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Twenty years ago, while living in small town Indiana, I was pursuing many interests: organizational development, religion, politics, astronomy, world religions, developmental psychology, international relations, population demographics, and the history of western philosophy. I had completed a Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School in 1978 and since 1984 had been working in private practice as a management consultant. How could all of my interests be harmonized under a single occupation? Was I headed to being a… Unitarian minister? Now, twenty years later, here I am, playing the role of a Unitarian minister. Let’s see if I can put a few thoughts together in a coherent meditation for a Unitarian congregation in Central Square, New York.

Arny Stieber and I have been good friends for about 15 years. We met at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago and worked closely together in Veterans for Peace for many years. During this time, I was completing a PhD program at Chicago Theological Seminary. My research interest was on how nations coopt religion to legitimate killing in war.

Today I want to explore with you the historical development of white Christian nationalism in America, its current expression, and the danger it poses to democracy.

Western Europeans have a long history of empire and domination. We know of the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Greek empire around 300 BCE. Next rose the Roman Empire from the first century BCE through the fifth century CE. Then Europe slept for a thousand years until we see the development of Spanish and British empires from the sixteenth century through the twentieth century and the American empire from World War I through the present.

All of these European empires were undergirded by religious beliefs which sanctified the empire and its conquests. Nearly all western nations and empires construct a god or pantheon of gods who call the nation into existence, give it an exceptional identity, and promise victory in war and conquest. White Christian nationalism in America is not a new phenomenon. White Europeans have been claiming divine legitimation for war and conquest for at least the last twenty-three hundred years. Let’s take a look at the American chapter of the divine right of nations and empires.

Around the time of Christopher Columbus in 1492, European explorers and conquerors were claiming the right to subdue and enslave newly discovered peoples and nations around the globe. This came to be known as the “doctrine of discovery.” When Christian Europeans discovered a new land, they claimed the right to own, control, and exploit the new lands for their own benefit. There were waves of explorers, soldiers, merchants, and priests. The pretext was to Christianize and civilize the barbarians and savages.

The Puritans were a zealous Christian sect in England, and then they traveled to the “new world,” landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620. They came to establish the pure church and the Kingdom of God. A few years earlier, European settlers had arrived at Jamestown in 1607. From these rustic beginnings, European Christians arrived as explorers, trappers, traders, farmers, merchants, soldiers, and missionaries. Armed battles pushed away the native inhabitants who had been on the land for hundreds of years.

Beginning in 1619, enslaved persons from Africa were brought to America as agricultural laborers. With free land and free labor, American investors and entrepreneurs became exceptionally prosperous and gave birth to American exceptionalism. A Calvinist theology, developed around 1536, gave the Puritans support for hard work, thrift, financial accumulation, capital investment, growth, progress, and hope for signs of God’s blessing and salvation. This Calvinist underpinning gave rise to major Christian denominations: Congregationalists, United Church of Christ, Presbyterians, and Unitarians.

White American Christians claimed divine legitimation in their struggle for freedom and independence in a revolutionary war with England. The new American nation grew out of white Christian nationalism, which unified the nation until the conflict over slavery led to a Civil War in 1860. At that point, the energy of white Christian nationalism gravitated to the Southern Confederacy, where white supremacy was the dominant and overriding ideology.

Historians such as Heather Cox Richardson see that the white Christian nationalism of the Southern Confederacy is still a potent force in American religion and politics into the current 21st century.

White Christian nationalism was in retreat for a decade or two during the Civil War and Reconstruction, but it came back under the label of Jim Crow and was largely uncowed until the historic 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that segregated schools did not offer equal quality and opportunity. White Christian nationalism rallied quickly to resist the racial integration of public schools, giving impetus to the movement for white Christian academies and home schooling.

We need to back up a bit to catch another major development in the white Christian nationalism movement. Discontent among fundamentalist Christians was simmering after the defeat in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, concerning the teaching of evolutionary theory in the public schools. The conflict between fundamentalist and modernist Christians was very evident.

Then the shock of the Great Depression led to the election of FDR and his development of the New Deal political platform. This political initiative increased taxes for wealthy Americans and put regulations on American manufacturing and financial institutions. The oligarchs who ran the American business establishment were not happy. They soon realized that the New Deal was largely supported by American voters. How could the oligarchs rally American voters to oppose the New Deal of FDR? The oligarchs chose conservative Christianity as the most promising segment of American voters who could be wooed to the cause of opposing taxation and regulation.

This represents one of the most powerful forces in American politics over the last seventy years: wealthy oligarchs pumping billions of dollars into white Christian organizations in order to construct a voter base that would oppose taxation and regulation.

Corporate titans enlisted conservative clergymen in an effort to promote a new political argument embodied in the phrase “freedom under God.”

But a popular pretext was needed for this movement. The masses could not be expected to rally to support the interests of the wealthy elite.

The oligarchs developed a series of pretext issues to mobilize the masses to their cause. The first and most pervasive pretext was anti-communism. Billy Graham joined this bandwagon in 1949 at his Los Angeles crusade following the Soviet Union’s development of atomic bombs. Publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst sent out a message to his publishing empire: “Puff Graham,” and immediately Billy Graham became a powerful force in rallying white evangelical Christians to the cause of conservative politics in America.

