Can Christian Nationalism Coexist With Liberal Democracy?
Can Christian Nationalism Coexist With Liberal Democracy?
Christian nationalism and liberal democracy are sometimes treated as inherently incompatible, but the relationship is more complicated than a simple opposition between religion and democracy. The research literature distinguishes Christian nationalism from Christianity itself, personal religious belief, ordinary Christian political participation, patriotism, and the historic tradition of Christian democracy. The central issue is therefore not whether Christians or Christian ideas may participate in democratic politics. Rather, it concerns the conditions under which a specifically Christian conception of national identity seeks political authority, governmental privilege, or control over the rights and status of other citizens.
Liberal democracy is generally organized around competitive elections, political equality, constitutional limits on government, freedom of expression and religion, protection of minorities, the rule of law, and the principle that citizens do not lose political standing because of their religious beliefs or identities. Christian nationalism becomes most difficult to reconcile with those principles when Christianity is treated not merely as an influence on national culture but as a qualification for full national membership or as a basis for giving one religious community privileged governmental authority.
The sources also show that Christian nationalism is not a single, uniform political position. Scholars distinguish cultural or religious traditionalism from stronger forms of Christian statism, dominionism, integralism, and other programs seeking a more explicit institutional relationship between Christianity and government. Consequently, whether Christian nationalism can coexist with liberal democracy depends substantially on what is meant by Christian nationalism and what political institutions its advocates are willing to accept.
Defining Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism generally combines Christian identity with national identity, presenting Christianity as an important part of the nation's history, character, destiny, or political order. However, people identified with Christian-nationalist beliefs may hold very different understandings of what this relationship should mean in practice.
At one end of the spectrum are cultural claims that Christianity has played an important historical role in shaping a country's institutions or moral traditions. Such claims do not necessarily require restrictions on other religions or the abandonment of democratic institutions. Religious citizens can advocate policies derived from their faith, organize politically, vote, hold office, and attempt to persuade their fellow citizens while remaining committed to constitutional procedures and equal citizenship.
More politically consequential forms of Christian nationalism maintain that government should actively promote Christianity, that political authority should reflect an explicitly Christian conception of the nation, or that Christian citizens and institutions should possess a privileged position within public life. Some movements go further by proposing stronger forms of Christian governmental authority or by questioning liberal commitments to state neutrality, religious pluralism, or individual rights.
This distinction is important because research has identified what scholars describe as a duality within American Christian nationalism. Religious traditionalism may emphasize Christian culture and moral values, while Christian statism places greater emphasis on governmental power controlled by religious insiders. These positions raise different questions about compatibility with liberal democracy.
Democratic Norms and Political Authority
A major portion of the research examines whether Christian-nationalist attitudes are associated with willingness to weaken democratic restraints on political leaders.
Studies have found relationships between stronger Christian-nationalist attitudes and support for leaders violating conventional democratic norms under certain circumstances. Research on national emergencies, for example, has examined support for suspending elections, suppressing political opposition, or disregarding institutional checks and balances when respondents believe extraordinary conditions justify stronger executive authority.
Other research connects Christian nationalism with attitudes toward voting access, election legitimacy, political violence, and acceptance of democratic procedures. Studies of political violence have examined how Christian nationalism can interact with perceived victimhood, conspiracy beliefs, racial identity, political threat, and other variables. Research surrounding the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol has likewise documented the presence of Christian-nationalist imagery, rhetoric, organizations, and narratives among portions of the mobilization surrounding efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
These findings do not establish that every person holding Christian-nationalist beliefs rejects democracy. Some scholarship specifically cautions against treating Christian nationalism as inherently or uniformly authoritarian. Individuals identified by Christian-nationalism measures may combine beliefs that appear inconsistent, including support for elements of religious pluralism alongside support for a privileged Christian national identity.
Political context also matters. Feelings of cultural or political threat, perceptions that Christians are losing status, partisan identity, and beliefs about which groups legitimately exercise political authority can influence how Christian-nationalist ideas translate into attitudes toward democratic institutions.
Pluralism, Minority Rights, and Equal Citizenship
Religious pluralism is one of the clearest points of tension between liberal democracy and stronger forms of Christian nationalism.
A liberal democratic system does not require citizens to abandon religious convictions. It does, however, generally require the political system to recognize citizens of different religions, and citizens with no religion, as possessing equal civil and political standing.
The relevant question is therefore whether a Christian understanding of national identity remains primarily cultural and voluntary or becomes a political boundary separating full national insiders from outsiders.
Research on Christian nationalism has examined attitudes toward religious minorities, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ people, voting rights, freedom of speech, press freedom, criminal-procedure protections, and religious liberty. Some studies report associations between Christian nationalism and more restrictive conceptions of the rights or political standing of certain outgroups.
Other findings complicate a simple relationship between Christian nationalism and intolerance. Comparative research in Africa, for example, found Christian-nationalist respondents to be less supportive of democracy and more receptive to authoritarian alternatives, while not finding that they were necessarily more intolerant of other religions or LGBTQ people than other respondents.
This illustrates why democratic attitudes, religious tolerance, nationalism, and authoritarianism should not automatically be treated as interchangeable concepts.
The central liberal-democratic issue is whether political membership and rights remain independent of religious identity. A nation may have a historically Christian culture while maintaining equal citizenship. A political system in which government formally distinguishes between Christian insiders and religious outsiders raises a substantially different constitutional and democratic question.
Religious Freedom and Church-State Relations
Debates over Christian nationalism frequently involve competing interpretations of religious freedom.
One position emphasizes the right of Christians to participate openly in politics, express religious views, organize institutions, advocate legislation, and practice their religion without governmental discrimination. Liberal democracy protects these activities through freedom of religion, expression, association, and political participation.
Another question concerns whether religious freedom includes governmental promotion or institutional preference for Christianity. The distinction between protecting religious activity and establishing governmental religious preference is central to many constitutional debates.
