White Christian nationalism masks racial anxiety behind religious identity claims

Evidence

Knowing these patterns help us understand that white Christian nationalism is not just a set of conscious (if erroneous) beliefs about America’s past. It is also a set of unconscious desires about America’s future. Our measures tap into how much Americans think the government should formally recognize the nation’s “Christian” identity or advocate “Christian values.” When we understand these as racialized terms, we can understand why white Americans who favor institutionalizing “Christianity” in American politics would fear that whites specifically will be threatened under a Democratic president. And why they worry Blacks will be given special treatment. — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 121

Categorization

• DEFINE: Key move: racialized readings of ‘Christian’ and ‘Christian values’ explain otherwise-puzzling fears that whites specifically will be threatened under a Democratic president.
• XREF: Connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ essay’s theme that coded identity talk conceals material/status anxieties, and to Islamophobia literature’s treatment of ‘values’ as racial signal. — connects to: White Christian nationalism explains seemingly contradictory Christian political behavior — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 17; Christian nationalism survey items predict racial attitudes even though they mention no race — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 91; White Christian nationalism fuses race and faith into one ethno-traditionalist identity — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 122 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Christian nationalism conflates whiteness with Christian American identity #corroborates (0.88) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14
• White Christian nationalism fuses race and faith into one ethno-traditionalist identity #corroborates (0.85) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 122
• White Christian nationalist beliefs predict perceived anti-white discrimination #expands (0.85) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 93
• White Christian identity is conflated in conservative rhetoric with whiteness itself #corroborates (0.82) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 165
• Christian nationalism fuses ethnic, racial, and political hierarchy with religious identity #corroborates (0.82) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 66
• Racism predicts white Christian identity better than church attendance does #corroborates (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 543
• Evangelical Christianity predicts higher symbolic racism among White Americans #corroborates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2189
• Christian nationalism bundles political ideology with cultural religious claims #expands (0.72)