Christian nationalists read the First Amendment as one-directional church protection

Evidence

On the topic of church–state separation, Ambassadors we spoke with were largely unified in their opinion that the First Amendment was intended solely to keep the state out of the church’s business, not to keep religion from influencing politics, as if that were possible. Todd “strongly disagreed” that the government should enforce a strict separation of church and state, explaining, “Having most of your laws in the US founded on Christian principles, I find it very difficult to separate church and state. I believe that God’s word has the final say in everything, how we live, the laws that we make, how we treat people.” — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 153

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘keep state out of church only’ reading of the Establishment Clause parallels the selective constitutionalism Cooper documents on the economic side. — connects to: Claims of a Christian founding are strategically deployed to privilege present-day values — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 203; Religious liberty is being redefined as Christian right to dominate public square — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 250
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 153