“Only a coward survives the absurd.”
-Omar El Akkad, What Strange Paradise (2021)

Last Thursday, the federal government’s “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” released a massive 500-page report, which allegedly “details the Biden Administration’s radical efforts to punish Christians and highlights President Trump’s efforts to restore religious liberty.” The task force—involving 17 federal agencies and headed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (who took over after Pamela Bondi’s ouster) was created by President Trump’s Executive Order 14202 (issued shortly after Trump took office in February 2025).

I won’t try your patience by detailing the litany of half-truths, cherry-picked details, and misleading stories that pepper the report. But here’s just one example—my favorite—of the flimsy scaffolding on which this report is built. The report makes this claim in “Key Finding 14”: “The Biden Administration regulated and suppressed religious speech that it did not like and curtailed Christians’ ability to jointly worship and study the Bible.” As evidence of this claim, the report makes this assertion: “In 2023, a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma was told to extinguish the flame of a religious candle or risk losing its participation in Medicare and Medicaid, including Children’s Health Insurance Program funding.”

Sounds terrible, right? But what’s the real story? Saint Francis Health System, a Catholic hospital system in Tulsa, kept a sanctuary candle burning in its chapel as a Catholic devotional practice. A 2023 accreditation review cited “a lit candle with open flame burning unattended 24/7” in a hospital environment with oxygen equipment as a fire safety issue. The devotional candle was never targeted by the government as a religious practice. The government’s concern was with the safety of patients at the Catholic hospital.

Moreover, as the task force’s own report notes on p. 139, after legal and public pressure, and additional safeguards put in place by the hospital, the government ultimately issued a waiver to allow the candle remain. It was never “snuffed out.” Rather, the Biden administration and the hospital reached a reasonable agreement that ultimately balanced religious liberty concerns with safety concerns. This is how government regulation is supposed to work. But in the hands of Trump’s disingenuous task force, this episode is twisted into a blatant account of anti-Christian bias. I could go on and on with such misleading examples.

If we take a few steps back, you can see just how absurd the entire project is. I wrote the following in an article for just after Trump rolled out his original executive order:

Notably, while Trump’s executive order is peppered with references to religious liberty, it makes no mention of any other religious groups. Only Christians—who comprise approximately two thirds of the U.S. population—are singled out as particular victims deserving special protections. Never mind that according to the 2023 Hate Crimes Report compiled by the FBI, out of 2,833 hate crimes motivated by religious bias, only 10% (290 cases) were motivated by anti-Christian bias. By contrast, 71% (2,006 cases) were motivated by antisemitism, and 19% (537 cases) involved bias against members of other non-Christian/non-Jewish religions and atheists/agnostics. In other words, adjusting for their smaller percentage of the population, Jews were more than 200 times more likely than Christians to be the target of a hate crime in the US in 2023. Trump’s executive order is clearly not about protecting the religious liberty of a persecuted minority or the religious groups actually experiencing the most violence.

Moreover, I pointed out Trump’s own hypocrisy. He himself has attacked a number of Christian groups who aren’t his favored group of conservative white evangelical Protestants (Reminder: white evangelical Christians comprise only 13% of the general population and only one in five Christians).

Trump’s ludicrous posturing as the defender of the Christian faith has already been undermined by his own administration’s actions in the opening weeks of his presidency, which have explicitly targeted Christian leaders and groups. Trump called Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde “nasty” (his favorite epithet for women he finds threatening) for preaching at the Washington National Cathedral a sermon about mercy, and he allowed Elon Musk to disparage and gut funding from Lutheran and Catholic groups who have provided social services to immigrants and refugees for decades. His encouragement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pursue arrests of undocumented immigrants even in sensitive locations like churches and synagogues has made his Department of Homeland Security the target of a lawsuit filed by 27 Christian and Jewish organizations, and his inhumane mass deportation program has earned him a rare pointed rebuke from Pope Francis, who called it “a disgrace.”

Finally, the report uses the term “traditional Christians” and “people of faith” throughout as if these terms refer to some identifiable majority of Christians. But even a cursory look at contemporary survey data shows that the actual views of American Christians are far from what Trump’s Anti-Christian Bias Task Force assumes.

• First, the premise of the entire project—that discrimination against Christians is as big a problem as discrimination against other groups—is an idea that only has majority of support among white evangelical Protestants.

• Even on so-called culture war issues, white evangelicals are outliers. Most other Christians support the legality of abortion in all or most cases, support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry, and reject patriarchal conceptions of hierarchical gender roles.

• Even more telling, while Trump’s favorability remains at nearly seven in ten among white evangelical Protestants, only 37% of all other Christians hold a favorable view of the president.

Actual American Christians also hold views at odds with Trump’s obsession issue, immigration.

• While white evangelicals are more sympathetic to Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, about six in ten Christians say they believe that the U.S. immigration system should allow immigrants who are living in the country illegally a way to become citizens, provided they meet certain requirements.

• And nearly seven in ten Christians say they oppose allowing Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE) officers to regularly conduct surveillance and arrests at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, places of worship, and social service locations. Even a slim majority of what evangelicals oppose such a radical policy, which Trump unleashed the first week of his presidency.

Put another way, given what American Christians actually believe, policies that outlaw abortion and marriage equality, or use the power of the state to favor traditional hierarchical gender roles, cannot be accurately characterized as Christian. Nor can inhumane immigration policies that deny undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship or that target them for arrest at places of worship or other sensitive locations.

It’s clear that we won’t see Trump’s Department of Justice showing any concern for these Christian values, even if they do comprise the majority views of Americans who identify as Christian.

However, in this administration, one uniquely at war with the truth, advancing the bold absurdity—the Big Lie—is the point. It is a predictable strategy for advancing authoritarianism and suppressing public criticism. In the coming days, if this vision is embraced, we will almost certainly see heads of institutions and even private citizens forced to testify before Anti-Christian Bias government committees. And we are likely to see many forced to choose between affirming this irreality and being labeled domestic terrorists because of their alleged anti-Christian bias.

Share

Watch My Take: Press Conference Hosted by Georgetown’s Center for Faith & Justice

The Center on Faith and Justice hosted a press briefing to discuss concerns about a Department of Justice report on anti-Christian bias, with panelists arguing the report was politically motivated and fundamentally flawed. Former White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Executive Director Melissa Rogers testified that the Biden administration worked extensively with Christian leaders and communities, contradicting the report's claims of anti-Christian bias. Amanda Tyler from the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty criticized the report's misunderstanding of religious freedom principles and constitutional law, while Guthrie Graves Fitzsimmons from Interfaith Alliance highlighted the report's hypocrisy and noted their organization's legal challenges against the administration's Religious Liberty Commission. Robert Jones from Public Religion Research Institute presented data showing that while Christians make up a majority of Americans, there is significant diversity within Christian beliefs, with white evangelical Protestants being the only group supporting the report's claims of anti-Christian bias. The panelists argued that the report incorrectly characterized "traditional Christians" and failed to consult with former Biden administration officials before publication.

ICYMI, Announcing My Forthcoming Book, BACKSLIDE

An Invitation

Come join The Convocation Unscripted team for our monthly LIVE webinar, where we’ll discuss the ongoing threats to our democracy, bringing our combined expertise in religion, history, and politics to the discussion. We hope you can join us LIVE on May 7 at 5:00 PM ET. It’s free, but you’ll need to register below to receive the Zoom link.

