The week after the November presidential election, I found myself walking in Washington, D.C., with journalist Katherine Stewart as we reflected on the results and what was coming. Fortunately, everyone can soon walk with her in her forthcoming book Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy.
For over a decade, Stewart has been a must-read author in understanding Christian Nationalism and efforts to establish a fundamentalist version of Christianity in public schools, government laws, and beyond. She established that reputation with pieces published in numerous outlets and her books The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children and The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. The documentary film God & Country that came out last year was based on The Power Worshippers. So I was excited to see her returning with a new book, which is, unfortunately, all the more timely and necessary as it lands less than a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House with the support of tech billionaires and Christian Nationalist “prophets.”
In Money, Lies, and God, officially out Feb. 18, Stewart takes us on a journey to the various places she’s been going across the country and in other nations. Like events of the ReAwaken America Tour, Moms for Liberty, Family Research Council, NatCon, Faith Wins, and more. Outside some true believers and the keynote speakers, few people spend as much time at rightwing conferences as Stewart! As one who has also attended and reported from some such events, I’m impressed with all the places she’s gone to put together this book and the ways she helps the rest of us understand without having to attend. She takes us along for the ride, to hear what she heard and learn what she saw. She also interviewed key leaders building the movement along with those opposing it and targeted by it. Altogether it creates what she fittingly calls “a collection of dispatches from the front lines of the current assault on American democracy.”
“As a reporter, I like to look first and theorize later. I am interested in facts, not polemics — though I won’t stand in the way of facts when they lead to pointed conclusions,” Stewart explains early on in Money, Lies, and God. “My goal has been to record what I have seen and heard from the leaders and supporters of the antidemocratic movement in the auditoriums and breakout rooms at national conferences, around the table at informal gatherings of activists, in the living rooms of the rank and file, and in the pews of hard-line churches. The story features a rowdy mix of personalities: ‘apostles’ of Jesus, atheist billionaires, reactionary Catholic theologians, pseudo-Platonic intellectuals, woman-hating opponents of ‘the gynocracy,’ high-powered evangelical networkers, Jewish devotees of Ayn Rand, pronatalists preoccupied with a dearth of (White) babies, COVID truthers, and battalions of ‘spirit warriors’ who appear to be inventing a new style of religion even as they set about undermining democracy at its foundations.”
If that doesn’t make you want to read the book, I don’t know what else to say! It’s not just that Stewart trekked to those places, reached out to various people, and listened. She’s also a talented writer, weaving together narratives and research to help us understand how our politics and public expressions of faith became what we see today.
Particularly helpful in Stewart’s book is how she explores various groups of people — with different and even at times divergent goals — behind this antidemocratic movement. So she introduces us to various wealthy funders bankrolling conferences, organizations, and campaigns. She takes us to meet the various ideological figures fighting against “wokeism,” critical race theory, gender equality, public health measures, and government that helps all the people. And she brings us around to hear from various “prophets” and other figures in the New Apostolic Reformation engaged in a political “spiritual war.” Money. Lies. God.
Supporters pray before Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, on Oct. 13, 2024. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)
Some of the figures you’ll meet in the book are familiar, and others you’ll likely learn about for the first time. But you will learn, while also finding the book interesting and disturbing. Although Stewart wrapped up her work on this book last year, it lands at such an important time with the start of the second Trump administration fueled by tech oligarchs, ideologues seeking to undo the administrative state, and Christian Nationalistic adherents. Many books will come later to try to explain the election results, but this book goes deeper by helping us understand the years and decades that led to our current moment.
Stewart mostly focuses her reporting on how we got here, but she ends the book with steps for moving forward. Despite all she has seen and discovered, she still has hope. But it’s hope grounded in practical, action-oriented steps. This isn’t a Pollyanna approach. She admits that “there is no getting around the grim facts about the threat facing the nation.” Yet, she quickly adds, “If we take the long view, I continue to think other facts can give us some grounds for optimism.” After reading through the first 12 chapters, you’ll be ready to join Stewart as she lays out some next steps in her conclusion. Because that’s the work we need to do now. And this is a book we need now.
Money, Lies, and God officially releases on Feb. 18 but is already available for preorder. So make plans to read it soon. And Stewart’s generously agreed to send one of our paid subscribers an autographed copy of Money, Lies, and God after it comes out next month, so upgrade today and make sure you’re eligible for that drawing.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
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