STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

An Appeal to Heaven flag featuring a green pine tree has hung outside the office of Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House.

That flag has become a symbol of Christian revolution—of Christian nationalist revolution, to be specific. The flag was carried by those who mobilized people to flock to the Capitol to try to get the election overturned on Jan. 6.

It was flown by those mobilizing churches to get President Trump reelected in 2024. And it’s become a symbol of a political ideology that purports to have Christians push their own political figure, party or ideology at the expense of American freedom, including women’s right to vote.

They believe the United States should be governed by their idea of Christians using Christian values in opposition to the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and separation of church and state. Every American should be Christian or, at least, governed by Christians, they believe.

If you don’t conform, if you don’t look right or fall in line, you could get shot.

Project 2025, which has guided much of the Trump administration, aims to infuse biblical principles across the federal government. Adherents claim to love Jesus but defend the privileges of the wealthy, white, American-born while chipping away the rights of brown and black people, the LBGQT community and those of other faiths.

And one of the key figures in modern Christian Nationalism is Doug Wilson, who wants to transform the college town of Moscow, Idaho—and Idaho itself--into a Christian theocracy in an effort to bring about Christ’s kingdom on earth.

Idaho solutions, a Twin Falls-based nonprofit focusing on policy and community engagement, brought Heath Druzin, an Idaho journalist who won Edward R. Murrow Award for his 2022 podcast “Extremely American,” to The Community Library and the Senior Connection this past week to shed some light on Christian nationalism.

The turn-away crowds indicated people were eager to learn.

While Christian nationalism has been at the forefront of news reports in recent years, it is not new, Druzin told Library program director Martha Williams, who moderated the conversation.

Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest based near Detroit, was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience in the 1930s. He attacked Jewish bankers,  deflected blame for Kristallnacht to the Jews and supported some Nazi Germany policies in his quest to create a Christian nationalism. He was accused of stoking incitement bordering on civil war after calling for a march on Washington, and his movement fizzled after an unsuccessful plot to overthrow the U.S. government.

The rise of the Christian Right led by Jerry Fallwell and others in the 1970s and ‘80s embodied many Christian nationalist ideas, Druzin said, but today’s movement is more organized.

“Christian nationalists want the government to be explicitly Christian with no separation of church and state,” he said. “They want a theocracy, an explicitly patriarchal society where women should be in traditional roles and would not be able to vote. They don’t like the pluralistic society or melting pot. They don’t think diversity is our strength.”

Most Christians are not Christian nationalists, Druzin said.

“This is a movement that doesn’t represent most Christians. It has a very narrow view of how things should be. The LDS are out—they’re heretics. So are Catholics and anyone else who are not extremely conservative Baptist or Calvinist.”

Christians nationalists don’t like democracy, Druzin said. They believe that only their type of Christians should hold office and they know that if they were to put their candidates up for a vote or their ideas up for a vote Americans wouldn’t go along. Consequently, they rely on President Trump to appoint people like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to positions of influence where they can get their policies enacted.

It’s a small movement, although dark corners of Twitter make it seem larger, Druzin said. About 20 percent of Americans are receptive to it, according to Indiana University sociology professor Andrew Whitehead, who co-authored “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States” and “American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church.”

But Christian nationalists are highly organized.

“They’re loud and they’re smart. They know how to get people in high places,” Druzin said.

One of the major influencers is Doug Wilson, whose Christ Church in Moscow Idaho promotes a patriarchal fundamentalist ideology.

He oversees a Christian industrial complex, including a publishing house, Logos School and a college. He planted the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches throughout the nation to change the culture.

A critic of the American public school system, he founded the Association of Classical Christian Schools, whose 500-plus member schools push a classical education comprised of grammar, logic, rhetoric, Latin and Greek. The idea: for children to grow up in the system from preschool to college.

He preaches biblical patriarchy, in which wives should submit to their husbands and leadership roles in the church should be restricted to men.

Unlike some White Christian nationalists, Wilson says he’s not antisemitic or racist. But he has some curious neo-Confederate views, preaching that Abolitionists were evil and co-writing a pamphlet that says that slavery produced a genuine affection between the races.

Moscow, a liberal town of 25,000 people and home to the University of Idaho, flies a mix of “Everyone is Welcome” flags and Christian nationalist flags downtown.

Wilson’s stated goal is to make it a Christian town, Druzin said. He’s bought up the town’s historic buildings, now owning 20 percent of downtown. And he’s built a school and university there, but he has been unsuccessful at getting a candidate elected to City Council.

“He’s creating an alternate world to replace the one he doesn’t like, Druzin said.

Wilson’s movement is influencing politics in Idaho through such means as a Christian nationalist lobbying group called the Idaho Family Policy Center, Druzin said. The Idaho Freedom Foundation has evolved from a libertarian organization to one that’s more Christian nationalist, Druzin said. And, while there are no Christ Church members in the legislature, there is an increasing number of legislators who are Christian nationalists or in tune with Christian nationalist Ideas.

Wilson’s influence has helped roll back LBGQT rights, perhaps being on the verge of repealing same sex marriage, he said. And it was a major force behind school vouchers as a way for Christian nationalists to gain their ultimate goal of ending public school and replacing public schools with theirs.

“Doug’s done a lot to normalize these ideas, making legislators scared to vote against them,” Druzin said.

Nationally, Bible verses and the Jerusalem Cross are showing up on military ads and soldiers’ helmets. Pete Hegseth has one of those tattoos, which is a symbol from the Crusades. He’s a member of one of Wilson’s churches, he’s an admirer of Wilson and has read his books, and his kids go to one of Wilison’s schools.

So to become head of one of the biggest departments is huge for that movement.

“Christian nationalists are obsessed with power. So, to open a church next to the hall of power, to have the head of one of the government’s biggest departments attend church there, is huge for that movement,” Druzin said.

Project 2025 is essentially a Christian Nationalist blueprint for government, Druzin said. Tom Homan wrote a section, DOGE was a Project 2025 idea and so was the ICE movement.

“I think you might have seen some ICE activity without Project 2025, but Project 2025 gives Trump the structure to do it. It’s a short cut. He doesn’t need to get into the details. He has people to do it for him,” Druzin said.

Wilson is constantly writing and getting ideas out there and mainstreamed, Druzin said. And young people are getting radicalized by Christian nationalist ideas.

“Some Christian nationalists are increasingly calling for violence. They’re talking about throwing political opponents in jail, even calling for executions. The movement is getting louder, and the Trump administration is not rejecting it. Elon Musk’s X opened the wild wild west. You’ve got guys straight up praising Hitler and some of them are Christian nationalists.”

The antisemitism is growing; some Christian nationalists are Holocaust deniers.

“Doug condemns antisemitism, but he doesn’t think Jews should hold office because they’re not Christians. Others say synagogue should be outlawed.”

There’s a tendency not to take Christian Nationalism seriously. People say, “These ideas are scary but do they really matter?”

“Partof the problem in America is that we think institutions will hold no matter what,” Druzin said. “We think these ideas would never take hold because it’s America. But we’re looking at increasing antisemitism and radicalization of people in the movement—it’s accelerating and there are people in government who hold these ideas. I’m very concerned that they’re chipping away at what’s acceptable. And it’s going to get worse.”