The Convocation Unscripted

Register for TCU+LIVE Session May 7

Dear Convocation Unscripted community…

Read more

4 days ago · 7 likes · Robert P. Jones

Get more from Robert P. Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

The Real Third Rail of Politics

Here’s the summary of my conversation with , who writes over at .

Robert P. Jones founded the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) because he knows that you can’t understand American politics without understanding religion. The influence of Christian nationalism, especially among white Evangelicals in the South, explains why Trump’s base has stayed with him through so much scandal — and why our politics in general is so polarized and dysfunctional. (For more on that point, read my 2023 post, “How White Christian Political Might Made the Republican Party Hard Right, in 8 Charts.”) We hear nonstop about the so-called diploma divide, but almost nothing about the much larger and more consequential religious divides.

So why do we almost never hear about religion in political reporting? As Robby and I discussed, it’s a third rail for reasons that are understandable, but not defensible. Nobody wants to risk offending or essentializing people’s most deeply held beliefs — but those beliefs, and the institutions behind them, are too important to ignore.

Other highlights of our conversation included:

• Why Trump can’t take Catholic voters for granted. He’s never had a lock on Catholics the same way he has on Evangelicals — and that was before his war on Iran and his public attacks on Pope Leo XIV. (Also, Vance is the one who should be more “careful” about theology; the Pope has been so outspoken about the war in Iran because Catholic doctrine is very clear about the immorality of wars of choice.)

  • More at Robby’s Substack: “How Trump’s Fight with Pope Leo XIV May Hurt Republicans in the Midterms.”

• How Pete Hegseth’s anti-DEI crusade is really about mainstreaming white Christian nationalism in the military.

• Why reporters who refuse to use the term “Christian nationalism” are out of step with well-grounded social science research.

• The enormous influence of Christian media on those within its bubble (which doesn’t include most political reporters).

• How the Roberts Court has weaponized (individual) religious liberty to curtail other freedoms.

A Generous Endorsement of BACKSLIDE by Kristin Du Mez

I was also so grateful to for posting a generous endorsement of my new book, BACKSLIDE: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy, over on her Substack . She has more to say in the full post below, but I’m grateful for these words from her.

Du Mez CONNECTIONS

BACKSLIDE

I have a lot of friends whose writing I admire. With some of my closest friends, I actually met them first through their writing. Robby Jones is one of these…

Read more

14 days ago · 156 likes · 29 comments · Kristin Du Mez

You can pre-order BACKSLIDE at the links below (ordering using these links helps support this newsletter):

Buy from Bookshop

Buy from Amazon

Buy SIGNED from People's Book

My Endorsement of Kristin’s New Book, LIVE LAUGH LOVE

Kristin and I first connected after the publication of her blockbuster book, Jesus and John Wayne. We’ve become friends, and I’m so excited to see her new book, LIVE LAUGH LOVE: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made, coming into the world the week after mine is published in early fall. Here’s my short take on her book, which I endorsed in a longer post below. I encourage you all to pre-order it. It will make a great companion read to BACKSLIDE.

Pre-order Live Laugh Love on Bookshop

Pre-order Live Laugh Love on Amazon

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know the high esteem I hold for , Professor of History at Calvin University and author of the New York Times bestselling bombshell book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Over the last five years, Kristin and I have become friends and collaborators—together with and for our weekly The Convocation Unscripted podcast. We’ve also been in conversation as we’ve both been writing new books that address the current threats to both Christian faith and democracy in America.

I was excited to find out that her long-awaited new book, Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made, will be published on September 15—just one week after my new book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy. While each has their own distinct focus and mission, both books take a rigorous look at history and our own cultural experiences in the evangelical world—“Calvinettes” for Kristin and “Royal Ambassadors” for me, for example—to help us understand how we got here and illuminate alternatives for those wanting to walk a different path. I think they would make perfect reading companions.

Here’s how Kristin described the book in a recent post on her own Substack newsletter :

Live Laugh Love is about exactly what you think it is. It is about prairie fiction and Amish romance, Amy Grant, Jen Hatmaker, and Joanna Gaines. It is about multilevel marketing (from Amway and Mary Kay to R+F and LuLaRoe). It is about Christian bookstores and Hobby Lobby and Altar’d State, about beauty and bloggers, about purity culture (of course) and about Elisabeth Elliot—but not exactly the Elliot you might expect. (Elliot became one of my favorite people in the book—not the missionary Elliot or the Passion & Purity Elliot, but the woman she was in between.)

The book is also about power. It is about systems of manipulation and control. (That’s partly where the “secret” in the subtitle comes in.) For people who have been immersed in these worlds and for those who have left or tried to leave, it will make so much sense of so many things. I had no idea…

Unlike Jesus and John Wayne, this book isn’t just about evangelicals. If you think about influencers and MLMs and Hallmark movies, you know that this goes beyond evangelicalism. It is about evangelicals but also about charismatic, mainline, Mormon, and secular women. And it’s about the philosophy of positive thinking: Change your attitude and you can change your life!

Since writing Jesus and John Wayne, I’ve received thousands of messages from readers. People often assume I get a ton of hate mail, but I don’t. Hardly any, actually. But almost every day, to this day, I receive letters from readers saying “thank you.” Almost all of them convey some version of the same: This is the story of my life. But I never understood how all these pieces fit together.

Live Laugh Love does the same, but this time there are more pieces, and by the end, the picture that emerges is even darker than where we arrive at the end of Jesus and John Wayne. (Yes, it features Erika Kirk and Karoline Leavitt and Kristi Noem, and that Thomas Kinkade-inspired DHS propaganda.)

In so many ways, Live Laugh Love is a bigger book than Jesus and John Wayne. It is also a more disruptive one. (I know, I know…this should be fun…)

It’s probably the most important book I’ve written. Once you see how all of these pieces fit together, you won’t be able to unsee it.

I hope you’ll join me in pre-ordering Kristin’s book. (Note: If you order using one of the links in this newsletter, a portion of your purchase goes to support my Redeeming Democracy newsletter). And stay tuned—we’ll certainly have some joint conversations about our books between now and the early September pub dates!

Pre-order Live Laugh Love on Bookshop

Pre-order Live Laugh Love on Amazon

ICYMI at Redeeming Democracy

And here’s a link to our collaborative work at :

It’s official. I now have the advance galley copies of my new book in hand. And I’m so excited to be sending this post to let you all know that my new book, BACKSLIDE: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy, is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold.

I’ve been working on this book for the last three years. It’s the most personal, unflinching, and urgent book I’ve written. And it’s almost here.

As you may know, pre-orders play a big role in the success of a book. In fact, the single most important thing you can do to support an author is to pre-order his or her book. (And thanks so much to those of you who placed those early orders to help land my previous book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy, on the New York Times bestseller list in its first week!). Pre-orders signal to retailers that they should have sufficient copies on hand on publication day and encourages them to promote it in their stores.

If you order now, the book will be delivered to your doorstep or device the day after Labor Day, September 8. What better way to kick off the fall as we look toward the consequential midterm elections? It’s available in hardcover, ebook, and audio book everywhere books are sold. (Note: Ordering through Bookshop or Amazon using the links below helps support this newsletter, while ordering a signed copy helps support my local independent bookstore, People’s Book).

Buy from Bookshop

Buy from Amazon

Buy SIGNED from People's Book

This book is my effort to speak into this perilous moment in American history; to reckon with the moral collapse among white Christians—two thirds of whom supported Donald Trump for a third consecutive time at the ballot box in 2024; and to issue an urgent call to protect American democracy. The stark jacket cover—with its upside down American flag (an appropriate display, according to the U.S flag code, “in instances of extreme danger”)—signals the gravity of our time.

