalism poses to our freedoms and our future is multiplied by its political alliance with the New Apostolic Reformation, a newer religious and political movement whose leaders are committed to taking political power and forcing Americans to live in alignment with their religious and political worldview.
New Apostolic Reformation dominionism has been growing in size and influence in the past two decades. Emerging from and within Pentecostal Christianity, it promotes dominion theology, the belief that God wants certain kinds of Christians to take control of the government, media, education, business, arts and entertainment, religion and family—what they call the “seven mountains” of influence in society—in order to “occupy” and “transform” those sectors and entire countries. NAR leaders portray American politics in terms of spiritual warfare, often describing political opponents as demonic.
The New Apostolic Reformation is not a denomination; it operates through collaborative networks of leaders who are considered modern-day prophets and apostles, many of whom have major media platforms. And it is not a strictly American phenomenon. The NAR has global reach and ambition; it seeks to “reform” and “transform” whole nations as a way of speeding the return of Jesus Christ to “rule and reign” with his triumphant church. Because the NAR has a global focus, and because Pentecostal churches in the U.S. tend to be more ethnically diverse than fundamentalist evangelical churches, NAR networks and events are generally more diverse than many white Christian nationalist churches and organizations.
When it comes to American politics, these two overlapping movements have developed a close working relationship over the past two decades. NAR dominionists and traditional white Christian nationalist evangelicals have their theological differences about things like modern-day prophecy, but they share overarching political goals, including banning abortion, reversing marriage equality, and forcing laws and society into alignment with their right-wing views on family, sexuality, gender roles, and more.
Religious-right leaders who may not share NAR’s end-times theology have embraced the language of Seven Mountains Dominionism because it’s a useful and easy-to-explain way to encourage conservative Christians to become more active politically, take power, and use it aggressively.
NAR leaders were actively involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement after the 2020 election. NAR leader Che Ahn spoke at a rally near the White House on Jan. 5, 2021, where Christian nationalist rhetoric mingled with conspiracy theories and threats of violence. This year, on Oct. 12, Ahn helped lead a large spiritual warfare rally on the National Mall, where he made an “apostolic declaration” that Donald Trump would be elected in November.
Lance Wallnau, a leading proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism, has been working with MAGA movement organizations on a “Courage Tour” of important counties in key swing states, merging religious revivals with political rallies designed to maximize turnout of conservative Christian voters. Another NAR figure, musician and political activist Sean Feucht, will bring his own mix of religious revival and right-wing politics to the National Mall on Oct. 26 after a 50-state tour of state capitals.
The New Apostolic Reformation is one of the most significant movements in American religion and politics and has just recently begun to get the critical media attention it deserves. You can learn more by watching a webinar hosted by Political Research Associates, reading “A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation” by researcher Frederick Clarkson and religion scholar André Gagné, or checking out this Word & Way review of religion scholar Matthew Taylor’s new book on the movement, “The Violent Take it by Force: The Christian Movement That is Threatening Our Democracy.”
