- An ‘imposter Christianity’ is threatening American democracy
- Three men, eyes closed and heads bowed, pray before a rough-hewn wooden cross. Another man wraps his arms around a massive Bible pressed against his chest like a shield. All throughout the crowd, people wave “Jesus Saves” banners and pump their fists toward the sky.
- These were photos of people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
- The insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement. This movement uses Christian language to cloak sexism and hostility to Black people and non-White immigrants in its quest to create a White Christian America.
- A report from a team of clergy, scholars and advocates… concluded that this ideology was used to “bolster, justify and intensify” the attack on the US Capitol.
- Here are three key beliefs often tied to White Christian nationalism.
- A belief that the US was founded as a Christian nation
- A belief in a ‘Warrior Christ’
- They follow the Jesus depicted in the Book of Revelation, the warrior with eyes like “flames of fire” and “a robe dipped in blood” who led the armies of heaven on white horses in a final, triumphant battle against the forces of the antichrist.
- A belief there’s such a person as a ‘real American’
- Such language has been co-opted into a worldview held by many White Christian nationalists: The nation is divided between “real Americans” and other citizens who don’t deserve the same rights, experts on White Christian nationalism say.
- Gorski, the historian, says White Christian nationalism represents a grave threat to democracy because it defines “we the people” in a way that excludes many Americans.
- “The United States cannot be both a truly multiracial democracy and a white Christian nation at the same time,”… his is why white Christian nationalism has become a serious threat to American democracy, perhaps the most serious threat it now faces.”
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