A quest for a Christian theocracy through mass migration and secession, targeting South Carolina as its haven.
Christian Exodus is a fundamentalist Christian separatist dominionist movement established in 2003, with the ambitious goal of relocating “thousands of Christian Constitutionalists” to South Carolina. The movement aimed to foster a return to governance based on Christian principles by encouraging a concentrated migration of like-minded individuals to the state. South Carolina was selected due to its existing conservative Christian electorate and smaller size, which proponents believed would make it easier for the group to exert political influence and eventually secede from the United States to form an agrarian theocracy, drawing parallels with historical movements like the Mormon migration to Utah.
The movement advocates for personal secession by “disentangling from society” through various means, including survivalism, agrarianism, homeschooling, and the rejection of modern healthcare in favor of naturopathy and natural childbirth. It harbors antifeminist views and exhibits a deep paranoia towards Marxism and socialism, fearing their potential to replace American democracy with a communistic regime. The group promotes a vision of a government with no role in personal affairs, aligning with an anarcho-theocratic ideology. Christian Exodus also overlaps with the Sovereign citizen movement, emphasizing rugged individualism and self-sufficiency.
Despite its grand ambitions, Christian Exodus seems to have largely vanished from the public eye after 2013. Its website transitioned into a platform showcasing photographs of various locations, with only one actually in South Carolina. This decline suggests that the movement struggled to attract the significant numbers or political influence it initially aimed for, effectively becoming an irrelevant fringe group with unrealistic aims that failed to progress beyond the planning stages.
Although part of the broader religious right, which is influential in American politics, the specific goals and methods of Christian Exodus have led to its marginalization. This outcome highlights the challenges faced by groups attempting to fundamentally alter state demography and political landscapes through targeted migration and secession in the modern United States.
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