politics. but >>,,,. . catch washington today for a fast-paced reported a story today. listen to c-span today. just tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. up next, former congressman and 2012 republican presidential candidate, michele bachmann, joins a discussion on the christian nationalism movement. this event is co-hosted by the -- regional school of government. it is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> well, to begin our evening,

we are going to hear from a historian a nationally recognized expert on religious freedom. dr. mark david hall is the herbert hoover distinguished professor of politics at george fox university. he is also a senior fellow at baylor universities institute for a study of religion. he has written, edited, or co-edited a dozen books on religion and politics. those are in america, i thought those are two topics you are supposed to talk about, religion and politics, but he has written one that is called, did america have a christian founding? that is controversial today. his next book which will be released next spring is entitled, proclaim liberty throughout all the land, how christiane lee has advanced freedom and equality for all americans. i will tell, you if we ever have a prey vote stand book club, we will start with his collection. tonight, he is here to lead us

in exploring the origins of the term christian nationalism. please welcome, dr. mark david hall. >> thanks to the family research council and the robertson school of government for hosting this event. i literally would have done it anywhere, but i was thrilled when i heard it was going to be a quarter stone chapel. my brother in law and sister-in-law our members here in the family warships here, and we have also worship here on multiple occasions when we've come to visit. and i'm just always blessed by the musical worship, i love your pastors preaching, you will have a great church, and thank you for hosting this tonight. so, if you look at the history of the term christian nationalists, what you will find is prior to no one, 2000, six no one was using. it's not literally, no one, but it was rarely used. and it was not used as it was used today. we should be clear about this. christians were not running around calling themselves christian nationalists,

christians were not saying, we need to advocate for christian nationalism. christian nationalism came about really about 2006 as a term of criticism written by people that were highly critical of what they described as a toxic mix. americans who wanted to conflate god and country. but that is not all, they are racist, they are sexist, they are militarist. think of almost every-ism or is that you don't like, and that is christian nationalism. now these early books, a few were written by academics, and most written by popular authors or activists or -- who worked for places like the freedom for mulligan foundation. that should maybe give a hint as to where some of these are coming from. and they made some ridiculous arguments. i document some of these. i will just mention one now. many of them attribute christian nationalism to the work of an obscure calvinist theologian up -- who almost no one has heard of, who influenced almost no one.

now they like him because he does say he is a post millennial, he says a kingdom of god will advance, and when it advances, societies will become christian, and they will adopt biblical law. and then the societies, homosexuals will be put to death if they engage in homosexual activity, men will dominate the church and the state, to encourage-able juvenile delinquents will be put to death. drawing from livid occult passages. so that sounds really scary, right? for christians, who would want to live in the sort of society. well one problem is, it is pretty easy to document it. i do in it publication that will be linked tonight. really, no one follows that. there are a few thinkers that are in influenced a little bit, but really, not at all. so the flavor of argument, this is when 2006 began the dribble of books that came out every couple of years. an article about would come out. things escalated with the

january 6th 2021 attack on the u.s. capitol building. this is, when you follow that it, all christian nationalists have attacked the u.s. capitol building. i was flying back from a speaking engagement on january 6th and i got a message from a reporter who wanted a comment on the christian images among the rioters at the capitol riot. and i said, while i've been flying, send me some. she sent me about five images, three of them were literally 1.5 miles from the u.s. capital. there was a rally that they were christians came together and prayed to overturn the results of the election as is our constitutional right, they had some signs and crosses in the sort of thing, they were not necessarily among the riders. they were far more people there than at the rioters. well if you turned to the actual riot, you have the evergreen state pine -- pine state flag, which says on it, an appeal to god. well that sounds kind of christian, and it could be from judges, but it also could be

from locked second treaties. or they could've brought it up because it is a revolutionary era flag. the only distinctively christian photo that they had from the actual ride it was a guy holding a bible in front of it. in front of the riders. upshe ignored me and the headlie the next day >> she completely ignored my caution and headlined the next day in the so dinners mcgeachin article, everywhere, is christian nationalists have attacked the u.s. capitol building. and if you look at images from that day, what you will see is a sea of american flags. a sea of maga hats, a confederate flag, the crazy viking dude, and eventually there did come out of christian flag was there and a few other images are there. there were some prayers sitting on the capitol. so there were certainly some questions there who thought they were acting as god would have them act, presumably. they weren't, let's be crystal clear about that. attacking the u.s. capitol building, attacking anything, really, is never acceptable.

well, since january 6th, and before, some more serious books have started to come out. this is by academics, people like samuel perry -- paul miller, and others. i checked these to be scholars acting in good faith, attempting to measure the phenomenon of christian nationalists. now, like the earlier authors, they describe it a toxic mix. racism, sexism, militarism, this is a horrible, scary, thing. and i'm kind of terrified if there are in fact americans who hold those views. and unfortunately, i am afraid, that there are. i would like to think, and i'm pretty sure it's a really tiny number, in rural parts of the country. i won't say what part of the country because i don't want to insult any particular region. but, they came up with a measure, away of measuring, this were they concluded that in fact, 52% of americans are either fully supportive or partially supportive of this

horrible, toxic, stu, they call christian nationalism. now this is a scary thought. if half of american citizens are partially supportive of christian nationalism, then we may be in trouble. fortunately, there measures are fundamentally flawed. they are really good at measuring whether or not one is a strict separation is. so the questions they utilize involve things like should religious memorials be permitted on public land. in other words, should blends bird cross in maryland be permitted, or should it be torn down, like the american humans association wanted to do. should the ohio holocaust memorial be permitted to have a star of david, or should this be prohibited as a freedom from religion argument. so are you in favor of the separation of church and state, should prayers be allowed in public schools or should schools presumably banned prayers. this, again, is a very bad set of measures to measure this horrible, toxic, stu, that we call christian nationalism.

