Christian Nationalism vs. Religious Conservatism
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Christian Nationalism vs. Religious Conservatism
Christian nationalism and religious conservatism overlap in parts of American political and religious life, but the two concepts are not synonymous. The distinction has become an important subject of debate among political scientists, sociologists, historians, theologians, journalists, polling organizations, and Christian writers themselves.
Religious conservatism generally refers to the application of traditional religious beliefs and moral teachings to social, cultural, and political questions. It can include positions concerning abortion, marriage, sexuality, education, family life, religious liberty, public morality, and the role of religion in society. Religious conservatives may participate actively in politics while continuing to support religious pluralism, constitutional government, and institutional separation between church and state.
Christian nationalism more specifically concerns the relationship between Christianity and national identity. Although researchers disagree about its precise definition, the term is commonly used to describe beliefs that Christianity should have a privileged relationship with the nation, its institutions, laws, public identity, or political authority. Some versions emphasize cultural heritage or national tradition, while stronger versions favor explicitly Christian government, law, or political identity.
Because people can support Christian moral influence without supporting a formally Christian state, scholars and religious commentators increasingly emphasize the importance of distinguishing Christian political participation, religious conservatism, patriotism, and Christian nationalism.
Definitions and Conceptual Boundaries
One of the central themes in scholarship on Christian nationalism is disagreement over where its boundaries should be drawn.
Some researchers describe Christian nationalism as a cultural framework joining Christian identity with ideas about the American nation. Others distinguish between different forms of Christian nationalism, including movements associated with charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, Catholic integralism, and other political-theological traditions.
Researchers have also proposed distinctions within Christian-nationalist attitudes themselves. One approach differentiates religious traditionalism, which emphasizes Christianity's influence on society, from Christian statism, which places greater emphasis on Christian authority within government.
These distinctions matter because beliefs that religion should influence public morality do not necessarily imply that government should formally identify itself as Christian.
Several scholars have consequently questioned whether commonly used Christian-nationalism survey scales sometimes combine religious traditionalism, political conservatism, patriotism, national identity, and attitudes toward church and state. Other researchers defend the usefulness of Christian nationalism as a distinct concept while continuing to refine how it is measured.
The resulting literature shows that Christian nationalism should not automatically be treated as another name for evangelical Christianity, conservative Christianity, Republican politics, patriotism, or religious participation.
Religious Conservatism
Religious conservatism has a much broader history than the contemporary Christian-nationalism debate.
American religious conservatives have organized politically around issues including abortion, sexuality, marriage, education, homeschooling, feminism, religious freedom, family policy, school prayer, and cultural change. Many of these political movements developed decades before the term Christian nationalism became widely used in contemporary scholarship and journalism.
The Religious Right and Christian Right became particularly important political forces during the second half of the twentieth century. Their organizations brought conservative Christians into electoral politics and developed political networks centered on moral and social issues.
Religious conservatism, however, does not require the belief that citizenship, national belonging, or governmental legitimacy should depend on Christianity.
A religious conservative might believe that Christian moral principles should influence public policy while simultaneously supporting equal citizenship for people of all religions and no religion. Conservative Christians may also disagree substantially among themselves about nationalism, church-state relations, religious establishment, democracy, and the proper limits of political power.
Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism places greater emphasis on connecting Christian identity with the political or cultural identity of the nation.
Depending on the definition being used, Christian-nationalist ideas can include beliefs that the nation has a special relationship with Christianity, that Christianity should receive governmental recognition or preference, that national institutions should reflect explicitly Christian principles, or that Christian identity forms an important part of legitimate national belonging.
Not everyone described by scholars or journalists as a Christian nationalist accepts the label. Conversely, some political and religious writers openly defend forms of Christian nationalism while defining the concept differently from its critics.
This produces considerable disagreement about what the term includes.
Some advocates describe Christian nationalism primarily in terms of cultural inheritance, social cohesion, moral tradition, and recognition of Christianity's historical role. Critics and many scholars focus more heavily on political privilege, religious establishment, exclusionary national identity, or the use of governmental power to advance a specifically Christian political order.
The existence of these competing definitions is itself an important feature of the debate.
Influence Versus Identity
One particularly useful distinction in the literature is between Christian influence and Christian identity.
Christian influence occurs when Christians participate in democratic politics and advocate policies based partly on their religious convictions. Such participation can occur within a religiously pluralistic political system.
Christian national identity goes further by defining the political community, state, or nation itself as specifically Christian.
This distinction explains why opposition to abortion, support for traditional marriage, advocacy for religious liberty, or voting according to Christian moral beliefs does not by itself establish that someone holds Christian-nationalist views.
The important question is not simply whether Christianity influences political beliefs, but how Christianity is understood in relation to national membership, governmental authority, law, and the political identity of the country.
Patriotism and Nationalism
The relationship between patriotism and Christian nationalism is another area of debate.
Patriotism generally describes attachment, affection, or loyalty toward one's country. Christian patriotism may combine that attachment with religious belief without asserting that the country should formally belong to Christians or possess a specifically Christian government.
Nationalism can involve stronger claims about national identity, sovereignty, culture, political unity, and who properly belongs to the national community.
Christian writers represented in the source material disagree over where legitimate patriotism ends and Christian nationalism begins. Some argue that the Christian-nationalism label is sometimes applied too broadly to conventional expressions of faith and patriotism. Others argue that explicitly connecting Christian identity with national political authority represents a meaningful ideological distinction.
The debate therefore concerns both political substance and terminology.
Polling and Public Attitudes
Survey research demonstrates why careful distinctions are necessary.
Americans express different attitudes depending on whether questions concern religion's general influence on society, promotion of Christian moral values, church participation in politics, separation of church and state, or formal establishment of Christianity.
A person may favor greater religious influence in public life while opposing an official national religion. Likewise, someone may believe that Christianity has played an important role in American history without believing that governmental institutions should privilege Christians.
Polling organizations therefore use multiple questions rather than a single measure when studying Christian nationalism.
Different research organizations also use different classification systems. These methodological differences can produce disagreements over how many Americans should be considered supporters of Christian nationalism.
The debate over measurement is consequently part of the broader debate over the meaning of the concept itself.
Christian Nationalism and the Christian Right
Christian nationalism and the Christian Right are historically connected but should not automatically be treated as identical.
The Christian Right developed through decades of political mobilization around family values, abortion, education, sexuality, religious liberty, anticommunism, and other concerns. Many conservative Christian organizations sought greater influence over public policy without necessarily advocating a formally Christian political order.
At the same time, ideas about America as a Christian nation have appeared repeatedly within the history of American Protestant political activism.
Contemporary Christian nationalism therefore has both continuity and discontinuity with earlier religious conservatism.
Some movements associated with today's Christian nationalism grew from institutions, political networks, theological ideas, and cultural conflicts connected with the older Religious Right. Other religious conservatives reject Christian nationalism and regard their political participation as fundamentally different from nationalist political theology.
