Alaska lawmaker gets place on agenda for gathering in Washington of Christian nationalists who want theocracy
House Speaker Mike Johnson is to speak Tuesday before a convention of Christian nationalists at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
Homer Rep. Sarah Vance is a charter member of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a group that wants to turn the United States into a theocracy.
Vance is on the agenda for the NACL meeting as part of the executive committee.
The leader of the group, Jason Rapert, says he is proud to be a Christian nationalist and wants government to operate based on the way his group interprets the Bible. The dream is to elect right-wing Christians to all government positions.
When he founded the group in 2020, Rapert said: “We believe that anti-Christian secularists have gained power in our nation to the detriment of the United States. Ungodly leaders have made ungodly decisions that have caused much chaos and turmoil in our nation. We endeavor to stop it and steer the nation back to our Judeo-Christian principles and respect for those who have a biblical worldview.”
Vance has hired another charter member of the group as an employee of the Alaska Legislature, a former Arkansas legislator who is not moving to Alaska, Christian nationalist Bob Ballinger.
Ballinger, the Director of Law and Policy for the NACL, lives in Oark, Arkansas. On LinkedIn he says his Alaska state job for Vance is a “hybrid” position. “I help Representative Vance,” he wrote, claiming to have a full-time job as a policy advisor. He is listed on the state employee directory, however, as a “legislative admin assistant.”
The only connection Ballinger appears to have to Alaska is membership in the Christian nationalist group with Vance.
Just about the time that Vance put him on the state payroll, Ballinger also got a government contract in Arkansas as attorney for the Crawford County Library System Board, where he gets $275 an hour.
Vance is the Alaska state chair and the “third vice chair” of the NACL legislative council leadership. She heads the committee on human dignity.
Vance, as an elected official, was required to sign a pledge that says she will pay dues, unite with “likeminded Chrisitian leaders” across the country to “oppose evil and uphold righteous governance.”
A unelected person can become an “armor bearer supporting member” by paying $120 and signing the club’s pledge, which predicts the “imminent return” of Jesus, says the nation is in decline and that atheists and anti-Christian groups “must be opposed.”
Armor bearers must also pledge to pay dues, fight evil, oppose gay marriage, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, porn, prostitution, violence, crime and gambling, while supporting healthy things, Christian leaders and “righteous governance.”
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