Paul Raushenbush: A broad spiritual revival is forming to counter Christian nationalism

Paul Raushenbush, president of the Interfaith Alliance, told the William M. Johnson Lecture audience on Sept. 19 in Louisville that the United States is seeing a spiritual revival that could respond to threats facing democracy and religious freedom. He described the resurgence as unlike past awakenings because it is not limited to a single faith or leader.

Raushenbush said the current movement combines a radical spirituality of nonviolent resistance, an ethic of loving one's neighbor, and a promise of inclusive democracy. He presented that mix as the basis for a new political reality driven by diverse religious communities working together.

# How Raushenbush connects revival to democracy

He linked the spiritual awakening directly to political dangers. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Raushenbush said, American democracy has suffered and feels tenuous. He listed tactics he attributes to the administration and its allies: expanding executive power, attacking courts, threatening higher education, seeking control over the press, curtailing speech and censoring materials, attacking corporations while advancing policies favoring the rich, and working to manipulate elections.

Raushenbush singled out a narrow religious movement he identified as central to this slide toward autocracy. He argued religion has historically been used by authoritarian regimes to justify policies in exchange for religious monopoly and the ability to replace democratic governance with theocracy.

# Christian nationalism: historical roots and contemporary actors

Raushenbush traced Christian nationalist ideas to early U.S. history, saying they were present in white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia and manifest destiny. He connected those impulses to episodes including indigenous genocide, justification for slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, and the Confederacy.

In the present, he named specific political figures and institutions as allied with Christian nationalist aims, mentioning Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson. He criticized the language of divine endorsement used by political leaders, noting Trump's tendency to claim God is on his side and to use religious supporters as a partisan base.

# Concrete examples Raushenbush used

Two concrete targets came up repeatedly in his remarks. First, Project 2025 was described as a mechanism by which Christian nationalist ideas would be shaped into policy under an autocratic vision. Second, Raushenbush focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement: he argued ICE uses Bible verses in recruitment and propaganda to claim religious sanction while carrying out immigration enforcement actions he described as terrorizing communities, separating families, and operating detention sites.

# What Raushenbush urged

He framed the spiritual revival as a necessary response: a broad, plural, nonviolent movement that can contest authoritarian policy and defend religious freedom and democracy. While he did not present the threats as receding, he portrayed the awakening as a visible and timely counterforce that draws on interfaith cooperation and civic moral commitments.

# Context at Crescent Hill Baptist Church