A Crusade to Challenge the 2020 Election, Blessed by Church Leaders

Some evangelical pastors are hosting events dedicated to Trumps election falsehoods and promoting the cause to their congregations.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The 11 a.m. service at Church for All Nations, a large nondenominational evangelical church in Colorados second-largest city, began as such services usually do. The congregation of young families and older couples swayed and sang along to live music. Mark Cowart, the churchs senior pastor, delivered an update on a church mission project.

Then Mr. Cowart turned the pulpit over to a guest speaker, William J. Federer.

An evangelical commentator and one-time Republican congressional candidate, Mr. Federer led the congregation through an hourlong PowerPoint presentation based on his 2020 book, Socialism The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control. Many congregants scribbled in the notebooks they had brought from home.

I believe God is pushing the world to a decision-making moment, Mr. Federer said, building toward his conclusion. We used to have national politicians that held back the floodgates of hell. The umbrellas been ripped after Jan. 6, and now its raining down upon every one of us. We had politicians that were supposed to certify that and instead they just accepted it. And, lo and behold, an anti-Christian spirits been released across the country and the world.

Evangelical churches have long been powerful vehicles for grass-roots activism and influence on the American right, mobilized around issues like abortion and gay marriage. Now, some of those churches have embraced a new cause: promoting Donald J. Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.