Convention speech: Bradley Onishi — Christian nationalism’s threat to democracy

This is an edited version of the speech delivered by Bradley Onishi on Sept. 28, 2024, at FFRF’s national convention in Denver. To watch his speech (or any of the convention speeches), go to ffrf.us/con24.

Bradley Onishi is a faculty member at the University of San Francisco and a research associate at the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion. He co-hosts the top-ranked religion and politics podcast “Straight White American Jesus” and is the author of “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — And What Comes Next.” His work has appeared in the New York Times, NBC News, Huffpost, Religion + Politics, among others. A former Christian nationalist pastor, Onishi speaks around the country about the dangers of Christian nationalism.

By Bradley Onishi

It’s such an honor to be here.

I want to talk about why white Christian nationalism and Christian nationalism in general is a threat to democracy. I’ll talk a little bit about how I know this because I was part of the movement for a long time as a minister in Southern California at a megachurch.

The way I like to envision Christian nationalism is this: Some folks say, “Hey, I’m a Christian and I love America. Does that make me a Christian nationalist? What’s the big deal?” And my response to that is, “Look, I have no issue. I lose no sleep over people of faith who love this country and proclaim to love their God.”

But, I lose sleep over the people who say, “Because I love my God, I am more part of this country than anyone else. Because I love God, I’m more of an American than you.”

That’s where things get dangerous.

So, let’s imagine the United States where every demographic is represented around a round table featuring folks from every geographic location. We have folks who represent every racial demographic in our country, every ethnic demographic, every secular, atheist, agnostic, freethinking demographic, every Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim demographic.

At the start of that round table meeting, which is supposed to be a group of citizens getting together in a democracy, one person stands up and says, “Hey, it’s great to be here with you all. But before we start, I need you to know something. I’m a Christian. This country was founded as a Christian nation, and as a result, I’m always going to have a different place at this table than everyone else. I’m always going to have an elevated status. I’m always going to be afforded an authority that you don’t have. As long as you understand that and you abide by it, then we’re going to be OK. If you don’t, we might not be. It’s your choice.”

That’s Christian nationalism. It’s the imposition not only of religion, but of authority and power over all others.

Accelerated pace

This has come to the fore in our politics in incredibly dangerous ways, not only over the last decade, but in accelerated manners over the last six months. I want to share some of those examples with you.

“I hate to say it, but this country needs a dictator.” This sound bite made the rounds in the days after the Iowa caucuses in late January [2024]. The caucuses serve as a visual reminder of how democracy is supposed to work. Each year, news programs film Iowans, whom Americans from Anaheim to Boston to Baton Rouge assume are all corn farmers casting their votes in a ritual that emblematizes the sharing of power and cooperation demanded of those who want to live in a democracy.

This year was different. A correspondent for “The Young Turks” interviewed the man at a “Team Trump” Iowa caucus event in Coralville. He’s middle-aged and wearing a red Trump hat. His face is weather-worn, leathery as the jacket he wears.

[Video plays] “The other day, Donald Trump said on his first day he is going to be a dictator for a day.”

“I like that, yeah, I like that.”

“Would you rather have Donald Trump as a dictator for four years or reelect Joe Biden for four years?”

“I would rather have Donald Trump. I’d like to see the repeal of the Roosevelt law so that he can be a president for a lot more than four years. But, this country needs a dictator. I hate to say that, but it’s the truth.” [Video ends]

It’s easy to write off a man-on-the-street interview as an expression of the fringe, a fanatic who made his way into television, someone made for the social media age where you could capture the clip, send it around and it would be seen by millions of folks on Instagram and TikTok over the next couple of weeks. But a month later, another man said this:

[Video plays] “I just wanted to say welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely.

“We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to fight to get rid of it and replace it with this right here. We’ll replace it with this. [Holds cross.] That’s right. Because all glory, all glory is not to government. All glory to God.” [Video ends]

Now, there’s no writing off this man as a blowhard on the street, some extremist of no consequence. Make no mistake, the man who said it is an extremist. The Southern Law Poverty Center has documented how he has worked with a network of extreme far-right actors. He’s published books in conjunction with white nationalists. He is one of the people who popularized the Pizzagate conspiracy, often promotes other conspiracy theories and can be understood as one of the most influential provocateurs on the American right.

