Modern Christian Nationalism: How Religious Politics Is Reshaping America (2024 Analysis)
Mapping how revivals, realignments, and the Moral Majority reshaped U.S. politics, and why the policy stakes are escalating now. This is urgent because the same playbook that reoriented party coalitions in the 1980s is driving today’s court rulings, school policies, and ballot-box strategies.
The American right didn’t stumble into religious power; it organized across decades, learned from past revivals, and built durable pipelines into courts, legislatures, and party machines. From the Great Awakenings to the Moral Majority to today’s “Project 2025” era, the strategy is consistent: claim a divine mandate, legislate it, and dare the courts to stop you. With new laws in schools, a Supreme Court greenlighting culture-war priorities, and data showing a resilient Christian nationalist base, the stakes for pluralism and democracy are immediate and local.
Part 3
What is Modern Christian Nationalism?
Modern Christian nationalism is a political ideology that advocates for:
- The fusion of Christian and American identities
- Religious influence in public policy
- Christian-based legislation
- Traditional religious values in government
According to 2024 data, 30% of Americans identify as Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers.
Revivals as Political Tech: From Awakening to Agenda
The Second Great Awakening ignited mass participation and nurtured social reform movements, particularly abolition and early women’s rights, intertwining religious fervor with political activism. The “Burned-over District” emerged as a hub for reform-minded religion, exemplifying a pattern where revival energy manifested in policy crusades. The Third Great Awakening’s Social Gospel played a pivotal role in driving Progressive-era reforms, infusing moral language into political programs. Historian Spencer McBride recounted the significant support for abolishing slavery that religious revivals generated, while acknowledging that scripture was also employed to defend slavery (2018).
Analysis
The throughline is not subtle: American revivals repeatedly convert spiritual zeal into civic projects, sometimes emancipatory, sometimes exclusionary. The modern right learned the template: mobilize the pews, move the policy.
The Flip: Moral Majority and the GOP Realignment
Founded in 1979 by Baptist televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., the Moral Majority merged evangelical identity with a politically aggressive organization that focused on abortion, school prayer, and “family values.” By 1980, the organization had achieved national prominence and was credited with mobilizing conservative Christians behind Ronald Reagan, significantly reshaping the Republican coalition. The coalition’s effective methods, including direct mail, church-based organizing, and cross-denominational alliances, became a lasting model for religious political engagement that transcended the 1980s. Later, Falwell declared the Religious Right as a permanent power bloc, indicating its intention to maintain its influence for the long term (Britannica summary, 2018). The Association of Religion Data Archives’ historical timeline (ARDA) highlights the Moral Majority’s role in mobilizing a generation of conservative Christian voters.
Analysis
Call it an awakening with better fundraising. The Moral Majority didn’t just change minds; it changed machinery, building a pipeline from pulpit to platform. That alignment still defines Republican politics.
Current Impact: Schools, Courts, and the New Policy Wave (2024-2025)
Louisiana enacted a law mandating Ten Commandments displays in every public-school classroom, challenging the Supreme Court’s 1980 Stone v. Graham precedent. Following Texas’s approval of school chaplains, similar bills were introduced in 14 states. Florida and Louisiana passed variants, with Louisiana granting chaplains legal immunity for any improper activities at school. Oklahoma’s state superintendent ordered public schools to incorporate the Bible and Ten Commandments as “instructional support,” part of a national effort to introduce religious content into public education. In 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on transition-related care for transgender minors in US v. Skrmetti, which Christian nationalist advocates celebrated as a landmark victory. However, Justice Sotomayor’s dissent warned that the ruling would abandon families to “political whims.” The Interfaith Alliance, a group that advocates for religious freedom, stated in July 2025 that the SCOTUS ruling in US v. Skrmetti would help Christian nationalists discriminate against transgender children and their families.
Analysis
Because nothing says “limited government” like forcing a religious code onto every school wall and into families’ medical decisions. This wave is coordinated, and it’s winning in courts and capitols.