Internal Christian Debate
Christian nationalism is not simply a dispute between religious and secular Americans. It is also a substantial debate within Christianity.
Evangelical, Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, and other Christian writers and institutions have debated nationalism, religious establishment, patriotism, pluralism, religious liberty, and Christian participation in government.
Some Christian thinkers argue that nationalism risks placing national identity above religious commitments or using governmental power in ways inconsistent with Christian teaching.
Others defend versions of Christian nationalism, arguing that Christianity historically shaped Western political institutions and can provide moral purposes, social cohesion, or limitations on national power.
Still others reject both approaches and argue that the term Christian nationalism has become too imprecise to be analytically useful.
These disagreements demonstrate that conservative Christianity itself contains competing political traditions.
Denominational Responses
Christian denominations have increasingly discussed Christian nationalism through conferences, reports, educational programs, sermons, resolutions, and theological statements.
Some denominations have formally criticized Christian nationalism or distinguished it from Christian faith and ordinary political participation. Others continue to debate how the term should be defined before adopting official positions.
Church discussions often focus on several recurring questions:
- Can Christians participate actively in politics without defining the nation as Christian?
- What distinguishes patriotism from nationalism?
- How should churches understand religious liberty in a pluralistic society?
- Should Christian symbols be associated with national political power?
- What is the proper relationship between church authority and governmental authority?
- Can a government favor Christian moral principles without establishing Christianity?
- How should Christians balance national loyalty with religious commitments?
These debates show that Christian communities do not hold a single position on nationalism.
Race, Identity, and National Belonging
A substantial body of scholarship examines the relationship between Christian nationalism, race, ethnicity, immigration, and national belonging.
Some studies find important associations between Christian-nationalist attitudes and particular understandings of American identity. Researchers have also found that Christian-nationalist beliefs can operate differently among white, Black, Hispanic, and other populations.
This has produced debate over the concept of white Christian nationalism. Some researchers use the term to describe the interaction of Christian national identity with white racial identity and particular understandings of American history and belonging.
Other scholars caution against assuming that Christian nationalism operates identically across racial groups or that Christianity itself should be equated with racial nationalism.
The literature therefore increasingly treats race, religion, nationalism, and political identity as related but analytically distinct factors.
Religious Pluralism and Church-State Relations
Religious pluralism provides another important dividing line between religious conservatism and stronger forms of Christian nationalism.
Many religious conservatives support public expression of Christianity while also supporting equal legal rights for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, and members of other religious communities.
Stronger Christian-nationalist theories may instead argue that Christianity deserves a distinctive institutional, legal, or symbolic position because of the country's history, culture, or religious inheritance.
Debates over school prayer, public religious symbols, religious displays, religious exemptions, Christian moral values, and church-state separation often reveal these differences.
The core dispute concerns not simply whether Christianity should be visible in public life, but whether governmental institutions should treat Christianity differently from other religious or nonreligious worldviews.
Contemporary Political Movements
Contemporary reporting shows that explicitly Christian-nationalist ideas coexist with a much larger universe of conventional conservative Christian political activism.
Political rallies, religious organizations, pastors, intellectual networks, national-conservative organizations, and advocacy groups sometimes combine Christian symbolism with arguments about national renewal or political authority.
However, religious symbolism alone does not establish that a movement is Christian nationalist.
Christian worship, public prayer, biblical references, opposition to abortion, support for religious liberty, or conservative voting can occur independently of nationalist ideology.
Determining whether a movement is appropriately described as Christian nationalist therefore requires examining its claims about national identity, political authority, citizenship, religious establishment, and the relationship between Christianity and government.
International Comparisons
Christian nationalism is not exclusively an American phenomenon.
Researchers have examined relationships between Christianity and nationalism in Africa, Europe, South Africa, Ethiopia, and other political environments. Comparative research shows that religious nationalism takes different forms depending on national history, religious demographics, political institutions, and relations between church and state.
International comparisons also reinforce the distinction between conservative religious belief and religious nationalism.
A population can be strongly Christian and socially conservative without necessarily supporting a Christian-nationalist political system. Conversely, nationalist movements may employ Christian identity even among populations where religious participation is comparatively weak.
Why the Distinction Matters
Distinguishing Christian nationalism from religious conservatism improves analysis of religion and politics.
Using the terms interchangeably can obscure substantial differences among Christians who participate in political life. It can also make it difficult to distinguish ordinary religious advocacy from political projects seeking a special constitutional, cultural, or governmental status for Christianity.
At the same time, drawing an absolute boundary between the two can obscure their historical connections.
Christian nationalism has developed partly within political and religious traditions that also contributed to the Christian Right and broader religious conservatism. Individuals and organizations may therefore occupy positions along a spectrum rather than fitting neatly into separate categories.
The most useful analysis considers specific beliefs about political authority, national identity, citizenship, church-state relations, religious privilege, pluralism, and the legitimate role of government rather than relying exclusively on political or religious labels.
Conclusion
Christian nationalism and religious conservatism are overlapping but distinct concepts.
Religious conservatism broadly describes political and social positions shaped by traditional religious beliefs. It can include extensive Christian involvement in elections, legislation, education, family policy, religious liberty, and public moral debates without requiring a Christian national identity or Christian government.
Christian nationalism more specifically connects Christianity with ideas about national identity, political authority, governmental institutions, or the definition of the nation itself.
The boundary between the two remains contested. Scholars disagree about definitions and measurement, Christian thinkers disagree about theology and political legitimacy, denominations disagree about how nationalism should be addressed, and political movements themselves use the terminology in different ways.
The accumulated research nevertheless demonstrates the importance of avoiding an automatic equation between conservative Christianity and Christian nationalism. Understanding the difference requires examining what individuals and movements actually claim about Christianity, citizenship, national identity, pluralism, law, and governmental power.
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Definitions, Boundaries, and Measurement
| Jesse Smith and Jonathan Tran | Religious Studies Review | 2026-09-05
Examines contemporary scholarship and debate over Christian nationalism, including disagreement about how the concept should be defined and distinguished from neighboring forms of Christian political thought.
| Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese | Socius | 2025-07-10
Investigates the religiosity of people classified as religious nationalists and contributes to understanding when nationalist attitudes reflect religious commitment versus political identity.
| Andrew S. Moore | Church History | 2025-06-25
Examines evangelical attitudes toward gun rights historically, useful for distinguishing long-running religious-conservative positions from the newer analytical category of Christian nationalism.
| Nilay Saiya | Politics and Religion | 2025-05-13
Argues that Christian nationalism is not a single ideology and identifies distinct currents such as charismatic dominionism, Calvinist nationalism, and Catholic integralism, helping separate these movements from ordinary religious conservatism.
| Samuel L. Perry | Politics and Religion | 2024-10-02
Examines how Christian nationalism and partisan identity jointly affect perceptions that political institutions are friendly or hostile toward religion.
