A History of Christian Nationalism

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

References to God and Christianity are sprinkled throughout American life. Our money has "In God We Trust" printed on it. Most presidents have chosen to swear their oath of office on the Bible.Christian nationalists want more.Christian nationalist beliefs are rooted in the idea that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and that its laws should reflect certain Christian values. And versions of these beliefs are widely held by Americans of different ages, races, and backgrounds. In 2022, a Pew Research poll reported that 45 percent of Americans believe the country should be a Christian nation. More than half of those people said the Bible should influence U.S. laws. Today on the show: the complex relationship between Christianity and the U.S.

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Transcript

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1:15.0	April 1777, two years since the first shots of war rang out at Lexington and Concord.
1:20.1	America is thawing after a cold winter. George Washington and his troops
1:21.6	have notched two big victories in New Jersey.
1:25.0	But thousands of revolutionary are dead. Their leaders are worried about war-wariness,
1:30.1	disease, desertion. But Reverend Nicholas Street, he feels confident, really confident.
1:39.0	He's a Congregationalist minister in Connecticut, and he believes America's victory is preordained by God.
1:46.6	He pre-ordained to his congregation.
1:51.5	We are ready to marvel at the unreasonable vileness and cruelty of the British tyrant in endeavoring to oppress, enslave, and destroy these American states.
2:06.0	And yet we find the same wicked temper and disposition operating in Pharaohoe King of Egypt above 3,000 years ago.
2:17.0	The story of America, he says, is the story of Exodus.
2:25.0	The Israelites are captive in Egypt for 400 years.
	...

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