Nearly 40% of Floridians support close ties between government and Christian religion, a recent study found.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: June 5, 2026
Host: Four out of 10 Floridians sympathize with the idea that the federal government should advocate Christian values. This notion of tying Christian religion to the U.S. government—generally referred to as “Christian Nationalism”—is raising concerns. A sizable crowd gathered at a Sarasota church last week to watch a film and discuss what to do about an administration that accommodates Christian Nationalist ideas. Gretchen Cochran reports.
Richard Cannarelli: I’m looking to do things over here to bring the attention of the people of Sarasota County and Manatee County the dangers of Christian Nationalism and how it is contrary to what the Constitution requires. I have been devoting a lot of time to doing that. Christian Nationalism is based on the belief is that America was founded as a Christian nation—which it was not—and that our laws should reflect Biblical principles.
Gretchen Cochran: That was Richard Cannarelli, who is working to re-invigorate a group called the Suncoast Chapter of the Separation of Church and State. He was speaking at a screening of the documentary “Bad Faith 2026: Christian Nationalism in Power.”
The issue is definitely on some people’s minds. 150 people gathered at the Unitarian Universalist-hosted event May 31.
At least two churches in Sarasota seem to tap into the Christian Nationalism line of thought. We checked with Victory, a self-avowed conservative church on Fruitville in Sarasota. Christian Nationalism is indeed on its agenda, Victoria Burke, administrator there, said. But she meant the term in its literal sense: Christianity across the country. The events of January 6, 2021 are a hoax, she said, but her congregates do turn LGBTQ+ people away.
“Bad Faith 2026,” the movie, is an update of the original in 2024, with added footage regarding Donald Trump’s current term in office. Both versions trace the historic development of Christian Nationalism in graphic episodes like giant crucifix-laden Ku Klux Klan night-torch marches and January 6, 2021 images of crosses used as cudgels and signs proclaiming Jesus’ direction. Ken Burns, the documentarian, called the 77-minute movie “a great and powerful and timely film, filled with the dread this moment engenders, the cynical misuse of religion to advance aims diametrically the opposite of Christianity’s mission.”
Burke, of Sarasota’s Victory church, said she knew of the film but likened it to Democratic party propaganda.
Mary Anne Bowie
Mary Anne Bowie helped arrange the screening. She tapped into the Unitarians’ social justice teams and the Social Justice Alliance of the Florida Suncoast—a coalition of 31 mostly religious organizations—to draw the crowd. When possible, the film’s distributors provide a discussion leader, in person or via Zoom. Anne Nelson, author of “Shadow Network, Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right,” Zoomed in from Philadelphia.
She was all about what to do next. First: Recognize that Christian churches are beginning to collaborate in efforts to educate about Christian Nationalism’s relationship to Project 2025. Nearly 40% of Florida residents qualify as Christian National adherents or supporters, according to a Public Religion Research Institute study three months ago.
Anne Nelson: The denominations I see that are really waking up to the emergency at this moment: the Unitarians, the Church of Christ, the Episcopalians have started to take a stand in favor of democracy, and then the reformed synagogues. So these groups are starting to work together, which is really, really important. I think it’s incredibly important not just to get these churches to work together but also to reach across the lines. There are Catholics who have the leadership of the new pope, which is taking a very strong and principled moral stance.
GC: Since Christian Nationalism has become linked to Republicans, electing more Democrats is on their agendas. Nelson also emphasized the importance of reaching college students. “They need orientation now—how to vote, where to vote. RISE (standing for Raising and Improving Self-Sufficiency Expectations) does a lot of that organizing, and Next Gen America,” she said.
Standing on a corner with a sign is good, but better would be to take a table on a college campus and mobilize students to vote, Nelson added.
Slowly the atmosphere in the room slipped from “We are doomed” to one of “We can change this.”
Bowie advised audience members to arrange a public screening of “Bad Faith” for their homeowners’ associations, clubs or church groups by sending a query to badfaithscreenings@gmail.com.
For WSLR, this is Gretchen Cochran.
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