Understanding Christian Nationalism, Part 2

This is the second in a series of articles dealing with the concept commonly identified as “Christian Nationalism.”   The first article pointed out that this “movement” is a belief that America is – and must remain – a Christian nation founded for its white Christian inhabitants.

To understand Christion Nationalism, it’s important to know something about the movement’s history. It actually gelled several years after the original Roe v Wade decision with a crucial assist from a group calling itself the “New Right.”  They were angry at liberals, establishment conservatives, the rising tide of feminism and the civil rights movement because of the danger it posed to segregation.

Many of their leaders were closely involved with segregated schools and universities.  Among their core concerns was the fear that the supreme court might end tax exemptions for segregated Christian schools.

One of their leaders went so far as to call segregation “God’s established order.” He referred to those seeking to end segregation as “Satanic propagandists” who were “leading colored Christians astray.”

They knew, however, that “Stop the tax on segregation!” wasn’t going to be an effective rallying cry for their movement.  

In 1979, these New Right leaders seized on abortion as an issue. They formed common cause with a handful of conservative Catholics and a number of powerful conservative preachers.   Their leaders understood very well that if you can capture the courts, you can change society. 

This rightwing legal movement has spent several decades establishing a new regime in which “religious liberty” is reframed as an exemption from the law, one enjoyed by a certain preferred category of religion.