'Intentionally dishonest': Pastor Allen Jackson responds to CNN’s ‘misguided’ ‘Christian nationalism’ doc

Pastor Allen Jackson has criticized CNN’s documentary on Christian nationalism, calling the program “misguided” and “functionally dishonest,” arguing that it misrepresents people of faith.

Jackson, senior pastor of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, made the remarks during an interview on Fox News over the weekend, where he responded to CNN’s documentary titled “The Rise of Christian Nationalism.”

The documentary’s introduction states that it “examines the growing influence of Christian nationalism, an ideology rooted in the belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that its laws and institutions should reflect Christian values.”

“Through immersive reporting and on-the-ground access, the episode explores how a movement once largely confined to the margins of white evangelical culture has gained new visibility and political power.”

Jackson, who has served as senior pastor of World Outreach Church since 1989 and whose biblical messages have reached millions through his Allen Jackson Ministries, rejected the documentary’s framing and said it presents an inaccurate picture of religious Americans. He called the documentary “an intentionally dishonest piece.”

"I think it's so misguided and, to be honest, it is just functionally dishonest," he said. "There is no question that our founding documents and our founders intended a Judeo-Christian worldview to shape our nation. We've never been uniquely Christian. It wasn't a requirement. We've never had a state-sponsored faith. But those Judeo-Christian values shaped our founding documents, our legal system, our educational system, our approach to business."

Due to the Christian values that are behind public institutions, the U.S. is “dramatically different” from nations oriented towards Islam, Buddhism or communism.

The program, he said, fails to reflect that many Americans are “coming back to church” and rediscovering faith communities in the United States.

The Fox broadcast linked the trend of Americans returning to the Christian faith in part to the influence of conservative activist Charlie Kirk among younger audiences. Kirk’s campus events and outreach efforts encouraged greater interest in faith and conservative values among students.

Before his assassination last September, Kirk, a conservative Christian activist and founder of Turning Point USA, built a national profile through campus speaking tours and political activism.

In the documentary, Brown cited "experts" to claim that Kirk's murder while speaking at a Utah university campus was a pivotal moment for the [Christian nationalism] movement, and an occasion where the tragedy of his loss unified Christian nationalists and the Trump administration as they honored him."

One alleged expert claimed on the documentary that Kirk's memorial service "radicalized" many American Christians into believing they increasingly face hostility in their own country.

"You have to be seriously avoiding reality when Charlie Kirk was murdered and hunted in public to say that Christians try to fabricate the idea that they are being persecuted," Jackson said in response to the claim. "I think that is hard evidence and I think we should pay attention. ... The Christian response to that assassination was dramatically different from some of the other public protests we have seen in recent months or years. I was grateful for that, but the hatred and intolerance toward Christianity, without question, is growing."

Jackson, whose church hosted Turning Point USA's Make Heaven Crowded tour event last month, said what Kirk promoted wasn’t radicalization but orthodox Christianity.

“We shouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “They said Jesus was a radical. They said the Apostle Paul was a radical. … So, if standing with Jesus and biblical principles makes us radical, I’ll get a T-shirt and stay gladly in that space.”

He said Gen Z has a “hunger for authenticity” and God, and “somehow, they are avoiding the propaganda that’s come through so much of education and academia.”

Public debate over alleged "Christian nationalism" intensified after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when some analysts pointed to religious symbolism and rhetoric among segments of the crowd.