Research shows that people who hold Christian nationalist beliefs tend, on average, to also show antipathy toward religious minorities and racial and ethnic minorities, as well as sexist and anti-democratic attitudes. Christian nationalism, as researchers typically define it, holds that the United States is and should remain a distinctly Christian nation, with Christianity occupying a privileged place in public life and government.

A new study adds nuance to that picture. It found that many Christian nationalists endorse religious pluralism — meaning they value religious diversity, at least in principle. But the researchers also found that this support for pluralism is often drowned out by perceptions that Christians themselves are under threat.

How the research was conducted

For the new research, published in the academic journal Politics & Religion in March 2026, the authors surveyed 1,500 American Christians in January 2024.

In healthy democracies, most citizens respect the civil liberties of others, including members of social groups they dislike. The researchers asked respondents which social group they liked the least — for example, Christian fundamentalists, environmental activists, supporters of President Donald Trump, or atheists. Respondents were then asked whether members of that least-liked group should be able to give public speeches, teach in public schools, or run for political office, among other activities. Taken together, the answers measured respondents' political tolerance for people they dislike. This "least-liked group" technique is a long-standing tool in political science, first used in Samuel Stouffer's Cold War-era studies of civil liberties in the 1950s and later refined so that researchers measure tolerance toward whatever group each respondent personally objects to most.

The survey also asked respondents how much they agreed with a series of statements commonly used to measure support for Christian nationalism, such as whether the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation. Those items draw on a Christian nationalism scale popularized by sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry in their 2020 book Taking America Back for God, which has become one of the most widely used measures in survey research on American religion and politics. On a scale of 0 to 1, the average Christian nationalism score was 0.64, indicating that American Christians tend to support the idea of a Christian America.

To capture ideas that run directly counter to Christian nationalism, the researchers then asked about support for religious pluralism. Respondents agreed or disagreed with statements such as "nations should not favor one religion over another" and "we need to advocate the Christian values of loving your neighbor as yourself." Together, these items made up the study's anti-Christian nationalism measure. On average, participants rated their agreement with these statements at 0.74 — higher than the agreement with Christian nationalist ideas — suggesting that anti-Christian nationalist views were more widely supported among American Christians.

What the research found

Some of the survey questions measuring Christian nationalism and anti-Christian nationalism captured directly opposite ideas. Without assigning respondents to any categories, the researchers asked whether they agreed with statements like "The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation" or "Nations should not favor one religion over another." People who agreed with one were likely to agree with the other. In other words, respondents who advocated for a Christian nation also affirmed religious freedom for all.

While that might seem surprising, social scientists have long known that people hold many conflicting ideas in their heads at the same time. American Christians have likely heard both Christian nationalist and anti-Christian nationalist messages through their congregations, media, and social networks.

The study's statistical models show that religious pluralism relates to tolerance differently depending on a person's views on Christian nationalism. The researchers isolated strong supporters and strong opponents of Christian nationalism. Predictably, among strong opponents of Christian nationalism, anti-Christian nationalist views were associated with increased tolerance. Surprisingly, however, strong supporters of Christian nationalism maintained the same level of tolerance.

According to the data, people who agree with anti-Christian nationalist ideas yet also embrace Christian nationalist ones tend to have a fear of persecution. Respondents were asked whether their least-liked social group posed a threat to the American way of life and to people's freedom. Both groups had similar perceptions that the "American way of life" and everyday freedom were threatened.

That perception of threat was lower only among respondents who both strongly rejected Christian nationalism and embraced anti-Christian nationalism. In other words, support for religious pluralism on its own is not sufficient to reduce the sense of threat among those who hold Christian nationalist views.

Why it matters

Christian nationalism has emerged as a significant challenge to religious pluralism, and attention to the ideology has grown since the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, where crosses, Christian flags, and "Jesus Saves" signage appeared alongside nationalist symbols. Efforts to counter it can often be more credible when they come from other Christians. But for those efforts to work, they need to tackle Christian nationalism at its root.

The findings indicate that the root of the problem is not a lack of support for religious pluralism or an insufficient willingness to love thy neighbor. It is perceptions of threats posed by disliked groups.

The researchers have observed that the Christian media ecosystem is saturated with messages that American Christians are excluded from public life — ostracized from social institutions like higher education, discriminated against in everyday life, and only one election away from losing their Bibles or being jailed for their faith. This sense of threat can trigger authoritarian tendencies, including support for taking away civil liberties — such as the ability to give public speeches or run for political office — from disliked others.

What still isn't known

Political scientists still need to know more about the contours of that threat: By whom, and by what, do some Christians feel threatened? Social scientists also do not fully understand how that sense of threat can be dialed down — not just in a laboratory experiment, but in Christians' lived experiences.

Improving that understanding could guide the work of faith leaders striving for a more tolerant, pro-democratic role for faith in the public sphere.

Brooklyn Walker is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee. Paul Djupe is Director of the Data for Political Research Program at Denison University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.