| Samuel L. Perry and Joshua B. Grubbs | Politics and Religion | 2024-09-19
Studies the relationship between Christian nationalism and willingness to tolerate violations of democratic norms during emergencies.
| Jessica Wai-Fong Wong | Religions | 2024-08-29
Examines white evangelical efforts to pursue a Christian social and political order and considers tensions between Christian nationalism and Christianity as a theological tradition.
| Jesse Smith | Sociological Forum | 2024-08-11
Critiques portions of Christian nationalism research for treating authoritarian motivations as inherent in the concept and calls for greater attention to alternative explanations and polarization.
| Shaoqing Zhou | International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology | 2023-12-06
Provides historical and sociological background on American evangelical nationalism and its relationship to evangelical religion, conservatism, and American national identity.
| Zachary D. Broeren and Paul A. Djupe | Politics and Religion | 2023-12-04
Uses experimental evidence to distinguish Christian nationalist ingroup preferences from hostility toward outsiders and finds that perceptions of Christian persecution play an important additional role.
| Daniel K. Williams | The Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism | 2023-11-20
Surveys the development of the Christian Right from early evangelical political conservatism through abortion, sexuality, religious liberty, and Republican politics, providing historical context for comparison with Christian nationalism.
| Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | 2023-08-02
Separates Christian nationalist attitudes into religious traditionalism, centered more on Christian influence in society, and Christian statism, which more directly favors Christian authority within government.
| Paul A. Djupe, Andrew R. Lewis, and Anand E. Sokhey | Cambridge University Press | 2023-06-15
Studies how Christian nationalist ideas are activated and mobilized politically, showing why religious identity alone does not necessarily constitute Christian nationalism.
Examines how Christian nationalism interacts with racial identity when Americans assess religious and racial diversity, distinguishing nationalist identity politics from religious belief alone.
| Jesse Smith and Gary J. Adler Jr. | Socius | 2022-09-20
Argues that researchers should distinguish Christian nationalism from religious conservatism, Christian republicanism, patriotism, and other beliefs that can overlap with it without being identical to it.
| Nicholas T. Davis | Politics and Religion | 2022-07-11
Questions the validity of a widely used Christian nationalism scale and argues that some survey items may combine religious, ideological, and political preferences rather than measure one coherent concept.
| Miles T. Armaly, David T. Buckley, and Adam M. Enders | Political Behavior | 2022-01-04
Examines whether Christian nationalism interacts with perceived victimhood, racial identity, and conspiracy beliefs in explaining support for political violence rather than assuming religious conservatism itself produces such attitudes.
| Samuel L. Perry | Nations and Nationalism | 2021-08-31
Studies relationships among Christian nationalism, perceptions of anti-Christian discrimination, religious-freedom priorities, and voting behavior.
| Samuel L. Perry, Andrew L. Whitehead, and Joshua B. Grubbs | Politics and Religion | 2021-04-21
Examines Christian nationalism as a predictor of intended voting behavior and treats it as analytically separate from conventional religiosity and political conservatism.
Finds that the relationship between Christian nationalism and 2016 voting behavior was particularly pronounced among people outside regular church attendance, suggesting Christian nationalism and institutional religiosity can operate differently.
| Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry | Socius | 2020-12-07
Examines Christian nationalism and vaccine attitudes while controlling for religious and political characteristics, providing another empirical distinction between nationalism and religious commitment.
| Joseph O. Baker, Samuel L. Perry, and Andrew L. Whitehead | Sociological Forum | 2020-08-06
Finds Christian nationalism associated with opposition to aspects of scientific authority even after accounting for conventional religiosity and political ideology, offering a direct comparison with religious conservatism.
Compares Christian nationalism with religiosity in pandemic behavior and reports substantially different associations for the two, illustrating why the concepts should not automatically be treated as equivalent.
| Andrew L. Whitehead, Landon Schnabel, and Samuel L. Perry | Socius | 2018-07-23
Studies Christian nationalism and opposition to gun restrictions while distinguishing its effects statistically from religious practice and political conservatism.
| Andrew L. Whitehead, Samuel L. Perry, and Joseph O. Baker | Sociology of Religion | 2018-01-25
An influential early study connecting Christian nationalism to 2016 voting behavior while treating it as a cultural framework distinct from evangelical identity or conservatism alone.
Polling and Public Attitudes
| Chip Rotolo and Gregory A. Smith | Pew Research Center | 2026-05-14
Shows that Americans distinguish among positive religious influence, promotion of Christian moral values, church involvement in politics, and formal governmental establishment of Christianity.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2026-02-17
Maps Christian nationalism across the states and compares its measures with religious affiliation, partisanship, authoritarian attitudes, and other demographic characteristics.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2025-02-04
Provides state-by-state estimates of Christian nationalist attitudes and examines their relationship to religious identity and political behavior.
Compares religious nationalism across 36 countries and places American Christian nationalism within a broader international context rather than treating religious conservatism as uniquely American.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2024-10-30
Examines Americans categorized as skeptics or rejecters of Christian nationalism and compares these groups across religious traditions, political parties, and demographic categories.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2024-09-10
Studies statistical relationships between Christian nationalist measures and right-wing authoritarianism while treating the two as related but distinct constructs.
| Chip Rotolo, Gregory A. Smith, and Jonathan Evans | Pew Research Center | 2024-03-15
Examines views of Christianity's role in government and public life, helping separate general support for Christian influence from stronger Christian nationalist positions.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2024-02-28
Uses more than 22,000 interviews to estimate Christian nationalist attitudes across all states and compares them with evangelical affiliation, church attendance, party identification, and other characteristics.
| PRRI Staff | Public Religion Research Institute | 2023-02-08
Presents PRRI's framework for measuring Christian nationalism and profiles adherents, sympathizers, skeptics, and rejecters.
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | 2022-10-27
Finds that the phrase “Christian nation” means substantially different things to different Americans, ranging from moral influence to explicitly Christian laws and government.
| Pew Research Center | Pew Research Center | 2022-10-27
Shows that believing America should be a Christian nation does not necessarily imply support for establishment or theocracy and documents wide variation in how respondents understand Christian nationalism.
| Baylor Religion Survey | Baylor University | 2021
Provides survey measures concerning government promotion of Christianity, prayer, Christian values, church-state separation, and America's relationship to God that have influenced subsequent Christian nationalism research.
Christian and Conservative Debates Over the Boundary
| R. R. Reno | First Things | 2026-03-05
Presents an affirmative case for a form of Christian nationalism, arguing that Christianity can provide moral constraints and purposes for nationalism. Useful as a primary statement from a defender rather than a critic.
