What Dutch Sheets Won’t Admit About Identity Politics
Dutch Sheets condemns identity politics—but his movement depends on it.
My dissertation work focuses on Dutch Sheets, and so I cannot help but read his September 12, 2025 Give Him 15 post through the lens of both his theology and the academic literature on Christian nationalism. In that prayer, Sheets condemns “identity politics” as the root of division and violence in America. He argues that conservatives are falsely accused of hate and tyranny, that liberals deliberately weaponize race to divide the country, and that this politics of grievance produces anger, hatred, and violence. His solution is prayer for revival. What is striking is not simply the argument, but the irony. Sheets has built his career by employing the very politics of grievance and identity that he condemns in others.
Sheets’ model of leadership depends on what scholars describe as the politics of persecution. He repeatedly frames conservative Christians as a group under siege, portrays opponents as agents of evil, and sanctifies political conflict as spiritual war. This is not the rejection of identity politics but its amplification in religious terms. Gorski and Perry (2022) describe Christian nationalism as a “deep story” that fuses religion, nation, and race into a vision of who belongs and who does not. In this sense, Christian nationalism is itself one of the most powerful forms of identity politics operating in the United States today. Sheets embodies this by weaving biblical language with political grievance, presenting opposition not as disagreement but as evidence of persecution.
The consequences of this framing have already been made visible. Dinulescu (2021) documents how the January 6 rioters circled the Capitol with “Appeal to Heaven” flags and conducted rituals patterned on the Jericho march, treating the building as enemy territory to be conquered. Sheets’ Give Him 15 prayers leading up to that day explicitly cast the 2020 election as a spiritual battle and called for angelic intervention against demonic strongholds in Washington. Armaly, Buckley, and Enders (2022) show how Christian nationalism, when combined with victimhood, white identity, and conspiracy belief, was a strong predictor of support for the Capitol violence. Sheets’ narrative of a persecuted Christian nation aligns precisely with these dynamics. His words did not simply describe politics; they mobilized people to see political processes as warfare.
The September 12 post recycles the same frame. Sheets portrays Charlie Kirk not only as a conservative leader but as a martyr whose assassination will “galvanize a movement.” It must be said plainly: Kirk was the victim of political violence, and that is unacceptable in a democracy. Violence should be condemned without qualification, no matter the target or political alignment. But Sheets does not pause to sit in that truth. Instead, he quickly reframes Kirk’s death as proof of persecution and evidence that his movement must rise stronger. Martyrdom functions here not to mourn, but to mobilize. What might otherwise be a tragedy becomes evidence that Christians are under siege and must respond in kind. This is identity politics cloaked in prayer. It constructs group cohesion by turning suffering into sacred struggle. Whitehead and Perry (2020) describe this as the sacred canopy of Christian nationalism, where loss is recast as divine testing, and political opponents are seen as enemies of God. Sheets transforms tragedy into political grievance and then into theological destiny.
It is important to state unequivocally that political violence should be condemned and not tolerated under any circumstances. A recent PBS NewsHour analysis placed this moment in a long, dark history of political violence in the United States, but warned that targeted threats and plots have risen sharply in recent decades. Cynthia Miller-Idriss explained that the present environment is more dangerous than in past eras, precisely because divisive rhetoric fuels cycles of grievance and retaliation. Sheets’ framing of politics as persecution does not lower the temperature. It risks raising it further by normalizing the idea that Christians must respond as if under siege.
At the level of rhetoric, what we hear is not dialogue but antagonistic debate. Structured debate, as practiced in high school or college, is scored and bound by rules. Participants are expected to understand their opponent’s argument and respond with evidence. What passes for debate in politics today is reduced to talking points meant to provoke and score symbolic wins. This is not dialogue, which requires listening, empathy, and recognition of shared truths. It is performance designed to raise temperatures. Sheets critiques division, but his own framing mirrors this model of antagonistic debate, casting opponents as evil rather than engaging them as fellow citizens.
What makes this especially dangerous is the way it collapses pluralism into hostility. Perry and Grubbs (2024) show that Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of support for leaders who violate democratic norms in national emergencies. Their data reveal that Christian nationalists are willing to suspend elections, suppress opponents, and disregard checks and balances in order to preserve their vision of a Christian nation. When Sheets prays against politicians and media who “seek to divide us,” he is not appealing to pluralism. He is drawing the boundaries of identity and delegitimizing dissent as evil.
Matthew D. Taylor (2024) argues that leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation, where Sheets is a central figure, have reframed American politics as a “governmental war.” Apostles and prophets are depicted as rulers ordained to govern not just the church but the nation. In this frame, political disagreement is spiritual rebellion, and democracy itself is fragile. Sheets’ post reflects exactly this approach: opposition is demonized, grievance is sacralized, and revival is imagined not as renewal of pluralism but as the triumph of one identity over all others.
The irony of his September 12 post is clear. He denounces identity politics as an abomination while practicing it as his primary strategy. He condemns division while insisting that conservatives are victims of sinister forces. He calls for unity while building cohesion through exclusion and grievance. The danger is not simply hypocrisy. It is the normalization of a politics where faith and citizenship collapse into one identity, where pluralism is seen as persecution, and where violence becomes imaginable. Sheets is correct that identity politics can breed bitterness, resentment, and violence. What he cannot acknowledge is that his own rhetoric has done precisely that.
References
Armaly, M. T., Buckley, D. T., & Enders, A. M. (2022). Christian nationalism and political violence: Victimhood, racial identity, conspiracy, and support for the Capitol attacks. Political Behavior, 44(3), 937–960. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09758-y
Dinulescu, C. (2021). Religion and politics in the context of the 6 January 2021 assault on the US Congress. Strategic Impact, 79(2), 78-92. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/religion-politics-context-6-january-2021-assault/docview/2581875468/se-2
Gorski, P. S., & Perry, S. L. (2022). The flag and the cross: White Christian nationalism and the threat to American democracy. Oxford University Press.
Perry, S. L., & Grubbs, J. B. (2024). Christian nationalism and support for leaders violating democratic norms during national emergencies. Politics and Religion, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048324000208
Taylor, M. D. (2024). The violent take it by force: The Christian movement that is threatening our democracy. Broadleaf Books.
Whitehead, A. L., & Perry, S. L. (2020). Taking America back for God: Christian nationalism in the United States. Oxford University Press.
PBS NewsHour. (2025, July 17). Understanding the root causes and possible solutions for rising political violence. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/understanding-the-root-causes-and-possible-solutions-for-rising-political-violence