Understanding the Threat of White Christian Nationalism: Important New Report from PRRI and Brookings

On 8 February, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and Brookings Institution released the results of an important national survey entitled "A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture." As PRRI's press release announcing the report states,

The U.S. Has a White Christian Problem, and It's Imperiling American Democracy: My Commentary on New PRRI Report re: American Attitudes Towards Immigrants

Today, Public Religion Research Group (PRRI) published results of a study it has just done entitled "Are Immigrants a Threat? Most Americans Don’t Think So, but Those Receptive to the 'Threat' Narrative Are Predictably More Anti-immigrant." Some key findings of this report:

Recent Religion + Politics Commentary: "Pro-Life" Movement, Christian Nationalism, Southern Baptists and United Methodists, Leonard Leo and New USCCB President

Here are some valuable articles I've read in the past week or two about religion and politics and their intersection:

Jemar Tisby's "White Nation Under God" Series: Final Two Episodes Now Available

The final two segments of Jemar Tisby's valuable "White Nation Under God" series discussing white Christian nationalism and its role in U.S. political life now have been placed online.  Episode 4, entitled "How Christians Can Resist White Christian Nationalism," features Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Amanda Tyler focuses on how white Christian Nationalists use Christianity as cover for their anti-democratic and repressive ideology, in that way challenging other Christians to resist this misuse of their religion. 

So the Former US President and Current GOP Candidate for the Presidency Calls for a Coup and the End of US Democracy — And?

President Donald J. Trump 2 March 2019, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, MD; official White House photo by Tia Dufour, at Wikimedia Commons

Heather Cox Richardson, "Letters from an American: December 3, 2002":

The leader of the Republican Party has just called for the overthrow of our fundamental law and the installation of a dictator. 

Trump, Fuentes, West, White Nationalists and Anti-Semites: "Don't Normalize This"

Merriam-Webster dictionary

Heather Cox Richardson, "Letter from an American, December 1, 2022": 

Today, Ye, also known as Kanye West, appeared with right-wing white supremacist Nick Fuentes on Alex Jones’s show InfoWars, and was so vile even Jones began to push back. Eventually, Ye praised Nazis and Adolf Hitler. Then, and only then, did the Twitter account of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee delete its tweet of October 6, 2022, that read: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.”

"White Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection": Episode 3 of Jemar Tisby's "White National Under God Series"

Episode 3 of Jemar Tisby's "White Nation Under God" series commenting on white Christian nationalism is now online. This episode entitled "White Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection" features a conversation between Jemar Tisby and Andrew Seidel, author of American Crusade and director of strategic response at the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Poolboys, Ménages à Trois Involving White Evangelical Leaders, Alleged Supreme Court Corruption, White Christian Nationalism: In the News

The second installment of Jemar Tisby's video series on the topic "White Nation Under God," about which I've posted previously, is now online. In this episode, entitled "How White Christian Nationalism Threatens Democracy," sociologists Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry, authors of The Flag and the Cross, explain how white Christian nationalism threatens democracy by its willingness to "diminish democracy in favor of political rule by a small group of people who use authoritarianism instead of 'the will of the people' to govern."

More Recent Commentary on White Christian Nationalism: "What is different now, is that the country is no longer majority white and Christian"

More recent commentary on white Christian nationalism and its strong (political) appeal to many U.S. Christians: in the BBC documentary "Faith on the Frontlines" above, Robert P. Jones of PRRI tells narrator Barbara Usher:

Jemar Tisby and Wendell Griffen on White Christian Nationalism: "Uses Christian symbolism to create a permission structure for the acquisition of political power and social control"

Photo by Tyler Merbler from January 6 attempted insurrection

Several days ago, I told readers about a new a new series of videotaped/podcast discussions about white Christian nationalism being offered by historian and religion scholar Jemar Tisby. The series is entitled "White Nation Under God." The first episode in this five-part series was broadcast on Wednesday, 11 November and is now available online. Its thematic focus:

White Christian Nationalism and U.S. Politics: Two Valuable Upcoming Events

As informed commentators are reminding us in the wake of the recent U.S. elections, white Christian nationalism — as a powerful force in the nation's politics — is not going away. For that reason, it behooves us to inform ourselves about this ideology and to notice its many effects on our political life, and its plans for the nation if it gains even more power. 

More from Jemar Tisby on White Christian Nationalism: "Chases power by stripping it from others, all under the banner of a divinely-sanctioned crusade"

More today from historian and scholar of American religion Jemar Tisby on white Christian nationalism, and why those of us concerned about the future of American democracy need to educate ourselves about it:

As Election Day Arrives, Warnings, Predictions, Alarm Bells

Alarm bell mechanism, from "Electric Burglar Alarm," The Popular Science Monthly 18,1 (November 1880), p. 59 

As Joyce Vance says, it has become conventional to say that democracy is on the ballot at when elections are held in the US at this point in history, but this conventional wisdom may be true a fortiori this election cycle: 

White Christian Nationalism on Ballot This Election Cycle

Insightful essays appearing now before the election about how white Christian nationalism is on the ballot this election: Paul Brandeis Raushenbush writes:

Greg Olear and Katherine Stewart on Christian Nationalism: "Its ultimate goal is power"

Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers

Greg Olear summarizes a conversation he had yesterday with Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Stewart was Olear's guest on his PREVAIL podcast. The two discussed the dangerous (and underestimated, by many Americans and our media) rise of Christian nationalism. Seven main points, discussed in detail in the article linked at the opening of this paragraph:

Threat of White Christian Nationalism to US Democracy: A Recent Public Discussion

A week ago, Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty co-sponsored a public discussion of white Christian nationalism in the US. Participants: included Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee; Dr. Samuel Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oklahoma and Rev. Jim Wallis, Chair in Faith and Justice at the McCourt School of Public Policy and Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice. I recommend the whole video, and would like to highlight the following statements by Michael Curry: