Are Christian nationalists targeting women's right to vote?

Politico

14 hours ago

Happy Friday. Thanks for keeping up with us! As always, reach out with thoughts, questions, offerings: [e-mail] and [e-mail]. This week we examine the theocratic, patriarchal movement making waves in Washington.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a CNN interview of his pastor, Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, writing 'All of Christ for All of Life.' In the video, church members discussed why they believe women shouldn't be allowed to vote — a tenet of Wilson's main church, Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho.
In the CNN segment, Wilson, who founded a network of churches in the late 1990s called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC, said 'women are the kind of people that people come out of.' He has written several books on marriage, masculinity and childrearing, along with blog posts with titles like 'The Lost Virtues of Sexism.' He has referred to various women as 'small-breasted biddies,' 'lumberjack dykes' and 'cunts' and extolled the 'benefits' of slavery.
The pastor's views are coming under scrutiny as he gains influence within the Republican Party. Last year, he declared that his church was seeking to make inroads with 'numerous evangelicals who will be present both in and around the Trump administration.' Since then, he's appeared at congressional events, cheering when Hegseth — one of his congregants in Tennessee — was confirmed. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought also has ties to the church.
Christian nationalism is the belief that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and should remain so in the future — and that our laws should reflect Christian values. A 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center found that half of U.S. adults think the Bible should have some influence on federal laws, even though the First Amendment prohibits the government from 'establishing a religion.'
The public support for Christian nationalism from high-ranking members of the White House cabinet is alarming for civil rights advocates, political scientists and Christians alike who say it could impact policy, further gender inequality and promote fear among women.
'To have the Secretary of Defense repost this message is especially worrisome ... because it resonates so strongly with this notion of threat. What role does Pete Hegseth see the military playing in carrying out, in enforcing, in reinforcing this Christian nationalist understanding of women's submission?' Traci West, professor emerita of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School, tells Women Rule.
A 2024 study from the Public Religion Research Institute found that a 'key aspect often linked to Christian nationalism is adherence to patriarchal ideals.' According to their research, 33 percent of Americans agree that 'in a truly Christian family, the husband is the head of the household, and his wife submits to his leadership,' while 51 percent of Christian nationalism sympathizers and nearly seven in 10 adherents to Christian nationalism agree with that statement.
Also, 'there is a very, very high correlation between support for Christian nationalism, and those who voted for Trump in 2024,' says Diana Orcés, director of research at PRRI.
According to Samuel Perry, a professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma, with Hegseth and others in the Trump administration, there's a 'reassertion that 'No, patriarchy is not just an option, I think it's a good thing.''
Perry says that the Christian nationalist ideology has already influenced Trump administration policy, particularly regarding childbearing and fertility.
He says that data shows that 'conservatives, even when they're quite pronatatalists,' i.e. promote having more babies, 'are actually the least likely to support things like paid leave and childcare, even tax credits — which, he says could make it 'more difficult for women to go back to work.'
Jared Longshore, a minister of Wilson's church, tells Women Rule he personally supports President Donald Trump and is 'very grateful for what he's doing. … I'm certainly grateful for what he did with Supreme Court justices. … I know Pete has done things' related to women in combat roles.
'Scripture calls the husband the head and then the woman the body,' Longshore says. 'When you hear that the husband has a hierarchy in the home, we should think in the same way that we think about the relationship between our heads and our bodies.'
Longshore says repealing the 19th Amendment is 'not something I'm pressing for, but when asked would I support that, I said yes, I would. … from the beginning of our nation up until the time of the suffrage movement, we had one vote per household and I think that would be a good thing.'
Women Rule reached out to Hegseth to ask if he supported his church's belief that women should not vote or participate in government.
In response, Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement, 'The Secretary is a proud member of a church affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was founded by Pastor Doug Wilson. The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson's writings and teachings.'
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on the move
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