In 2005, Jim Wallis, founder and (then) editor of Sojourners magazine and self-identified evangelical, published God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. Arguing for a “consistent ethic of life,” Wallis chided the political and religious right for the hypocrisy of maintaining a hardline pro-life stance regarding abortion while simultaneously supporting war and cutting funding to programs that most directly impact impoverished children and families at home and around the globe.
He equally critiqued the “secular left” in their efforts to be pro-choice and “politically correct,” eschewing the religious and moral convictions of millions of Americans. Wallis believed this caused progressives to miss critical opportunities to connect with faithful people on urgent matters of justice.
What Wallis correctly identified, but couldn’t possibly have known at the time, is just how far the split in American political and religious ideologies would take us in such a relatively short time.
Twenty years after its publication, the politics of White Christian Nationalism, or, as some scholars describe it, “Christian Supremacy,” has been largely responsible for producing a revenge-seeking president who has appointed a Hitler-saluting billionaire to upend the federal government in a fury of chaos that is creating a global firestorm of destruction. How did we get here?
It is well-documented that for several decades, abortion has been used as a political wedge to persuade evangelical Christians to become single-issue Republican voters in national elections. In June 2022, under a Supreme Court stacked with three Trump appointees, it appeared the conservative agenda had “won” with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
But with all the focus on abortion, something more toxic was developing under the surface. As religious studies scholar Matthew D. Taylor lays out in his 2024 book, The Violent Take It By Force, a politics of dominionism has swept millions of believers into a decentralized, albeit highly organized, religious revivalism that looks very different from mainline, and even much of evangelical Christianity.
This has largely been fueled by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), which promotes an ideology known as the “Seven Mountain Mandate.” This framework encourages believers to dominate seven aspects of society: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government.
For those who have become indoctrinated into this belief system, it is a matter of spiritual warfare. Although many leaders are beginning to publicly deny their ties, the NAR is part of a broader network of charismatic Christianity, which is currently the fastest-growing faction of global Christianity.
The logic of this dominionist brand of Trumpism goes something like this: It doesn’t matter that Trump is not the ideal Christian. He’s not been chosen to lead the religious sphere; the prophets and apostles will take care of that. Trump has been chosen as a worthy and capable government leader, just as he has already shown great “success” in the entertainment and business spheres.
Hence, his flaws can be overlooked as long as he upholds the Seven Mountain agenda and continues to receive the advice of its leaders, such as Paula White-Cain. White-Cain was recently appointed to lead his newly established White House Faith Office.
Domination is nothing new to American politics or American Christianity. In some ways, what we witness might be the inevitable conclusion to the American experiment, allegedly founded on principles of equality and freedom for all but, in actuality, on the land theft and genocide of Indigenous peoples and the theft and enslavement of African peoples. Lest we Christians forget: All of this was done under the “authority” of the Doctrine of Discovery and the theo-ideology of Manifest Destiny.
This relatively new iteration of Christian Supremacy and its rise to the highest positions of U.S. political power is intrinsically connected to the decades-long “pro-life” propaganda driving the Republican-turned-ReTrumplican party agenda. Yet there is little to nothing about this agenda that is pro-life, especially not for the most vulnerable.
Since taking office, the Trump 2.0 administration has attempted to revoke gender-affirming care for youth, which would almost certainly result in increases in depression and suicide attempts among an already vulnerable population. They’ve put transgender U.S. service members’ lives and careers in danger with an order stating that being transgender “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
They have increased federal immigration enforcement and collusion with state and local authorities. They have revoked federal support for reunification of families separated at the border during Trump’s first administration.
Already, this targeting of immigrants in Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda is having dire consequences for immigrant families, including the death of 11-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza by suicide after reportedly being bullied about her family’s immigration status.
They’ve blocked funding for the National Health Institute, resulting in freezes on millions of dollars for research “ranging from heart disease and cancer to Alzheimer’s and allergies.”
Additionally, Trump has appointed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is known for his longstanding anti-vaccine and conspiracy theory rhetoric. This has occurred amid a measles outbreak that has taken the life of one school-age child–the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015 and the first death of a child from the disease since 2003.
And perhaps most egregious in terms of life and death on a global scale, they have frozen funding for USAID, which affects 157 countries. This will lead to devastating effects, such as denying children in 42 African countries access to lifesaving therapeutic food and drugs through the PEPFAR program.
Additionally, funding pulled from family planning and contraceptive services will undeniably lead to an increase in maternal deaths through the very thing Trump loyalists stake their “pro-life” identity on vowing to eliminate: (unsafe) abortions.
Children dying of starvation, preventable and treatable diseases, and suicide are not pro-life. Women dying from botched abortions because they’ve been denied access to contraceptive care is not pro-life.
As we who still call ourselves Christians grapple with what this means for our families, neighbors, country and world, I am clinging tight to the teachings of Jesus: “I was hungry and you gave me food…I was a stranger and you welcomed me…I was sick and you took care of me.”
This is what it means to be pro-life. May we do all in our power to hold our government accountable to it.
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Dr. Rebecca M. David Hensley holds a PhD in religious studies, with an emphasis in theological and social ethics. She is a member of the adjunct faculty for Iliff School of Theology and an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church.
