What Is Christian Nationalism?

What is Christian nationalism?

Christian nationalism is a political ideology that merges American identity with a specific form of conservative Christianity. It claims the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that government should privilege Christianity in law, education, and public life.

The movement’s intellectual roots go back decades, but its political infrastructure grew rapidly after 2010. Author Katherine Stewart documented the network in The Power Worshippers (2020), describing it as “not a religious creed but a political ideology.”

The Seven Mountain Mandate

The theological engine of the movement is a framework called the Seven Mountain Mandate. It teaches that Christians have a divine obligation to take control of seven areas of society. Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham developed the framework at a 1975 meeting. Both founded major evangelical organizations: Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth With A Mission.

66% of Christian nationalism Adherents agree that God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of society. The mandate is the reason the movement does not stop at church attendance or personal faith. It requires political power.

The mandate did not stay in church basements. It became an organizing principle for legal strategy, model legislation, and judicial appointments.

From the Moral Majority to January 6

The political timeline runs from Rushdoony’s dominionist theology in 1973 through Falwell’s Moral Majority in 1979, Reagan’s explicit courtship in 1980, Robertson’s Christian Coalition in 1989, the Tea Party wave in 2010, Trump’s 81% white evangelical vote in 2016, crosses and prayer on the Capitol steps on January 6, and Project 2025’s publication in 2024.

1. 1973 Rushdoony publishes dominionist blueprint Institutes of Biblical Law argues Old Testament should govern civil society
2. 1979 Falwell founds the Moral Majority First mass political organizing of white evangelicals
3. 1980 Reagan addresses Religious Roundtable "I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you." Wins 67% of white evangelicals
4. 1989 Robertson founds Christian Coalition Builds precinct-level organizing in all 50 states after losing 1988 primary
5. 2001 Bush creates Office of Faith-Based Initiatives Federal funding begins flowing to religious organizations
6. 2010 Tea Party wave elects 87 new House members Economic populism merges with cultural conservatism at state level
7. 2016 Trump wins 81% of white evangelical vote Lance Wallnau calls Trump a "wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness"
8. 2021 Crosses and prayer at the Capitol on January 6 Rioters carried Christian flags, sang hymns, prayed inside the Senate chamber
9. 2024 Heritage Foundation publishes Project 2025 900-page blueprint with 140+ authors, multiple Christian nationalist policy goals
10. 2025 EO "Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias" signed Executive branch directs all agencies to address alleged anti-Christian discrimination

: 1973 — Rushdoony publishes dominionist blueprint (Institutes of Biblical Law argues Old Testament should govern civil society). 1979 — Falwell founds the Moral Majority (First mass political organizing of white evangelicals). 1980 — Reagan addresses Religious Roundtable ("I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you." Wins 67% of white evangelicals). 1989 — Robertson founds Christian Coalition (Builds precinct-level organizing in all 50 states after losing 1988 primary). 2001 — Bush creates Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (Federal funding begins flowing to religious organizations). 2010 — Tea Party wave elects 87 new House members (Economic populism merges with cultural conservatism at state level). 2016 — Trump wins 81% of white evangelical vote (Lance Wallnau calls Trump a "wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness"). 2021 — Crosses and prayer at the Capitol on January 6 (Rioters carried Christian flags, sang hymns, prayed inside the Senate chamber). 2024 — Heritage Foundation publishes Project 2025 (900-page blueprint with 140+ authors, multiple Christian nationalist policy goals). 2025 — EO "Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias" signed (Executive branch directs all agencies to address alleged anti-Christian discrimination).

1973: R.J. Rushdoony published Institutes of Biblical Law, arguing that Old Testament law should govern modern civil society. The book became the intellectual foundation of Christian Reconstructionism and dominion theology.

1979: Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority with direct encouragement from conservative political operatives Paul Weyrich and Richard Viguerie. It registered an estimated 2 million new voters before its first election cycle.

1980: Ronald Reagan told the Religious Roundtable in Dallas, “I know you can’t endorse me, but I endorse you.” He won 67% of white evangelical voters. The Republican Party’s alliance with organized Christian conservatism became permanent.

1989: Pat Robertson, after losing the 1988 presidential primary, channeled his donor list into the Christian Coalition. Under Ralph Reed, it built precinct-level organizing in all 50 states and became the most powerful grassroots force in Republican politics through the 1990s.