His name is Jack Posobiec, a right-wing provocateur affiliated with Turning Point USA, and he has over 2 million followers on Twitter. He proclaimed his desire for the end of democracy at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in February [2024]. That conference showcases the vanguard of American conservatives at its gatherings here and abroad.

Extremist, mainstream

Now, it may host extremists like Posobiec, but it is not fringe.

Extremists can and often do take political power. Expressing a desire to overthrow democracy is an extremist position, but it is also now a mainstream one in the United States.

When I began researching my book “Preparing for War” in 2019, making a statement like that might have still gotten you in a lot of trouble as an elected official or leader if you had dared to share the same conference stage with someone who expressed their desire to overthrow democracy. They might have been forced to answer to the media or others. Do you feel like it’s a good idea to share a stage with that person? Do you think it’s a good idea to be on the same platform as them?

It’s no longer the case. There were many other speakers at CPAC, including elected representatives, those who are running for vice president and a current presidential candidate in this election. None of them disavowed Posobiec or any of his statements.

The Jan. 6 insurrection was, simply put, an attempt to end democracy. Those insurrectionists might have done so in the name of justice for a stolen election, or a rigged process, or a deep-state conspiracy. But if we ask what it was meant to do, not what the people there believed, we arrive at a straightforward conclusion. Jan. 6 was engineered to stop the democratic election of the president of the United States of America.

It was an attempt to overthrow democracy. It was an attempt to say to that roundtable of Americans who gathered, that because you didn’t listen, we’re now going to have to take action and come across the table and force you into submission.

Since I wrote this book, Jan. 6 has become an Alamo moment for MAGA nation. For many Americans, from sea to shining sea, there are martyrs of Jan. 6. Ashley Babbitt lost her life that day, but they say it was not because she was doing something wrong, but because the deep state assassinated her.

We’ve witnessed border convoys led by some of those present at J6 caravanning to the southern border in order to prevent the country from, quote, “being overrun by globalists” who they claim are conspiring to keep U.S. borders open and destroy the country.

Some elected members of Congress have called the J6 folks who have been jailed for their actions “hostages” or “political prisoners.”

Just this year, a man who did everything he could to overturn the 2020 election and, and who is close to those who mobilize supporters to be there, became speaker of the House. State courthouses have been evacuated. Federal judges have been doxed. A state representative in Arizona proposed a bill that would have declared Donald Trump the winner of the presidential election in the state before the election even took place.

Theologians, historians, think-tank pundits and philosophers have published books and papers arguing that perhaps a post-constitutional America with a “Red Caesar” or Christian prince would be a better way forward for the country. Pastors and provocateurs have expressed a desire for blasphemy laws and other measures that would punish Americans for not obeying what they take to be biblical law.

Small fires everywhere

These are the small fires everywhere that the unextinguished embers of Jan. 6 have left to burn. They are reducing our democracy to ashes, and they’re doing it order to build something else. In my view, much of that movement in that history can be traced to a six-decade mobilization effort to overthrow American democracy as we know it.

What happened on Jan. 6 was shocking, but it was the outcome, in my view, of 60 years of Christian nationalists organizing to, quote, “retake the country from those who they think don’t deserve it.” Those people around the table who they think should have less of a place in this nation than them; the ones that don’t understand that you need to sit down and be quiet if you’re not one of us, and everything will just be fine in the country. Those of us who clamored for civil rights and representation, those people that demanded the right to be free and equal in the democracy in which they supposedly live. Those folks, in their minds, are the enemies that need to be overcome. For them, power, rather than democracy, is the sacred value because they believe that God has chosen them to order the country according to his vision. If God has dominion over all the Earth, they see themselves as the dominators of human society, the enforcers of God’s plans. I know that because I used to be one of them.

Now, the hits keep coming. I’ve talked about January — a man in Iowa who says we need a dictator; in February — a very influential man who says we’re here to end democracy and overthrow it completely. Well, this summer there was NATCON, a national conservatism conference that happens every year. According to its statement of principles, NATCON maintains that public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision. It’s backed by the Edmund Burke Foundation. And, in recent years, the conferences have become a place to be for Christian nationalists and right-wing speakers and elected officials to articulate their visions, to quote, “recover and reconsolidate the rich tradition of national conservative thought.”

Room for others?

Well, this year was something altogether different. It was in Washington, D.C., in July, and at the close of one particular session, the moderator, a man named Yoram Hosseini, asked these questions: When you think of this coming state where the Christian commitments are maximized, is there room for Jews or fellow bible believers? Is there room for Muslims or Hindus?

