It’s the Commies, Stupid! New Film Claims Old Foes are Destroying America
By Michael Lovito, February 1, 2024
What if the last hundred years of American social progress wasn’t what it seemed? What if, instead, it was all part of a long-simmering communist plot?
That’s the extraordinary idea proposed and expanded on by the upcoming film “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing,” a documentary based on the book of the same name by author Julie Behling. According to Behling, a host of recent societal changes – from Covid mask mandates to DEI initiatives to social-emotional learning curricula – were all engineered by communists at home and abroad to undermine Christianity and usher in an era of centralized corporate-government control. It’s an extreme theory, one even the most committed conservative would have reason to question. But thanks to some influential endorsees, it could catch on in far-right circles and open a new frontier in America’s increasingly conspiratorial political landscape.
Woman on a Mission
Behling first became interested in the clash between communism and Christianity while working as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in late 1990s Russia. Surprised by the religiosity of the Russians she met, Behling was inspired to pursue a dual master’s degree in Russian language and literature and Russian and East European studies at Florida State University, where she wrote a thesis on underground Christian networks in the Soviet Union.
“I wanted to understand how faith was able to persist in the Soviet Union,” Behling told The Righting in an interview. “So, I was also looking at the tactics the Soviet state used to dismantle Christianity.”
After Texas state authorities raided a ranch belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints (a radical offshoot of the LDS that practices polygamy and child marriage) in 2008, Behling felt compelled to return to her research and apply it to the modern United States. She came to the conclusion that the American government was initiating a Soviet-style crackdown on fringe religious groups. She redoubled her efforts in 2021 when she became convinced that school mask mandates and progressive education initiatives represented “the communist takeover of education in America.” She self-published “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing” in 2022. The 384-page tome describes an alliance of corporate interests and devoted communists working to establish a China-style regime in the United States. Behling said the book has sold “a couple thousand” copies and has appeared in the top 10 list of Amazon’s socialism and communism category.
Film It and They Will Come
A month after releasing her book to the public, Behling was contacted via Facebook by director Steve Rey Sorenson, who asked her if she would be interested in adapting it into a documentary.
“We met up and found out that we were on the same page, but I told him, ‘Look, I don’t have any money, I can’t pay you anything,’” Behling said. “But he was like, ‘Well, let’s just start moving, and the money will come.’”
The money would indeed come. After interviewing far right figures like anti-CRT activist James Lindsay and Epoch Times reporter Alex Newman, Behling and Sorensen raised $200,000 to complete the film at two live fundraising events supported by Lindsay and “some local patriots” in their home state of Utah. In addition to Lindsay and Newman, “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing” features interviews with Turning Point USA-affiliated pastor Rob McCoy, conspiracy theorist Trevor Loudon, Gays Against Groomers activist Robert Wallace, and Soviet dissident Timothy Chmykhalov, among others. Although the film has already premiered in a series of screenings in Arizona and Utah, Behling said the digital release, which was supposed to take place last month, has been delayed until spring to allow Sorensen to “fine tune some of the messaging and make a few things a little more clear.”
History…and a Hope
While Behling’s claims sound far-fetched, there have been periods in American history when communists played prominent roles in public life. According to Vernon Pedersen, a professor at the American University of Sharjah, communist party members and sympathizers found themselves in positions of influence during the Great Depression and World War II, when they led labor unions, founded civil rights organizations, allied themselves with progressive religious figures, and were even elected to Congress. Pedersen points out that they rose to those positions through their own initiative, not as part of some long-term, centrally directed scheme, and were largely flushed out of power by the time the Cold War began in the late 1940s.
“Communism as a coherent revolutionary international political system does not exist anymore,” Pedersen told The Righting via email. “The frequent use of the term by the right wing these days seems to be nothing more than a projection of everything they don’t like – internationalism, social welfare, immigrants, and changing social mores. It has lost all meaning, rather like fascism, and is just a way to say someone is evil.”
Ironically, Behling hopes that “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing” will spark a similarly decentralized political movement. While she’s grown skeptical of the average voter’s ability to influence federal policy, she hopes her film will encourage viewers to pull their children out of public schools (she’s currently homeschooling her nine-year old son) and root out communism inside their own churches. “I’m hopeful, on an individual level, that people can save themselves and their children from being brainwashed, and I’m hopeful my film can play a part,” Behling said. “We’re going to have a rough few years ahead of us, but we can prepare ourselves. We can protect ourselves.”
Michael Lovito is a Brooklyn-based reporter and critic whose work has appeared in Salon, Brooklyn Magazine, Pavement Pieces, and The District. He also serves as editor-in-chief of the politics and pop culture website The Postrider. @MLovito
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According to Julie Behling (above), a host of recent societal changes – from Covid mask mandates to DEI initiatives to social-emotional learning curricula – were all engineered by communists at home and abroad to undermine Christianity and usher in an era of centralized corporate-government control. It’s an extreme theory, one even the most committed conservative would have reason to question.
