From “American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays The Gospel and Threatens The Church” by Andrew L. Whitehead
Power is the ability to do what you want – as well as get others to do what you want – despite resistance. Power can be exercised by individuals, organizations, or even larger social institutions like the economy, government, or education.
Power may be physical, psychological, emotional, or a combination of these. Most view power as a scarce resource. If one person or group has more, then others must necessarily have less, like a seesaw. This suggests that in every interaction – whether between people, groups, or organizations – the competition for power necessarily creates an us-versus-them dynamic: if they have more power, then we’ll have less, and vice versa.
Therefore, power can be as straightforward as one person forcing another to surrender some coveted good, or as complex as the cultural assumptions that influence how groups of people define and defend the boundaries of belonging.
Christian nationalism is obsessed with power.
Why it is concerned primarily with power? Because the final goal of Christian nationalism is a nation where white, culturally and religiously conservative, natural-born citizens occupy the unquestioned center of the culture and enjoy privileged access to interpersonal, organizational, and institutional control.