Christian Supremacy and U.S. Politics
An interview with theologian, André Gagne
André Gagné is a theologian, university professor and former pastor. His new book, American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times, provides a comprehensive overview of a major threat to a pluralist democracy in the United States: the New Apostolic Reformation, also known as the NAR.
Much has been made of Christian nationalism in the past several years. Although there are many definitions, the use of the term “Christian nationalism” reflects what many people across the country, and even the globe, have noticed: the rise in organized religious extremism as a threat to meaningful democracy. For many Christian nationalists, there is no separation of church and state, and the church should not only be the main crafter of policy and civic life, but also control the administration of all social welfare and education.
The NAR has grown to become one of the major exponents of this ideology – the idea that a particular group of Christians should rule or have great influence on all aspects of society. What marks off NAR from other Christian nationalist groups is, firstly, that the NAR is not nationalist but globalist. The NAR is a global, Christian movement whose leaders aim to restructure and transform the society, culture, religion and politics in the United States, and those of the world’s nations, to fit their authoritarian vision. Although NAR leaders care very much about having power in the United States, their goal is to dominate every nation. In such a vision, NAR leaders act as a night council controlling what ways of living, and what lives, are acceptable. As major NAR leader Ché Ahn said, those Christians who align with him are God’s “legislative body of the Kingdom of God.”
Unlike most Christian churches and denominations, it is easier to understand the threat the NAR poses by looking at it not as a political Christian movement but instead as an authoritarian, anti-democratic movement within a religion. Its leaders teach that demonic forces occupy most of U.S. political and cultural institutions, from events at your local library to the Supreme Court. This includes other religious traditions and even other Christian churches – any group that disagrees with them. And they assert that their favored policies and politicians fail only because of demonic influence that derailed the divine’s chosen leaders and laws.
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