On the whole, Christian Nationalism had a terrible showing in the midterm elections of 2022. There were some Christian Nationalist victories, with the re-election of Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, but the most extreme Christian Nationalist candidates, like Kari Lake, Blake Masters, and Doug Mastriano, lost their elections to their Democratic rivals.
In spite of the claims of Christian Nationalist candidates that they had divine powers on their side, there was no Christian god using its supernatural magical powers to help Republican candidates after all.
In Oklahoma, however, Christian Nationalism took a frightening step forward. Ryan Walters, the new State Superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma has declared his intention to instruct schools to teach children a false version of history filled with Christian Nationalist propaganda. Instead of learning real US history, students in Oklahoma will learn that the United States belongs to Christians.
In order to support this assertion, Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt made a declaration in his capacity as governor that the state of Oklahoma is now Christian territory, with “every square inch” belonging to Jesus. Before an audience of his followers, the governor began a ritual of Christian prayer, announcing:
“Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name of Jesus. Father, we can do nothing apart from you. We all battle against flesh and blood, against principalities of darkness. Father, we just come against that. We just loose your will over our state right now in the name of Jesus. We just thank you. We claim Oklahoma for you. As the authority that I have as governor, and the spiritual authority and the physical authority that you give me, I claim Oklahoma for you, and we will be a light to our country and to the world, right here. We thank you that your will is done on Tuesday, and Father, that you will have your way with our state, with our education system, with everything within the walls behind me and the rooms behind me, lord, that you will root out corruption, that you will bring the right people into this building, father.”
Eight years ago, the Religious Landscape Study by the Pew Research Center found that 20% of Oklahomans are non-Christian, most of these non-Christians belonging to no religion at all. The number of non-Christians in Oklahoma has grown even larger since then.
The morning after Governor Stitt’s declaration, the non-Christian 20% of Oklahomans have many questions on their minds: Does Governor Kevin Stitt claim that these people no longer own property in Oklahoma? Are they no longer citizens of the state? Which legal rights will Stitt take away from people who refuse to convert to Christianity?
For more on this subject, including an inquiry into the poor performance of Oklahoma’s Christian-led government in education, public health, and criminal violence, see the latest Stop Christian Nationalism podcast.