Christian Nationalism and Minority Rights
Christian Nationalism and Minority Rights
Christian nationalism generally refers to a political and cultural outlook that connects American national identity with Christianity and favors a prominent or privileged role for Christianity in public institutions, law, and national life. The research gathered here examines how this worldview intersects with the rights and social standing of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, religious minorities, nonbelievers, LGBTQ people, and other groups whose identities may fall outside traditional conceptions of a Christian nation.
The literature does not treat Christian nationalism as synonymous with Christianity, religious observance, conservatism, or a single political organization. Researchers distinguish Christian-nationalist beliefs from ordinary religious commitment and also find substantial differences in how such beliefs operate among White, Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and other populations. As a result, questions about minority rights require attention both to the content of Christian-nationalist ideas and to the racial, religious, and political contexts in which those ideas are expressed.
Race, Racial Identity, and National Belonging
Race is one of the most extensively studied dimensions of Christian nationalism. A substantial body of research examines connections among Christian nationalism, White racial identity, racial boundaries, perceptions of discrimination, policing, interracial relationships, and judgments about who is regarded as fully American.
Studies of White respondents frequently associate stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs with stronger White racial solidarity or with definitions of American identity that give greater symbolic prominence to White Christians. Other research examines how Christian nationalism relates to interpretations of racial inequality, including perceptions of discrimination against Black Americans and assessments of racial disparities in policing.
Historical scholarship places these contemporary patterns within older relationships among Christianity, race, colonial expansion, segregation, immigration restrictions, and national identity. Some accounts trace ways in which religious narratives were used to legitimate racial hierarchy or unequal citizenship in earlier periods of American history.
At the same time, the research repeatedly warns against assuming that Christian-nationalist beliefs have identical meanings across racial groups. Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and White respondents may endorse similar survey statements while connecting them to different historical experiences, theological traditions, political identities, or conceptions of national belonging.
Research on Black Americans, for example, notes the importance of Black religious traditions and a history in which Christianity has also provided language for emancipation, civil rights, and demands for equal citizenship. Studies of Hispanic Americans similarly point to differences involving religious tradition, immigration, ethnicity, and political identity. Research involving Asian Americans has examined perceptions of foreignness, anti-Asian prejudice, and White privilege.
These findings suggest that Christian nationalism should be analyzed not merely as a religious identity but as a framework whose political meaning can depend substantially on race and social context.
Immigration, Citizenship, and National Membership
Immigration provides another major area in which Christian nationalism intersects with minority rights. Research in the uploaded material examines attitudes toward immigrants, refugees, deportation, border enforcement, birthright citizenship, assimilation, demographic change, and definitions of who belongs within the American nation.
Several studies associate stronger Christian-nationalist identification with greater distrust of immigrants or more restrictive immigration preferences. Researchers have examined perceived cultural threat as one mechanism behind these relationships, including fears that immigration may alter the religious, racial, or cultural character of the United States.
Refugees have also been studied within this framework. Research on state refugee-resettlement debates describes ways refugees can be portrayed simultaneously as foreign, racialized, religiously different, and culturally threatening.
Recent survey research extends these questions to immigration enforcement, deportation, due process, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, citizenship, and demographic replacement beliefs. These debates raise minority-rights questions because policies concerning entry, detention, deportation, and citizenship determine who receives legal protection and who is recognized as a full member of the political community.
As with race, however, the relationship is not uniform. Studies comparing White, Black, and Hispanic Christian nationalists find differences in immigration attitudes and in the political meaning associated with Christian-nationalist identification.
Religious Minorities and Nonbelievers
The status of Jews, Muslims, atheists, and members of other minority faiths lies near the center of the minority-rights debate surrounding Christian nationalism. If Christianity is treated as a defining characteristic of national identity, a central question becomes whether citizens who do not identify as Christian are regarded as equally legitimate members of the nation.
Research in the uploaded collection examines attitudes toward Muslims, Jews, atheists, Buddhists, Mormons, minority Christian traditions, and other religious communities. Studies investigate antisemitism, anti-Muslim attitudes, distrust of atheists, and willingness to grant equal political rights to groups perceived as religious outsiders.
Research on Muslims has found associations between religious nationalism and negative perceptions of Islam, while studies of atheists investigate the relationship between Christian nationalism and distrust of nonreligious Americans. Other scholarship examines antisemitism and the ways conspiracy beliefs, religious dominance, and political identity may overlap.
The material also includes research on violence against religious minorities. Quantitative work has examined whether stronger political expression of Christian-nationalist ideology is statistically associated with attacks on minority religious communities.
These debates distinguish religious freedom from religious privilege. Religious liberty protects the ability of Christians and non-Christians alike to practice their faith, change religions, or practice no religion. Minority-rights concerns arise when government policy is perceived as granting one religious tradition greater civic legitimacy or governmental support than others.
Religious Pluralism and Church-State Separation
A recurring theme across the sources is the distinction between a society in which Christianity has substantial cultural influence and a government that formally privileges Christianity.
