The conservative, Christian movement is better positioned to impose its will on American politics today than at any other time in recent memory, thanks to right-wing judges ex-President Donald Trump put on the federal bench and Supreme Court.
On everything from abortion to education, courts have sided with Christian ideology across the land. Meanwhile, the facade of Christian moral superiority continues to crumble.
The facade of Christian moral superiority continues to crumble.
A couple of incidents come to mind. First, there’s the scandal still unfolding at Agapè Boarding School, a Christian facility for young men in Missouri that's facing a slew of child abuse allegations. Agapè pitches guardians on its ability to “biblically teach your child the importance of submission to authority and the joys of being an obedient law-abiding citizen.”
It’s unclear what that means, but if you believe allegations from several students who attended the school, it translates too frequently into assault. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has been investigating Agapè for systemic child abuse for more than a year now. On Monday, The Daily Beast reported new details about several students who have filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused and beaten by workers at the school. (Agapè denied the allegations in a statement to The Daily Beast.)
That alleged culture of abuse sounds similar to the one victims say was fostered by the Southern Baptist Convention, an ultraconservative denomination of Christian nationalists. In May, church leaders released a report showing hundreds of pastors and church workers have been accused of sexual abuse. The SBC, which is in ideological lockstep with the conservative movement, has since released the names of pastors it says were accused between 2000 and 2019. When the news dropped, SBC President Ed Litton said in a statement there “are not adequate words to express my sorrow at the things revealed in this report,” and that Southern Baptists “must resolve to change our culture and implement desperately needed reforms.”
These revelations are quite damning for the conservative, Christian movement and its members. For months, we've seen members of the Christian right framing themselves as protectors of children and ethical stewards of our world. But it's an impossible sell when the worlds they operate appear even more broken than the one they want to “fix.”