Two Movements That Will Challenge Orthodox Christians and Jews After the Democratic Wins

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD • www.virtueonline.org • November 9, 2026

There are two movements that will challenge orthodox Christians and Jews in America as the nation marches to the beat of a new political drummer in 2027.

The first is the rise of political Islam. The second is the forward march of LGBTQ ideology — gay rights, full transgender acceptance, what some are now calling the "rainbow wave." Both movements rode last Tuesday's results into new positions of influence. Add abortion to the mix and Christians will once again feel the heat of the culture wars they fought so hard and, it seems, so often lost.

The scale of what happened is not in dispute. Democrats took both houses of Congress. In the House they are on course for their largest majority since 2008. In the Senate they flipped seven Republican seats — North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Maine — overturning a 53–47 Republican majority that no one thought was at risk when the year began. In Texas, James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who argues from the Bible for positions orthodox Christians have rejected for two millennia, defeated Ken Paxton to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from that state since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

Evangelicals, who remain President Trump's political base, will now either fall in line or fight even harder. The jury is out.

It is this writer's contention that orthodox Christians of all denominational stripes, including the Roman Catholic Church, will push back. What they are up against is a younger generation of Americans who are not nearly as conservative as their parents — on sexuality, on Israel, and on the war with Iran. Many of them think the war should simply be halted, without a thought for the consequences — eschatological and otherwise — of ending a war prematurely, consequences that could reach into their own lives down the line.

It is short-term thinking. Too many in Gen Z and the younger millennials form their opinions on feelings, on the moment, and on what affects them materially and financially, rather than on long reflection.

Orthodox Christians and orthodox Jews will view this with alarm, nowhere more than in the fight over school boards and who sits on them.

The Rise of Muslim Political Power

In August, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released its 2026 Directory of Elected Muslim Officials, documenting a record 255 Muslim elected officials serving across 26 states.

The breakdown is striking: 98 council members, 63 education officials, 46 state legislators, 18 judges, 11 mayors, four members of Congress, and 15 other elected officials. Nearly two-thirds serve in local government or education. These positions may lack the national visibility of Congress, but they shape school policies, community regulations, and decisions affecting everyday American life.

Then came November. By CAIR's latest count, a record 97 Muslim candidates have won so far in the 2026 midterms, with 15 more leading in uncalled races — up from 82 in 2022. These victories cannot simply be added to the earlier directory total, since many are reelected incumbents, but they demonstrate the growing political organization and electoral success of Muslim Americans. In January, eight Muslims will sit in the House of Representatives, double the number in the directory.

The most historic result was in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers with roughly 52 percent of the vote, succeeding the retiring Gary Peters and becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate.

The Rainbow Wave

The second movement had its own landmark night. In New Hampshire, Democrat Chris Pappas defeated former Republican Senator John E. Sununu and will become the first openly gay man ever to serve in the Senate. At least 16 openly LGBTQ lawmakers will be sworn in next year, two senators (Pappas and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin) and the rest in the House — the largest such contingent in American history. Equality PAC had hoped for 17.

This reminds me of The Episcopal Church's consecration in 2003 of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, partnered bishop in the Anglican Communion — also from New Hampshire. Robinson's consecration forever changed the face of the Episcopal Church. And look what happened. The Episcopal Church split, and the Anglican Church in North America was born. The Methodists followed, losing roughly a quarter of their American congregations. The Presbyterians fractured as well. Homosexuality was the fault line every time.

As the mainline churches have pretty well rolled over on all things sexual, from gay marriage to transgenderism, they will read this election as a mandate to push sexual boundaries further still. There is little to stop the steamroller of sexual experimentation in America. I recently heard from a parishioner who told me that he and his wife had been invited to an evening of wife swapping. Of course he declined. What surprised him was the casual ease with which the invitation was made. Shame has disappeared.

Orthodox Christians and orthodox Jews will view all this with horror.

The Churches' Divided Response

The churches have shown a mixed reaction to both movements, even though the two are fundamentally incompatible with each other.

Liberal Christians will welcome America's growing Islamic presence as a sign of the nation's religious diversity, believing this is exactly what the Constitution protects and what the Supreme Court should enforce. They will welcome the rainbow wave with equal enthusiasm. What they will not do is notice that the two cannot both be welcomed on their own terms.

Who Is Cheering?

After El-Sayed's August primary victory over Rep. Haley Stevens, Ikhwan Online, which describes itself on X as the Muslim Brotherhood's official website, published a celebratory article praising his calls to end unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel and hailing his win as a setback for what it called "the Zionist occupation."

That matters. Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist movement whose stated vision has long been the integration of Islamic law into political and social governance, and ultimately a transnational caliphate. In January of this year the United States designated its Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches as terrorist organizations, citing their support for Hamas. Egypt has outlawed the group since 2013; Jordan banned it last year.

