If you've been following the news over the last year, you've likely heard about the rise of the Christian nationalism movement. Today on The Sunday Story, Ayesha Rascoe sits down with journalist Heath Druzin, creator of the Extremely American podcast series, to take a closer look at one group of Christian nationalists. Druzin interviewed leaders of an influential far-right church in the small town of Moscow, Idaho: Christ Church. There, Pastor Doug Wilson has been building what Druzin and his co-reporter James Dawson call a "Christian industrial complex." And its influence reaches far beyond the boundaries of Moscow, Idaho.You can listen to the latest season of Extremely American here, or download the full series wherever you listen to podcasts.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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I'm Aisha Roscoe, and you're listening to the Sunday Story from Up First, where we go beyond the news to bring you one big story. So if you've been following the news over the last year, you've likely heard about the rise of the Christian nationalism movement. Today on the Sunday Story, we take a closer look at one group of Christian nationalists and hear their vision for the country today.
in their own words. I'm here with journalist Heath Drewson. He's the host and creator of the Extremely American podcast series from Boise State Public Radio and the NPR Network. The podcast series provides an inside look at how a national movement traces back to a church in Idaho. Heath, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks.
So I know that you've immersed yourself in reporting on Christian nationalism in America. Talk to me about what this very, very broad category means to you.
Right. So Christian nationalism is a pretty broad movement. It can mean a lot of different things, but there are some unifying ideologies in the movement. One big example is something called dominionism. Now, that's sort of a jargony term, but really what it means is that Christianity should rule all aspects of life. and that Christ's teachings should be the foundation for all of society.
And, you know, I've been covering extremism since 2018, just looking at how extremism interacts with politics. And a lot of my early coverage was about militias. I covered the COVID lockdown pushback, which was really strong in Idaho especially, and even, you know, elected officials pushing conspiracy theories. Eventually, my reporting turned to Christian nationalism.
When I started in 2018, I think people saw it as a really fringe movement. I certainly did too. And I definitely, even in making this podcast, there was a lot of skepticism as to whether Christian nationalists would ever really matter. But with the election of Donald Trump, I do think that a lot of that skepticism has melted away. The landscape is very different now.
Trump himself has said Christians are, quote, under siege and that the left wants to tear down crosses and that we have to, quote, bring back Christianity in this country. And when Donald Trump says these things, Christian nationalists say that it's their ideology influencing the now president-elect.
You did a lot of reporting from this college town in Idaho. It's called Moscow. Tell me about your reporting there.
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