The Christian Nationalist Manifesto

I've mentioned Project 2025 a time or two before, and fairly recently at that, but we haven't delved very deep into the beast and it's high time we did, especially in light of a recent find. The Bucks County Beacon has uncovered a document in their research of Project 2025 which claims as an editor one of the main actors behind the project. This document is a manifesto, and it is about as chilling as anything I've covered on When/If, falling just shy of the severity of the climate crisis. It reads like the founding document for Gilead, with all the blood to be spilled just below the surface. Should anything resembling this document's wishes come to pass in the United States, it imperils everything we stand for as leftists, and ends the failed experiment of this nation by replacing it with something far worse.

So today, let's dig properly into Project 2025 and this manifesto, which is titled The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel. Foreboding, yes? Just wait.

The Threat of Project 2025

I've stated before that Trump is not my primary concern when it comes to the government as a threat to our existence, and Project 2025 is a good example of why. Ostensibly meant as the scaffolding for Trump's remodel of the federal government come his probable re-election in November, Project 2025 is the dream of hundreds of salivating fascists, eager to utilize Trump's cult of personality to remake the US government into an institution that feeds the rich, white, and male population of America–and virtually no one else.

When read without much imagination, the goals of Project 2025 don't seem too far off from what we might consider a "normal" Trump presidency: mass deportation of immigrants; total abortion bans and criminalization for providers; anti-anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination laws; the dismantling of the EPA or at least virtually all regulation and climate policy–including dismantling the NOAA; mass dismissal of federal workers at all levels so that loyalists can be plugged in; mass expansion of presidential powers. None of it is good, but we lived through the first Trump presidency, and a lot of it was just bonkers and fumbling, right? Right?

Project 2025 expands on all of Trump's strengths and ensures that his weaknesses are bolstered. Steps will be taken to make it more difficult for GOP candidates to lose future elections–assuming they bother with fielding someone other than Trump, also assuming we still have elections. And I'll remind you that Trump is nearing 80, not in the best of health, and by no means necessary for these plans to continue. In fact, I think there's reason to believe Trump would be a moderating figure for some of the more extreme measures of Project 2025 and its designers. He does not have the deep convictions that his lackeys or manipulators have, and is instead only concerned with his own ego and vindication. While he's absolutely willing to use the Bible as a prop, I am not so sure he's willing to go through with everything that the more fanatical members are seeking, which we will now discuss.

The Statement on Christian Nationalism

I want to be absolutely clear here: this is a document as complete and revolutionary as the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution–and I don't mean any of those words positively. This is a document that would remake the United States so completely that they would probably change its name. One of the only freedoms enumerated in this document is the freedom to worship Christ through whichever denomination you desire. This is not some middling, lukewarm sect of Christianity who are content banning abortion and gay marriage–though that is plenty bad. This isn't even a new kind of evangelical, bent on proselytizing through the conquest of the United States. No. Insofar as we would believe them at their word, these Christians seek power, and only power.

The construction and administration of the state as told by this document and its authors is, by word at least, entirely subordinate to Christ. There is nothing outside of that judgment or authority, and all power on Earth is issued forth from it.

WE DENY that there is any objective standard by which to discern justice from injustice outside of God’s revelation, written on the heart and most perfectly revealed in Scripture. We deny that faithful civil authorities may rule autonomously from the rule of Christ.

We affirm that in His mediatorial rule, Christ rules by His Spirit and Word through the saints in their earthly authority.

 WE DENY any theology which would seek to segregate sacred aspects of life, where God’s Word is authoritative, and supposedly secular aspects of life, where the Christian must operate by a standard other than God’s Word.

There is no secular sphere in this nation. There is no secular authority. This means that any and all power and law come from God, and that power is meted out on Earth by those deemed worthy by God–and who decides that is, of course, the folks who wrote this manifesto. Among the most benign of this document's declarations is the denial of any international governing body. I mean that. Our departure from WHO, the UN, and NATO is one of the least concerning things I see.

A Godly Dictatorship

Article XVI in the manifesto lays out the "legal" groundwork for how this state will begin to come about, as well as ensuring that once created it never backslides into secularity. The manifesto clearly states that civil disobedience can be a godly act in the face of "idolatry" of the government. Indeed, civil disobedience is required of a good citizen rather than following any law contrary to God, and magistrates of earthly law are compelled to disobey orders from higher civil authorities if those orders countermand God's law. This sort of document, once popularized, would foment a collapse of our local, state, and eventually federal government–as these people have been infiltrating systems for years. It's barely two paragraphs in the manifesto, but it's how they gain a foothold and how they keep it.

The last article in the manifesto reads as follows:

WE AFFIRM that the Church and the state each possess their own sphere of influence. For example, church officials ought not to write or enforce civil laws in their capacity as church officials, and civil officials ought not to administer church ordinances or dictate doctrine in their capacity as civil officials, even while both spheres are under the absolute authority of Christ.

WE DENY that the separation of authority between the Church and the State means there must be a separation of God and the state. We further deny that there can ever be a separation between religion and state., as everyone possesses views about ultimate reality, purpose, and cause, which inform their morality and preferred policies. We deny the idea that a nation’s laws do not impose morality and religion.

In effect, a civil magistrate can zone residential areas all they want, but once you get beyond that you're on God's turf, as they see that laws enforce morality and morality is the jurisdiction of God. With this, there is no more room for any other kind of government than a Christian one. They are really doubling down on the end of secularity.

In the land dreamt of by these writers, the foundational laws of the government are the "second table" of the Ten Commandments, which oversee human interaction. "Proportional punishment" is called for in response to crimes. Crimes include, of course, abortion–which is homicide, per them–and the corruption of youth through perversion–anything remotely deviating from straight and cis presentation. I can only assume a nation that cleaves to the Old Testament will be Old Testament about its carceral system.

A notable carve-out that would greatly impact lives is that there is no such thing as civil charity or education in this government: there is no welfare, no housing program, no social security, and no education provided by the state. These are the realms of the church and the family. This is another example of how Christian nationalists will quietly dismantle everything we know: the above ends the lives of women in the public sphere. This document, following the Bible, keeps women in the household, raising children, while men do the work of running the country and everything else. It's also worth noting that anyone who is not deserving of charity according to God (and this is my assumption–it's not in the document) would not receive it. So no housing or aid for any LGBTQIA+ people.

Boiled Down

At the end of the day, this is just a statement of intent–their Godly kingdom is not exactly in the offing. Whether it comes to pass is the result of our actions and our opponents actions today and tomorrow. I don't think that, if you're waffling, this is a reason to participate in the upcoming election–we are still weighing a fairly authoritarian octogenarian who is enabling genocide against an egomaniacal billionaire who has not, as yet, enabled a genocide. This is not a choice we should have to make–it is indicative of a broken system that we should be working toward replacing. However, I think we should be well aware that while we craft our own utopian ideas, so too do our enemies, and their utopias mean to kill us.

If there is going to be a capital CW Civil War, rather than our nation just breaking apart and fighting in spats of regional conflict, I think it occurs on these grounds: a nation of zealots trying to take from a nation of people just trying to fucking live. We should not cede any ground to them ahead of time. I saw this constantly, but rally your communities–or create them. Support one another. People who have their needs met by each other are not likely to betray each other. The world the Christian Nationalists want is a peaceful one gained by the death or subjugation of anyone who disagrees with them; we must be in a position to fight back.