Christian Nationalism Poses Greater Threat Than Sharia Law, Experts Say
Religious scholars argue that the real threat of imposing religious law in America comes from Christian nationalists, not Muslims. The founders rejected religious monopoly in favor of pluralism.
Nearly 250 years after the founding of this nation, the United States finds herself at a crossroads, asked to choose between two different visions of what it means to belong to the American family.
One path leads to a Christian nationalist rebranding of America based on the alluring myth of religious and national purity, where Christian and American identities are synonymous, and where Christians are tasked with holding authority over all essential aspects of American civic life.
The other path is a return to America's pluralistic roots and the endeavor to create a society in which people from diverse religious traditions can freely bring their gifts and aspirations to bear on a shared diverse democracy.
According to a recent study by the Public Religion Research Institute, 1 in 3 Americans adhere to or sympathize with Christian nationalism. Close to half of White Christians fall into the Christian nationalist camp. Christian nationalists are more likely than other Americans to sympathize with authoritarianism, to subscribe to the "great replacement theory," and to support political violence.
The threat of imposing religious law on America isn't coming from Muslims, who make up only 1% of the U.S. Adult population. That threat is actually coming from Christian nationalists.
Our founders rejected the European model of one branch of Christianity having a monopoly on religion in favor of allowing diverse religious communities not only to coexist but also to cooperate across differences. George Washington promised a Jewish congregation that this new government "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." Thomas Jefferson insisted that the rights of many religious communities should be respected, including "the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination."
The aggressive, Islamophobic push to tout Christian nationalism is hard to miss these days, with politicians like Rep. Andy Ogles proclaiming that "America is and must always be a Christian nation" and that "Muslims don't belong in American society."
This article examines the growing influence of Christian nationalism in American politics and its implications for religious freedom and pluralism.