2001: George W. Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, opening federal funding streams to religious organizations. The office shifted the boundary between government and religion from separation to partnership.

2010: The Tea Party wave elected 87 new House members. Economic populism merged with cultural conservatism at the state level, creating the legislative infrastructure that Project Blitz would later use to push model bills.

2016: Donald Trump won 81% of white evangelical voters, the highest share ever recorded. Prosperity gospel pastor Lance Wallnau had framed Trump as a “King Cyrus” figure — a flawed leader chosen by God to advance a divine agenda. The framing gave evangelical leaders theological permission to support a candidate whose personal behavior contradicted their stated values.

2021: On January 6, rioters at the U.S. Capitol carried wooden crosses, waved Christian flags, and prayed inside the Senate chamber. Researchers at the Public Religion Research Institute found that Christian nationalism was the single strongest predictor of support for the attack, stronger than partisan identity or media consumption.

2024: The Heritage Foundation published Project 2025, a 900-page policy blueprint assembled by more than 140 authors. It proposed eliminating the Department of Education, expanding religious exemptions in federal employment, and using executive power to embed religious priorities across the federal government.

$390 Million per Year Funds the Network

The movement’s legal and political infrastructure costs roughly $390 million per year to operate. That money flows from a small number of foundations and donors through legal organizations that litigate in courts, draft model bills for state legislatures, and staff federal appointments.

1. Donor-advised fund National Christian Foundation $3.3B in FY2024. 6th largest U.S. nonprofit. ↓ $56.1M to 23 SPLC-designated hate groups
2. Litigation arm Alliance Defending Freedom $119.8M in FY2025. SPLC-designated hate group. ↓ Files cases targeting
3. Judicial system Federal and state courts 15 SCOTUS wins. 74+ total favorable decisions. ↓ Rulings reshape
4. Outcome Religious liberty doctrine Lemon Test killed. Public prayer restored. Right to refuse LGBTQ customers.

Source: IRS 990 filings, SPLC, ADF annual reports

The National Christian Foundation is the largest single source. It operates as a donor-advised fund, meaning individual donors give to NCF, which then distributes to recipient organizations. The donor’s name never appears on the recipient’s tax filings. SPLC documented that NCF distributed $56.1 million to 23 organizations the SPLC designates as hate groups.

The Heritage Foundation reported $133.8 million in revenue in FY2024 and produced Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint for reshaping the federal government that includes ending the separation of church and state as a governing principle.

Three organizations account for the majority of the movement’s legal and policy spending.

Annual revenue of top Christian nationalism organizations

Category	Value
Heritage Foundation ($133.8M)	$M133.8
Alliance Defending Freedom ($119.8M)	$M119.8
National Christian Foundation ($3.3B total grants)	$M56.1

Heritage and ADF: annual revenue. NCF: grants to SPLC-designated hate groups only (total giving is $3.3B). Sources: IRS 990 filings, SPLC.

How ADF Reshaped the Courts

The legal arm of the movement has reshaped how courts interpret the First Amendment. Alliance Defending Freedom filed the cases. The Federalist Society staffed the bench. Together they replaced the legal standard that governed church-state separation for 51 years.

Supreme Court standard for government religious activity

Period	Value
1971-2022 (Lemon Test)	3-part test: secular purpose, primary effect, no entanglement
2022-present (Kennedy v. Bremerton)	'Historical practices and understandings' standard
Change	51 years of precedent overturned

The Lemon Test required government actions to have a secular purpose, not advance or inhibit religion, and avoid excessive entanglement with religion. In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), the Court replaced it with a standard that asks whether the government’s action fits “historical practices and understandings.” That standard makes it far easier to justify government-sponsored religious activity, because American history is full of it.

ADF has won 15 Supreme Court cases and 74+ total favorable court decisions. In 303 Creative v. Elenis (2023), the Court ruled that a website designer could refuse to serve same-sex couples. The client request that triggered the case turned out to be fabricated. The case moved forward anyway.

The Federalist Society built the bench these cases land on. Approximately 90% of Trump’s 277 judicial nominees came through the Federalist Society pipeline. Five or six of the nine current Supreme Court justices are members or have close ties. Six of nine are Catholic.

