Nick Fuentes and Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon did the thing authoritarians always do when they get too comfortable: they stopped pretending.
You know that moment when someone accidentally tells you who they really are, and then tries to laugh it off like it was “just a joke”? This wasn’t that. This was the opposite. This was them speaking plainly, on purpose, with the kind of calm certainty you usually only hear from people explaining why you “need” an extended warranty.
Their position is simple and nasty: non-Christians shouldn’t hold public office. Not “I’d rather vote for a Christian.” Not “my faith influences my values.” No. They want to ban the rest of us from serving. Right Wing Watch summed it up clearly: they agree that “only Christians should be legislators, judges, and in the executive branch.”
That’s not religious freedom. That’s a religious caste system, and it’s basically the mission statement of Christian nationalism in one ugly sentence.
What they’re actually advocating: a religious test, by force
This is the part where Christian nationalists love to wrap themselves in the Founding Fathers like a security blanket.
Cool. Let’s do that. The Founders, yes, those powdered-wig weirdos Christian nationalists cosplay as, explicitly banned religious tests for office.
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
And when states tried to pull the “swear you believe in God or you can’t serve” stunt anyway, the Supreme Court slapped it down. In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), the Court held Maryland’s religious test for office was unconstitutional.
So when Fuentes and Webbon push “Christians only,” they aren’t defending America. They’re pitching a reboot where your eligibility to govern depends on whether your soul has the right brand label.
Imagine applying for city council like it’s a nightclub.
Bouncer at the door: “Name?”
You: “Hi, I’m here to help with zoning.”
Bouncer: “Yeah, but did you accept Jesus as your personal savior?”
You: “I accepted the municipal budget.”
Bouncer: “Not good enough.”
That’s the country they’re trying to build.
The “persecution” con: power cosplaying as the victim
Here’s the propaganda trick, and it’s old as dirt: they call it “religious liberty” when they get to impose their religion on you, and “persecution” when you don’t clap.
That’s why “we’re being silenced” always translates to:
“Why can’t we control schools, courts, and lawmakers without pushback?”
And Webbon isn’t shy about the broader agenda. Right Wing Watch notes he’s tied to hardline Christian nationalist projects and rhetoric, including arguments that women shouldn’t have the right to vote and that Jews shouldn’t hold public office.
Let that sink in. This isn’t “let’s get prayer back in schools.” This is “let’s decide who counts as a full citizen.”
(Also, pro tip: the people who scream the loudest about “freedom” are often the ones trying to shrink it into a tiny gated community. HOA rules included.)
Cold, hard stats: they already have the advantage, and still want more
Let’s talk numbers, because reality is the enemy of theocracy.
62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian (and that share has been relatively stable recently). pewresearch.org
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are huge, especially young adults (Pew reports 18–24 year-olds are much more likely to be unaffiliated than older cohorts).
Even with that, Congress is wildly more Christian than the public. Pew found Christians made up 88% of the voting members of the 118th Congress, despite the general population being far less monolithic.
So let’s be blunt: this isn’t a minority faith pleading for tolerance. This is the dominant religious bloc, already overrepresented in power, demanding the law formally lock in what culture has been handing them for free.
And Americans still show bias against nonreligious candidates. Gallup has found atheists are among the least “electable” groups in these willingness-to-vote questions.
Translation: we already have an informal religious filter. Fuentes and Webbon want to turn that into official policy. They want the quiet discrimination upgraded to a loud constitutional crisis.
This isn’t “biblical values.” It’s biblical government, aka Bronze Age authoritarian fanfic
If you’re wondering where they get the audacity to demand “Christians only,” crack open the Bible. It’s loaded with theocratic fantasies.
“Purge the evil from among you” is basically Scripture’s favorite civic policy, especially in Deuteronomy.
Blasphemy laws, idol laws, “don’t tolerate the wrong worship” laws: ancient Israel was not a cute small-government experiment. It was a religious state with teeth.
So when modern theocrats say “we just want biblical principles,” imagine a Facebook Marketplace listing like:
“Lightly used theocracy. Some stoning wear and tear. No refunds. Must love coerced conformity.”
That’s the product. They’re just rebranding it with flags, hashtags, and a straight face.
Why atheists (and everyone else) should care
This isn’t only about atheists. “Non-Christians out of office” is the gateway drug to:
Christian courts that treat your rights like optional DLC
Christian schools (public ones!) that teach theology as fact
Christian law that decides which families count, which bodies belong to the state, and which beliefs are “acceptable”
And once you normalize banning one group from office, you’ve taught the country a poisonous lesson: citizenship is conditional. That’s how democracies rot. Not overnight, not with one dramatic coup, but with a slow slide from “equal rights” to “approved people only.”
If you’re waiting for Christian nationalism to announce itself with a villain cape and thunder effects, stop. It already did. It just did it in podcast-mic lighting, with a pastor nodding along.
Stay loud. Stay skeptical. And don’t let the people trying to bench half the country claim they’re the victims.
Listen to our related podcast episode:
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission
Also listen: Pondering Christianity Across the Pond - exploring Christian nationalism and theocracy
