From “The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy” by Matthew Boedy
Since the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, more Americans seemingly want what the seven mountains movement wants. A June 2023 survey of 2,000 Americans estimated that about 30 percent “are open to” ideas associated with the seven mountains movement such as “U.S. culture is ‘fundamentally Christian’” and “Christian values should be ‘solely and explicitly endorsed by the government.’” Another 2023 survey found a similar percentage of Americans either adhering to or sympathetic to those ideals. A second Trump administration only reinforces that.
Of course, many of the Americans in those polls are the demographic most supportive of the mandate: evangelicals. A 2024 survey showed that strong majorities of evangelicals agree broadly with the goals of the seven mountains movement. About 55 percent of evangelicals specifically agreed that “God wants Christians to stand atop the Seven Mountains of society.” The survey also showed that the percentage of Christian Americans who believed in the mandate increased from just under 30 percent to 41 percent in one year. The surveyors noted that “what not long ago seemed to be a marginal set of beliefs has become a dominant religious framework among American Christians.”
The seven mountains movement has been adopted across the religious right even by leaders who may not share its theology, because their followers are being motivated by the mandate. For example, the 2022 National Day of Prayer guide from the Southern Baptist Convention – the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and traditionally one devoted to religious liberty for all – asked its congregants to pray for the “seven centers of influence.” Beyond religion, the seven mountains movement has become so accepted in American society that its supporters from all levels of government from Congress to school boards, have publicly named themselves as supporters. One expert said in 2021 that it is “a heartbeat away from everything that happens in the Republican Party.”
The seven mountains movement is an all-encompassing strategy of a larger ideology known as Christian nationalism.