1. 1971 Lemon Test established
2. 2014 Greece v. Galloway upheld legislative prayer
3. 2022 Kennedy kills Lemon Test
4. 2023 303 Creative
5. 2025 TX Ten Commandments upheld

: 1971 — Lemon Test established (3-part test for church-state cases). 2014 — Greece v. Galloway upheld legislative prayer (Town board Christian prayers ruled constitutional). 2022 — Kennedy kills Lemon Test ("Historical practices" replaces it). 2023 — 303 Creative (Right to refuse LGBTQ customers). 2025 — TX Ten Commandments upheld (Classroom displays required).

Model Bills in 35 States

The legal strategy gets cases to court. A parallel legislative strategy pushes model bills into state legislatures. The most organized effort was Project Blitz, a campaign by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation that produced 20 model bills designed to be introduced in every state.

Project Blitz organized its bills into three tiers, each designed to build on the last.

Tier 1 bills are designed to seem uncontroversial. Who opposes “In God We Trust” on a wall? But the political scientists who studied the campaign documented its intent: each tier creates political cover for the next. Once a legislature votes to display “In God We Trust,” it is harder for members to vote against “religious freedom” in adoption or healthcare.

Texas passed a law requiring Ten Commandments displays in every public school classroom. Federal courts upheld the law in 2025. Louisiana passed a similar law that was blocked by a federal judge. Alabama passed one and it took effect. Arkansas passed one that was struck down.

Law in effect

Passed, blocked by courts

No law

Sources: state legislatures, Texas Tribune, ACLU

Ten Commandments in Public Schools

State	Status	Detail
Texas	HB 1605 upheld by federal court, 2025	Ten Commandments required in every public school classroom
Alabama	Law in effect	Ten Commandments displays required in public schools
Louisiana	HB 71 blocked by federal judge, December 2024	Injunction prevents enforcement while litigation continues
Arkansas	Struck down by state court, April 2025	Judge ruled law violated establishment clause
Alaska	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Arizona	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
California	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Colorado	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Connecticut	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Delaware	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Florida	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Georgia	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Hawaii	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Idaho	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Illinois	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Indiana	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Iowa	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Kansas	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Kentucky	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Maine	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Maryland	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Massachusetts	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Michigan	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Minnesota	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Mississippi	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Missouri	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Montana	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Nebraska	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Nevada	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
New Hampshire	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
New Jersey	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
New Mexico	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
New York	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
North Carolina	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
North Dakota	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Ohio	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Oklahoma	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Oregon	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Pennsylvania	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Rhode Island	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
South Carolina	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
South Dakota	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Tennessee	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Utah	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Vermont	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Virginia	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Washington	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
West Virginia	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Wisconsin	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
Wyoming	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms
District of Columbia	No Ten Commandments classroom display law	No legislation requiring religious displays in public school classrooms

School vouchers are the movement’s largest funding victory. The federal government is spending $5 billion per year through reconciliation on vouchers that flow to private schools, many of them religious institutions that can discriminate in admissions.

Nationally, voucher programs total $6.3 billion. Florida alone accounts for $3.9 billion.

Federal and State Actions, 2025-2026

Every piece described above operated outside the federal executive branch. In 2025, the movement gained direct access to executive power for the first time.

Executive Order 14202, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” was signed in February 2025. It directs every federal agency to identify and reverse policies that allegedly discriminate against Christians.

The order does not define anti-Christian bias. It gives political appointees the authority to change enforcement priorities across the entire federal government based on a religious framework.

The White House Faith Office expanded under Paula White-Cain, moving from a community liaison role to policy coordination. The president said publicly that America should “forget about” the separation of church and state. Vice President JD Vance told a Turning Point USA audience in December 2025, “We always will be a Christian nation.”

The proposed Religious Liberty Commission would be chaired by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who called the separation of church and state “the biggest lie”. In June 2026, Patrick told a state representative to “go to hell” during a legislative debate and publicly embraced the “Christian nationalist” label at a GOP convention.

The Department of Education issued updated prayer guidance in September 2025 that for the first time says teachers may pray with students, reversing 22 years of guidance that said teachers should not lead or encourage prayer. The Pentagon has held monthly prayer services since May 2025, including one featuring Doug Wilson, a pastor who publicly identifies as a Christian nationalist. On May 17, 2026, the White House backed Rededicate 250, a prayer rally on the National Mall timed to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

850+ anti-LGBTQ bills were filed in state legislatures in 2025, many using religious liberty as their legal framework. 67 became law in 21 states, restricting healthcare, adoption, school policies, and public accommodations.

