For years, local school board meetings in Pennsylvania were, as in so many places, a sleepy affair. But since Covid-19, debates have become increasingly vicious and the influence of far-right Christians ever greater. They completely followed Steve Bannon's playbook: taking control from the bottom up through seats on school boards and local committees and gradually installing a new theocratic vision. Long intimidation and hostility caused four of the five incumbent Republicans to prefer to retire rather than retain their seats, and so the seats ended up in the hands of less moderate figures. The future of a secular democracy is being undermined from below.