Report: Christian Nationalism Seriously Threatens Democracy and Faith

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The political ideology known as Christian Nationalism that undergirded the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol seriously threatens both American democracy and Christian faith, says a new report released Feb. 9.

The report, “Christian Nationalism and the Jan. 6 Insurrection,” was released in conjunction with an hour-long webinar featuring several authors of the 66-page study. The report presents the most recent research from some of the top experts on Christian Nationalism in the United States.

The Feb. 9 webinar was co-sponsored by three organizations that cooperated on the report: the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Christians Against Christian Nationalism and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Amanda Tyler, top executive of the Baptist Joint Committee and a co-founder of Christians Against Christian Nationalism, moderated the online panel that included several contributors to the report:

  • Andrew L. Seidel, a constitutional attorney and the director of strategic response at the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
  • Samuel L. Perry, an associate professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of Oklahoma.
  • Katherine Stewart, an investigative journalist and author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism”
  • Jemar Tisby, a New York Times bestselling author, national speaker, public historian, and president of The Witness, a Black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective.
  • Andrew L. Whitehead, an associate professor of sociology and director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI, the combined campus of Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis.

‘Granted permission’

Drs. Whitehead and Perry opened the webinar's discussion of the report by describing Christian Nationalism and its role in “granting permission” to insurrectionists to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Dr. Whitehead said the symbols and language of Christian Nationalism reinforced President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” despite no factual support for the allegation. Dr. Perry added that his analysis of new data showed that the political ideology of Christian Nationalism forms a “powerful motivator” that “opens the door to future violence.”

Dr. Perry went on to draw a distinction between religious commitment and the false narrative of Christian Nationalism.

“Religious commitment doesn’t move Americans toward greater intolerance,” he said. “We often find religious practice is associated with pro-social attitudes. Christian Nationalism is more connected to exclusion around issues of race, ethnicity and political power.”

Following up on Dr. Perry’s remarks, Dr. Tisby said that the “patriotic witness” of the Black church offers a model for countering the false narrative of Christian Nationalism.

“Originally there were questions about sharing the gospel with enslaved people because enslavers feared they’d get the notion that they deserved to be free from the Bible,” Dr. Tisby said. “And it was true: people of African descent who adopted Christianity understood that they had rights and wanted to adopt those rights. They understood equality as a natural right.”

Dr. Tisby cited the work of Frederick Douglass, a one-time pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who argued that for America’s Founding Fathers, “justice, liberty and humanity were final, not slavery.” He also recalled the witness of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who challenged the 1964 Democratic Convention in pursuit of Black representation, demanding, “Is this America?”

“They and others like them called America to live up to its principles and ideals,” Dr. Tisby said. “Where White Christian Nationalism leads to xenophobia, Black Christians’ witness leads to a multiracial democracy.”

Three premises for Jan. 6

Investigative journalist Stewart said the Jan. 6 insurrection was based on three premises:

  1. Creation of an information bubble where supporters can be created and “warehoused” by being insulated from facts.
  2. Promotion of a sense of persecution and resentment directed at political rivals.
  3. Belief among the target population of supporters that the legitimacy of the U.S. government derives from a particular religious and cultural heritage – predominantly white, evangelical Christianity – and not from its democratic form.

“White Christian Nationalism is first and foremost a political movement based on seeking power, gaining funding and enacting policies that favor ‘approved’ religious viewpoints,” said Ms. Stewart.

Mr. Seidel said Christian Nationalism “created a permission structure that gave Jan. 6 insurrectionists permission to attack our government."

“We really ought to listen to them because if we don’t, we’re inviting future attacks,” he said.

Mr. Seidel asserted that rallies and conferences such as the “Million MAGA March” and the so-called “Jericho Marches” actually were “dry runs” for the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“Their speakers were people like Roger Stone, Alex Jones and Michael Flynn who openly claimed they were doing the will of God,” Mr. Seidel said. “The language preached on Jan. 6 was openly militant. In her opening prayer, Paula White thanked God for ‘weapons of war.’ The rally was a sermon of Christian conquest framed in militaristic language – literally a call to arms, a warrior mandate.

“Sometimes I wonder how we possibly could have been surprised by the events of Jan. 6,” Mr. Seidel said. “We have hugely underestimated the threat of Christian Nationalism, and I’m seriously worried about it,”

Ms. Tyler affirmed Mr. Seidel’s viewpoint. “Christian Nationalism is a dire threat to our nation and our faith. They’ve used Christianity as a mascot.”

The Baptist executive said that opposing Christian Nationalism is also key to preserving the Christian faith, because Christian Nationalists regularly attempt to de-legitimize any believer that doesn’t support their views. She pleaded for individual Christians and church institutions to resist strongly and vocally the movement’s false narratives and uphold the American value of the separation of church and government.

“Our ideal of religious freedom for all can be a unifying force,” she said.

‘Defensive pushback’

However, Ms. Tyler warned that resisters will face “defensive pushback” when they refute Christian Nationalism’s lies and distortions of both civil and religious values.

“Christian Nationalism is now so embedded in some communities that it’s hard to call out,” she cautioned.

Ms. Stewart added that Republican efforts in state legislatures to enact voter suppression under the guise of nearly non-existent voter fraud poses an immediate threat.

“They’re doubling down on gerrymandering such as the racist redistricting in Alabama,” she said. “They’re attempting to stack the situation in their favor.”

Dr. Tisby  and Mr. Seidel concurred with Ms. Stewart’s assessment.

“Christian Nationalists are co-opting legitimate practices to create their vision of Christian America,” Dr. Tisby said. “We can also see it in schools with the banning of Critical Race Theory and in the silencing of dissenters in churches.

“Christian Nationalists say that certain Christians are ‘too liberal to be trusted,” Dr. Tisby continued. “All attempts to silence diverse voices from within the church are met with slurs that dissenters are not the ‘true faithful’ and you shouldn’t listen to them.”

Mr. Seidel said that Americans are becoming more uncomfortable with overt approval of Christian nationalism expressions, but that also carries a danger.

“As groups become smaller, they feel isolated and become more radicalized and militant,” he said. “They respond with anti-democratic attitudes and ideals. White Christian Nationalists restrict voter access in ways that echo Jim Crow restrictions.

“We must watch out for a reaction of anti-democratic efforts to try to dominate government from a minority posit through judges and electoral trickery,” he said.

During the final question-and-answer segment, a journalist asked the panel what they saw in the current expressions of Christian nationalism.

“The rhetoric is getting harder on every level,” said Ms. Stewart. “Christian Nationalists are mainstreaming idea that democratic organizations are ‘demonic.’ They want the ‘right’ kind of Christians to take over what they call the ‘seven mountains of civilization,’ such as church, government, schools, entertainment and so on.

“They’re using dangerous dehumanizing language, pushing the need to stand behind the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and increasing the movement’s extremism,” Ms. Stewart said.

Download “Christian Nationalism and the Jan. 6 Insurrection.”

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.