Who was on the panel that Hosseini was moderating? It was a duo once thought to be unlikely, in terms of appearing on stage together, but whose political commitments and visions now seem eerily resonant. One was Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Another was Doug Wilson, the pastor, publisher and podcaster headquartered in Moscow, Idaho.

For those attentive to partisan politics, this was a watershed moment. The figurehead, Al Mohler, of the largest Protestant denomination in the country, sharing a stage with the firebrand provocateur who once praised slavery and has labeled himself the spokesperson of American Christian nationalism. Doug Wilson once said that the time of enslavement in this country was the time of the most harmonious race relations we’ve ever had.

Mohler holds sway over millions of Southern Baptists as the leader of their most important institution. Wilson reaches millions through sermons, his publishing house, his podcast, his media empire and his network of churches.

By the time Hosseini asked the question, the two men had been discussing their political theological visions for nearly an hour, but it all came to a crescendo once he asked about who would be included in this theoretical Christian nation.

[Video begins] Yoram Hosseini: “When you think of this coming state where the Christian commitments are maximized, is there room for Jews or fellow bible believers? Is there room for Muslims, Hindus? How do you approach thinking about a maximally Christian committed state in a world in which you’re the partners for getting there? You know, quite a few of them are not going to be Christian.”

Doug Wilson: “I would say briefly that that Jews in this ideal republic that I would envision, or that we’d hammer out, Jews would be more welcome than they currently are here.”

Al Mohler: “Yeah, I would say enthusiastically so. And so, for instance, among my tribe, so to speak, theologically, it would be seen as a matter of absolute divine responsibility to be fully respectful of the Jewish people, fully protective, and to have the Jewish people fully integrated in the entire project. And I think this is where also, quite honestly, where you have traditional Roman Catholics, conservative Protestants and conservative Jewish people who basically already live in the same world and acknowledge that and have a mutual dependance and appreciation. And, you asked the question, though, you broadened it, and you said Hindus and Muslims and others. I don’t think a nation can survive without theological commitments. That does not mean it cannot allow others to be a part of the community, and even invite others, in a certain sense, into the community. But, it does mean that there has to be the explicit acknowledgment that this is a nation with specific theological accountability and theological commitments. Those coming should respect that, must respect that, understand that. So, the kind of modern secularists dream is, I believe, a constitutional nightmare.”

Doug Wilson: “I agree with all of that.” [Video ends]

So, Muslims, Hindus and others, oh my. Most of you are probably the others. But they said what I tried to illustrate at the beginning. If you are around the table as an American and you don’t fit into the Christian identity, then you can still be here. You just need to acknowledge where you are. That’s a Christian nation. Everybody needs to publicly acknowledge our God, even if we can’t always force them to believe and pray to that God. That’s the vision.

Singing off same sheet

This aligned with what Wilson said in an interview from earlier this year [2024] that this is a Christian republic and you’re not singing off the same sheet of music that we are, so, no, you can’t be mayor. If you’re not singing off the same hymn sheet, whether you are Hindu or agnostic, atheist, freethinker and so on, you can’t be mayor. Maybe not principal, certainly not governor, certainly not a state representative. Now, he’s been a controversial figure for decades, but he also has several influential proteges — pastors who also reach hundreds of thousands of people in their ministry through sermons and churches, but also through social media.

One of them is a man named Joel Webbon from Austin, Texas. He’s the founder of Right Response Ministries. He holds conferences and conducts interviews with Wilson all the time. Keep in mind the man that I’m talking about often shares the stage with the man who’s on the screen right now. That man who’s on the screen right now just shook hands and shared a stage with the leader of the largest Protestant denomination in the country. These are not fringe people. They are mainstream.

In this video, he’s going to explain why America is terrible and degenerate. When he was asked what a Christian revival would look like in the country, here’s what he said:

[Video begins] Joel Webbon: “My hometown and my neighborhood.

“A true revival of the American populace in the heart, what it would then look like in the application, the political. It would look like millions of people being deported. It would look like mothers getting death row for murdering their children.” [Video ends]

First, he says our country is under the judgment of God because there are so many folks here who worship false gods. He’s really mad that when he goes to the park, there are people there who are not white and not Christian. And he says that is a sign to him the country has really come under the judgment of God. Because in ancient Israel, whenever there were people present in the nation who did not worship their God, that was a sign of judgment.

