The FFRF Action Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week” is Dallas megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress for his dubious intervention at the recent Republican midterm convention.
Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, cast the upcoming election as a battle between God and evil. He began his remarks by acknowledging the obvious question: “What is a pastor doing speaking at a partisan political convention like this one?” He then spent much of his speech showing why fusing religious authority with partisan politics is so dangerous.
Jeffress declared that America is engaged in a “war” against “unseen forces of wickedness” before explicitly identifying one political party with sin and evil. He then singled out the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Texas, James Talarico, who frequently discusses his own Christian faith, and attacked Talarico’s religious beliefs as “blasphemous” and “evil.” Jeffress went so far as to proclaim that Talarico’s beliefs are “not beliefs that any true Christian could support ever.”
Jeffress concluded by invoking divine favor at the ballot box. “God is never on the side of evil,” he declared. He then told the partisan convention that if Americans want God’s “continued blessings” on the country, “it is imperative that on November the 3rd, we vote for God’s side.”
This rhetoric illustrates one of the central dangers of Christian nationalism: transforming ordinary political disagreement into a struggle between the supposedly righteous and the ungodly. In a religiously diverse democracy, no pastor has special authority to determine which political party represents God, which candidate represents evil or which interpretation of Christianity qualifies someone as a “true Christian.”
Jeffress is free to express his political and theological opinions, including at a partisan political convention. But his appearance is particularly notable, given his long history of mixing theological judgments with electoral politics. In 2011, he declared that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was “not a Christian” because of his Mormon faith and said evangelical voters should prefer a “competent Christian” to a competent non-Christian. In 2019, Jeffress went further, declaring that “there is no such thing as a separation of church and state in the Constitution.”
His attack on Talarico is therefore part of a longstanding pattern: Jeffress once again positioned himself as an arbiter of authentic Christianity and then used that theological judgment to make a partisan political argument.
FFRF filed a complaint with the IRS regarding First Baptist Dallas in 2020 after then-Vice President Mike Pence appeared at the church’s “Celebrate Freedom Sunday.” During the church service, Jeffress told Pence that the congregation was praying for him to win another term as vice president and ultimately become president.
Jeffress later claimed that First Baptist Dallas became the subject of an unfair years-long IRS investigation due to the FFRF complaints, costing the church hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, federal law prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches, from participating or intervening in campaigns for or against candidates for public office.
That is what makes Jeffress’ convention speech so revealing. He was not simply arguing over taxes, immigration, health care or any other matter of public policy. He declared one side “evil,” attacked the Christianity of a named candidate and instructed Americans to “vote for God’s side.”
Our democracy derives its authority from “We the People,” not from pastors claiming privileged knowledge of God’s preferred candidates or political party. Americans of every religion and no religion are equally entitled to participate in our democracy without being told that casting the “wrong” vote puts them on the side of evil.
For once again attempting to fuse religious authority with partisan political power, Robert Jeffress is the FFRF Action Fund’s “Theocrat of the Week.”
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.