State By State View of Christian Nationalism

How Many Americans Identify As “Christian Nationalist?”

Answer these five questions for yourself. Use a scale from “agree” to “mostly agree” to “mostly disagree” or “disagree.”

God has called all Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society:  21% agree or mostly agree 

The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation:  27% agree or mostly agree

Being a Christian is an important part of being truly American:   30% agree or mostly agree

If the United States moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore:  37% agree or mostly agree  

U.S. laws should be based on Christian values:  39% agree or mostly agree

These are the questions researchers at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) recently asked 22,000 Americans from across the country to analyze just how widespread are these ideas that are usually associated with the movement we call, “Christian Nationalism.”

Significantly, the highest affiliated question was “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.” 39% of respondents either agreed or mostly agreed with this concept, which, taken to its logical end, would require a “Taliban-Christian type” legal system forcing rules of behavior and belief onto a large swath of the population that wouldn’t agree.

The aggregate score of these five questions indicates that roughly 3 in 10 Americans are “Christian Nationalists.” Just under a third of us subscribe to these ideas. That is a significant number and represents just under 100 million people. These percentages roughly mirror demographic data about the percentage of Americans still claiming to be evangelical. There is a strong overlap between being a self-identified evangelical and a self-identified Christian Nationalist.

Christian Nationalism by State

For the first time the number of people in the sample allowed PRRI researchers to break adherence down by state. Depending on your state, it could be nearly half of the state’s population. For instance, Mississippi, Kentucky, and North Dakota all rate 50% of their population agreeing with these five statements.

In my state of Iowa, around 31% of the population agrees with these statements. Yet, even with only 31% adherence, Iowa has moved very quickly in the direction of a religious-fascist state, banning books, forbidding acknowledgment of gender identity, and restricting free speech in the classroom when it comes to history, Black history in particular. It doesn’t take a majority to take a wrecking ball to a multiracial, multicultural society.

Check out the percentage of Christian Nationalist adherents in your state here:

*indicates likely battleground states in 2024 election

If you live in a “red” state, the percentage is likely higher than 30% and it is also an indicator of support for the candidate-criminal Donald Trump. Given the built-in electoral advantages that favor smaller, rural states you can begin to see why this ideology has an outsized influence in state houses and our nation’s Capital.

Christian Nationalists do not have to be in a majority to take control of the country. They just need to be in key battleground states in larger numbers. In looking at the map, it is a safe prediction to make that those states with less than 30% Christian Nationalist adherents will probably go for Joe Biden, while those above 30% will likely go to Trump. The wild cards are states like Georgia and New Mexico, both of which went for Biden in the 2020 election but are slightly over 30% of Christian Nationalist adherents.

What I want to encourage you to do today is study up on this movement: white Christian Nationalism. The people who are sounding the alarm about this movement are those who have formerly been involved in that group. That would include me, but beyond myself, there are those like Jim Palmer from the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality, Keith Giles writer and publisher at Quoir Publishing (and a former pastor), and many others.

Additionally, some who still identify as evangelicals are also calling the alarm on this dangerous movement. In a coming post, I will point you to the writings of people like Kristen Du Mez, David French, Andrew Whitehead, Amanda Tyler, and others. The point is it isn’t just the secular groups and individuals that are alarmed. It is those on the inside who are maybe the most alarmed because they know what these folks have in mind. They see it from the inside.

Former Evangelicals Sound the Alarm

I’ll start with myself in this group. I no longer subscribe to the evangelical version of the faith. In my book, “Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical” (Quoir, 2022), I recount my journey out of that movement. I had an inside seat in the development of modern Christian Nationalism (CN) which I saw emerging in the 1980s.

I admit that this early version of CN unnerved me, but I bought in as best I could. For a while, I even taught these ideas to my students and what I discovered, lo and behold, many of them were listening, and today they are solid Trump supporters and Christian Nationalists.

I repent! I’ve been trying to undo some of that damage as best I can since 2005 when I left the evangelical fold. My book contains my reflections on that movement having been a participant and an adherent.