As we’ve witnessed the indefensible willingness of conservative white Christians to shed their core values like inconvenient loads along the road to supporting Donald Trump, I’ve been brought back to two words from my evangelical upbringing: backslide and apostasy. It’s notable that political scientists are also now using the term “democratic backsliding” to describe the process by which a democracy— including democracy in the U.S.—slips into authoritarianism. These powerful terms help us describe our situation succinctly: We are now living in a democratically backslidden nation, abetted by an apostate white Christianity.

In the new book, through reflections on history, my upbringing in the white evangelical South, and decades of social science research, I lay bare the roots of this collapse and the dangers it poses for our future. I take readers inside a faith tradition marked by an impoverished relationship to the Bible, a rejection of a genuine search for truth, and an upside-down world where empathy is considered a vice. Yet amid the wreckage, I also find hope in growing efforts to resist the backsliding, to remake our national holiday rituals, and to recover a Christianity that remains committed to a pluralistic democracy.

This book will speak particularly to those like me who grew up part of white Christian churches, but it is also for anyone who wants to understand how we got here, with so many white Christians trading faith for power and democracy for dominion. This book is for all who are unwilling to surrender the soul of religion or the promise of democracy. And it is a reminder that the time is short for deciding which Christianity, and which America, will prevail.

Here’s what some fellow travelers have had to say about the book:

I can’t wait for this book to make its way into the world and to share it with you all. Please help me spread the word today about the new book to folks in your circles.

Share

As most of you know, this year and I launched a monthly series—live on the third Wednesday of each month in the 7pm hour—called “Countering White Christian Nationalism.” This week we released episode five, where we tackle the subject of the apostasy of MAGA Christianity and Donald Trump’s recent blasphemous depiction of himself as Jesus—which he made after criticizing Pope Leo XIV for being “soft of crime” of all things. It’s absurd and appalling. But what’s it all really about? We unpack the theology and the politics behind the drama.

I’m posting the most recent episode below. And you can view the whole series here.

ICYMI on Redeeming Democracy

Check Out the Redeeming Democracy Shelf at Bookshop

If you haven’t browsed there yet, check out my Redeeming Democracy booshelf over at Bookshop.com. You’ll find a curated list of recommended books—including two forthcoming books my me (BACKSLIDE) and Kristin Du Mez (LIVE LAUGH LOVE). Plus, if you purchase a book there, a portion of your purchase goes to support this newsletter.

View the RD Bookshop

I’m sharing two podcasts below, along with some analysis of the potential political fallout from these distortions of religion. But first, I want to highlight the latest from Pope Leo. Even as Trump criticizes him—calling him “weak on crime” of all things—Pope Leo continues to call out the core problem: the sullying of religion in a quest for power.

My Conversation with Brian Lehrer on NPR/WNYC:
How Trump’s Self-Depiction as Jesus Lands with Christians

SHOW DESCRIPTION: In a now-deleted social media post, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. He has also recently attacked Pope Leo XIV. Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, has said that the pope should “be careful” when talking about theology. Robert P. Jones, president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute and author of the Substack newsletter Redeeming Democracy and the forthcoming book Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy (St. Martin’s, 2026), talks about the range of responses from Christians.

Note: Full transcript is also available when you click through using the button below.

Listen at WNYC

My Conversation with Greg Sargent at The New Republic:
Trump Erupts in Rage as Pope’s Harsh New Rebuke Lands Surprise Blow

SHOW DESCRIPTION: Donald Trump is furious at Pope Leo. After the pope sharply criticized the war on Iran, Trump exploded in a wild Truth Social rant, slamming the pope as “WEAK on crime” and clueless about the Iranian nuclear threat. Trump then posted an image of himself as Jesus, which he took down after MAGA figures lashed out at him. Trump then angrily insisted he had no idea that image had religious significance, and seethed some more over the pope’s criticism.

In today’s episode, Robert Jones, the president of the Public Religion Research Institute, makes a fascinating point: The pope’s criticism of his war appears calibrated in a way that could stir concern and debate about the war in many local churches at a grassroots level. That’s a hidden problem for Trump, says Jones, author of several books about religion and the American right. He explains why Trump’s spin will make this worse among religious voters, why all this will resonate more deeply with Catholics than with Trump’s evangelical base, and why Catholics are a point of real vulnerability for him. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.

Listen at TNR

What’s the Political Risk of Trump’s Fight with Pope Leo?

I don’t believe President Trump understands the political risk of picking a fight with Pope Leo XIV. My best guess is that he believes that the unquestioning submission demonstrated by his fawning white evangelical followers exists among all of his Christian followers. But Catholics are not white evangelical Protestants.

While white evangelicals have voted more than 80% for Trump every time he has been on the ballot and have held strongly favorable views of Trump through every controversy and outrage over the last decade, Catholics have been more measured in their support. Most notably, there is a strong racial and ethnic divide among Catholics: six in ten white Catholics supporting Trump each time he has been on the ballot, but six in ten Latino Catholics have supported his Democratic opponents.

Even before Trump’s war of choice with Iran, Trump’s standing with American Catholics was shaky. In a PRRI survey prior to the U.S. attacks on Iran, Trump’s favorability among white Catholics was barely in positive territory (53%); his favorability among Latino Catholics was only 25%, down 12 percentage points from 37% just before the 2024 election.

In an IPSOS poll released last week, only 46% of white Catholics and 33% of nonwhite Catholics approved of the military strikes against Iran. And 64% of white Catholics and 75% of nonwhite Catholics supporting ending the Iran war, even if not all the goals were met.

If his support falls further, it could be game over for Republican candidates in competitive midterm elections and for the next Republican presidential candidate. While Trump and Republican candidates might be able to weather a 5-10 point drop in support among white evangelical Protestants, given that they largely live in safe deep red districts and states, the GOP would not survive such losses among Catholics—both because of their size and their location. Overall, Catholics comprise 22% of Americans, nearly double the size of white evangelical Protestants (13%). Most importantly, Catholics are much more numerous in swing states, as this heat map illustrates (produced by PRRI’s interactive American Values Atlas, check it out for yourself!).

Take this one insight: Trump won the 2024 election by winning 62% of the white Catholic vote and 41% of the Latino Catholic vote. In 2020, when his support among white Catholics was 5 points lower and support among Latino Catholics 10 points lower, he lost the election.

In the midterms elections, there are only a hand full of competitive races, and they are nearly all in states with significant Catholic populations. For example, the competitive House races are largely confined to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, and Texas. Competitive Senate races are confined to Michigan, Maine, North Caroline, Georgia, Ohio, Alaska, and New Hampshire.

In these competitive states for the midterm elections, the Catholic vote looms large:

• In 12 of these 16 states, Catholics comprise at least 20% of residents.

• In 4 of these states, Catholics comprise at least 30% of residents.

• In California and Texas, Hispanic Catholics (reminder: Trump favorability at 25%) outnumber white Catholics by around four to one.

• In Nevada and Arizona, white Catholics and Hispanic Catholics are at parity.

As the ill-conceived war in Iran shows, Trump’s actions are guided by ego and the desire to dominate his opponents. Trump only thinks about consequences after they occur. For the midterms, the consequences are clear: a significant drop in Catholic support for Republican candidates from 2024 election levels would mean almost certain defeat. For those hoping to turn the country back toward a pluralistic democracy, these dynamics may be good news. By the time Trump feels the consequences of his feud with the pope, the power will have shifted.

