What happens when a professor of religious studies sues the FBI? For Lerone Martin, it ends up becoming the book “The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism.”

“I started out thinking I was going to write a book on religious radio…how religious radio shaped the radio industry,” Martin said in his recent talk at UC Santa Barbara.

However, after the 2014 killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, Martin met numerous clergy in St. Louis who revealed that the FBI was seeking their assistance to ensure that protests did not escalate.

“So that got me thinking, ‘How long has the FBI been reaching out to religious faith communities for partnership, for collaboration?’” Martin reflected.

His pursuit of answers led him to sue the U.S. Department of Justice to access FBI files on Billy Graham.

From thousands of documents, Martin traced a direct line from the Cold War to the present-day white evangelical movement. He says that under J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI was a significant force, promoting Christian ideologies about the spiritual Cold War and actively supporting white evangelicals’ rise to power, reinforcing their message that white, Christian Americans are the rightful custodians of the nation’s soul.

Learn more about this eye-opening examination of the FBI’s historical influence. Watch The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism.