Christian Nationalism and the Spread of Democracy: Destroying Misinformation
Graphic by Madeline Barber
In July of 2022, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene advised throngs of supporters that, “While the media is going to lie about you and label Christian nationalism…domestic terrorism, I’m going to tell you right now, they are the liars.” In the same breath, she urged them to take pride in their Christian nationalism as a way to combat “globalists, the border crisis, and lies about gender.”
Christian nationalism is “an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity with American civic belonging and participation.” It is built on a particular interpretation of American history which associates its founding and success as a country with its contrived Christian heritage. Christian nationalists use “Christian” to represent an ethno-cultural, political identity which corresponds specifically to an evangelical Protestant religious affiliation, conservative political values, and American-born members of the white race. Through the lens of this definition, Christian nationalism’s complex can lend itself towards fascism given the right political conditions, opportunities, and an American population prepared to embrace Christian nationalism’s fundamental ideals. The incessant spread of political misinformation has been largely fuelled and accelerated by this incredibly potent ideological movement across America. The sheer magnitude of Christian nationalists running for office, spreading falsehoods on social media, and publicly and intentionally conflating church and state presents the most critical threat to our democratic system in decades.
However, it is important to understand Christian nationalism as wholly distinct from Christianity as a religion. A prime example of both how and where Christians and Christian nationalists diverge is the group “Christians Against Christian Nationalism”. This group’s website details that Christian nationalism distorts “both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy,” and insists Christianity be paramount to the decision-making powers in the State. More often than not, though, these values are used to disguise white supremacist and racially prejudiced values.
Christian nationalism first emerged during the 1948 presidential election in the form of a fringe Christian Nationalist Party. The party nominated Gerald K. Smith, a pastor with a pro-Nazi, antisemitic, and anti-Black platform who promised to deport anyone who disagreed with the Party and its politics. Through Smith, the Christian Nationalist Party sparked a trend of centralizing religion in American right-wing politics, which continued with the Moral Majority organization. Founded by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell Sr., the Moral Majority was inherently political, aligning itself with the Republican Party as early as 1979 until its dissolution ten years later. This organization politically mobilized a plethora of Christians to support the Republican Party. Falwell launched “I love America” rallies across the country, kicking off his outspoken and enthusiastic rejection of the separation of church and state, which directly contradicted conventional Baptist tradition and practice. Through his efforts, Falwell sought to repair “the decay of the nation’s morality”.
Today, Christian nationalism propagates considerable amounts of political misinformation, with detrimental effects on American democracy. Frontiers Research Organization has found that political misinformation creates two related challenges; the first is a potential distortion of voter’s understandings of candidates and issues, and the second is the use of false narratives as a manipulative propaganda tool. Studies exploring the correlation between Christian nationalist ideology and genuine belief in political conspiracy theories have found striking results. As many as 73 percent of those that hold values consistent with Christian nationalism agree with the QAnon conspiracy, which baselessly believes that government elites are running a Satan-worshiping, pedophile sex-trafficking ring. In fact, white evangelicals are the religious group most likely to be QAnon believers. Although only 36% of Americans believe the ‘big lie’ that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ from Former President Trump, Time news magazine found that a staggering 86% of Christian nationalists held that same belief.
Another important characteristic of Christian nationalism is a victim mentality, in which the American-born, white population is portrayed as an oft-oppressed group. 76% of Christian nationalists chose “whites” and “Christians” as the racial and cultural groups currently facing the most discrimination in America. The Public Religion Research Institute found that one third “completely believe” acts of “patriotic violence” will be necessary to save the nation. Because of this, these groups often enthusiastically elect leaders who promote misinformation and incite violence through their fervorous rhetoric and actions.