Share

Each time we’ve released a new study, despite the transparent methodology and consistent findings over time, conservative white evangelical apologists predictably object that the term “Christian nationalism” is a term invented by religiously hostile academics to malign Christians. PRRI’s most recent findings should put an end to those protestations.

Two thirds of those who qualify as Christian Nationalism Adherents hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism.”

It turns out that most of those who qualify as “Christian nationalists” by independent criteria actually now embrace the term. Here are the details, hot off the press in a large 5,000-person study released last week.

First, some context. The term “Christian nationalism” is not popular among the public. Overall, just 27% of Americans hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism,” compared with 47% who hold an unfavorable view. About one quarter of Americans (23%) have not heard of this term.

The terms is also becoming more familiar to the public. Significantly fewer Americans have not heard of the term “Christian nationalism” today, compared to when we first asked about the term in 2022 (down 12 points from 35%). Compared to four years ago, the percentage who hold an unfavorable view of the term is up only 3 points (from 44%), while the percentage who who hold a favorable view is up 7 points (from 20%).

Notably, Americans who qualify as Christian nationalists using independent criteria are more likely than others to hold a favorable view of the term. Two-thirds of Christian nationalism Adherents (68%), as well as half of Sympathizers (50%) hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism.” Morevover, while one quarter of Sympathizers say they are unfamiliar with the term, they are nearly twice as likely to hold positive than negative views of it. By contrast, only 19% of Christian nationalism Skeptics and 3% of Rejecters hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism.”

Skeptics (28%) and Sympathizers (26%)—groups in the middle of the scale—are more likely than Adherents (20%) or Rejecters (13%) to say they have not heard of the term.

Most Republicans Now Hold a Favorable View of Christian Nationalism

Partisan divides remain stark: A majority of Republicans (53%) view Christian nationalism favorably, compared with 22% of independents and only 10% of Democrats. While support among independents and Democrats has remained relatively stable since 2022, Republicans are increasingly embracing the term, with favorable views rising a remarkable 17 points, from 36% to 53%.

White evangelical Protestants are the only religious group in which a majority hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism” (54%). Hispanic Protestants—a group that is majority evangelical in orientation and supported Trump in the 2024 election—also hold a favorable view of the term. Favorability of the term “Christian nationalism” is significantly lower among all other religious groups and among the religiously unaffiliated.

Holding a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism” is strongly correlated with holding racist conspiracy theories toward immigrants and support for concentration camps on U.S. soil.

This analysis also dispels one of the leading objections to concerns about Christian nationalism: that those who affirm Christian nationalism are merely expressing support for a strong role for Christianity in public life. But this survey demonstrates that holding a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism” is strongly correlated with embracing racist views about immigrants and harsh immigration policies. Here are just two examples.

Among those who hold a favorable view of the term “Christian nationalism,” 62% agree with the racist “great replacement theory,” that immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background, compared with only 15% of those who hold an unfavorable view of the term.

Similarly, among those who hold a favorable view of Christian nationalism, 69% agree that the federal government should detain immigrants who are in the country illegally in internment camps until they are deported, compared with only 22% of those who hold an unfavorable view of the term.

As I argue in my forthcoming book, BACKSLIDE, we cannot afford to be passive about the clear implications of this research. Despite the objections of some white evangelical apologists, Christian nationalists—both those who embrace the worldview and the term—endanger not only the moral integrity of Christianity but the future of America as a pluralistic democracy.

Pre-Order BACKSLIDE

Share

ICYMI on Redeeming Democracy

Thanks for your patience as I’ve been on vacation over the last week and work travel into next week. We had a lovely family trip anchored in London and Dublin, with a mix of truly beautiful weather and gale force winds/rain a few days as well. Amid other things, we got in college visits at Oxford and Trinity, and we saw the awe inspiring Cliffs of Moher. A few travel updates: I’m currently still in Europe attending a conference on threats to academic freedom, then over to Yale Divinity School for a conference on public theology and public policy. If you’re in the Yale area, its’ not too late to register to attend.

In the meantime, it’s also been a busy media week, with the Trump administration ramping up its holy war rhetoric in increasingly desperate attempts to justify an unjustifiable war. Below, I’m sharing two recent conversations I had on NPR and with The Contrarian.

NPR: What happens when religious fundamentalists come to power?
My Conversation with Meghna Chakrabarti and Katherine Stewart

Show Description:

This is our second episode in our look at what happens to a nation when religious fundamentalism comes to power. This little pop-up series is inspired by questions you sent us when I asked you several weeks ago what you want to know about the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. Today, we’ll discuss how Christian extremism came to influence the Trump administration and offer moral underpinnings for the new war in the Middle East.

Guests:

Katherine Stewart, journalist and writer. Author of the books “Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy” and “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.”

Robert Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute. Author of many books, including, most recently, “Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy.”

Listen on NPR

The Contrarian: Are We Headed Towards a Modern Day Crusade? My Conversation with Jen Rubin

Here’s the description of our conversation:

America’s Secretary of Defense dreams of a modern day crusade. Yes, those crusades of the Middle Ages, where Christians would charge into a town and slaughter its Muslim population. Hegseth is hell-bent on turning this dream into reality.

But why? Where is this coming from? What level of influence is Christian

Nationalism having on our government officials. Thankfully, Robert P. Jones, President of the Public Religion Research Institute, joins Jen Rubin to explain it all. The two discuss Hegseth’s religiously charged tattoos, Trump’s refrigerator-magnet theology, the Democrats’ confirmation hearing fumble, and so much more.

Watch at The Contrarian

ICYMI at Redeeming Democracy

Here’s my overall take:

In the wake of the ICE surge in Minneapolis that resulted in numerous injuries, including the deaths of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti, the survey finds a growing majority of Americans believe the Trump administration has gone too far. Just 35% of Americans rate President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration favorably, compared with 61% who rate his actions unfavorably. Notably, nearly half (48%) of Americans hold VERY unfavorable views of his handling of immigration. By contrast, in March 2025, 48% of Americans approved of the job Donald Trump was doing on immigration.

Just 1 in 3 Americans (33%) hold favorable views of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, down 6 points from an already low 39% in September 2025. Favorable views of ICE officers have declined across the board, with significant drops among Republicans, from 78% to 73%, among independents, from 34% to 26%, and among Democrats, from 10% to 6%. The survey also reveals that these attitudes are specific to ICE and not directly at law enforcement generally: Twice as many Americans (67%) express favorable views of local police officers compared to ICE officers.

Additionally, nearly 6 in 10 Americans (57%) agree that the surge of ICE officers in places like Minnesota is making communities less safe, compared with 38% who disagree.

However, while most Americans are recoiling from the violence that ICE has unleashed in Minneapolis and other cities across the country, two groups remain supportive of Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement: Republicans and white evangelical Protestant Christians.

• Among Republicans, 78% approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, 73% hold favorable views of ICE officers, and 75% disagree that ICE surges make communities less safe.

• Similarly, among white evangelical Protestants, 69% approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, 65% hold favorable views of ICE officers, and 67% disagree that ICE surges make communities less safe.

Read the Full Report

Most Republicans — but only 24% of Americans — favor allowing ICE officers to make arrests at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, places of worship, and social service locations. Republicans (54%) are more likely than either independents (20%) or Democrats (5%) to favor allowing ICE officers to regularly conduct surveillance and arrests at sensitive locations. Notably, there is no religious group in which a majority favor allowing ICE to make arrests at sensitive locations (only 44% of even white evangelicals favor such a policy).

