Nashville Reporter Attempts To Kindle Fear About Christian Nationalists Moving To Tennessee

Image Credit: @NC5PhilWilliams / X & Canva

The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia]-

Phil Williams, a reporter for Nashville’s News Channel 5, broke a story last week claiming a group of “Christian Nationalists” who, “oppose the Civil Rights movement, want to kick out immigrants who’ve become U.S. citizens and think women should not be going to college or voting,” are moving from out-of-state in an attempt to take over Jackson County, TN.

Williams, who touted his “exclusive” story to be the result of three months of investigative research, purports the move is spearheaded by Christian podcaster C. Jay Engel, Andrew Isker, a “right-wing” Minnesota pastor, and a development company RidgeRunner which has purchased around 600 acres and a small downtown office building in Gainesboro. 

The company reportedly is planning to create an “innovative yet traditional” community called the Highland Rim Project and already has four businesses committed to relocating to the town, bringing 150 well-paying manufacturing jobs starting in 2027. 

Isker explains the goals of the soon-to-be-Tennesseans in a video, “We’re not just fleeing as refugees to somewhere else that might be better, we are going to somewhere where we can do the thing we wanted to do here, quite frankly. If you were able to take even a few hundred people that all think the same way, have all the same ideas about the common good and politics and so forth, and you could consolidate them in the same place, you could exercise far, far more political power even with a few hundred or a few thousand people than you can on your own widely dispersed across the entire country.”

“Christian Nationalism” has recently been utilized as a derogatory term to negatively portray traditional Christians who, in short, believe their nation is founded upon Christian beliefs and values and therefore defend the role of Christianity in all aspects of public life, including politics. 

Amongst other assertions, the term has been weaponized to propagate that this sect of Christians aims to revoke separation of church and state, though that phrase is also grossly misinterpreted and misapplied. The Christian nationalist ideology was even called, “a Christianized-type of Sharia law,” by a source Williams quoted in his initial reporting of this so-called “conspiracy”.

A rebuttal piece from the Federalist by a life-long Tennessee resident and former Nashville police officer offers a contrasting narrative advocating the Highland Rim group is simply, “aiming to conserve what’s good, revitalize what’s distressed, and innovate toward a better future in small towns and rural areas of Appalachia. They connect the millions of Americans fed up with the chaos, danger, and insanity of big cities and blue states to desirable locations elsewhere. It has nothing to do with white supremacy.”

The Tennessee Conservative’s founder Brandon Lewis also commented on the story via X, “The two worst things you can be to Phil Williams: 1- Christian, 2- Love your country. I’m quite certain he prefers and atheist globalist…”

Ultimately, Williams’ beliefs about those seeking to conserve traditional values in a supposedly conservative state can be summarized by his claim that they hold views, “not so different from the ideas espoused by the neo-Nazis and other white supremacists seen marching down Nashville streets in the past year.”

He concludes the latest segment of his story by encouraging followers to tune in Monday evening for Jackson County residents’ takes on the issue, though based off his heavily biased reporting it would seem unlikely he will produce any opinions that differ from his constructed narrative. 

Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.