Public-opinion research shows disagreement among Americans about whether Christianity should receive official recognition, whether biblical principles should influence law, and how much government should promote religious values. These disagreements involve competing interpretations of both religious liberty and national identity.
Supporters of a stronger Christian role in public life may describe such policies as recognition of American religious heritage or protection of religious expression. Critics argue that government endorsement of Christianity may weaken equal treatment for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and other citizens.
The minority-rights question therefore centers not on whether Christians may participate fully in politics—they may—but on whether governmental institutions apply the same constitutional and civil protections to people regardless of religious identity.
LGBTQ Rights, Gender, and Nondiscrimination
Another substantial portion of the research addresses Christian nationalism and LGBTQ rights. Topics include same-sex marriage, nondiscrimination laws, religious exemptions, gender roles, sexuality, reproductive policy, and traditional-family ideology.
Survey research identifies substantial differences among Christian-nationalism categories regarding same-sex marriage and legal protections against discrimination. Studies also examine circumstances in which religious-liberty claims conflict with nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
Christian-nationalist ideas frequently intersect with traditional conceptions of gender and family. Some scholarship examines the connection between national identity, heterosexual family structures, patriarchy, gender expectations, and opposition to social changes involving sexuality and gender.
The relationship is nevertheless more complicated than a simple division between Christian nationalists and LGBTQ people. Research in the uploaded material finds that some lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans themselves express Christian-nationalist beliefs. This reinforces the broader finding that political and religious identities can overlap in ways that do not fit simple demographic categories.
The resulting policy disputes frequently involve competing claims about religious liberty, equal protection, private conscience, access to public services, marriage rights, and governmental nondiscrimination requirements.
Public Schools and Minority Religious Rights
Public education has become an important arena for disputes over Christian nationalism and minority rights. The uploaded sources discuss Ten Commandments displays, Bible instruction, school prayer, religious chaplains, curriculum disputes, Pride flags, LGBTQ students, and the treatment of religion in public classrooms.
Supporters of Bible instruction or religious displays may describe them as recognition of history, culture, morality, or religious heritage. Opponents raise concerns about government endorsement of religion and the possibility that students from minority faiths or nonreligious families could experience official pressure to participate in Christian practices.
Because attendance at public schools is widespread and schools are government institutions, these disputes place questions of religious equality in a particularly visible setting. The central constitutional and minority-rights issue is whether schools can acknowledge religion without using government authority to favor one religious tradition.
School debates also overlap with race, immigration, sexuality, and historical interpretation. Campaigns concerning school boards, books, racial history, LGBTQ students, and curriculum frequently appear alongside campaigns concerning religion in public education.
Voting, Political Participation, and Equal Citizenship
Minority rights also depend on the ability of citizens to participate equally in political institutions. Research in the uploaded collection examines Christian nationalism in relation to voting access, citizenship, elections, political dissent, and perceptions of who deserves political influence.
One line of scholarship studies support for restrictions on voting access. Other research examines whether Christian-nationalist attitudes are associated with different standards of political tolerance for groups perceived as allies or opponents.
These questions relate to a broader distinction between majoritarian political power and equal citizenship. In a pluralistic democracy, political groups may attempt to persuade voters and enact their policies through elections. Minority-rights principles, however, generally concern whether basic rights continue to apply to groups that lack majority support.
Research therefore examines whether political participation, legal protection, and civil liberties are understood as universal rights or as benefits that may vary according to a group's cultural, religious, or political standing.
Rule of Law and Political Tolerance
Several studies directly investigate whether Christian-nationalist beliefs affect the equal application of law.
Experimental research examines whether people support different legal outcomes depending on whether the group receiving protection or punishment is perceived as part of a Christian in-group or a religious or political out-group. Related studies investigate willingness to extend civil liberties to unpopular groups.
Political tolerance is particularly important because minority rights are most consequential when applied to communities that a political majority dislikes or distrusts. Freedom of speech, religious liberty, due process, voting rights, and equal protection operate as minority protections precisely because they do not depend entirely on popularity.
Research in this area therefore asks whether legal rules are applied consistently across groups and whether citizens support equal rights even for communities whose values they oppose.
Historical Context
The relationship between religion, national identity, and minority rights long predates the modern terminology of Christian nationalism.
The uploaded sources trace relevant themes through European colonization, relations with Indigenous peoples, slavery, racial segregation, immigration restrictions, Protestant cultural dominance, and later movements of the Christian Right.
Historical accounts discuss periods in which Christian language was used to support social hierarchy as well as periods in which Christian movements challenged slavery, segregation, and other forms of inequality. This history illustrates why Christianity itself cannot be treated as politically uniform.
Modern Christian nationalism similarly includes different theological and political traditions. Researchers distinguish among forms such as charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, Catholic integralism, and broader cultural forms of Christian national identity.
Understanding these distinctions is important because organizations and individuals described as Christian nationalist may differ substantially in theology, institutional strategy, and policy priorities.
Christian Nationalism Across Racial and Religious Communities
One of the clearest themes in the research is that Christian nationalism is not restricted to White evangelical Protestants.
