ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (RNS) – After watching a documentary on the threat of Christian nationalism on Tuesday evening last week, members of Word Tabernacle Church, a predominantly black community about 55 miles east of Raleigh, had many questions.

Mostly, they wanted to know how to confront adherents of the movement who had so distorted their beliefs.

“What are one or two concepts that we can actually talk to people who might be shackled by that way of thinking to help them start to transition into a free space?” asked Kyle Johnson, the next generation pastor of Word Tabernacle Church, about the title.

This concern is shared by many who are grappling with an ideology deeply rooted in the heart of Republican Party politics and the candidacy of Donald Trump. Christian nationalists deride anyone outside their movement as evil and determined to eliminate Christianity from the public sphere.

The Rev. Jennifer Copeland, executive director of the North Carolina Council of Churches, which sponsored the event, offered an answer many were seeking.

“I would say the answer to the question is: Love God, love your neighbor,” he said. “If we can think of ways to have conversations with our neighbors, touching on the big themes of Scripture, reminding people that God is the God of the vulnerable, that God is always telling us to look out for the people in our communities, the most vulnerable. And then maybe you can start asking harder questions like: Do you see this policy as good or bad for the vulnerable, do you really think the minimum wage is enough for vulnerable people to support their families?

Word Tabernacle Church members hold hands and pray before watching a documentary about the rise of Christian nationalism on October 29, 2024 in Rocky Mount, N.C. RNS photo: Yonat Shimron

Church members like the 4,000-member Word Tabernacle Church want to better respond to family members, friends and neighbors who embrace Christian nationalism — the ideology that holds the United States is a country defined by Christianity and that Christians should rule. on government and other institutions – by force if necessary.

While many white evangelicals and members of non-denominational charismatic movements remain influenced by this ideology, mainline Protestants, Black churches, and some Roman Catholics are now seeking to challenge the ideology’s tenets. Church councils and interfaith groups have published resources, voter guides and educational materials on the subject. Some have purchased licenses to show documentaries such as “.MaliceDirected by Stephen Ujlaki and Christopher J. Jones, the film examines the roots of Christian nationalism leading up to the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (The documentary is streaming on multiple streaming services.)

After receiving an anonymous gift of $100,000 to fight Christian nationalism, the Rev. Jeffrey Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches, held a meeting with his fellow church council executives earlier this summer to decide how to use the gift.

“How do we humanize this? We spend a lot of time talking about it. How do we avoid demonizing people? How do we present our case in a non-academic language?” Allen said.

Fourteen council leaders applied for a mini-grant of $3,000 to $7,200 to provide programming on Christian nationalism.

The fight against Christian nationalism has become a wide-ranging effort that brings together dozens of nonprofit groups across the country, some faith-based. These include national groups such as Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Freedom, and the Interfaith Alliance.

“Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Holy War Against Democracy.” Poster courtesy of movie site

But state councils of churches and interfaith groups are based in specific places and can better address the ways Christian nationalist ideology affects local races and issues. For example, Christian nationalists may be pressuring state legislatures to increase educational funding for private Christian schools, to pass laws requiring prayer in schools, or to display the Ten Commandments outside public buildings.

Their local work can help people of faith make connections between a national ideology that lacks a recognized leader and the way that ideology is implemented in their own states.

They do this not to argue with their rivals, but to talk to each other.

“People in the room already think Christian nationalism is a problem,” Copeland said. “What they are most grateful for is being in a room full of people like them, and often feeling like they are the only ones who think that way.”

The North Carolina Council of Churches sponsored seven screenings of the documentary “Bad Faith” across the state, with a discussion forum following the screening. Copeland often invited Duke University historian Nancy MacLean to join him in talks with church groups because understanding Christian nationalism requires a historical and political understanding of the rise of the far right.

Word Tabernacle Church members also appreciated the event, which was livestreamed to 300 members at home. Founded in 2005 as a Southern Baptist-affiliated congregation, the church is no longer affiliated with the denomination. As such, it is not a member of the state’s Council of Churches, which consists of the denomination’s 18 congregations. But pastor James Gailliard, a former Democratic state legislator, said he wants to work more closely with the council.

Lorenza Johnson of Rocky Mount, N.C., a member of Word Tabernacle Church, offered some thoughts after watching the movie “Bad Faith.” RNS photo by Yonat Shimron

Church member Lorenza Johnson, who attended the screening herself, said she appreciated what she learned and felt moved to do a better job.

“We can be happy here, we can scream here, we can be safe and we can go to heaven,” said Johnson, who lives in Rocky Mount. “But in reality there is another generation that will be here. “And if we don’t discover the power of voting and if we don’t get the right people into office, then we might go to heaven, but while we’re here we might be living in hell.”

Although most of the efforts of state church councils would conclude after the presidential election, some other churches decided to continue.

The Wisconsin Council of Churches, for example, is preparing a sermon series for Lent, which begins March 5, and is soliciting hymns, songs and other artwork that address ways to counter Christian nationalism.

“People often look at these major election cycles and think, ‘OK, we’ll pay attention to this and when the election cycle is over, we’ll all calm down,'” he said. The Rev. Kerri Parker is executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches. “We need to pay full attention to these moral and ethical issues.”

The Arizona Faith Network, an interfaith group, will also continue researching the issue in 2025, focusing on religious nationalism in other faith traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

Allen said he thinks these efforts at the congregational level may be the most meaningful.

“People who feel alone and isolated and connect with people who manipulate them,” Allen said. “I think the church can offer an alternative to that—an authentic community that aims to give rather than take anything from.”

(This story was reported with support from the Stiefel Foundation for Free Thought.)