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Campbell Carter
Doctor Kelly Kimberly
Social Theory I
17 October 2022
Christian Nationalism Killed the Separation of Church and State
Christian Nationalism is a religiously motivated political movement with the ambitious goal
of making America a Christian nation with a legal system based on explicitly biblical values. It
has killed the separation of church and state laid out by the establishment clause of the
Constitution because too much of modern American legislative policy and practice has been
influenced by fundamentalist Christian views as opposed to the will of the general population.
Émile Durkheim’s theory of collective effervescence explains the ritualization of social acts into
something that is more sacred than mundane. This religious collective experience has bled into
politics through phenomena such as candidates praying during rallies and legislators basing
secular policy off ancient texts, which more broadly translates to the way religion, particularly
Christianity, is being used as an instrument for political mobilization in America. Harriet
Martineau makes observations on the disconnect between America’s morals and manners
(beliefs and actions) regarding the human rights issue of slavery, but this viewpoint can also be
used to point out the hypocrisy of the United States’ tolerance of Christian Nationalist’s bigoted
viewpoints that clearly go against the founding values laid out in our Constitution.
Christian Nationalism has also been called Christian Fascism due to the extremist behavior of
groups aligned with staunch conservatives because it encompasses beliefs that are anti-abortion,
anti-feminist, anti-immigration, anti-education just to name a few. Similarities to fascism include
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targeted disdain for science and the arts deemed degenerate, advocacy for societal return to a
glorified past (think the campaign slogan Make America Great Again), oppression of political
dissidents, and xenophobia. These statements may seem like harsh generalizations aimed at
Christians but are backed up with recent examples of extreme behavior originating from
churches such as Texan pastor Dillon Awes openly calling for the execution of all homosexuals
(Padgett 2022) and Tennessee pastor Greg Locke hosting a book burning for texts associated
with witchcraft like the Harry Potter and Twilight series. (Sung 2022) The most dangerous thing
about Christian Nationalism is that it is tolerable to the majority Christians and conservatives
because they are not threatened by the regressive rhetoric and directly benefit from their policies
being implemented. Elected members of Congress have even expressed support for the
movement, with Republican Representative Majorie Taylor Greene stating, “We need to be the
party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian
nationalists.” (Rouse, Telhami 2022) echoed by a quote from Republican Representative Lauren
Boebert, “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk – that’s not in the Constitution.”
(Vlamis 2022) A sociological theory that describes these powerful emotional sentiments felt by
Christian Nationalist and how these feelings affect our daily lives is collective effervescence.
Émile Durkheim’s theory of collective effervescence covers how crowd consciousness is
united through strong emotional bonds. In his work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Durkheim describes a phenomenon that can explain the strong feelings of groups of people are
formed and how they reproduce themselves. He argues that religion is as much of a product of
society as society itself, stating that, “A society can neither create nor recreate itself without
creating an ideal… The ideal society is not outside of the real society, it is a part of it.”
(Durkheim 1912) meaning that a society’s ideals are as fundamental to their existence as their
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daily operation. Applying this theory to Christian Nationalism means their intentions should be
evaluated as seriously as their actions because threaten the freedom of others. The belief that life
starts at conception and consequently that abortion is murder has been a rallying point for
conservatives, Christians, and members of the Pro-Life movement. (Stewart 2022) Christian
Nationalists have taken these very strong unifying feelings and paired them with well-funded,
well-organized, and long-term political activism that has succeeded in removing federal
protecting for abortion rights by sending a case to SCOTUS that resulted in the repeal of Roe v.
Wade. This means that Christian Nationalists have successfully turned a religious feeling into a
political reality through collective effervescence born through dedicated campaigning. Durkheim
also states, “The cult is not always a system of signs by which our fate is outwardly translated; it
is a collection of the means by which this is created and recreated periodically. Whether it
consists of material acts or mental operations, it is always this that is efficacious.” (Durkheim
1912) Christian Nationalism ritualizes political acts, explicitly or indirectly aligning candidates
or legislation with god’s will through acts like praying during political rallies. This overlap of
Christianity with American legal practice would be less alarming if it promoted values such as
charity or “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mat. 22:39) but instead it promotes beliefs including
that wives should be submissive to their husband (women should be subservient to men) and that
marriage is only between a man and a woman (homophobia). The failing separation between
church and state means these patriarchal and anti-LGBTQ+ viewpoints are legally recognized
and even enforced because one powerful group of people believes their way of life should be the
only right way to live. The disconnect between America’s cultural beliefs and legal practice has
also been the topic of sociological inquiry.
