Christian nationalism

Christian nationalism is a political ideology supporting the mixing of Christianity and the national government. Christian nationalism exists to varying degrees in numerous countries throughout the world. In the United States, Christian nationalism is unique in that many American Christian nationalists contend that the United States was founded specifically by and for Christians. Ardent American Christian nationalists believe that it is the government’s responsibility to create a Christian society and enforce Christian rules and behaviors. They feel that Christianity (especially Protestant Christianity) should be the foundation for American society. Some American Christian nationalists are also white nationalists who contend that American society would benefit from being mostly white and Protestant.

Background

Religious nationalism is the belief that religion should be the foundation for national identity. Religion and national identity are both systems that people use to describe themselves and create order within society. Religious nationalism exists on a spectrum, with some supporting democratic forms of government with rules based on religious principles and others supporting theocracies that enforce the rules of a particular religion. It is important to note that religiosity and religious practice are not synonymous with religious nationalism. Those who are devout and have strong religious beliefs are not necessarily religious nationalists. Furthermore, religious nationalists do not always follow all the doctrines of their faiths. Nevertheless, high levels of religious nationalism often correlate with high levels of religiosity in a society. At times, various countries have experienced high levels of religious nationalism. For example, social scientists have studied Catholicism and nationalism in Poland; Shinto and nationalism in Japan; and Buddhism and nationalism in Sri Lanka.

Overview

Christian nationalism exists in numerous countries, such as Ireland and the Philippines. It also exists in the United States. Christianity has been a part of society in what would become the United States since the first Europeans arrived in the 1500s. Some historians believe that the roots of Christian nationalism in the United States can be traced back to the European colonizers, especially to groups such as the Puritans, who were motivated to relocate to North America because of their strong religious beliefs.

Puritan society was theocratic, and religion ruled every part of life for them. Cotton Mather, an influential Puritan minister, believed that the British Puritans were fighting on the side of God against the French Catholic settlers and the Native Americans, with whom the French were allied. Puritans believed that they were favored by God, and this belief would remain a part of Christian culture for centuries in what would become the United States. Religious and cultural values helped develop the phenomenon of American exceptionalism—or the idea that the United States, its values, and its political system are better than those of other countries. This idea is also related to Christian nationalism. It was inspired by the theory that Americans, who were mostly all Christians, were favored by God. American exceptionalism helped fuel Americans’ belief in manifest destiny and encouraged the growth of the country.

By the late 1800s and early 1900s, most of the American society was Christian, including people of different political beliefs. In the early 1900s, progressive Americans often cited their Christian faith as justification for passing social reforms and starting social programs to help people in need. People of all political parties were motivated in part by Christian nationalism. However, some white Americans differentiated themselves by their race, forming a belief system that would become white Christian nationalism. While some Christians advocated for civil rights and social welfare programs, white Christian nationalists wanted to limit immigration and maintain racial hierarchies through unfair laws. Furthermore, they encouraged the US government to maintain an isolationist foreign policy. For example, the National Association of Evangelicals in the United States called the United Nations “godless” and the “child of illegitimate alliances.”

In the mid-twentieth century, religiosity among American Christians began to decrease. By the late 1900s, the country had experienced huge societal, political, and religious changes. The Republican Party aligned itself with the conservative Christian social movement, including religious organizations such as the Moral Majority. Many social conservatives specifically cited their religious beliefs as a reason to implement political policies. However, socially liberal and progressive Americans became less likely to cite Christian faith as a reason for the implementation of public policy.

Even though Americans of differing political parties had been influenced by their Christian beliefs, it was not until the 2000s that social scientists began using the term Christian nationalism to describe some American Christians’ political ideologies. More Christian Americans, especially Evangelical Protestants, expressed the belief that the Supreme Court and other parts of the American government had betrayed the country’s founding values when they made decisions such as prevent public schools from mandating prayer. These Christian nationalists wanted the government to make decisions and create policies based on Christianity.

The political divide between socially progressive and conservative Americans seemed to grow during the first two decades of the 2000s, and Christian nationalism remained more prominent among conservatives. In the 2010s, the American Republican Party and some politicians, such as Donald Trump, became strongly identified with Christian Nationalism.

In 2020, American sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry published the findings of a national survey they conducted regarding Christian nationalism. The authors asked Americans to identify how they felt about topics such as separation between church and state and mandatory prayer in public schools. Using the data, Whitehead and Perry divided Americans into four groups to show the varying degrees of Christian nationalism. The team indicated that those in the fourth, and highest, level believed that the US government should base its policies and practices on Christianity. The team also found that most Christian nationalists were Republicans, white, and Evangelical. Nevertheless, a sizable portion of people who identified as at least weakly Christian nationalist were not white, Democrats, or Evangelicals. Furthermore, some Americans who identified as white Evangelical Republicans did not have strong Christian nationalist beliefs. For that reason, social scientists stress that it is important for people not to conflate Christian nationalism with social conservativism or a particular Christian sect.

Social science research has also identified beliefs that are common among American Christian nationalist beliefs. Those with strong Christian nationalist beliefs tended to have a more critical view of science than other Americans. Certain groups of American Christians, especially Evangelical Protestants, believed that the theory of evolution was incompatible with their religion and, therefore, could not be true. Many Christian nationalists likewise did not believe in evolution and contended that Christian beliefs about human development (called creationism) should be taught along with evolution in science classes, even though most biologists who studied the topic believe that creationism does not have enough scientific support to be taught in classrooms.

Research has also shown a correlation between identifying with Christian nationalism and holding conspiratorial views. For example, QAnon was an elaborate conspiracy theory that originated on the website 4chan. QAnon beliefs changed over time, but one of the earliest and strongest was that then-president Donald Trump was going to oversee the arrest and prosecution of multiple Democratic politicians. Furthermore, many Christian nationalists believed, or at least spread, the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump. Hundreds of people who spread this theory, sometimes called the Big Lie, gathered in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. Some of these Christian nationalists took part in an insurrection, attacking the Capitol building. Before and during the rioting, numerous Christian nationalists in the crowd prayed for God’s help. One attacker prayed out loud, “Thank you, Heavenly Father, for being the inspiration needed to . . . allow us to send a message to all the tyrants, the communists, and the globalists that this is our nation, not theirs.”

Even before the January 6 insurrection, social scientists warned that Christian nationalism was increasing in the 2020s and white Christian nationalists in the United States were becoming more violent.

Bibliography

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