From “American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays The Gospel and Threatens The Church” by Andrew L. Whitehead
The quest for achieving and protecting political and cultural power benefiting Christians, led by religious leaders and political operatives who seek to “make America more Christian,” clearly resonates with the attitudes and beliefs of Americans who embrace Christian nationalism. My ongoing research, as well as many studies by other researchers, confirm this.
Across various national surveys, analyses show that embracing Christian nationalism is linked to much more authoritarian attitudes and generally a disregard – and at times outright disdain – for sharing power. Consistently, Christian nationalism is suspicious of the opportunity that democracy creates for power-sharing among disparate groups with competing visions for the United States.
There is an internal consistency to this logic. If God has a particular plan for the United States and the only way for the United States to stay in God’s good graces is to align itself with God’s commands, then those who know (or believe they know) what God commands must do anything in their power to ensure that God’s desires come to pass. For Americans who embrace white Christian nationalism, setting aside democracy in order to “save” the nation from itself is a worthy sacrifice. If the God of the universe commanded it, who are we to stand in the way? Why would we let democracy and power-sharing undermine our covenant with God?