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According to sociologist Harriet Martineau, “Where the society is divided into Two
Classes… Where there is only two, the proprietors and laborers, the idea of liberty is deficient or
absent, the proprietary class can have no desires on the subject than to repress the encroachments
of the sovereign above them or the servile class below them: and in the servile class the notion of
liberty is yet unformed.” (Martineau 1873) This passage from Society in America originally
critiques institutional slavery and more generally the imbalance of social and economic
“equality” within the United States but can also be applied to the contemporary Christian
Nationalist movement. One of the most problematic parts of Christian nationalism is the two
ways it devalues non-Christians. On the more benevolent hand is the belief of evangelism, or that
the Christian gospel should be spread to others through public witness. Although it is rooted in
compassion, evangelists assume that people’s lives are incomplete or “wrong” without
Christianity, and that it is their moral duty to convert them. When evangelism is applied on a
national scale, it is often used to justify colonialism as a part of the white man’s burden, with the
added economic and political power gained from controlling other groups acting as an additional
incentive for Christians to interfere with non-Christians way of life. At its most base form,
evangelism justifies Christian imposition on non-Christian’s way of life by making it a moral
obligation. On the more controlling hand is the belief that the Christian worldview is the only
“right” way to be religious, and that being non-religious or anti-religion is willfully wrong and
threatening to god’s will. Christian ethics follows moral objectivism, the belief that there is a
universal system of right and wrong, with their system of universal morals stemming from the
Bible. They believe that the Bible should be the universal measure of human morality since it
stems directly from God, and that other perspectives are wrong because at best them stem from
erroneous man-made beliefs and at worst are the corrupting work of the devil. I can attest to this
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because I attended a youth group in high school that held classes on Christian apologetics that
taught defense against worldviews such as universalism and cultural relativism. The combination
of these two assumptions leads to Christian Nationalism being based in hypocritical values and
consequently contradictory behavior, with followers dutifully imposing their worldview upon
others they see as ignorant while simultaneously fiercely fighting against outside influence from
those they see as a threat. Martineau observations stretch further to the vertical nature of political
struggle core to the Christian Nationalism movement, fighting against encroachment from
secular government above while seeking to dominate less organized demographics below. While
Martineau’s work is largely based upon criticism and Durkheim’s upon observation, both reach
similar conclusions regarding collective behavior.
Durkheim’s theory collective effervescence explains the strong emotional connections felt by
Christian Nationalist such as fear, indignation, and duty, and how those feelings are reproduced
by participating in society, while Martineau’s theory explores the disconnect between the
expressed values of Christianity and the politically warped values of Christian Nationalism in
America. Both theorists analyze social phenomena through a sociological lens, but Martineau’s
direct criticism of American social structure is more effective at analyzing Christian Nationalism
than Durkheim’s comprehensive yet generalized look into how society and religion sculpt each
other. Her work took aim at the hypocrisy of America for claiming to be a society formed on the
assumption that men are equal and to be given agency over their own destinies despite
simultaneously employing institution based on the devaluing of human beings into their mere
economic capacity, a system based on one group dehumanizing and controlling another. This
criticism can still be applied to America, a country which claims to have separation of church
and state as one of its core principles which is steadily being taken over by radical
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fundamentalist Christian doctrines. If implemented legally, the ideas presented by Christian
Nationalists would conflict with America’s stated values of equality, because they devalue
women, delegitimize LGBTQ+ relationships, and antagonize secular worldviews. Collective
effervescence can be applied to ritualized social experiences like the practices of extremely
dedicated sports fan and explains how and why they reproduce themselves; Martineau’s
observations are better because they are more specific and direct in their application. These
theories present an academic way to explain social movements but can be supplemented by
contemporary analysis and personal observation.
I am not saying that all Christians are bad and believing in Christianity makes you a bad
person, just that the combination of political and religious extremism found in Christian
Nationalism should be of concern for all American citizens, particularly those whose identities
and lifestyles are attacked by such dogma. Durkheim states that a society’s ideals are a core
component of their operation, and since the Christian Nationalism movement is based on beliefs
of intolerance formed the assumed right to control others, a society run by this ideology would
be threating to the rights of many. Religion has the great capacity for good and plays a valuable
role in society in the form of providing childcare, education, community, and even political
organization, but should be participated in by personal conviction rather than mandatory for
membership in society. America should not be a Christian nation, it should be a nation where
Christians, followers of other religions, and non-religious people should have the freedom and
protection to live their lives as they see fit. Christian Nationalism is as much a political
movement as it is a religious one and seeks to dissolve the barrier between church and state and
make American legal policy intertwined with values based off interpretations of the Bible.
Martineau’s work points out the hypocrisy of America’s stated values of equality and freedom of
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opportunity not being afforded to all Americans by institutional slavery. This inequality is further
reproduced through legislation pushed by Christian Nationalists seeking to roll back women’s
bodily autonomy, LGBTQ+ rights, and enforce color blind views on race relations and racism.
Because of this more direct and critical view Martineau’s theory applies better to Christian
Nationalism. America claims to value personal freedom and protection of rights, but the rising
popularity of Christian nationalists threatens those values with its bigoted exclusionary rhetoric.
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Works Cited
Durkheim Émile, and Joseph Ward Swain. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: A Study
in Religious Sociology. Allen & Unwin, 1912.
Martineau, Harriet. Society in America. Saunders and Otley, 1837.
Rouse, Stella, and Shibley Telhami. “Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a
Christian Nation.” Politico, 21 Sept. 2022.
Stewart, Katherine. “How the Christian Right Took over the Judiciary and Changed America.”
The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 June 2022,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/roe-v-wade-abortion-christian-rightamerica.
Sung, Morgan. “Pastor Holds Bonfire to Burn to 'Witchcraft' Books like 'Twilight'.”
NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 4 Feb. 2022,
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pastor-holds-bonfire-burn-witchcraft-bookstwilight-rcna14931.
Taylor, John, and John Taylor. The Bible. Printed by Fay & Davison, 1978.
Vlamis, Kelsey. “Rep. Lauren Boebert Said Humanity Is in Its 'Last Days' and Christians Should
'Rise up,' Invoking Christian Nationalist Imagery That's Linked to Violence.” Business
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Insider, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-christiansshould-rise-up-humanity-in-last-days-2022-9.