I wrote recently about how Christian nationalists are trying to force the state of Maine to pay religious school tuition. But that’s not their  ultimate goal; establishing America as a Christian nation through a constitutional amendment is.

In response, several Christians have told me that Christian nationalism does not represent their view of Christianity.

Christian nationalists are not your average Christian. Mainstream Christians see Christianity as a positive social good within a democratic government. However, Christian nationalists want to replace our democracy with a theocracy based on their interpretation of the Bible, an understanding not shared with mainstream Christians.

The idea began in earnest in 1864. The American Reformed Presbyterians formed the National Reform Association to pass a constitutional amendment declaring America was a Christian nation. They had limited success in 1873, but Congress was so alarmed they may gain a national foothold that it tabled the debate indefinitely.

In the early 1960s, R.J. Rushdoony wrote: “Intellectual Schizophrenia: Culture, Crisis & Education” (1961). One review called it a “prophetic book (that) predicted the (anti-Christian) humanist system (would) only get worse” and public education divorced from their interpretation of the Christian God would create the “moral barbarism we have today.” The review also praised Rushdoony’s “Messianic Character of American Education,” warning Christians to take their children out of public schools and provide them with a genuine Christian education. Roshdooney’s “genuine Christian education” includes teaching children the Biblical claims that, “The death penalty (is) not only for murder but also for propagators of all forms of idolatry, open homosexuals, adulterers, practitioners of witchcraft and blasphemers.”

Rushdoony’s son-in-law Gary North encouraged Christian nationalists to use religious freedom as a ruse to “gain independence for Christian schools.” The goal is to indoctrinate young people and motivate them to build a “Bible-based social, political and religious order (that) denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.” North further writes the ultimate goal of Christian nationalists is to gain complete control of Congress. Once accomplished, new laws denying citizenship to those who refuse to submit to “His Church’s covenant (of) baptism and holy communion” can be written.

North’s reasoning is about as absurd as it gets. He argues since every denomination doesn’t allow unbelievers to vote in church elections, “Why should they be allowed to vote in civil elections in a covenanted Christian nation?

North believes “anyone outside of the Christian faith is in bondage,” and religious freedom is the exclusive right of fundamentalist Christians. Therefore, a Christian government that implores non-Christians to convert is “not oppressive but liberating.”

However, many religious and secular opponents of Christian nationalism expose Christian nationalists for using religious freedom to gain the support of and momentum for their movement from as many Catholic and Protestant clergy, laypeople, and politicians, as possible. Should Christian nationalists gain control of Congress, which is rapidly occurring, mainstream Christian followers will find their religious freedom, something Christian nationalists claim is the purview of fundamentalist Christians only, has evaporated.

Christian nationalists further undermined American democracy during the communist and atheist “Red Scare” of the 1950s. Billy Graham, a Christian Nationalist, used fearmongering to convince the Eisenhower administration that changing the unifying national motto from “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one) to the instantly divisive “In God We Trust” would show the world America is a God-fearing nation. Graham was also instrumental in inserting “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance.

Unfortunately, these two words not only divided the country into believers and non-believers, they also granted Christians supremacy over all non-Christians.

In 2005 the Congressional Prayer Caucus, an official caucus of the U.S. Congress, was formed to promote America’s (so-called) Judeo-Christian heritage. In addition, Project Blitz, an arm of the CPC, promotes Christian nationalist politicians in every state, from local selectmen boards, state senators, state representatives, and governors to members of Congress. Twelve states, including Maine, created a Legislative Prayer Caucus to advance Christian nationalism in their state.

The Christian nationalist’s machinations to control Congress are at once hidden and open to anyone who cares to look. Their actions appear, by design, to be benign. But, look a little deeper, and their insidious, dangerous attack on American democracy becomes apparent.

How successful have the Christian nationalists been? According to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national First Amendment watchdog organization, “More than a quarter of the members of Congress taking shelter for their lives while a seditious mob rampaged through the heart of our democracy ended up siding with the insurrectionists to try to deny Joe Biden his lawfully won presidency.”

Tom Waddell is president of the Maine Chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. He welcomes comments at president@ffrfmaine.org and ffrfmaine.org.