Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy

Reviewed by Anthony Manousos

February 1, 2026

By Katherine Stewart. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025. 352 pages. $29.99/hardcover; $19.99/paperback; $15.99/eBook.

How has religious nationalism fueled the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement’s well-planned and highly effective efforts to undermine democracy? Investigative journalist Katherine Stewart has been tracking this movement for over 15 years, and in Money, Lies, and God she provides a compelling overview as well as meticulous research about the funders, leaders, and foot soldiers of religious nationalism.

Five years ago, I reviewed Stewart’s previous book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (2020), for Friends Journal and called it a must-read if you want to understand how Christian nationalists helped Trump to get elected, and how they plan to turn America into a right-wing Christian theocracy. Since then, Stewart has produced a powerful documentary based on that book called God & Country (2024), which I highly recommend.

Her latest book examines the complex dynamics of this antidemocratic movement. She documents how it is funded by shadowy right-wing billionaires like Joan and James Lindsey (evangelicals) and Timothy Busch (a conservative Catholic), who pour billions of dollars into foundations, churches, and organizations that promote right-wing Christianity and the MAGA movement.

She also interviews some liberal faith leaders like Robert Busch, a “[Pope] Francis Catholic,” who oppose Christian nationalism and whose values align with those of Quakers. They receive funds from other sources to a much lesser degree.

She brilliantly explores how right-wing think tanks like the Claremont Institute provide a veneer of intellectual respectability to the movement by evoking Plato, Aristotle, and antidemocratic political philosophers like Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss, and Michael Anton. Harry V. Jaffa, the professor who inspired the founders of the Institute, became disillusioned with its positions and wittily observed: “They put a top hat on Jefferson Davis and call him Abraham Lincoln. They put the dust cover of Nicomachean Ethics on Atlas Shrugged and call it Aristotle.” Stewart explains how the right-wing takeover of the “diverse and eclectic” New College in Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis is a model for what the current regime would like to do nationwide. The ultimate goal of the Christian nationalist movement is to control what it calls the “Seven Mountains” of American society: business, education, entertainment and the arts, media, government, religion, and the family. This ideology is reflected in Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a Trumpist makeover of the United States.

She also explains how charismatic leaders and “spirit warriors” motivate their followers to vote MAGA and take over the government at the local, state, and national levels. She interviews people who are the movement’s “Sergeants” and “soldiers”: true believers who feel that God is on their side and their opponents are demonic. Her interviews provide a human face to this growing movement.

According to Stewart, the movement has gone global. As neoliberal capitalism fails to meet people’s needs for affordable housing, healthcare, education, and other essentials, populist autocrats attract followers by focusing on “family values” (e.g., opposing abortion and homosexuality); scapegoating immigrants; and falsely promising prosperity and a return to a “golden age” when white men were in charge and everyone knew their place. She describes how “Americans, led by figures such as New Right activist Paul Weyrich, effectively taught the emerging Russian elite how religious nationalism could be deployed in service of illiberal and antidemocratic ends.” Learning this lesson, Vladimir Putin leans on the Russian Orthodox Church for support. Stewart delves into the anti-abortion, anti-homosexual movement that has spread to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, and other countries by those who align themselves with authoritarian leaders and seek to impose their minority views on the majority. Their ultimate goal is theocracy.

Finally, Stewart offers hope and a game plan for those of us committed to a religion based on justice and compassion, not on the lust for power. She argues that the antidemocratic nationalist movement is composed of groups with different agendas and worldviews and has internal contradictions that can be exposed and exploited. She urges us to get involved at the local level, partner with people of faith committed to social justice, and work with others who want to protect the vote and elect and support leaders with democratic values. “Tell them democracy matters,” she exhorts, before referencing a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Tell them the republic is theirs—if they can keep it.”

For Quakers, it means seeking divine guidance; standing with those who are passionate about defending democracy; and speaking truth to power, as Bayard Rustin also challenged us to do. It means supporting organizations like American Friends Service Committee and Friends Committee on National Legislation, and pro-democracy progressive movements. It means putting our Quaker faith into practice!

Anthony Manousos is a member of Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, Calif. He is the editor/author of numerous articles and seven books, the most recent being Howard and Anna Brinton. He is a Quaker peace activist, workshop leader, retired college professor, and cofounder of the housing justice nonprofit Making Housing and Community Happen. Website: laquaker.blogspot.com.