Pastor Doug Wilson prepares for a podcast recording in Moscow, Idaho, on Tuesday. He has attracted attention for his support of Christian nationalism, a belief that U.S. law and society should function according to biblical precepts.Margaret Albaugh/The Globe and Mail
A prominent American church leader with ties to members of the Donald Trump administration has declared strong support for the Alberta independence movement, which he calls a step toward establishing a government ruled by Christian principles.
Pastor Doug Wilson has prayed in the Pentagon, counselled Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and won attention for his support of Christian nationalism, a belief that U.S. law and society should function according to biblical precepts.
“I believe the essential Christian political dogma is that government must be limited, and I would see the successful secession of Alberta as a wonderful limitation on an overreaching government,” Mr. Wilson said in an interview this week in Moscow, Idaho, where he has built a large conservative church community and a following that includes Mr. Hegseth.
He has also gained prominence in Canada, where nearly a dozen congregations in his denomination have taken root, at least one led by pastors who have said an independent Alberta should adopt Christianity as its official religion.
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Three congregations in Mr. Wilson’s Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches are in Alberta, including in Grande Prairie, Cochrane and Coaldale. Across Canada, “there’s a number of others coming,” said Mr. Wilson, whose mother was Canadian.
A successful secession vote in Alberta “would encourage all kinds of people,” he said.
A Christian nation, Mr. Wilson says, would in the U.S. revoke the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, in favour of a household ballot system. On his blog, he has criticized women for “slutty dress,” and says positions of authority should generally be reserved for men.
NuArt Theatre, next to the Kenworthy Performing Arts theatre, is owned by the Wilson family in downtown Moscow, Idaho. They exhibit secular and Christian films and events, including a visit with Charlie Kirk in 2025.Margaret Albaugh/The Globe and Mail
The American pastor’s backing of Alberta separatists “confirms that there are elements of MAGA who are paying attention to the Alberta secession movement and want it to succeed,” said Jason Kenney, the former Alberta premier who is an outspoken federalist champion.
In January, Jeffrey Rath, a leader of the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project, described plans to meet with U.S. Treasury officials “to discuss our feasibility study regarding a 500 Billion USD line of credit to support the transition to a free and independent Alberta.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, who has recently rekindled ties with the White House after an earlier falling out, voiced approval of Alberta independence earlier this year.
Support from the U.S. is welcome, separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre said.
“Support from anywhere is good,” he added. “Especially with people that line up with your ideology.”
Christian churches in Alberta have played an important role in the secession movement, with a group of pastors among the supporters of Mr. Sylvestre’s Stay Free Alberta group.
“We’re non-denominational, but we’re predominantly Christian,” he said.
Separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre during a rally in front of the Elections Alberta headquarters in Edmonton on May 4.HENRY MARKEN/AFP/Getty Images
But the religious overtones of independence are becoming more prominent, said Grant Abraham, leader of the Reforge Party, a new Alberta-based federal party.
“We’re seeing this discussion now more as not just a political context, but something to do really more in the context of light and darkness, good and evil. And it’s waking the church response up in Canada,” he said.
In Grande Prairie, Nathan Zekveld is pastor of Christ Covenant Church, which is part of the network of churches founded by Mr. Wilson. He has described independence as a way to leave a Canada that he calls “a wicked nation in rebellion against God.”
Mr. Zekveld studied at a college in Idaho founded by Mr. Wilson and has participated in public debates on Alberta independence, joining a Facebook group whose organizers “pledge our alliance to the separation of Alberta and Western Canada.”
“My prayer for Alberta is that if/when this referendum passes, that we boldly declare Christianity to be the official religion of this new nation,” Mr. Zekveld wrote on X in January. He did not respond to a request for comment.
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Mr. Kenney described the views of secessionists motivated by religion, rather than economic factors, as particularly potent.
“We really don’t think there’s anything we can do to sway the most hard-core committed separatists. And at the core of that core would be these folks whose separatism is informed by apocalyptic sentiment,” he said.
Open support from an American religious leader may bolster Alberta’s separatists, said Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Alberta MLA who is driving across Alberta in a Forever Canadian unity bus. “It wrongfully legitimizes them.”
But it may also strengthen conviction among federalists. “It’s, ‘how dare you break up my country – and on top of that, how dare you outsiders get involved in the breaking up of my country,’” he said.
For Mr. Wilson, the independence movement in Alberta, if it succeeds, will mark another proof point in what he sees as a “recoil” against progressivism. He lists as evidence the Brexit vote in Britain, the rise of hard-right parties in Europe and polls showing the political viability of conservative candidate Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral race.
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That trend is not universal. In Canada, voters last year returned the Liberal Party to power.
Nonetheless, “I think the recoil is happening in Canada as well, and just needs a thing to coalesce around,” Mr. Wilson said. He says he believes Alberta independence could be that thing, a catalyst for those who believe countries like Canada and the U.S. need to dedicate themselves to Christian governance.
He wants the influence of overarching governments, like the one in Ottawa, to be stripped away.
“To minimize the control and authority of central, swollen governments is to open the windows and let oxygen in the room – where freedom of all sorts can flourish,” he said. “And that would include the freedom to preach the gospel, to say outrageous things – like women are women and men are men – and not be arrested.”
Mr. Wilson said he has not given money to the independence movement and is interested in supporting his congregations.
But if the separatists fail, he said, his church stands prepared to intervene more directly on Canadian soil.
“We’ll be sending undercover missionaries, financial support for legal fights,” he said.