i think, and again, i want to assume that the authors are acting in good faith, but there are a few lines throughout the book that i think kind of give away the bias that is implicit or otherwise. if you are pro-life, you are considered merely controlling women's bodies. i wonder if the women in here who are pro-life know this, and women are just as likely to be fully pro-life as men. i think you could be the most pro-choice american in the entire world and still understand that pro lifers are concerned with protecting innocent human lives. you may think they're wrong, but to accuse them of simply being interested in controlling women's bodies is just wrong. or, they say, these christian nationals are attempting to define religious liberty as something more than the freedom of worship. well, this is news to me as a student in the first amendment, which begins, congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. the first amendment has always, religious liberty has always meant more than freedom to

worship. we have the freedom to act upon our religious convictions whenever possible. of course, there are appropriate limits put on this, you don't need to sacrifice a child to the sun god, but we do have the freedom to act. and yet, according to white headed perry, if we try to defend a more robust understanding of religious liberty, you are a bigot. and of course, what they have in mind is jack phillips, mayor no statement, another christian creative professionals who refused to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies. all right, so i think these measures are bad. now, fortunately, not also see all just are the same. there are a couple of sociologist a pennsylvania state who that have come out with a recent article, smith and adler, i think the names are. which i think have a much more reasonable -- i think christian ashton is a thing. i am not going to have time to describe what it is, i assure you, it is not this horrible, toxic, mix, that is described by the critics of christian nationalism. christian nationalism does exist, and it is embraced by maybe 20% of the american population. we can perhaps talk about that

a little later. >> let me mention recently, over the last year, for the first time, christians have started coming out and embracing the label of christian nationalists. marjorie taylor greene, for one. there are a couple of academics who might know, who are good, solid, christians, and i can assure you they are not racist, they are not sexist, they are not military stick. but they are writing books saying we should embrace christian nationalism, let's reclaim christian nationalism. christian nationalism is a good thing. but i understand what they mean, but again, i assure, you they are not advocating for racism, sexism, -- the whole nine yards. they are advocating for the importance of the -- importance of culture, that sort of thing. i think this is a very imprudent move. christian nationalism is a concept, it is a term in tempted by critics. we should not embrace it. we should just simply identify ourselves as christians. we are christians, we are followers of christ, we have an obligation, a god given

obligation, a biblical obligation, to be involved in politics. to be involved in the city. to be fighting for justice, liberty, and freedom for all. that is our obligation, and we cannot fall away from it. but we cannot embrace this term of christian nationalism that is just imprudent and it is handing victories to our critics. thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> thank, you dr. hall. and now can be the time when you can take out your phone if you would like, and we are going to have a poll question. so you will see a qr code that will be on the screen, if you want to take a picture of that, and those of you online have the poll question there for you. so if we could pull that up on the screen there it is. so go ahead, take a snapshot of that with your phone. and that will bring up the link, and you can take the poll question. does everybody have that? >> if anybody is having trouble,

we have got a group of five year old in the back that can help you use your smartphone. all right, let's see. can we bring the poll question up on the screen? here it is. what is christian nationalism. not certain, but definitely not with the left says it is. a creation of the media, an attempt to intimidate christians who care about their country or all of the above. so go ahead, take that poll question, and we will get the results and share those with you. there is the poll question, those online, take that poll question and it will all be combined together. all right, to share with us about how the term christian nationalism is being used, is one of the most accomplished men you've probably never heard of. stephen quaglin is in attorney, he is a decorated officer and

specialist on issues that relate to terrorism and subversion. in september of 2001, steven was mobilized with from his private sector career and assigned to the director to intelligence with joint chief of staff as a major in the united states army reserve. he was assigned to serve and and strategic communications. he has been recognized as the pentagon's leading expert on islamic law as it relates to national security. today, he is principal of unconstrained analytics which is a 501(c) (3). dedicated to analysis of evidence, on constrained by pre-conceptions and biases. i will repeat that. that is what the media used to do. it is a dedicated analysis of the evidence, unconstrained by preconceived shuns and biases. sounds like the perfect guy to

unpack for us how words and labels can be and are being used for particular ends. please welcome steven cognizant. >> thank you very much, it is a pleasure to be here. what i would like to say before anything else is, i was -- in office for a few years ago, and he has a little thing, that memorializes the tree between america and britain at the end of the revolutionary war and you know who the witness of that document wasn't writing -- to the question that people have to ask themselves, i grew up, i think we all grew up god and country. when did that stop being the rule? and why is it stopping the rule, and how did it get so far. but i'm going to do, what i do, an unconstrained allen licks is that i'm going to take a look at issues from the political

warfare perspective. so this is not going to be a political analysis. you get that from people better than me at that. we are not going to look at it theologically because that is not my area here at all. but we are going to say, if we are looking at this like we looked at a foreign country, how it would define, and we are going to run with it. so political warfare is the insurgency model, it are -- that is the dominant form of the left occupies the united states right now. as relates to this discussion, what i really want to point out is that one of the things that exist, if you read the books that colleges or universities about critical race theory or intersectionality, you read too much. what we want to do is get people to understand that it is much more simple. but if you really understood how simple it was, you would simply know how to fight back. so, what is intersectionality. that is to take a value, a value that is held in a culture and they are going to create, make up, a phony term.

