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

by Philip S. Gorski

America’s Most Effective Dog Whistle In her 2021 Christian Post article, “The Assault on ‘White America,’ ” Hedieh Mirahmadi writes, “[W]e must acknowledge the widespread assault on the conservative Christian community. I use the phrase ‘White America,’ though ironically we are comprised of all ethnicities and races but united in our stand for biblical and democratic values that are the foundation of our country.”7 Notice what the author is assuming. She states that conservative Christians are under attack, but she takes this as an assault on “white America.” She even acknowledges that the group under attack comprises multiple races and ethnicities, but what makes them “white” apparently is their united stand for America’s foundational biblical and democratic values. Mirahmadi’s rhetorical sleight-of-hand is not unusual. White Christian nationalists often use religion to hide race in this way. But it is a little clumsy. She gives away the game too easily. White Christian nationalists did not always need to play this game though. Before the civil rights movement, white politicians who wanted to stir up their voters could just use racial slurs. After the civil rights movement, they had to find more subtle ways of invoking race. They invented code words that triggered the racial anxieties of white voters. On his deathbed, Republican strategist Lee Atwater confessed that when openly saying the N-word started to backfire and hurt politicians, he urged Nixon to adopt the languag...