Best Of: Christian Nationalism and American Democracy

What is Christian nationalism, and why is it having a moment in U.S. politics? And what does it mean for democracy in our increasingly diverse and pluralistic society?

The ideology’s influence hasn’t faded with the dawn of the second Donald Trump administration, and it’s worth returning to this episode, originally released in October 2024, in which our Religion and Public Policy Program experts Michael Emerson and David Brockman explain what Christian nationalism is (and isn’t), what its proponents want to accomplish, and what makes the current iteration of the movement different from what we’ve previously seen in U.S. history.

The conversation is a primer for understanding related developments in U.S. and state-level politics today (which we'll explore in future episodes), including recent policy actions by the Trump administration and new public education measures in Texas.

Among these: the state’s adoption of a controversial “Bible-infused” reading and language arts curriculum for K-5 students, which Brockman reviews in a new report out today from the Baker Institute.

Featured guests:

• David Brockman, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/david-r-brockman
• Michael Emerson, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson

Mentioned:

• David Brockman, “Texas’ ‘Bible-Infused’ Public School Curriculum Raises Church–State Questions”
• David French, “What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly?”

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/46GyWig

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