Some proponents of stronger religious establishment argue that a state can maintain a historically Christian identity while still providing substantial freedom to religious minorities. Comparative scholarship notes that several democratic countries retain established churches, official religious symbols, or historically Christian institutions without functioning as theocracies.
Critics respond that symbolic establishment differs significantly from a political order in which religious identity determines citizenship rights, political authority, access to office, or governmental treatment. The degree of religious preference therefore matters when evaluating compatibility with liberal democratic principles.
The American Constitutional Framework
The United States provides a particularly important case because debates about Christian nationalism frequently involve competing interpretations of the country's founding.
Religion played an important role in colonial and early American society, and Christian ideas influenced many participants in the founding era. At the same time, the federal constitutional structure contains important barriers against making Christianity a legal condition of national political membership.
Article VI of the Constitution prohibits religious tests for federal office. The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion while prohibiting governmental establishment of religion. Through later constitutional development, religious-liberty protections also became applicable to state governments.
American church-state doctrine has changed substantially over time. Supreme Court decisions have addressed government-sponsored prayer, Bible reading in public schools, religious symbols, public funding, religious speech, coercion, and the boundaries between governmental neutrality and hostility toward religion.
The history therefore does not fit easily into either the claim that religion was absent from the American founding or the claim that the Constitution created an explicitly Christian national government.
Founding-era sources including James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, the Religious Test Clause, and the First Amendment became major reference points in the development of American religious liberty.
The historical record also demonstrates the distinction between a society in which Christianity was culturally influential and a constitutional system formally requiring Christian religious adherence.
Public Opinion and the Meaning of a “Christian Nation”
Public-opinion research demonstrates that the phrase Christian nation does not have a single meaning.
Some Americans use it primarily as a historical or cultural description. Others understand it as support for Christian moral influence in public life. Still others favor a stronger governmental role in promoting Christian principles.
Survey research has found considerably more support for the idea that Christianity should influence American culture or morality than for declaring Christianity the official religion of the United States. This gap demonstrates that support for Christian identity does not automatically imply support for formal religious establishment.
Public opinion also reveals tensions within individual belief systems. A person may support church-state separation while simultaneously believing Christian values should influence legislation. Another may identify the United States as a Christian nation while rejecting restrictions on religious minorities. Still another may support a more explicitly Christian government.
Consequently, survey measures of Christian nationalism require careful interpretation. The specific beliefs being measured—national identity, biblical authority, governmental preference, political leadership, religious establishment, or cultural tradition—can produce substantially different conclusions.
Christianity and Democratic Alternatives to Nationalism
The history of Christian political thought provides important evidence that strong Christian religious commitments do not necessarily require Christian nationalism.
Christian democratic political movements developed in several countries by combining religiously informed political principles with competitive elections, constitutional government, political parties, social pluralism, and representative institutions.
Christian thinkers have also developed theological defenses of religious liberty, democracy, constitutional government, human dignity, political participation, and the rights of conscience. Churches have sometimes supported democratization, independent courts, legislatures, opposition parties, civil society, and limitations on governmental authority.
Within contemporary Christianity there is substantial disagreement over nationalism. Some Christian writers defend versions of Christian nationalism or criticize liberal neutrality, arguing that every political order rests on substantive moral commitments and that Christianity may legitimately inform public institutions.
Other Christian writers oppose Christian nationalism while defending robust Christian political participation. They argue that Christians can seek political influence through persuasion and democratic competition without seeking governmental privilege for Christianity.
Still others advocate forms of civil religion or shared national identity that acknowledge religious contributions to national history while attempting to incorporate citizens from multiple religious and secular traditions.
These alternatives demonstrate that the debate is not simply between secular liberalism and Christian politics. It also takes place within Christianity itself over how religious conviction should relate to citizenship, political power, national identity, and constitutional limits.
Comparative and Global Perspectives
Christian nationalism is not exclusively an American phenomenon. Comparative research places it within the broader category of religious nationalism, which includes movements linking national identity with Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and other religious traditions.
These comparisons suggest that the democratic consequences of religious nationalism depend partly on institutional design and political practice.
Religious traditions can operate within democratic systems when political competition remains open, elections remain meaningful, opposition groups retain political rights, courts and legislatures maintain independent authority, and minority citizens remain protected.
Problems become more pronounced when a religious majority uses state power to define authentic citizenship, restrict political competition, weaken opposition, subordinate minority communities, or exempt favored leaders from normal institutional restraints.
Research from African countries further demonstrates that the relationship between Christian nationalism and democracy should not be assumed to operate identically in every society. Different histories of religion, colonialism, ethnicity, political parties, churches, and state institutions can produce different outcomes.
Christian nationalism should therefore be studied both as a particular American political phenomenon and as one example of the broader relationship between religious identity, nationalism, and democratic government.
The Central Question of Coexistence
Whether Christian nationalism can coexist with liberal democracy ultimately depends on which elements of each concept are considered essential.
A culturally Christian understanding of national history can exist within a liberal democracy if citizens retain equal rights regardless of religion and political authority remains subject to democratic institutions. Religious political movements can likewise participate fully in democratic politics without abandoning their theological commitments.
The tension increases when Christian nationalism moves from cultural identification or democratic advocacy toward state-enforced religious privilege.
Liberal democracy assumes that political opponents remain legitimate participants in government, elections can remove leaders from power, minority groups retain rights even when unpopular, and political authority is constrained by law.
Forms of Christian nationalism that accept these principles can operate within democratic political competition even while criticizing aspects of liberal culture or advocating policies based on Christian beliefs.
Forms that make Christian identity a condition of full citizenship, support suspension of democratic procedures to preserve religious or political dominance, deny equal political standing to religious minorities, or seek unconstrained governmental authority conflict more directly with central institutions of liberal democracy.
This distinction helps explain why scholarship produces both evidence of significant tensions between Christian nationalism and democracy and arguments against treating all Christian-nationalist attitudes as identical.
Conclusion
The research does not support reducing the question of Christian nationalism and liberal democracy to a simple choice between Christianity and secular government.
