From its beginnings, CDF has connected with right-wing figures such as Flynn, a former Trump national security adviser and an organizer of the series of Christian nationalist rallies known as the ReAwaken America Tour. Flynn appeared at one of the first events CDF hosted after its founding. In video of the gathering, he is seen encouraging attendees to donate while insisting the U.S. is in the midst of an ideological “war.”
CDF also lists among its partner organizations Turning Point USA, a group founded as a conservative student organization by activist Charlie Kirk that recently pivoted to faith outreach, encouraging pastors to embrace right-wing rhetoric as a church-growth strategy.
“Charlie did a phone call last night with CDF and some of the donors,” said Judge.
The CDF website cites partnerships with Liberty Counsel, an Orlando-based conservative Christian legal group that had a prominent role in faith-based protests against pandemic restrictions; Patriot Academy, a group that works with Turning Point to produce “biblical citizenship” courses; and Liberty Pastors, which hosts conservative-leaning “training camps” for pastors and encourages supporters to join CDF on its website.
While Moms for Liberty is not among its official partners, CDF came to the group’s defense after the Southern Poverty Law Center declared last month that Moms for Liberty is an extremist group involved in an “anti-student inclusion movement.” CDF quickly issued a rebuttal insisting the SPLC, not Moms for Liberty, is the “actual hate group” and a “terror organization.”
But CDF’s value as a partner may also include its ability to raise money. At an early CDF event, Maxwell surprised a speaker from Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that recently won a Colorado website designer’s religious liberty case at the U.S. Supreme Court, with a check for $100,000. According to tax documents, ADF has at least partially reciprocated, awarding CDF a $50,000 grant in 2021.
The sources of this money aren’t entirely clear. Judge declined to name big-money donors, offering only that CDF has amassed somewhere between 14,000 and 15,000 small-donor contributions.
It’s the cash, too, that worries Fenning of Prism. While CDF and its partners often lack “people power” to push through their agenda, he said, they make up for it with money and influence.
But as religious right campaigners have shown for nearly half a century, more valuable than money is attention to organizing, backed by a message that ties progressive causes to a hostility to conservative Christian values, or what Judge calls “rebellion against God.”
“This country is founded on God,” he said. “We think it’s critically important to maintain that belief.”
(This story was was reported with support from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation.)
This article originally appeared here.