Your Kid’s School, Your Neighbor’s Rights

The executive orders and court rulings are not abstract. They change what your children learn, which neighbors have legal protections, and who gets to claim taxpayer dollars.

In schools, the policies stack. Ten Commandments go on the wall. Chaplains replace trained counselors. Bible curriculum gets state funding. Vouchers redirect public money to religious schools that can reject students.

Texas approved chaplains as school counselor substitutes. Oklahoma ordered public schools to teach from the Bible and purchased 55,000 Bibles for classrooms.

6,870 book ban instances were recorded in the 2024-25 school year, most targeting LGBTQ content or sexual health education.

A Jewish student in a Texas classroom now sits under a Christian religious display mandated by state law. A Muslim family in Alabama faces the same. The Ten Commandments law does not include the Torah or the Quran.

For religious minorities, government endorsement of one faith correlates with violence against everyone else. The ADL recorded 1,938 anti-Jewish incidents in 2024, an all-time record and 70% of all religion-based hate crimes.

Anti-Muslim incidents rose. The Sikh Coalition reported increased harassment. Only one openly nonreligious person has ever served in Congress.

For LGBTQ Americans, religious liberty is now the legal framework for most anti-LGBTQ legislation. 26 states banned youth gender-affirming care. 13 states allow religious adoption agencies to reject LGBTQ families while receiving taxpayer funding. The Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s conversion therapy ban in March 2026. See our anti-LGBTQ movement explainer for the full picture.

In reproductive rights, the merger of religion and law is explicit. Missouri’s abortion statute invokes “Almighty God” in its text. Five states introduced no-fault divorce restrictions between 2024 and 2026. Three states maintain covenant marriage laws. The religious reasoning is no longer subtext.

Hungary and Poland Tried This

The merger of religious or ethnic nationalism with government power is not unique to the United States. Four recent examples show both how far the strategy can go and where it breaks down.

Hungary and Poland are the most instructive parallels. Both governments used Christian nationalist rhetoric to concentrate power, restrict minority rights, and weaken courts. Both lost elections after voters turned against overreach. Hungary’s press freedom ranking dropped 45 places over 14 years. Poland’s near-total abortion ban triggered the largest protests in the country’s post-communist history.

The pattern has limits. Concentrated religious-nationalist power triggers backlash from the majority of citizens who did not sign up for theocratic governance. The democratic path back is real, but it costs years of damage before voters reverse it. Hungary’s press freedom has not recovered. Poland’s abortion deaths cannot be undone.

What the Next Decade Looks Like

The most consequential changes are already locked in. Trump’s 277 federal judges serve lifetime appointments. The Supreme Court’s replacement of the Lemon Test with “historical practices” applies to every future church-state case. These judges will be ruling in 2050.

The pending cases will extend the damage. Texas’s Ten Commandments law is heading to the Supreme Court. If upheld, every state with a Tier 1 Project Blitz bill on the books will have a template to mandate religious displays in classrooms. The next case will test whether public schools must allow proselytizing by outside groups during school hours. The case after that will test whether religious schools receiving voucher money can fire LGBTQ teachers.

Each ruling creates the precedent for the next. The ADF model is to litigate in carefully chosen circuits, build favorable precedent, and then bring the strongest case to the Supreme Court. They have 15 wins there already. Their pipeline does not stop.

At the state level, Project Blitz’s three-tier strategy is designed to escalate. States that passed Tier 1 bills (religious displays) are now considering Tier 2 (Bible curriculum) and Tier 3 (religious exemptions from civil rights law). The voucher expansion means more public money flowing to schools with no nondiscrimination requirements, year after year.

The federal voucher program alone will redirect $5 billion per year to private schools. Over a decade, that is $50 billion in public money flowing to institutions that can discriminate in admissions, hiring, and curriculum with no federal oversight.

50,000 Christians Signed Against It

The most effective opposition to Christian nationalism comes from Christians themselves. 50,000+ people across 72+ denominations have signed the Christians Against Christian Nationalism declaration, stating that “Christian nationalism provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation.”