One of the most disturbing findings of the survey was that 41% of Americans favor allowing the government to detain undocumented immigrants in internment camps until they can be deported. This support is driven by Republicans and white Christians, especially white evangelical Protestants and white Cathlics.

• Three-quarters of Republicans (73%) favor detaining undocumented immigrations in internment camps, compared with only 37% of independents and 17% of Democrats.

• Among religious groups, only two support this policy: 63% of white evangelical Protestants and 55% of white Catholics agree that the government should detain undocumented immigrants in internment camps. White mainline/non-evangelical Protestants are divided. Majorities of all other religious groups oppose this policy.

There was one bright spot in the survey. Despite the drastic reduction in refugee resettlement under the Trump administration, more than 7 in 10 Americans (72%)—across party and religious lines—agree that “we should provide refuge for people who come to the U.S. if they are in serious danger in their home country.”

Share

Click below to watch a panel of experts—Brian Fraga (National Catholic Reporter), (Author and Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis), and Jack Jenkins (Religion News Service)—discuss the report’s findings with PRRI’s and .

Spring 15% Discount Offer Through April 1

You can pre-order my book Backslide plus books from The Convocation Unscripted podcast team at my curated bookshelf on Bookshop.com. Take 15% OFF these select titles (excludes ebooks) when you enter BSO15 at checkout, valid until April 1, 2026.

Click the image or button below to get your 15% discount on the latest from Jemar Tisby, PhD , Diana Butler Bass , Kristin Du Mez , and Robert P. Jones .

Get 15% Off My Bookshop List

That’s the title of the section describing America in the new 10th annual Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) report that was just released this month.

In my forthcoming book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy (see below for two options to pre-order at a discount), I wrestle with these challenging questions: Where are we exactly as a nation? And what is our responsibility in such a time?

Even with the daily headlines documenting the diminishment of our nation as a pluralistic democracy, I still have conversations with well-informed people who continue to doubt—to hope against hope—that things are really not as bad as they seem, that the guardrails will hold, that the pendulum will magically swing back. The new V-Dem report provides an evidence-based reality check that should banish any remaining naiveté that the U.S. can any longer be considered a functioning pluralistic democracy.

Here’s a selection of the devastating findings from the report’s executive summary—any one of which in normal times would set off alarm bells:

• Under Trump’s presidency, the level of democracy in the USA has fallen back to the same level as in 1965.

• Yet the situation is fundamentally different than during the Civil Rights era. In 2025, the derailment of democracy is marked by executive overreach undermining the rule of law, along with far reaching suppression and intimidation of media and dissenting voices.

• The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history.

• Legislative Constraints – the worst affected aspect of democracy – is losing one-third of its value in 2025 and reaching its lowest point in over 100 years.

• Civil Rights and Equality before the Law are also rapidly declining, falling to late 1960s levels.

• Freedom of Expression is now at its lowest level since the end of WWII.

The figure below shows the departure of the U.S. on the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) from the path of other countries in North America and western Europe. It also shows how dramatically U.S. democracy has declined in just one year under the Trump regime: from 0.79 in 2023 to 0.57 in 2025. The V-Dem report concludes: “With such a sharp drop on the LDI, the level of democracy at the end of 2025 is back to the 1965 level. Symbolically, that is the year that most analysts consider the USA began its transition to a real democracy. Democracy in the USA is now at its worst in 60 years.”

If we’re collectively experiencing vertigo amid the authoritarian whirlwind, that’s normal.

• The 2025 plunge is the largest one-year drop in the LDI score in American history—going back to 1789 when the Constitution was ratified and became effective.

This drop is directly attributable to the takeover of the Republican Party by the white Christian nationalist MAGA movement under Donald Trump. In surveys, we have consistently found a strong positive correlation between support for Christian nationalism and support for right-wing authoritarianism. Nearly 8 in 10 Christian Nationalism Adherents score high or very high on the Right-Wing Authoritarian scale, compared to only 1 in 10 Christian Nationalism Rejecters. (See PRRI’s full report here for methodology and detailed findings).

• The V-Dem report also notes this remarkable finding that puts the U.S. democratic backsliding into international context: “The dramatic decline under Donald Trump took Hungary’s Viktor Orbán over four years, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić eight years, and both India’s Narendra Modi and Türkiye’s Rečep Tayyip Erdoğan about a decade.”

These results are daunting: We’ve never seen such rapid democratic backsliding in either American history or the modern world.

The V-Dem report does illuminate a narrow lane of hope. It notes that worldwide 70% of the recent autocratizations in the world have been reversed. But it also stresses that we likely only have a small window in which to act. The report concludes:

Research shows that there is no unique recipe for making a U-turn but a combination of three key factors seem to be important: (i) strong institutional safeguards acting as the “brakes” of autocratization: electoral integrity, judiciary constraints, and legislative constrains; (ii) robust societal action serving as the “engine” of democratic revival: unified opposition, robust and active civil society, independent media, and sustained non-violent mass pro-democracy protests; and (iii) acting early since most U-turns happen around the end of the first electoral cycle.

Among the institutional safeguards, the courts and the legislative branch have largely abondoned their safeguarding roles. That leaves only electoral integrity. For us, the work of protecting the midterm elections over the next seven months against overt subversion by the Trump administration will be critical. I’m encouraging everyone to volunteer to be a poll worker or observer and to support organizations such as the Carter Center or the Brennan Center who are on the front lines protecting our elections.

Ordinary citizens have more direct influence in creating “robust societal action” that can fuel democratic resilience. In these days, we need to support independent media (including independent writers on platforms like Substack) and protests such as the “No Kings” rallies that will take place this weekend on March 28. Thanks to all of you who are organizing through churches, synagogues, mosques, and other organizations to bring religious voices to the work of protecting democracy.

Finally, the V-Dem report notes the urgency of the moment. If we aren’t able to apply the brakes to America’s democratic backsliding this year, it will be much harder to turn the country around in the future.

This sense of lament, urgency, and hope is at the heart of my new book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy. In the conclusion of the book, I write, “We must shoulder the terrifying realization that it is we who will determine which Christianity, and which America, becomes a reality in this world.” What we do with the remainder of 2026 will be decisive for our future.

The book will be published September 8, ahead of the midterm elections. I hope you’ll consider taking advantage of two discount offers below to pre-order your copy.

Spring 25% Discount Offer: Barnes & Noble

Preorder my new book Backslide at bn.com from 3/24-3/26 and get 25% off with code PREORDER25. Note, this discount is only available to B&N members but free memberships are available - learn more at barnesandnoble.com/membership/ .

Get 25% Off at B&N

Spring 15% Discount Offer: Bookshop

You can pre-order my book Backslide plus books from The Convocation Unscripted podcast team at my curated bookshelf on Bookshop.com. Take 15% OFF these select titles (excludes ebooks) when you enter BSO15 at checkout, valid until April 1, 2026.

Click the image or button below to get your 15% discount on the latest from Jemar Tisby, PhD , Diana Butler Bass , Kristin Du Mez , and Robert P. Jones .

Get 15% Off My Bookshop List

Watch the CNN Interview

Here are more details about the CNN documentary. I think it’s exceptionally well done. It includes data and excellent interviews with Rev. and scholars and . From the official description:

In this hour, Brown examines the growing influence of Christian nationalism, an ideology rooted in the belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that its laws and institutions should reflect Christian values. Through immersive reporting and on-the-ground access, the episode explores how a movement once largely confined to the margins of white evangelical culture has gained new visibility and political power.