The oligarchs claimed that the New Deal Democrats were actually Communists. This rallying cry reached a fevered pitch with the efforts of Joseph McCarthy to purge the U.S. government of Communists in the 1950s.

The 1950s were a busy time for the oligarchs solidifying their voting base among white Christian nationalists. President Dwight Eisenhower led the way in putting “In God We Trust” on American currency and putting “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. The culture wars were in full swing: anti-communism, anti-secularism in the schools, and anti-integration in the schools.

White Christian Nationalism Today

The next major rallying cry for conservative oligarchs was the movement to preserve racial segregation following the Supreme Court ruling against segregated schools in 1954. Some states, like Virginia, began defunding and closing public schools. Millions of white evangelical Christian voters flocked to the movement to oppose the federal government interjecting itself into the business of running local schools. Segregated private schools were opened as an alternative to integrated public schools. This added another layer of opposition to public education alongside opposition to the teaching of evolutionary theory.

Another related rallying cry came after the Supreme Court decisions in 1962 prohibited mandatory Bible reading and prayer in public schools. Conservative outrage was generated against the perceived act of “taking God out of the public schools.” They still resented the teaching of evolutionary theory and the racial integration of public schools. Opposition to public education continued to grow.

The Supreme Court gave the oligarchs another pretext for rallying conservative white Christian voters to the Republican Party in 1974 with the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing some abortions. The anti-abortion movement became the dominant conservative rallying cry from the 1980s until 2022, when the Supreme Court reversed itself.

The invisible work of wealthy oligarchs was proving successful in reshaping the U.S. Supreme Court. Decisions involving campaign finance, abortion, and affirmative action provided new leverage for building a conservative voter base.

Wealthy donors also funded and reinforced a conservative institutional ecosystem that included media outlets, educational institutions, law schools, business schools, and religious organizations.

The most powerful current rallying cry for white Christian nationalism is the demonization of immigrants of color. Donald Trump was first elected in 2016 on the slogan “Build the Wall” and was re-elected in 2024 promising “mass deportation.” Current political messaging also opposes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and sanctuary cities.

White male power is being protected against the perceived encroachment of women and people of color. Sexual identity anxieties are fueled through anti-transgender rhetoric.

Another rallying cry centers on protecting “family values,” meaning traditional patriarchal heterosexual marriage. Many summarize this movement with the slogan:

Faith. Family. Country.

This may be the purest expression of white Christian nationalism.

Another common appeal is protecting “religious freedom,” often meaning the protection of conservative Christian political positions from the equalizing influence of secular government.

Case Studies

J. Edgar Hoover

During his long tenure as Director of the FBI, Hoover cultivated a culture of white Christian nationalism within America’s premier law enforcement agency. Conservative Protestants and Catholics were recruited, regular worship services became institutionalized, and agents were taught they were carrying out God’s work.

One of the most troubling characteristics of this worldview is the belief that divine mission can supersede human law. If preserving Christian civilization requires violating the law, then breaking the law becomes justified by a higher calling.

California Farm Workers

Author Katherine Stewart observed wealthy California landowners supporting conservative Christian evangelists who ministered to immigrant farm workers.

The message encouraged workers to seek salvation in the next life despite difficult conditions in this one. At the same time, those same wealthy landowners supported politicians who reduced taxes for the wealthy while weakening labor protections and the social safety net.

The result was an intertwined system in which religion encouraged acceptance of suffering while politics preserved the economic advantages of those already in power.

“The religion I found… is mostly about money and power.”

— Katherine Stewart

Political & Social Impacts

1. Lower taxes on wealthy corporations, resulting in less revenue for education, healthcare, housing, and services for working families.
2. More anonymous money in elections, allowing wealthy interests to dominate public policy.
3. Fewer legal protections for workers, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ people.
4. Reduced educational and employment opportunities through the weakening of Affirmative Action and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.
5. Less support for public education while increasing support for private Christian academies and biblical worldviews.
6. Growing alignment between American white Christian nationalism and similar movements abroad, particularly in Russia.
7. Reinforcement of patriarchal systems that concentrate power in the hands of men.
8. The consolidation of political power through control of the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

The New Testament and Empire

My own reading of the New Testament is that much of the early Christian literature functioned to discourage rebellion against the Roman Empire and encourage obedience to imperial authority.

Two passages illustrate this perspective.

Romans 13

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities… Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due… honor to whom honor is due.”

1 Peter 2:13–17

“For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution… Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

Viewed through this lens, these passages support the maintenance of empire and obedience to political authority.

Today’s white Christian nationalism can therefore be understood as continuing a much older tradition of linking religious obedience with political power.

Closing Thoughts

In order to challenge white Christian nationalism in America, we must also examine and critique those religious narratives that have historically been used to justify empire and unquestioning obedience.

Our democratic foundation offers a different vision:

• All people are created equal.
• Government should neither establish nor prohibit religion.
• Church and state should remain separate.

There are undoubtedly many possible strategies for responding to these challenges. This is simply one perspective intended to begin an ongoing conversation.

I invite your observations, your questions, and your continued dialogue.