and they are going to give that term every negative attribute they can come up with that they are focusing. so, patriotic christians, we've become now christian nationalists. and it will be defined negatively. in the point will be in the media to collide the one with the other and what would be called in the language of marxism, a negation. and it is as simple as that. so what they do is they create these intersectional lines of operation. black lives matter. what does that do, it attacks on race. lgbt says that we demand that you accept our metaphysical claim of gender over the scientifically verified fact, and biology, of sex. that's what this is all about, and it is all about intimidating people. they don't care that they get their fellow travelers to say, lgbtq and let their children go to letterbox in a school. they had one in their mind when

they got you to accept it, by not doing anything about it. so what i'm going to do is instead of over engineering all of this, i am going to take things they have said and i'm going to focus on jim artist b and bob roberts, because there are some of the meeting voices in this, and i want some of you to know how they are defined in their own words. is that fair enough? and what i'm going to do is i'm going to go across the leading piece there and won a percentage of the people here lift their heads up, we are going to the next slide, fair enough? so, christian nationalism is an information campaign designed to synchronized with january 6th narratives. reading these twitter feeds, three things will emerge. one, they say what they think. so you really don't have to assess what they are saying at this level of analysis. to, they're broadcasting openly through twitter and in the media, we are seeing that. and three, the little political

warfare point is that they are so confident that they're in charge there in gauged and what's called open communication. they are not worried that you did not hear what they said, because they are recently confident that even if you understood what they said was not right, you are not going oh quite what they meant. so here is one on ja'marr'tis b and i will let you read that. it has to do with january 6th. and now we will move to the next one. it directly attacks american christians for being american christians. for being politically active. as such, is an attack on identity. the guys that are right to say that you are an american, you are a question. think about, it lgbt says that you are not allowed to call yourself a woman if you are woman, or a man if you are a man. when you add all of these

intersectional lines of attack, it destroys your political yourself a person. and that is the objective. so, christian nationalism is also designed to synchronize with the unit times 16 19 project, the objective, to alienate disenfranchise christians from their own history. do you think that is happening? you know how to take classes in a place like the church to find out what your american history is any more. and your kids are being told something that gets them so spun up you can't even talk to your kids. that is not a outcome. whether directly or indirectly, the christian nationalism narrative is designed to tie into marxist critical race theory efforts that identify all american institutions as racist, as noted, it is an intersectional line of effort. >> and, of course, these are their own words. the narrative is delegitimizing along christian lines.

reverend robertson is multi fit neighbors network has powerful international tie and's. roberts lichens american christians to a grift in class of my changes at the temple. if i'm going too fast, just say. the goal is to see what they are saying in their own words. suggesting that christians who defend themselves, the institutions they created, their value, and their way of life is on christian for that reason. suggesting that christians do have do not have a right to defend themselves and their way of life. implying maybe, with, cost republican leaders are just as anxious alienated from their base as the left.

after all, roberts multi faith network appears to have lincoln project -- we have to break this graphic into two, so there is the one, holiday, ambassador. and here it is with the lincoln project. >> and not just a little support from the white house. fort is the, the people who created the american public are america's greatest threat to the american republic precisely because they don't want a democratic marxist republic. americas christian roots are being reduced to mythologies, first up and delegitimizing a

person's history, in furtherance of disenfranchising them from it. gaslighting the values of american christians based on assumptions that are then turned into facts and then declared erroneous. watch the weasel language perceived. we perceive that they do this, but the rest of the sentence is treated as if it is a fact, to attack you. appears to be on board for traditional christian ideals. the the bottom of his visa tax, the really gaslighting campaigns. look there is nothing to them. accusations based on manufactured perceptions, consequentialists, what do they mean by that? they will do anything to win. clearly, american christians are dangerously untethered and are tilting to extremism, a clear indicator of downstream terrorism. this feeds into the violent

extremism narrative that was put into place going way back that we have many battles with. remember that? this is how the violent extremism narrative is going to come into play. it will not be used against bin laden iraq. it is designed to be used against you. so, simply paranoid and undone. that is you, isn't it? take a look at yourselves. defending their way of live. it is described as covert conspiratorial terms. again, gaslighting. left the gaslighting campaign if not clear enough of beneath every christian nationalists is a seething races seeking to wreak revenge on an unsuspecting population. i had to break this into so you saw the messages about a little

child who we know wants to grow and shoot people. of course, that is just the message. i just think that it is really important for you to get the sense of how these people communicate this in their own words so you can get a feel for it. it's a little slick. you can really say i'm only talking about perceptions, maybe i'll change my mind. but he's really saying i would have to up my game. with a leveller to thank everybody playtime. i hope that this was helpful. know that you are thinking up some questions so go athank you, stephen. i know that you are already thinking of some questions. go ahead and write the questions down. in a moment i will give you a means by which you can ask the christians when we get into our panel discussion. you are getting a lot of information. we are going to be unpacking that as we go through our. i want to give you the results of the poll does far. those who have taken it in terms of the question, what is

christian nationalism. 74% stated all of the above. 19% say it is an attempt to intimidate christians you care about the country. 3% are not certain with only know the left since it is. and the easy way of saying is it is never what the left side is. 3% says it is a creation of the media. in a -- moment i will introduce our next speaker. we are building to the understanding of why is this happening? there is an outcome that they want. i'm going to get a jump on. it i want to challenge you to take the bump stand pledge. the pledge to pray. to pray for our nation. to pray for the upcoming elections. to vote you're biblical values and then to take the vote to stand for biblical truth not and what they say. no matter what they put on social media. no matter what label they assigned to it. you will stand for truth. yes, i want you to put that slide back up there.

