Rob Reiner’s 'God & Country’ screens in Sonoma — Explores rise of Christian Nationalism, seeks to activate audiences

It was a supportive crowd that attended a screening of the political film “God & Country” Sunday at Sonoma’s Sebastiani Theatre. Definitely a matter of “preaching to the choir.”

Attendees in the crowd of about 300 occasionally grumbled and commented aloud about the most egregious and theatrical displays of extremism, jeered when someone on screen made a point that provoked derision, booed at a speech about wedded life as the most important ambition and source of satisfaction that a woman could have.

But there was fear and concern implicit in their response to the movie and in the questions posed to the film’s director and other speakers present for a panel discussion on the rise of Christian Nationalism as a political force and threat to a pluralistic democracy, as it is explored in the film.

They wanted to know, “What do we do?”

The answer, said director Dan Partland, who came to Sonoma to take part in the event, is to understand the movement and its history, seek opportunities to engage with those who may need their eyes opened and do so with compassion and humanity.

It’s critical, he and others said, to distinguish between Christianity and Christian Nationalism — one, a religious faith, and the other a political movement that seeks to impose Christian rule on America despite constitutional provisions enshrining the separation of church and state and the fact that a majority of Americans are opposed.

"These are not the majority of Christians,” said Anne Nelson, a Columbia University scholar and author, most recently of the book, “Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right.”

“These people are not the majority of evangelicals in this country,” Nelson said during the post-film Q&A. “These are radicals. These are extremists, and I think that’s a useful vocabulary to uses here … Extremists are unhealthy for democracy. Let us have decency and moderation in our country.“

Partland’s film, produced by famously political actor-turned-director Rob Reiner, chronicles the rise of the Christian Right from the landmark 1954 school desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education through Moral Majority and the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and ultimately Donald Trump, who has been viewed by many supporters as a leader ordained by God to bring Christian rule to the United States.

Critics say those seeking power exploit some Christians by provoking fear of the unfamiliar and of a future governed by those with alternative views. They argue that this particular ideology leans heavily on untruths about the county’s founding as a Judeo-Christian nation and ideas that don’t reflect the love, charity and forgiveness espoused in the Gospel of Christ.

"God & Country“ featured clips of televangelists and others doing just that.

It discusses how billions of dollars invested in spreading the idea of a Christian Nation, as well as efforts to take control of cultural issues such as abortion, critical race theory, gender and sexuality allowed strategists to pull the levers of democracy to empower politicians with extreme, minority views. And it explains how its followers believe they were called by God to participate in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, many turning to violence as a political tool.

“I really want to reconnect people with the best of their Christian values and the best of American values,” Partland told the audience. “Because I think that, really, we were vulnerable to this because there are a lot of ways in which, as a society, American society has lost faith with itself,” having failed to meet its ambitions for a more just and equitable society.

“We lost that bit of pride that used to make us stand up at a moment like this and say, that’s not who we are. We’re Americans.“

The event was organized by Wake Up Sonoma, a small, local nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of civil and human rights

Though the film is in limited circulation, showing at about 100 theaters nationwide, Wake Up Sonoma President Lisa Storment urged interested people to see the film when they can (it will be available on streaming services later this year), share it with others and view it as a way to discuss what Americans have in common.

"Maybe,“ said the Rev. Dr. Curran Reichert, a local community organizer and moderator of Sunday’s panel discussion that followed the screening, ”it’s about being one shade braver in our own personal lives — to have those conversations from a point of relationship, right? What I know is we can’t ‘other’ each other out of this. We ‘othered’ each other into this.

“It’s a difficult call on people of all faiths and people of no faith to find a way to build relationship,” Reichert said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @MaryCallahanB.