Many of her TikToks are intended to educate viewers on the topic. She’ll highlight the Christian nationalism of figures such as Sean Feucht, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene while also celebrating Christians, such as Shane Claiborne and BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler, who oppose the ideology. McKee also uses the platform to connect people to resources for addressing Christian nationalism in churches and in local politics.
“We’ve really seen the impact of online to offline organizing with TikTok,” said McKee. “We multiple times have helped people develop their public comment that they’re going to go and share that evening at their local school board or city council meeting.”
After stumbling across the @EndChristianNationalism account, Megan Fanning, who lives in Mansfield, Texas, began connecting with McKee this spring after Texas lawmakers passed a bill allowing chaplains in public schools.
“We’ve communicated about the chaplain policy ever since the bill was signed, because the school boards had six months to vote for or against it,” said Fanning. “She offered resources, a chaplain toolkit, fact sheets, educational PDFs.”
The resources led Fanning to email her school board members referencing facts and information provided in the Christians Against Christian Nationalism toolkit. Christians Against Christian Nationalism also hired its first field organizer, Lisa Jacob, to lead opposition to Christian nationalism in North Texas. Jacob delivered a rousing public comment condemning the chaplain bill at a Mansfield school board meeting in December, shortly before the board voted against implementing the chaplaincy bill in the school district.
“To have a field organizer from Christians Against Christian Nationalism come and speak at our school board meeting on behalf of our community against this chaplain policy meant so much,” said Fanning. “I like to think that community feedback might have made a difference in them voting against and rejecting the policy.”
While the account certainly attracts mainline Christians, according to McKee, it’s not just theologically progressive Christians who are engaged. McKee is intentional about avoiding theological or political debates that aren’t centered on Christian nationalism, an approach she says helps appeal to a broad audience.
“We’re seeing that even in the evangelical camp, even conservative Christians that I might not agree with on any other topic, are able to still say Christian nationalism is a topic that has to be talked about, that it has to be something that’s combated in all local churches, not just progressive churches,” said McKee. “Fighting Christian nationalism, for it to truly end, it cannot be a progressive issue. It has to be a Christian issue.”
In addition to attracting a range of Christians, and even many non-Christians, the account engages people of a variety of ages, especially millennials in their 30s and 40s. According to McKee, having a space explicitly dedicated to opposing Christian nationalism on TikTok is crucial, especially given the influence of conservative Christian celebrities such as Allie Beth Stuckey and Sadie Robertson Huff, who, McKee said, have been influenced by Christian nationalism.
“We’re seeing like this old school fundamentalism almost become trendy and cute,” said McKee.
