What is Christian Nationalism?
Christian nationalism ties a country's identity to Christianity and wants its laws and public life to reflect that tie. Supporters see the faith as part of what makes the nation what it is, and they want the state to respect or back that role. It is not the same thing as being a Christian. Most Christians do not hold these political views, and many church leaders openly reject them. Scholars also point out how wide the label is. At one end are people who mostly want religious heritage honored in public. At the other end are those who want a state that is officially Christian. Some followers accept the name. Others say it is mainly an insult used by opponents.
Core beliefs
- The country's founding and character come from the Christian faith.
- Laws should be shaped by Christian moral teaching.
- Prayer, symbols and religious holidays belong in public life.
- Marriage and family should be protected by law in their traditional form.
- National heritage should be defended against secularisation and fast cultural change.
History
Church and nation have been linked for centuries, from the state churches of Europe to the dream of a Christian commonwealth. In South Africa, Christian National Education shaped schooling for white Afrikaner children after 1948. In the United States, the Pledge of Allegiance gained the words under God in 1954, and In God We Trust became the national motto in 1956. The Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell from 1979, made the religious right a major force in Republican politics. The phrase Christian nationalism spread more widely in the 2010s through the work of journalists and sociologists such as Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry. Elsewhere, Hungary's constitution of 2011 speaks of the role of Christianity in keeping the nation alive, and leaders in Russia, Poland and Brazil have used Christian language to describe national identity.
Variants
The mildest form asks only that the faith's heritage be honored and that believers be free to take part in ordinary democratic politics. A harder form comes from Christian Reconstructionism, linked to Rousas John Rushdoony, which wants civil law built on the Bible. In Europe the idea often means Christianity as the root of a civilisation, and some of its backers are not personally devout. In Russia and Serbia, Orthodox versions bind the nation closely to its own church.
Criticisms
Critics say the ideology treats people of other faiths, and of none, as lesser members of the nation, and that it clashes with religious freedom and the separation of church and state. Some US surveys link Christian nationalist views to cooler attitudes toward immigrants and minorities, though supporters dispute how those views are measured. Many theologians say it mixes up love of country with faith and uses religion as a political tool. Historians dispute the claim that the American founders meant to build a Christian state. Supporters answer that many democracies honor a religious past without fuss, and that critics stick the label on plain religious conservatives to discredit them.
In practice
These ideas show up in fights over school prayer, crosses and other symbols in public places, abortion, marriage, schooling and immigration. In Hungary and Poland, governing parties have written appeals to Christian heritage into laws and policy. On the 12 axes the profile sits at the Traditional and Religious ends of Morality and Religion, and strongly toward National identity on Culture. Its economic scores are mild, because it borrows its money views from the wider right.