An offshoot group linked to the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report this week that links common Christian phrases like “prayer warrior” and “divinely appointed” to Christian nationalism.
The “Faith as a Weapon: Inside America’s Theocratic Vanguard” report from the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) examines the rise of Christian nationalism, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), and Catholic integralism as interconnected movements reshaping American politics by merging religious zeal with political power. Linking various politicians and Christian leaders with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and the dominionist NAR theology, the report alleges such leaders are advocating for governance based on their interpretation of God’s law, and thereby pose a threat to constitutional religious freedom.
With a dramatic header image of a Christian cross planted in scorched and burning earth flanked by the American flag, “Faith as a Weapon” takes aim at Project 2025 and key figures like Russell Vought, Leonard Leo, and Paula White-Cain, whose influence on the Trump administration, the report states, results in “elevating particular religious perspectives while marginalizing others, including religious minorities, a large number of Christians, and secular Americans.”
“On January 6, 2021, Christian flags, wooden crosses, and Jesus Saves’ signs mingled with pro-Trump banners as insurrectionists, inspired by a buzzing undercurrent of religion and outrage, reacted with violence and stormed the U.S. Capitol,” the report’s introduction stated, adding participants engaged in practices like blowing shofars and praying to "plead the blood of Jesus" over the Capitol.
In 2021, the FBI stated the bureau did not find any evidence that Jan. 6 was an act of insurrection.
The report also alleges President Donald Trump’s “relationship with religious nationalist movements extends into policy and personnel choices,” including the White House Faith Office led by Paula White Cain, who, as the report noted, is “known for speaking in tongues, rebuking ‘witchcraft in the marine kingdom’ and commanding ‘all satanic pregnancies to miscarry.’”
From so-called “Jericho Marches” to the portrayal of Trump as a divinely appointed “Cyrus” figure, the report finds that the NAR, a nebulous movement linked to Pentecostal-Charismatic circles, played a significant role in the Jan. 6 Capitol assault and, following Trump’s 2020 loss to former President Joseph Biden, contributed to the election denial movement.
The report specifically cites NAR’s "Seven Mountain Mandate,” a strategic blueprint urging Christians to dominate seven societal spheres: government, education, media, arts, religion, family and business. It also names several figures in Trump’s sphere — from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and House Speaker Mike Johnson to Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and Idaho Pastor Douglas Wilson as a “righteous horde” to ultimately see America “reconstituted as an explicitly Christian realm governed by divinely-inspired law.”
In comment to The Christian Post about being named in the report, Wilson said: "If I had a cap, being denounced by any entity connected to the SPLC would be a feather in it."
In what is likely the report’s most controversial section, titled “Prayer Warriors and Political Power: A Glossary of Christian Nationalist Terms,” the GPAHE appears to link familiar phrases with a “revolutionary vision for American governance,” including the term “prayer warrior,” which the report defines not just as a believer dedicated to intensive, strategic prayer,” but someone “whose mission is to influence elections, court decisions, legislative outcomes, and cultural trends deemed spiritually significant.”
The glossary also defines the phrase “divinely appointed” as “based on selective Biblical interpretations used to assert that certain leaders, movements, or nations (particularly the United States) are chosen by God to fulfill a sacred purpose, and any opposition is a defiance of God’s will.” This phrase, the report added, “transforms policy debates into cosmic battles between God’s anointed representatives and perceived enemies, privileging religiously derived authority over the constitutional separation of church and state.”
Another term, ekklesia, the Greek word primarily translated as “church” in the New Testament, is also listed as part of GPAHE’s “vocabulary of Christian nationalism,” along with other common Christian terms like “deliverance ministry,” “intercessory prayer” and “End Times revival.”
CP reached out to GPAHE for comment on Wednesday. This article will be updated if a response is received.
Founded in 2020 by former SPLC veterans Heidi Beirich and Wendy Via, GPAHE’s website features numerous reports on topics like Christian nationalism, Project 2025, immigration enforcement, and so-called “conversion therapy,” which GPAHE describes as “inherently degrading and discriminatory and rooted in the belief that [LGBT-identified] persons are somehow inferior, or sinful.”
Last week, the SPLC added the conservative Evangelical parachurch ministry Focus on the Family to its list of so-called anti-LGBT “hate groups," joining similar organizations that advocate for traditional beliefs on sexuality and family.
Glenn T. Stanton, director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, told CP that he was "glad to be listed with so many other great organizations."
"To be honest, our reaction was, 'What took them so long?'" he replied. "So many great organizations have been on their 'hate' list for so many years — Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, American Family Association and so many others."
"We are honored to be listed amongst them because the SPLC's list is really just a silly fundraising tool for them. … Them calling us names doesn't bother us at all."
