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Paganism In An Era Of Christian Nationalism

Paganism In An Era Of Christian Nationalism

Last updated on: January 26, 2026 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

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Paganism In An Era Of Christian Nationalism 2026-01-24T15:56:43-06:00 John Beckett

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When I was making predictions about the future of the Pagan movement 10 – 15 years ago, for the most part I was trying to project 50 years or more into the future. It’s way too early to say what I got right and what I got wrong.

I still think we’re in an era of “speciation” where many different varieties of Pagan beliefs and practices are rising. Over time most will fade away, but those that are particularly robust will survive and grow. I still think Paganism will eventually consolidate in three major areas: witchcraft, polytheism, and non-theistic Nature worship.

But there was an unstated – and unrecognized – assumption in all of those predictions; a presumed foundation for the future of the Pagan movement (and for the future of the entire world, but I’m going to focus on Paganism here). All of these predictions assumed we would be living in a multicultural and multireligious society where everyone (at least in the West) had the freedom (in practice as well as in law) to choose their religion and to practice it freely and openly.

And that’s looking more and more unlikely in this era of increasing Christian nationalism.

Religion continues to decline, but…

The decline of religion in general and Christianity in particular that’s been going on my entire life continues. Polling numbers suggest the steep drop in this century has leveled off, but it has not reversed. Nor will it, and demography is the reason. Boomers and Gen X remain far more religious than Millennials and Zoomers. As they die off, they aren’t being replaced in church pews.

The U.S. remains far more religious – and far more Christian – than Europe. The conservative forms of Christianity still have enough political clout to cause problems for the rest of us, particularly in red states. Still, while white Christian nationalist pastor Dale Partridge can get our attention with his call to outlaw Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism, deport Pagans, and restrict voting to men (and we had better pay attention – when your enemy tells you his plans, believe him) he doesn’t have anywhere near enough people behind him to create a new Inquisition and drive out those who don’t subscribe to his version of Christianity.

Religiously speaking, the long-term future belongs to the Nones (as in “none of the above”). The short-term future still belongs to Christians. Paganism will remain a fringe religion (or if you prefer, many fringe religions), but that’s OK. The validity of a religion does not depend on the number of people who practice it. It depends on whether it is meaningful and helpful for some people, especially if it helps us to live in harmony with the other persons with whom we share this world.

But our main problem isn’t religious.

The demand for cultural supremacy

Or rather, it’s not theological.

Why do Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly support Donald Trump, who is perhaps the least religious and least Christlike person to ever be President? Because they’re both part of a culture of hierarchy and patriarchy under a Calvinist worldview that says the rich are favored by the Christian God.

How many people who complained about Zohran Mamdani being sworn into office as mayor of New York City on a Quran or Mikie Sherrill being sworn in as governor of New Jersey on the constitution instead of a Bible even own a Bible, much less read it regularly?

The idea that religion is all about which set of supernatural propositions you affirm and which ones you reject is a modern, Western, Protestant idea. For most people in most of the world throughout most of history, religion was and is about what you do, who are you, and whose you are. Religion and culture are inseparably intertwined – even here where people assume religion is all about what you believe.

Note that Dale Partridge isn’t calling for the conversion of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Pagans. He’s calling for their – for our – elimination from society. His mission isn’t “winning souls” (to use the language of my fundamentalist childhood). It’s complete and total cultural conquest.

The contemporary U.S. is the most religiously diverse society in the history of humanity. We aren’t going to go from that back to Puritans hanging Quakers any time soon (or ever, I think, but I’m most concerned about the present). At the same time, the push for cultural conformity is only going to get stronger.

In other words, expect more “I said Merry Christmas, damn you!” in the coming years. They don’t care if you celebrate the Winter Solstice, or Hanukkah, or Festivus, or any other holiday. They only care that you affirm the supremacy of their holy day over all the other winter holy days.

The battle is far from over

First, I’m not giving up.

I’m not giving up on building a secular society where everyone is free to practice and promote the religion – or lack thereof – of their choice and no religion is elevated over any other. This may not have been what the founders of this country meant when they wrote the first amendment (history makes it very clear that different people meant different things) but it’s an ideal that has served the United States well through most of the 20th century and into the 21st, and my strong preference is to restore it.

As I’ve said many times, no one or two elections is going to take us back to 2015. We didn’t get into this mess in one election, and we won’t get out of it in one election. But if people of good will show even a fraction of the perseverance that the religious right has shown in their efforts to take away rights, we’ll get back on track.