Survey research identifies adherents and sympathizers among Black Christians, Hispanic Christians, Catholics, and other communities. The political implications of those beliefs, however, can vary substantially.
For some White respondents, Christian nationalism is strongly associated with White identity politics and racial solidarity. Among Black respondents, similar survey statements may sometimes reflect theological language, historically Black religious traditions, or understandings of the nation that differ from White Christian nationalism. Hispanic respondents similarly show internal differences connected with religious affiliation, immigration experience, ethnicity, and partisanship.
This variation complicates efforts to treat Christian nationalism as a single, unified ideology. Researchers increasingly examine not only whether people endorse Christian-nationalist statements but also what those statements mean within different communities.
Minority Rights and Democratic Pluralism
Across the research, minority rights are closely connected with the broader idea of democratic pluralism.
Pluralism assumes that citizens can hold sharply different religious, political, racial, and cultural identities while retaining equal civic standing. Under this principle, Christians may advocate policies inspired by their beliefs, just as members of other religions or nonreligious citizens may participate politically according to their own convictions.
The dispute surrounding Christian nationalism concerns what happens when national identity itself becomes closely tied to one religious tradition. If Christianity becomes a qualification—formal or informal—for being regarded as authentically American, questions arise about the social and political standing of citizens outside that tradition.
Research addresses these questions through several indicators: attitudes toward immigrants, Muslims, atheists, racial minorities, LGBTQ people, voting access, government religious displays, law enforcement, political tolerance, and the treatment of unpopular groups.
At the same time, the literature shows that Christianity and Christian nationalism should not be treated as interchangeable. Christian individuals and organizations appear both among advocates of Christian-nationalist political projects and among prominent opponents who argue that religious freedom requires government neutrality among faiths.
Conclusion
The research on Christian nationalism and minority rights centers on a fundamental question: who is regarded as a full member of the political community, and are the same rights extended to people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, immigration background, sexual orientation, or political identity?
The literature examines this question across racial inequality, immigration, religious pluralism, LGBTQ rights, public education, voting, civil liberties, and the rule of law. Many studies find associations between stronger Christian-nationalist beliefs and more restrictive definitions of national belonging or differing attitudes toward particular minority groups. Other research demonstrates that these relationships vary significantly across racial, religious, and political communities.
The evidence therefore portrays Christian nationalism neither as a single organization nor as a belief system with identical consequences in every population. It is better understood as a collection of ideas connecting Christianity with national identity whose meaning and political effects depend on historical, racial, religious, and institutional context.
For minority rights, the central issue is the relationship between majority political power and equal citizenship. The continuing debate concerns how a nation with a historically influential Christian tradition accommodates religious diversity, racial and ethnic pluralism, changing family structures, immigration, and competing political identities while determining which rights and protections apply equally to all citizens.
Race, Racial Identity, and National Belonging
1. | PRRI and Meanings of Democracy Lab | PRRI | September 24, 2026
Resistance to Christian Nationalism in All 50 States. Examines the relationship between rejection of Christian nationalism, religious pluralism, democratic principles, and demographic characteristics.
2. | Christopher H. Seto et al. | Criminology | August 6, 2026
Christian Nationalism, Race, and Contingent Support for Law Enforcement: Results from Two Survey Experiments. Shows that support for particular law-enforcement agencies varies according to whether those agencies are perceived as protecting an in-group or controlling an out-group.
3. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | February 17, 2026
Mapping Christian Nationalism Across the 50 States: Insights from PRRI's 2025 American Values Atlas. Updates national and state findings and reports substantial differences between White Christians, Christians of color, non-Christians, and the religiously unaffiliated.
4. | David Sikkink and Michael Emerson | Sociology of Religion | November 3, 2025
The Gathering Storm in the Evangelical Field: Education, Christian Nationalism, and Racial Inequality. Examines divisions among evangelicals over explanations for Black disadvantage and the role Christian nationalism plays in shaping those differences.
5. | Brooklyn Walker et al. | Perspectives on Politics | October 14, 2025
Religion Is Sometimes Raced: Christian Nationalism as In-Group Protection. Tests whether Christian nationalism operates principally through generalized out-group hostility or through efforts to protect particular racial and religious in-groups.
Religion Is Sometimes Raced: Christian Nationalism as In-Group Protection. Uses oversamples of Black, Latino, and White Christians to examine when Christian-nationalist attitudes produce different political effects across racial groups.
7. | Allyson Shortle and Michael R. Fisher Jr. | PRRI | August 12, 2025
How Christian Nationalist Rhetoric Can Influence Elections Across Race. Examines racial differences among Christian-nationalist adherents and sympathizers and cautions against assuming identical political consequences across groups.
8. | Samuel L. Perry | Sociology of Race and Ethnicity | July 14, 2025
How Christian Nationalism Promotes White Supremacy: An Examination of Racial Stereotypes. Examines how Christian nationalism relates to perceptions of White and non-White Americans and argues that the ideology can elevate White Americans as prototypical members of the nation even when explicitly hostile racial stereotypes are absent.