Christianity has existed within many democratic political systems, and Christian political movements have sometimes contributed to the development or defense of democratic institutions. Religious citizens can advocate explicitly Christian political ideas while respecting elections, constitutional restraints, political opposition, and equal citizenship.
The more difficult question concerns nationalism and state power.
Research summarized in the literature frequently associates stronger forms of Christian nationalism with greater acceptance of authoritarian leadership, restrictions on political participation, violations of democratic norms, political violence, or unequal conceptions of citizenship. At the same time, scholars emphasize variation within Christian nationalism and caution against assuming that everyone expressing Christian-nationalist beliefs holds the same political objectives.
The dividing line is therefore less about whether Christianity influences politics than about how political power is structured and constrained.
Christian identity, Christian political participation, and even a culturally Christian conception of national history can operate within liberal democratic institutions. The strongest tensions arise when Christian nationalism seeks to transform religious identity into governmental privilege, unequal citizenship, restrictions on political competition, or authority that is no longer accountable to ordinary democratic rules.
The continuing debate over Christian nationalism consequently reflects a broader democratic problem: how societies with deeply held religious and national identities can preserve political participation and cultural continuity while maintaining equal citizenship, minority rights, constitutional limits, and peaceful competition for political power.
Direct Studies of Christian Nationalism and Democracy
An Army for God: Gun Ownership, Christian Nationalism, and Support for Political Violence. Uses national survey data to examine Christian nationalism, gun-owner identity, perceived threat, and willingness to endorse political violence.
2. | Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | Politics and Religion | March 26, 2026
The Weakness of Anti-Christian Nationalism: When Religiously Inclusive Orientations Can't Increase Tolerance. Finds that some people who score highly on Christian-nationalism measures also profess pluralistic beliefs, illustrating tensions and contradictions within the ideology rather than treating adherents as homogeneous.
3. | John Ishiyama | Politics and Religion | September 15, 2025
Christian Nationalism and Attitudes About Democracy in Africa. Uses Afrobarometer data from 34 African countries to examine whether Christian-nationalist attitudes correlate with support for democracy, authoritarian alternatives, and tolerance. It provides an important comparative test beyond the United States.
4. | Samuel L. Perry and Joshua B. Grubbs | Politics and Religion | September 19, 2024
Christian Nationalism and Support for Leaders Violating Democratic Norms During National Emergencies. Examines willingness to suspend elections, suppress opponents, or bypass institutional checks during crises and analyzes how Christian nationalism relates to those attitudes.
5. | Jesse Smith | Sociological Forum | August 11, 2024
Old Wine in New Wineskins: Christian Nationalism, Authoritarianism, and the Problem of Essentialism in Explanations of Religiopolitical Conflict. Critiques parts of the Christian-nationalism literature for assuming authoritarian motivations and argues that alternative explanations and greater conceptual precision are needed.
6. | Junjian Li and Paul Froese | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | August 2, 2023
The Duality of American Christian Nationalism: Religious Traditionalism versus Christian Statism. Distinguishes a religious-traditionalist conception of Christian society from Christian statism, which favors government power in the hands of religious insiders. The distinction is especially relevant to the coexistence question.
7. | Nilay Saiya | The Review of Faith & International Affairs | May 12, 2023
Christian Nationalism's Threat to Global Democracy. Places Christian nationalism in a comparative international setting and argues that religious nationalism can undermine democratic pluralism when political institutions privilege one religious identity.
8. | Samuel L. Perry, Joshua B. Grubbs, and colleagues | Sociology of Religion | May 8, 2023
Liberty for Us, Limits for Them: Christian Nationalism and Americans’ Views on Citizens’ Rights. Examines relationships between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward voting, press freedom, speech, criminal-procedure protections, gun rights, and religious liberty.
9. | Miles T. Armaly, David T. Buckley, and Adam M. Enders | Political Behavior | January 4, 2022
Christian Nationalism and Political Violence: Victimhood, Racial Identity, Conspiracy, and Support for the Capitol Attacks. Examines how Christian nationalism interacts with perceived victimhood, racial identity, conspiracy beliefs, and support for political violence.
10. | Samuel L. Perry, Andrew L. Whitehead, and Joshua B. Grubbs | Sociological Forum | January 3, 2022
I Don't Want Everybody to Vote: Christian Nationalism and Restricting Voter Access in the United States. Studies the relationship between Christian nationalism and beliefs about voter eligibility, voter fraud, civic tests, and restrictions on political participation.
Political Tolerance, Pluralism, and Rights
11. | Christians Against Christian Nationalism | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | Current
Christians Against Christian Nationalism: Statement of Principles. Presents a Christian religious argument for constitutional democracy, religious equality, pluralism, and opposition to state privilege for Christianity.
12. | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | Current
Christian Nationalism. Explains the organization's distinction between ordinary Christian political participation and a political project seeking state privilege for Christianity.
13. | First Amendment Encyclopedia | Middle Tennessee State University | September 7, 2026
Christian Nationalism. Reviews Christian-nationalist ideas within U.S. history and places contemporary controversies within constitutional protections for religion and limits on religious establishment.
14. | Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | University of Tennessee | September 2026
Christian Nationalists’ Professed Support for Religious Pluralism Is Often Drowned Out by Perceptions That Christians Are Under Threat. Summarizes research showing that pluralistic principles can coexist with Christian-nationalist beliefs but may weaken when respondents perceive their religious group as threatened.
15. | Scott A. Leadingham | Freedom Forum | May 21, 2026
What Is Christian Nationalism? The Complete Guide. Explains Christian nationalism in relation to the First Amendment, establishment of religion, free exercise, religious equality, and church-state separation.
Christian Nationalism’s Impact on Democracy. Brings together scholars and Christian leaders to distinguish Christian political participation from efforts to give Christianity privileged political status.
17. | Center for American Progress | Center for American Progress | 2022
Christian Nationalism Is ‘Single Biggest Threat’ to America's Religious Freedom. Discusses Christian nationalism through religious liberty, nondiscrimination, church-state separation, and constitutional equality.
