Taking America Back for God Quotes

“Christian nationalism is, therefore, ultimately about privilege. It co-opts Christian language and iconography in order to cloak particular political or social ends in moral and religious symbolism.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Embracing Christian nationalism, therefore, results in a propensity toward consequentialism, where the ends justify the means. Half-truths, shady practices, and authoritarian measures, if in service to realizing a more “Christian” nation, are deemed necessary to ensure the “right” group stays in power.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Despite its ostensible association with family values and marriage, its primary concern with these issues is not moral in a personal sense, but political.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“We have also seen that while Christian nationalism is most prevalent among white Christians, and specifically white evangelicals, the two are not synonymous and conflating the two is unnecessarily misleading.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“To my wife, Jill, I’m not sure how I could make it without you. You are stronger, smarter, and generally more capable than I will ever be. I am so grateful you are in my life. Thanks for putting up with yet another book. At least this one’s not about porn!”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Therefore, groups opposing Trump should realize that dwelling on Trump’s sexual dalliances, corrupt business practices, or even collusion with a foreign power are not useful tools in the project of changing minds.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Likewise, the source of Christian nationalism’s influence in the political realm is not “religious” in essence, since personal religiosity often tends to influence Americans to hold more progressive stances on political issues, once Christian nationalism is taken into account.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“To illustrate, let’s return to three political issues that were powerfully associated with Christian nationalism (see Figures 2.3 and 2.5). As Americans show greater agreement with Christian nationalism, they are more likely to view Muslim refugees as terrorist threats, agree that citizens should be made to show respect for America’s traditions, and oppose stricter gun control laws. But as Americans become more religious in terms of attendance, prayer, and Scripture reading, they move in the opposite direction on these issues (see Figure 2.8). These situations are not anomalous. In fact, the crisscrossing pattern we observe here holds true for other political issues.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.”18 Christian nationalist ideology is fundamentally focused on gaining and maintaining access to power. It seeks to ensure that one particular group, with a specific vision for the country, enjoys privileged access to the halls of power and has the ability to make the culture in its own image. Because the embrace of Christian nationalism fuses national and religious symbols and identities, it is able to legitimate its desires for the country in the will of the Christian God, bringing the transcendent to bear on everyday realities.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“For a large swath of the American public the only thing that counts is whether they feel as though their religious and national identity is being given preference.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Many believe God is bringing about his purposes in the world by working through Trump regardless of Trump’s personal failings.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey (BRS) shows that 29 percent of Americans agree that “the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation.” Even more Americans, 46 percent, agree that “the federal government should advocate Christian values.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Christian nation-ism” or what sociologist Rogers Brubaker calls “Christianism,” a commitment to a vision of American civic life and polity as closely intertwined with an indentitarian, politically conservative strain of Christianity.1”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“Christian nationalism comprises beliefs about historical identity, cultural preeminence, and political influence. But just as important, it also contains ideological content that is often implicit. This includes symbolic boundaries that conceptually blur and conflate religious identity (Christian, preferably Protestant) with race (white), nativity (born in the United States), citizenship (American), and political ideology (social and fiscal conservative).”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States

“In some cases—as with American Christian nationalism—myths, traditions, and identities that were not originally part of the nation’s core can be manufactured for the purpose of establishing order.”
― Andrew L Whitehead, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States