9. | Michael R. Fisher Jr. | PRRI | June 18, 2025
Understanding Authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism by Race. Compares relationships among race, authoritarianism, religious identity, and Christian-nationalist attitudes.
10. | Ansley Quiros | PRRI | May 14, 2025
Why Black Americans Identify as Christian Nationalists: Religiosity, Theology, and History Matter. Explains why endorsement of Christian-nationalist survey statements among Black Americans cannot automatically be assumed to have the same political or racial meaning that it has among White respondents.
White or Woke Christian Nationalists? How Race Moderates the Link Between Christian Nationalism and Progressive Identities. Demonstrates that racial identity substantially changes the relationship between Christian nationalism and identification with progressive or “woke” politics.
12. | Samuel L. Perry and Darci K. Schmidgall | Ethnic and Racial Studies | April 3, 2025
How Christian Nationalism Co-opts Black Americans for Republicans: The Case of Abortion in the 2024 Presidential Election. Examines how Christian-nationalist beliefs can interact differently with racial identity and political behavior among Black and White Americans.
13. | Anita Huízar-Hernández | PRRI | March 17, 2025
Christian Nationalism and Hispanic Americans: Unpacking the Data. Explores religious tradition, racial identity, partisanship, immigration, and other factors behind Christian-nationalist identification among Hispanic Americans.
14. | Samuel L. Perry and Joshua B. Grubbs | Social Forces | February 23, 2025
The Religion of White Identity Politics: Christian Nationalism and White Racial Solidarity. Finds that Christian nationalism is strongly associated with White racial identity and solidarity while producing substantially different relationships among Black and Hispanic Americans.
15. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | February 4, 2025
Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States: Insights from PRRI's 2024 American Values Atlas. Provides state and national estimates while comparing Christian-nationalist identification among White, Black, Hispanic, Asian American, and multiracial populations.
16. | Christopher H. Seto | Sociology of Religion | January 20, 2025
The Faces of God's Country: Christian Nationalism in the United States and the Implicit Association of Asian Faces with Foreignness. Investigates whether Christian nationalism contributes to perceptions of Asian Americans as foreigners rather than prototypical Americans.
17. | Phoebe Petrovic / Wisconsin Watch and ProPublica | ProPublica | October 26, 2024
The Genesis of Christian Nationalism. Traces the development of Christian Reconstructionism, dominionism, the Christian Right, opposition to feminism and gay rights, and efforts to reshape American institutions.
18. | William Horne | TIME | October 17, 2024
The Christian Nationalism at the Heart of Jim Crow America. Places contemporary debates within a historical discussion of White Protestant political power, segregation, Asian exclusion, voting restrictions, and other forms of unequal citizenship.
19. | Fanhao Nie | Review of Religious Research | September 30, 2024
Internalized Racism? A Study of Christian Nationalism and Perceptions of Asian Hate and White Privilege Among Asians and Asian Americans. Investigates the association between Christian-nationalist beliefs and perceptions of anti-Asian discrimination and White privilege.
20. | Brooklyn Walker and Donald P. Haider-Markel | Politics and Religion | June 5, 2024
A Colorblind Christian Country? How Racial Attitudes Affect Support for Christian Nationalism and Civil Religion. Experimental research finds that racial cues can alter White respondents' support for Christian-nationalist expressions of national identity.
21. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | February 28, 2024
Support for Christian Nationalism in All 50 States. Maps Christian-nationalist attitudes and reports similarities and differences among racial and ethnic groups across the country.
22. | Laura Barrón-López and Sam Lane | PBS NewsHour | February 1, 2024
What Is Christian Nationalism and Why It Raises Concerns About Threats to Democracy. An interview examining Christian nationalism's definition, historical development, political influence, and relationship to racial and religious identity.
23. | American Black Journal | PBS | 2024
The Spirit of Justice. Discusses White Christian nationalism alongside Black Christianity and competing religious understandings of racial justice and American identity.
24. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | 2024
Understanding Differences Between Black and White Christian Nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers. Compares Black and White Christian nationalists on White supremacy, racial discrimination, immigration, abortion, guns, and other political questions.
25. | Robert P. Jones | TIME | August 31, 2023
Christian Nationalism Goes Back Further Than You Think. Examines the historical connections among European settlement, race, religion, national identity, and competing visions of a pluralistic United States.
26. | Samuel L. Perry and Kenneth E. Frantz | The Sociological Quarterly | July 7, 2023
Our Kind of American: Christian Nationalism, Race, and Contingent Views of Cultural Membership. Investigates exclusion, assimilation, and belonging among White, Black, and Hispanic Americans and shows that racial identity modifies how Christian nationalism operates.
27. | Eliza Griswold | The New Yorker | March 27, 2023
How Christian Is Christian Nationalism? Explores the movement's religious and cultural components, including its associations with White identity, immigration attitudes, political power, and opposition to pluralism.
