The seeds of Christian nationalism in the GOP have been slowly germinating since 1954 with the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, when a fringe bunch of Christians believed school integration was “unbiblical” and began establishing private schools for white students.
That seed is now in full flower. Here’s Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley proudly declaring his Christian nationalist identification (he left out the “white” part, but it’s understood):
“Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation. So I am,” Hawley told the fourth annual National Conservatism Conference Monday.
“And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do.”
He’s saying out loud what the GOP—and particularly the MAGA movement behind convicted felon and sex offender Donald Trump—has been working toward, but without calling it Christian nationalism. That’s the belief that the country was founded as a (white) Christian nation and that (white) Christian values should be the foundation for all public policy.
It’s the guiding organizing principle behind the edict from Oklahoma’s Republican superintendent of education that every classroom must incorporate the Bible into lesson plans from the fifth grade.
Christian nationalism is behind the new law in Louisiana requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms.
It’s embodied in Supreme Court spouse Martha Ann Alito’s “Appeal to Heaven” flag, an affinity she shares with House Speaker Mike Johnson. That’s the flag that dozens of Trump’s far-right evangelical fans brought to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Russell Vought, president of The Center for Renewing America and Project 2025 adviser, is a big and powerful advocate for Christian nationalism in a potential Trump second term. Vought served in Trump’s administration. The CRA has been drafting policy priorities for a new Trump term, Politico reported earlier this year. A draft paper it reviewed included “Christian nationalism” as one of its top demands.
They want a christian theocracy and here’s one of the most powerful people in the country—one of 100 senators and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—advocating for it on the national stage.
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