Project Blitz

Project Blitz is a program by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF), Wall Builders and National Legal Defense. In practice it is a 116-page guide to "support lawmakers who may be enacting specific legislation...encourage numerous key conservative legislators at the local, state and federal level and reclaim and properly frame the narrative and the language of religious liberty issues." Project Blitz has been characterized as "Christian nationalists" conducting a "legislative assault...to reshape America," "Evangelical extremists" mounting a "covert campaign to re-create a Christian America that never existed," and the Christian nationalist version of ALEC.

Project Blitz lists 20 model bills, some of which "are intended to give businesses, pastors and childcare providers the right to discriminate against LGBT people in line with their 'sincerely held religious beliefs'" among other things.

News and Controversies

Pushing Bible Classes in Public Schools

Students in Kentucky public schools are being taught lessons from the Bible and guided to draw " pictures of the cross and of Adam and Eve walking with dinosaurs" according to The Washington Post. "Scenes of Bible classes in public school could become increasingly common across the United States if other states follow Kentucky’s lead in passing legislation that encourages high schools to teach the Bible." That legislation came as a result of efforts from Project Blitz. By May of 2019, 10 state legislatures had already introduced versions of it this year, while Georgia and Arkansas's bills are awaiting their governors’ signatures.

"Secret" Plan to "Erode" Religious Freedom

According to an analysis from the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), "Project Blitz starts with simple bills that promote Christianity and belief in God, which, of course, violates one of the most critical principles of religi[ous] freedom: that church and state remain separate."

The Americans United for the Separation of Church and State were first made aware of the project via "In God We Trust Bills." These pieces of legislation began appearing more frequently in state houses across the country in 2018 enhancing the prevalence of the words "In God We Trust" in public space and in five states "mandating that every public school prominently display the U.S. motto."

"Project Blitz also explains that “In God We Trust” bills are a stepping stone to bills that would create even more egregious violations of our religious freedom. The bills range from proclamations to honor our country’s so-called “Christian heritage,” to bills that encourage public schools to teach about the Bible, to broad bills that create religious exemptions to each and every state law."

Anti-LGTBQ, Women, and Religious Minority Legislation

According to AUSCS, "These bills commandeer state governments to promote a particular, narrow set of evangelical Christian political beliefs: that LGBTQ people should not have equal rights, that women should not have access to reproductive health care and that people of minority faiths and nonbelievers do not deserve the same protections."

Fredrick Clarkson, the researcher who broke the story about Project Blitz says, “the authors of the Project Blitz playbook...live an immanent theocratic vision...they describe the resolutions as seeking to ‘define public policies of the state in favor of biblical values concerning marriage and sexuality."

Bills from the Blitz project include legislation which declares, “This state supports and encourages marriage between one man and one woman and the desirability that intimate sexual relations only take place between such couples.” According to Katherine Stewart, author of a book on the Christian Right, "The striking thing about this model bill is the cruelty with which it advances the argument."

"These bills are a means of spreading the message that Christian conservatives are the real Americans, and everybody else is here by invitation only."

Steering Team Member "Linked To Huge Leaks Of US Voter Records"

Project Blitz Steering team member Bill Dallas is the CEO of United in Purpose, a group dedicated to uniting conservative Christian groups to bring "cultural transformation in America based on Judeo-Christian principles." Dallas is a "convicted embezzler" who converted to Christianity. In 2016, United in Purpose was accused of leaving "troves" available to hackers as long as they knew the right IP addresses to look up.

Steering Team Member deemed a "Pseudo-Historian"

David Barton is both a steering team member of Project Blitz as well as the founder of the partner group, Wallbuilders. He has been called a "Christian Nationalist" "Pseudo-Historian" who's radio show participates in "fear mongering Islamophobia."

Personnel

"Steering Team"

The Steering team includes:

• Lea Carawan- Co-Founder and Executive Director, Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation
• Bill Dallas- CEO, United in Purpose
• Buddy Pilgrim, Former National Director for Faith & Religious Liberty for the 2016 presidential campaign of Ted Cruz
• David Barton, Founder of Wallbuilders LLC

Partner Organizations

• Wall Builders LLC
• National Legal Foundation
• Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation

First Freedom Coalition

Carawan said that that Project Blitz is the lead of the First Freedom Coalition, "which is not a formal but a “relational coalition,” intended to increase communication and coordination between members of the “religious freedom movement.” The following groups are known members of the First Freedom Coalition:

• Heritage Foundation
• Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition
• Family Policy Councils

External Reading

The PDF for Project Blitz can be found here.