I know how committed to these ideas Christian Nationalists are and I also know that they are playing a long game. They’ve been at this for decades and are now poised to ascend to power should their standard-bearer; the twice impeached with 91 felony counts, and a rape-convicted candidate win in November.

You may have heard of the “Seven Mountain Mandate” which is a theological ideology that suggests that Christians should be in control of seven different arenas of public life: education, business, entertainment, media, government, family, and religion.

It doesn’t matter if they are the minority, they believe God has ordained Christians to be in control of all institutions of society. It is sometimes called “dominionism” giving nod to a verse in Genesis where God supposedly gives dominion over creation to Adam as a Biblical mandate. I was exposed to this theology in the 1980s through the writings of people like Francis Schaeffer, RJ Rushdoony, and the pseudo-historian, David Barton.

For many years, especially after 2000, I considered Christian Nationalists to be fringe; existing in a la-la land of make-believe. Their ideas were not only extreme but so out of touch with the mainstream that it was hardly a threat to the growing secular order in American society.

I was wrong. With the ascent of Trump in 2016, Christian Nationalism has gained a super-charged vitality that has only grown over the past 8 years. I wrote an article recently about the 2025 Project that the Heritage Foundation is working on…it is as frightening as it gets.

I encourage you to go back to some of my earlier writings on Christian Nationalism in my substack newsletter. I’ve been calling the alarm for many years and will continue to do so:

Educate Yourself About Christian Nationalism

White Christian Nationalism is Idolatry

The Not So Good News of the Gospel

The Pandemic of Christian Nationalism

Trumpism is a Religion

Three Part Series:

Part I – Christian Nation

alists are Not Nationalists

Part II – Who Are Those Guys?

Part III – Project “Blitz” is Not a Football Play”

Two Part Series:

The Ten Commandments of Christian Nationalism Pt. I

The Ten Commandments of Christian Nationalism Pt. II

Five Part Series (2022)

Who Are the Christian Nationalists and What Do They Believe? Pt. 1

A Who’s Who of Religious Nationalist Politicians Pt. 2

Who’s Who Among Pastors and Christian Leaders of the Movement Pt. 3

Naming Names Among the Christian Nationalist Networks Pt. 4

Resources to Learn More Pt. 5

Pastor Chris Katzer “There Is No Such Thing As A Christian Nation”

How the Religious Right Threatens the Faith and the Nation

The Time Before Evangelicals were Republicans (2019, from Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical)

I hope you will avail yourself of these resources, but in addition to my writing, two other former evangelical friends of mine are writing about this topic (much better than me) and are certainly worth your time to explore. Both are former pastors of evangelical churches and deconstructed their way out of that mess to now reflect with concern on the movement that has essentially swallowed up the Republican Party.

Keith Giles

Keith is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and co-hosts the Apostates Anonymous podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast. Is the co-owner of Quoir Publishing, and an all-round amazing person. Here is a recent article about Christian Nationalism that Keith wrote for Patheos website:

Why Deconstruction is About National Security

Jim Palmer

A former megachurch pastor, Jim is now a certified Spiritual Director and a member of Spiritual Directors International. He is a Chaplain with the American Humanist Association. Jim’s background includes a Master’s of Divinity from Trinity Seminary in Chicago. He is a professor of Comparative Religion, Philosophy of Religion, and Ethics. Jim is a trained religious trauma and spiritual abuse counselor. Jim is a published author, speaker, and retreat leader.

Jim also was kind enough to write the “Foreword” to my book, Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical.” He spent years as an evangelical superstar and is acquainted with the Christian Nationalist movement from the inside. You can find a list of Jim’s books here. They are worth reading…everyone of them.

Just last week, Jim published this article in his substack newsletter. There will be more forthcoming. If you are concerned and interested in Christian Nationalism, this is a must-read:

Would Jesus Be a Christian Nationalist?

I will continue to write and post about this threatening movement in the coming days. The United States system of government is under threat from those who believe they speak for God. The Constitution forbids a religious test of any kind for holding office or as a basis for law. The separation of church and state is a real thing. More on these topics to come.