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I'm no fan of the horror genre, but Goldberg's matter-of-fact
report on the meteoric rise and exploding political clout of the
religious right is the scariest book I've read in a long time.
And it's all the more frightening because it's true.

The term “Christian nationalism” itself comes from the old
canard, endlessly repeated by the religious right, that America
was founded as a “Christian nation”. At the core of this movement is
dominionism - the idea that Christians have the right, indeed the
duty - to rule over non-Christians. Many people believe that
these people just want balance, an equal voice. After all, they
like to paint themselves as victims of liberal and secular
“bias”. But the Christian nationalists don't want equality, they
want nothing less than dominance, the total control of American
society. In the words of one prominent Christian nationalist:

“ ...It is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to
accomplish...” (1)

That's right. World conquest. Beginning with the United States of America.

And how are Christian nationalists to achieve this conquest of
America? The vangard is to be the first generation of
homeschooled children, many of whom are just starting to come of
age. Michael Farris, founder and president of evangelical Patrick
Henry College, calls them “Generation Joshua” after Moses’ bloody
lieutenant and successor, and they are to be the political storm
troopers, unscathed by secularism, who will gain power to subsume
everything in America to their version of Christianity.

With the troops ready for battle, Goldberg lays out their
strategy. Central to this has been the near-complete takeover of
the Republican Party — which could now be more accurately called
the American Christian Nationalist Party (ACNP) — by a low-key but
effective grassroots organizing campaign. And the nucleus of this
effort has been the “megachurches”, loosely defined as churches
with more than 2,000 members. Working largely “under the radar”,
these organizations operate as de facto tax-exempt auxiliaries of
the Republican/ACNP Party, with their pastors serving as party
apparatchiks, delivering political harangues in the guise of
“sermons”.

The core strategy has been the use of “wedge issues”, including
but not limited to homophobia, anti-evolutionism dressed up in
its new clothes as “intelligent design”, the sexual abstinence
industry, so-called “faith-based” social services, and of course,
the takeover of the courts by right-wing ideologues.

Goldberg credits these wedge issues, particularly the gay-rights
initiatives on ballots in Ohio and other states, with turning the
tide for Bush at the last minute in the 2004 election. And, if
this book has any real faults, it is that she ignores the
overwhelming evidence for massive election fraud in 2004 in Ohio
and elsewhere. To cite just one example, by the official election
results, black support for Bush in Ohio managed to increase by
several percentage points over 2000, contrary to all polls, and
despite every possible means pulled from the bag of dirty tricks
by the Ohio Republican machine to suppress the black vote. And
there is no mention of the unprecidented and unexplained
discrepancy between the Election Day 2004 exit polls, which
indicated a solid Kerry victory, and the reported official returns.
Did Bush really pick up literally millions of votes “under the
radar”? I suspect that Goldberg, like many progessives, is afraid
of being tagged with the “conspiracy theorist” label.

So what can be done? In the book's final chapter Goldberg offers
some suggestions for those who want to preserve a secular,
pluralistic society, though she offers little optimism,
especially in the short term, and at one point frankly states,
“I'm not sure that we shall overcome.” She does see increasing
polarization as secular groups are galvanized, which has the
ironic effect of making the fundamentalists even more extreme.
Moderate “mainstream” denominations will likely continue their
decline.

While the Christian nationalists are still constrained
to some degree by the Constitution and the courts, as well as
popular culture, some national crisis, such as an economic
meltdown, could provide a breaking point, Goldberg thinks. She
believes those who would fight Christian nationalism must dig in
for a long-term and multifaceted strategy, including electoral
reform, grassroots organizing, and a media campaign to raise
public awareness of the movement's real agenda.

Finally, it may be necessary for progressives to eschew
ideological purity, focus on issues that really matter, and show
a united front in public. The left could take a cue from the
right here. We can no longer afford the hair-splitting and
squabbling of the past. Atheists may need to learn to work with a
nascent “religious left” against a common enemy. And some of the
preoccupation with Islam among secularist thinkers since 911 may
need to end. The biggest danger is right here at home, and wears
a familiar American face.

(1) George Grant, “The Changing of the Guard: Biblical Principles for Political Action (Biblical Blueprint Series)”, quoted in Goldberg, pp. 40-41.