"If This Goes On—" is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in 1940 in Astounding Science-Fiction and revised and expanded to novel length for inclusion in the 1953 collection Revolt in 2100.

The story shows what might happen to Christianity in the United States with mass communications, applied psychology, and a hysterical populace.

[1] The story is set in a future theocratic American society, ruled by the latest in a series of fundamentalist Christian "Prophets."

They are left with no choice but to seek aid from the Cabal, an underground revolutionary movement (Judith's friend, Sister Magdalene, is a member).

All take on significant roles in bringing to fruition the revolutionary plot, John as an aide to the commander, General Huxley.

Even as constitutional discussions go on, the new regime's troops, tempered to provide the greatest possible individual freedom (that is the origin of the 'Covenant' mentioned in other Heinlein works), prepare to take New Jerusalem.

He quoted Heinlein words from it: There is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in [America]; it is rooted in our history and it has broken out many times in the past…[T]here has been a sharp rise in strongly evangelical sects in this country in recent years, some of which hold beliefs theocratic in the extreme, anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian…The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

Lazarus Long specifically mentions that he spent the period of the Interregnum mostly on Venus when the Prophets ruled the United States, and space travel was forbidden.

Scudder was previously mentioned in passing in the short story "Logic of Empire" and would be again later on in Heinlein's final novel, To Sail Beyond the Sunset.

Also, a story called "The Stone Pillow", which would have depicted the earlier foredoomed opposition to the Theocracy, never got written; Heinlein noted that there was "too much tragedy in real life."