Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series on how Trump supporters hope he helps them achieve the goals of the Seven Mountain Mandate. More articles in this series can be found here.
Of all the spheres of influence Seven Mountain Mandate (7MM) proponents hope to conquer in the second Trump administration, the business realm may be the most difficult.
On the one hand, this is ironic since Trump’s image is that of a man who has mastered the business world. He would seem to be the perfect instrument to usher in Christian supremacy over finance, economics, and industry. But there are flies in the ointment.
The primary challenge Trump presents to the goal of Christians wanting to overtake the world of business is that he, himself, is not a Christian—at least not the type of Christian who believes (or even pretends) that anything resembling Christian values should guide business ventures.
Trump scoffs at any suggestion his alleged business acumen is the result of anything other than his unique brilliance, which he believes has been bestowed on him by “good genetics.” It’s certainly not the result of divine favor, which is a foundational belief of the 7MM worldview.
The reality is few people in the world of big business share the values of Seven Mountain Mandate adherents. For every Mike Lindell or Dan Cathy building enterprises on the foundation of their understanding of Christianity, there are dozens of Elon Musks and Peter Theils—people driven by an amoral belief that economic success is the only value worth pursuing.
If Trump is going to bend to the will of any corporate titan with traditional religious values, it won’t be to one who has ever responded to a revival altar call. It’ll be to those mainline or Catholic billionaires who have created a wall of separation between their faith and their empires.
Trump is unlikely to turn the entire U.S. economic system over to Christian-supremacist businesspeople. However, he is creating an environment that allows them to operate in ways inconsistent with the values of a multi-cultural, multi-religious society.
An example can be found in a shift in regulations for government contractors. Among the flurry of executive orders he signed on his first day in office, one rescinded a Johnson-era requirement that federal contractors adhere to nondiscriminatory hiring practices.
The order, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” was a cornerstone of Trump’s war against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. It was designed to penalize federal contractors who advanced DEI through formal training programs.
Beyond that, it extended exemptions from civil rights hiring requirements to for-profit contractors previously reserved for religious non-profit organizations. In short, this means the government can award contracts to companies that discriminate against women, racialized groups, LGBTQ+ individuals and religious minorities—all under the guise of religious liberty. In essence, a religious-based business can now profit from the tax dollars of marginalized people it discriminates against.
Although the executive order only applies to government contractors, it could shift the corporate environment to extend more privileges to companies that appeal to religion in discriminatory policies. This could embolden companies to, say, restrict hiring to members of a particular church or fire an employee based on sexual identity.
Christians who hold Seven Mountain Mandate beliefs are a relatively small segment of the population. Those within that segment who operate in the business realm are even smaller. However, they are the self-proclaimed “kingdom entrepreneurs” who are funding Christian-supremacist movements like the New Apostolic Reformation. For these people, Christianity (as they understand it) isn’t just a spiritual home, it is a market strategy.
The “business mountain” is a steep climb for Seven Mountain Mandate “true believers.” Part of the challenge is that neither the Bible nor Christian tradition lends itself easily to the prosperity gospel logic needed to scale it. Even many of Trump’s Christian enablers have theological issues with using the Christian faith as justification for capitalist gain.
Regardless, the path is being cleared for 7MM “kingdom entrepreneurs” by a man at the top who, like them, has mastered the art of turning a counterfeit form of Christianity into currency for personal power and gain.
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Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
