But the more subtle ones-like state legislative efforts to promote the teaching of the Bible in public schools or to require the posting of “In God We Trust” in public schools and other public places-are also dangerous in that they perpetuate the false narrative that to be a true American one must be Christian-and often a certain type of Christian. The most violent expressions, such as what we saw at the January 6 insurrection, get most of the attention. The political ideology that seeks to merge American and Christian identities is deeply embedded in American society and manifests itself in a number of different ways, some more obviously harmful than others. Christian nationalism is antithetical to the constitutional ideal that belonging in American society is not predicated on what faith one practices or whether someone is religious at all.
Tyler: I believe that the single biggest threat to religious freedom in the United States today is Christian nationalism. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) as district director and as counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.Ĭenter for American Progress: What are the most pressing threats to religious freedom in the United States today? A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Tyler previously worked for U.S. She is the co-host of BJC’s “Respecting Religion” podcast and a board member of the Center for Faith, Justice, and Reconciliation. She is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), which has a long history of championing religious freedom as both a democratic and a Baptist value. To learn more about the shifting landscape of religious liberty, the Center for American Progress conducted an interview over email in February 2022 with religious liberty expert Amanda Tyler. Supreme Court appears eager to hear more religious liberty cases advancing Christian nationalist arguments than in previous years. These issues will only draw more attention in the years ahead, since the 6-3 conservative majority on the U.S. Christian nationalism is also a contributing ideology in the religious right’s misuse of religious liberty as a rationale for circumventing laws and regulations aimed at protecting a pluralistic democracy, such as nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQI+ people, women, and religious minorities. It also leads to discrimination, and at times violence, against religious minorities and the nonreligious.
At its core, this idea threatens the principle of the separation of church and state and undermines the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Today, conflicts most often arise from Christian nationalism, the anti-democratic notion that America is a nation by and for Christians alone. Constitution, yet the meaning of this core American value has been debated throughout the nation’s history.
Religious liberty is enshrined in the U.S.
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