{"id":420403,"date":"2026-08-29T17:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T17:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/420403\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T17:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T17:26:09","slug":"texas-pastor-says-christians-need-more-political-influence-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/420403\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas pastor says Christians need more political influence in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Howerton<\/a>, one of Texas’ most outspoken megachurch pastors, has a message for Christians trying to stay politically neutral<\/a>: stop.<\/p>\n

Howerton, the senior pastor at\u00a0Lakepointe Church in the Dallas area, argued on X earlier this week that Christians are effectively surrendering political influence while other religious and ideological groups actively seek it.<\/p>\n

“Muslims have a plan to make America a Muslim nation. Marxists have a plan to make America a Marxist nation. Secular Progressives have a plan to make America a Secular Progressive nation,” Howerton wrote.<\/p>\n

Christians, he argued, are doing the opposite.<\/p>\n

“Christians seem to always have a plan to keep Christianity from further influencing our nation by discipling people into political apathy (‘we don’t get political’) or political ambiguity (‘Jesus isn’t a Republican or Democrat, neither Right nor Left’),” Howerton wrote, adding that the approach has produced “very predictable results for the last few decades.”<\/p>\n

It’s hardly a new argument from the pastor.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 essay titled “11 Ways Christians Are Gaslit into Staying Out of Politics,” Howerton similarly argued Christians should seek political influence.<\/p>\n

“If GODLY people don’t lead, GODLESS people fill the void,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Howerton has increasingly made politics part of his public platform. Chron recently reported<\/a> he joined The Blaze, a conservative media company founded by Glenn Beck, while former Lakepointe members have previously criticized<\/a> what they described as increasingly political rhetoric from the pulpit.<\/p>\n

But Howerton’s argument that Christianity needs “further” influence comes in Texas, where Christian beliefs already play a prominent role in recent political fights.<\/p>\n

Texas lawmakers have approved Bible-infused elementary school curriculum<\/a> and passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms<\/a>. The latter remains tied up in a court fight, with the U.S. Supreme Court recently asked to weigh in.<\/a><\/p>\n

Howerton’s comments also come amid a broader wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Texas<\/a>, including claims that Muslims are attempting to “takeover” the state or reshape it around Islamic law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chron has reported similar rhetoric<\/a> surrounding mosque projects in North Texas, including a heated McKinney meeting<\/a> where opponents invoked Sharia law and other anti-Muslim stereotypes. The backlash became so intense that one speaker later returned to City Hall<\/a> specifically to address what he described as anti-Muslim hate.<\/p>\n

Howerton himself has already leaned into that debate, including an episode of his “Live Free” podcast <\/a>titled “An ISLAMIC Takeover is Coming…Here’s what Christians Should Do,” which discussed whether Christians should oppose mosque construction and what it described as the Muslim Brotherhood’s “long game.”<\/p>\n

So whether Christians are actually sitting on the political sidelines in Texas is another question entirely.<\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

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Traveler’s Table<\/a> | Lawsuit reveals Ring footage before owner’s deaths<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Texas pastor says Christians need more political influence in America<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Howerton, one of Texas’ most outspoken megachurch pastors, has a message for Christians trying to stay politically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[132,80517,146412,146416,146413,11153,146414,146415,27,29,28,14772,464],"class_list":["post-420403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austin","tag-influence","tag-josh-howerton","tag-muslim-nation","tag-political-apathy","tag-political-influence","tag-political-rhetoric","tag-secular-progressives","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-state-capitol","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}