18. | Maggie Siddiqi and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons | Center for American Progress | February 16, 2021
The Pro-Democracy Faith Movement. Surveys religious organizations that understand political participation, racial equality, voting rights, and pluralistic democracy as compatible with religious commitments.
19. | Emily R. Gill | Religions | December 19, 2020
Religious Values in Liberal Democracy. Examines circumstances under which religious political commitments can contribute to pluralism and circumstances in which privileging one religious interpretation conflicts with equal citizenship.
20. | Jared A. Goldstein | Hastings Law Journal | 2017
How the Constitution Became Christian. Traces the transformation of Christian-nationalist constitutional arguments from nineteenth-century demands to amend a supposedly godless Constitution to modern assertions that the Constitution itself embodies Christian principles.
Public Opinion and Democratic Commitments
21. | Michael R. Fisher Jr. | Public Religion Research Institute | June 18, 2025
Understanding Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism by Race. Examines how relationships between Christian-nationalist and authoritarian attitudes vary across racial groups.
22. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | 2025
Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States: Insights from PRRI's 2024 American Values Atlas. Provides state-level estimates while examining election confidence, democracy, political identity, immigration, and authoritarian attitudes.
23. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | 2025
Democracy Today: Insights on Race, Religion, and Democratic Principles. Explores religion, Christian nationalism, race, political authority, and democratic attitudes.
24. | PRRI and Meanings of Democracy Lab | Public Religion Research Institute | October 30, 2024
Resistance to Christian Nationalism in All 50 States. Examines the large share of Americans who reject or remain skeptical of Christian-nationalist propositions and compares religious, partisan, and regional differences.
25. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | September 10, 2024
One Leader Under God: The Connection Between Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism in America. Measures Christian nationalism alongside established authoritarianism scales and attitudes toward democratic government.
26. | Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith, and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Christianity's Place in Politics and Christian Nationalism. Examines church-state separation, biblical influence on legislation, official religion, and public attitudes toward Christianity's political role.
27. | PRRI and Brookings Institution | PRRI | February 8, 2023
A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture. Large national survey examining Christian nationalism alongside authoritarianism, racial attitudes, religious identity, political violence, patriarchy, and democratic commitments.
28. | Brookings Institution and PRRI | Brookings Institution | February 8, 2023
Understanding the Threat of White Christian Nationalism to American Democracy Today. Expert discussion of national survey evidence concerning Christian nationalism, authoritarianism, racial identity, violence, and democratic institutions.
29. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
45% of Americans Say U.S. Should Be a ‘Christian Nation’. Shows that the phrase “Christian nation” means substantially different things to different Americans, from general moral influence to explicitly Christian laws and leadership.
30. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Views of the U.S. as a Christian Nation and Opinions About Christian Nationalism. Documents public definitions and attitudes regarding Christian nationalism and the institutional role respondents believe Christianity should play.
Authoritarianism and Democratic Norms
31. | Hannah Criser | Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies | 2025
Holy Disregard: Christian Nationalists More Likely to Accept Democratic Norm Violations from Fellow Citizens. Examines attitudes toward political violence, refusal to accept election results, and restrictions on voting.
32. | Samuel L. Perry | Politics and Religion | 2024
Which Political Entities Are “Friendly” to Religion? The Interplay of Entity, Identity Congruence, and Christian Nationalism. Examines perceptions of political parties and the Supreme Court through Christian-nationalist and partisan identities.
33. | Political Science Researchers | Politics and Religion | 2024
Division on the Christian Right: Republican Pastors and the Use of Force. Investigates attitudes among conservative clergy toward force, political conflict, and the conditions under which religious political commitments become coercive.
34. | Alexa S. Dietrich | The Immanent Frame / Social Science Research Council | October 26, 2023
Religion, Democracy, and Christian Nationalism. Places Christian nationalism within broader scholarship on religion's potentially constructive and destructive relationships with democracy.
35. | Michelle Boorstein | The Washington Post | May 19, 2023
What Is Christian Nationalism Anyway? Explores competing definitions, dominionism, reconstructionism, charismatic movements, and disagreements over where religious conservatism ends and Christian nationalism begins.
36. | Oren Oppenheim | ABC News | November 7, 2022
Christian Nationalism Threatens Democracy, Some Experts Say. Surveys scholarly interpretations of Christian nationalism, political candidates invoking it, and disputes over its democratic implications.
37. | Edward Lempinen | Berkeley News | September 20, 2022
Crisis of Faith: Christian Nationalism and the Threat to U.S. Democracy. Interviews Berkeley scholars about demographic change, political power, minority rights, church-state relations, and democratic inclusion.
38. | Paul D. Miller | Religion News Service | September 1, 2022
Is Christian Republicanism the Best Cure for Christian Nationalism? Presents a Christian argument that religiously informed politics can coexist with liberal democracy when constitutional equality and political rights take precedence over state enforcement of Christian identity.
Americans Are Growing More Accepting of Christian Nationalism. Discusses survey research connecting religious exceptionalism, Christian national identity, representative democracy, and acceptance of nondemocratic rule.
40. | Paul A. Djupe | Religion in Public | December 11, 2019
How Christian Nationalists Perceive the State of Democracy. Explores whether people holding Christian-nationalist views perceive erosion of democratic norms differently from other Americans.
Christian Nationalism, Elections, and Political Participation
41. | Eric L. McDaniel, Irfan Nooruddin, and Allyson F. Shortle | Cambridge University Press | 2022
The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics. Examines American religious exceptionalism, national identity, democratic attitudes, and political behavior.
42. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | March 19, 2020
Power. Analyzes how Christian-nationalist beliefs translate into political priorities and conceptions of who legitimately exercises authority.
43. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | March 2020
Boundaries. Examines how Christian nationalism constructs symbolic distinctions between people understood as authentic members of the nation and perceived outsiders.
44. | Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry, and Andrew L. Whitehead | Sociology of Religion | 2020
Keep America Christian (and White): Christian Nationalism, Fear of Ethnoracial Outsiders, and Intention to Vote for Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election. Examines the relationship between Christian-nationalist identity, ethnoracial threat perceptions, and political choice.
45. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | 2020
Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. Major social-science synthesis distinguishing Christian nationalism from personal religious devotion and examining its implications for power, identity, boundaries, and politics.
46. | Andrew L. Whitehead, Samuel L. Perry, and Joseph O. Baker | Sociology of Religion | 2018
Make America Christian Again: Christian Nationalism and Voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. A foundational quantitative study of Christian nationalism as a distinctive political identity and its relationship with electoral behavior.
January 6, Political Violence, and Election Legitimacy
47. | Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | September 2, 2024
Christian Nationalism and Violence Against Religious Minorities in the United States: A Quantitative Analysis. Investigates whether political empowerment of Christian-nationalist rhetoric correlates with violence targeting religious minorities.
Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection. Multi-author report documenting Christian symbols, organizations, rhetoric, networks, and theological claims surrounding efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
49. | Miles T. Armaly, David T. Buckley, and Adam M. Enders | Political Behavior / PubMed Central | 2022
Christian Nationalism and Political Violence. Open-access version of research investigating interactions among religious nationalism, victimhood, conspiracy thinking, racial identity, and support for January 6.
50. | Emma Green | The Atlantic | January 13, 2021
A Christian Insurrection. Reports on religious imagery, Christian political activism, and nationalism among participants and supporters surrounding the Capitol attack.
51. | TIME Contributors | TIME | January 2021
Christian Nationalism and the Capitol Riot. Examines Christian-nationalist symbolism and political theology visible around January 6 and its relationship with election legitimacy.
52. | Sarah Pulliam Bailey | The Washington Post | January 2021
Christian Nationalism and the Capitol Riot. Examines religious participation and competing Christian interpretations of the attempt to prevent certification of the presidential election.
53. | Religion & Politics Contributors | Religion & Politics | January 2021
Christian Nationalism at the Capitol Riot. Examines religious symbols and rhetoric displayed during the attack and distinguishes Christian-nationalist politics from Christianity generally.
54. | Georgetown University Contributors | Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs | 2021
The Role of Christian Nationalism in the January 6 Insurrection. Discusses how religious nationalism, election denial, national mythology, and political mobilization intersected during January 6.
55. | Eliza Griswold | The New Yorker | January 2021
A Christian Insurrection. Reports on Christian rhetoric, prayer, symbols, and political beliefs among participants in the January 6 mobilization.
56. | Christianity Today Contributors | Christianity Today | January 2021
Christian Nationalism and the Capitol Attack. Christian commentary examining the difference between Christian faith commitments, patriotism, and political nationalism following January 6.
Constitutional Democracy and Church-State Separation
57. | U.S. Congress | Constitution Annotated | Current
First Amendment: Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. Primary constitutional source for evaluating proposals concerning governmental establishment, endorsement, or privileging of Christianity.
58. | U.S. Congress | Constitution Annotated | Current
Fourteenth Amendment. Provides constitutional foundations for equal protection, due process, citizenship, and incorporation of religious-liberty protections against state governments.
59. | Congressional Research Service | Constitution Annotated | Current
Historical Background on the Religion Clauses. Reviews the constitutional history underlying restrictions on government establishment of religion.
60. | U.S. Supreme Court | Kennedy v. Bremerton School District | June 27, 2022
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Important recent case concerning public employees, religious exercise, government neutrality, and changing Establishment Clause doctrine.
61. | U.S. Supreme Court | Rosenberger v. University of Virginia | June 29, 1995
Rosenberger v. University of Virginia. Illustrates the distinction between governmental religious establishment and neutral protection of religious speech.
62. | U.S. Supreme Court | Lee v. Weisman | June 24, 1992
Lee v. Weisman. Considers government-sponsored prayer, coercion, and religious liberty in public institutions.
63. | U.S. Supreme Court | Wallace v. Jaffree | June 4, 1985
Wallace v. Jaffree. Examines governmental religious purpose and public-school prayer within Establishment Clause doctrine.
64. | U.S. Supreme Court | Abington School District v. Schempp | June 17, 1963
Abington School District v. Schempp. Addresses state-sponsored Bible reading and religious exercises in public schools.
65. | U.S. Supreme Court | Engel v. Vitale | June 25, 1962
Engel v. Vitale. Supreme Court decision holding that government-composed prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause.
66. | U.S. Supreme Court | Everson v. Board of Education | February 10, 1947
Everson v. Board of Education. Landmark Establishment Clause decision discussing government neutrality toward religion and incorporation of the First Amendment against the states.
Historical Foundations and the “Christian Nation” Debate
67. | Religion & Politics Contributors | Religion & Politics | 2022
The History of Christian Nationalism in America. Provides historical context for current debates over religious identity, citizenship, political power, and national mythology.
68. | PBS NewsHour | PBS | 2022
The Growing Movement of Christian Nationalism in the U.S. Introduces the contemporary movement while distinguishing religious belief from demands for governmental preference toward Christianity.
69. | History.com Contributors | HISTORY | 2022
Christian Nationalism Has Deep Roots in American History. Surveys historical movements seeking stronger connections between Christianity, American identity, and government.
70. | Historical Contributors | Smithsonian Magazine | 2022
The History Behind Christian Nationalism. Reviews earlier attempts to define American citizenship and political institutions through explicitly Christian national identity.
71. | Library of Congress | Religion and the Founding of the American Republic | 1998
Religion and the Federal Government. Historical materials documenting the complex role of Christianity and other religious traditions during the founding period.
72. | Library of Congress | Religion and the Founding of the American Republic | 1998
Religion and the New Republic. Examines religion in early American civic culture without equating social religious influence with formal religious establishment.
73. | Thomas Jefferson | Library of Congress | January 1, 1802
Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. Contains Jefferson's influential description of a “wall of separation between Church & State.”
