MAGA Christianity's Obnoxious "Piety" Is Doing More Harm Than Good (with Amy Hawk)

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Eric Metaxas says the political left has become "satanic wickedness." A viral airplane evangelist turns a captive cabin into her personal stage. Both moments look like bold Christian witness — but Amy Hawk and I argue they're something else entirely: performance.

Using Acts 16 as our lens, Amy walks through the "obnoxious spirit" Paul confronts — a figure shouting true-sounding religious words in exactly the wrong spirit, wrapped up in exploitation and spectacle. We connect that ancient scene directly to two current examples: the airplane evangelist whose real audience was never the passengers around her but the followers watching on her phone, and Eric Metaxas's rhetoric demonizing his political opponents as satanic.

The throughline: performative Christianity doesn't need to convert anyone to "work." It builds status. It signals tribal loyalty. It excuses cruelty toward people who can't opt out — a captive row on a plane, a demonized political opponent — because the performance was never really for them.

We contrast this with what Jesus actually calls His followers to in Matthew 6: give, pray, and fast without needing to be seen. Christian nationalism keeps producing leaders and moments built for the algorithm and the in-group, not for the stranger in front of them. Amy's Bible study gives us the theological vocabulary to name what so many of us have felt watching MAGA Christianity's most viral moments: it's not really about the gospel. It's about the show.