all you need to do is text the word pledge to 67742. take the pledge to pray, vote, and stand. those of you warning online you can do the same. text the word pledge to 67742. pledged to pray for our nation in the upcoming allege in. for your vehicle values and to stand for biblical truth. the family research council is blessed to have an incredible board of directors led by our chairwoman, michele bachmann. in addition to being a former congresswoman in presidential candidate, michelle is a genuine prayer warrior. intensely committed to interceding for our nation and for our leaders. last year she took on a new assignment as the dean in regent university school of government. we are grateful here at the family research council. a cornerstone chapel of the

opportune partner tonight with -- this special town hall event. region is an incredibly, incredible education institution. i am very thankful that day, under michelle's leadership, are dedicated to pursuing clarity and intellectual honesty. these issues that challenge us today. to help shine a light on the political intentions behind the term, christian nationalism. please welcome to the stage michele bachmann. thank you. tony, thank you. pastor gary, thank you so much for opening up this beautiful church. it reminds me of an aspen ski lodge. every time i come here, it is so beautiful. i also want to thank doctor mark david hall who gave such

wonderful or markdown what academia is saying on this issue. also my very good friend, dr. steve cough flynn who gave me a lot of briefings now is in the united states congress. he understands deeper, beneath the surface. he listens to what people really say about issues. the reason why we are here tonight is because some of us have noticed that there was something happening in the culture. it was aimed at all of you. it was aimed at the church, it was aimed pastors. it was aimed at the church because the church has been doing something right. believers have been doing something right. pastors, like the pastor of this church have taken on the whole council of god and preaches the whole council of god freely and bravely from the pulpit. that is right. you want to see more of that? that means the issues of the

day in our own culture. whatever culture we live in, the bible has something to say about every issue in every culture. this church has not been afraid, together with other pastures and other churches, prior to elections, before election, or with no thought of election, they have been trying to preach what the word of god says. this is a good thing. too many pastors have been frightened into silence. they maybe didn't have a board of directors that would back them they maybe thought their congregants wouldn't like it if they talked about the issues of the day. when we do that, when the church goes silent bad things happen bad things happen in the 1930s when the church in europe one silent. when that church went silent, it took a very young theologian

name bomb huff or who saw what was happening in his own nation in germany. he had to stand up within the lutheran church and stand for what is true. and against the scapegoating that was coming against one particular group of people, the jewish people, in germany. all intimately bomb huff or played with his advocacy with his life. he happily did. happily, i say, because he wanted to be obedient before god. he saw, in his culture, some of the most astounding messages to the clergy of his day telling them, do not go silent. wake up. otherwise banned things are going to happen in germany, and in europe. as we all know the lights went out in europe.

europe has never been the same since world war i and world war ii because the church went silent. you see it is highly consequential when the word of god is pervasive in a nation, like pastor gary said. the nation's blast whose god is the lord. when we preach that council. when the people know, my people parish for lack of knowledge. what does a godly pastor do? what does a godly church do? they inform the faithful and they inspire the faithful to bring biblical values into their own lives, their family lives, into their communities lives, into the business, live into the political life of the nation. that is how a nation can be a nation that serves the lord. it understands the lord. it isn't just behind these beautiful church doors.

it is not meant for behind these beautiful church doors. the values of the church are meant for the community. for the nation. for the public. for those who don't yet know or understand that there is a loving god who has a plan for every person on this planet. that is why the church preaches -- [applause] we have had so many wonderful churches that have. we have pastors and churches that woke up profoundly, prior to the 2016 election they were preaching faithfully of the value of the unborn. -- but reaching intuitively to what the bible said. so the pastors.

preached on that topic people became informed. they understood they voted biblical values because they voted biblical values ultimately, presidents were elected who appointed supreme court justices who now in this last year as we have seen in the dobbs decision issued a decree that the roe v. wade decision after 50 years of contending would be overturned. now that decision goes to the 50 states. now it is no longer roe v. wade in the nation that came about through prayer. and primarily came about because of faithful pastures who were preaching. we were very effective i want to put the first side up right now. so effective were christians and going to the polls that people who are spiritually active and governmentally

engage turned out in the 2016 election when they knew it was donald trump they were sure about donald trump they were sure about hillary clinton. 91% of people who are spiritually active and governmentally engage turnout they gave a chance to donald trump in that election primarily because of these supreme court appointments in 2016 60% of the general public turned out. 91%, 9% of the american population got out and voted and made their vote count. because of that vote in 2016 we have the result of overturning roe versus wade because of this past year because of that election. in 2020 we saw, again, spiritually active governmental engaged more than 9% of the population in that he returned out 99% of those who were spiritually active governmentally engage turned

out and voted. of that amount 97% voted for donald trump. his vote totals went up with those who were spear to the active, governmentally engaged. a national turnout was 67%. when that happened in 2016 there was a decision made by the progressive left, this will never happen again. they started this effort to come against those that they saw were thwarting their plans to turn this nation into something more akin to mao, more akin to communism. they are trying to fundamentally transform the united states and throughout the traditional history in understanding of who we are. they are very intentional about this. this is a very much a plan they are trying to do. they see that what is standing between them and victory is the church. the church, and face pastors,

believers who take biblical values into the voting booth. i want to show you a video clip, right now, that demonstrates this. let's run this video clip. >> too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal. donald trump and the maga republicans represent and extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. i want to be very clear very clear up front not every republican, not even the majority of republicans are maga republicans. not every republican embraces extreme ideology. i know because i have been able to work with these mainstream republicans. there is no question that the republican party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by donald trump and the maga republicans. that is a threat to this country.

