Fred Clarkson, a senior research analyst at the social justice think tank Political Research Associates, had studied the Christian right wing for decades when someone tipped him off about an intriguing link on the website of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF) — a group that seeks to “preserve America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and promote prayer.” In early 2018, Clarkson clicked on the link, which led him to what was essentially a roadmap of the Christian right’s theocratic vision for state legislatures — a 116-page manual of model legislation aimed at advancing an anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice, Christian nationalist agenda.
The manual revealed for the first time how seemingly disparate efforts by state lawmakers were all connected as part of an elaborate legal strategy devised by a coalition of Christian Right groups who called it Project Blitz. This project sought to advance bills that required public schools to display the national motto, “In God We Trust,” enabled discrimination against LGBTQ people and promoted denials of reproductive health care on religious grounds. The Christian Right groups behind Project Blitz, including CPCF, were trying to inundate state legislatures with bills promoting their interpretation of the Bible.