Across several studies, Time has also found that Christian nationalism prompts white Americans towards political conspiracy theories. As of August 2021, half of self-identified Christian nationalists sincerely believed COVID-19 vaccines caused thousands of deaths. One of the most dangerous assertions in the Time study was the narrative that “there is a storm coming soon that will sweep away elites in power and restore rightful leaders” and “true American patriots may have to resort to physical violence in order to save our country” with which 46 percent of Christian nationalists agreed. This belief in conspiracy theories creates an implicit imperative to vote for candidates who claim to be ‘outsiders’ to traditional political machinations, who empathize with white Christian nationalist voters, and who vow to protect their values and way of life. In turn, these politicians use their platforms to create a false sense of urgency and propagate disinformation to the general public. If elected, these politicians reinforce the cyclical nature of this threat, which will continue to function in perpetuity until it is intentionally and skillfully disrupted.
The penetration of Christian nationalism into the American political mainstream has influenced numerous conservative political campaign strategies. Before winning the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania Governor, Doug Mastriano, a leading figure in Trump’s effort to overturn Pennsylvania's 2020 election results, said, “In November we are going to take our state back, my God will make it so,” and called the separation of church and state a “myth” while standing next to a three-foot bald eagle statue. Mastriano's audience included members of an organization called Patriots Arise, a far-right group which espouses conspiracy theories and ties them to Christian beliefs and calls to action. Many in this group dismiss the separation of church and state, arguing for faith to have a stronger role in American government. Mastriano’s senior legal advisor also spoke at the event, telling attendees that “what it really means to truly be America first…and what it truly means to be a Christian nation are all actually the same thing.”
In a recent visit to a church in Aspen, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert claimed that she is “tired of this separation of church and state junk.” This remark received a standing ovation. One unsuccessful Oklahoma Senate candidate claimed “trying to remove Christianity, which this nation was birthed upon,” from public schools was “absolutely” the cause of the recent uptick in school shootings. Andrew Torba, the founder of a right-wing online space called Gab and self-proclaimed Christian nationalist, said that “The best way to stop white genocide and white replacement, both of which are demonstrably and undeniably happening, is to get married to a white woman and have a lot of white babies.” Torba also shared his plans to “build a coalition of Christian nationalists,” proclaiming, “this is an explicitly Christian movement because this is an explicitly Christian country,” and its “religious integrity” must be protected.
Associate Professor of Politics at NYU Bart Bonikowski called our current socio-political environment a “perfect storm” for Christian nationalism to gain popularity and flourish. It is exclusionary and nostalgic in nature, romanticizes the past and capitalizes on feelings of marginalization, disempowerment, and economic uncertainty. Christian nationalism’s ethnically exclusionary principles underlie former President Trump’s 2019 comments that congressional representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar need to “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came”.
An academic study published by Oxford in 2018 demonstrates a positive correlation between Christian nationalism and likelihood of voting for Trump in the 2016 election across political identities. Results are shown in Figure 1. This means that even for self-identified Democrats and independents who hold Christian nationalist values, their probability of voting for Trump rises as their ideology deepens. Christian nationalism presents a problem spanning more than just the Republican party, as many Christian nationalists view Trump as merely a vessel of God, and a consequence of America’s “recent backsliding”.
Christian nationalists continue to take advantage of the current media environment–both television and social media–along with increased polarization and partisanship to have an impact on the current political landscape and socio-political attitudes as a whole. They capitalize on these mediums and trends to perpetuate suspicion of traditional government, the established media, corporations, and authority. Notably, a pattern of hospitality for violent right-wing protests began in Charlottesville in 2017. After the killing of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally, then-President Trump told the nation, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of…violence on many sides…[there were] very fine people on both sides.” Trump refused to unambiguously denounce the neo-Nazis because they were supported by his base. One Charlottesville resident recalled that the neo-Nazis “ were being brought back into the political mainstream by Donald Trump, and Charlottesville was the moment.”
January 6th, 2021 marked the culmination of Christian nationalist attitudes, when right-wing election deniers stormed the Capitol building, many with Christian banners, flags, and crosses in hand. Having reached the floor of the Senate, the so-called QAnon Shaman thanked God for “filling this chamber with patriots that love you” and sent the message to “the enemies” “that this is our nation not theirs.” The violent insurrection on January 6th was an effort to intimidate, or physically prevent, elected officials from certifying the 2020 election results, as the insurrectionists believed they were fraudulent. This “big lie” was proliferated via Trump’s personal Twitter account, among others, as well as on conservative cable channels such as Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN. Court documents examined by PolitiFact show that false narratives truly shaped the lives of those at the Capitol on January 6th, and those falsehoods served as their main motivation for committing felonies. One striking example is a DC elementary school teacher who attended the insurrection; he hosted a podcast on YouTube where he showed support for outrageous conspiracy theories such as denying the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, claiming former NBA star Kobe Bryant is still alive, and even believing the Earth is flat.