this is specifically designed and done for the purpose of intimidation. >> the staged lighting, the marine station there. this is explicitly done to show intimidation. to use the words extremism. the epicenter of that is christian nationalism. saying we don't think it is good you are for your nation. we don't think it's good your for god. very bizarre. we are the ones that are called extremists. next clip. >> here, in my view, is what is true. maga republicans did not respect the constitution. they do not believe in the rule of law. they do not recognize the will of the people. they refused to accept the results of a free election. they are working right now as i speak in state after state to give power to -- partisans and cronies to decide elections in america. empowering election desires. to undermine democracy itself.

maga forces are determined to take this country backwards. backwards to an america where there is no right to choose. no right to privacy. no right to contraception. no right to marry who you love. they promote authoritarian leaders. they fanned the flames of political violence. there are a threat to our personal rights. to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law. to the very soul of this country. >> if you stand different natural merit you are and extremists according to the president. if you stand for biological truth you are and extremist to the president. if you stand for the read to the unborn you are an extremist to the president. it's aids a mental jiu-jitsu that they are trying to do. they are trying to exchange what extremism is and make those of us who believe in biblical value the extremist.

one more clip and we will move on. -- >> they have called trump an extreme maga republicans clear and present danger to our democracy. while the threat to american democracy is real i want to say, as clearly as we can, we are not powerless in the face of these threats. we are not bystanders in the ongoing attack on democracy. there are four more americans, for more americans, from every background and believe who reject the extreme maga ideology then those who accept it. >> you see the scapegoating that is going on? he is creating a group of people, who he calls maga republicans, the other people we are seeing in the media are using the term christian nationalism. that is the epicenter of the

people. they want everyone else to look at and scapegoat as the bad guy extremists. those who are standing up for biblical values. the rubber is meeting the road. these people hold all of the reigns of power in washington d.c.. they want to continue holding on to that power. you think that they don't mean? this look at the fbi raids that have happened in just the last few weeks. our fbi has been unleashed by the department of justice on who? pro life fathers who have been praying at abortion clinics. who have been singing at abortion clinics the fbi shows up with ar-15s. body armor. they are knocking down the door and pointing guns at the little kids. this is for intimidation. that is why we have to wake up in the church and realize we

cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated in this moment of time. that is what they're trying to do. [applause] eekend. if you put up the next slide, please. if you put up the next slide there is a brand-new book that i read an audible i commend this for every pastor in the united states. a letter to the american church. eric metastasis seeing what is going on in our country with this level of intimidation. he is pleading with pastors, please, don't go silent. please speak out. thank god cornerstone chapel is one of those churches. we need to pray but there are more like that. with the next slide i will conclude. this is a wonderful book that has been written by pastor jim darlow. for those pastors who would like to be able to preach on these biblical topics but don't know how, this book is meant for pastors to know.

be well versed on what the scripture says about the issues of the day. i want to thank this church. i look forward to our conversation. thank you so much. >> thank you, michelle. any questions? well, that is why we are here. it's a town hall meeting. by the way, i will make a commitment that i will not be intimidated. i will not shrink back into the silence. i will hide in the shadows. i will fully speak and stand on the truth. i will encourage you to take that pledge to pray vote and text the word 67742. those of you joining us from across the country are challenging to take that pledge to pray, vote, and stand. all right. i'm going to ask all of our

speakers to come up here in join me on the stage for our panel discussion. i was also asked the a b team to put up the qr code on the screen so you can join me up here. it's all right. i think she's afraid they're gonna play more clips of the president. it's okay, it's all right. no more trigger warnings. >> this is q. >> put that qr code up there. take a snapshot of that. it will take you to a link, to get your questions in. we will be taking our questions as we enter into our time of discussion. i'm going to begin, i think i must have done something wrong. i'm over here by myself. that is okay. i am to everyone's right so that is appropriate. >> good one, good one. >> think again! look who is on my left. >> you're getting pretty close to me there gary.

i want to start with you, pastor gary. we've seen this. we have heard from the academics. we have heard how this term is being used. why it is being used. let's talk about, as christians, as followers of jesus christ, those who believe the bible and believe the bible is the guidebook for life through which we get our guidance, how should we as, christian's be responding? should be avoid conflict and shrink back and go away like they would like us to? what is so tragic about all of this is we are talking about terminology today to be patriotic they are conflating with this term that now makes everybody who just wants to be a christian who wants to vote values appear to be extreme. appeared to be someone so far right that you shouldn't have a voice as christians we need to know who we are in christ we

need to stand in that identity in christ. we need to continue to be men, women, and young people who espouse the principles of god's word. we just have to get a little more tender hearted and thick skin. people are gonna be intimidating they're gonna try to accuse you jesus said blessed are men who are accuse you base and all manner people against you from my namesake, for great is a reward in heaven. we have to keep that focus. remember that we are serving the lord. what people say, let them say. we want to ultimately glorify him. [applause] >> we have no other option. can i add one thing real quick? there is a clip that michelle didn't play. it struck me because i watched it live. the president gave this speech. at the very andy talked about the soul of america. he talked about the soul of america. some are going to lambast me

