Tracing the nearly complete identity fusion of white Americanized evangelicalism and MAGA political ideology requires nothing more than paying attention and being honest about what is seen.
Not to beat a dead horse, but to give a clear, recent example: When Turning Point USA went looking for a “family friendly” alternative headliner for their faith and freedom Super Bowl halftime show, their criteria was apparently limited to a white guy who supports Donald Trump.
It mattered not if the chosen performer lives in contrast to everything churches have taught forever. Or that his lyrics include a celebration of statutory rape as mandatory for his personal tastes.
Why? The answer is identity fusion.
Being evangelical and being MAGA is nearly a singular identity now — with the latter dictating the beliefs.
To see such an odd musical choice as an organizational programming snafu is to miss the much larger point. This identity fusion is actually an identity crisis. For very little other than some religious language, practices and personalities remain.
The reality is that white Americanized evangelicalism has been largely consumed by a political ideology and allegiance that uses a religious framework but shows no regard for what Jesus calls his followers to be and do.
The wristbands have been lost. They don’t give a damn about what Jesus would do.
Polls continually show a nearly blind allegiance by white Americanized evangelicals to authoritarianism without accountability. Jesus is given over to the empire, again.
This misnomer Christian identity consumed by MAGA philosophy is rooted in fear over faith, control over freedom and contempt over compassion. Self-indulgence is celebrated over the self-denial that Jesus said is required of his followers.
The wayward trail is quite easy to follow — especially since the Religious Right raised its ugly head in the late 1970s and gained significant power in the 1980s. And the misdirection hasn’t stopped.
The call of Jesus to “follow me” was drowned out by the loud, persistent and fearmongering voices of Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and a wide assortment of wannabe bloviators promoting power and privilege for the few.
Such anti-Christian tribalism and systemic abuse is continually justified by Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Al Mohler, Mike Johnson, J.D. Vance and others with all the theological rigor of “if the devil doesn’t like it, he can sit on a tack.” Nah, less rigor than that.
We know that Jesus saves. The question is who is going to save Jesus from being lost to a political movement that treats him merely as a sacrificial mascot for escaping hell while willingly aiding hell on earth for those Jesus called his followers to love and serve.
When exclusion is favored over empathy and abuse is trivially excused, it is hard to find any semblance of the Jesus of the Gospels.
While government goons are forcefully checking the identities of people on the street, at their workplaces and in barged-in homes, it would be a good time for professing Christians to examine their own identities in light of what it means to profess Jesus as lord.
John D. Pierce is director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative (jesusworldview.org), part of Belmont University’s Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership. Please mark October 12-14, 2026 for the second Jesus Worldview Conference in Nashville.