Features conservative historians and political thinkers debating whether Christian nationalism is a useful category and how it differs from historic Protestant political thought, populism, and religious conservatism.
| Josh Hawley | First Things | 2024-09-04
Defends a version of Christian nationalism centered on biblical moral inheritance, national solidarity, family, work, and public religious symbolism, providing an example of how some conservatives affirm the label.
| Russell Moore | Christianity Today | 2024-09
Offers an evangelical theological critique of Christian nationalism and contrasts pursuit of political control with Christian commitments centered on conversion, conscience, and church life.
| Peter J. Leithart | First Things | 2024-04-12
Approaches the debate from a conservative Christian perspective and focuses on what constitutes a Christian “nation,” distinguishing cultural Christianity from specific theories of nationalism.
| Brad East | Christianity Today | 2024-03-13
Argues that “Christian nationalism” has sometimes become so broadly applied that ordinary conservative Christianity can be swept into the category, and recommends more precise terminology.
| Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | 2023-09-13
Argues that moderate religious conservatives should not automatically be labeled Christian nationalists while also contending that genuinely nationalist and extremist forms deserve separate scrutiny.
| Gillian Richards Augros | The Heritage Foundation | 2023-05-09
Presents a conservative critique of the term, arguing that overly broad usage can conflate traditional positions on religion, marriage, family, and politics with more radical nationalist ideas.
| Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks | 2023-04-29
Expands the influence-versus-identity distinction and argues from a conservative Baptist perspective against defining the American political community itself as Christian.
| Matthew Y. Emerson | 9Marks | 2023-04-28
Examines Christian nationalism through historic Baptist teachings concerning church-state relations, liberty of conscience, congregationalism, and political participation.
| Patrick Schreiner | The Gospel Coalition | 2023-04-27
Identifies several different meanings attached to Christian nationalism and argues that debates become confused when Christian influence, establishment, and nationalism are treated as the same thing.
| John D. Wilsey | 9Marks | 2023-04-20
Places modern Christian nationalism alongside older forms of American religious nationalism and argues that the phenomenon contains multiple historically distinct strands.
| Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | 2023-03-03
Responds to disputes about Christian-nationalism polling and argues that overly broad definitions can incorrectly classify ordinary conservative Christian beliefs as nationalism.
| Jake Meador | Mere Orthodoxy | 2023-02-13
Continues the debate over whether “Christian nationalism” is sufficiently precise to distinguish a coherent movement from more conventional Christian political positions.
| Kevin DeYoung | The Gospel Coalition | 2022-11-28
Reviews Stephen Wolfe's defense of Christian nationalism from within conservative evangelicalism and critiques important aspects of Wolfe's political theology.
| Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks | 2022-10-31
Makes a particularly clear distinction between Christianity influencing laws and a government identifying itself as Christian, arguing that confusing those two meanings obscures the debate.
| Daniel Strand | First Things | 2022-10-19
Critiques Paul Miller's anti-nationalist framework and argues that some Christian concern for national culture and common goods should not be dismissed as illegitimate political theology.
| Miles Smith IV | Mere Orthodoxy | 2022-07-18
Argues that the term has often been stretched to encompass almost any conservative Christian political commitment and therefore risks obscuring rather than clarifying important disagreements.
| Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | 2021-02-03
Explicitly distinguishes Christian nationalism from Christianity, patriotism, and ordinary Christian participation in politics, defining nationalism primarily around Christian national identity and governmental privilege.
| Morgan Lee, Ted Olsen, and Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | 2021-01
Discusses why Christian political engagement, religiously informed views of justice, and conservative policy advocacy do not by themselves constitute Christian nationalism.
| Thomas Kidd | The Gospel Coalition | 2020-12-18
Contrasts Christian nationalism with Christian patriotism and argues that love of country and political conservatism should not automatically be treated as nationalist ideology.
Journalism, History, and Case Studies
| Noah Berlatsky | Sojourners | 2026-09-15
Uses a contemporary Christian politician as a case study for distinguishing religiously informed political arguments from Christian nationalism.
| Juan Garcia | Baptist News Global | 2026-06-29
Distinguishes voluntary Christian witness and participation in politics from coercive uses of governmental power to enforce religious identity or doctrine.
| Steven Waldman | The Christian Century | 2026-06-16
Examines competing versions and definitions of Christian nationalism and the difficulty of determining where traditional Christian public engagement ends and nationalism begins.
| Will McCorkle | Baptist News Global | 2026-03-24
Explores theological disagreements about whether political or national identity should serve as a marker of authentic Christianity.
| Robert P. Sellers | Baptist News Global | 2026-03-02
Examines the intersection of public prayer, political power, and national religious identity from a Baptist perspective concerned with church-state boundaries.
| Greg Carey | Word&Way | 2025-09-10
Addresses misconceptions about Christian nationalism and examines how the concept relates to Christianity, patriotism, conservatism, and political power.
| Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service / National Catholic Reporter | 2025-09-08
Reports on National Conservatism Conference efforts to articulate a Christian-oriented national identity broad enough to include Catholics and Jewish allies, illustrating current debates within national conservatism.
| Josiah R. Daniels | Sojourners | 2025-05-06
Interviews political scientist Eric L. McDaniel about weaknesses in some popular discussions of Christian nationalism and the need for more careful analysis of religion, race, power, and political identity.
| Jeffrey Salkin | Religion News Service | 2025-01-16
Discusses Christian nationalism from a Jewish perspective and considers how explicitly Christian national identity differs from ordinary conservative religious participation in a pluralistic society.
| David W. Congdon | Presbyterian Outlook | 2025-01-10
Offers a theological interpretation of Christian nationalism and contributes to internal Christian debate over whether nationalism represents a distortion of Christianity or emerges from longer traditions within it.
| Stephen Healey | The Christian Century | 2025
Examines whether older mainline Protestant assumptions about America's Christian identity helped establish cultural patterns later associated with Christian nationalism.
| Phoebe Petrovic | Wisconsin Watch and ProPublica | 2024-10-26
Traces the historical development of several Christian-right movements that contributed to contemporary Christian nationalism and shows both continuity and change from earlier religious conservatism.
| Lisa Hagen | NPR | 2024-10-24
Examines efforts to mobilize conservative Christians electorally and the growing influence of explicitly Christian-nationalist ideas within portions of the broader religious right.
| Ron Duncan Hart | Baptist News Global | 2024-06-16
Considers whether Christian nationalism is primarily a theological development, a political ideology, or a fusion of religious symbols with political identity.
| Laura Barrón-López and Sam Lane | PBS NewsHour | 2024-02-01
Interviews religion scholar Brad Onishi about Christian nationalism, its political manifestations, and how it differs from Christianity as a religion.
| Thomas P. Rausch | America Magazine | 2024-01-05
Examines relations among the religious right, white Christian nationalism, conservative politics, and Catholic and evangelical political participation.
| Jonathan Tran | The Christian Century | 2024
Questions how the label is used and explores whether it sometimes collapses important distinctions among Christian political traditions.
| William J. Barber II and Contributors | Sojourners | 2024
Presents Christian religious arguments against Christian nationalism, illustrating that opposition to nationalism can itself come from explicitly Christian political and theological commitments.
