For too many Christians, the lines between dominionism, nationalism and fascism are blurred

Everything I needed to learn about fascism, I learned from an ABC Afterschool Special called “The Wave.”

Before I ever knew what fascism or totalitarianism or demagoguery were, I learned from this kids’ show that vulnerabilities inherent to the human condition can draw people into such systems unaware.

I wonder if those being charged and sentenced for their participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot might have saved themselves — and our nation — a lot of trouble if they’d also watched this film when they were young. It may have been cheesy and facile (you can only do so much in an hourlong television show), but the story was profound for me at a vulnerable age, and I never forgot it. Stories are powerful that way.

The film (made in 1981) is based on a real-life classroom exercise conducted in 1967 by Ron Jones, a high school history teacher, to help his students who were struggling to understand how the people of Germany could have supported and participated in the Nazi movement and the systematic murder of millions of people. Students in the experiment were easily enticed — as most of us are — by the benefits that come with authority, efficiency, belonging and power. Within days of the experiment, the fictitious movement drew 200 high school students who agreed to “pledge allegiance to a social movement that promised acceptance and reward to those who obediently followed its rigid rules.”