nightdream

Trump ushers in a Christian “deep state”: MAGA moves to gut the Constitution | Amanda Marcotte for Salon | 2024

At the center of this scheme is an effort to replace the existing federal bureaucracy with “an army of people who have a biblical worldview” and a willingness to “lead with reckless abandon.” Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are toothlessly threatening the jobs of federal employees on Twitter. Vought, however, will have real power at the OMB to “put them in trauma,” as he threatened in a recent speech at the Center for Renewing America. The goal, he said, was to make their work lives so miserable that they are “traumatically affected” and forced to quit. Unlike Musk and Ramaswamy, however, Vought doesn't pretend this is about saving money. He plans to refill those jobs with Christian nationalists. In sum, the conspiracy theory of the “deep state” was concocted so the right could justify creating a real “deep state,” one that is geared towards remaking America in its Christian fundamentalist worldview.

White Christian Nationalists: Who Are They? What Do They Want? Why Should You Care? | Rob Boston for Americans United for Separation of Church and State | 2021

Increasingly, members of the media, academics, Americans United and others are using the term “Christian nationalism” and often “white Christian nationalism” to describe a political movement that seeks to topple church-state separation and declare America a “Christian nation” – with “Christian” in this case being far to the right and supremely fundamentalist. While they’re sometimes openly aligned with racist movements, their ultimate goal is seen as a branch of white supremacy because it would result in a society governed by conservative white Christian men who would make decisions for everyone else.

White Evangelical Racism: An Interview with Anthea Butler | Eric C. Miller for Religion & Politics | 2021

[Butler:] A lot of readers will find this troubling because they would prefer not to think about it. But if you look at evangelicalism as a political movement, in addition to a religious group, you have to grapple with the various ways that whiteness can be reinscribed. It’s not just that the movement is led by a bunch of white guys. It’s that there is a cultural whiteness at the heart of evangelicalism that anyone who enters the community has to receive. I try to show, from Billy Graham onward, how this inherent whiteness works, often by way of color blindness. Officially, evangelicalism claims to be committed to a series of beliefs and values that are higher than and so uninvested in questions of race, and yet their political conservatism really seems to limit their tolerance for non-white input, even from peers and leaders who share their belief system.

What Is Christian Nationalism? | Paul D. Miller for Christianity Today | 2021

An explainer on how the belief differs from other forms of nationalism, patriotism, and Christianity.

Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection | A joint project from Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) | 2022

The report provides a brief history of white Christian nationalism in the United States, which is followed by a thorough unmasking of the networks of power and money that prop up the ideology.

Right-Wing Think Tank Leader Promises Revolution, Warns of ‘Bloodshed’ | Tim Dickinson for Rolling Stone | 2024

Roberts predicted that his “second revolution” would be complete by 2050, and that would it would coincide with a new “great awakening” that would bring America to God — underscoring the extent to which Heritage and its Project 2025 is entwined with Christian nationalism.

Ryan Walters: Bible must be taught in schools, strict compliance expected | by Murray Evans for The Oklahoman | 2024

Walters’ announcement came two days after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a contract between the Statewide Virtual School Charter Board and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the nation’s first religious-based charter school, violated both the state and U.S. Constitutions and state law. Walters was not a party in that case, although he strongly criticized the court’s decision.

Axios Explains: Christian nationalism on the march | by Russell Contreras for Axios | 2024

A new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms is drawing new scrutiny to Christian nationalism, a once-fringe movement steadily gaining political power in the U.S.

Unlicensed religious chaplains may counsel students in Texas’ public schools after lawmakers OK proposal | by Robert Downen for The Texas Tribune | 2023

in legislative hearings, they assured lawmakers that chaplains were not interested in proselytizing. Last week, however, The Texas Tribune reported that the head of the National School Chaplain Association — a key supporter of the chaplains bill — has led another group for decades that touted its ability to use school chaplains for evangelizing to kids.

New Congressional Report Highlights Mike Johnson’s Christian Nationalist Views | Chris Walker for Truthout | 2024

Members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus (CFC), a collection of 20 lawmakers in Congress who seek to “protect the secular character of our government by adhering to the strict Constitutional principle of the separation of church and state,” released a white paper report on Wednesday showcasing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s (R-Louisiana) disturbing Christian nationalist views.

Direct Link to PDF of the CFC White Paper

Alarmed over Alito: Americans United calls out Supreme Court justice’s embrace of Christian Nationalism | Liz Hayes for Americans United for Separation of Church and State | 2024

That a Supreme Court justice would have two partisan flags representing anti-democratic movements displayed outside his homes, especially while he’s deliberating cases involving people active in those movements, is alarming. But that one of those flags signals that Alito has Christian Nationalist sympathies that run contrary to the constitutional promise of church-state separation shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has paid attention to his judicial opinions and public remarks.

