As the only openly non-believer in Congress, I want to thank Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for not repeatedly revealing himself as an unethical political partisan who undermines the credibility of the Supreme Court. I am tired of it, and I join those calling for his resignation in cases involving former President Donald Trump.
But I am grateful for Justice Alito's latest scandal – hanging an “Appeal to Heaven” flag on his New Jersey beach house – because it may help save American democracy from peril.
This proud and unapologetically embrace of an extreme Christian nationalist movement should sound a warning bell for a nation sleepwalking toward theocracy. Coming from a sitting Supreme Court justice, it sounds like an air raid siren. And considering how far we've come down the road to theocracy, it probably will.
Justice Alito's January 6th Flag Is a Desperate Wake-Up for the Department of Justice
No one should be surprised that radical Christian nationalists, those who confuse Christianity with American identity and fuse it with right-wing political ideology, are infiltrating the highest echelons of our government. The signs are already there, with flags flying in front of the homes and offices of prominent national leaders. They have been so successful in reshuffling the courts and promoting public officeholders that the movement's leaders no longer try to be subtle, especially since they took control of the Republican Party under Trump.
The growing power and influence of Christian nationalism led me seven years ago to do something unheard of in national politics: I publicly identified as a humanist, that is, a believer not in God but in science, reason, and good works themselves.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag flies outside House Speaker Mike Johnson's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2024. The flag was flown by rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. More recently, the flag has flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
I would have been happy to keep it a secret if it weren't for my unwavering concern about the radical religious agenda unfolding around me every day in Washington. I felt compelled to be honest in order to take a full stand against Christian nationalism, which I saw as an anti-democratic, anti-American threat.
To further this effort, I co-founded and currently serve as the leader of the Congressional Freethinkers, which is currently the most active group in Congress resisting Christian statism, defending the rights of religious minorities and non-believers, and supporting the separation of church and state. Yet despite our best efforts, most Americans, and most of my colleagues in Congress, still do not understand the scope and severity of the threat posed by Christian statism.
We have been warned before, including a very loud warning sounded at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Christian nationalism was at the heart of this violent riot. “Appeal to Heaven” flags and other Christian symbols were displayed everywhere, and Christian nationalist pastors entertained the rioters with prayers, prophecies, and Bible quotations. Experts who have extensively studied the religious dimensions of January 6th are adamant that Christian nationalism was not just part of the incident, but in many ways it was the incident.
Justice Samuel Alito sits for a group photo of justices at the Supreme Court on April 23, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Erin Shaff-Pool/Getty Images
But it is not being said. The media ignores it, and even the dedicated House of Commons Select Committee that produced a laudatory 154-page report on the riots said nothing about Christian nationalism.
Why? I've spoken to several members of the committee that admitted the evidence to the record. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) put it bluntly in an interview: “If it weren't for these wild predictions, the idea that God had ordained that Trump win, I don't know if January 6th would have happened.”
But there is a lesson here: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who sits on the committee and has a reputation as a courageous political figure who speaks the truth about Trump, has opposed discussion of the issue, issuing a disingenuous public statement through a spokesperson that she “does not subscribe to a narrative that suggests that all Americans who believe God has blessed America are white supremacists.” While I admire the courage Rep. Cheney has shown, her personal religious ideology has led to a soft spot for this key element of the riot, resulting in an incomplete report that is only partially justified.
In August 2023, the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was raised in front of the Alitos family home.
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Further alarm bells were sounded in February this year by the Alabama Supreme Court's shocking decision to consider frozen IVF embryos to be “human beings,” a decision steeped in radical Christian theology. Americans were stunned to hear Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker declare the United States a “Christian nation” and boast about his proud adherence to the “Seven Mountains Mandate” theology, which calls for the establishment of a theocracy with Christian dominance throughout society.
Before he was an NBA star, Bill Walton caused a stir as a radical campus activist
It is encouraging that the media is finally starting to cover this dangerous movement, but even their outspokenness has missed the mark. Judge Parker and his rulings have been viewed as heretics taking extreme positions. What most of the media has missed, and what the American public urgently needs to know, is that Judge Parker is not a heretic. There are many Christian nationalist judges at all levels of the judiciary who share these extreme views, as well as dozens of fellow members of Congress who support the Shichiyama Order, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-GA).
Perhaps Justice Alito’s “Appeal to Heaven” flag scandal can finally break down the denial, submission, and underlying Christian privilege that are preventing a serious national conversation about the threats we face.
This radical religious movement has been packing the courts with its allies, including Justice Alito, for decades. In fact, Reverend Dutch Sheets, the Christian nationalist leader who unearthed the forgotten “Call on Heaven” flag and made it one of the movement's most visible symbols, has an interesting history with Alito. Reverend Sheets claims that the Supreme Court vacancies filled by Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts were the result of his prayers and prophetic command.
Alito has certainly answered the prayers of Christian nationalists.
He was the driving force behind a series of Supreme Court decisions that chipped away at separation of church and state and advanced the movement's theocratic goals, including requiring states to fund private religious schools, forcing public schools to allow Christian prayer at school-sponsored events, allowing companies to use religion as an excuse to deny women reproductive health care, and barely concealing his own radical anti-abortionism in the disastrous Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Now, remarkably, Alito is flying his Dutch Seat “Appeal to Heaven” flag for all to see with no punishment. He feels invincible.
The line has been drawn. Christian nationalists have arrogantly shown their cards, heralding a dystopian policy agenda in their Project 2025 manifesto. Authoritarian theocracy will undoubtedly be on the November ballot, even if the national debate has yet to speak of it. Those of us who value democracy and the separation of church and state must heed the warning and spread the word.
The separation of church and state is crumbling before our eyes
As for Justice Alito, he should of course resign in the Trump case, but the “appeal to heaven” flag scandal exposes the need for a broader resignation. Justice Alito rejects the constitutional separation of church and state and openly supports a political movement that seeks to end our democracy.
This is not just a display of bias: he must recuse himself in all such cases because he cannot administer a fair trial in matters involving the Church Clause and religious freedom.
The good news is, whether you are a Christian, a follower of another religion, or a humanist like me, the vast majority of us have a common cause: we don't want to be ruled by a biblical theocracy. The American people will be with us when they understand what's at stake.
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