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

by Philip S. Gorski

White Christian nationalism is our term for the ethno-traditionalism among many white Americans that conflates racial, religious, and national identity (the deep story) and pines for cultural and political power that demographic and cultural shifts have increasingly threatened (the vision). Though there have always been a variety of Christian groups and expressions, and we aren’t simply “letting Christianity off the hook” here, the term “Christian” in white Christian nationalism is often far more akin to a dog whistle that calls out to an aggrieved tribe than a description of the content of one’s faith. In Dinesh D’Souza’s words, these days it means something like “butt-kicking Republican, Christian, right-wing American capitalist.” Whiteness is often assumed in there.