Race over Religion: Christian Nationalism and Perceived Threats to National Unity. Examines whether racial or religious diversity is perceived as the greater challenge to national unity among Americans who score highly on Christian-nationalist measures.
29. | Brookings Institution and PRRI | Brookings Institution | February 8, 2023
Understanding the Threat of White Christian Nationalism to American Democracy Today. Examines connections among Christian nationalism, White identity, anti-Black sentiment, antisemitism, anti-Muslim attitudes, immigration, patriarchy, and authoritarianism.
30. | PRRI and Brookings Institution | PRRI | February 8, 2023
A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture. Major national survey examining Christian nationalism alongside White identity, anti-Black attitudes, antisemitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, immigration, patriarchy, authoritarianism, and political violence.
31. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | TIME | September 20, 2022
3 Threats Christian Nationalism Poses to the United States. Discusses ethno-racial boundaries, authoritarianism, hierarchy, and the implications of defining full American belonging in White Christian terms.
Divided by Faith (in Christian America): Christian Nationalism, Race, and Divergent Perceptions of Racial Injustice. Studies differences between Black and White Americans in perceptions of discrimination, policing, and racial injustice.
33. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | TIME | June 1, 2021
The Growing Threat of Christian Nationalism in the U.S. Connects Christian-nationalist ideas about hierarchy and civic worth to disputes over political participation, voting access, race, and democratic equality.
34. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | March 19, 2020
Boundaries. A chapter from Taking America Back for God examining Christian nationalism's relationship to race, ethnicity, immigration, citizenship, interracial relationships, policing, atheists, Muslims, and religious diversity.
35. | Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Oxford University Press | March 19, 2020
Introduction: A House Dividing. Defines Christian nationalism and distinguishes the ideology from ordinary Christian religious commitment, political conservatism, racism, and other overlapping attitudes.
36. | Joshua T. Davis and Samuel L. Perry | Social Problems | March 2020
White Christian Nationalism and Relative Political Tolerance for Racists. Examines whether Christian nationalism affects willingness to extend political and civil liberties to racists and other stigmatized ideological or minority groups.
God's Country in Black and Blue: How Christian Nationalism Shapes Americans' Views about Police (Mis)treatment of Blacks. Examines how Christian nationalism influences interpretations of racial disparities and allegations of police mistreatment of Black Americans.
38. | Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead | Ethnic and Racial Studies | March 6, 2015
Christian Nationalism and White Racial Boundaries: Examining Whites' Opposition to Interracial Marriage. Investigates the relationship between Christian-nationalist beliefs and maintenance of racial boundaries through attitudes toward interracial marriage.
Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship, and Nativism
39. | Christopher H. Seto | Sociology of Religion | May 24, 2026
In God We Trust: Christian Nationalism, Political and Ethno-Racial Identities, and Distrust of Immigrants. Finds an association between Christian nationalism and immigrant distrust while showing that the relationship varies by racial and political identity.
40. | Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry, and Andrew L. Whitehead | Nations and Nationalism | April 2026
Faith over Fear? Christian Nationalism and Cultural Fears in the United States. Finds relationships between Christian nationalism and fears concerning immigrants, Muslims, racial replacement, communism, and perceived losses of autonomy.
41. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | March 30, 2026
How Christian Nationalism Affects Views on Immigration. Compares White, Black, and Hispanic Christian nationalists on deportation, immigration enforcement, ICE, and perceptions of immigrants.
42. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | March 26, 2026
Immigration Enforcement, ICE, and Civil Liberties in the Second Trump Administration. Examines due process, immigration enforcement, government surveillance, and the relationship between those issues and Christian-nationalist identification.
43. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | 2026
What Is America? Immigration, National Identity, and Belonging. Examines who is regarded as genuinely American and connects Christian-nationalist identification with more restrictive definitions of national belonging.
44. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | 2026
The New Immigration Crackdown: Where Americans Stand. Compares attitudes toward detention and enforcement across religious traditions, racial groups, parties, and Christian-nationalism categories.
45. | Lydia Hernández-Marcial | Review & Expositor | April 28, 2025
Threatened Identity: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Christian Nationalism in the United States. Examines uses of biblical passages concerning foreigners and identity in contemporary immigration, racism, and xenophobia debates.
46. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | February 26, 2025
Religion, Immigration, and Racial and Religious Diversity. Compares religious groups' attitudes toward immigrants and racial diversity, providing demographic context for debates surrounding Christian nationalism.
47. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | February 26, 2025
Age, Race, Education and Other Demographic Traits of U.S. Religious Groups. Documents the racial and immigrant composition of Christian and non-Christian religious communities in the United States.
48. | Donald Kerwin | Journal of Law and Religion | 2024
The Trials and Consolations of Migrant-Serving Faith-Based Organizations. Discusses ethno-cultural nationalism, Christian identity, migrants, membership, and religious organizations serving immigrant populations.
49. | Michelle R. Smith | Associated Press / FRONTLINE | October 17, 2022
How Michael Flynn Goes Local to Spread Christian Nationalism. Investigates a political movement promoting Christian nationalism through school boards and local politics, including rhetoric about immigration, race, and LGBTQ people.
