Episcopal Priest, Experienced Organizer, Progressive Writer, and Public Speaker Against White Christian Nationalism
Rev. Nathan is an Episcopal priest with a progressive evangelical wing, a bumbling Jesus follower on his best days, a kindergarten dad, and an experienced digital organizer and writer with a background in government and ecology. His motto is “God loves you. Accept it, and spread it!”
His writing — particularly on Christian resistance to Donald Trump, fascism, and white Christian nationalism — has appeared in Time, Newsweek, NBC News, the Hill, the Daily Beast, Red Letter Christians, Religion News Service, and more. He currently writes a Substack column called “Defiant Love.”
Although best known as the former director of Faithful America from 2019-2025, Rev. Nathan has been the priest-in-charge at St. PJ’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, CT, since February 2025, a robust and welcoming community full of wonderful people, focused on “Jazz and Justice grounded in Jesus.” Rev. Nathan is working to build spirituality, community, and lay leadership within the church while speaking out for immigrants and justice in the broader region.
Previously at Faithful America, Rev. Nathan organized the Christian group’s 200,000 members to put their faith into action for love and social justice — and against the religious right and its white Christian nationalism. Victories during this time included convincing a major toy company to update their white-Jesus Nativity scene, persuading event venues not to host prominent Christian-nationalist rallies, touring the country with a Trump-lookalike Golden Calf balloon during the 2024 election, and convincing several channels to drop the televangelist Jim Bakker Show for selling a fake COVID-19 cure, as well as successful coalition efforts to pass the pro-LGBTQ Respect for Marriage Act in Congress, block a hateful and Islamophobic Trump nominee in the Senate, and help free an innocent asylum seeker from ICE custody.
A resource guide Rev. Nathan wrote for Faithful America was featured by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of three top resources for countering white Christian nationalism in June 2023, while Trump confidante Roger Stone called him “such a blasphemous asshole” in a since-deleted October 2023 Tweet.
Rev. Nathan’s prior experience includes working for the national Sierra Club, President Barack Obama, and the United Nations. He holds a Master of Environmental Management as well as Master of Divinity and a B.A. in government and Native American studies.
He is also an absolute Christmas nut and an avid fan of Americana, bluegrass, folk, traditional country, and classic rock music. Now in southern New England, Rev. Nathan is a proud Westerner from Texas and Idaho with strong Arizona ties who has visited 44 states and can’t wait to see the other six — but his favorite place in the world is curled up with a certain special little one, reading stories and watching Bluey or Star Trek together.
The Rev. Nathan Empsall 