Oklahoma State Senator says separation of church and state is blasphemous and will not allow it on his watch
Few politicians embody the drive for a full-blown Christian nationalist state as openly as Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers.
A hard-right pastor and outspoken Christian nationalist, Deevers has long pushed to abolish abortion, eliminate no-fault divorce, outlaw pornography, and force the country back into a theocratic framework reminiscent of the 1600s. He has never hidden his conviction that the core function of government is not neutrality but rather converting citizens to Christianity.
That perspective came through clearly when Deevers appeared on the Finding Your Spine podcast, where he denounced the separation of church and state as “blasphemous” and argued that supporting it was to “belittle the Lord Jesus.”
“[Jesus] has commissioned us to go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” Deevers said. “And that means that we are his human agents for extending his dominion, his rule throughout this world, and the nations will be glad through that. So to say that the church and the state are separate in the principle of their authority—and the principle being Jesus Christ—is, I believe, it’s blasphemous to say that Jesus Christ isn’t Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And that means not just over the home, not just over the church, but in every sphere; and that is to belittle the Lord Jesus and he doesn’t take it kindly when we belittle him.”
In 2023, Deevers aligned himself with fellow Christian nationalist figures Joel Webbon, William Wolfe, and others in creating “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel.” The declaration demanded that the U.S. officially “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in its legal system, abolish abortion nationwide, ban marriage equality, and “recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization.”
By late 2024, Deevers was preaching at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, the congregation led by far-right pastor Douglas Wilson, another prominent figure in the Christian nationalist movement.
