The separation of church and state is a foundational principle of the United States, but a daunting portion of the country's voters may not hold this truth to be self-evident. God & Country speaks directly to the almost 200 million Americans who identify as Christians, who fear their faith is being hijacked by an extreme right wing political movement known as Christian nationalism.

Although most people assume that the movement was catalyzed by the Roe v. Wade decision, it was actually another Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education, establishing racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional, that energized it. Among the archival footage featured in the film is the infamous 1980 speech by Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, who said "I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." Talk about saying the quiet part out loud.

Featuring interviews with faith leaders and social activists, God & Country addresses the threats the Christian nationalist movement poses to democracy, national discourse and religious freedom for everyone (including Christians). More than that, it argues that this movement is one Christians and non-Christians can easily stand against, and that vocal, united opposition of the kind that defined the church during the Civil Rights Movement is more important than ever.

D: Dan Partland, US, 2024, Closed Captions, 1h30m

Discussion follows with Nik Nartowicz '07, State Policy Counsel at Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Nancy Vogele, Director of the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life. Programmed in collaboration with the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Dartmouth Dialogues.

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