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What are the historical roots of Christian Nationalism in the United States?
Executive summary
Christian nationalism in the United States has deep and layered roots stretching from early European colonization and Puritan identity projects through 19th‑century Confederate rhetoric, 20th‑century Cold War moves like adding “under God” to the Pledge [1], and resurgence in late‑20th and 21st‑century movements such as the Moral Majority, the New Christian Right, and newer networks like the New Apostolic Reformation [2] [3] [4]. Scholars link this lineage to ideas of American providentialism and white Christian chosenness that reappear in contemporary surveys showing sizable majorities of Republicans and white evangelical Protestants endorsing the idea that America was intended as a Christian “promised land” [5] [6].
1. Colonial foundations: identity, providence and the Puritan template
From the first European colonists, Christianity was used to fashion a new collective identity; Puritan settlement framed America as a covenant community and introduced a providential view of history that later actors could repurpose as national mission [7] [8]. Time and scholarly accounts emphasize that this early conflation of religious and communal purpose laid conceptual groundwork for arguments that the nation is a divinely favored Christian polity [5].
2. Antebellum and Confederate iterations: God in constitutions and exclusionary claims
Historians trace strands of Christian nationalist thought through the Antebellum South and the Confederacy, where constitutions and rhetoric explicitly invoked God in ways that contrasted with the federal Constitution and that often justified hierarchy and exclusion [3] [9]. Americans United and other analysts argue that nineteenth‑century leaders used Christian language to mark outsiders and defend systems—including slavery—that suited a racialized national identity [10].
3. 20th century shifts: Cold War symbols, Billy Graham and organized evangelical politics
Mid‑20th century politics fused religion and national identity in new ways: Congress adopted “In God We Trust” and added “under God” to the Pledge during the Cold War [1], moves historians and encyclopedias cite as galvanizing national religious symbolism [2]. Simultaneously, the rise of mass evangelical figures (e.g., Billy Graham) and postwar evangelical organizing contributed to a new, politicized Christian public presence that later conservative movements built on [3] [11].
4. The New Christian Right, Moral Majority and the late‑20th mobilization
Scholars trace contemporary Christian nationalism through the new Christian right, the Moral Majority and related conservative networks that emerged in the 1970s–1980s, which aligned evangelical institutions with partisan political projects and cultural backlash against social change [3]. Princeton University Press materials note that postwar evangelical initiatives in the 1940s and 1950s became direct antecedents of today’s Christian nationalist currents [11].
5. Recent decades: Tea Party, reconstructionist ideas, and the New Apostolic Reformation
Academic summaries and journalistic reporting connect the Tea Party, Christian reconstructionist thinkers (like R. J. Rushdoony), and the New Apostolic Reformation to contemporary strategies for remaking institutions — including the “Seven Mountain” mandate aimed at governing spheres such as education and media [3] [12] [4]. The Conversation and regional reporting highlight how these newer movements fuse theological claims with political action and sometimes apocalyptic language [4].
6. Ideology, demography and contemporary politics: white Christian chosenness and mobilization
Recent research and reporting emphasize that a specific strain—often labeled “white Christian nationalism”—ties beliefs about America’s divine purpose to racial, anti‑immigrant and anti‑LGBTQ attitudes, and that these beliefs are disproportionately held among Republicans and white evangelicals in modern surveys [5] [6]. Public broadcasters and scholars also link such narratives to mobilization around events like January 6 and pandemic‑era politics [13] [6].
7. Competing definitions and contested history
Not all uses of “Christian nationalism” mean the same thing: legal scholars and historians note a spectrum—some proponents argue for integrating Christian principles into law in ways tied to justice traditions, while critics point to a more exclusionary, authoritarian variant that weaponizes religion to justify discrimination [14] [15]. Institutions such as mainline and ecumenical leaders historically resisted formal establishment efforts, showing there were alternative Christian visions for the nation [11] [14].
8. Limitations, open questions and where reporting differs
Available sources consistently show long roots and multiple inheritances for the ideology, but they differ on emphasis—some trace continuous threads to the 1600s [7] [8], others underline twentieth‑century institutional shifts [2] [11] or highlight recent organizational innovations like the NAR [4]. Sources provided do not mention a single unified origin story or a definitive break points that convert mainstream Christian civic engagement into Christian nationalism; instead they offer overlapping genealogies and contested boundaries (not found in current reporting).
If you want, I can map a timeline of key people, organizations and symbolic laws (e.g., “under God,” Moral Majority, Rushdoony, NAR) with direct source citations.