On January 29, 2025, Noem appeared on ‘The Will Cain Show,’ where she explained that she is freezing federal funding for some NGOs after she learned that NGOs aren’t just used to spread the gospel:
“When somebody said NGO to me, I thought that [was] a nonprofit telling somebody about Jesus or spreading faith and salvation…,” Noem said. “Then I realized over the years, it’s been perverted into this shadow government.”
Noem is a Christian nationalist who has claimed to be divinely called to office. Her campaign website quotes her as saying, “I want to be obedient to whatever God has called me to do.” She believes God has a divine plan for her life, telling a religious site: “We’ll see what God has planned because I’ve learned he likes to surprise me.”
“Most of Noem’s life has been about three things: faith, family and farming,” as Fox News puts it. She prayed about running for Congress, where she served four years, but was “worried about us being disobedient to what God may be asking us to do.” There, she participated in a bipartisan bible study.
Once elected as governor of South Dakota, she sponsored a church service in the Capitol rotunda in January 2019 billed as an “Inaugural Worship Service with Governor Noem,” although every aspect was Christian. “You are Lord and King of South Dakota,” said an invited pastor about her at the event. “We thank you Lord God that we have faith and that the Holy Spirit absolutely takes over every corner and every crevice of this Capitol and of this state.” The pastor then prayed that “any demon that may try to come in this place is kicked out.”
Noem’s official gubernatorial bio, headlined “South Dakota: Under God, the People Rule,” concludes with a sentence saying her family loves “the Lord” even more than each other.