Christian Nationalism After the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack | A Pulitzer Center Project | 2021 – 2023

The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol resulted from a brew of political polarization and economic dislocation fueled by conspiracy theories and nationalist rhetoric. But the events of that day also marked a high tide of white Christian nationalism, a longstanding phenomenon in American religious and political history.

Extremely American Podcast | Heath Druzin for Boise State Public Radio

In Season 2 of Extremely American: Onward Christian Soldiers host Heath Druzin and James Dawson take an inside look at Christian nationalism. The movement aims to end American democracy as we know it and install theocracy, taking rights away from the vast majority of Americans in the process. The season follows the movement through the story of an influential far-right church, its attempt to take over a small town and a dark underbelly of abuse.

Straight White American Jesus Podcast | Daniel Miller and Bradley Onishi

An in-depth examination of the culture and politics of Christian Nationalism and the Religious Right by two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors.

This is a popular podcast and covers topics and events often overlooked by other media outlets. For example, it was SWAJ that broadcast the Congressional Freethought Caucus hearing on Speaker Mike Johnson's Christian Nationalism. Recommended with reservations because on at least one occasion the podcast shamelessly used antisemitic tropes.

The Flag and The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy | by Philip S. Gorski, Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | 2022

Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021. And bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus Saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me”; Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’s name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble, Gorski and Perry saw a familiar ideology: white Christian nationalism. In this short primer, Gorski and Perry explain what white Christian nationalism is and is not; when it first emerged and how it has changed; and where it’s headed and why it threatens democracy. They explain what makes white Christian nationalism “white.” They show how it took shape over three centuries ago. And how it has influenced American politics over the last three decades. Throughout American history, white Christian nationalism has animated the oppression, exclusion, and even extermination of minority groups while securing privilege for white Protestants. It enables white Christian Americans to demand “sacrifice” from others in the name of religion and nation, while defending their “rights” in the names of “liberty” and “property.” The future of American democracy, they argue, will depend on whether a broad spectrum of Americans—stretching from democratic socialists to classical liberals—can unite in a popular front to combat the threat to liberal democracy posed by white Christian nationalism.

This book provides a good overview of how we got to where we are today in the US. A notable omission is the vociferous othering of trans people. The increasingly tenuous status of women is also not given the attention it deserves.

Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – and What Comes Next | by Bradley Onishi | Broadleaf Books | 2023

Combining his own experiences in the youth groups and prayer meetings of the 1990s with an immersive look at the steady blending of White grievance politics with evangelicalism, Onishi crafts an engrossing account of the years-long campaign of White Christian nationalism that led to January 6. How did the rise of what Onishi calls the New Religious Right, between 1960 and 2015, give birth to violent White Christian nationalism during the Trump presidency and beyond? What propelled some of the most conservative religious communities in the country—communities of which Onishi was once a part—to ignite a cold civil war?

Reviewers seemed to like this book and it's highly rated online. I found it to be a bit tedious, but informative. Be alert around Onishi's takes on Jews. He's on record using some very old-school antisemitic tropes.

White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America | by Anthea Butler | The University of North Carolina Press | 2021

Butler reveals how evangelical racism, propelled by the benefits of whiteness, has since the nation's founding played a provocative role in severely fracturing the electorate. During the buildup to the Civil War, white evangelicals used scripture to defend slavery and nurture the Confederacy. During Reconstruction, they used it to deny the vote to newly emancipated blacks. In the twentieth century, they sided with segregationists in avidly opposing movements for racial equality and civil rights. Most recently, evangelicals supported the Tea Party, a Muslim ban, and border policies allowing family separation. White evangelicals today, cloaked in a vision of Christian patriarchy and nationhood, form a staunch voting bloc in support of white leadership. Evangelicalism's racial history festers, splits America, and needs a reckoning now.

An excellent short read. Butler has personal experience in the Evangelical community.

Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism | by Magda Teter | Princeton University Press | 2023

In a powerful historical narrative spanning nearly two millennia, Magda Teter describes how Christian theology of late antiquity cast Jews as “children born to slavery,” and how the supposed theological inferiority of Jews became inscribed into law, creating tangible structures that reinforced a sense of Christian domination and superiority. With the dawn of European colonialism, a distinct brand of European Christian supremacy found expression in the legally sanctioned enslavement and exploitation of people of color, later taking the form of white Christian supremacy in the New World.

Drawing on a wealth of primary evidence ranging from the theological and legal to the philosophical and artistic, Christian Supremacy is a profound reckoning with history that traces the roots of the modern rejection of Jewish and Black equality to an enduring Christian heritage of exclusion, intolerance, and persecution.

Not specifically about Christian Nationalism, but a foundational read, Teter's book provides a deeply researched explication of the common Christian roots of antisemitism and anti-Blackness.

Organizations: -Americans for Separation of Church and State -Christians Against Christian Nationalism -Freedom From Religion Foundation

---

hello, reader :)