Rep. Jared Huffman of California argues in his new book “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism,” released August 18, that Christian nationalism has become America’s most dangerous political movement and has only grown more powerful since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Huffman, 62, the only current member of Congress to publicly identify as a non-believer, contends the United States has a “Bible-sized blind spot” when it comes to recognizing the threat posed by what he describes as a theocratic insurgency now embedded across government, military, and religious institutions.
The congressman’s alarm was crystallized on January 6, 2021, when he was locked in his office during the Capitol riot. What struck him was not just the violence but the explicit religious framing: rioters carrying crosses, shofars, and “Appeal to Heaven” flags, praying with hands aloft as police officers were attacked. “This Christian nationalist movement that I had seen growing so much stronger and more militant during my time in Congress erupted in plain view,” Huffman said in an interview with The Guardian published today. Yet, he noted, many fellow members of Congress “didn’t even seem to notice the religious elements of the group that was trying to kill them.”
That disconnect became personal when Huffman learned what happened inside the House January 6 select committee. The committee’s “Purple Team,” tasked with investigating right-wing radicalism, meticulously documented the role of charismatic evangelical networks—particularly the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)—in radicalizing the shock troops of the insurrection. But then, according to Huffman, vice-chair Liz Cheney demanded the entire section be excised, arguing that focusing on Christian nationalism would “distract” from Trump’s personal culpability and alienate conservative Christian voters.
Huffman identifies three distinct but volatile subcultures now unified under the Christian nationalist umbrella. The largest and most politically potent is NAR, a decentralized network of self-declared “apostles” and “prophets” who reject traditional denominational authority in favor of direct divine revelation. NAR figures cast Trump as a modern King Cyrus—a flawed, pagan ruler anointed by God to save his chosen people—providing theological permission for millions of evangelicals to overlook his moral failings. The second faction comprises “Rad Trads,” radical traditionalist Catholics who resent Vatican II reforms and believe Catholic moral authority should govern the state; sympathizers include Vice President JD Vance and strategist Steve Bannon. The third group, “Theobros,” are Protestant Reconstructionists led by Pastor Doug Wilson of Moscow, Idaho, who advocate for a system where the Apostle’s Creed is codified into the Constitution and non-Christians are stripped of voting rights.
The reach of Christian nationalism into government institutions has become concrete. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosts monthly “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service” at the Pentagon, where he has invited controversial Christian nationalist preachers as speakers. In February 2026, Hegseth invited Pastor Doug Wilson to deliver a sermon at the Pentagon service—a visible symbol of what Huffman calls the institutionalization of Christian nationalism within the military.
Huffman frames the stakes as existential. He argues that Christian nationalism represents “the unraveling of a 250-year truce between fundamentalist Christians and the Enlightenment.” The movement’s ultimate targets are not just religious freedom or church-state separation but the scientific institutions and knowledge systems the nation depends on to address crises like pandemics and climate change. He points to examples like Representative Mary Miller of Illinois, who began her congressional career in 2021 by quoting Adolf Hitler to a rally and later dismissed solar panels because God “controls the sun, and the sun controls the weather.”
Huffman founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus with Representative Jamie Raskin and has received support from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Chaplain Father Pat Conroy. He contends that defeating Christian nationalism will require a broad coalition of moderate Christians, non-Christians, and secular Americans willing to confront what he calls “Christian privilege”—a cultural taboo that protects home-grown religious radicalism from the scrutiny instantly applied to minority or foreign faiths.
The congressman invokes a historical warning: the collapse of the Weimar Republic in the 1930s, when centrist and left-wing parties failed to overcome their differences and left the political lane wide open for Hitler’s rise. “That’s absolutely how the United States could unravel and evolve into fascism—and Christo-fascism in our case,” he said.
Sources
- The Guardian — Huffman’s full interview on Christian nationalism, the January 6 committee’s excised section, and the three subcultures within the movement
- Amazon and W.W. Norton & Company — Book publication date and title confirmation (August 18, 2026)
- PBS NewsHour, The Hill, CNN — Details on Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer services and invitation to Pastor Doug Wilson
- Religion News — Context on Huffman’s book argument and Christian nationalism threat