When a movement like that celebrates an American political victory, it is reasonable to ask what it believes that victory represents.

El-Sayed has publicly denied any affiliation with the Brotherhood and dismissed the charge as a smear, and congratulations from its supporters do not establish any organizational connection. Nevertheless, their enthusiasm raises legitimate questions about how Islamist movements abroad read the changing political dynamics in America.

Here is the deeper point. Islam — Sunni and Shia alike — has historically seen no daylight between the sacred and the secular. It is a deen, a total way of life, all of one piece and governed by sharia, with its strictures on women, education, dress, employment and much more. That is why Islamists everywhere treat each electoral gain in the West as a foot in the door, whatever the intentions of the individual who wins the seat. And it is why Shia Iran and Hezbollah, and Sunni Hamas, will fight to the bitter end, ready to see martyrdom as a noble end if they believe their ultimate aim is the triumph of Islam over the world.

A Remarkable Irony

But there is a remarkable irony hiding behind these celebrations. The religious and moral convictions traditionally associated with these two movements are, in several important respects, fundamentally incompatible.

We have already seen the collision. In 2023, Hamtramck, Michigan — the first American city with an all-Muslim city council — voted to ban Pride flags from city property, to the shock of the progressives who had celebrated that council's election. And in Egypt, even as television hosts cheered El-Sayed's victory, at least one prominent commentator attacked him for his positions on homosexuality. Political Islam and the rainbow coalition are allies of convenience, not of conviction.

For Christians concerned about America's spiritual and cultural direction, these developments raise questions that reach far beyond election night. What do they reveal about the changing face of American politics? What happens when competing worldviews gain greater influence over public policy? And is the American church prepared for what comes next?

These disagreements concern far more than symbolism. They involve competing understandings of morality, individual rights, religious freedom, and the government's authority to regulate public life.

Liberals are blind to the implications of all this. They view freedom as the ultimate good without seeing that if political Islam ever came to power, it is their freedom that would be lost first.

Philadelphia, November 8

Orthodox Christians and Jews understand this, especially as Jews watch the rising tide of antisemitism in the world today.

In Philadelphia this past Sunday — November 8, the eve of the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht — a self-described "anti-fascist, anti-Zionist" cycling collective, joined by the local Democratic Socialists of America and other pro-Palestinian groups, staged a "Boycott Ride" around Rittenhouse Square targeting six Jewish-owned restaurants and food businesses. Their flyer declared: "These Zionist establishments must go. Not in our city."

The organizers insist the date was a coincidence. Nobody believes them. Governor Josh Shapiro's office called it "blatant antisemitism," and Mayor Cherelle Parker and Attorney General Dave Sunday condemned it.

No windows were smashed this time. But the intent — to single out Jewish businesses and drive them out of a city — is the same intent that sent the mobs into the streets of Germany and Austria in November 1938. A decade ago, this would have been unthinkable in the city of the Liberty Bell. It is not even the first time: in December 2023 a mob converged on Goldie, one of the same restaurants, chanting outside its doors.

Yet here is a word of hope. Hundreds of Philadelphians turned out to stand with their Jewish neighbors, lining up outside the targeted restaurants for a community "food crawl" and overwhelming the boycotters. Police had to keep the two sides apart. Decency still has a constituency in America.

What Has Vanished — and What Is Coming Back

For generations, most American Christians and Jews assumed that biblical morality would remain the dominant influence over the nation's cultural institutions. The Ten Commandments were displayed and morality was taught in the schools. Then, in 1980, the Supreme Court ordered the Commandments off classroom walls, and for most of America that world vanished.

But not everywhere, and not for good. Louisiana and Texas have passed laws requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, and in April the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Texas law by a single vote. Arkansas and Alabama have followed. The fight is not over. It is just beginning again.

America's political landscape is changing. These two movements have proved that. The more important question is whether orthodox Christians and Jews are prepared not only to remain faithful but to fight back amid the changes.

Jews have the Torah and the Prophets. Christians have those, and Jesus Christ besides. Together they can outlive cultural movements like these, which will rise and ultimately fall. The damage in the meantime could affect generations of Americans, millions of whom have already lost faith in The Faith. But faithful Christians and Jews have the power to band together against the barbarians, even now inside the gates.

Political power will inevitably change hands. Cultural movements rise and fall. But the Word of God remains unchanged.

David W. Virtue, DD, is the founder, editor and publisher of VirtueOnline, the voice for global orthodox Anglicanism. His website can be accessed here: www.virtueonline.org He also writes on the Middle East. His Substack can be located here: davidvirtue2.substack.com