for, how dare you compare but i am saying, historically, hitler talked about the soul of germany. in the early 1940s hitler gather the clergy in berlin he told them about how with him in charge their subsidies would stay intact they were state churches on offer was the one who stepped forward and said heather we are not concerned for the church jesus christ will take care of the church what we are concerned about is the soul of germany. that is when hitler said, i will take care of the soul of germany. it is the right, privilege, do, diane responsibility of the church of jesus christ to take care of the soul of america we have the gospel, which is the only good news that heals the soul of america or any country. [applause]

stephen, i want to go to you for a moment. as michelle was talking about the church played a very influential role in the elections. we gathered together. when you have pastured sue preach about issues in the bible and how it applies to the world in which we live christians act on that we see something happening it is not just the left that is marginalizing are using these labels we see it coming from the media, as well. we are seeing this effort to cut off national discussion from certain segments of society. how do we deal with? that what is their ultimate objective? >> i think one of the things we are trying to build up is everything we are seeing is not random. there is something called semantic marxism. part of semantic marxism is

discourse theory. discourse theory has a large explanation but, basically, at the end of the day we get to get up and say what we want. we get to turn a mic off on the. i think that you have to understand that that is a specific line of attack. we have to organize to push that on that attack. i wrote something that michelle said and i wanted to make sure i didn't say one of the things the thought was very interesting i think it was right before biden talked about the modern conservatives were the most dangerous threat to america i think a certain phone chair of the january six hearing had her dad say the exact same thing. we do know that when j.d. said demographer polygons were the greatest threat to america within a week we saw the raid at mar-a-lago i can't help thinking we are looking at something a little more synchronized a little bit more than just a left. i think that is an extremely

bad thing. >> michelle, do you have thoughts on that? >> i would like to add to what steve was saying. i was actually at the capitol on january 6th. we were there a group of believers were praying praying out on the lawn it was probably one of the happiest days it was like a family reirden it was like a picnic. the peoples were so happy. it wasn't angry, it wasn't violent. it wasn't any of those things. i remember distinctly thinking when i was there that this was planned. that this was insurgence here this is realtime that's what i thought. we were just praying for peace praying for the nation the nation was an uproar. i distinctly remember thinking this is a branding exercise. because we just had a very popular president get more votes in 2020 than he got in

2016. he got more votes. people went out in voted on mass. his agenda was widely popular. gasoline was $1.89 a gallon. that was pretty popular. yeah! so this was a re-branding exercise to label the president, himself a terrorist or an insurrectionists. it was meant to label his followers or his supporters as insurrectionists. the make america great again as a terrorist agenda. that's a little bit what i was hearing from the president in that speech up there. this is continuing -- this isn't just a one-off. that's how you knew that january six wasn't random. this was intentional. we are seeing it still today. that is part of what, i think, we need to know. just be forewarned. this is going to continue. they are not going to give up. when a prior president said we

were going to fundamentally transform the united states of america, they meant. it that was not a political phrase. they want to transform. what they see standing between their goal, to turn this country into a political nation, is believers. believers is the epicenter. we will stand for something. something is more important to us than politics. that is what the bible says. we will stand for public values, no matter what. >> i'm gonna go to some questions here. i will go to some of the questions those who are participating. first, dr. hall i guess i want to make a confession of my activity until anyway the sixth. i was in the office with secretary of state, mike pompeo, with a group of pastors. we were paying for the nation. with that fits the definition of what the left is going

christian nationalism today? >> you know, it might fit some definitions. i'm not sure it exactly if it's more academic definitions. but this is a good thing to distinguish, i. think i love what michelle said. as christians we have an obligation to bring our faith into the public square. , it starts with, us right? being biblically moral, ourselves a start to the family's starts to voluntarily sharing the gospel what it does not involve having the federal government forced people to become christians that is what the critics of christian nationalism want i know no christian, i'm sure you can find them out where the christiane in the official establish religion of the united states punish people who do not follow christiana but precious few the 52% of the american population praying for the president praying for the

country is not any meaningful sense of christian nationalism but they are strengthening that term suggesting anyone bringing faith into the public square is advocating for christian nationalism. it may not be the historic definition but it certainly how they are using it. some of these questions, pass to gary, get ready! most of them are for you. >> oh, great. >> first one is, why are you not wearing a tie? [laughs] >> first of all, michelle isn't either. >> we still distinguish between the sexes here. >> yes, we do. >> i'm the only sensible one, that's why! >> moving right along. how do we lovingly challenge pastors who we observe are shrinking back from important, and some would call, polarizing social issues? >> i get this question often, sadly. i don't know how to lovingly do

that. that is a key word in your question. how do you lovingly do that? you know, i am not so sure jesus was loving when he called the fair sea vipers, you hypocrites, you whitewashed tombs. >> he might've said it with a smile but i think it is time that they need to get called out. i think it is going to take some courage of people to call them out. >> i might add to that. if you have a pastor, you have prayed for him. i would suggest that you pray for him first, then you talk with him, and if they continue to avoid the issues of our day in terms of applying scripture than you need to find a church that preaches a whole council of god. >> also, you can buy the audible version of eric metallics's book. >> by the way, i have been texting with him this week. we are trying to work out a

date in november. he is gonna come -- >> that is so good! it is such a good book for pastors. it's good for us but it is really good for pastors. to give them the courage and tell them why they should do it. >> i'm throwing this one out here for any of our panelist he would like to handle this one. how do we handle our adult children who are so swayed by this woke agenda? >> great question. who wants to take that one? >> -- i have five kids, none of them are swayed by the woke agenda. -- it starts in the cradle. >> train them up as they are younger. i do think, look, there is a lot of truth to that. a worldview is formed between 13 months and 13 years. as parents we need to be intentional about teaching our children, not bible stories but

biblical truth. why do you think the left wants early childhood education? they want to give them this woke, liberal, ideology -- this worldview that would steer them away from truth. we have got to be intentional about that. to not be afraid to have these conversations with our children. i am more concerned about my children's a tournament destination than i am about their current pleasure and their desire to feel comfortable in this world. i think we need to be challenging our children, just as we were challenger pastors to live and speak the truth. if i am called a christian nationalist, how should i respond? dr. hall, i will give that one to you. >> i think a good approach would be to say, what do you mean by christian nationalists? if someone is accusing him of that they might say thing tonight here are a racist, sexist, militarist.