50. | Samuel Stroope, Heather M. Rackin, and Paul Froese | Socius | February 16, 2021
Christian Nationalism and Views of Immigrants in the United States: Is the Relationship Stronger for the Religiously Inactive? Distinguishes Christian-nationalist ideology from religious participation when examining views of undocumented Mexican immigrants.
51. | Rosemary Al-Kire et al. | Group Processes & Intergroup Relations | January 18, 2021
Protecting America's Borders: Christian Nationalism, Threat, and Attitudes toward Immigrants in the United States. Examines perceived threat as a mechanism connecting Christian nationalism with restrictive immigration views.
52. | Breanne Leigh Grace and Katie Heins | Ethnic and Racial Studies | June 2, 2020
Redefining Refugee: White Christian Nationalism in State Politics and Beyond. Analyzes debate over refugee-resettlement legislation and the construction of refugees as racialized, Muslim, foreign threats.
Religious Minorities, Nonbelievers, and Religious Liberty
53. | Jesse Smith | Religious Studies Review | September 2026
On Christian Nationalism. Reviews scholarly arguments about Christian nationalism, social dominance, immigration, voting, pluralism, and debates over the breadth of the concept.
54. | David Sikkink and Greg Wurm | Social Science Research | August 2026
Americans' Views of Religion in Public Life: The Effect of Three Cultural Models on Attitudes Toward Religious and Nonreligious Groups. Compares Christian nationalism, civil religion, and liberal secularism in shaping attitudes toward Muslims, atheists, Buddhists, Jews, Mormons, and conservative Christians.
55. | Alessandro Terenzoni | Americans United | July 2, 2026
Religious Liberty Commission Draft Report Advances Christian Nationalism. Critiques the federal commission's approach to Christian privilege, pluralism, and church-state separation.
56. | David Morris | Americans United | July 1, 2026
Reclaiming the Promise: Why the 250th Anniversary Belongs to Religious Freedom, Not Christian Nationalism. Discusses religious liberty as protection for Christians, minority faiths, and nonreligious Americans.
57. | Jackie Hajdenberg | Jewish Telegraphic Agency | May 15, 2026
Trump's 'Shabbat 250' Proclamation Divides America's Jews Ahead of National Mall Prayer Rally. Reports competing Jewish interpretations of government-sponsored religious symbolism and Christian-nationalist politics.
58. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
How Americans Feel About Religion's Influence in Government and Public Life. Measures attitudes toward official Christianity, biblical influence on laws, government promotion of religion, and Christian nationalism.
59. | Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons | Interfaith Alliance | May 1, 2026
Anti-Muslim Bigotry Betrays America's Founding Promise. Examines ways Christian-nationalist rhetoric can reinforce anti-Muslim prejudice and exclusion.
60. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | April 6, 2026
Trump Administration's Explicitly Religious Easter Messages Advance Christian Nationalism. Addresses government religious messaging and implications for citizens who practice minority religions or no religion.
61. | 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. Studies Christian nationalism, religious pluralism, threat, and willingness to extend equal civil liberties to disliked groups.
62. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | 2026
Religious Liberty Commission. Tracks litigation and disputes concerning religious minorities, government promotion of religion, and Christian-nationalist policy.
63. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | 2026
White Christian Nationalism. Overview connecting Christian nationalism with racial equality, LGBTQ equality, reproductive rights, religious minorities, and church-state separation.
64. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | 2026
Discrimination in the Name of Religion. Discusses conflicts between religious exemptions and protections against discrimination affecting marginalized groups.
65. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | 2026
How We Protect Religious Freedom. Resource covering religious minorities, atheists, racial justice, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and Christian nationalism.
66. | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | 2026
Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Documents a faith-based campaign opposing government preference for Christianity and supporting religious freedom for people of all religions and none.
67. | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | 2026
Christian Nationalism. Resource collection addressing Christian nationalism, religious pluralism, anti-Sharia legislation, church-state separation, and equal religious freedom.
68. | Amanpour & Company | PBS | December 19, 2025
The New Christian Right, Antisemitism & U.S. Democracy. Discusses antisemitism, Christian nationalism, ethnonationalism, immigration, and arguments over political equality for non-Christians.
69. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 20, 2025
Views of How Much Discrimination Muslims, Jews, Evangelicals and Atheists Face. Provides public-opinion context concerning discrimination against religious minority and nonreligious populations.
70. | Don Thorsen | The Ecumenical Review | 2025
Interreligious Dialogue and Religious Nationalism. Examines how Christian nationalism affects interfaith relations, religious pluralism, and the position of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and minority Christian traditions.
71. | Asaf Elia-Shalev | Jewish Telegraphic Agency | November 5, 2024
What Christian Nationalism Has in Store for Jews and Other Religious Minorities. Examines concerns among Jewish communities about Christian political supremacy, church-state separation, and the status of non-Christian citizens.