| Bob Smietana | The Washington Post | 2023-05-19
Surveys competing definitions and explicitly notes that evangelicalism, voting according to religious values, and believing religion should influence public life do not automatically amount to Christian nationalism.
| Bob Smietana | Religion News Service | 2023-01-06
Presents a taxonomy of groups sometimes placed under the Christian-nationalist umbrella, ranging from conventional God-and-country conservatives to more explicitly nationalist movements.
| Bob Smietana and Emily McFarlan Miller | Religion News Service | 2022-12-23
Examines disagreements over American Christian history in homeschooling and shows how conservative religious education can overlap with, but is not necessarily identical to, Christian-nationalist claims.
| Allyson F. Shortle | The Washington Post | 2022-09-01
Discusses public acceptance of Christian-nationalist language and research on American religious exceptionalism, providing a political-science perspective on the ideology.
| Jesse Smith | Religion News Service | 2022-09-01
Contrasts Christian nationalism with Christian republicanism and argues that a tradition of religiously informed constitutional citizenship should not be equated automatically with nationalism.
| Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | 2022-01-26
Reports on adoption of Christian-nationalist language by some far-right movements following January 6 and distinguishes those networks from the much larger population of conservative Christians.
| Alejandra Molina | The Washington Post / Religion News Service | 2022-01-06
Examines historical interpretations of Christian nationalism from Indigenous, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu perspectives and situates it within broader debates about religious pluralism.
Broader Historical and Ideological Context
| Nilay Saiya | Harvard Divinity School | 2025-03-05
Places American Christian nationalism within a global comparative framework of religious nationalism, helping distinguish nationalism as a political ideology from religious conservatism itself.
| Sturla J. Stålsett and Contributors | The Ecumenical Review | 2025
Examines religious nationalism through interreligious dialogue and provides comparative tools for separating strong religious identity from projects seeking national political dominance.
| William Horne | TIME | 2024-10-17
Examines historical examples of Christian-nationalist rhetoric and political practice in the era of racial segregation and compares them with contemporary claims about Christian America.
| David Hollinger | Religion Dispatches | 2024-06-18
Places evangelical criticism of Christian nationalism within the longer history of American evangelicalism and challenges sharp attempts to separate nationalism from that history.
| Jon Bialecki | Political Theology Network | 2024-05-30
Uses the Asbury revival to examine relationships among evangelical religious experience, national politics, and Christian nationalism, demonstrating that evangelical revivalism does not necessarily map neatly onto nationalist politics.
| Daniel Schultz | Religion Dispatches | 2024-02-28
Discusses state-level Christian nationalism data and the diversity of political and religious attitudes that can exist even within heavily conservative regions.
| Matthew Teutsch and Emma Williams | Religion Dispatches | 2023-07-24
Uses historical literature and debates about childhood, race, and religion to discuss consequences attributed by the authors to Christian-nationalist social structures.
| Bradley Onishi | Religion Dispatches | 2023-05-22
Responds to disputes about terminology and argues that changing labels does not eliminate substantive nationalist political theology where it exists.
| Chrissy Stroop | Religion Dispatches | 2023-02-09
Argues against attempts to define Christian nationalism as outside Christianity altogether and discusses polling linking the ideology with portions of white evangelical Protestantism.
| Drew Strait | Political Theology Network | 2023
Offers a theological critique of Christian nationalism focused on how national power can become sacralized in ways distinct from conventional Christian social ethics.
| Scott Hibbard | Contending Modernities, University of Notre Dame | 2022-08-11
Examines Christian nationalism within the longer relationship between religion, conservative politics, nationalism, and American political identity.
| Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons and Maggie Siddiqi | Center for American Progress | 2022-04-13
Interviews Baptist Joint Committee leader Amanda Tyler, who distinguishes Christian nationalism from Christianity and from ordinary conservative religious advocacy.
| Jason Springs | Contending Modernities, University of Notre Dame | 2021-07-01
Examines racial resentment and political identity within white evangelical Christian nationalism while distinguishing those dynamics from Christian theology in general.
| Diana L. Eck | The Pluralism Project / APRIL | 2021
Contrasts Christian nationalism with religious pluralism and explores how Christian participation in civic life can coexist with equal citizenship for people of different faiths.
| Peter McLaren | Postdigital Science and Education | 2020-05-19
Discusses religious nationalism during the COVID-19 pandemic from a strongly critical perspective and provides a contrasting interpretation of evangelical political mobilization.
Contemporary Examples and Movement Boundaries
| Richard Lewis Dixon | SSRN | 2026-09-02
Presents a contrasting working-paper argument that Christian nationalism can be interpreted in relation to America's covenantal and pluralist traditions. Useful as a counterpoint to scholarship defining nationalism primarily through religious privilege.
| Brooklyn Walker and Paul A. Djupe | Religion News Service | 2026-08-21
Discusses research finding that some people holding Christian-nationalist views also profess support for pluralism, but that perceived threats to Christians can alter tolerance toward outsiders.
| Richard Conville | Baptist News Global | 2026-06-25
Traces historical roots claimed for Christian nationalism and considers how it developed out of, but should not simply be equated with, older forms of American Protestant conservatism.
| Paul A. Djupe and Brooklyn Walker | Politics and Religion | 2026-03-26
Studies whether religiously inclusive orientations counter attitudes associated with Christian nationalism and shows the complexity of relationships among nationalism, perceived threat, tolerance, and religious pluralism.
| Jesse Smith | Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | 2026
Examines partisan and racial sorting of Christian-nationalist attitudes from 1996 through 2022 and argues that polarization involves changing identities on both the religious right and secular left.
| Donald Haider-Markel and Contributors | Social Science Quarterly | 2026
Examines gun ownership, Christian nationalism, and support for political violence and analyzes whether nationalist identity contributes explanatory power beyond conventional political and religious characteristics.
| Jennifer Butler | Religion News Service | 2025-12-18
Presents an author's analysis of Christian-nationalist ideas in national-security politics and connects the subject to wider arguments about religious conservatism and national identity.
| John Ishiyama | Politics and Religion | 2025-09-15
Extends the study of Christian nationalism beyond the United States by examining attitudes toward democracy in African contexts, underscoring the difference between conservative Christianity and nationalism as distinct analytical concepts.
| Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | 2025-09-05
Reports efforts within national-conservative circles to formulate a version of Christian nationalism that accommodates Jewish allies, highlighting disagreement over whether the movement is theological, cultural, or civilizational.
| Marietta van der Tol | Political Insight | 2025-06-10
Examines transnational links between Christian nationalism and the far right while distinguishing religious nationalism from conventional conservative Christian parties and movements.
| Paul A. Djupe | Sociology of Religion | 2025-03-08
Examines masculinity, femininity, Christian nationalism, and extreme political attitudes among American men, helping separate gendered nationalist politics from religious conservatism in general.
