What scholars define as ‘Christian nationalism’ on the rise in some GOP campaigns

EEW Magazine News // Faith and Politics

The victory party took on the feel of an evangelical worship service after Doug Mastriano won Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial primary last month. As a Christian singer led the crowd in song, some raised their arms toward the heavens in praise.

Mastriano opened his remarks by evoking Scripture: “God uses the foolish to confound the wise.” He said Pennsylvanians’ freedom would be “snatched away” if his Democratic opponent wins in November and cast the election in starkly religious terms with another biblical reference: “Let’s choose this day to serve the Lord.”

Mastriano, a state senator and retired Army colonel, has not only made faith central to his personal story but has woven conservative Christian beliefs and symbols into the campaign — becoming the most prominent example this election cycle of what some observers call a surge of Christian nationalism among Republican candidates.

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Mastriano has rejected the “Christian nationalist” label, and few, if any prominent candidates use the label. Some say it’s a pejorative and insist everyone has a right to draw on their faith and values to try to influence public policy.

Many Christians, both Democrat and Republican, Black and White, would reject that label and instead characterize themselves as being loyal to their faith rather than culture—as fidelity to Scripture is not viewed through a political lens.

Dr. Tony Evans, the senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, who is a preacher not a politician, discussed with The Christian Post the pitfalls of “being more cultural Christians than biblical Christians.”

Dr. Tony Evans

The first African American to earn a doctorate in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, continued, “Our identity is to be rooted in the Imago Dei, in the image of God. But we've gotten so ingrained in the thinking of the culture, that we wind up being parakeets to what the society is saying, rather than taking a solid, loving but clear stance on what God is saying.”

Though Christians may call the integration of faith into their politics plain old living out biblical convictions, scholars don’t see it the same way. They generally define Christian nationalism as going beyond policy debates and championing a fusion of American and Christian values, symbols and identity.

Christian nationalism, they say, is often accompanied by a belief that God has destined America, like the biblical Israel, for a special role in history and that it will receive divine blessing or judgment depending on its obedience.

That often overlaps with the conservative Christian political agenda, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and transgender rights.

Mastriano has called the separation of church and state a “myth.”

After his victory, the comments section of his campaign Facebook page had the feel of a revival tent:

“Praise Jesus!” “God is smiling on us and sending His blessings.” “Thank you Father God!!”

Mastriano “is a unique case where he really does in his speeches highlight this apocalyptic idea” where his supporters and causes are on God’s side, said Andrew Whitehead, sociology professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and co-author of “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States.”

“It literally is good and evil,” he continued. “There’s no room for compromise, so that is the threat to democracy.”

In the book, Whitehead and co-author Samuel Perry measured rates of Christian nationalism by drawing on a 2017 Baylor University survey. It gauged opinions on such things as America’s role in God’s plan and whether the U.S. should be declared a Christian nation, advance biblical values and allow school prayer and religious displays in public places.

Their research found about one in five Americans align with many of those views. That’s down from nearly one in four a decade earlier, just as Americans have become less religious overall. But Whitehead said Christian nationalists, who are more numerous among Republicans, can be expected to maintain their fervor.

Conservative Christian themes are also playing a role in local elections, including in blue states, although many proponents say they view it not as nationalism but as supporting their religious freedom and values.

Pastor Tim Thompson of 412 Church in Murrieta, California, who hosts a YouTube channel with more than 9,600 subscribers and envisions a conservative future for the state, recently started a political action committee aiming to “take back our school boards” and give parents authority over curriculum.

“We don’t want teachers or any other adults talking to our kids about sex,” Thompson said. “We don’t want teachers categorizing our kids into oppressed or oppressor. These are not political issues. They are moral and biblical issues.”

Judeo-Christian values are the foundation of America, he argued.

“People are afraid to speak up for these values because they are afraid that the left is going to slap a label like ‘racist’ or ‘Christian nationalist’ on them,” Thompson said. “I don’t care about those labels, because my wife, children, church and community know who I am.”

Dr. Evans explained in The Christian Post that elevating anything — identity, race or national allegiance — above Christianity “is idolatry,” and “whenever that national allegiance causes you to have non-Christian perspectives, underneath the flag, then what you have done is you've created a national idol that God must resist, reject and judge.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.