Baker, an American religious historian and author of Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930. Photo by Madison Muller for Sojourners.Ĭhristian nationalism has also been deeply intertwined with white supremacy throughout American history, according to Kelly J.
Two men stood at Federal Plaza at the beginning of Wednesday's rallies donning sweatshirts with the message, “You Need Jesus,” Jan. The notion of restoring American greatness, such as Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mantra, was prevalent in evangelical circles long before Trump arrived on the scene, Du Mez told Sojourners. The Christian nationalism on display during Wednesday's protests and attacks is the fruit of decades-long values and commitments within conservative evangelicalism, according to historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. ‘Give it up if you believe in Donald Trump!’ Louder cheer,” Goldberg reported.īut these cultural forces predate Trump. “‘Give it up if you believe in Jesus!’ a man yelled near me. “The conflation of Trump and Jesus was a common theme at the rally,” Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in a dispatch for The Atlantic.
Christian nationalism might explain why, while white nationalist symbols such as the Confederate flag and the Gadsden flag were flown at the Capitol on Wednesday, so too were crosses, protest signs quoting scripture, and banners with messages like “Jesus is my savior.