Faith Will Be Our Downfall
Post-election analysis shows a sobering truth: Donald Trump’s 2024 victory was secured by the overwhelming support of Christian Americans. With Christians comprising 72% of the electorate and giving Trump 56% of their vote, this wasn’t a landslide—but it was decisive. The most un-Christlike candidate in modern political history won, not despite his moral failings, but because of a belief system that discourages questioning and demands obedience.
From the earliest years, Christian children are taught that obedience is a virtue, and that doubt is dangerous. The biblical story of “Doubting Thomas” is used to shame skepticism. In John 20:29, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This phrase doesn’t just exalt faith—it condemns inquiry.
Ironically, many biblical scholars believe the story of Doubting Thomas was likely a late addition to the Gospel of John, written not by eyewitnesses, but by second-hand authors nearly 80 years after Jesus’s death. The purpose? To reinforce faith among early Christians who were losing hope after Jesus failed to return as promised—“before this generation passes away.” Two thousand years have passed, and still, no return. But faith persists, not because of evidence, but because Christians are conditioned to fear doubt.
And that’s exactly what Christian nationalism feeds on—not thought, but faith. Not inquiry, but obedience.
The same authority that declares the Bible to be the unquestionable word of God now tells Christians to fear immigrants, hate transgender people, and relegate women to second-class status. We are told America must return to a time of greatness—a time when it was “great” primarily for white, conservative Christians.
As The Washington Post recently noted, “The greatest threat facing the United States is its own president.” But the truer threat may be the blind faithful who placed him in power.
Fox News has become the new American pulpit. What its high priests preach is taken as gospel by millions. Despite lawsuits, retractions, and court admissions that their broadcasts are not news but “entertainment,” its followers remain unmoved. “I don’t need evidence,” they say. “I have my beliefs.”
This is no accident. Authoritarian regimes and religious extremists alike use the language of purity, obedience, and submission. When piety and power merge, freedom dies—quietly, and in the name of virtue.
Just as religion teaches that to question is to betray God, Christian nationalism teaches that to question authority is to betray the nation. Civic engagement is replaced with loyalty. Rational debate is replaced with doctrinal allegiance.
As Robert M. Pirsig said, “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.”
Today, entire nations suffer under the illusion of divine favor. The Taliban believes it acts on Allah’s will. American Christian nationalists believe the United States is protected and ordained by the Christian God.
As author Ruth Hurmence Green once said: “There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.”
History has shown us what happens when church and state unite: the Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, the Taliban. When religion replaces reason in governance, freedom withers and rights erode.
Education plays a critical role. It can foster conformity, or it can foster freedom. It cannot do both. One form shapes thinkers. The other shapes subjects.
A society that isn’t allowed to think freely cannot choose freely. And a society that cannot choose freely is no longer a democracy.
Blind faith has brought us to this moment of crisis.
Andrew Carnegie, one of history’s most philanthropic billionaires, built more than 3,000 libraries because he believed free access to knowledge was the key to freedom and success. Now, President Trump is slashing funding for federal libraries—cutting off access to information, particularly for the poor. He once proudly proclaimed, “I love the poorly educated.”
It shows.
Studies continue to reveal that lack of a college degree is the single strongest predictor of Trump support. That’s not a judgment—it’s a fact. And facts matter, even when faith tries to erase them.
In many Christian traditions, belief without question is not just encouraged—it’s required. In Catholicism, for example, to doubt or deny Church dogma—such as the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, or the Assumption of Mary—is considered heresy, a grievous sin.
When truth is dictated by divine decree rather than discovered through reason and dialogue, we lose the ability to govern ourselves.
