Christian Nationalism, Religious Pluralism, and the 2024 Election
Robert P. Jones
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 聽
Date: Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Time:聽5 - 6:30pm
Location: Gasson 100 in-person /
Co-sponsored with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning.
Is America a pluralistic democracy, or is it a divinely ordained promised land for European Christians? These competing visions of the nation have divided us throughout our history. Robert P. Jones, president and founder of PRRI, will discuss his New York Times bestselling book,聽The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future, which returns to the fateful year when a little-known church doctrine emerged that shaped the way five centuries of European Christians would understand the 鈥渄iscovered鈥� world and the people who populated it. This reframing of American origins exposes the deep historical roots of white Christian nationalism--a hierarchical worldview of God-ordained dominance that is correlated with antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic attitudes, along with denials of systemic racism and an insistence on patriarchal gender roles. Jones explores how the rise of white Christian nationalism today is not just about our partisan divides, but about the future of a pluralistic democracy in the U.S.
Robert P. Jones聽is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).聽 He is the author of聽The New York Times聽bestselling book,聽The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future. Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for聽The Atlantic, TIME, Religion News Service, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as CNN, MSN51茶馆, NPR,聽The New York Times, The Washington Post,聽and others. He is also the author of聽White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, which won a 2021 American Book Award; and author of聽The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Jones writes weekly at , a newsletter for those dedicated to the work of truth-telling, repair, and healing from the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity. He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University and an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 聽
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Djupe, Paula A., Andrew R. Lewis, and Anand E. Sokhey. The Full Armor of God: The Mobilization of Christian Nationalism in American Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.聽
French, David. 鈥�?鈥� The New York Times: Opinion (2024).
Gorski, Philip S., and Samuel L. Perry. The Flag and The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.聽
Onishi, Bradley. Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023.聽
Sarna, Jonathan. 鈥淎ntisemitism in America.鈥� In The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism, edited by Steven Katz, 392-411. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 鈥溾�� Accessed September 19, 2024. 聽
discusses the many ways that White Christian nationalism is a threat to American democracy. Journalist John Blake hones in on the ways that this harmful ideology impacts Evangelicals of color. While 鈥淓vangelical鈥� and 鈥淐hristian nationalist鈥� are not synonymous, many People of Color that belong to Evangelical churches feel as though the two terms are often equated. The majority of Evangelicals in the United States are not actually white. Black Americans identify with Evangelical churches at a higher rate than White Americans, there is a quickly-growing population of Latinx Evangelicals, and most students in Evangelical student associations at competitive universities are Asian-American. White Christian nationalism is rooted in racist ideology, but that does not mean that these individuals should control the narrative of Evangelical Christianity and render Evangelicals of color invisible in their own churches. 聽
Robert P. Jones delivering his lecture on Christian Nationalism. Religious Pluralism, and the 2024 Election.
Photo credits:聽聽Frank Curran
On October 8th, 2024, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning co-hosted Robert P. Jones for a lecture titled, 鈥淐hristian Nationalism, Religious Pluralism, and the 2024 Election.鈥� Robert P. Jones is the president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the author of several books, including a New York Times best-seller, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future. His presentation unpacked data, polls, and demographics that are associated with the embrace of Christian nationalism.
Jones began by telling the audience that in the studies conducted via PRRI, he found that the most significant divide among Americans is not over policy but identity. One of the most interesting identity-based divides he found regards the question of if the United States should be a Christian nation. In a five-option scale that ranged from 鈥渁gree鈥� to 鈥渄isagree,鈥� polls engaged participants about the role of Christianity in government and law. The data showed that roughly thirty percent of Americans support or lean towards supporting Christian nationalism. Fifty-five percent of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with Christian nationalism, while only sixteen percent of Democrats do the same. There are also religious affiliations correlated with Christian nationalism, with both white evangelical Protestants and Hispanic protestants (both which lean Republican) having a majority that supports Christian nationalism. Interestingly, he also noted that attendance of religious services is positively correlated with support of Christian nationalism. Finally, Jones鈥� research found that white Americans are more likely than Americans of color to support Christian nationalism.
Jones then presented data on the specific beliefs of Christian nationalists. On average, they are more likely to deny that systemic racism exists. They are also more likely to adopt Islamaphobic and anti-Semitic beliefs as well as embrace the ideals of patriarchy. A high percentage of Christian nationalists that hold these beliefs are white and Republican. Jones also found that Christian nationalists are more likely to support far-right authoritarian regimes and political violence. State-by-state, Jones鈥� research found that states that voted Republican in the 2020 election scored the highest on scales of Christian nationalism. He also explored images of the January 6, 2021 insurrection and analyzed the religious imagery there in light of Christian nationalism. He ended his presentation by urging attendees to recognize these harmful associations and to put to rest the inadequate and incorrect claim that the U.S. is a Christian nation for white European descendents.
After the lecture, Jones engaged the audience in a rich question-and-answer session. When asked about the foundations of Christian nationalism, Jones named the desire for power. He believes that the Christian nationalism in the United States today is concerned with keeping white Christians in power. Another question regarded the role of gender in affiliation with Christian nationalism; Jones said that partisanship is a much more significant factor than an individual鈥檚 gender when predicting views on Christian nationalism. Overall, Jones presented informative data about the nature of Christian nationalism in the United States.