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

by Philip S. Gorski

Conclusion: Back to the Bull Horn? In some ways, white Christian nationalism has changed a great deal over the last three-plus centuries. The boundaries of whiteness expanded to include not just Englishmen but anyone of European descent. The meaning of “Christian” was loosened to include Catholics and Mormons and even hyphenated to include (some “good”) Jews. Hubristic talk of American “chosen-ness” was toned down to the seemingly more modest claim of “American exceptionalism.” Gory talk of “blood sacrifice” was watered down into the euphemistic rhetoric of “ultimate sacrifice.” The racial and religious undertones were still there, of course, for those with the ears to hear them. But it was no longer acceptable to just say them out loud. White Christian nationalism seemed kinder and gentler. Though not of course to those on the receiving end. Its individualist strand underwent a similar evolution during this period. The market replaced the frontier as the arena of “freedom.”58 The maintenance of order at home and abroad was transferred from lynch mobs and posses to the police and the uniformed military. Christian morality was shrunk down to fit into the box of “personal accountability.” Scouts, slave drivers, and cowboys were out; soldiers, entrepreneurs, and sports heroes were in. This despite, or rather because of, growing economic inequality, mass incarceration of Black men, and the growth of the Religious Right. By the early aughts, American politics seemed to have set...

Overall conclusion about white Christian nationalism.