74. | United States and Tripoli | Avalon Project, Yale Law School | 1797
Treaty of Tripoli. Frequently cited primary source in debates over whether the United States was constitutionally founded as a Christian nation.
75. | U.S. Constitution | Constitution Annotated | 1788
Article VI Religious Test Clause. Prohibits religious tests for federal office and is central to debates over whether political citizenship can legitimately be conditioned on Christian identity.
76. | James Madison | Founders Online, National Archives | June 20, 1785
Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments. Madison's argument against government financial or institutional support of religion and an important source for American church-state principles.
Christianity, Democracy, and Alternatives to Nationalism
77. | Religion News Service Contributors | Religion News Service | April 2023
Christian Nationalism and the Future of American Democracy. Explores religious, political, and scholarly disagreement about nationalism, pluralism, democratic institutions, and Christian public engagement.
78. | Religion News Service Contributors | Religion News Service | August 2022
What Christian Nationalism Is — and Isn't. Addresses definitional disputes and differentiates Christian nationalism from religious devotion, Christian political activism, and patriotism.
79. | Religion News Service Contributors | Religion News Service | July 2022
Christian Nationalism Is Not the Same as Christianity. Presents religious arguments opposing conflation of Christian theology with national political identity.
80. | The Gospel Coalition Contributors | The Gospel Coalition | 2022
Christian Nationalism and Christian Patriotism. Offers a conservative Christian perspective distinguishing political nationalism from ordinary patriotism and legitimate participation in democratic politics.
81. | Public Discourse Contributors | Public Discourse | 2022
Christian Nationalism and the Liberal Order. Discusses conservative disagreements about liberalism, religious establishment, nationalism, common goods, and constitutional government.
82. | Law & Liberty Contributors | Law & Liberty | 2022
Christian Nationalism and the American Order. Examines whether stronger Christian influence in public life requires abandoning constitutional liberalism or can operate within existing institutions.
83. | Christianity Today Contributors | Christianity Today | 2022
Christian Nationalism, Patriotism, and Christian Political Responsibility. Discusses whether Christian political participation can remain committed to constitutional democracy without identifying the church with the nation.
84. | Christian Post Contributors | The Christian Post | 2022
Christian Nationalism and Democracy. Represents conservative Christian debate over whether Christian commitments should shape civic culture through persuasion or through governmental power.
85. | Christian Political Writers | First Things | 2022
The Case for Christian Nationalism. Presents arguments from advocates who reject strict liberal neutrality and contend that Christianity can legitimately inform national political institutions.
86. | Christianity Today Contributors | Christianity Today | 2021
Evangelicals Debate Christian Nationalism After January 6. Presents disagreements within evangelical Christianity regarding nationalism, democratic government, political power, and Christian identity.
Comparative and Global Perspectives
87. | openDemocracy Contributors | openDemocracy | 2023
Christian Nationalism and Global Democracy. Examines networks linking religious-nationalist political movements across national borders.
88. | Council on Foreign Relations Contributors | Council on Foreign Relations | 2023
Religion, Nationalism, and Democratic Governance. Provides international context for assessing Christian nationalism alongside Hindu, Jewish, Islamic, and other religious-nationalist political movements.
89. | Carnegie Endowment Contributors | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | 2023
Religious Nationalism and Democratic Politics. Places Christian nationalism within the broader comparative problem of religious majoritarianism and democratic equality.
90. | Brookings Institution Contributors | Brookings Institution | 2023
Religion, Nationalism, and the Future of Democracy. Examines the broader institutional question at the heart of the Christian-nationalism debate: whether religiously defined majority identity can remain compatible with equal citizenship, minority rights, political competition, and limits on governmental power.
91. | Berkley Center Contributors | Georgetown University | 2023
Christian Nationalism as a Global Phenomenon. Considers religious nationalism in comparative perspective rather than treating the American form as unique.
92. | Journal of Democracy Contributors | Journal of Democracy | 2022
Religion, Nationalism, and Democracy. Comparative analysis of the conditions under which religious political identities accommodate pluralist democratic institutions or become majoritarian.
93. | Freedom House Contributors | Freedom House | 2022
Religion, Nationalism, and Democracy. Provides comparative context for evaluating how majority religious identity can coexist with or undermine minority rights and competitive democratic institutions.
94. | Foreign Affairs Contributors | Foreign Affairs | 2022
Religious Nationalism and Democracy. Examines the broader international relationship among nationalism, religious majorities, populism, and democratic governance.
Christian Nationalism, Democratic Norms, and Political Tolerance
95. | David E. Campbell and Geoffrey C. Layman | Politics and Religion | July 13, 2026
Backlash to Christian Nationalism: The Impact of the January 6th Insurrection on Americans’ Religiosity and Political Partisanship. Examines public reactions to Christian-nationalist imagery associated with January 6 and considers how identifying Christianity with partisan politics can produce religious and political backlash.
96. | Kimberly H. Conger | Politics and Religion | January 14, 2026
Tilled Fields for Christian Nationalism: Project Blitz and the Evolution of the Christian Right. Examines efforts to enact state legislation emphasizing America's Christian heritage and provides an institutional counterpart to studies focused primarily on individual attitudes.
97. | Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | May 13, 2025
The Varieties of American Christian Nationalism. Distinguishes charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, and Catholic integralism, demonstrating that movements grouped under the Christian-nationalist label can have substantially different theological and political foundations.
98. | Junjian Li and Paul Froese | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | August 2, 2023
The Duality of American Christian Nationalism: Religious Traditionalism versus Christian Statism. Separates cultural religious traditionalism from a form of Christian statism that seeks governmental control by religious insiders.
99. | Abigail Vegter, Andrew R. Lewis, and Cammie Jo Bolin | Politics and Religion | January 26, 2023
Which Civil Religion? Partisanship, Christian Nationalism, and the Dimensions of Civil Religion in the United States. Explores whether civil religion can provide a shared national framework distinct from partisan or exclusionary Christian nationalism.
