Enforcing Christian Nationalism: Examining the Link Between Group Identity and Punitive Attitudes in the United States

Abstract

This article examines whether the convergence of an individual's religious and national identities promotes authoritarian attitudes towards crime and deviance. Drawing on theories of social control and group conformity, as well as Christian nationalism's influence on intolerance toward out‐groups, I argue that the inability to distinguish between religious and national identities increases desire for group homogeneity and therefore increases willingness to utilize formalized measures of social control. Analysis of 2007 Baylor Religion Survey data demonstrates that adherence to Christian nationalism predicts three indicators of authoritarian views toward controlling crime and deviance: support for capital punishment, stricter punishment for federal crime, and for society to “crackdown on troublemakers.” These effects are robust to the inclusion of a comprehensive battery of 20 socioeconomic, political, and religious controls, and are consistent with previous research on Christian nationalism showing it is not religious commitment or traditionalism per se that leads to intolerant attitudes, but rather the conflation of one's religious identity with other social identities, in this case national. These findings indicate that, beyond sociopolitical and religious influences, the belief that the United States is, and should be, a “Christian nation” increases desires for group conformity and strict control for both criminals and “troublemakers.”

Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion, Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology

“…Recent research confirms this more directly. Davis () shows that adherence to Christian nationalism powerfully predicts Americans’ support for more coercive forms of social control, and Stewart et al. () find that Americans who advocate for a stronger role for religion in civic life tend to be more politically intolerant of religious outsiders.…”

“…Given this concern with symbolic boundaries, it would be reasonable to expect that adherents to Christian nationalism would prefer unambiguous, traditional roles and expectations for men and women. Along with this, recent research (Davis ) suggests that Christian nationalist ideology is a strong predictor of authoritarian views on social control, and thus, Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism would likely advocate for hierarchical gender relationships, a cultural artifact resulting from a particular, traditional interpretation of authority. Last, at a broader cultural level, Riesebrodt () theorized that the primary critique of populist movements advocating a more prominent role for religion in civic life was the undermining of the patriarchal family structure.…”

Is a “Christian America” a More Patriarchal America? Religion, Politics, and Traditionalist Gender Ideology

“…Given this concern with symbolic boundaries, it would be reasonable to expect that adherents to Christian nationalism would prefer unambiguous, traditional roles and expectations for men and women. Along with this, recent research (Davis 2018a) suggests that Christian nationalist ideology is a strong predictor of authoritarian views on social control, and thus, Americans who adhere to Christian nationalism would likely advocate for hierarchical gender relationships, a cultural artifact resulting from a particular, traditional interpretation of authority. Last, at a broader cultural level, Riesebrodt (1993) theorized that the primary critique of populist movements advocating a more prominent role for religion in civic life was the undermining of the patriarchal family structure.…”

“…This appeal has resonated with a large portion of the American population, particularly older, white, working-class Christians, so much so in fact, that holding such a belief-what may be termed "Christian nationalism"-was among the strongest predictors of voting for Trump in 2016 (Stewart 2018;Whitehead, Perry, and Baker 2018a). Importantly, Christian nationalism bolsters Trump's populist appeal not merely as a direct response to Trump's self-advertisements as a defender of religious freedom, but also indirectly through its connection to other predictors of Trump support, such as racism, Islamophobia, gun rights, xenophobia, homophobia, authoritarianism, and traditional views of the family (Brubaker 2017;Davis 2018a;Mc-Daniel, Nooruddin, and Shortle 2011;Merino 2010;Whitehead 2015a, 2015b;Straughn and Feld 2010;Whitehead and Perry 2015;Whitehead, Schnabel, and Perry 2018b). What has yet to be explored, however, is the extent to which contemporary Christian nationalism-specifically, an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of Christianity and American civic life-may be closely linked with another ideology associated with Trump's brand of "MAGA" populism, namely, traditionalist views of gender roles and norms (Bock, Byrd-Craven, and Burkley 2017;Brubaker 2017;Frasure-Yokley 2018;Rothwell, Hodson, and Prusaczyk 2019).…”

“…Recent research confirms this more directly. Davis (2018a) shows that adherence to Christian nationalism powerfully predicts Americans' support for more coercive forms of social control, and Stewart et al (2018) find that Americans who advocate for a stronger role for religion in civic life tend to be more politically intolerant of religious outsiders.…”