Two hours after Rep. of Lubbock was elected Texas House speaker on Tuesday, Christian worshippers gathered in a Capitol meeting room to prepare for 鈥渟piritual war鈥� and protect lawmakers from demonic forces.
鈥淧ray for the fear of the Lord to come into this place,鈥� Landon Schott intoned from the stage as a small band played acoustic hymns and 100 or so faithful on walls, hoping to bless the room and ward off evil spirits. 鈥淟et the fear of the Lord return to Austin. In Jesus鈥� name.鈥�
Schott is the pastor of Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, and was among the Christian leaders who spent Tuesday rallying fellow believers ahead of a legislative session that they hope will further codify their into law. He was joined in those efforts by a throng of pastors and Republican leaders, who throughout the day claimed that church-state separation , called progressive Christians heretics, or vowed to weed out 鈥渃owardly鈥� clergy who refuse to politick from the pulpit.
鈥淭here is between church and state,鈥� Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said at a small rally with clergy and GOP lawmakers. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want the government in our churches, but we should be in the government.鈥�
George鈥檚 comments 鈥� delivered some-50 yards from another rally that focused on interfaith unity 鈥� are the latest sign of the Texas GOP鈥檚 embrace of that seek to center public life around their faith by claiming church-state separation or that America鈥檚 founding was , and its laws should thus
Polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with pillars of Christian nationalism, including that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation. Of those respondents, roughly half supported having an authoritarian leader who maintains Christian dominance in society. Experts have also found strong correlations between Christian nationalist beliefs and , racial justice and religious diversity.
The party鈥檚 embrace of those separate-but-overlapping ideologies ideologies has come as it has with far-right megadonors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, two West Texas oil billionaires who have sought to cleanse the Texas GOP of moderate voices and religious views. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers have adopted an increasingly of politics that paints opponents 鈥� unwitting or not 鈥� as part of a concerted effort to destroy Christianity, including by normalizing LGBTQ+ acceptance or undermining 鈥渢raditional鈥� family structures.
Such claims have been used as the pretext for a litany of bills and reforms that would Christianity into public life. During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed a law allowing to supplant counselors in public schools; sought to weaken on providing taxpayer money to religious institutions, a core plank of the school voucher movement; and almost that would require the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms.
Lawmakers are expected to continue that trend during this year鈥檚 legislative session (the Ten Commandments bill already has been refiled). And pastors, emboldened by President Donald Trump鈥檚 reelection and the ultraconservative U.S. Supreme Court, said Tuesday that they believe they have their best shot yet to topple the and the Johnson Amendment, a federal rule that from engaging in overt political activity.
Rick Scarborough has working to do exactly that. A former Southern Baptist pastor in Pearland, he has become a leader in a movement that seeks to and undermine the Johnson Amendment, which he but has been used by 鈥渃owardly鈥� pastors who don鈥檛 want to engage in politics. The result, he said, has been an ineffectual Texas Legislature that has often cowered to the LGBTQ+ community and their heretical, progressive Christian allies. (Texas lawmakers have passed dozens of in recent years, overriding opposition from a large majority of Democrats).
One of his movement鈥檚 ultimate goals, he said Tuesday, is to draw a lawsuit that they can eventually take to the U.S. Supreme Court, which they believe will ultimately overturn the prohibition and unleash a new wave of conservative, Christian activism.
鈥淭he Johnson Amendment is to cover the fear that pastors already have,鈥� he said in an interview after praying over GOP lawmakers on the Capitol lawn. 鈥淢ost pastors are so fearful of their reputation that they won't stand, and they don't know how much God will defend them if they get out there and stand up and speak fearlessly.鈥�
Few congregations have taken up like Mercy Culture Church, the Fort Worth congregation that Schott pastors. In recent years, Mercy Culture has become an epicenter of Texas鈥� fundamentalist Christian movement, helping push the state and local GOP further right, demonizing their detractors 鈥� Schott has called critics of the church 鈥渨arlocks鈥� and 鈥渨itches,鈥� and claimed Christians can't vote for Democrats 鈥� and rallying voters behind church leaders as they campaign for public office. Among the church鈥檚 pastors is Rep. , who was elected to the Texas House in 2022 and has since continued to frame his political life as part of broader, spiritual struggle.
鈥淭his isn't a physical battle,鈥� Schatzline said in a Tuesday interview. 鈥淚t's not a political battle we're in. We really believe this is a spiritual battle.鈥�
Hours later, Schatzline kicked off the worship session at the Capitol with a bold promise.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to give this space back to the Holy Spirit,鈥� . 鈥淲e give You this room. 鈥� The 89th Legislative session is Yours, Lord. The members of this body are Yours, Lord. This building belongs to You, Jesus."
One Christian nationalism expert said Tuesday's events showed how normalized the ideology has become among broad swaths of the Republican Party. Matthew Taylor is a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies who has spent most of his career focused on the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of "charismatic" Christians who often weave prophecy, "spiritual warfare" and demonology into its calls for Christians to take control over all spheres of society.
"I've argued for years that, in the Trump era, charismatic evangelicals have displaced the old guard of the (Religious Right) and brought in a new, more aggressive evangelical politics," Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies, wrote on . "That was on vivid display in (Texas) today."
Taylor has spent much of his career focused on the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of "charismatic" Christians who often weave prophecy, "" and demonology into their calls for Christians to take control over all spheres of society.
Members of that movement played central roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, and were well represented at the Capitol on Tuesday: Schatzline and Mercy Culture have deep ties to the , as does Brandon Burden, a Frisco pastor who led a caravan of buses and activists to pressure lawmakers ahead of the House speaker vote. In January 2021, he told his congregants to keep weapons loaded for what he prophesied would be a national blackout orchestrated to keep Trump out of office.
Burden repeatedly appeared alongside Republican officials on Tuesday. Minutes after George, the Texas GOP chair, claimed that church-state separation doesn't exist, Burden led a group of pastors and activists as they prayed over a small group of GOP lawmakers. "We take charge and authority of the 89th legislative session," . "We, the people of God, called by the name of Jesus and covered in the blood of the lamb, have been given spiritual jurisdiction over the affairs of men.鈥