Christian nationalism robustly predicts authoritarian political attitudes

Evidence

Their victimhood mindset and declining ontological security explains why, in the post-Obama America, voluminous empirical studies find that CN is a robust indicator of a series of authoritarian attitudes and ideologies, such as xenophobia (Perry, Whitehead, and Grubbs 2022), Islamophobia (Whitehead, Perry, and Baker 2018), and racism (Davis 2019). Christian Nationalists are also more likely to promote gun culture (Whitehead, Schnabel, and Perry 2018), be skeptical of vaccines (Corcoran, Scheitle, and DiGregorio 2021), and support anti-democratic violence (Armaly, Buckley, and Enders 2022). — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 45

The same goes for “right-wing authoritarianism” (RWA) or “authoritarian personality.” These terms generally refer to certain personality tendencies that incline individuals toward intolerance of outsiders and toward highly conservative religious and political stances. Some might assume that Christian nationalism is really just another measure of authoritarian personality or RWA. However, they are not synonymous. We consistently find that even when we account for Americans’ authoritarian leanings, Christian nationalism maintains a distinct and powerful influence on a variety of beliefs and behaviors. Nor is Christian nationalism reducible to RWA or merely a symptom of an authoritarian impulse. While they are strongly correlated, Christian nationalism exhibits an independent and important effect that is distinct from authoritarianism. For instance, when we examined what factors inclined Americans to vote for Donald Trump in 2016, we included measures of ethnocentrism, racial prejudice, and a variety of indicators that psychologists often use to measure RWA: sexist beliefs, intolerance toward ethnic and religious others, and religious literalism. Chapter 2 explores this in greater detail. Yet even when controlling for each of these well-established concepts, Christian nationalism was among the strongest predictors of voting for Trump. Thus, despite knowing that people who hold more strongly to Christian nationalism are also more likely to be authoritarian, ethnocentric, racially prejudiced, Christian nationalism represents a unique cultural framework. It is simultaneously related to other beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, and behaviors—like racism and authoritarianism—but it is also distinct and must be addressed as such. Christian nationalism is not just repackaged ethnocentrism, racial resentment, or authoritarianism. — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 99

Categorization

• XREF: These are the correlates the reader wants to test: whether they load onto CS rather than RT, bearing on whether CN is a distinct schema or collinear conservatism proxy. — connects to: Christian Statism pursues exclusive state power over cultural dominance — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 44; Christian statism and religious traditionalism are empirically separable and diverging. — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 118; Christian nationalism fuses moral traditionalism, authoritarian control, and ethno-racial boundaries — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 142 (+7 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ruiqian Li and Paul Froese, The Duality of American Christian…, 45; Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 99

Broader Connections

• Christian nationalism fuses moral traditionalism, authoritarian control, and ethno-racial boundaries #expands (0.90) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 142