The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy

by Philip S. Gorski

In 2020 the Department of Homeland Security issued its annual Homeland Threat Assessment. Officials warned that “Among Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs), racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists—specifically white supremacist extremists (WSEs)—will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland.” Although white supremacist extremists and white Christian nationalists are not identical, there is some overlap and, like the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups, white supremacist extremists easily co-opt Christian symbols and ideas for violent purposes. Given the historic and ongoing dangers posed by white Christian nationalism and its related movements, Gorski and Perry insist on urgently and aggressively combating this ideology. The convincing research presented in The Flag and the Cross has led me to the following assessment: white Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to the witness of the church in the United States today. It is not, as many white Christian nationalists would contend, Critical Race Theory or the 1619 Project or wokeness that push people away from the church and hinders democracy—white Christian nationalism does that.