Noting that she is not a Christian or a Christian thinker but an Americanist who specializes in American history, Heather Cox Richardson explains why she thinks it important to talk to someone like Diana Butler Bass, whose specialization is religious history: as Richardson says,

"Evangelical Christian nationalism ... is right now making a play to take over our entire country."

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDysBx_wIHc

"For me, Trump’s toxic relationship with white American Christianity has ironically steeled my resolve to hang on to some version of my faith, for spite if nothing else. Like a small child who newly discovers the value of his toy when another kid takes it away, I refuse to share Jesus with a schoolyard bully."

~ Holly Berkley Fletcher

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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https://hollyberkleyfletcher.substack.com/p/crossing-the-football-field-part-f73

Bass notes that what we're up against now in the US is "crusader Christianity." She points to Hegseth, who recites the Lord's Prayer on TikTok with pictures of bombers and people being killed by American soldiers:

"That is imperial Christianity run amuck. And it is horrible in terms of politics and foreign policy and every all those things."

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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Rather than scorn or ridicule these believers who are trying to point to what's essential in their religious tradition as they use their tradition to push back against authoritarianism, it makes eminent political sense to form bonds of solidarity with these people of faith who share the goal of overcoming theocratic fascism and propping fascism up with cruelty.

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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Because a certain kind of theocratic-authoritarian Christianity has overweening influence throughout the political sphere in the US, and even more so under MAGA and Trump, Richardson thinks it's essential for people pushing back against this authoritarianism to listen to and make solidarity with those "on the inside" of religious traditions who are critiquing the abuse of the symbols and beliefs of their religious traditions.

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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Noting that she is not a Christian or a Christian thinker but an Americanist who specializes in American history, Heather Cox Richardson explains why she thinks it important to talk to someone like Diana Butler Bass, whose specialization is religious history: as Richardson says,

"Evangelical Christian nationalism ... is right now making a play to take over our entire country."

#WhiteChristianNationalism #Trump #evangelicalism #theocracy
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDysBx_wIHc

“At this point, an argument can be made that American evangelicalism is global evangelicalism — that it has been so woven into the fabric of so many cultures around the world that it has become self-perpetuating, like pizza in American cuisine or eucalyptus trees in South African landscapes.”

~ Holly Berkley Fletcher, The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism (Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2025), p. 127

#WhiteChristianNationalism #evangelicalism #Trump
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"An overemphasis on control is just one feature of the ‘collective narcissism’ Verhaagen identifies in evangelical culture. Evangelicalism attracts individual narcissists looking for a compliant power base; it also promotes a group culture of narcissism through a belief system that tells adherents they are special, chosen, enlightened, and heroic.”

~ Ibid.

#evangelicalism #patriarchy #abuse #SexualAbuse #narcissism #control
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"Patriarchy is what psychologist Dave Verhaagen, an evangelical Christian himself, identifies as a response to deep seated anxiety and fear that, according to data he has analyzed, pervades evangelical culture and leads to an overemphasis on control and unquestioned authority.”

~ Ibid., p. 211

#evangelicalism #patriarchy #abuse #SexualAbuse
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“The media is flooded with stories illustrating the unhappy marriage between patriarchy and abuse in evangelicalism.”

“But patriarchy is just one piece of the puzzle, in some ways more of a manifestation than a driver."

~ Ibid., pp. 210-1

#evangelicalism #patriarchy #abuse #SexualAbuse
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"Too often missions are less a relationship that challenges and matures the American church and more a pleasing product to consume, a beautiful reflection upon which to gaze.”

~ Ibid.

#WhiteChristianNationalism #missionaries #evangelicalism #Trump
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“Whatever people around the world learn from missionaries, whatever elements of American Christianity they keep, and whatever the missionaries themselves bring or take away, one thing is clear: the American church has been less affected and less enlightened by those on the receiving end of its missionary endeavor, or even by their own missionaries, then one might hope."

~ Ibid., p. 139

#WhiteChristianNationalism #evangelicalism #missionaries #Trump
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“At this point, an argument can be made that American evangelicalism is global evangelicalism — that it has been so woven into the fabric of so many cultures around the world that it has become self-perpetuating, like pizza in American cuisine or eucalyptus trees in South African landscapes.”

~ Holly Berkley Fletcher, The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism (Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2025), p. 127

#WhiteChristianNationalism #evangelicalism #Trump
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