The spreading of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and intentionally misleading narratives is a bipartisan phenomenon —Republicans and Democrats both interact with misleading information almost on a daily basis. However, what separates the Right from the Left is the quality and reliability of the news sources immediately available to either side. In order to confirm the views of those politicians, social media figures, and conspiracy theorists, conservatives must seek out sources actively providing misinformation. These hyper-partisan media outlets enhance the credibility of false information and increase distrust in all news media as a result. Thus, the spread of misinformation can be seen as a symptom of a larger problem–hyperpolarization in society. This complicates our ability to identify viable, effective solutions.
There is one solution, however, that starts small and has already been proven to be effective at halting the misinformation cycle. Oxford research concluded that the deplatforming of highly influential social media figures “significantly reduced” the number of conversations about the figures themselves, as well as the content those figures consistently shared. The study examined alt-right conspiracy theorist and podcast host Alex Jones, in particular, and found that the overall vitriol of his followers declined following the deplatforming. For these reasons, mandating increased rules and regulations on the most prevalent social media platforms — namely Meta, Twitter, and TikTok — could be effective in combating misinformation perpetuated by Christian nationalism. Congress should work with these companies to develop minimum standards of conduct to avoid deplatforming, and increase fact-checking capabilities and requirements of each company. As a result, those who lack an official news platform will be less able to promote violent extremism, harm American citizens, and exert damaging influence over the general public.
As described, Christian nationalism is a movement which garners much of its enthusiasm from within its own community; it has become a self-sufficient feedback loop of sorts. For this reason, the most impactful change must come from the inside — or at least from members of the Christian community. A community-based solution could work in conjunction with the regulatory solution proposed above. Christians will have the best chance at establishing certain common ground with Christian nationalists, and will have some credibility with that audience. In a podcast with the Council on Foreign Relations, Pastor Donovan speaks of “a subtle way to capitalize on Christian language to attract Christian nationalists to engage in conversation…because people are best persuaded by people they already trust”. Christians Against Christian Nationalism is already capitalizing on this idea by training certain religious figures in Christian churches on how to engage with Christian nationalism when they see it in their communities or congregations. They focus on calling others in, making them feel a sense of belonging and togetherness, rather than victimization and isolation. They also work to remind Christian nationalists of true Christian beliefs: legal equality, democratic representation, freedom of speech, and religious freedom for all. The organization emphasizes that religion is not the enemy, and neither are devout Christian citizens. Instead, they “think it better to amplify the kind of religious expression that accomplishes democratic goals.” Numerous studies have found that the more faithfully someone practices, the less likely they are to hold views consistent with Christian nationalism. Christians should find ways to call in Christian nationalists, emphasize the true Christian values that appreciate our democracy, and establish a sense of community and belonging. Of course, this solution requires that change come from the inside out, and asks Christians to take on a large task, which presents a barrier to it being accomplished.
Finally, it is crucial to prevent further normalization of this ideology in American society. Christian nationalism researcher Samuel L. Perry argues that, “one vital step toward full-scale fascism is its normalization; its menacing maturation depends on it remaining unrecognized.” Therefore, we must continue to call out Christian nationalism and fascism for what it is. We must not elect leaders who continue to propagate the big lie or propagate distrust in our democratic institutions. We must encourage a different kind of patriotism, one that sees divisions not based on race or religion, but one that is more inclusive and pluralistic in nature–civic patriotism. This less potent form of national devotion groups all who share civic duties together as one; it is not concerned with where citizens come from, but rather whether or not they will carry out their civic responsibilities. The exclusionary narratives surrounding those who are not white, American-born Christians are replaced by feelings of hope and excitement for everyone who sets out to invigorate the nation by defending the health of our democracy.