| Chrissy Stroop | Religion Dispatches | 2024-10-01
Explicitly examines the danger of reading ordinary Christian language as automatic evidence of Christian nationalism while discussing the broader cultural context in which religious assumptions operate.
| Alice Herman | The Guardian | 2024-08-02
Reports on political mobilization aimed at conservative Christian voters and documents rhetoric calling on Christians to translate religious commitments directly into electoral participation.
| Adrian Horton | The Guardian | 2024-04-27
Discusses the documentary Bad Faith and its historical argument linking segments of the modern religious right to contemporary Christian nationalism.
| Jason Wilson | The Guardian | 2024-03-19
Reports on a secretive conservative organization whose documents combine Christian social order, political organization, and national renewal, providing a case study beyond mainstream religious conservatism.
| Jason Wilson | The Guardian | 2024-03-11
Examines connections between conservative intellectual networks and a Christian-oriented fraternal organization, useful for studying overlaps and boundaries between national conservatism and Christian nationalism.
| Carter Sherman | The Guardian | 2024-03-02
Examines interpretations of Alabama's IVF controversy through debates about Christian nationalism, the anti-abortion movement, and longstanding religious conservatism.
| Chrissy Stroop | Religion Dispatches | 2024-01-26
Reviews popular presentations of Christian nationalism and argues that attempts to reach broad Christian audiences can obscure internal differences among evangelicalism, conservatism, and nationalism.
| Peter Stone | The Guardian | 2023-05-01
Reports criticism of pastors accused of moving from conventional conservative Christian politics toward explicitly white Christian-nationalist rhetoric and organization.
| The Washington Post | The Washington Post | 2021-07-06
Examines Christian symbols and religious rhetoric surrounding January 6 while discussing why analysts distinguish those political uses of Christianity from ordinary evangelical belief.
| The Washington Post | The Washington Post | 2021-02-05
Presents conservative Christian writer David French's perspective on Christian nationalism and the distinction between constitutionally protected religious political participation and nationalism.
Christian Nationalism, Identity, and Conceptual Boundaries
Tests Christian nationalism as a social identity rather than merely a collection of attitudes and finds that responses can depend partly on how the identity itself is defined.
| Samuel L. Perry and Laura Upenieks | Socius | 2026-06-16
Examines Christian nationalism and beliefs about economic meritocracy, asking whether viewing America as divinely favored predicts attitudes beyond ordinary political and religious conservatism.
| Naomi Haynes | Religion | 2026-06-11
Explores possible affinities between prosperity-gospel ideas and Christian nationalism while examining the theological and political mechanisms connecting the two.
Tests whether the American concept of Christian nationalism transfers to the more secular Nordic political environment and highlights differences between Christian conservatism and nationalist religious identity.
| Joshua Hordern | Studies in Christian Ethics | 2026-01-23
Examines Christian nationalism from the standpoint of Christian ethics and considers how political commands, loyalty, and national affection relate to theological commitments.
| Kevin J. Burke and Heidi Hadley | National Education Policy Center | 2025-11-04
Reviews Christian nationalism in educational policy and distinguishes explicitly nationalist objectives from broader conservative Christian participation in debates about schooling.
| Amy Brooke Grauley | Political Behavior | 2025-09-29
Examines how political elites can influence whether people adopt the Christian nationalist label, helping distinguish self-identification with Christian nationalism from holding ordinary conservative Christian beliefs.
Studies Christian nationalism among seminarians and emerging religious leaders, allowing comparison between spirituality, evangelical identity, social attitudes, and nationalist commitments.
Examines how racial identity changes relationships between Christian nationalism and progressive or conservative political identities, demonstrating that the phenomenon is not uniform across populations.
| Brock Lewis | Discover Education | 2025-05-07
Reviews Christian nationalism's relationship to American education and distinguishes disputes over conservative religious values from efforts to define public institutions in explicitly Christian-national terms.
| Amanda Henderson | Religions | 2025-04-15
Examines political polarization and Christian nationalism within congregations, focusing on differences among Christians rather than assuming churches or religious conservatives constitute a unified nationalist bloc.
| Samuel L. Perry and Joshua B. Grubbs | Social Forces | 2025-02-23
Analyzes Christian nationalism as a form of white identity politics and compares its effects across white, Black, and Hispanic respondents rather than equating Christianity itself with racial politics.
| Shaoqing Zhou | International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology | 2025-01-13
Examines tensions within American national identity and the role of religion, nationalism, political polarization, and competing understandings of American exceptionalism.
| Joseph O. Baker and Andrew L. Whitehead | Nations and Nationalism | 2024-11-17
Studies Christian nationalism alongside cultural fears concerning immigration, religious minorities, racial change, gun control, and other perceived social threats.
| Siphiwe Dube | International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church | 2023-11-24
Examines Christian nationalism in post-apartheid South Africa and provides an international comparison showing that conservative Christianity and religious nationalism take different forms across political systems.
Examines how Christian nationalism relates to definitions of who belongs within the American cultural community and finds that its associations differ substantially across racial groups.
| Samuel L. Perry and Cyrus Schleifer | Ethnic and Racial Studies | 2022-09-01
Examines the relationship between Christian nationalism and blind patriotism and shows why national loyalty is analytically different from religious belief or conservative theology.
Studies Christian nationalism and perceptions of racial injustice while demonstrating that the same religious-national statements can operate differently among white and Black Americans.
| Jack Delehanty, Penny Edgell, and Evan Stewart | Social Forces | 2019
Examines evangelical discourse about national belonging and shows how Christian language concerning America can function differently from explicitly theological or denominational conservatism.
| Samuel L. Perry and Andrew L. Whitehead | Ethnic and Racial Studies | 2015-03-06
Studies Christian nationalism and opposition to interracial marriage while controlling for religious and political characteristics, an early attempt to distinguish nationalist effects from religiosity.