Named critics within evangelical and conservative Christian circles have been among the most pointed voices.

“It is, in many ways, a liberation theology for white people.”

Russell Moore, former president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, describing Christian nationalism

Moore left the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2021 after leaked letters revealed that SBC leaders had suppressed sexual abuse investigations and that he faced retaliation for opposing the denomination’s alliance with political nationalism.

David French, a conservative Christian writer and former religious liberty litigator, called Christian nationalism “a blueprint for corruption, brutality, and oppression”. Kristin Kobes Du Mez documented in Jesus and John Wayne how white evangelical masculinity culture created the political conditions for the movement’s rise.

The denominational opposition is broad. The Episcopal Church passed a 2024 resolution to “Combat Rising Religious Nationalism”. The ELCA adopted a 2025 Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith.

The United Methodist Church, PCUSA, Disciples of Christ, and Mennonite Church USA have all issued formal statements opposing Christian nationalism. Multiple denominations confessed their own complicity in enabling the movement.

Organizations fighting this

These organizations work on church-state separation from different angles. Supporting any of them puts resources behind the legal, educational, and organizing work that counters the movement.

• Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty runs Christians Against Christian Nationalism and the Faith Freedom Fund, which provides legal assistance to people whose religious liberty is violated by government-imposed Christianity. They organize church-based study groups for congregations that want to understand and counter the ideology from within their own communities.
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State litigates church-state cases and tracks Project Blitz legislation state by state. Their Project Blitz tracker identifies which model bills are active in your state.
• Freedom From Religion Foundation files lawsuits challenging government-sponsored religion and operates a legal hotline for people who encounter religious coercion in schools or government.
• ADL (Anti-Defamation League) tracks hate incidents against religious minorities and publishes the annual audit of antisemitic incidents.
• ACLU challenges Ten Commandments laws, voucher programs, and religious exemptions that override civil rights protections.

Faith vs. Nationalism

Christian nationalism is not Christianity. Confusing the two helps the movement and harms people of faith who reject its politics.

• Personal faith is not Christian nationalism. Attending church, praying, reading the Bible, and believing in God have nothing to do with the political ideology. Most American Christians do not support Christian nationalism.
• Patriotism is not Christian nationalism. Loving your country does not require merging government with a particular religion. The Founders wrote the Establishment Clause specifically to prevent that merger.
• The more devout Christians are, the less likely they are to support Christian nationalism. Whitehead and Perry found an inverse correlation between church attendance, personal prayer, and theological knowledge on one hand and support for Christian nationalism on the other. The ideology appeals to cultural identity, not theological depth.
• The 32% who support Christian nationalism are not a monolith. PRRI distinguishes between Adherents (11%) and Sympathizers (21%). Adherents hold strong views. Many Sympathizers express general agreement that America should be a “Christian nation” but do not endorse specific policies or political violence.
• Christian nationalism harms Christians too. When a political movement wraps itself in Christian language and then pursues corruption, exclusion, and authoritarianism, it damages the credibility of the faith it claims to represent. Russell Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention was driven in part by this concern.

Support for political violence by Christian nationalism category

Category	Value
Adherents (11% of pop.)	38%
Sympathizers (21%)	28%
Skeptics (37%)	15%
Rejecters (27%)	7%

% agreeing 'true American patriots may have to resort to violence.' Source: PRRI 2025 (n=22,111)

The violence correlation is the clearest data point separating cultural Christian identity from Christian nationalism as a political movement. 38% of Adherents endorse political violence. 7% of Rejecters do. The gap separates cultural Christian identity from a political ideology that claims divine authorization for its agenda.

How to Recognize It and What to Say

Christian nationalism rarely announces itself. It uses language that sounds patriotic or faith-affirming while advancing a specific political agenda. Knowing the phrases helps you recognize the ideology when you encounter it at a school board meeting, a family dinner, or in a political speech.

The phrases and what they mean

Having the conversation

Most people who express sympathy for Christian nationalism are not extremists. PRRI found that 21% of Americans are Sympathizers who agree generally that America should be “Christian” but do not endorse specific policies like Ten Commandments mandates or political violence. The conversation is different depending on who you are talking to.

