Christian Nationalism Unmasked Is… Christianity

You’ll see a lot of people try to blame Christian Nationalism on evangelicals, saying that it’s evangelicals who put Donald Trump into the White House, and evangelicals who have advanced religious extremism. Then, they’ll say that evangelicals are “fake Christians” who follow an “impostor Christianity”, while all the “real Christians” voted against Donald Trump and oppose Christian Nationalism.

There’s just one problem with this argument: It’s completely disconnected with reality. The fact is that the majority of American Christians in general, not just evangelicals, voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Evangelicals make up only 19 percent of the US population. They couldn’t possibly have elected Trump on their own. Non-Christians voted overwhelmingly against Trump. So who does that leave?

The Pew Research Center survey of “validated voters” found that a majority of voters from the totality of American Christians supported Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. More recent research finds that the majority of American Christians - as high as 79% - support tenets of Christian Nationalist ideology.

Pull the mask off Christian Nationalism and what do you find beneath? You find the face of American Christianity.

Those American Christians who support Christian Nationalism are in the majority. American Christians who oppose Christian Nationalism are the minority within their own religion.

No one who looks at the facts can honestly say that Christian Nationalists are fake Christians. They’re the real deal. It’s just that the actions of American Christians don’t match the public image they prefer to project.