So, if you’re not a Christian — and he says it pretty explicitly — you’re not a white person, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re a sign of judgment from God on this country. He then says revival would look like 10 million or 20 million people getting deported, and women getting the death penalty for murdering their “children.”

You want to hear more from him? Probably not. But, here’s what he says about where we are in the country:

“We are degenerates. The Constitution is not suited for governing degenerates. But I think for our population that is degraded morally and culturally, religiously, as far as we have, you need power. Men must be governed. You need a Caesar type. I don’t think constitutioning even harder is going to get us out of our current mess.”

Do you all see a theme from today? We need a dictator. We’re here to overthrow democracy. You’re not allowed here if you’re not a Christian, and if you’re not worshiping the right God. And you know who might just need to fix this? Caesar.

Now there’s another, even more influential protege of Doug Wilson’s, Stephen Wolff, the author of “The Case of Christian Nationalism,” a book that was ranked in the top 100 on Amazon upon release.

I’m an author. I have, from time to time, checked Amazon ranking lists. It’s never been in the top 100. His was there for quite some time. In his mind, nations can only be founded on a shared ethnicity. He talks about kin. He argues that nationalism is based on the shared ethnicity of a volk, based on blood relations.

He says, “I am male and am rooted ancestrally in Western Europe, and I’m speaking largely to a Western European male audience.” We’ve now got to volk in homeland in the case for Christian nationalism.

On the ground, Steven Wolff thinks that interracial marriage is almost always a sin. Women should willingly give up the vote in order to ensure the nation is run by men, as God intended. In a nation run by a hierarchy of Christian leaders, with the Christian prince at the helm, Wolff also advocates for the enforcement of Sabbath laws and the punishment of false religion. Anything outside of the state-approved Christian practice. There goes the 19th Amendment.

[Video begins] Stephen Wolff: “We, the unhyphenated, those who trace their ancestry to Western Europe, whose roots extend beyond the Immigration Act of 1965 and Ellis Island, and once unite to this soil, we, the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who founded, built and died for, and led this country for most of its history, we are not permitted in this new America to have a people or a place that is distinctly ours. There’s no distinct place that we call home. We have nowhere else to go. But, this is our home. This is our native land. We are native Americans, born of those who didn’t immigrate, but who settled here. We are the sons and daughters of the people who settled this land. To describe America as a nation of immigrants, writes the great Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington, is a stretch, a partial truth into a misleading falsehood and to ignore the central fact of America’s beginning as a society of settlers.” [Video ends]

We started today with a man on the street saying, “We need a dictator.” It’s easy to write that guy off, right? Then we got to Jack Posobiec’s 2 million followers on Twitter. An incredibly influential person who says, “We’re here to overthrow democracy.” Then we got the two overwhelmingly important Christian leaders shaking hands on stage, saying, “If you are a Muslim, Hindu or other, you need to acknowledge our Christian God. Otherwise, there’s going to be trouble.” And we got to Joel Webbon saying, “We might need a Caesar because we’re so degenerate and we’re under God’s judgment because of all of these others that are in our midst.” And finally, we have the articulation that really is the crescendo of all of this, that we as the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the white Anglo-Christians, are native Americans. That, when I look at the round table, I am looking at a table of folks that are different than me. “You immigrated here. I settled here. You have a story of making your way to the greatest nation on Earth. I founded the greatest nation on Earth.”

Now, it’s comical, but it’s also frightening because what I’ve been trying to convince you today is these are not folks with six parishioners in an obscure church somewhere. These are people that reach tens of millions of folks every week, every month, all the time.

So, where do we go from here? There are way more of us than them. We have to realize that we are in a place where it is now mainstream to say the overthrow of democracy is something we might need. There’s a lot of people calling for a Red Caesar. There are more of us than them. We have to realize we have a story that’s better than theirs, that democracy is a story that says we are all created equal. When we think of everyone else around the table, whether they are in this room or not, all those Americans around that table are people we’ve agreed to share power with and say, “we are the people” and we will live by that agreement.

That is a powerful story. That is a common story, and that’s a story that we all need to lean into and build coalitions around. Because, if we don’t, there are other stories that will threaten us, and there are people across the table from us willing to riot again in order to take what they think is theirs.