well, what evidence you have the dime any of those things? what actions have i done? what words have i said that would give a reason to believe that i am any of those things? hopefully it will fall apart. they might come back we'll hear a christian who brings your faith into the public square. you argue for the protection of innocent human lives. yes, it is absolutely true. i am a christian who argues for moral policies. let me add this. it is sort of funny, even the critics of christian nationalism to not say no one can bring their faith into the public square. they explicitly praised the civil rights movement. reverend martin luther king junior. if you bring your faith into the public square to argue for something that the left likes, in this case that the right should like as well, right? civil rights for all. that is appropriate. it's only if you bring your faith into the public square for the sanctity of all human life, that then you are christian nationalists. if you disambiguate there question and discuss the issues

instead of debating a label. >> that is really good advice. and fight, jesus would often ask questions when he was challenged or something. to try to get to the heart of the matter. it exposes what they are saying and what they're doing. it is really good advice. michelle, i'm gonna go to you with this question. how do we inspire christians to go who feel their vote won't count as see elections of being rigged? >> i think the main thing is we always, whatever we do in life, we are doing it for an audience of one. that is the lord. no matter what we need to know that we have voted in the way that would honor him. to me that is also, just part of the way we live our lives. it is part of the way that we worship god. how do we conduct ourselves? the vote is part of it. i will tell you, from a political point of view, you cannot believe the number of

races that are decided by one vote. literally, one vote! you wouldn't think so but, actually, it happens. if you look, for instance, in 2020 in arizona it was like 10,000 votes separated biden from trump. something of that same number in georgia. >> here in virginia but here in virginia it years ago maybe a little bit longer the control of the legislature was decided by one vote. >> that's right, here in virginia. aren't we glad that we all showed up in voted for the governor in the state of virginia. what a great choice. lieutenant governor wilson sears. >> let me add to that because there are a lot of people who feel like my vote doesn't count. there were a lot of irregularities in the last election but you have about 19 states, bumping up towards two

dozen states that have passed election reform measures. they have been working the past two years to address a lot of these issues. the other thing we need to do, which is why we are doing the pledge. challenging people to pray, vote, and stand we have to overwhelm them. know that there will probably be some cheating on the other side we are gonna show up in such numbers and it doesn't matter if they feel a few votes or so. we are going to show up and legally win these races by being concerned, prayed, up and a gate says american citizens. >> we just completed, for the second day in our own realm, 40 days a prayer and fasting at the robertson school of government. we believe very seriously in the power prayer. we just completed it. i read today that the supreme court overturned a pennsylvania supreme court ruling so that now errors on the ballot, those ballots won't be counted. that was part of the rigged

election last time. they counted balance that they shouldn't have. the u.s. supreme court just ruled today that that is not gonna happen. that is a huge victory. . ,. ,! . >>,, evidence that he is a christian nationalist. look it up. that is what we are talking about and that's why we cannot shrink back from these labels that are being assigned. that is why we cannot shrink back from these labels that are being assigned. i want to go to you for this next question you touched on that a little bit in your remarks. this comes from one of our

viewers. the term christian was originally derogatory in the bible can we not adopt the term christian nationalism and turn it to good? >> you know you take it first and i'm gonna let stephen hit that a lick. >> i tend to think that if you have a term that it created for the purpose of attacking you that it doesn't become real until you respond to it. once he respond to what you're captured by it everything from that moment forward there is actually a methodology involved in this. it's not just in opinion when i say that. the minute he respond to critical race theory now it's all you're talking about now it is a serious defense the entire narrative doesn't emit your right to have a defense. my take on it would be do not engage at all. you recognize that it is an information campaign designed to delegitimized you. and a response to that narrative in any way is itself it defeat.

you are now managing a defeat >> dr. hall? >> i think it is very prudent. i know some of the people attempting to do this. solid christians, academics. they are writing books saying, we should claim this label this is a good label. no it's not. it has not historically been our label. it has determined by critics. i think it's so polluted that let it be. we are christians engaging in politics. we are advocating for liberty, justice, and all. for all americans -- not just christians. we are not christian nationalists. we have no interest in being called christian nationalists. >> dr. carl i want to go back to you for a minute on something you are talking about with critical race theory. steven, from the standpoint of critical race theory and how that has mobilized a lot of americans because they realize what their children were being indoctrinated with right-hand virginia's the epicenter of

that battle over public education. i want to be clear you're not saying we should educate ourselves on what the left is doing with the term christian nationalism. it is that we shouldn't adopt their labeling -- we should adopt crt as a good curriculum for our children. >> i think you would say if i respond by saying i'm not a racist in critical race theory than now you are in defense that is what i'm talking about it takes a little time to figure out how to maneuver that space another way of saying is critical race theory is -- we are not gonna engage in that. i'll tell you why we are not gonna gauge it comes from the source the source to delegitimized people were going after. another we built on. that he basically the frame the phrase that is used in that type of intersectionality attack is reunify critical race theory meant nothing when they wrote about it it only meant