The Base and the Belief: What the Numbers Say (2024)
Three in ten Americans identify as Christian nationalism adherents (10%) or sympathizers (20%), a figure that has remained stable since 2022. Support for this movement is highest in Mississippi (51%), Oklahoma (51%), Louisiana (50%), Arkansas (49%), West Virginia (48%), and North Dakota (46%), which are also the states with the most aggressive legislation. A significant majority of Republicans identify as adherents (20%) or sympathizers (33%), indicating the movement’s integration into the Republican Party’s identity. PRRI research reveals that Christian nationalism adherents are significantly more likely to condone political violence and embrace authoritarian narratives, including claims that God has ordained specific electoral outcomes. Anthea Butler, chair of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, highlighted the increasing mobilization of these beliefs during a 2024 UCSB panel on October 31, 2024, stating, “There has been a significant increase in the mobilization of these beliefs… Evangelicals are organizing now more than ever.” UCSB scholar Joseph Blankholm added, “The election will have a huge impact on the judiciary, and we will see those ripple effects for decades.”
See Part 1 of this Christian Nationalism Series
Analysis
It’s not fringe; it’s a fundamentally embedded identity that maps neatly onto policy hot spots. This identity is driving the judicial pipeline, as Butler and Blankholm warn, which will shape outcomes for a generation.
Key Takeaway
The same revival-to-realignment pattern that powered the Moral Majority now fuels a policy machine rewriting school governance, healthcare access, and civil rights, with a durable base and favorable courts to match.
What It Means
This isn’t just partisan hardball; it’s a constitutional stress test. A movement that declares the nation Christian by design will legislate to match, narrowing the definition of “the public” in public policy. This will result in fewer rights for religious and nonreligious minorities, politicized classrooms, and courts treating pluralism as optional. If you reside in a “high-adherent” state as determined by PRRI’s map, the practical consequences will manifest first, including curriculum conflicts, voucher pipelines to religious schools, and a reduction in civil rights protections.
What’s Next
School policy showdowns: Watch local boards in Louisiana, Florida, and Oklahoma as Ten Commandments postings, chaplain placements, and Bible “supports” meet parents, educators, and litigation timetables.
Court calendars: Track how post-Skrmetti litigation shapes youth healthcare and how Ten Commandments mandates test church–state boundaries in federal courts.
2026 cycle groundwork: Expect expanded turnout operations among Christian nationalist networks in high-support states identified by PRRI, with school policy as a mobilization anchor.
Call to Action
Use PRRI’s state map to brief your school board testimony this month: identify your state’s support levels, then cite pluralism and student rights in your remarks.
Send us your documentation: school memos, agendas, or policy drafts on the Ten Commandments, chaplains, or curriculum. We’ll verify and report.
If your district is considering chaplains or religious displays, demand a public hearing and written legal analysis; then share it with local press and rights groups.
Methods & Verification
All factual claims were cross-checked against primary or authoritative sources (PRRI data, court/advocacy statements, encyclopedia-grade histories, and organizational policy trackers). Quotes and data were independently confirmed via the linked university page, PRRI report, Britannica/EBSCO entries, and organizational publications.
References
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States: Insights from PRRI’s 2024 American Values Atlas. 2024. https://prri.org/research/christian-nationalism-across-all-50-states-insights-from-prris-2024-american-values-atlas/
UC Santa Barbara, Humanities & Fine Arts. Faith and Power: How Christian Nationalists Are Shaping the 2024 Election. Oct. 31, 2024. https://www.hfa.ucsb.edu/news-entries/2024/10/31/faith-and-power-how-christian-nationalists-are-shaping-the-2024-election
Interfaith Alliance. SCOTUS Ruling in US v. Skrmetti Helps Christian Nationalists Discriminate Against Trans Kids and Their Families. 2025. https://interfaithalliance.org/post/scotus-ruling-in-us-v-skrmetti-helps-christian-nationalists-discriminate-against-trans-kids-and-their-families
Atheists United States (States Atheists). 2024 Developments: Church-State Separation. 2024. https://states.atheists.org/analysis/2024-developments
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Moral Majority. 2018–2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moral-Majority
The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA). Moral Majority timeline entry. https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/timelines/entry?etype=1&eid=46
EBSCO Research Starters. Moral Majority Founded. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/moral-majority-founded
Wikipedia. Second Great Awakening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening
Wikipedia. Third Great Awakening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Great_Awakening
Chautauqua Daily. Historian-author McBride to share Second Great Awakening’s role in shaping American identity crisis. July 2018. https://chqdaily.com/2018/07/historian-author-mcbride-to-share-second-great-awakenings-role-in-shaping-american-identity-crisis/