Friend:

AU unmasked Christian Nationalism this week. As part of our continuous programming leading up to the Summit for Religious Freedom (SRF) on April 22-24, AU hosted a packed webinar (1,300 people signed up!) to explore new insights on Christian Nationalism in America. AU’s Andrew L. Seidel and I were joined by my friend Robert P. Jones, founder and past president of the Public Religion Research Institute, to discuss the latest PRRI/Brookings Institute survey on Christian Nationalism.  

I’ve already shared with you some of the survey’s alarming findings – including that nearly 30 percent of Americans, a majority of Republicans, and a supermajority of white Evangelical Christians are Christian Nationalist adherents or sympathizers. (You can read more in my latest column in our Church & State magazine.)

But I’ve also been thinking a lot about a few other statistics Robby shared during our webinar. Nearly 40 percent of respondents don’t know what Christian Nationalism is, and when people do understand what it is, they tend to oppose it. That’s hopeful.

This poll also found that nearly 80 percent of respondents support church-state separation – including a majority of Christian Nationalists! This seems like an oxymoron. People who want their narrow religious beliefs enshrined in our laws support church-state separation?! But, as Robby, who comes from a white Evangelical background, explained, these numbers more likely signify that Christian Nationalists believe church-state separation is about keeping government out of religion while somehow inviting religion into government. They think the wall of separation is a one-way wall. 

The lack of public knowledge about Christian Nationalism and this intentional twisting of the meaning of church-state separation makes one thing clear: Our mission at Americans United must include prioritizing public education. And you have a role to play!

You can help your friends, family, and our wider community understand the vital role of church-state separation in protecting all of the rights and freedoms we care about. You can educate them about the dangerous and heightened threat of Christian Nationalism. And you can ask them to join our movement and our beloved Americans United organization.

We are hard at work doing this too – including through our SRF programming like this week’s webinar. And there’s more to come: The threat of Christian Nationalism and how to effectively fight it will be a through-line at the Summit for Religious Freedom in April. 

Let me know if you plan to attend in D.C. or virtually, and please consider bringing a friend! The time is now to empower as many people as we can to fight for church-state separation – before it’s too late.

With hope and determination,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO