Man Says He Doesn't Know Why He's in Rob Reiner's New Film 'God & Country'

In a trailer for God & Country, a documentary due in February from Rob Reiner that makes the case that Christian Nationalism is a "danger to our country," a presumably violent man is seen being arrested by a half-dozen police officers.

But the man, Jon Tigges, tells Newsweek he has no clue why he's in the trailer because, he doesn't even know what "Christian Nationalist" means, let alone identify as one.

"I don't know what Christian Nationalism is. But, apparently, it has something to do with people revolting against the government," Tigges told Newsweek after viewing the trailer for Reiner's movie.

He's not alone, as a poll shared with Newsweek ahead of its release next week indicates that just 28 percent of Americans have heard of Christian Nationalism and just 5 percent self-describe themselves as Christian Nationalist.

What it is, according to the study from Neighborly Faith, a research firm with the goal of introducing Christians to people of other religions, is "a movement advancing a vision of America's past, present, and future that excludes people of non-Christian religions and non-Western cultures."

Christian Nationalists "romanticize Christianity's influence on America's development, attributing the nation's historical provenance to God's special favor toward its rightful inhabitants," says the study.

Christian Nationalism has, indeed, been top of mind for detractors who say House Speaker Mike Johnson is an adherent, as were many who stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, to protest Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Those riotous images also appear in Reiner's trailer, which he released on X, formerly Twitter, on December 7.

Tigges was also at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 though on the East side where videos indicate protesters walked through an open door to enter the Capitol while the violence — including shattered windows and confrontations with police officers — was at the West end.

"Where I was, people were singing and waving flags. If that was Christian Nationalism, no one told me about it," said Tigges.

But the scene that features him in Reiner's trailer has nothing to do with January 6.

In the trailer, Tigges is seen in handcuffs at a Loudon County School Board meeting in Virginia on June 22, 2021, where hundreds of parents, some of them unruly, were denied an opportunity to speak about policies related to COVID, Critical Race Theory and transgenderism.

More famously, Scott Smith, whose daughter was sexually assaulted by a biological male in a school bathroom, was also arrested at the same meeting, though he's not in Reiner's trailer.

Smith was pardoned by Governor Glenn Youngkin and is suing the school board for $30 million while Tigges was initially convicted of trespassing but appealed, and in January he was found not guilty.

Tigges was arrested because he refused to leave the school board meeting when then-Superintendent Scott Zeigler declared it an "unlawful assembly." Tigges argued it was a free-speech issue and that, after about 50 people were allowed to mostly voice their support for the board's policies, another 259 weren't allowed to offer their counter opinions.

Tigges, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force who now runs a wedding venue, said he's a Christian and defender of the Constitution, but Reiner presumably doesn't know his faith or his politics "because he hasn't bothered to reach out to me," he said.

"Most people want to be left alone, raise their families and live in freedom. And that's what disturbs me when I see I'm in a trailer for this movie, because it looks like Rob Reiner wants to create division," he said.

Newsweek reached out to Reiner for comment and will update this story should he respond.

Others on the right have also opined on Reiner's motivation for including Tigges in his trailer, even though it's unknown whether he's in the final cut of the movie or not.

"Where did Reiner and his filmmaking team get the idea that Tigges was a Christian Nationalist?" asks Megan Basham in The Telegraph.

"Perhaps because after a circuit court judge dismissed all charges against him and ruled that the superintendent had violated Tigges and the other parents' First Amendment rights to speak and assemble, Tigges posted on social media, 'My thanks to God for justice'."

Some detractors also confused Tigges with Smith, the father of the girl molested in a bathroom who was arrested at the same meeting, though is not seen in the trailer for Reiner's movie.

"Showing the arrest of the dad at that school board meeting because his daughter was sexually assaulted, as if *HE* is the bad guy, is a WILD narrative choice," Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins posted on X.

Tigges said he isn't upset about being used in Reiner's trailer, though his opinion might change after he sees the movie.

"I'm sure he was just looking for images that fit his narrative, and I was a recognizable piece to throw in there," he said. "I've had people on the right and left use my image for their own agendas. But I don't know what the Christian Nationalist thing is about."