However even because the motion positive factors political and cultural affect, women and men Christian nationalists’ views on gender differ.
By Mariel Padilla for The nineteenth
Pastor Doug Wilson is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who advocates for a patriarchal society the place sodomy is criminalized, ladies undergo their husbands and girls lose the best to vote. He additionally preached on the Pentagon this week after being personally invited by Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth, a member of the pastor’s church community.
Wilson’s presence within the nation’s capital highlights how a fringe conservative evangelical Christian perception system has gained extra traction in politics.
Three in 10 Individuals qualify as Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers, in keeping with Public Faith Analysis Institute (PRRI) survey knowledge launched this week. American ladies are simply as seemingly as American males to carry Christian nationalist views.
Melissa Deckman, the chief govt of PRRI, mentioned the proportion of Individuals who adhere to Christian nationalist views has remained regular since PRRI began amassing this knowledge in 2022 — however the motion’s affect has grown in politics and tradition.
“I believe we’re speaking about Christian nationalism increasingly partly as a result of the MAGA motion has basically taken over the management of the get together,” Deckman mentioned. “Even in comparison with Trump’s first time period, you’re seeing a giant distinction in who Trump has introduced with him again into workplace.”
The vast majority of Republicans — round 56 p.c — qualify as Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers, in contrast with 25 p.c of Independents and 17 p.c of Democrats, in keeping with PRRI. Christian nationalist views are extra prevalent in Southern and Midwestern states, the place there may be additionally a bigger proportion of Republican elected officers in state legislatures.
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The PRRI outcomes have been based mostly on a survey and on-line interviews with greater than 22,000 adults who have been requested whether or not or not they agreed with 5 statements:
U.S. legal guidelines must be based mostly on Christian values
Being Christian is a crucial a part of being actually American
The U.S. authorities ought to declare America a Christian nation
If america strikes away from our Christian foundations, we won’t have a rustic anymore
God has referred to as Christians to train dominion over all areas of American society
Primarily based on their degree of settlement, respondents have been categorized as Christian nationalism adherents, sympathizers (teams PRRI identifies as Christian nationalists), skeptics or rejecters. The survey didn’t explicitly ask individuals in the event that they think about themselves to be Christian nationalists as a result of many individuals don’t wish to be conflated with the extremist stereotypes connected to the title.
In a 2025 CNN interview, Wilson mentioned he embraced the time period Christian nationalist, nevertheless, as a result of he most well-liked it to the opposite names he was getting referred to as. He added: “I’m not a White nationalist. I’m not a fascist. I’m not a racist.”
In keeping with the survey knowledge, Christian nationalists usually tend to imagine the nation must be extra patriarchal, favor Trump, vote Republican, maintain anti-immigrant views and imagine true patriotism may require violence.
“If you consider Christian nationalism as a method to energy, what has made Trump so common with Christian nationalist leaders is that he’s been prepared to enact insurance policies that mirror their worldview,” Deckman mentioned.
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Trump has appointed conservative judges, together with those that finally overturned Roe v. Wade. He declared a battle on gender ideology in a method that appeals to Christian nationalists; rolled again range, fairness and inclusion initiatives; decried wokeness; and created a activity drive to eradicate anti-Christian bias within the nation.
“I believe many feminists discover it shocking that this motion is usually simply as endorsed by ladies as males,” Deckman mentioned. “There are many ladies for whom that worldview meshes with their very own non secular and cultural beliefs. It’s not a majority, however that’s a reasonably constant discovering.”
CNN Chief Investigative Correspondent Pamela Brown, who has a documentary on Christian nationalism premiering Sunday, interviewed Wilson final yr and later went to Texas to spend a weekend in a church related to him.
“Doug Wilson is emblematic of the motion,” Brown mentioned. “And as he informed me, he’s been preaching the identical issues for many years and hasn’t modified his message, however he argues society is now shifting towards him.”
Amongst these recognized as Christian nationalist adherents, ladies are likely to have differing views on gender than males, in keeping with PRRI. As an illustration, 89 p.c of males recognized as Christian nationalist adherents suppose society is “too smooth and female,” in contrast with simply 61 p.c of ladies. Christian nationalist ladies are additionally 21 factors much less seemingly than males to suppose that ladies’s positive factors have come at males’s expense. And ladies are almost 30 factors much less more likely to help insurance policies that encourage Individuals to have extra kids.
Brown talked to 1 girl in Texas who held a fight function within the Military and had plans to go to medical college earlier than she gave all that as much as get married, turning into a stay-at-home mother and a submissive spouse. One other girl informed Brown that her husband was the supplier and decider and her function was to “glorify the house, make good dishes and make a pleasant place for him to come back to.”
“The ladies I interviewed there in Taylor mentioned they’re flourishing, that they don’t really feel oppressed, that that is what they imagine the Bible tells them is how they need to be in a wedding and that it’s the pure method a wedding must be,” Brown mentioned.
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However not everybody she spoke with was pleased with the Christian neighborhood, Brown mentioned. She additionally spoke to a gaggle of ladies who had left their Christian nationalist communities attributable to emotional or bodily abuse.
“These ladies had a special expertise, and so they did really feel oppressed, like they didn’t have any company,” Brown mentioned. “Loads of them talked about creating well being points. And a few even left with their husbands.”
Wilson informed Brown that his church community noticed membership skyrocket throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as many individuals discovered a way of certainty and a black-and-white blueprint to dwell by in unsure occasions.
However, specialists say, it depends on a “modern-day fantasy” that america was supposed by the founders to be a Christian-only nation.
“If taken to its pure ends, Christian nationalism is antithetical to democracy,” Brown mentioned