Religion, Democracy, and Liberal Political Theory
100. | Robert Audi | Oxford University Press | 2024
Is This God's Country? Religion and Democracy in America. Examines how strong religious commitments can coexist with constitutional democracy, church-state separation, and political equality.
101. | Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde | Oxford University Press | 2020
Religion, Law, and Democracy: Selected Writings. Collects influential reflections on Catholicism, secular government, religious freedom, constitutional democracy, and political theology.
102. | Jeremy Menchik | Oxford University Press | 2018
Chains of Persuasion: A Framework for Religion in Democracy. Develops criteria for assessing when religious political participation strengthens or undermines democratic life without assuming religion must remain outside politics.
103. | Michael D. Driessen | Oxford University Press | May 15, 2014
Religion, State, and Democracy. Develops a framework for comparing different religion-state arrangements and asks whether substantial religious influence is necessarily incompatible with democratic government.
104. | Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh | Oxford University Press | March 21, 2013
Religious Freedom in the Liberal State, Second Edition. Updated comparative analysis of religious freedom and institutional arrangements in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and European human-rights law.
105. | Bryan T. McGraw | Cambridge University Press | 2010
Faith in Politics: Religion and Liberal Democracy. Argues that religion need not be inherently destabilizing for democracy and examines circumstances in which religious political movements can participate constructively in pluralist systems.
106. | Thomas Banchoff | Georgetown University Berkley Center | June 7, 2007
Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism. Overview of scholarship examining church-state relations, immigration, religious diversity, and democratic accommodation in the United States and Europe.
107. | Thomas Banchoff, ed. | Oxford University Press | 2007
Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism. Investigates how democratic institutions can incorporate strongly religious communities while preserving citizenship equality and pluralism.
108. | Kristen Deede Johnson | Cambridge University Press | 2007
Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism. Explores Christian theology, political liberalism, tolerance, disagreement, and the problem of living together amid deep moral differences.
109. | Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh | Oxford University Press | 2005
Religious Freedom in the Liberal State. Analyzes religious liberty, liberalism, state neutrality, establishment, and competing constitutional models from a perspective sympathetic to Christian arguments.
Can Religious Establishment Be Liberal?
110. | Russell Powell | Rutgers Journal of Law & Religion / SSRN | August 3, 2026
Framing Religious Constitutionalism. Develops a taxonomy connecting religious nationalism with comparative scholarship on religious constitutional arrangements.
111. | Susanna Mancini | Oxford University Press | 2026
Politicized Religion and the Reframing of Fundamental Rights. Comparative constitutional study of how religious majoritarian and illiberal movements reinterpret rights, secularism, gender equality, and minority protections.
112. | Constitutional Scholars | Oxford University Press | May 15, 2024
Freedom of Religion. Surveys competing liberal, secular, nonseparationist, and religious constitutional models for protecting freedom of religion.
113. | John Witte Jr. | Oxford University Press | September 15, 2023
Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience. Explores how anti-establishment principles can protect religious believers as well as nonbelievers in a pluralistic society.
114. | Cécile Laborde and Sune Lægaard | Oxford University Press | December 13, 2019
Liberal Nationalism and Symbolic Religious Establishment. Examines whether states can endorse elements of a historically religious national identity without violating liberal equality.
115. | Christian Joppke | British Journal of Sociology | December 10, 2013
A Christian Identity for the Liberal State? Argues that some forms of Christian national identity may be compatible with liberal pluralism, depending on how minorities and citizenship are treated.
116. | Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh | Oxford University Press | March 21, 2013
Models of Religion-State Relations. Updated treatment of how different church-state systems affect religious freedom in liberal democracies.
117. | Paul Cliteur | International Journal of Constitutional Law | January 2012
State and Religion Against the Backdrop of Religious Radicalism. Compares secular government, multiculturalism, established churches, political atheism, and theocracy within a liberal-democratic framework.
118. | Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh | Oxford University Press | October 13, 2005
Models of Religion-State Relations. Compares theocracy, establishment, separationism, pluralism, neutrality, and other institutional models.
119. | Ian Leigh | Oxford University Press | October 13, 2005
Is Establishment Consistent with Religious Freedom? Directly considers the argument that an established religion and substantial religious liberty are not inherently incompatible.
Christianity and Democratic Government
120. | John Anderson | Manchester University Press / Cambridge Core | April 14, 2026
Christianity and Democratisation: Introduction. Surveys the complicated historical relationship between Christian traditions and democratization.
121. | John Anderson | Manchester University Press / Cambridge Core | April 14, 2026
The Protestant Ethic Revisited: Conservative Christianity and the Quality of American Democracy. Evaluates the American Christian Right in relation to democratic institutions, courts, political authority, and cultural conflict.
122. | Political Science Scholarship | Cambridge University Press | 2025
Faith in Democracy: The Logic of Church Advocacy for Liberal Democratic Institutions in Africa. Studies circumstances under which Christian churches actively defend liberal-democratic institutions rather than undermine them.
123. | Political Science Scholarship | Cambridge University Press | 2025
Church Interests in Liberal Democracy. Shows how churches can develop material and institutional incentives to defend independent courts, legislatures, opposition parties, and other democratic constraints.
124. | Gary Chartier | Cambridge University Press | 2023
Christianity and the Nation-State. Offers a Christian theological defense of liberalism and cosmopolitanism while criticizing nationalism and religious establishment.
125. | J. I. Packer | Christianity Today | August 2020
The Bible's Guide for Christian Activism. Reprints a Christian argument for democratic participation, public consent, and respect for political procedures.
126. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | June 2019
A Political Theology of “Power to the People.” Discusses Luke Bretherton's theological case for democracy and Christian participation in pluralistic public life.
127. | Political Thought Scholars | Cambridge University Press | 2003
Christian Democracy. Reviews the historical development of Christian democratic movements that reconciled strong Christian commitments with competitive elections, pluralism, and constitutional government.
128. | John W. de Gruchy | Cambridge University Press | 1995
The Polity of Modernity. Traces connections among Christianity, liberalism, individual rights, religious tolerance, and modern democratic ideas.
