Christianity itself functioned as a core element of legal whiteness

Evidence

The Immigration Act of 1917 (“Act”) established the Asiatic Barred Zone—a geographic zone stretching from the Western Asia to East Asia including the Indian subcontinent. Pursuant to the Act, no one from the designated barred countries was allowed citizenship in the United States. It was only when the Act was repealed in 1946 after World War II and the at the start of the Cold War that Asians began to immigrate in appreciable numbers. Even once the Act was lifted, however, the burden was on Muslim immigrants to persuade the courts that they were white and thus worthy of entry. In this endeavor, the results varied. As has been noted by other scholars, petitioners for citizenship whose Islamic religious identity was centralized and made prominent often failed. Christianity was used to whitewash applicants from the same regions in which unsuccessful Muslim applicants came. In other words, Christianity was an important element of whiteness. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 156

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to Aziz’s Racial Muslim claim that religious identity is co-constituted with racial presumption in citizenship law. — connects to: White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 69; Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 150; White Christianity has been the primary institution legitimizing white power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 210 (+17 more)
• SEED: A possible angle: how ‘Christianity as whiteness’ in prerequisite cases parallels current claims that secularism/laicite whiteness targets Muslim identity.

Broader Connections

• Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship #exemplifies (0.95) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 150
• Early US law linked racial exclusion to a white Christian citizenship ideal #exemplifies (0.93) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 208
• Citizenship in America has historically been tied to whiteness and Christianity #corroborates (0.88)
• Legal whiteness did not protect Jews and Catholics from social racialization #qualifies (0.85) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 247
• Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. #expands (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183
• The link between whiteness, race, and Christianity was founded in the Middle Ages. #expands (0.83)
• White Christianity has been the primary institution legitimizing white power #corroborates (0.82) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 210
• Theology justified slavery and genocide by marking whiteness as Christian #corroborates (0.82) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 145
• Phenotypic non-Whites are barred from Whiteness even when Christian #complicates (0.82) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 165
• Medieval Christianity seeded the modern fusion of whiteness and faith #expands (0.80) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 111
• White churches morally legitimized and protected white supremacy through state power #corroborates (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 125
• American religious freedom has historically been reserved for White Christians #expands (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 482
• Christian nationalism conflates whiteness with Christian American identity #corroborates (0.80) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14
• White Christian nationalism fuses a specific Christianity with American civic life #corroborates (0.80) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 141
• White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence #expands (0.78) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 69