"Right now we're seeing this surge of Christian nationalism, rooted in the lie that America was a country that was established for Christians, and that our laws and policies should perpetuate that privilege. But Christian nationalism reared its ugly head in the McCarthy era, when, in the 1950s, there was a series of civic religious advances that really laid the foundation for what we're seeing now."
"Reinstituting American Christian nationalism as a lodestar of U.S. public policy was one of the guiding principles of Project 2025, and it continues to lead the Trump administration in 2026. It also forms the backbone of much of the decisionmaking of the conservative justices on the Roberts court."
Christian nationalism, the belief that America was established as a Christian nation and should direct civil rights, education, and citizenship benefits toward Christians, has become central to contemporary American politics. This movement gained prominence through Project 2025 and now influences Trump administration policy and Supreme Court decisions. The ideology's origins extend decades earlier to the 1950s McCarthy era, when civic religious advances fundamentally altered American symbols and institutions. During this period, "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, "In God We Trust" replaced "E Pluribus Unum" as the national motto, and religious references were incorporated into currency. These foundational changes established the framework for the Christian nationalist movement now reshaping federal policy and judicial interpretation.
Read at Slate Magazine
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