Spring 15% Discount on My Bookshop Shelf

Discount Alert! Shop my curated list—featuring books from The Convocation Unscripted podcast team—for your enjoyment. Take 15% OFF* these select titles when you enter BSO15 at checkout, valid until April 1, 2026. *Discount off list prices, and excludes Ebooks. Click the image or button below to get your 15% discount on the latest from , , , and .

Get 15% Off My Bookshop List

ICYMI and Related

Here’s a piece I wrote a year ago, warning of the dangers of Hegseth’s Christian nationalist views.

Check out the latest episode of my monthly “Confronting White Christian Nationalism” series with , which includes a conversation with .

And here’s the latest episode from , just posted yesterday.

Just dropped! On Part Four of our Countering White Christian Nationalism series, and I were joined by journalist Katherine Stewart, whose reporting focuses on the Christian far right. We discuss the wave of sexual predators being uncovered among the MAGA Christian right, and whether white Christian nationalists are ignoring the revelations about Trump and Epstein.

If you aren’t familiar with Katherine’s work, be sure to check out her NY times bestselling book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy, now in paperback.

And if you missed earlier episodes of Countering White Christian Nationalism with Joy and Robby, you can catch up on the whole series here.

ICYMI on Redeeming Democracy

And don’t forget to tune in weekly at The Convocation Unscripted, a weekly podcast featuring me, , , and . Latest episode is below.

The Convocation Unscripted

Normalcy and Resistance Amid an Unjust War

This week, we open the conversation with reflections on the challenges of living daily life amid the onslaught of horrific news, so often these days instigated by our own government. We reflect on normalcy—focusing on daily tasks of caring for family, tending friendships, and connecting with local community—as a mode of resistance. We then turn to addre…

Read more

2 months ago · 38 likes · 4 comments · Robert P. Jones

In this in-depth conversation, Waj and I talk about the dangerous way the ideology of Christian nationalism animates the worldview of Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense (which he refers to as the “Department of War”).

In my circles, there has been some debate about the credibility of reports that military commanders in the field were describing the attacks on Iran as part of a holy war to bring about armageddon, the final battle between good and evil that will bring about the second coming of Jesus. So far, the evidence for this is from a single source and has not been corroborated. But leaving this aside, we have more than enough evidence that Hegseth, the man with his finger on the trigger of the world’s most deadly arsenal, sees his role and the role of the United States through the lens of Christian dominionism and holy war. [Quick digression for my fellow Christian theology nerds: Yes, I know there is a big theological difference between premillennial dispensationalism and Hegseth’s dominionism, but in the messy real world these worldviews likely function as two different Christian nationalist roads leading to the same violent ends].

Whatever the credibility of these latest reports, we have ample evidence of Hegseth’s avowed Christian nationalism and his glorification of violence. Just ahead of his confirmation as Secretary of Defense, I wrote an in-depth post documenting this worldview, which he put on public display both in his book—literally titled American Crusade—and in multiple crusader tattoos on his body, including a sword crowned by the Latin phrase “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”) on the inside of his right arm. We are now reaping the consequences of the unwillingness of our senators to recognize the dangers of Hegseth’s Christian nationalism.

I hope you’ll listen to the entire conversation above. And you can read my full analysis of Hegseth’s Christian nationalism below.

Recently from Redeeming Democracy

Follow the Confronting White Christian Nationalism Series with Joy Reid

Stay tuned here on Redeeming Democracy for announcement about the ongoing “Confronting White Christian Nationalism” series with Joy Reid.

Mark your calendars: The series airs live on the Joy Reid Show on the third Wednesday of each month at 7pm ET.

You can see past episodes and subscribe to our playlist on YouTube here:

Subscribe to YouTube Playlist

And ICYMI here is a link to our January episode:

A 25% Discount for February

To mark the recent renaming of my newsletter, I’m offering a 25% discount on new annual paid subscriptions to Redeeming Democracy through the end of February. Click below to subscribe and claim the discount.

Get 25% off for 1 year

Your paid subscription helps sustain my work, keeps most content free for everyone, and gives you full access to the following:

• Weekly analysis and original writing, including previews of upcoming work;

• Participation in the comments section with a lively community;

• Substack+LIVE video conversations on breaking news with thought leaders;

• Monthly author salon webinars; and

• Five years of archives.

It also represents your commitment to support unflinching writing and analysis on religion and democracy. That’s never been more critical.

*Note: If you’d like to receive the benefits of being a paid subscriber but have been laid off or furloughed because of the Trump administration’s attack on our government, or otherwise cannot afford it, drop me a note at robertpjones.substack@pm.me and I can arrange a complimentary paid subscription).

I give my take on the key findings below. You can also watch my presentation of the data at our launch event below, which features a discussion between me, , , and Bryan Massingale.

Based on interviews with more than 22,000 adults conducted throughout 2025, the American Values Atlas finds that nationwide less the one third of Americans qualify as either Christian nationalism Adherents (11%) or Sympathizers (21%). By a margin of two to one, most Americans reject this worldview.

However, this minority worldview has come to have outsize public influence because it is the animating spirit of Trump’s MAGA movement, which has taken over the Republican party. Today, a majority of Republicans (56%) qualify as either Christian nationalism Adherents (21%) or Sympathizers (35%). This support contrasts sharply with the one in four independents (25%) and less than one in five Democrats (17%) who share these views.

The PRRI study also finds that white Christians (46%) are more likely than Christians of color (39%), non-Christians (13%), and religiously unaffiliated Americans (10%) to qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers. White evangelical Protestants (67%) and Hispanic Protestants (54%)—two groups comprising the religious base of the Republican Party—are the only two major religious groups in which a majority qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.

The study also definitively settles a question that has been the source of some debate: whether Christian nationalists are simply cultural Christians or “Christians in name only” (CINO), versus practicing Christians. The study’s findings are unequivocal. Support for Christian nationalism is positively correlated with a range of religious practices. In other words, on average, the more frequently Americans attend church, read the Bible, or pray outside of religious services, the more likely they are to hold Christian nationalist views.

• The majority of Americans who attend religious services weekly or more qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers (54%), compared with 39% of those who attend at least a few times a year and 20% of those who seldom or never attend religious services.

• This correlation holds frequency of prayer and frequency of reading the Bible.

At the state level, Christian nationalist views predominate in the South and Midwest and are strongly correlated to both Trump favorability and Republican representation in state legislatures.

The states with the highest levels of support for Christian nationalism —about half of their residents — are Arkansas (54%), Mississippi (52%), West Virginia (51%), Oklahoma (49%), and Wyoming (46%). The higher a state’s residents score on the Christian nationalism scale, the more likely they are to hold favorable views of Trump and have a larger proportion of Republican elected officials in their state legislature.

If anyone doubts how central this worldview of Christian nationalism is to Trump’s MAGA movement, this scatterplot showing the linear correlation between state residents’ average score on the Christian Nationalism Scale and favorable views of Trump should settle them.

Other notable findings:

• Political violence. Christian nationalism Adherents (30%) are more than twice as likely to agree that “true American Patriots may have to resort to violence” than Christian nationalism Skeptics (14%) and Rejecters (11%).

• Trump as a dangerous dictator. Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers overwhelmingly view Trump as a strong leader, while Skeptics and Rejecters overwhelmingly view him as a dangerous dictator.

• Harsh and racist views of immigrants. Majorities of Christian nationalism Adherents (67%) and Sympathizers (53%) agree with the idea that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background,” compared with 32% of Skeptics and 8% of Rejecters. Additionally, majorities of Christian nationalism Adherents (61%) and Sympathizers (54%) support “the U.S. government deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons without due process.” In contrast, around one-third of Skeptics (34%) and one in ten Rejecters (11%) agree.

