An Interview with Katherine Stewart, Author of “The Power Worshippers”

In her latest book entitled The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, author Katherine Stewart offers up a warning about the seemingly new rise of religious nationalism not just in America, but indeed around the world. In 2016, many were shocked when a number of prominent evangelical Christian leaders threw their support behind then-candidate Donald Trump. 81% of evangelicals went on to vote for him, and a significant number of them still support him loyally now, three years into his presidency.

People wanted to know: was this merely an anomaly — a blip on the radar screen — or was it a symptom of some deeper issues already existing within American society?

As it turns out, Christian nationalism is not a new phenomenon in America, but is a long-running movement stretching back decades into the past. In her book, Stewart describes a number of religious organizations (not just limited to evangelical Christianity, to be fair), that are working hard to undermine democracy and install their vision of a Christian nationalist agenda. This is something that everyone — not just Americans — should be aware of and exceedingly concerned about today. In fact, we are witnessing several authoritarian leaders of other nations who have allied themselves with prominent religious leaders, just as Trump has done in America.

The following excerpts are taken from an upcoming episode of MindShift podcast that will air on the 24th of April 2020, in which I had the privilege of interviewing Katherine Stewart on her important work.

Exploring the Global Reach of Religious Nationalism

Clint Heacock (CH): Watching the Netflix documentary series The Family was what got me started researching movements like dominion theology, Christian Reconstructionism, and Christian nationalism. When I saw not just the American reach, but the global reach….should people be concerned about even the global reach of these organizations?

Katherine Stewart (KS): Oh, absolutely. This is not just an American movement, this is a global movement. Under Trump, or I should say, it’s a piece of a global movement, the United States has become a kind of flashing beacon of…