The Politics Of Religion And Hate. Democratic Perspective welcomes Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch, a project of People For The American Way, to discuss the growing threat of White Christian Nationalism.
When asked if the difference between Christian nationalism and white supremacy, Montgomery responds that there is a lot of overlap, noting they’re both grounded in the same kind of politics of grievance. He explains that both groups believe that this country was founded by and for white Christians, and that other people are trying to take it away from them or have taken it away from them. “And that’s why all this grievous rhetoric you see from the religious right about secularists and feminists driving prayer out of the schools or, you know, forcing kids, you know, to be in schools where there are affirming policies toward gay kids.”
He continues, “It’s the same issue as white nationalists…that this is a white country and that immigrants and people of color are trying to take it away. That plays into this grim replacement theory we hear from the white nationalists that Jews are trying to import black and brown people into the country to dilute the white majority. You see it in the kind of rhetoric from Donald Trump and the “Stop the Steal” people who say the election was stolen from Trump supporters by illegitimate black and brown voters and corrupt election officials. So that dynamic of the politics of grievance is really central to the MAGA movement. It’s central to Christian nationalism and it’s central to white nationalism.”
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