A leading media advocacy organization that launched a national ad campaign on the dangers of Project 2025 is FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” while the Republican vice presidential nominee has earned our “Theocrat of the Week” epithet.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, underscores exactly why Project 2025 and the new Republican Party are dangerous for the country. First entering the Senate in 2023 and named Donald Trump’s running mate last week, Vance has emerged as a leading voice in a new Christian nationalist movement coined “Catholic integralism.” Catholic integralism essentially wants the “spiritual” to be dominant over the “worldly,” teaching that Christian values and influences should guide society and government politics. The Religion News Service reports that with Vance’s elevation to the vice presidential slot, a Catholic version of Christian nationalism will have a significantly larger platform.
While speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Breakfast last week, Vance confirmed that he wants to “integrate” his personal religious beliefs into his “governing agenda.” Vance’s Catholic faith has long driven his political stances. He has publicly denounced no-fault divorce, glorified the “traditional family” and advocated for a national abortion ban. Previously, Vance was opposed to exceptions for rape and incest in a national abortion ban and claimed he wanted to protect life “from the date of conception.” Vance told an Ohio radio host in 2021 that “it’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term. It’s whether a child should be allowed to live.” Vance even likened legal abortion to slavery.
Vance signed a letter in 2023 urging the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act, the archaic 1873 law that anti-abortion advocates want to use to ban the mailing of abortion medication and equipment needed for abortion clinics to function. Kevin Roberts, the president of the think tank (Heritage Foundation) behind Project 2025, which calls for enforcing the Comstock Act, said that his organization was “privately rooting” for Trump to name Vance as his running mate.
While speaking at a 2021 gathering of the Teneo Network, an invitation-only group of young conservatives, Vance went on a tirade about how they should stand up for “nonconventional people” who speak the truth, such as Alex Jones, and implied that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is probably a “sex pervert.” During his closed-door speech, Vance said, “I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society.”
Vance is closely connected to billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel, who is partly responsible for giving the New Right a platform in mainstream politics. The New Right is described as a post-Trump movement of young and elite conservatives who believe that federal institutions and current democratic systems are failing the United States and need to be dismantled. Vance credits Thiel with his path to Christianity (Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019).
Working hard to counteract Vance and others’ embrace of Project 2025 is a nongovernmental organization that has launched a national ad campaign showcasing the dangers of Project 2025 and Trump’s possible return to the Oval Office. The first ad, titled “The Pledge,” was premiered last week by GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, named our “Secularist of the Week.”
The ad is set in a public school classroom in September 2025 and shows a federal government representative overseeing a teacher leading a classroom of young students reciting a revised Pledge of Allegiance, modeled after Project 2025: “I pledge allegiance to the flag and the President of the United States of America, and to the biblical values for which our country stands, and the natural order of man and woman under God, loyal to the President at all times” The ad ends by urging viewers to “read” and “stop” Project 2025 and promotes StopProject25.com, a GLAAD webpage detailing all things Project 2025, including what it would mean for the LGBTQ-plus community.
GLAAD was founded in 1985 to protest the New York Post’s homophobic and sensationalized coverage of the AIDS epidemic. It is focused on media advocacy and increasing media accountability. Its laudable work is needed to help expose Project 2025 and oppose Trump’s presidential bid.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.