Project 2025: What Does Church-and-State Separation Mean for YOU?
How Christian Nationalists will use separation of church and state to ruin YOUR life (Scroll to the end to listen)
In honor of PRIDE month, I’ve been writing about separation of church and state, religious liberty, and conscience rights this week. We’ve explored the generally accepted meanings, and we’ve looked at how Christian Nationalists define them.
To recap, Christian Nationalists believe the founders intended for separation of church and state to protect the church from the state. They insist that the founders imbued our Constitution with Christian tenets. They define “freedom of conscience” as “religious beliefs.” They refuse to acknowledge LGBTQIA+ rights because they cannot separate who an LGBTQIA+ person fundamentally is from their Christian Nationalist religious beliefs.
I’m doing two “What Could This Mean for YOU” lists today. One is for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. The other is for anyone else who isn’t a Christian Nationalist.
How Christian Nationalists Could Ruin YOUR LGBTQIA+ Life:
Your settled right to legally marry the person you love could be revoked or overturned. This Supreme Court has proven they don’t care about precedent. Clarence Thomas already indicated a willingness to go after this right.
Towns, cities, or states could outlaw PRIDE marches and gatherings. They could also punish businesses and individuals who display PRIDE flags.
People could be fired for being LGBTQIA+. Businesses could also discriminate against them when making hiring decisions.
LGBTQIA+ parents and their children could be discriminated against in schools. This is already happening in many red states.
LGBTQIA+ couples could be discriminated against when trying to get pregnant or attempting to adopt.
LGBTQIA+ people could die, either by suicide or via lynchings in communities where people know they can be pardoned if prosecuted.
LGBTQIA+ people could be forced back into the closet, unable to live truthfully in any public and many private spaces.
Christian Nationalists aren’t using separation of church and state and religious liberty and conscience rights as an exclusive cudgel for the LGBTQIA+ community. They’re also gunning for anyone who isn’t a Christian Nationalist.
How Christian Nationalists Could Ruin YOUR non-LGBTQIA+ Life
Businesses could refuse to hire someone who lives with a heterosexual partner to whom they aren’t married. They could also fire someone on the same grounds.
Divorce could be outlawed. Christo-fascist Republicans in Oklahoma have already floated the idea of making no-fault divorce illegal, but I’ve already predicted they would go after ALL divorce.
People could be required to attend religious indoctrination programs for the right to obtain a marriage license. In effect, the state could force couples to prove to some Christo-fascist bureaucrat that they are religiously compatible in order to marry.
Single moms could be forced to marry to gain or maintain employment, as Christian Nationalists believe it is better for children to be reared in homes where fathers are present.
Fathers could be coerced into religious indoctrination programs for job assistance and mentorship. Taxpayer funds are already being used for this purpose in states like Florida and Texas.
A couple could make private sexual photos that are somehow shared publicly on the internet. (I could imagine doxxers doing this to humiliate people.) They could be charged with the crime of pornography, even though they intended for the photos to be private.
Adoptive parents could be forced to prove their Christian Nationalist credentials to be eligible to adopt a child. So could foster parents. Or anyone who acts as a guardian for children in foster care.
These lists aren’t complete, but I hope they make readers think about the consequences of a Project 2025 America. Many of the items on both lists are already happening in red states to some degree, no matter how many Americans want to bray, “That won’t ever happen here.”
To quote Samuel Alito: “One side or the other is going to win.”
May it be the side of democracy. Of freedom. Of a complete-and-total rejection of Christo-fascist Republicans and Project 2025.
**As a pre-anniversary gift from me to you, I’m making this normally-paid newsletter free today. Thanks for being here.
Calls to Action to Keep P2025 From Ruining YOUR Life
Check your voter registration or register to vote: I Will Vote
Support Democratic campaigns directly in competitive races: Blue24
Support earlyworm’s 2024 Giving Guide: earlyworm
Report a Project 2025 incident: Not On Our Watch
Mail postcards to swing-state voters: Postcards to Swing States
Thank you for this. Agree the Unitarian and Congregationalist don’t get involved. Agree about conservative Episcopal and Lutherans. My Episcopal church is liberal will marry LGBTQIA but another conservative Episcopal church a few miles away will not. The rector welcomes the gay community to attend but that’s about it. Crazy 🤪 but it is what it is.
Excellent article. Thanks for all your hard work 💕🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️. Happy Pride!
I have a question. What do Christian Nationalists call themselves? I’m curious. It’s a movement do they tend to be Southern Baptist, Mormon etc. I hope I’m asking correctly it not a denomination. Maybe you wrote a piece about that.