72. | To the Contrary | PBS | September 6, 2024
How Project 2025 Impacts the Separation of Church and State. Examines religiously justified policy proposals involving LGBTQ families, reproductive rights, religious minorities, immigrants, and public schools.
73. | 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. Provides one of the most directly relevant quantitative studies for assessing how political empowerment of Christian-nationalist ideas may affect the physical security and equal standing of minority religious communities.
74. | Andrew Silow-Carroll | Jewish Telegraphic Agency | June 30, 2024
Legal Scholar Noah Feldman on the 10 Commandments, Christian Nationalism and the Jewish Future of Church and State. Discusses how government preference for Christianity can affect Jewish religious life and church-state protections.
75. | Sachi Edwards | Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies | April 5, 2024
Implications of White Christian Nationalism for Religious Minorities. Argues that responses to Christian nationalism should take seriously the experiences of people from minority religions rather than treating the issue solely as a disagreement among Christians.
76. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | March 15, 2024
Christianity's Place in Politics and Christian Nationalism. Surveys attitudes toward government promotion of Christianity, an official Christian religion, biblical influence on law, and differences among Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and agnostics.
77. | Laura Flanders & Friends | PBS | 2024
God & Country: Christian Nationalism in U.S. Politics. Discussion of church-state separation, democracy, political power, religious pluralism, and Christian opposition to Christian nationalism.
78. | Paul A. Djupe and colleagues | Politics and Religion | 2024
The Ingroup Love and Outgroup Hate of Christian Nationalism: Experimental Evidence About the Implementation of the Rule of Law. Tests whether legal judgments and rule-of-law attitudes depend on the religious identity of groups receiving protection or punishment.
79. | Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Americans United | 2024
The Shadow Network Behind Project 2025. Examines organizations advocating policies involving church-state separation, LGBTQ equality, reproductive rights, and religious privilege.
80. | Fanhao Nie | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | November 6, 2023
In God We Distrust: Christian Nationalism and Anti-Atheist Attitude. Examines Christian-nationalist attitudes toward atheists and differences between individual and geographic contexts.
81. | Jacob Dennen et al. | Social Science Quarterly | February 22, 2023
Are Christian Nationalists Antisemitic and Why? Uses survey and experimental evidence to examine antisemitic stereotypes, Christian dominance, attitudes toward minority groups, and belief in QAnon.
82. | Jason Stanley | The Guardian | January 20, 2023
What I Tell My Black Jewish Children About Kanye West, Antisemitism and Race. Discusses the relationship among antisemitism, race, Christian supremacy, and the ideal of equal citizenship in a multiracial and multireligious democracy.
83. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | October 27, 2022
Views of the U.S. as a Christian Nation and Opinions About Christian Nationalism. Examines public definitions of Christian nationalism and concerns about privileging Christianity or excluding non-Christians.
84. | Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons and Maggie Siddiqi | Center for American Progress | April 13, 2022
Christian Nationalism Is 'Single Biggest Threat' to America's Religious Freedom. Interview with Baptist Joint Committee leader Amanda Tyler on Christian nationalism, religious liberty, and equal treatment of different faiths.
85. | Allyson F. Shortle and Ronald Keith Gaddie | Politics and Religion | June 19, 2015
Religious Nationalism and Perceptions of Muslims and Islam. Examines the connection between Christian religious nationalism and negative assessments of Muslims.
LGBTQ Rights, Gender, and Nondiscrimination
86. | Sophie Bjork-James | Cambridge University Press | April 22, 2026
Feeling at Home in Christian Nationalism: Sexuality and White Evangelicalism in the United States. Examines the connections among whiteness, heterosexual family norms, gender expectations, assimilation, and Christian nationalism.
87. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | March 19, 2026
Mapping Support for LGBTQ Rights Across the 50 States. Provides updated evidence concerning nondiscrimination protections, same-sex marriage, religious exemptions, and related religious and political divisions.
88. | Kim Chandler | Associated Press | April 17, 2025
Lawmakers Move to Mandate the Display of Ten Commandments and Ban Pride Flags in Alabama Schools. Reports legislation combining government-sponsored religious displays with restrictions affecting LGBTQ expression.
89. | Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe | Political Research Quarterly | February 14, 2025
Christian Nationalism Is Unbounded by LGB Identity. Finds that some lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans themselves express Christian-nationalist beliefs while examining how those beliefs relate to LGBTQ policy attitudes.
90. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | 2025
LGBTQ Rights Across All 50 States: Key Insights from PRRI's 2024 American Values Atlas. Examines LGBTQ policies alongside Christian-nationalist identification and religious affiliation.
91. | Clair | New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education | 2025
White Christian Nationalism: Adult Education and Threats to Democracy. Discusses racial hierarchy, gender roles, patriarchy, Christian nationalism, and the implications for marginalized communities.
92. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | March 12, 2024
Views on LGBTQ Rights in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI's 2023 American Values Atlas. Compares Christian-nationalism groups on nondiscrimination protections, same-sex marriage, and religiously based service refusals.
