Patterns of Christian Nationalist Engagement and Connections to Spirituality

Abstract

Despite the increasing prominence of Christian nationalism within the United States and its associations with anti-democratic attitudes and racial bias, little is known about how emerging religious/spiritual (R/S) leaders engage with Christian nationalism. Moreover, while extant research has thus far examined demographic and political associations with Christian nationalism, the present study attempted to understand how emerging R/S leaders pursuing vocational training to serve others may simultaneously support Christian nationalist messages of exclusivity and authoritarianism. Using latent profile analysis on Christian nationalism items, we examined how 746 Christian emerging R/S leaders may differentially engage with this ideology. We assessed demographic and psychosocial (e.g., ideological commitment, spiritual impression management) predictors of subgroup membership and explored associations between these subgroups and various constructs of spirituality (e.g., spiritual grandiosity, spiritual struggles) and social engagement (e.g., social justice, authoritarianism). We discuss our findings and their implications for the training of emerging R/S leaders.