Every time I sign into social media, I am barraged by a host of posts about Project 2025. Some posts claim to highlight specific thought points from its pages, while others take a more threatening tone. With a great deal of uncertainty and rumor about its contents, purpose, and agenda, many are in fear that Trump’s election marks the beginning of Project 2025 and the end of American values. With a direct intent to cut through the hype and sort out truth from fear, let’s look at Project 2025 from the perspective of this Christian Minister.
What is Project 2025?
We could define Project 2025 as a conservative Evangelical Christian “wish list” for the next four years. It is a 922-page document organized by the Heritage Foundation and over one hundred other supporting groups. In defining what it is, let’s first define what it is not. Project 2025 is in no way policy, binding law, or an agenda that automatically goes into effect if Donald Trump is re-elected. He himself has stated that he does not have thorough knowledge of the document, and what he knows of it, he does not agree with in full. While the odds that some of it could be enacted under his leadership is a viable concern, there’s no predictable way to say what would or would not happen at this point in time.
Regardless of the future, Project 2025 is designed for action. Many former Trump advisors were part of its construction, and nobody knows if they will be involved in a new administration. As of right now, we know the following about Project 2025:
Unitary executive theory
Project 2025 endorses the idea of unitary executive theory. Such is controversial idea of government that extends presidential power over the entire federal executive branch. The result of such would be a streamline of authority, making it easier to execute certain orders. Under this theory, agencies such as the FBI and other civil service positions would no longer exist. The major concern of such theory is abuse of power. This is why the United States has different governmental agencies, existing for the sake of checks and balances.
Implementation of conservative goals
There isn’t much new or innovative under this heading. For years, liberals and conservatives have argued about welfare, climate change, military budgets, and other matters. These disagreements are usually portrayed as moral dilemmas…but that’s inaccurate. What the two sides can’t agree about is where (and how) to spend government money. Project 2025 contains headings in favor of conservative views on these topics. Likewise, they are slanted for Trump’s approval.
A Religious Right agenda
As a person of faith, I’m tired of the Religious Right. They do not speak for all Christians. They do not have the right to dictate the political foreground of the entire nation. That being said, Project 2025 disagrees with me. It includes hard-line prohibitions on access to abortion, stem cell research, contraception, transgender care, and pornography. Its values represent the political implementations of the Religious Right’s ideas of an ideal society, regardless of what a citizen may believe about an issue.
Things Project 2025 does and does not include
There are many memes circulating about Project 2025. I don’t question those sharing these memes do so out of a sense of duty (and fear), but many of them are incorrect. Project 2025 does include the following:
- Additional tax breaks for corporations and the top richest percentage of the country
- Eliminate the Department of Education
- Use taxpayer funds for private religious education
- Increase oil drilling in the Arctic
- Deregulate large corporations, including the oil industry
- Promote and implement capital punishment
- Promote “traditional family structures”
- Ban transgender military service
Contrary to popular belief, Project 2025 does not include the following:
- Prohibition on no-fault divorce
- Complete prohibition on abortion
- A contraception ban
- Elimination of unions and worker protections
- Changing retirement age
- Cutting Social Security
- Cutting medicare
- Ending school lunch programs
- Ban African-American and gender studies
- Entirely end civil rights and DEI protections in government
- End birthright citizenship
- Eliminate OSHA
- Suspend overtime wages
Even though the “does not include” list is quite a bit longer than the “does include,” we should still pay attention to the agenda at hand. It’s very possible that while these specific things aren’t all mentioned, they could be “backdoor ideas” that might come into play at a later point in time. This theory, however, can’t be substantiated by the document itself.
But, before all things, I believe Project 2025 is a bigger thought point for Christians of this country, regardless of denomination and affiliation. Rather than just looking at this as a political battle, it’s one we should consider from a spiritual perspective.
Christian history and where we are right now
If you’ve ever studied Christian history, you were probably exposed to a version of it that’s highly inaccurate. Most curriculum portrays the early church as having a singular set of beliefs, one that defined the “true church” in its inception. At some point in time, the church got far removed from this initial belief. Whether lured by mixing spiritual systems or political goals (how ironic), this “true church” went away, leaving behind a false system of worship. Down the line, different Christian groups emerged in an effort to restore this “true church,” all feeling they have the answer to do so.
I’m not one to argue that church corruption and mixture of church and state don’t exist. I do believe Christianity consists of a human element, and that human element has done many things in the Name of Christ throughout history that Christ desires no affiliation therein. If anything, Christian history tells us clearly that mixing religious ideals with political ones is always bad, regardless of religious identity. The church’s job isn’t to create secular law, but to embrace a divine Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Likewise, Christianity isn’t just “one thing.” There have been true Christians and false Christians since the beginning of Christian history. Any Christian group, regardless of its doctrine, can become a false institution. Why do I say this? Because history supports it. No church starts out with the goal to distort the faith, but it can happen anyway. The powers of this world can call anyone. If we don’t check our spirituality, any one of us can distort the Gospel out of greed.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5, NIV)
Check yourself before you wreck yourself
At this point in history, God asks His church to be truthful representatives of Him. Nowhere in Scripture are we called to be politicians. Likewise, we aren’t called to be afraid of the things they do or desire to implement. Project 2025 doesn’t speak on behalf of the entire Christian voice in this nation. Likewise, we shouldn’t overreact. At this point in time, it’s a wish list with a questionable future.
What true Christians everywhere should do is consider the work of Christ and make themselves – and their churches – safe space for those who might experience negative impacts from such implementations. Project 2025 might not succeed federally, but all throughout this country, people of differing beliefs, genders, identities, and yes, opinions are experiencing the sting of discrimination and mistreatment. Christians are nowhere called to change the world through political legislation, but we are called to change ourselves and others by a radical life proclamation of Jesus’ message. This starts when we decide to be like Christ and love our neighbor, regardless of our fear.
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock…Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:2-3, 8-9, KJV)
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