MICAH Milwaukee pastors speak to CNN correspondent about Christian Nationalism

Addressing former president Donald Trump’s claim during Holy Week 2024 that Christianity is under attack in this country, three pastors from Gamaliel affiliate MICAH-Milwaukee recently spoke with CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan. During the interview, Rev. Joe Jackson, Rev. Dennis Jacobsen, and Rev. Richard Shaw described the dangers of Christian Nationalism, an egregious form of authoritarianism that is sweeping the nation.

For the last few years, Gamaliel has been actively engaged in a movement of national organizing networks working to address authoritarianism—currently one of the most significant threats to our democracy and political plurali —through effective community organizing.

In December 2022 at Gamaliel’s 4 th Biennial Race and Power Summit held in Baltimore, Gamaliel’s National Religious Leaders Caucus hosted Jim Wallis to learn more about the threat of Christian Nationalism. (Wallis is the inaugural holder of the Chair in Faith and Justice at the McCourt School of Public Policy and founding Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, and the author of The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy.)

Since the Race and Power gathering, Gamaliel affiliates around the network have launched robust campaigns to begin addressing the threat of Christian Nationalism. MICAH—Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope—launched the “We All Belong” campaign in August 2023. Their mission is to “Protect Democracy, Reject ‘christian’ nationalism, and Build the Beloved Community.” They are educating congregations and communities about the dangers of Christian Nationalism, in addition to organizing them around Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Beloved Community

From that Influencewatch.org link:

https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/gamaliel-foundation/

The Gamaliel Foundation was originally founded in 1968 by famous left-wing agitator Saul Alinsky to assist African-American home buyers in the Chicago’s West Side.11. . .

Ideological Deception
The Gamaliel foundation has been accused of “specializ[ing] in ideological stealth.”49 Gamaliel Foundation “deliberately downplay[s] the far-Left ideology that stands behind their carefully targeted campaigns.” 50 As one observer put it, Gamaliel Foundation “fuse[s] their Left-extremist political beliefs with a smooth, non-ideological surface of down-to-earth pragmatism.” 51

Author Heidi Swarts explains, in order to downplay negative sentiments that “blue-collar members might harbor toward its elite, liberal leaders… Gamaliel’s main “ideological tactic,” is to present its organizers as the opposite of radical, elite, or ideological.”52 As evidence of this Swarts says, “they (Gamaliel’s organizers) deliberately refrain from using leftist jargon like ‘racism,’ ‘sexism,’ ‘classism,’ ‘homophobia,’ ‘oppression,’ or ‘multiple oppressions’ in front of ordinary members — even though, amongst themselves, Gamaliel’s organizers toss around this sort of lingo with abandon.”53

Other critics have echoed these accusations of intentional deception, saying, “Gamaliel organizers make a point of presenting their ideas as practical, pragmatic, and down-to-earth. When no one else is listening, Gamaliel organizers may rail at ‘racism,’ ‘sexism,’ and ‘oppressive corporate systems,’ but when speaking to their blue-collar followers, they describe their plans as ‘common sense solutions for working families.’”54. . .

Criticism from the Catholic Church
AT ODDS WITH CHURCH DOCTRINE
High-ranking church leaders and religious organization have spoken out against Gamaliel Foundation.

In March 2010, David Ricken, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Green Bay, wrote a letter stating, “it is clear to me that principles of the Gamaliel Foundation are inconsistent with the tenets of our Catholic Social Teaching. It is not fitting for a Catholic entity to enter into a formal association with another organization when there is such a conflict of principles.”55 Ricken’s letter was prompted by Gamaliel Foundation efforts to prop up a healthcare coalition that “supported abortion rights in the health care bill before Congress.”56

ADVOCACY OF IMMORAL MEANS
According to an account by a former Gamaliel Foundation staffer, who claimed to have been mentored by Gamaliel leader Greg Galluzo, “He [Galluzo] felt that organizers should fight fire with fire” and would “give a cultish advanced training seminar titled ‘Walking the Edge of Immorality’ where he repeatedly stated ‘the ends justifies the means’ and nonchalantly told us that to have an impact on society we had to be willing to ‘lie, cheat, and steal for the greater good.’”57

This former staffer elaborated, “I have never seen such a strange and warped culture anywhere”, where “staff were pitted against each other.” 58 Ultimately, the former staffer said, “I left Gamaliel disillusioned and disgusted by what seemed to me to be pure evil. How could a faith-based organization operate under such a skewed, cynical view of the world?”59

Associations with President Barack Obama
The Developing Communities Project, a Gamaliel Foundation-affiliated organization, hired future President Barack Obama as lead organizer in 1985, where he was trained “to raise money for his community organization and how to design community strategies”60 by Gamaliel Foundation leadership.61 “Obama learned many of his community organizing skills from the Gamaliel Foundation.”62 Most notably, “He learned how to disguise his intense political convictions by portraying them as practical problem-solving motivated by religious faith.”63

When Obama “entered electoral politics, he was also able to play ‘good cop’ to Gamaliel Foundation’s ‘bad cop,’” applying “external pressure to ‘organize’ his legislative colleagues to come around to his point of view.” 64 Critics noted that although “it is almost unheard of for a U.S. Senator to attend a public meeting of a community organization, but [then-] Senator Obama attended a Gamaliel Foundation affiliate public meeting in Chicago.”65

In 2009, a surreptitiously recorded video was released of a Gamaliel Foundation meeting from 2008 with attendees appearing to pray to an idolized President-elect Obama. The Gamaliel Foundation group could be heard appearing to appeal to Obama with cries of “hear our cry Obama” and “deliver us Obama.” It is unclear exactly what the participants were saying.66

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