I grew up fully indoctrinated and entrenched in the idea that I would be a part of a new generation that was “on fire for god.” One that was going to take back America for god. And while that lofty idea (of the “Joshua generation”) has mostly fizzled out. It seems like at least a part of that goal has been achieved.
This goal to take back America for god was one of the reasons my family had reluctance to practice birth control. And it was one of the motives for having a large family. If you have a large family and raise them right and then your children continue to do so you will soon have a large army of Christian believers.
“An evil world is the very reason for having children. We train them to be the ‘light’ and the ‘salt’ in this dark world. We train and sharpen them to be ‘arrows’ for god’s army.”
“What were they trained for? For war! We cannot live with our head in the sand. We are in a war. Our children must be trained for battle. They must be trained to stand and fight against the enemy of their souls. They must be trained to be warriors for God.”Nancy Campbell Be Fruitful and Multiply
Warriors for God and arrows in God’s quiver posed to destroy the wickedness in the land. This was seen as a spiritual battle one that started in the home. The godly vs. the wicked. And the path forward was through children. Through childbirth and through proper raising of these children.
Marshall Foster – Mayflower Institute. During a Vision Forum event.
“Look twenty years down the road and think about it. You raise up a godly seed, and a lot of them, and those people will do what the Scripture says: your children’s children shall inherit the land.”
For my parents that training process involved homeschooling. Homeschooling allowed them to be selective of what materials that their children would be exposed to. Ensuring their children would not have “worldly” influence in their education. And also ensured that everything aligned with my parents’ particular worldview (Young earth creationism and biblical literalism).
My textbooks taught me how god helped to establish the United States as a “city on a hill.” With god’s blessing and providence for the nation stretching back to the arrival of the pilgrims on the shores of North America. I was also told how America must always rely on and follow god’s law in order to remain a great nation.
“The principles of all genuine liberty and of wise laws and administrations, are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man, therefore, who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be an accessory to all of the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer.”
Noah Webster (and a direct quote from my United States History A Beka homeschool curriculum).
America must be forced “back” onto a more righteous path in order to ensure god’s protection and providence. Christian dominionists believe that there are seven “dominions” that must be taken back: family, religion, education, media, art and entertainment, business, and government. Christian children and families were one part of that “dominion,” but Christians must not stop at that one particular step. Christian influence must take back the culture and politics of this nation.
This idea was also echoed by many evangelical parenting “experts.” See the following quote from “Growing Kids God’s Way” by Gary Ezzo.
Raising obedient children was not just a biblical mandate for Ezzo but also a moral obligation in order to save the United States of America.1 If you read any of James Dobson’s writings, he also vocalizes similar ideas expressing fear that the U.S.A is slowly sliding into moral and societal decay. Christians must fight back by raising godly children and preserving the “family.”2 We must then fight to protect “Judeo-Christian”3 values in society and in politics.
While the lofty goals of Doug Phillips’ “200 year plan”4 or Michael Farris’ “Joshua Generation” were never achieved many of these dominionist ideas still float around in Christian nationalism. They hide lurking behind green pine tree flags5 and “Christian flags.”6 Dominionism and a strong undercurrent of us vs. them still strongly exists within the modern homeschool movement. Below is a short slideshow from MINCH’s social media.7
Dominionism still also holds a stronghold on modern American politics. With many conservatives currently looking towards Trump as a figure that will help them bring dominionism into the social and political8 climate of America.9 Trump himself has declared that Christian symbols such at the cross10 and ten commandments11 will be safe under his potential presidency. Christian nationalists have been looking for a “strong” leader such as Trump who will help them take back the nation for Christ.
While Donald Trump’s personal behavior may be far from Christian,12 13 many Christian nationalists are willing to overlook this in order to take power and control back from “the leftists.” As the cheesy MAGA song states Trump’s the “chosen one.”14 And their lifelong goal of raising up a (Joshua) generation that will one day hold complete power in America is potentially within reach. America will be Christian again15 – even though that may come at the cost of welcoming in a Christian fascist state.16
This isn’t an overnight movement. Christians have been pushing for this idea far before I was born.17 And while I may no longer be a part of the dominionism movement and Christian nationalism, the organizations and structures I was raised in still exist and continue to educate and indoctrinate children in the same manner I once was.18 My family and past friends continue to raise their children with the goal of taking back “secular”19 society for Christ.
