White nationalists attend a rally on October 28, 2017 in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The event billed as a “White Lives Matter rally” is hosted by Nationalist Front, which is a coalition of several white supremacist organizations. (Photo by Scott Olson | Getty Images) You may be among the 35% of Americans who have never heard the term “white Christian nationalism.” But, of those citizens who are knowledgeable of the concept, it carries a decidedly negative view. The belief is becoming more and more important to understand as cultural diversity, racism, immigration issues, political divisiveness and political candidate pandering is before us. What is white Christian nationalism? Generally – according to the Southern Poverty Law Center – it “refers to a political ideology and identity that fuses white supremacy, Christianity and American nationalism, and whose proponents claim that the United States is a `Christian Nation.’” Research conducted by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute with the non-partisan Brookings Institution as well as a poll sponsored by Southern Poverty Law Center/Tulchin have the same conclusion: The white Christian nationalism movement is a growing threat to America’s democracy. The far-right antigovernment and religious rights movement of the 1990s is getting stronger and stronger […]
