We Still Don’t Know What It Is
The Historical Origins of Christian Nationalism in America and its Intentional Ambiguities
Keywords:
Christian Nationalism, American Religion, Civil ReligionAbstract
Although scholars, journalists and the American public have been debating the impact and influence of Christian nationalism for years, scholars have recently noted that there is very little consensus about what, exactly, Christian nationalism is. The nebulous nature of the term has confounded researchers and journalists alike, with current remedies providing little clarity. This essay argues that the nebulous nature of Christian nationalism does not come from a lack of statistical data or the weaknesses of scholars’ analytical tools, but is rather an intentional feature of the ideology built in by its proponents in the mid-twentieth century. When the presidential administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower wanted to unite Americans behind their preferred policies, they promoted a particular form of American religion that is the basis of modern Christian nationalism. Since their preferred unity in diversity was tenuous, they subsumed race with religion and insisted that any critique of the nation only helped America’s enemies. After establishing the historical nature of Christian nationalism, I offer some potential avenues of research that might break through the ambiguities.
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