Who Are The Christian Nationalists? -- Digby

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2026/02/18/who-are-the-christian-nationalists/

According to a new PRRI survey, 32% of Americans are either adherents of Christian nationalism or sympathetic to it. But this breakdown of who they are by religion and race is interesting:



The Salt Lake Tribune has this:

Most (83%) of those who reject Christian nationalism -- the idea that America was founded by and belongs to Christians -- say they want to live in a pluralistic country. Not surprisingly, those who embrace Christian nationalism, according to PRRI's measuring index, prefer a nation made up of Christians (73%).

The report reveals deep divides about the role that religion should play in the country, said Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI."It's a question of American identity," said Deckman.

Since 2023, PRRI has tried to measure support for Christian nationalism in the U.S., using a series of five questions. Those questions ask:

- If the government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation.
- If being Christian is important to being an American.
- If U.S. law should be based on Christian values.
- If Christians are called to have domination over American society.
- If the U.S. will fall apart without its Christian foundations.

About 1 in 10 Americans (11%) are what PRRI calls Christian nationalist adherents, meaning they agree or completely agree with all questions, according to the new report, based on data from September 2025. More than 1 in 4 Americans (27%) are "rejectors," meaning they completely disagree with all five statements. Another 21% of Americans are Christian nationalist sympathizers, according to PRRI, meaning they agree with most of the statements, but don't completely agree with them. And 37% are skeptics and disagree -- but not completely -- with most of the five statements.

The skeptics outnumber adherents by more than 2-to-1.

Thank God.

Overall, about a third of Americans -- including 56% of Republicans, 67% of white evangelicals and 54% of Hispanic Protestants -- fall in the adherent or sympathizer categories.

. . .

[rampartd]

1. after the jews and muslims are gone

and they are working on the catholics

will the mormons realize they are next?

[erronis]

2. And then the Christians who still believe in Jesus.

[Upthevibe]

3. erronis...........

Thank you for this post............

[erronis]

5. Thank you. I get a lot of feeds from many places - much via RSS - that I want to share.

Sometimes my interests aren't the normal but I think we all need items that are outside of the norm.

You've been around since the very inception - kudos! I think I was on on 2005 under a different name.

[crud]

4. Jehovah's Witness

Have no idea, don't know, don't care by 32%!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. MaddowBlog-Hegseth welcomes radical Christian nationalist to lead an official Pentagon prayer service

Pastor Doug Wilson’s role at an official event at the Defense Department should be seen as a scandal worthy of scrutiny.

Pastor Doug Wilson wants to ban women from voting and end First Amendment protections for minority faiths he doesn’t like.

Hegseth invited this fringe Christian nationalist to the Pentagon yesterday to lead an official prayer event.

How is this not a scandal?
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-18T18:16:25.645Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-welcomes-radical-christian-nationalist-to-lead-an-official-pentagon-prayer-service

In a country that’s supposed to honor the separation of church and state, Hegseth’s events raise all sorts of legal, political and theological questions, but complicating matters further is who, exactly, the former Fox News host is welcoming to the Defense Department to help lead these Christian events.

This week, for example, Hegseth brought in pastor Douglas Wilson, a radical Christian nationalist, to lead an audience in prayer. We know this for sure because the Pentagon published a photo from the gathering, held on Tuesday.

Link to tweet

For those unfamiliar with Wilson, he’s not just another Christian conservative advocating for and against the usual culture war issues. Rather, as The Wall Street Journal reported in September, the right-wing pastor endorses a vision “in which same-sex relations are illegal, Muslims are barred from the public square and the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, is repealed.”.....

Wilson isn’t accused of being a Christian nationalist; it is a label he embraces with enthusiasm.

Common sense may suggest that leading American political figures would keep a guy like this at arm’s length. And yet, there was Hegseth, not only inviting Wilson to the Pentagon to lead an official event, but also standing alongside the radical pastor at the gathering, praying with his hand on Wilson’s back.

This was the same Hegseth who sparked a controversy last summer by promoting an online video that, among other things, included a pastor from Wilson’s church arguing that women in the U.S. shouldn’t be allowed to vote.....

Obviously, Hegseth, in his personal capacity, is free to pursue whatever religious practices he wishes. It’s a free country, and his theological beliefs are his own business. But when the secretary of defense makes a conscious decision to invite a radical Christian nationalist to lead an official prayer event at the Pentagon, that deserves to be seen as a scandal worthy of scrutiny.

[erronis]

7. OMFG. What a travesty of the professed religion. If there is a lord, please smite this total hypocrite.

I'm so glad I never caught the religion bug. The cognitive dissonance needed for some of these cretins to spout their professed beliefs is staggering.