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By Paul Bond
Chief Correspondent, Culture
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"Christian nationalism is everywhere, yet nowhere," according to a new study about a topic that is often discussed but not well understood.
Only 5 percent of American adults have ever called themselves Christian nationalists and just 28 percent are even familiar with the term, but it's nevertheless dangerous with potential to grow, said the study based on scientific polling from Neighborly Faith, an organization that seeks to introduce Christians to people of other religions.
Relying on a variety of academics, the study said the definition of Christian nationalism, or CN, is that it is "a movement advancing a vision of America's past, present, and future that excludes people of non-Christian religions and non-Western cultures."
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Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican from Georgia, called herself a CN last year, a description that caused "She's a Nazi" to trend on Twitter. She responded by posting she was being "attacked by the The Godless left."
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has been labeled a CN by his detractors, especially after he compared himself to Aaron, the priest, aid and brother of Moses, at a National Association of Christian Lawmakers event this month.
And actor/filmmaker Rob Reiner, best known as "Meathead" in All in the Family and the director of films like The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally, is releasing in February God & Country, a documentary about the dangers posed by CN.
In the trailer, there are images of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a protest replete with Christian symbolism alongside love for President Donald Trump who, if polls are accurate, is the likely 2024 GOP nominee for president, despite facing 91 criminal charges and up to 641 years in prison.
Thus, Americans can expect conversations around CN to heat up ahead of next year's election, and that's a good thing, said Kevin Singer, president of Neighborly Faith.
"It's not good to withdraw spiritually from politics," Singer said. "But we have to talk about CN because people stormed our Capitol building, right? If someone's ideology makes them prone to violence, we have to talk about that."
But CN does not equal Republican, according to the study, as only 17 percent of American adults are members of the GOP and "adherents" to CN. In fact, among adherents, half said the GOP is a threat to the U.S.
The study used 14 statements—as opposed to similar studies from other organizations that used as few as six—that participants were to agree or disagree with to determine to what degree they are CN or not.
Among the questions: "The success of the U.S. is a critical part of God's plan," "the federal government should advocate uniquely Christian values," "religion has no place in government," "public schools should allow teachers/coaches to lead or encourage students in Christian prayer" and "faith can make people better citizens."
From there, those polled were assigned one of six categories: CN Adherents, CN sympathizers, Christian spectators, pluralistic believers, zealous separationists and undecideds.
While only 5 percent have ever called themselves CN, 30 percent were either adherents or sympathizers based on their responses to the 14 statements.
Singer said the 11 percent of adherents and 19 percent of sympathizers primarily lean right politically, while the 17 percent of zealous separationists are primarily progressives, and all three groups pose a danger to society because they are the most likely to demonize and dehumanize their opponents.
Singer said the study did not ask whether those polled have participated in violence because such questions don't yield accurate results. But the study nevertheless said that those three groups are dangerous because a large percentage told the pollsters that their political opponents are "downright evil," are a "serious threat to the U.S." or even that they "lack the traits to be considered fully human."
Among the "surprises" found in the 54-page study are that CN adherents are more favorable to minority groups like Jews, Asians and Blacks than are non-adherents, and that they are more willing to raise money or organize help for victims of natural disasters than are "average Americans."
Christian nationalists believe that immigration, globalization, liberalism, secularism, LGBTQ+ groups and feminism are a threat to the success of the country while Christianity is a contributor to its success, according to the study.
"The threat of personal animus and violence among this slice of society should be cause for concern," the study said. "Yet this problem is likely less severe than American media and researchers have reported in recent years."
One "threat" is the potential for the movement to grow through pro-social behaviors like volunteering and attending town hall meetings that provide platforms for CNs to share and "normalize" their ideas, the study said.
Reiner is taking on the threat in his documentary set for release in February, but he's already facing critics on the right who say that, judging from the trailer, he'll lump mainstream conservatism in with CN.
One man featured in the trailer who is seen being arrested at a school board meeting where Critical Race Theory, transgenderism and COVID lockdowns were being discussed, told Newsweek that he's not only not a CN, but he doesn't even know what it means.
The inescapable conclusion, judging from the trailer, is that "average Christian beliefs and average Christian engagement in the public sphere is exactly what Reiner and his abettors hope to target," writes conservative film reviewer Megan Basham in The Telegraph.
Newsweek reached out to Reiner for comment.
"They want to shame followers of Jesus from taking part in the very same political activities their secular counterparts do and convince everyone else that there's something uniquely insidious when they do," Basham wrote.
While the study is critical of CN, Singer, on one level, agrees with Basham's assertion that many are throwing around the CN moniker a bit loosely.
"We just want to see the conversation be nuanced," he said. "We don't want people to think they don't have to worry about CN, and we also don't want people to think that anyone who wants prayer in school has a pitchfork and is heading to the Capitol.
"Your uncle may have an American flag on his fanny pack, but that doesn't mean you should fear him."
The study includes essays from a host of scholars.
Angela Denker, a Lutheran pastor and author of Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters who Elected Donald Trump, wrote of a pastor who used the entire length of a baccalaureate service to "rail against LGBTQ people and other minorities."
"Only a small minority of church members were perceived as holding the most extreme views," she wrote. "However, though their numbers are small, their impact is great."
"Never in my life have I seen a label move from a marginal academic discussion to the very center of American life," wrote Andrew Walker, an associate professor of Christian ethics and public theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "Left to elite usage, CN is just yet another epithet meant to censure values that progressives find distasteful and unenlightened."
While most CN adherents are Republicans, 16 percent are independents and 24 percent Democrats, according to the study.
Noting those results, Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, wrote that it's "not that CNs are intolerant of Democrats or liberals. Instead, it's that CNs are intolerant of the 'other' political party."
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