White Evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism has occupied an increasingly prominent position since—and in many ways before—the first Trump administration. Events such as January 6 and the second Trump presidency have highlighted the entanglement of politics and religious belief that is central to Christian Nationalism. This symposium brings together several scholars to discuss various aspects of white Evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism, particularly as they connect to modern and contemporary American politics. The symposium serves as a forum for investigating topics such as tolerance and religious pluralism, the use of anti-abortion protests, and the intersection of race and Christian Nationalism. Further, the symposium opens a discussion on how Evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism use and misuse biblical and historical material to bolster their narratives.

Space is limited. RSVP here for the in-person event.

Register here for the Zoom link here.

Symposium Schedule:

2–2:10: Welcome – Carol Bakhos, Chair, Study of Religion

2:10-2:30: Introduction and Opening Remarks by Gina Konstantopoulos, Symposium Moderator – “Evangelizing Antiquity: The Museum of the Bible and the Appropriation of the Past”

2:30-3:00 Sophie Björk-James – “To Be Pro-life in an Age of Extinction: Abortion, Christian Nationalism, and Ecological Denial”

3:00-3:20: Break

3:20-3:50: Brooklyn Walker – “Counterpoint in the Heavenly Choir:  Christian Nationalism, Anti-Christian Nationalism, and the Multivocality of American Christianity”

3:50-4:20: Michael R. Fischer, Jr. – “Race, Religion, and Christian Nationalism in the Second Era of Trump”

4:20-5: Discussion and Q&A

Opening Remarks: “Evangelizing Antiquity: The Museum of the Bible and the Appropriation of the Past”

Founded in 2017 by David Green, the Museum of the Bible stands as an impressive institution: it boasts seven floors and 430,000 square feet of exhibition space, all located two blocks from the National Mall in Washington DC. The museum presents a narrative wherein historical and religious evidence and artefacts are utilized to bolster an evangelical perspective. This talk discusses how the Museum of the Bible, as well as other evangelical institutions, utilize the past in particular in their attempt to craft—and moreover legitimize—their own, often very specific, narrative.

Gina Konstantopoulos is an associate professor in Assyriology and Cuneiform studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research centers on religion, magic, and literature in Mesopotamia, with a focus on the role of demons and monsters. She is the author of The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia (Brill, 2023). She has authored articles on demons and monsters in Mesopotamia, translations of Sumerian and Akkadian texts, and the reception of Mesopotamia in later pre-modern and modern contexts.

“To Be Pro-life in an Age of Extinction: Abortion, Christian Nationalism, and Ecological Denial”

Within Christian Nationalism, anti-abortion and anti-environmental politics are united. Since white evangelicals adopted an anti-abortion stance between the late 1970s and early 1980s, they have sought to make it the most significant moral issue of our time. Abortion can then act as a moral pivot, re-directing concern away from other problems, especially environmental ones. Drawing on long-term research on white evangelical politics in Colorado, this talk shows how within Christian Nationalism concern about abortion often serves to occlude care about the environment and the climate crisis. The significance of this is hard to overstate in our current era of climate crisis and species collapse.

Sophie Bjork-James is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University. She has over ten years of experience researching both the US based Religious Right and the white nationalist movements. She is the author of The Divine Institution: White Evangelicalism’s Politics of the Family (Rutgers 2021, winner of the Anne Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize) and the co-editor of Beyond Populism: Angry Politics and the Twilight of Neoliberalism (2020). She has been interviewed on the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio 4’s Today, and in the New York Times. Her work has received support the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Academy of Religion, the National Science Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. She is currently working on a new book exploring how young people understand abortion in a state that has implemented a total abortion ban.

“Counterpoint in the Heavenly Choir:  Christian Nationalism, Anti-Christian Nationalism, and the Multivocality of American Christianity”

The Bible has been used to give voice to the concepts of rule by religious precept and ethnocentrism central to Christian nationalism. But, in opposition to religious nationalism, the Bible has also been used to proclaim themes of pluralism, equality, and liberty. Using data drawn from a survey of American Christians, I explore the extent to which both Christian nationalist and anti-Christian nationalist ideas derived from the Bible have taken hold in the public. Among American Christians, support for Christian nationalism and anti-Christian nationalism are positively linked. While anti-Christian nationalist ideas have the potential to improve tolerance, feelings of threat can silence these messages supportive of religious pluralism.

Brooklyn Walker is an Instructor of Political Science at Hutchinson Community College and will be joining the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as Assistant Professor in the fall of 2025. Brooklyn is interested in how people come to think of themselves as members of politicized groups and in the effects of politicized identities on intergroup relations and public opinion. Her projects have explored the intersections of Christian nationalism and religious and racial group identities. She also researches in the areas of political psychology, racial and ethnic politics, and gender and politics.

“Race, Religion, and Christian Nationalism in the Second Era of Trump”

Although Christian nationalism ideology resonates across the United States, it’s important to recognize that, like many demographic groups, supporters of Christian nationalism don’t universally subscribe to the same ideas. Existing research focuses almost exclusively on White Americans who qualify as Christian nationalism adherents and sympathizers (hereafter Christian nationalists) and does so through observational analysis with few exceptions. This presentation leverages observational analysis and causal inference to examine the ideological and political differences between Black, White, and Latine Americans who qualify as Christian nationalists.

Michael R. Fisher Jr., Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the political economy of race/racism in the Department of African American and African Studies and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for the Study of Religion at The Ohio State University. Trained as an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Fisher’s areas of specialization include race, policy, and socio-economic inequality and race and religion. He holds research appointments at the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University, the National Initiative of Mixed-Income Communities at Case Western Reserve University, and the Institute for Gender Studies at the University of South Africa. He is also a 2023–25 Public Fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute and is editor of Confronting Racism and White Supremacy in the US: Twenty-First-Century Theological Perspectives (Friendship Press, 2024).

Co-sponsored by the UCLA Department of History and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.