There is much, much more in the full report.

**NOTE: I’m also inviting everyone to join my ongoing “Confronting White Christian Nationalism” series with , which airs on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 pm ET. You can check out the first four episides here.

A 25% Discount for February

To mark the renaming of my newsletter, I’m offering a 25% discount on new annual paid subscriptions to Redeeming Democracy through the end of February. Click below to subscribe.

Get 25% off for 1 year

Your paid subscription helps sustain my work, keeps most content free for everyone, and gives you full access to the following:

• Weekly analysis and original writing, including previews of upcoming work;

• Participation in the comments section with a lively community;

• Substack+LIVE video conversations on breaking news with thought leaders;

• Monthly author salon webinars; and

• Five years of archives.

It also represents your commitment to support unflinching writing and analysis on religion and democracy. That’s never been more critical.

*Note: If you’d like to receive the benefits of being a paid subscriber but have been laid off or furloughed because of the Trump administration’s attack on our government, or otherwise cannot afford it, drop me a note at robertpjones.substack@pm.me and I can arrange a complimentary paid subscription).

This is only the second SS live event we’ve done, but we had nearly 300 join us. Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning in to my live video with ! Join me for my next live video in the app or (new!) on your desktop.

Get more from Robert P. Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

My guest today is Kim Wehle, who is an expert in constitutional law and author of , where she breaks down the complexity of the law for mere mortals. She is a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a legal contributor for ABC News and Zeteo. She was also an Assistant United States Attorney in the Washington D.C. office. She is the author of the books What You Need to Know about Voting—and Why, How to Read The Constitution—and Why, and How to Think Like a Lawyer—and Why.

I asked Kim to join me after hearing her give an engaging keynote address at a conference on Religion and Democratic Resilience at the University of Cambridge. In this conversation, we talk about what she calls the phenomenon of “legal authoritarianism” that we are experiencing in the U.S. and what we all can do to stand up for democracy and the rule of law in these challenging times.

I encourage you to sign up for Kim’s newsletter and to buy her books, which you can find on the Redeeming Democracy bookshelf (and here’s a link to one).

The Little Law School with Kim Wehle

Unpacking legal headlines into plain English so you can feel informed and empowered.

A 25% Discount for February

To mark the renaming of my newsletter, I’m offering a 25% discount on new annual paid subscriptions to Redeeming Democracy through the end of February. Click below to subscribe.

Get 25% off for 1 year

Your paid subscription helps sustain my work, keeps most content free for everyone, and gives you full access to the following:

• Weekly analysis and original writing, including previews of upcoming work;

• Participation in the comments section with a lively community;

• Substack+LIVE video conversations on breaking news with thought leaders;

• Monthly author salon webinars; and

• Five years of archives.

It also represents your commitment to support unflinching writing and analysis on religion and democracy. That’s never been more critical.

*Note: If you’d like to receive the benefits of being a paid subscriber but have been laid off or furloughed because of the Trump administration’s attack on our government, or otherwise cannot afford it, drop me a note at robertpjones.substack@pm.me and I can arrange a complimentary paid subscription).

Thanks so much for the overwhelmingly supportive messages I’ve received about the new name for my newsletter—and for the dozens of new subscribers. President’s Day week is going to be a busy one. I’m excited to share three upcoming live virtual events for next week. And if you’re in the Austin area, I’ll be giving the keynote address next Friday night (02/20) at the Faithworks Compassion & Justice Conference, hosted at Riverbend Church. I hope you’ll join me at these events!

I’ve also relaunched the Redeeming Democracy bookshelf, the companion to this newsletter over at Bookshop. Check it out below.

And as a reminder, I’m offering a 25% discount on paid annual subscriptions through the end of February. Details below. If you know someone who would benefit from being a Redeeming Democracy subscriber, please help me spread the word by forwarding this email to them.

In solidarity,

Robby

1. President’s Day Substack+LIVE (02/16): Trump and “Legal Authoritarianism,” a Conversation with Constitutional Law Expert Kim Wehle

On President’s Day at 12:00 pm ET, join me for an engaging lunchtime conversation with , Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law and an expert on constitutional law and separation of powers. I recently heard Kim give an engaging talk at a University of Cambridge conference on religion and democratic resilience. We’ll talk about Trump and the problem of what Kim calls “legal authoritarianism” that is taking root in America today.

How to join: To watch (and ask questions), you’ll need to be logged into the Substack app or the Substack site on the web. I’ll send out an email reminder a few minutes before the event with a link to join. You can also open this post in the Substack app or on the web at the launch time and tap the “Join Live” button when the broadcast begins. If you’re not seeing the button yet, try refreshing the page a minute or two before start time and make sure you’re logged into the email address you use for Substack. Bring your questions — there’ll be time for live Q&A.

2. Webinar (02/17): Mapping Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States

Join us for PRRI’s next webinar, Tuesday, February 17, at 2 PM ET, where we unveil a the results of a large (>22,000 interviews) survey measuring Christian nationalism across all 50 states. Webinar will feature me, , , and Bryan Massingale. Free but registration is required.

Register for PRRI Webinar

3. Countering White Christian Nationalism with Joy Reid (02/18)

On the third Wednesday of every month, I’ll be joining on for a special segment on Countering White Christian Nationalism. Our next show is next Wednesday, February 18, in the 6:00-8:00 pm ET block. I’ll send out a more specific time closer to day. You can tune in to The Joy Reid Show live on YouTube here and watch past episodes here.

Updated Redeeming Democracy Bookshelf

Along with the renaming of my newsletter, I’ve refreshed the newsletter bookshelf over at bookshop. If I cover a book here, you’ll see it featured there. And if you purchase a book there, part of your purchase goes to support my writing here.

And note—my forthcoming book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy, is now available for pre-order there (with a sneak peek at the cover and description).

Browse RD Bookshelf

Help Spread the Word—A 25% Discount

To mark the renaming of my newsletter, I’m offering a 25% discount on new annual paid subscriptions to Redeeming Democracy through the end of February. Click below to subscribe.

Get 25% off for 1 year

Your paid subscription helps sustain my work, keeps most content free for everyone, and gives you full access to the following:

• Weekly analysis and original writing, including previews of upcoming work;

• Participation in the comments section with a lively community;

• Substack+LIVE video conversations on breaking news with thought leaders;

• Monthly author salon webinars; and

• Five years of archives.

It also represents your commitment to support unflinching writing and analysis on religion and democracy. That’s never been more critical.

*Note: If you’d like to receive the benefits of being a paid subscriber but have been laid off or furloughed because of the Trump administration’s attack on our government, or otherwise cannot afford it, drop me a note at robertpjones.substack@pm.me and I can arrange a complimentary paid subscription).

Why the new name? First, I should clarify that the new newsletter name does not signal a significant move away from the themes I’ve been covering since the launch of this newsletter in 2021. I will continue to highlight what I believe is the principal threat to our pluralistic democracy: the toxic mix of white supremacy and Christian dominionism that has coalesced in the contemporary Christian nationalist movement. And I’ll continue to bring you breaking research and reflections on religion, racial justice, and the moral work of democracy. Those themes, which comprise the tagline for the newsletter, will continue to be the guiding lights of my writing.

“Redeeming Democracy” reflects the ways the newsletter has evolved over the 300 essays and conversations I’ve posted here over the last five years. And it better describes the the positive work of strengthening democratic resilience, at a time when white Christian nationalism is threatening the existence of democracy itself both here and abroad.

