From Good News to Bad News,From Local Beginnings to National Impact

From Good News to Bad News,
From Local Beginnings to National Impact

Talking Money, Lies, and God and Going Inside the Movement to
Destroy American Democracy with Author Katherine Stewart

By Brian Tanguay | March 27, 2025

Sixteen years ago, Katherine Stewart wondered why a fundamentalist Bible club was elbowing its way into Cold Spring Elementary School, where her child was a student. The Good News Club had been offered free space at the Montecito Covenant Church, so why was it trying to establish itself in a public elementary school? Curiosity coupled with a talent for meticulous and dogged research led Stewart to write an article for the Independent, “Reading, Writing, and Original Sin,” which appeared on May 7, 2009.

Little did she know that the article would launch a career, which to date has produced three books, including her latest, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy, and firmly establish her as a leading chronicler of the Christian nationalist movement. In addition to her books, Stewart is a frequent contributor to national publications, including The New Republic, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic.