How do we make sense of it?

In 2006 I created a seminar on the dangers of the religious right. Most people thought the movement had lost its powerful influence, but here we are 18 years later. Today we remember the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol which then-President Trump still supports. How do we make sense of what has happened in recent years?

Whenever you see The Heritage Foundation mentioned in the news, pay attention. Founded 50 years ago, and backed by billionaires like the Koch Brothers and the Coors family, its co-founder Paul Weyrich also founded the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell in 1979. Weyrich’s influence helped merge the ultra-conservative political movement with conservative evangelical Christians to elect Ronald Reagan – and ultimately, Donald Trump.

Their current, and most dangerous, proposal is called Project 2025 which the Associated Press describes this way:

“Trump-era conservatives want to gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing.”

The Heritage Foundation and other movement leaders use the fear of “losing our country” (as they say it) and the anger people have to gain power. They motivate people to act in ways that build that power. When people become convinced their fear and anger is godly and their power is God-given and their movement “on God’s side” and doing God’s will, it becomes truly dangerous. That’s where we are today.