I launched this newsletter under the name “White Too Long,” taken from the title of my 2020 book, which in turn borrowed the phrase from James Baldwin. Baldwin used this provocative language in a New York Times essay to describe how we white Americans understood ourselves to be not simply part of a racial group but privileged members of a divinely-chosen tribe. This perception, Baldwin lamented, had so permeated our identities that we failed to see the deep contradictions between the democratic values we professed and the lives most of us were actually living. Since I first read those words a decade ago, Baldwin’s incisive indictment has shaped—and continues to animate—my writing and professional work.

In Redeeming Democracy, I’ll continue to bring you essays grounded in sociological research, history, and theology. And I’ll focus on a critical question for our moment: How can we reclaim a faith and a nation in the midst of the white Christian nationalist turn against democracy?

(Note: These themes are also the focus of my new book, Backslide—now available for pre-order.)

From the resurgence of white Christian nationalism to the possibilities of pluralistic democracy, my writing here will weave together repentance and hope, responsibility and civic repair. I’ll reflect consistently on how conscience, faith, and courage can redeem not only our politics but our collective character and civic life.

This newsletter is for readers committed to grappling with uncomfortable truths and engaging in the hard work of building a pluralistic democracy worthy of its promise.

Share

Help Spread the Word—A 25% Discount

To mark the occasion of the new name, I’m offering a 25% discount on new annual paid subscriptions to Redeeming Democracy through the end of February. Click below to subscribe.

Get 25% off for 1 year

Your paid subscription helps sustain my work, keeps most content free for everyone, and gives you full access to the following:

• Weekly analysis and original writing, including previews of upcoming work;

• Participation in the comments section with a lively community;

• Substack+LIVE video conversations on breaking news with thought leaders;

• Monthly author salon webinars; and

• Five years of archives.

It also represents your commitment to support unflinching writing and analysis on religion and democracy. That’s never been more critical.

*Note: If you’d like to receive the benefits of being a paid subscriber but have been laid off or furloughed because of the Trump administration’s attack on our government, or otherwise cannot afford it, drop me a note at robertpjones.substack@pm.me and I can arrange a complimentary paid subscription).

Recently at Redeeming Democracy

I’m sharing our half hour conversation here, along with a summary of my remarks.

My Take

In addition to being a scholar who has studied white supremacy and the ways it has embedded itself in American religion and politics, I’m from Mississippi.

Such dehumanizing imagery was immediately familiar to me from cartoons, jokes, and serious arguments about the superiority of white people, propped up with assertions that Black people lacked civilization (were inhabitants of the jungle) and full humanity (were more ape than human). I, and we, know where such racist rhetoric leads: to a dulling of the conscience, a disfiguring of the spirit, and ultimately bodies riddled with bullets hanging from trees.

While this latest action is a new low, it is fully consistent with Trump’s past racist behavior. Trump has repeatedly used racist, dehumanizing rhetoric—framing non-white people as animals, vermin, contaminants, or infestations—in ways that strip people of basic human standing. Here are just a few examples:

• “Animals” / “not human” (immigrants)
  Trump described immigrants as “animals” and “not human” during a 2024 campaign speech in Michigan (Reuters).

• “Vermin” to be “root[ed] out” (political opponents)
  in November 2023, Trump said he would “root out” political enemies who “live like vermin,” language echoing Nazi rhetoric (ABC News).

• “Poisoning the blood of our country” (immigrants)
  Trump claimed migrants were “poisoning the blood” of the United States in a December 2023 rally in Durham, New Hampshire (C-SPAN video clip)

• “Infest” (immigration framed as pestilence)
  Trump used the term “infest” to describe immigrants “pour[ing] into and infest[ing] our Country” in June 2018, a pests/contagion frame (TIME).

• “Garbage” (Somalian immigrants in Minneapolis)
  During an official 2025 Cabinet meeting, Trump targeted members of the Somali community, saying their home nation is “barely a country” and calling them “garbage” (TIME)

• “Monsters” (Venezuelan immigrants)
  And this week, at the National Prayer Breakfast of all places, Trump bragged about removing “2,000 monsters” from Washington, DC, referring to Venezuelan immigrants he claimed were gang members (Roll Call transcript).

Common sense tells us that elite leaders, particularly someone hold the office of the president of the United States, influence their followers’ attitudes. Recently published research shows that Trump’s ability to degrade his white supporters’ moral sensibilities is real and measurable (h/t to for pointing me to this research).

In their peer-reviewed article, “Trickle Down Racism,” researchers Ashley Jardina (University of Virginia) and Spencer Piston (Boston University) measured dehumanizing attitudes using the following question in an online survey:

Using the image below, please indicate using the sliders how evolved you consider the average member of each group [whites, Blacks] to be:

Researchers found the following:

Reported hate crimes against Black people surged following Trump's 2016 election. While only a relatively small fraction of Americans committed these abhorrent actions, we show that Trump's victory had broader effects on the attitudes of the larger white public. Specifically, Trump altered the extent to which white survey respondents describe Black people in dehumanizing ways. We report findings from a two-wave national survey in which white respondents rated Black people on a dehumanizing attitudes scale before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump supporters rated Black people as less "evolved” in the post-election wave than they rated Black people in the pre-election wave.

Here’s a visualization of the results. The steeper dotted line represents the stronger post-election relationship between white respondents’ warm feelings for Trump and their lower ratings of their Black fellow citizens along an imagined evolutionary continuum.

This awful depiction of the Obamas as apes is a new low, even for Trump.

We should refuse to let Trump, or any Republican or self-proclaimed Christian who supports him, shrug this bigotry off. They should own it or denounce it. If Trump’s supporters refuse to denounce Trump’s racism, we should understand that they are claiming it—and enabling all of its downstream consequences—with their silence.

Share

As a reminder, Joy Reid and I will continue our ongoing “Confronting White Christian Nationalism” series on the third Wednesday of each month. Next show is February 18 in the 7:00 p.m. ET hour. I’ve linked to two past episodes below.

Here are links to the other guests so you can follow their work:

Share

ICYMI

And check out the latest episode of , where , , and I unpack Trump’s rambling speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. ( was on the road this week). You can subscribe below to tune into our conversation each week and live on the first Thursday of each month.

The Convocation Unscripted

TCU+LIVE: Trump's Shameful National Prayer Breakfast Ramble

Thanks to the more than 250 subscribers who joined us for the live webinar last night…

Read more

3 months ago · 24 likes · 6 comments · Robert P. Jones

You can check out our latest installment below:

White Christian nationalism and its growing grip on American politics take center stage in this conversation with Joy Reid. She breaks down footage from a Minnesota church led by a pastor who also serves as an ICE field director, raising questions about faith, power, and immigration enforcement. Joined by Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, she examines how this movement departs from core Christian teachings and fuels authoritarian policies. The discussion connects history, ideology, and the fight over who gets to define Christianity in public life.

Here’s how you can tune in to future shows:

HOW TO WATCH: Live on Welcome to Joy’s House! on Substack and on YouTube.
I’ll also post the recording the following day here at #WhiteTooLong (please pardon the delay on this episode—I’ve been out of the country 2 of the last 3 weeks!).

WHEN: 7pm ET, third Wednesday of each month. I’ll send out a notice ahead of time. Mark your calendars—next show is February 18.

Share

ICYMI

Here are two other recent conversations I’ve had with and at Zeteo.

And here is a recent piece I wrote that has generated a lot of attention and was picked up at Religion News Service, Baptist News Global, and other outlets.