Pastor John Gray declares America is 'not a Christian nation' in midterm postmortem

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Love Story Church Pastor John Gray said America is "not a Christian nation" and warned his congregation in Greenville, South Carolina, against conflating their spiritual identity with their politics in an impassioned postmortem of the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans were roundly defeated by Democrats across the country in last week's midterms, which saw dozens of U.S. House of Representatives districts and at least seven U.S. Senate seats flip, mainly in areas won by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats also flipped a dozen state legislative chambers and are poised to take control of a majority of state legislatures.

"We live in South Carolina. … Not just red, ruby red, ruby red grapefruit juice and your senator who won by 18 points, his sister took his place, and she lost, because your last name doesn't qualify you," Gray told his megachurch on Sunday in a sermon he called "Turn the Lights On."

Republican South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, lost her seat to Democratic challenger Dr. Annie Andrews on Nov. 3. Graham Nordone had served as interim senator since July 2026, when Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her after her brother's sudden death.

"Mississippi, the foundation of the [Ku Klux] Klan, … that Mississippi is about to have a black man as a senator," Gray continued, pointing to Democrat Scott Colom's slim lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the uncalled Mississippi U.S. Senate race.

Gray also pointed to United Methodist Church megachurch Pastor Adam Hamilton becoming the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas in 94 years, and Keisha Lance Bottoms being elected the first black governor of Georgia.

While some Christians might interpret the results through a political lens, Gray urged his parishioners to see them as a spiritual outcome.

"What happened on Tuesday? Pastor, are you coming out as a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party? I'm coming out as a prophet of God to help you to understand what happened wasn't political. It was spiritual," he said.

Citing Isaiah 6:1 — which states, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple" — Gray encouraged congregants to avoid idolizing politics. He criticized how some Christians apply their faith to politics.

"Somebody leaving this church right after this sermon. And it's OK, but I got to tell it like it is because there's been too much tension, and nobody's telling the truth. The other part of this is that we have reduced what is spiritual to Democrat and Republican," Gray argued, paraphrasing straw arguments conservatives make to sway Christian voters.

"'If you really believe in Jesus, then you'll vote Republican. And if you vote Democrat, then you must be going to Hell, and you are of the devil.'"

Gray stressed that there were "problematic" Republican candidates and criticized what he called "selective outrage" over problematic Democrats by conservatives.

"But when a Republican does it, 'Well, God is still going to use them,'" Gray said, again paraphrasing a perceived conservative Christian talking point. 

"And so God says, 'I'm going to strike the ground, and I'm going to blow the wind, and I'm going to shed light.' And everybody shifted. So you can't blame minorities; you can't blame women. Everybody shifted. Texas has a Hispanic female governor," Gray continued, referring to Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa. "Yes, our nation has had its deep challenges with race and with culture and with construct. But the reality is it is not racial. It is spiritual."

"Because if you can sing 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' and stand by while a man gets lynched in a tree, then you don't really have the Jesus of the Bible. Don't tell me that this is a Christian nation when it was built on the backs of people that were not paid for their labor," Gray added.

"That is not a Christian principle. Stop saying that this nation belongs to God. Here's what you should say. 'My house belongs to God.' I don't know who this is going to offend, but America is not a Christian nation."