The Christian Right and Religious Conservatism as Historical Comparisons
| Daniel K. Williams | Oxford University Press | 2026-06-16
Traces evangelical politics from the 1920s through the Eisenhower era and describes how anticommunism and civil religion helped bring evangelicals into conservative national politics.
| Daniel K. Williams | Oxford University Press | 2026-06-16
Introduces an updated history of the Christian Right and argues that evangelical attempts to politically reclaim America as a Christian nation long predate the late-twentieth-century Moral Majority.
| Daniel K. Williams | Oxford University Press | 2026-06-16
Examines the emergence of the fundamentalist political right and the historical development of movements that later contributed to the modern Christian Right.
| Kimberly H. Conger | Politics and Religion | 2026-01-14
Traces Project Blitz from the older Christian Right and explicitly argues that the Christian Right and contemporary Christian nationalism are historically connected but not synonymous.
| Paul A. Anthony | Church History | 2025-02-26
Examines Lottie Beth Hobbs, opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, and the emergence of the Religious Right through campaigns against feminism and secular humanism.
| Matthew Avery Sutton | Journal of the American Academy of Religion | 2024-08-13
Reassesses the history and historiography of evangelicalism during the era of the Religious Right and examines how theology, politics, race, class, gender, and sexuality became intertwined.
| Angela Lahr | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion | 2020-03-31
Traces evangelical political engagement during the Cold War, including anticommunism, Billy Graham, civil religion, and the eventual formation of the Religious Right.
| Lauren Turek | Cornell University Press | 2020
Examines the rise of religious-freedom rhetoric in conservative Christian activism and the changing vocabulary used by the Christian Right.
| Seth Dowland | Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs | 2019-12-18
Describes the development of evangelical homeschooling and family-values activism, important components of religious conservatism that predate today's Christian-nationalist debate.
| Kimberly H. Conger | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics | 2019-09-30
Surveys more than four decades of Christian Right politics focused on abortion, sexuality, education, Republican organization, and morality policy, providing a baseline for comparison with Christian nationalism.
| Michael J. McVicar | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion | 2018-02-26
Defines the Religious Right as a network of organizations and political actors emerging prominently in the late twentieth century rather than as a synonym for Christian nationalism.
| Neil J. Young | Journal of American History | 2017-03-01
Reviews Seth Dowland's history of family-values politics and the rise of the Christian Right, offering useful historical context for contemporary nationalist debates.
| Steven P. Miller | American Historical Review | 2017-01-31
Reviews scholarship on family values and the Christian Right and situates conservative evangelical political mobilization within late twentieth-century American history.
| Ruth Braunstein and Malaena Taylor | Sociology of Religion | 2017
Compares religiosity within the Tea Party and the Religious Right, illustrating that conservative political movements can draw on religion in different ways without being identical.
| Eric C. Miller | Salon | 2016-02-07
Traces how “religious freedom” increasingly replaced “family values” as a major organizing frame among conservative Christian activists.
| Seth Dowland | Church History | 2009-08-21
Explains how family-values politics helped form the Christian Right's agenda and provides historical context for distinguishing social conservatism from nationalist political theology.
| Paolo Naso | RSAJournal | 2007-09-01
Surveys the political development of American evangelical fundamentalism from creationism through the Religious Right and post-9/11 conservative politics.
| Leo P. Ribuffo | Review of Policy Research | 2006-04-26
Examines Jimmy Carter, the White House Conference on Families, and mobilization of the New Christian Right around family policy.
| Robert Freedman | The Historical Journal | 2005-03-21
Examines relations between the emerging Religious Right and the Carter administration, documenting conservative Christian political mobilization before contemporary Christian nationalism became a common analytical category.
| Clyde Wilcox | OAH Magazine of History | 2003-01-01
Surveys evangelical political involvement and the Christian Right in the twentieth century, showing the long history of conservative Christian political participation before current Christian-nationalist terminology.
Denominational and Church Debates
| Matthew J. Tuininga | The Banner | 2026-09-14
Examines whether Christians should embrace nationalism and distinguishes legitimate Christian political participation from stronger claims connecting church, nation, and political authority.
| Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | 2026-09-03
Examines how pastors interpret and address Christian nationalism from the pulpit while navigating political disagreement within congregations.
| Megan Fowler | Christianity Today | 2026-07-30
Reports on conservative Protestant denominational debates over Christian nationalism and disagreements about how the term should be defined and studied.
| The Banner | The Banner | 2026-07-01
Discusses the Christian Reformed Church's decision to study Christian nationalism and competing denominational perspectives on the terminology.
| John A. Bolt | Presbyterian Outlook | 2026-07-01
Reports the PC(USA)'s formal action concerning white Christian nationalism and documents debate surrounding the denomination's theological language.
| Mary Mabry | Presbyterian Outlook | 2026-06-30
Reports denominational debate over white Christian nationalism and the wording of church statements concerning racism and national identity.
| John A. Bolt | Presbyterian Outlook | 2026-06-26
Reports a Presbyterian debate over Independence Day observances and the relationship between patriotism, church worship, and Christian nationalism.
| Brian Kaylor | Word&Way | 2026-06-16
Examines how denominations are defining and responding to Christian nationalism and shows that Christian organizations themselves disagree about its boundaries.
| Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | 2026-05-26
Examines how hymnody and worship practices are being used by some Christians to articulate theological alternatives to Christian nationalism.
| Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | 2026-05-07
Reports on a presentation distinguishing Christian nationalism from patriotism, evangelism, Christian political influence, and political conservatism.
| Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | 2026-03-26
Reports on Presbyterian educational efforts concerning Christian nationalism and the distinctions church leaders draw between Christian faith and national political identity.
| David Staniunas | Presbyterian News Service | 2026-03-16
Examines Christian flags, nationalism, worship, and public symbolism through Presbyterian discussions of national and religious loyalty.
| Presbyterian News Service | Presbyterian Church (USA) | 2026-02-17
Presents a Presbyterian theological response to Christian nationalism and discusses how churches can retain political engagement without making national identity central to Christian faith.
| Presbyterian Church in Canada | Presbyterian Church in Canada | 2026
Provides a denominational explanation of Christian nationalism and explicitly differentiates it from ordinary patriotism, evangelism, and Christian involvement in civic affairs.
| William Rodríguez | Journal of Lutheran Ethics | 2026
Provides a bibliography of scholarship, theology, and commentary representing multiple approaches to Christian nationalism.
| Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service | 2025-04-04
Examines explanations for Christian nationalism's appeal and discusses relationships among religious identity, political identity, fear, cultural change, and nationalism.
| Haley Ballast | Presbyterian Outlook | 2024-08-16
Describes how three congregations collaborated on educational programming concerning Christian nationalism and political polarization.
| Brian Kaylor | United Methodist Insight | 2024-06-27
Surveys several Christian denominations debating or adopting statements about Christian nationalism and highlights differences among their approaches.
| Office of Government Relations | The Episcopal Church | 2022
Introduces an Episcopal series addressing radicalization, political extremism, conspiracy movements, and Christian nationalism while distinguishing them from normal political disagreement.
| Robert K. Vischer | Word&Way / Religion News Service | 2021-02-13
Calls for precision when discussing Christian nationalism and warns against treating conservative Christianity, patriotism, and nationalist political projects as interchangeable.