something when you responded to it and then the game was on. but now you are in the quicksand. can i win? maybe but you are in the quicksand and they are not. the other important part about it is they just made it up. if they lose the go home for a year come back with a new phrase and go on the same attack. >> dr. hall as the story in here on the stage this question is for you. was the old russian empire christian nationalists where the state was the state and the state was the church. if so what happened to the church in russia? >> this is a fascinating question. i'm actually gonna be involved in a couple of panels of 100 cc over the next couple months that looks to religion and democracy. we are inviting scholars from places like hungary, poland, czech republic england, france to talk about christian nationalism in those countries. is it similar to what we have in america? is it different?

is it pernicious? can it be a force for good? i have to admit i am kind of skeptical that it can be a force for good. especially given the history of the term over the last 12 or more years. 15 or 16 years. where it is only been used until very recently it is only been used to something critical of christian to bring their faith into a public square. i'm not very optimistic but i am very interested in learning more my sense is in russia you do have a very dangerous conflation of church and state in a way that has varied -- i think we have all seen the russian orthodox minister. the russian war machine. you see that i think it is very troubling i hope it is troubling to all of us. >> i think we want to be clear i think we can speak to all of our the first allegiances the kingdom of god. we are proud to be americans. i'm grateful that i live in a country where we have freedom. i have served our country.

i know many here have served our nation, our military and our law enforcement that is nothing to be ashamed of. we want the separation of church and state. we don't want the state meddling in the church's business which is where the origin of that phrase came from. we are not going to shrink back about bringing our faith and engaging the public square. we cannot check our faith at the door. it is who we are i think that, ultimately, is what the left design for us to do. to disengage into allow their values to dominate the discussion. i want to thank you all for being engaged. i will ask each of our panelists just a parting thought as we conclude this evening. then we're going to close our time in prayer. i'm going to begin with you, michelle. if you would give us your parting thoughts. >> christian nationalism is a pejorative term.

a negative term. we also need to know that they are very specific. they are going after pastors to encourage pastors, don't have fourth of july services. do not honor unrecognized veterans. do not have things about america or america's founding in your country. this is happening at pastors conferences, different seminaries. this is happening right now. that is why pastors need encouragement from congregants. that's why recurring eric mid taxes book, pastor jim garland's book, we need to encourage our pastors to realize that america has a wonderful history, a unique, godly, history. we need to be proud of it. and share that with the next generation. >> stephen? i think what we are living in is a state of liquefy and reality. there has been an enormous effort to get you to be confused about everything in that state of being confused by

everything, the marxist call that a demoralization campaign people feel demoralized it is only a perception. you are allowing it to govern how you feel i think that christian nationalism is an attack on your identity. it seeks to destroy your identity, along with other things. at a certain point there is a patch for the army, basic training, it says this we will defend. sometimes. you have to take you guide out, put it in the ground, and say this we will defend. >> a man, very good. dr. hall? >> i have critiqued this notion that 52% of americans embrace a horrible toxic myth of racism, sexism, militarism, that kind of thing. in this i'm not trying to suggest that racism is not so a problem in racism and not so

the problem. we have other problems, such as poverty, i think we as christian should be first and foremost in addressing these. in our own lives, the lives of our churches, and our community. maybe many of these problems are best addressed without political institutions, right? churches and voluntary organizations to the extent that governments should be involved in addressing these very real problems, christians must have a voice. we must be active in the public square advocating for peace, justice, liberty, equality and equality for all americans. >> two to our wonderful house tonight, pastor gary. your parting thoughts. >> unfortunately a lot of this is a war on words. there is another term links with christian nationalism and that is dominion's. i am not a dominion's. diminished is wanting government to be king.

we know that jesus is going to come again. when the millennial kingdom is established then there will be one true king over all of the earth. we will warship jesus. until that happens all we are saying is be aware of the war on words. know what these terms mean. live your life serving and loving jesus. when-ing other people to know jesus. express your values. let these principles that are governed by god's work to be influenced in the world, instead of the world in something you. until that day with jesus comes again we are to be salt and light. bree be that salt, be that light to this dark and tasteless world. thank you. when he is king of kings there will be no elections and there

will be no ballot stuffing he will be king of kings i want to thank each of you i want to thank each of you thank you pass to gary thank you for hosting us here in cornerstone. dr. hall thank you for being here tonight i want to thank all of you joined us online across the nation. thank you for being here tonight at cornerstone. for being a wonderful, wonderful, town hall gathering for us to discuss, what i think, is an extremely important issue. knowing how we should address it as we go forward. let's close our time together in prayer. if you would, let's stand together. let's go to the lord, our savior. father, we thank you for a time here together tonight. lowered, i pray that there will be resolved that would come across your people that lord we would not, in any form or fashion deny you.

that we would live our lives in such a way that we would impact the world around us with your truth and with your love. lord, i pray that you can guard our hearts against any anger or bitterness against those who had attacking aside labels and trying to drive us from our citizenship and our participation in this country. may we love them as you have commanded us to do. loving them does not mean you we affirm what they do. we love them because they're created in your image and they're worthy of love because they bear your image. lawrence, we do pray for a revival in the church and america and awakening in our culture and a return to truth. we pray that america would, again, be a nation that is blessed by you, because we obey you. we pray and asked this in jesus name amen. good night everyone.

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