Why People of Faith Should Protest Against Rising Fascism on ‘No Kings Day’

Rising Fascism: Faith, Force, and the Second ‘No Kings Day’ – How MAGA Christians Cast a dark Shadow on Democracy

By Michael J. Christensen

This weekend, across hundreds of U.S. cities, Americans will gather for the second “No Kings Day” protests.  People of faith will be among those protesting authoritarianism and the increasing use of military force in cities by the Trump administration. The question for Christians is how deeply the shadow of fascism has already crept into our churches and public expressions of faith.

On June 14, 2025, the first No Kings Day drew more than 5 million people across more than 2,000 cities, rallying in protest of militarized pageantry, religious optics, and authoritarian drift during the U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade and President Trump’s 79th birthday. No Kings Day II comes amid a government shutdown, rising detentions and deportations of undocumented people, and the domestic militarization of federal facilities, where peaceful demonstrations against ICE and federal overreach are ongoing.

What was once symbolic—staged displays of power and ritual—is now being structured into government agencies and the executive branch.  Republican political leaders have already framed this demonstration as a “Hate America Day” of far-left agitators and traitors.  This lowers the threshold for labeling civil protest as insurrection justifying martial law. The stakes have shifted: religious imagery and militarized authority are merging into a new normal of soft theocracy supported by religious leaders and congregations.

State-Sanctioned Faith
While some of the more theatrical claims circulating online remain unverified, the Trump administration has taken documented steps to integrate religious themes into executive power with force and funding. These structural changes are more than optics; they conflate religion and politics, favor friends and punish enemies. For example:

• White House Faith Office (Feb 2025) – Created by executive order, this office advises on policies affecting faith-based organizations, identifies grant opportunities, and coordinates religious-liberty training across federal agencies. It provides a formal platform for clergy aligned with the administration to influence public policy.
• Religious Liberty Commission (May 2025) – Established under the Department of Justice, this commission safeguards religious freedom, focusing on parental rights in education, school choice, conscience protections, and free speech for religious entities.
• Guidance on Religious Expression in Federal Workplaces (July 2025) – Federal employees are protected in their right to engage in prayer, display religious items, or hold discussion groups, provided such activity is non-disruptive.

These initiatives embed religion structurally into governance, normalizing the presence of religious authority in decision-making and creating conditions in which religious symbolism can merge with executive privilege.

Authoritarian Drift: From Soft Theocracy to the Strong Arm of Christian Nationalism
The blending of sacred and civic duty is accelerating. Federal agencies increasingly incorporate faith-based policies, and the revived Faith & Freedom Council vets nominees for a “biblical worldview.” Religious liberty is now institutionalized as a form of Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism is not about protecting religious freedom; it is about merging one particular faith with civic authority. Dissent becomes rebellion, pluralism is disorder, and loyalty to a leader is cast as divinely sanctioned.

Groups such as Turning Point USA, ReAwaken America, and Pastors for Trump operate as alternative clergy, blessing rallies and claiming that obedience to Trump is a spiritual duty. This conflation of political and religious authority is idolatry: there is no king but God, and no president above the law.

Over the past months, these dynamics have accelerated. Federal agencies bear religious mottos, commissions vet nominees for biblical fidelity, and guidance explicitly protects faith expression in government workplaces. This institutional embedding reinforces Christian nationalist narratives and normalizes the merging of ecclesial and civic authority.

To exert control, federal forces are being deployed in opposition-led states under the guise of law and order. In Portland, the President moved to send federal troops “to full force if necessary,” prompting court interventions. In Illinois, attempts to deploy the National Guard were temporarily blocked by a federal judge citing constitutional concerns.

These actions, framed as immigration or law enforcement measures, carry paramilitary optics, signaling that domestic protest could be treated as a battlefield.

The infrastructure for martial law is being rehearsed. Protesters risk being recast as rebels, cities as battlegrounds, and the commander-in-chief as savior and/or king.

No Kings Day II unfolds in a context more dangerous than the first No Kings Day protests last June.

• Institutional sanction: Religious symbols and rhetoric are now embedded in government through offices, commissions, and executive policy.
• Paramilitary presence: The federalization of National Guards and deployment of federal agents suggest something beyond crowd control.
• Escalated legal confrontation: Courts actively check federal deployments, creating high-profile legal clashes.
• Christian nationalist alignment: Religious groups increasingly provide narrative frames linking obedience to leadership with obedience to God and charactering dissent as disloyalty to both church and state.

The Christian Call to Resistance
People of faith must decide on whose side they are on.  Beyond joining others in protests, faithful resistance must be moral, theological, organized, and nonviolent, rooted in both faith and democracy. Faith leaders and congregations can anchor dissent in prophetic witness:

• Speak the truth and share facts in church and in the public square at the risk of division.
• Host trainings in de-escalation, ‘know your rights’ education, and finding legal support.
• Offer sanctuary to at-risk communities, including immigrants, dissenters, and journalists.
• Support Detention Resistance teams to bear witness and accompany people to their court hearings
• Refuse to support autocracy, theocracy, or a “strong man.”

As a theologian, I know that the early church refused to hail Caesar as Lord. In 20th-century Germany, confessing pastors resisted Hitler’s co-opted Christianity. In the American South, Black clergy called for liberation for the oppressed. Christians and other people of faith stand in a long spiritual lineage of seeking peace with justice.

No Kings Day II is not just a social protest. It is a prophetic moment for the Church of Jesus Christ to proclaim its truth:

No king but Christ. No throne above a foundation of liberty and justice for all. No theocracy beyond spiritual authority and accountability under God.

Michael J. Christensen is a theologian, church historian, and author of City Streets, City People, The Samaritan’s Imperative, and C.S. Lewis on Scripture. He is a clergy member of the Point Loma Peninsula Faith Leaders in San Diego.