Bad Faith (film)

Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy is a 2024 American documentary film directed by Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones.

Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with critics noting its educational value and its success at communicating its central thesis about the dangers of weakening the separation of church and state.

Ujlaki realized that he was caught in a filter bubble, so he set out to learn as much as he could about the people who voted for Trump, focusing on the evangelical community, and reading many books on the subject and conducting interviews with key players.

Instead, Green v. Connally (1971) may have been the true catalyst for the formation of the religious right as a political force, as the court in that case decided that any organization that operates a private school that discriminates based on race is not eligible for tax-exempt status.

The film suggests that Paul Weyrich, a Republican political operative and Christian nationalist, galvanized the religious pro-segregationists and redirected their anger towards the federal government to create a Trojan horse, a new voting bloc to help the GOP win elections with the intention to subvert democracy and promote theocracy under the guise of concern about abortion.

Combined, these groups waged a long-term culture war against the United States, culminating in the weakening of democratic norms and institutions, the election of Donald Trump, the undermining of democratic elections with the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and the policy blueprints for Project 2025, which would fulfill Weyrich's 40-year goals, as expressed in his original manifesto: "Our strategy will be to bleed this culture dry...Make no mistake about it: We are talking about Christianizing America...We will weaken and destroy the existing institutions.

"[6] People that are interviewed in the film include national security expert Elizabeth Neumann, formerly with the Trump administration; journalist Katherine Stewart; sociologist Samuel L. Perry; theologian Russell D. Moore; minister William Barber II; historian Linda Gordon; theologian Jim Wallis; Christian writer Lisa Sharon Harper; and Christian writer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

"[2] Writing for The Humanist, David Reinbold gave the film a positive review calling it "simultaneously informative, sobering, chilling, frightening, but always with vestiges of hope".

Stacy writes that at times, the film is "sensational and conspiratorial", but concludes that "it does provide a glimpse of how the evangelical faith justifies the corrupting pursuit of political power".