129. | Christianity Today Institute | Christianity Today | April 1985
The Christian as Citizen. Presents an evangelical Christian argument for participation in and commitment to democratic procedures in religiously plural societies.
Christian Arguments About Nationalism
130. | Megan Fowler | Christianity Today | July 30, 2026
The Summer of Taking Christian Nationalism Seriously. Reports on Christian denominations debating and studying Christian nationalism from within their own theological traditions.
131. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | June 2026
A Political Pulpit for Me but Not for Thee. Discusses the distinction between religious arguments offered within democratic competition and attempts to place one religion outside ordinary democratic constraints.
132. | Chris Butler | Christianity Today | May 2026
Not Everything Is Christian Nationalism. Warns against labeling ordinary disputes over immigration, abortion, religious liberty, and cultural integration as inherently Christian nationalist.
133. | Christianity Today | Christianity Today | March 2026
American Christianity Is More Than Its Politics. Reviews the diversity of American Christian traditions and cautions against reducing Christianity's relationship with national politics to a single political movement.
134. | Scott Waller, Darren Patrick Guerra, and Tim Milosch | Christianity Today | March 2024
American Democracy Is in Trouble. No, Not Like That. Makes a Christian case that religious faith can strengthen civic virtue and democratic culture without requiring a Christian state.
135. | Bonnie Kristian | Christianity Today | March 2024
How (Not) to Talk About Christian Nationalism. Argues for separating racism, coercive nationalism, and political idolatry from legitimate religious political participation and criticism of liberalism.
136. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | March 2023
Christianity Is Not Necessary for Democracy. Challenges the claim that continued Christian cultural dominance is required for democratic government to survive.
Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy. Discusses how Christian and Jewish religious traditions can contribute to liberal democracy while resisting exclusionary religious nationalism.
138. | Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | February 2021
What Is Christian Nationalism? Distinguishes ordinary Christian political participation from nationalism centered on Christian cultural or political dominance.
Civil Religion as an Alternative
139. | Amy E. Black and Douglas L. Koopman | Cambridge University Press | October 9, 2025
Alternative Visions of National Identity. Directly compares Christian nationalism, secularism, and inclusive civil religion as frameworks for American democratic identity.
140. | Georgetown University Berkley Center | Georgetown University | 2025
With God on Our Side: On the Future(s) of Religion, Culture, and the Politics of Statecraft. Examines the fusion of religious sovereignty, nationalism, citizenship, and state power in contemporary politics.
141. | Amy E. Black and Douglas L. Koopman | Cambridge University Press | 2025
Civil Religion and the Renewal of American Politics. Compares Christian nationalism, strict secularism, and pluralistic civil religion as competing visions of national identity.
142. | Sarah Riccardi-Swartz | Georgetown University Berkley Center | March 30, 2022
Christian Nationalisms and Building New Social Realities. Uses Russian Orthodoxy and transnational examples to show that Christian nationalism takes distinct forms in different political environments.
143. | Robert J. Joustra | Georgetown University Berkley Center | 2021
Changing Faces on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Advocates a pluralistic understanding of religious liberty that protects multiple faiths rather than treating it as a privilege of one national religion.
144. | Craig Calhoun and José Casanova | Georgetown University Berkley Center | 2020
The Religious and Secular Sources of Democracy and Nationalism. Examines the intertwined historical roots of national identity, religion, cosmopolitanism, and democratic government.
145. | José Casanova | Georgetown University Berkley Center | December 2, 2015
Religious Pluralism and Post-national European Democracy. Explores how religious homogenization shaped European nationalism and argues for political systems based on equal rights amid religious diversity.
146. | Georgetown University Berkley Center | Georgetown University | April 21–22, 2005
Conference on New Religious Pluralism and Democracy. Brings together scholarship on religious diversity, democratic institutions, minority incorporation, and church-state relations.
Public Opinion: Religion, Government, and Democracy
147. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | September 24, 2026
New Report Analyzes the Two-Thirds of Americans Who Resist Christian Nationalism. Examines relationships between rejection of Christian-nationalist propositions and democratic ideals using the 2025 American Values Atlas.
148. | Chip Rotolo and Gregory A. Smith | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
How Americans Feel About Religion's Influence in Government and Public Life. Provides current survey evidence on religion in government, church-state separation, Christian nationalism, and official establishment.
149. | PRRI | Public Religion Research Institute | September 10, 2024
One Leader Under God. Examines Christian-nationalist measures alongside authoritarian attitudes, democratic principles, immigration, gender roles, and political violence.
Constitutional Safeguards of Liberal Democracy
150. | U.S. Supreme Court | County of Allegheny v. ACLU | July 3, 1989
County of Allegheny v. ACLU. Considers whether government displays of Christian and Jewish religious symbols constitute unconstitutional endorsement.
151. | U.S. Supreme Court | Lynch v. Donnelly | March 5, 1984
Lynch v. Donnelly. Examines religious symbols, historical tradition, and government acknowledgment of religion.
152. | U.S. Supreme Court | Lemon v. Kurtzman | June 28, 1971
Lemon v. Kurtzman. Historically important Establishment Clause decision concerning government entanglement with religion.
153. | U.S. Supreme Court | Zorach v. Clauson | April 28, 1952
Zorach v. Clauson. Demonstrates that constitutional separation of church and state does not require government hostility toward religion.
Political Equality and Religious Pluralism
154. | U.S. Supreme Court | Kennedy v. Bremerton School District | June 27, 2022
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Revises modern Establishment Clause analysis and emphasizes historical practices alongside protection of individual religious exercise.
155. | U.S. Supreme Court | Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue | June 30, 2020
Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. Further develops constitutional principles regarding equal treatment of religious institutions.
156. | U.S. Supreme Court | Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer | June 26, 2017
Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer. Holds that religious status generally cannot be the basis for exclusion from an otherwise available public benefit.
157. | U.S. Supreme Court | Zelman v. Simmons-Harris | June 27, 2002
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris. Addresses religious institutions' participation in neutral public-benefit programs.
