The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade more than two years ago, throwing the issue of legal abortion back to the states. Since then, voters in six states have chosen to protect abortion rights in ballot referenda. Ten more states will face abortion votes in November.
Christian Nationalists are alarmed at this trend. But their answer is not to craft better arguments; instead, they’re trying to stop people from voting on the issue.
The Washington Post recently explored this issue, noting that abortion opponents are relying on “legal challenges, administrative maneuvers and, critics say, outright intimidation.”
The Post quoted Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis, who observed, “A lot of abortion opponents don’t think they would win a fair vote, so they’re not trying to. They’re trying to find other ways.” Ziegler said these tactics include using “election-law technicalities to keep these proposals from going before voters.”
This is yet another example of how Christian Nationalists are working to undermine democracy. Aware that their views are extreme and unpopular, they don’t want Americans to have the opportunity to vote on them.
This deplorable attack on democracy is also an attack on separation of church and state, which is the linchpin of democracy. When religion and government are combined, people are not truly free. A free and open society begins with an explicit statement that certain rights are protected, and chief among them is the right of conscience — that is, the right to decide what religion, if any, you want to join, support and advocate for.
For the next several days, “The Wall of Separation” blog will explore the connection between separation of church and state and democracy. You’ll note a common thread: We’ll outline the threat Christian Nationalism presents to both concepts.
We’ll be looking at issues such as Christian Nationalist efforts to overturn the federal law that bars pulpit politicking and their attempts to replace America’s democracy with a theocracy through Project 2025 and other vehicles. We’ll also explore some history and trace these attacks on democracy, noting that they were birthed by Christian Nationalist groups.
Remember, these groups were well represented among the mob that tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election by ransacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They joined bogus court cases seeking to nullify the results. And when they lost there, they endorsed efforts to take away voting rights.
As you consider these things, remember too that while these recent efforts have been particularly audacious, they are part of a larger, much older thread.
R.J. Rushdoony, a Calvinist theologian and neo-Puritan whose writings helped lay the groundwork for today’s Christian Nationalism, once stated, “Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to a spiritual aristocracy.” Democracy, he added, is the “great love of the failures and cowards of life.”
Christian Nationalists aren’t hiding their contempt for democracy. They’re proud of it. Let’s make sure that the American people know that.