93. | Carter Sherman | The Guardian | March 2, 2024
What Alabama's IVF Ruling Reveals About the Ascendant Christian Nationalist Movement. Discusses reproductive policy alongside campaigns involving LGBTQ rights, sex education, public schools, and church-state separation.
94. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | March 23, 2023
More Acceptance but Growing Polarization on LGBTQ Rights. Shows substantial differences among Christian nationalism Adherents, Sympathizers, Skeptics, and Rejecters on LGBTQ nondiscrimination and same-sex marriage.
Public Schools and Minority Religious Rights
95. | Chicago Tonight | PBS | July 1, 2026
Debate over Religion in Public Schools. Discusses Bible-reading and Ten Commandments requirements alongside religious coercion, minority faith traditions, and White Christian nationalism.
96. | Austin InSight | PBS | 2025
The Full Conversation with Rep. James Talarico. Discusses Christian nationalism, Ten Commandments mandates, religious chaplains, private-school funding, and public education.
97. | Austin InSight | PBS | 2025
A Conversation with Rep. James Talarico. Discusses the relationship between Christian nationalism and efforts to increase government-sponsored religion in Texas schools.
How Schools in Oklahoma Are Responding to a New Bible Mandate. Reports concerns that government-directed Bible instruction could become religious indoctrination and affect students from minority religions.
99. | Associated Press | Associated Press | 2024
Some U.S. Lawmakers Want More Christianity in the Classroom. Surveys state-level efforts involving Ten Commandments displays, Bible curricula, public-school religion, and Christian-nationalist advocacy.
100. | Florida This Week | PBS | July 8, 2022
Christian Nationalism and Public Education. Discusses Christian-nationalist historical narratives and attempts to introduce them into public-school curricula.
Civil Liberties, Equal Protection, Voting, and Rule of Law
101. | PRRI Staff | PRRI | September 24, 2026
New Report Analyzes the Two-Thirds of Americans Who Resist Christian Nationalism. Summarizes national evidence concerning pluralism, democracy, religious differences, and opposition to Christian nationalism.
102. | Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | May 14, 2026
10% of U.S. Adults Now Express a Favorable View of Christian Nationalism. Tracks Americans' changing familiarity with and attitudes toward the term.
103. | John Ishiyama | Politics and Religion | September 15, 2025
Christian Nationalism and Attitudes About Democracy in Africa. Broadens the literature beyond the United States by examining Christian nationalism, democratic support, authoritarian alternatives, religious tolerance, and LGBTQ attitudes across African countries.
104. | Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | May 13, 2025
The Varieties of American Christian Nationalism. Distinguishes charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, and Catholic integralism, showing that Christian nationalist projects do not constitute one uniform movement.
105. | Paul A. Djupe and colleagues | Politics and Religion | 2024
Division on the Christian Right: Republican Pastors and the Use of Force. Examines Christian nationalism, minority status, political threat, social hierarchy, and willingness to endorse force in pursuit of political objectives.
106. | Samuel L. Perry et al. | Sociological Forum | 2022
I Don't Want Everybody to Vote: Christian Nationalism and Restricting Voter Access in the United States. Examines Christian nationalism as a predictor of support for restricting voting access and denying that voter suppression is a significant problem.
107. | Joshua Davis | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | June 22, 2018
Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States. Connects Christian-nationalist identity with support for punitive social-control policies and enforcement of conformity.
Historical and Institutional Context
108. | Liz Hayes | Americans United | August 3, 2026
On the Nation's 250th Anniversary, Christian Nationalists Condemn Freedom of Religion. Discusses disputes over religious pluralism and government promotion of a specifically Christian national identity.
109. | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | 2026
Respecting Religion: Christian Nationalism, Immigration, Anti-Sharia Laws, and Religious Freedom. Collection of discussions examining how church-state policies affect immigrants and minority faith communities.
Broader Minority-Rights and Pluralism Perspectives
110. | The Guardian | The Guardian | February 27, 2025
Testing Ground for Project 2025: Behind Oklahoma's Rightwing Push to Erode the Line Between Church and State. Examines public education, Bible instruction, church-state separation, religious minorities, and Christian-nationalist political organizing.
111. | Adam Gabbatt | The Guardian | January 19, 2025
Reactionary Nihilism: How a Rightwing Movement Strives to End US Democracy. Interview and book discussion examining Christian nationalism, pluralistic democracy, political power, and the movement's organizational infrastructure.
112. | Jason Wilson | The Guardian | March 19, 2024
Revealed: Documents Shed Light on Shadowy US Far-Right Fraternal Order. Reports on a Christian-nationalist organization emphasizing male leadership, cultural power, hierarchy, and an explicitly exclusionary conception of national renewal.
113. | ProPublica and Texas Monthly | ProPublica | 2024
A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That's Just the Start. Investigates dominionist networks and their influence on public education, elections, church-state separation, and state policymaking.
114. | TIME | TIME | October 2023
America's Proclivity for Extremism Has Religious Roots. Historical essay examining race, religion, colonization, slavery, political violence, and the development of White Christian nationalism.