Conservative Christian and Religious-Media Debates
| Robert Hasler | American Reformer | 2026-06-15
Presents a conservative Reformed perspective on Presbyterian debate over Christian nationalism and argues for further engagement with the concept rather than simple dismissal.
| Cynthia R. Wallace | The Christian Century | 2026-03-10
Reviews scholarship proposing compassionate patriotism as an alternative to Christian nationalism and explores distinctions among patriotism, nationalism, and Christian political responsibility.
| George Yancey | Christianity Today | 2026-01-22
Challenges prevailing academic interpretations and argues that much behavior attributed to Christian nationalism is better understood as conservative identity politics.
| Aaron Klink | The Christian Century | 2025-09-02
Reviews Katherine Stewart's Money, Lies, and God and presents her argument about coalitions connecting wealthy interests, social conservatism, and nationalist political movements.
| Clarissa Moll | Christianity Today | 2025-04-17
Describes a personal encounter between Christians with sharply different understandings of nationalism, political identity, and religious faith.
| Daniel N. Gullotta | Christianity Today | 2025-02-20
Reviews historical scholarship on religious nationalism during the Civil War and demonstrates that competing Christian national visions have existed throughout American history.
| Miles Smith IV | Christian Scholar's Review | 2025-01-01
Reviews Another Gospel from a conservative scholarly perspective and assesses arguments connecting evangelical identity with Christian nationalism.
| William J. Schultz | The Christian Century | 2025
Reviews debates over who defines authentic Christianity in a political environment shaped by Christian nationalism and polarization.
| Jovan Tripkovic | Religion Unplugged | 2024-05-07
Interviews historian Mark David Hall, who disputes several common characterizations of Christian nationalism and argues for narrower definitions of the phenomenon.
| John Fea | Christianity Today | 2024-02-16
Reviews the documentary God & Country and discusses whether its depiction clearly distinguishes Christian nationalism from broader evangelical conservatism.
| Philip F. Hayes | The Christian Century | 2024
Reviews Preparing for War and its historical argument concerning militant currents within portions of white American Christianity.
| Amanda Tyler and Holly Hollman | Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | 2024
Discusses practical criteria for deciding when a political statement or action constitutes Christian nationalism rather than ordinary religious expression or advocacy.
| Paul D. Miller | Christianity Today | 2022-12-20
Compares competing evangelical books defending and criticizing Christian nationalism and illustrates major disagreements within religious conservatism itself.
| Daniel Silliman | Christianity Today | 2022-10-31
Reports internal evangelical debates in which competing understandings of political power, citizenship, Christianity, and nationalism produce sharply different conclusions.
| Russell Moore | Christianity Today | 2022-09-29
Presents an evangelical theological critique of nationalist approaches to political power while distinguishing Christian public engagement from making national political success a religious objective.
| Bonnie Kristian | Christianity Today | 2022-06-30
Examines possible alternatives to Christian nationalism for Christians who still believe religious convictions should inform political and civic participation.
| The Religion Guy | Religion Unplugged | 2022-03-14
Reviews competing meanings of Christian nationalism and notes that many people described by the term do not themselves embrace the label.
| Cynthia G. Lindner | The Christian Century | 2022
Reviews The Psychology of Christian Nationalism and discusses psychological approaches to distinguishing nationalist identity from religious faith.
| Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | 2022
Collects research on Christian symbolism and Christian nationalism surrounding January 6 while distinguishing the ideology from Christianity generally.
| Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty | BJC | 2021
Provides a concise definition of Christian nationalism and distinguishes it from Christianity, patriotism, and participation by Christians in public life.
Journalism and Contemporary Case Studies
| Tiffany Stanley | Associated Press / PBS NewsHour | 2026-05-17
Reports on the National Mall prayer gathering, its participants, religious themes, and debate concerning the relationship between evangelical activism and nationalism.
| Peter Smith | Associated Press / PBS NewsHour | 2026-05-14
Reports on a large Washington prayer gathering and disagreement over whether its rhetoric represents conventional conservative Christianity or Christian nationalism.
| Rachel Oswald and John Haltiwanger | Foreign Policy | 2026-04-08
Examines religious rhetoric associated with national-security policy and debates over whether such rhetoric reflects personal religious conservatism or a broader Christian-nationalist worldview.
| Pamela Brown | CNN | 2026-03-22
Transcript of The Rise of Christian Nationalism, examining people and organizations that explicitly seek a greater governmental role for conservative Christianity.
| CNN Communications | CNN | 2026-02-17
Introduces CNN's documentary investigation of Christian nationalism and profiles contemporary activists, churches, and political organizations associated with the movement.
| Pamela Brown | CNN | 2026-01-02
Reports on pastor Doug Wilson and debates surrounding an explicitly Christian political order, offering a case study beyond conventional evangelical electoral conservatism.
| Alejandro Reyes | Foreign Policy | 2025-11-26
Examines Catholic responses to Christian nationalism and tensions between nationalist politics, Catholic social teaching, religious liberty, and political conservatism.
| Mariya Manzhos | Deseret News | 2025-08-16
Examines pastor Doug Wilson's political theology and the renewed debate over Christian nationalism, establishment, religious liberty, and conservative evangelical political participation.
| CNN | CNN News Central | 2025-02-10
Discusses contemporary evangelical politics and distinctions commentators draw between evangelical Christians generally and people advocating Christian nationalism.
| Tiffany Stanley and Peter Smith | Associated Press / PBS NewsHour | 2025
Profiles a conservative Reformed church network and discusses debates over its views on Christian political authority, gender, and nationalism.
| Sara Cline | Associated Press / PBS NewsHour | 2024-06-19
Reports Louisiana's Ten Commandments classroom law and competing arguments involving religious conservatism, church-state law, historical tradition, and Christian nationalism.
| Jim McDermott | Religion News Service | 2024-05-30
Reviews the documentary Bad Faith and its argument connecting contemporary Christian nationalism with the history of the Religious Right.
| Bob Smietana | Religion News Service | 2024-05-01
Examines how a contemporary worship song acquired political associations and illustrates how religious symbols can be adopted by nationalist movements without making all users of those symbols nationalists.
| Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service | 2024-04-03
Examines Catholic integralism and its relationship to Christian nationalism while distinguishing it from mainstream Catholic conservatism and conventional pro-life or religious-liberty politics.
| Geoff Bennett and Tim Alberta | PBS NewsHour | 2023
Discusses Tim Alberta's reporting on American evangelicalism, conservative politics, partisan identity, and political extremism within portions of evangelical culture.
| Laura Barrón-López | PBS NewsHour | 2022-10-11
Examines growing connections between some Christian movements and right-wing nationalism while discussing how analysts distinguish them from Christianity or conservatism in general.
| Andrew DeCort | Foreign Policy | 2022-06-18
Examines Pentecostalism, nationalism, and political conflict in Ethiopia, providing an international comparison of conservative religion and Christian-nationalist politics.
| Associated Press | PBS NewsHour | 2022
Investigates political organizing involving Michael Flynn and examines how conspiracy movements, conservative Christian audiences, and Christian-nationalist rhetoric intersect.
| CNN | CNN Newsroom | 2021-05-30
Examines the intersection of QAnon, conspiracy beliefs, evangelical communities, and Christian-nationalist political narratives.
| Taylor Mooney | CBS News | 2021-03-04
Interviews pastors with different views about whether America is a Christian nation and highlights divisions between religious conservatism and Christian-nationalist conceptions of national identity.
