What Is White Christian Nationalism?

White Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today.

It attacks democracy by insisting that only a certain kind of person counts as a “real” American, and it has shown it will restrict voting, reject election results, and even resort to violence to keep power in those hands.

It damages the witness of the church by invoking the name of Jesus to justify exclusion and domination, the very definition of taking the Lord’s name in vain.

When millions of people see the cross carried alongside calls for conquest, they can’t recognize the gospel of love that Christ proclaimed.

When the term comes up, someone often fires back, “No one even defines white Christian nationalism!”

Usually the person saying it has no interest in an answer.

The objection is an accusation, meant to brush the term aside as a vague political smear and end the conversation.

Still, sincere questions deserve a clear answer. After years of historical and political analysis, I have developed a definition that I use in my teaching and speaking:

White Christian nationalism is an ethnocultural ideology that uses Christian symbolism as a permission structure for the acquisition of political power and social control.

Let’s take it one piece at a time.

Ethnocultural

White Christian nationalism is ethnocultural because its adherents view European, or Western, civilization as supreme.

In the United States, that belief translates into notions of whiteness and white supremacy.

Think of it this way: In a fully realized vision of Christian nationalism, who is in charge? Who is at the center? What is their demographic?

The “white” in white Christian nationalism points to the kind of society its adherents want to build, one with white, wealthy men at the top and everyone else in subordinate roles.

And yes, Black people and other people of color can and do participate in white Christian nationalism. Throughout history, some members of marginalized groups have cooperated with the systems that oppress them, often hoping to gain benefits from the dominant group.

But their participation leaves the racial hierarchy intact. Whiteness still reigns.

Ideology

White Christian nationalism is an ideology because it rests on ideas and assumptions that often have more to do with prejudice and opinion than data or evidence.

This is why you can’t argue someone out of their white Christian nationalist beliefs.

These include the claims that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, that its founding documents are divinely inspired, and that “un-American” influences threaten the country’s special place in God’s plan.

The story endures because it tells adherents who belongs, who poses a threat, and who deserves to lead.

Beyond Patriotism

Many people try to reduce white Christian nationalism merely to love of God and country. White Christian nationalism goes further.

It fuses God and country until the two become nearly indistinguishable. Adherents see the United States, and the United States alone, as God’s chosen nation, a covenant community like ancient Israel.

The fate of the church rises and falls with the fate of the nation.

The faith they have in mind is a fundamentalist form of Christianity that treats other traditions, even other expressions of the Christian faith, as lesser or illegitimate.

They define a “true” American just as narrowly, by demographics and beliefs.

Patriotism can love a country while admitting its flaws and embracing all its people. Nationalism demands loyalty to a mythologized nation reserved for a select few.

White Christian nationalism marries nationalism to a fundamentalist faith in a relationship that distorts both God and country.

Christian Symbolism

White Christian nationalism is “Christian” in the sense that it uses Christian language, symbols, and practices: prayer, singing, church attendance, crosses, Bible reading, and more.

In 1915, a former Methodist circuit rider named William J. Simmons revived the Ku Klux Klan atop Stone Mountain, Georgia, with a burning cross and an altar holding an American flag, a Bible, and a sword.

On January 6, 2021, the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol carried crosses and “Jesus 2020” banners.

The echoes of the past are hard to miss.

But all these symbols serve a purpose in white Christian nationalism. It is not to be more Christ-like.

A Permission Structure

The point of Christian symbolism in white Christian nationalism is to create a divine justification for their beliefs and actions that they can pursue with religious zeal and certainty.

White Christian nationalism uses Christianity as a “permission structure,” a phrase I borrow from constitutional lawyer and author Andrew L. Seidel.

A permission structure gives people a moral justification for embracing ideas and actions they might otherwise reject.

When a political agenda comes wrapped in prayer and scripture, its followers can pursue exclusion, domination, and even violence while believing they are doing God’s work.

Christianity functions as cover for the ideology’s larger and more fundamental task: seeking earthly influence rather than becoming more like Jesus Christ.

Political Power and Social Control

The ultimate goal of white Christian nationalism is political power and the ability to create a society organized around its adherents’ own narrow ideas.

That goal undergirds patriarchal, anti-immigrant, and anti-democratic stances, along with campaigns against critical race theory, DEI, and anything else labeled “woke.”

White Christian nationalists want to decide whose history gets taught, who gets to vote, and whose faith receives government favor.

They seek to create their own version of heaven on earth, which often makes life harder for those Jesus defines as the “least of these” (Matthew 25: 31-46).

Put the Definition to Work

So the next time someone asks, “What is white Christian nationalism?” share this post.

Pass it along to your pastor, your Bible study, or the relative who keeps forwarding you questionable videos.

Then talk about it in your congregation, and show up at the school board and city council meetings where these battles are fought.

White Christian nationalists have spent decades organizing to gain power. People of faith who are committed to loving their neighbors must be able to define the ideology in order to resist it.

Knowing what white Christian nationalism is marks the beginning, and the next question is what to do about it. My first self-paced course, How to Resist White Christian Nationalism, gives you practical tools for talking with the people in your life, drawing on the Black church tradition, and building a 90-day plan for action. Join waitlist and be the first to know when enrollment opens.