With a Sympathizer (someone who agrees “America is a Christian nation” but has not thought deeply about the policy implications):

• Ask what they mean specifically. “Do you mean the values, or do you mean the government should make laws based on the Bible?” Most Sympathizers mean the values.
• Share the inverse correlation. The most devout Christians are the least likely to support Christian nationalism. The movement is driven by cultural identity, not theological depth.
• Name a specific policy. “Did you know Texas requires the Ten Commandments in every classroom? Do you want the government deciding which religion your kids see on the wall?”

With an Adherent (someone who openly endorses Christian governance):

• Do not debate theology. Adherents have a theological framework that reinforces itself. Engage on the practical outcomes.
• Name the money. “Alliance Defending Freedom spent $119.8 million last year and was designated a hate group by the SPLC. Is that where your faith leads?”
• Name the harm. “1,938 anti-Jewish incidents in 2024, an all-time record. When the government says one religion is special, violence against every other one goes up.”

With a family member:

• Start with shared values. “We both believe in freedom of religion. The question is whether the government should pick which religion.”
• Ask questions instead of making arguments. “If a Muslim majority passed laws requiring Quran verses in every classroom, would you support that?” The principle is the same.
• Send them the PRRI data. Numbers from a nonpartisan research institute land differently than political arguments.

Frequently asked questions

Is the United States a Christian nation? No. The Constitution does not mention God or Christianity. The First Amendment prohibits government establishment of religion. The Treaty of Tripoli (1797), signed by President John Adams and ratified unanimously by the Senate, stated that “the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” The Founders included devout Christians, Deists, and skeptics. They deliberately kept religion out of the governing document.

Is Christian nationalism biblical? Many theologians argue it is not. The New Testament records Jesus saying “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) and distinguishing between religious and civic obligations (“render unto Caesar”). Baptist theology was historically founded on the separation of church and state, with Roger Williams establishing Rhode Island in 1636 specifically to protect religious liberty from government interference. The 50,000+ signatories of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism declaration represent a broad theological consensus that the ideology distorts the faith.

What is the Seven Mountain Mandate? A framework originating in 1975 that teaches Christians must “take dominion” over seven areas of society: government, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, family, and religion. It provides the theological justification for pursuing political power across all institutions. 66% of Christian nationalism Adherents agree with the dominion concept.

What is the difference between Christianity and Christian nationalism? Christianity is a religion with diverse denominations, theologies, and political views. Christian nationalism is a political ideology that uses Christian identity and language to pursue government power. The PRRI survey found that the most devout Christians are the least likely to support Christian nationalism. The movement is driven by cultural identity and political grievance, not theological commitment.

What you can do

1. Tell your senators and representative to oppose Executive Order 14202 and block the Religious Liberty Commission. Name the order. Name the commission. Ask for a specific vote against using executive power to establish religious preference in federal agencies. Use the letter and call script below.

2. Demand nondiscrimination requirements for voucher schools. $5 billion per year in taxpayer money flows to private schools that can reject students and fire teachers based on religion. Contact your representative and ask them to condition voucher funding on compliance with federal civil rights law.

3. Show up at your school board. Ten Commandments displays, chaplain programs, and Bible curriculum proposals start at the local level. Check your district’s board agenda. When these items appear, attend the meeting, speak during public comment, and bring neighbors. Five people in a room carry more weight than 500 emails.

4. Donate to or volunteer with organizations fighting this. The Baptist Joint Committee runs Christians Against Christian Nationalism and provides legal assistance to people facing government-imposed religion. Americans United tracks Project Blitz legislation in your state. The FFRF operates a legal hotline for anyone encountering religious coercion in schools or government. The ACLU challenges Ten Commandments laws, voucher programs, and religious exemptions.

5. Track the money. Search your state legislators’ donors at FollowTheMoney.org. If ADF, Heritage Foundation, or CPCF affiliates are funding your representatives, you know which model bills are coming next.

6. Vote in primary elections. Christian nationalist candidates win primaries because turnout is low. Only 21% of eligible voters participate in primary elections. That is where school board members, state legislators, and judges are chosen.

7. Have the conversation. Use the PRRI data and the phrases table above. Most Sympathizers have not thought through the policy implications. A specific question (“Do you want the government deciding which religion your kids see?”) lands harder than a political argument.

8. Write your representative about defending the separation of church and state. Use the letter below.