This is a long-term fight against Christian nationalism that doesn’t just end in 2024. Our nation needs to remain vigilant and continue to promote the idea of a pluralistic society. One where all faiths and beliefs (or lack of belief) are allowed to equally flourish. Whether or not Donald Trump is elected to office in 2024 is irrelevant. Christian nationalists will continue to promote candidates that help bring a (solely) Christian government to power.
I wanted to give a brief history of my own life and how Christian nationalism has been a part of my life even from birth and onward. This was intended to provide a clear demonstration of how dedicated many dominionist and Christian nationalists are. While my own upbringing isn’t exactly a common one, there are still many people dedicated to the ideas and environments that I was raised in.
Be vigilant for symbols and statements about Christian nationalism,20 and please don’t vote in a potential fascist this fall. Donald Trump would bring Christianity greater power and authority in America, but at what cost?
Recommended Reading
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes Next
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement
- Please check out the “Strongwilled” substack for more on this train of thought and discussion on what the Mayfield’s call “religious authoritative parenting.” ↩︎
- Please note his definition of the family is a married man and woman with multiple children. No other types of families are allowed into this definition. ↩︎
- “The examples of humanistic folly have been legion in recent years. The only logical answer is to return America to the Judeo-Christian values system with which we started!” James Dobson “Children at Risk” ↩︎
- Doug Philips promoted a 200 Year plan to take back the nation. A Christian patriarch would start a large family with the goal to have a continuous patriarchal linage of Christian faith for 200 years. Quiverfull families would have large numbers of children with each generation multiplying the number of Christian children. By the 200 year goal you would have a small dynasty of Christian families ready to take back the country for god. See also the Botkins and his spin on the same idea. https://spiritualsoundingboard.com/2013/12/03/doug-phillips-vision-forum-multi-generational-faithfulness-and-video-of-young-boy-explaining-the-importance-of-having-many-children-for-10-generations/ ↩︎
- “Appeal to Heaven” https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/31/us/appeal-to-heaven-flag-meaning-cec/index.html ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Flag ↩︎
- MINCH is Michigan’s largest homeschool group / conference in the state of Michigan. It’s strongly Christian if you couldn’t tell from the slides. ↩︎
- https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1233968467/alabama-supreme-court-ivf-treatment-christian-nationalist ↩︎
- https://www.splcenter.org/year-hate-extremism-2023/new-dominionism-tries-rule ↩︎
- https://nationalpost.com/news/world/trump-christian-values ↩︎
- https://apnews.com/article/trump-evangelicals-voters-faith-freedom-presidential-election-042cd25750a43a1f9a474e793c86c0a9 ↩︎
- See his history of SA “Grab them by the pussy” and his current pending (37) felony charges. ↩︎
- See examples of MAGA rhetoric like dehumanizing language towards LGBTQIA+ (calling them pedophiles) and othering minorities like Latin American immigrants. This will only ever end in violence towards those groups. Trump has made many clear mentions of “animals” crossing the borders that are “poisoning the blood of America.” It’s very clear to see that he’s trying to “other” and dehumanize minority groups in the US. ↩︎
- https://www.distractify.com/p/natasha-owens-trump-song-the-chosen-one ↩︎
- I’d like to add in a footnote here. I don’t believe that America ever was a “Christian” nation. And many of the founding fathers had faith that would not co-exist with an evangelical Christian’s idea of Christianity. Many founders were deists, and their god looked nothing like the one Christian’s think of today. ↩︎
- https://www.salon.com/2022/06/28/christian-fascism-is-right-here-right-now-after-roe-can-we-finally-see-it/ ↩︎
- Jerry Fallwell and the Moral Majority are a great example of Christian nationalism. (Dominionism may not have been the goal there, but there was a great push to integrate politics and the Christian faith). ↩︎
- The history textbook I quoted here is from a popular Christian homeschool publisher Abeka books. They still publish textbooks and are one of the top sellers in the Christian textbook industry. ↩︎
- Christianese basically anyone who wasn’t a part of the “in group” in your christian circles. It’s generally used against non-believers, but even some Christian groups like Universalists would get lumped into this same “secular” moniker. ↩︎
- https://theconversation.com/talk-of-christian-nationalism-is-getting-a-lot-louder-but-what-does-the-term-really-mean-192378 ↩︎
Freedom From Fundamentalism 