On Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, Christian nationalist evangelist Lance Wallnau will be unveiling what is being billed as The Courage Tour at the Monroeville Convention Center in western Pennsylvania. The event will feature many prominent speakers in the Christian Nationalist movement, the most famous probably being Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene’s participation probably tells all one needs to know about the values and politics promulgated by Wallnau and his Courage Tour.
However, a group called Faithful America is organizing a petition drive to attempt to convince the Monroeville Convention Center to cancel Wallnau’s event.
Faithful America is a progressive Christian advocacy and activist group formed in 2004 as part of the National Council of Churches to oppose the extremist positions of the growing Christian Nationalist movement. Faithful America was spun off as an independent 501(c)4 entity in 2014. Rev. Nathan Empsall, an Episcopalian priest from Connecticut, has served as FA’s executive director since 2019.
According to Rev. Empsall, the primary goal of Faithful America is “to reclaim faith from the religious right.” He feels that for decades, the religious right and the entire Christian Nationalist movement has twisted the message of Christian faith, originally intended to promote compassion, inclusivity and acceptance, into a political dogma of discrimination, bigotry and hate.
The message is spelled out on FA’s website. “We raise our collective voices through rapid-response digital campaigns that tap into the grassroots power of Christians across the nation. When corporations and religious institutions invoke a twisted definition of religious freedom to justify bigotry, we speak up. When hate groups purport to speak for Christianity, we act. When bishops embrace discrimination and partisanship, we stand with our plurality Catholic members to hold the U.S. hierarchy accountable to the inspiring words of Pope Francis. We’re sticking up for courageous Christian voices acting for fairness and freedom in every denomination and tradition. We’re fighting for social, economic, and racial justice, standing with the Black Lives Matter movement and upholding the Gospel’s values of love, equality, and dignity. Together, we’re helping make a difference for immigrants, refugees, the climate, the LGBTQ community, and more.”
Empsall admits that liberal and progressive Christians have been slow to get involved with the culture wars that have been waged for the past few decades, mostly because they have been loath to mix their religion with politics. He points out that “Liberal Christians take the whole separation of church and state issue very seriously.”
However, that stance has been changed with the advent of the MAGA movement.
Faithful America takes seriously the admonition of Jesus, who warns his followers to “Beware of False Prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” As such, they keep a watch list of “false prophets” who promote hate and bigotry under the guise of Christianity.
Lance Wallnau, of course, has been on that list for some time. His “Courage Tour” very much takes the form of a MAGA revival meeting, calling on conservative Christians to oppose LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and any effort to help marginalized communities. This is why Faithful America has organized a petition drive in an attempt to convince the Monroeville Convention Center to cancel Wallnau’s event. At press time, they have accumulated over 5,000 signatures.
The false prophets list (americanfalseprophets.org) is updated annually. The 2024 list includes conservative luminaries such as SCOTUS judge Samuel Alito, KKKer Ralph Reed, recent Republican newsmakers Mark Harris, Mark Robinson—and, of course, Donald Trump, among others.
Faithful America has a long history of standing up for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as other marginalized communities. One notable Pennsylvania case involved defending a defrocked Pennsylvania pastor for supporting marriage equality. In 2013, United Methodist pastor Frank Schaefer was put on trial and defrocked for officiating at the wedding of his gay son. After local Methodists made headlines with a petition signed by 35,000 Faithful America members, Schaefer’s bishop publicly committed to do everything in her power to prevent future trials, helping prompt other bishops to make the same promise. Schaefer himself was reinstated. The action ultimately led to major changes in the U.S. Methodist Church’s policies regarding LGBTQ issues.
Empsall points out that Faithful America has a national reach, with more than 200,000 members nationwide, and actions in progress in such diverse states as Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, Empsall admits that Faithful America doesn’t always succeed. At presstime, the Monroeville Convention Center has not responded to Faithful America’s petition drive.
But the good reverend refuses to be discouraged. The work must continue, he says, because “faith is a particularly potent political force when twisted by hate.”
For more information on Faithful America, visit faithfulamerica.org.
