White Christian Nationalism: A Threat to Religious Freedom
At Catholics for Choice, we use the term “Christian nationalism” a lot while covering religion and politics. But what does Christian nationalism mean? Where does the “white” in white Christian nationalism come in? And how is white Christian nationalism showing up across American life?
The Origins of White Christian Nationalism
Both whiteness and Christianity have key roles in the English invasion and founding of the United States. The Puritans believed and wrote much about how God tapped them to lead North America, controlling and converting Indigenous communities as they went. Puritan leader John Eliot believed that “to be a Christian was to live like an English person,” and tried to force Indigenous people to convert by building camps across Massachusetts.
Then, during the institution of slavery, white Christians created a framework called the “Curse Matrix” to justify the ugliness of slavery by arguing that God certified Black and Brown people as inferior to white people. This idea proposed Black skin as God’s curse and claimed that slavery benefitted Africans, because it exposed them to “Christianity and (white) civilization.”
The history of the United States and its forefathers justifying racial violence by claiming God called for it makes it clear that white Christian nationalism is caked into this country’s dirt.
White Christian Nationalism Today
Today, 3 in 10 Americans can be considered “Christian nationalism adherents [defenders] or sympathizers.”
This isn’t all that surprising, as some supporters of Donald Trump and white supremacist groups stormed the halls of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, waving the Confederate flag. The rise of white Christian nationalism has been fueled by the Trump administration and the ways that its leaders fail to oppose — and sometimes encourage — Christian nationalist beliefs.
In the 2026 State of the Union, Trump promised to prioritize projects and values that uplift white Christian voices. Since then, in courtrooms, hospitals, and right-wing think tanks, white Christian nationalism is targeting anything that gets in its way. This means trying to control pregnant people by banning abortion and cutting funding for reproductive healthcare. It also means empowering abusive men to sue their ex-girlfriends and doctors for seeking abortion care.
