Alright, so you’ve heard a lot about politics in Texas, right? Well, something big is stirring in the Republican primary runoffs for U.S. Senate and Attorney General, and it's got some serious legal teeth. We're talking about Christian nationalism and how it’s not just influencing who gets elected, but also how our laws and constitutional rights might look in the future.

Let’s set the scene: next month, the president’s Religious Liberty Commission, which Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick runs, plans to give its policy suggestions to President Donald Trump. Patrick dropped a bombshell recently, suggesting there’s no such thing as separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution. If you're a legal eagle, or just someone who cares about the First Amendment, that statement should make your ears perk up. It’s a direct challenge to a principle that’s been part of our legal system for a long time, often called the Establishment Clause.

This isn't just talk. This kind of thinking shows us how Christian nationalism is really taking hold in conservative politics, not just here in Texas, but all over the country. And you know Texas – what happens here often doesn’t stay here. Sam Martin, who studies how religion and politics mix at Boise State University, put it well: “Texas is to conservative politics and Christian nationalism...what California is to progressive ideas.” What we do here sends ripples far and wide.

Think about public schools. Martin pointed out that Texas pretty much dictates what goes into textbooks across the nation because we buy so many of them. That gives us a huge say in what kids learn, including about history and civic life. Now, add to that a recent ruling from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Just the other day, this conservative court gave Texas officials the green light to make public schools statewide display the Ten Commandments in every single classroom. You might remember similar fights over this issue, and this ruling just turned up the heat. For a lot of people, this feels like the government favoring one religion, which is exactly what the Establishment Clause is designed to stop.

Now, invoking religion in Texas politics isn't a new trick. Our Attorney General, Ken Paxton, who’s running for U.S. Senate, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, recently. He credited his acquittal in his 2023 impeachment trial to divine intervention, saying God used Texans to save him. That’s a powerful appeal, especially to voters who share his beliefs.

But things got a bit more intense when a pastor from Tennessee, Joshua Haymes, and Pastor Brooks Potteiger, the personal religious adviser to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, spoke about Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, a former seminarian. Haymes prayed for God to “kill him,” meaning spiritually, and Potteiger added, “We want him crucified with Christ.” Now, that kind of language can be pretty alarming, especially to those who might interpret it literally. Michael Emerson, from Rice University's Baker Institute, noted it has a double meaning: either literal political violence or a prayer for spiritual conversion. Talarico himself has described Christian nationalism as “the worship of power in the name of Christ,” pointing out the hypocrisy when politicians use faith to deny things like healthcare or fair wages.

Emerson explains that there’s a whole spectrum of how Christian faith plays out in politics. You've got your evangelical conservative Republicans, then Christian nationalist Republicans, and then Dominionist Christian nationalist Republicans. Dominionists, he says, want something really specific: they aim for a government where biblical teachings guide every single part of political life. That’s a really stark contrast to the secular government our Constitution lays out.

Christian nationalists often talk about a “sense of loss” and a need for “restoration.” Martin says they see the country as having been founded on Christian principles, which they believe secular elites have betrayed. So, for them, strong political action is needed to bring back a “lost moral order.” You can see this idea popping up in battles over abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and, yep, putting the Ten Commandments in schools.

Take Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton, for example. He’s running for Texas attorney general and has been a big player in the Ten Commandments fight. He even bragged at CPAC about sending Ten Commandments posters to schools in Talarico’s district, making a point of doing it “in his honor.” It’s a political jab, sure, but it also shows how these candidates are actively trying to test the limits of how much religious belief can translate into state power.

And this is where the Attorney General’s race becomes super important. Martin explained it perfectly: “That office turns ideology, ideas, into lawsuits, into legal opinions, into governing power.” The person in that role has the authority to shape legal policy across the state. If someone with a strong Christian nationalist viewpoint holds that office, you can bet they’ll use it to push their agenda through legal channels. That’s a big deal for everyone, regardless of your personal beliefs.

It brings us right back to Lt. Gov. Patrick's claim about church and state separation. It's interesting to note that the part of the Religious Liberty Commission's website that mentioned ensuring religious liberty against “evil forces” was removed. But the underlying sentiment, attacking the fundamental idea of institutional separation between government and religion, is still very much there. That, Martin says, is a clear sign of Christian nationalist practice.

Why should this all matter to you, a Texan? Emerson points to the U.S. Senate race. If Paxton wins the Republican primary runoff and then the general election, it’s going to give a huge boost to the national Christian nationalist movement. But if the Democrat wins, it could really change things in the next few years. The stakes are incredibly high. These aren't just political squabbles; they're legal and constitutional battles that could redefine what our government looks like and how it operates.