POLL GIVES INSIGHT INTO ANTI-AMERICAN MOVEMENT
When you hear the phrase “Christian nationalists,” you might think of antiabortion conservatives who are upset about the phrase “Happy Holidays” and embrace a vaguely “America First” way of thinking. But according to a Public Religion Research Institute-Brookings Institution poll released Wednesday, Christian nationalists in fact harbor a set of extreme beliefs at odds with pluralistic democracy. The findings will alarm you.
“Christian nationalism is a new term for a worldview that has been with us since the founding of our country — the idea that America is destined to be a promised land for European Christians,” PRRI president and founder Robert P. Jones explained in a news release on the survey of more than 6,000 Americans. “While most Americans today embrace pluralism and reject this anti-democratic claim, majorities of white evangelical Protestants and Republicans remain animated by this vision of a white Christian America.”
The poll used the following beliefs to gauge how deeply respondents embraced Christian nationalism:
› “The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.”
› “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.”
› “If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.”
› “Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.”
› “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”
PRRI found that 10% (“adherents”) of American adults believe in these ideas overwhelmingly or completely; 19% agree but not completely (“sympathizers”); 39% disagree (“skeptics”) but not completely; and 29% disagree completely (“rejecters”).
Who are these people? “Nearly twothirds of white evangelical Protestants qualify as either Christian nationalism sympathizers (35%) or adherents (29%).” (Thirty-five percent of those classified as adherents are white.) Put differently, Christian nationalist adherents are a minority but when combined with sympathizers still comprise a stunning 29% of Americans — many tens of millions.
There is also a strong racist/white grievance element: “Around four in ten Americans (41%) agree that discrimination against white Americans is as big of a problem as discrimination against Black Americans and other minorities, compared to 58% who disagree. Approximately two-thirds of Christian nationalism sympathizers (66%) and more than three-quarters of Christian nationalism adherents (77%) agree with this statement. Among Christian nationalism sympathizers and adherents who are white, agreement with this sentiment rises to 73% and 85%, respectively.”
The findings highlight challenges to those who cherish the American creed that “All men are created equal” and who embrace the anti-establishment clause of the First Amendment. And because Christian nationalists adopt their views as articles of religious faith, they might be far less willing to reexamine them. The task of inculcating American values of inclusion, democracy and rule of law will have to come, in all likelihood, from within church communities.
The survey also confirms that Christian nationalism is not tied to any specific candidate. Rather, a vast number of like-minded Americans could be receptive to an authoritarian, racist, dogmatic message donning the cloak of Christianity. Defeating a single candidate won’t end this movement.
Given their numbers and potential staying power, the response to this threat to pluralistic democracy must be cross-partisan. And it will have to go beyond politics. To counteract Christian nationalism we will need a positive, optimistic message that celebrates an inclusive, diverse democracy in which no American is more “real” than another.
What makes us unique — or “exceptional” as the right likes to say — is that America isn’t defined by race or religion. Believers in American values have their work cut out for them.