The A movement that emerged in the 1970s encompassing a wide swath of conservative Catholicism and Protestant evangelicalism. Learn more is far from monolithic.
In this multipart political education series, we aim to advance our understanding of the Christian Right, its weaknesses more than its strengths. We highlight contemporary movement fractures — particularly between and among Christian nationalists, the A movement originally identified and named in the 1990s by evangelical theologian C. Peter Wagner. The NAR has since become the leading political and cultural vision of the Pentecostal and Charismatic wing of evangelical Christianity. Learn more , A theocratic movement rooted in Christian nationalism which provides a blueprint for the reconstruction of society. Learn more , and conservative Catholicism — and evaluate how opposing groups are strategically responding and identify what strategic interventions are missing.
Part 1: Thursday, May 14, 2026
Time: 1:00 - 2:30pm EDT; 10-11:30am PST
For Part 1, we will be joined by:
Moderator, Rev Naomi Washington Leapheart, a Blackqueer daughter of Detroit, is a minister, professor, and movement strategist and PRA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships. Naomi has worked as a faith organizer and director for POWER Interfaith, the National An umbrella acronym standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. Learn more Task Force, and the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement in the city of Philadelphia. She teaches emerging scholars of religion and theology at Villanova University, Arcadia University, and Harvard School of Divinity.
Gareth Gore is the author of Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church. (Simon & Schuster, 2025) He is a financial journalist and editor who has reported fro
m over twenty-five countries. His writing has been Register HereRegister Herepublished by Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and International Financing Review. Opus Dei faces an uncertain future within the Catholic Church following recent journalistic and even criminal investigations detailing the group’s involvement in the enslavement of young girls, the trafficking of women and the systematic spiritual and psychological abuse of members. The book led Pope Leo to invite him to a private audience to learn more.
Julie Ingersoll is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Florida and a Faculty Fellow at the Florida Blue Center for Ethics. She is the author of several books including Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction (Oxford University Press, 2015) Her work has been cited in the New Yorker, the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, American Prospect, Ms Magazine, Salon.com, The Guardian, and many other media outlets.
Rachel Tabachnick was one of the few researchers writing about the New Apostolic Reformation in the early 2000s. She contributed for twelve years to the popular website talk2action.org, tracking the intersection of religion and politics including in the areas of education, economics, labor, and foreign policy. Rachel is a former PRA associate fellow and her research has been featured on NPR and other major media, books, and dissertations.
Frederick Clarkson is a Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates. He has been writing about religion and politics for more than four decades. He is the author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between In the classical definition, a system in which governmental leaders are clergy. Learn more and Democracy (Common Courage Press, 1997) and editor of Dispatches from the Religious Left: The ‘Future of Faith and Politics in America. His work on the Christian Right has appeared in major news outlets from The Houston Chronicle to The Christian Science Monitor, and magazines from Salon and Mother Jones to Ms. magazine, The Nation and Church & State. He has been interviewed, or his work cited by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, CBS Evening News, National Public Radio, and many more.
Stay tuned for more upcoming webinars in this series.