Red Lettercongregation accountability
Congregation accountability map

How deep does MAGA propaganda run in your area?

Red Letter scores American congregations on two independent axes — MAGA political capture and theological drift — from public sermons, websites, and social media. Not vibes. Not partisan guesswork. Scored evidence, transparently sourced.

What we measure

Two independent axes. No composite score.

MAGA capture and theological drift are separate phenomena. We never average them into a single number that hides what’s actually happening.

MAGA Capture (0–10)

Measures political capture: Christian nationalism rhetoric, partisan veneration, election denial, affiliation with MAGA-aligned networks, and hostile framing of political opponents as spiritual enemies.

Theological Drift (0–10)

Measures departure from historic Christian teaching: creedal violations, blessing of what Scripture names sin, contempt for the poor and marginalized, and sanctified political violence.

How it works

Sourced evidence, not gut feeling

Every nonzero score requires a direct quote from a primary source. No inference without citation. No citation without a link.

Sermon transcripts

Public sermon audio and video transcribed and analyzed, weighted by recency and source reliability. Pre-election windows receive additional scrutiny.

Websites & belief statements

Official doctrine pages, belief statements, and leadership bios are crawled and indexed. Explicit statements carry higher evidentiary weight than marketing copy.

Social media

Public posts from official congregational accounts and lead pastors, scored in context. Retweets of election-denial content count; a single isolated post earns a low floor.

Network affiliations

Known affiliations with MAGA-aligned networks, organizations, and speakers are tracked. Affiliation alone raises a prior but cannot account for the majority of the score.

Independent axes

A congregation scoring 9 on MAGA capture may score 1 on theological drift — or 8 on both. The map encodes both simultaneously. No single number hides the picture.

Public by design

Only publicly available information. No inside sources, no anonymous tips, no leaked documents. If it’s public, it’s fair game. If it isn’t, it isn’t here.

Who it’s for

For Christians who need a church, journalists covering religion and politics, researchers studying political capture of religious institutions, and anyone trying to understand what American congregations are actually teaching.