Be as out as you can

Most people don’t hate Pagans. Or anyone else – hatred is a learned behavior. They’re afraid of “the other” – of people they don’t know. They’re being told they should hate Pagans. But if the LGBTQ movement taught us anything, it’s that it’s a lot easier to hate a caricature than it is to hate somebody you know. Ranting about “Godless heathens” is one thing. It’s another thing when you know a witch in accounting, a Druid in engineering, and you learn that the Heathens actually have many Gods.

This won’t stop the Dale Partridges of the world – their whole identity is bound up in hating people who aren’t like them. But it will put a damper on their followers, and make it less likely they’ll succeed to any meaningful degree.

Be as closeted as you have to be

We don’t need martyrs. To quote General George Patton “no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.” We remember and honor those who die or suffer because of who and what they are, but we would prefer they stay alive. Live to fight another day.

I’ve been a public Pagan for over 20 years and I’ve never had a problem. I’m also a straight white man with a middle class job and no children. I can take risks that someone in a more vulnerable position can’t. And there are risks I choose not to take, for reasons that are my own.

I don’t want anyone to be afraid of what might happen if things go badly. The fascists want us to be afraid so we won’t challenge their cruel goals and abusive methods. At the same time, we all have to evaluate risks and make the right decisions for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Be as private and as closely guarded as you have to be.

Support religious minorities everywhere

I think by now we’re all very familiar with Martin Niemöller’s poem “First They Came.” Pagans are pretty far down the list of people the white Christian nationalists are coming for. That means we have time to stop them before they get to us, by supporting the groups that are more vulnerable that we are.

Yes, that means supporting Muslims in America.

Islam is not a monolithic religion. Most Muslims just want to be good Muslims and live in peace, just as most Christians aren’t interested in living in a fundamentalist theocracy. If you have a problem with the Islam of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and people like him, the problem is you.

At the same time, the governments of Iran, Afghanistan, and some other Middle Eastern countries impose a brutal and oppressive form of Islam we should oppose just as strongly.

Supporting religious minorities means supporting Jews in America and elsewhere.

The conspiracy theories around Jews and the hatred those theories inspire have no place in a society based on reason and tolerance. Our legitimate disagreements with the government of Israel are no excuse for failing to call out antisemitism in this country and around the world.

And while we’re talking about religious minorities, I would remind our Catholic friends that while they are the largest single Christian denomination in the United States, they’re still only about 20% of the population. When Dale Partridge and his ilk talk about the “Pagans” they want to deport they’re talking about you too.

Deny them the absolute victory they demand

In his 2014 book Pagan Britain, historian Ronald Hutton said that Christianity won out over the native religions of Britain “simply because it cared more about winning, and demanded absolute victory.”

This has not changed in the past 1600 years. While many Christians are happy to be good Christians and live in peace with their neighbors, the white Christian nationalists are not.

And while I hope they are ultimately defeated, they have had some successes. They may have more. They may change America for the worse. They may change the world.

We must insure they do not change us.

Those whose Paganism and witchcraft are based on fashion and fiction will revert when things get hard.

Those whose Paganism and witchcraft are grounded in study and practice, who have had experiences they cannot and will not rationalize away will persist.

Those who have real communities and flesh and blood friends will persist, because their communities will support them… and because they know their communities are depending on them.

Remember who you are

To be clear: I do not think a 21st century Inquisition is coming. But the multicultural society in which modern Paganism has grown and thrived is under attack. The culture that, if not always welcoming has at least been tolerant is being made hostile to us, and hostile to everyone else who doesn’t subscribe to the hierarchical, patriarchal, nationalist worldview of those currently in power.

We must fight this trend where ever and however we can: politically, socially, religiously, and artistically.

Mainly, though, we must strengthen our Paganism. We must become so grounded in Pagan beliefs and practices that the idea of converting or reverting is unthinkable.

Read, study, and practice. Meditate, pray, and make offerings. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love.

We can speak and march and vote – and we should – but ultimately we cannot control the mainstream culture and its political wing.

We can control ourselves.

We can be the Pagans, Druids, Heathens, witches, polytheists, and others we are called to be and that we want to be, no matter what the preachers and politicians say about it.

I still think there’s a bright future ahead for Pagans and witches. We were never going to be the dominant culture, and that’s OK – we don’t need absolute victory. We just need a place to practice magic, to love Nature, to honor the many Gods, and to do it all together. We will have it.

One way or another.

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