Christian nationalism conflates whiteness with Christian American identity

Evidence

Though journalists and historians have bandied about the term a good deal in the past decade, we mean “Christian nationalism” to describe an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civic life with a particular type of Christian identity and culture. … Rather, the explicit ideological content of Christian nationalism comprises beliefs about historical identity, cultural preeminence, and political influence. But just as important, it also contains ideological content that is often implicit. This includes symbolic boundaries that conceptually blur and conflate religious identity (Christian, preferably Protestant) with race (white), nativity (born in the United States), citizenship (American), and political ideology (social and fiscal conservative). — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14

Though journalists and historians have bandied about the term a good deal in the past decade, we mean “Christian nationalism” to describe an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civic life with a particular type of Christian identity and culture. We use “Christian” here in a specific sense. We are not referring to doctrinal orthodoxy or personal piety. (In fact, we find some Christian nationalists can be quite secular.) … But just as important, it also contains ideological content that is often implicit. This includes symbolic boundaries that conceptually blur and conflate religious identity (Christian, preferably Protestant) with race (white), nativity (born in the United States), citizenship (American), and political ideology (social and fiscal conservative). — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise operational definition: Christian nationalism as an ideology fusing American civic life with a particular Christian identity, distinct from doctrinal orthodoxy or piety.
• XREF: Connects to Brubaker’s ‘Christianism’ and to debates the reader has tracked elsewhere on how racialized religious identity operates (e.g., white Christian identity politics literature). — connects to: White evangelical identity centers on patriarchy, gender difference, and Christian nationalism — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 16; African Americans support Christian nationalism at the highest rate of any racial group — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 166; Racial theology of group salvation unifies previously divided whites into a ruling class — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1435 (+38 more)
• QUESTION: The claim that some Christian nationalists ‘can be quite secular’ is striking — how does secularity coexist with an ideology centered on Christian identity?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14

Broader Connections

• White evangelical identity centers on patriarchy, gender difference, and Christian nationalism #expands (0.82) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 16