The Christian think tank Theos is launching a two-year study into the global rise of Christian nationalism.
It will explore how faith, politics and identity are becoming increasingly intertwined and what theology can offer in response.
The research comes as communities are increasingly using Christian flags and symbols to take a stand in the debate around immigration and the study will look at the demographic, ethnic, socio–economic, and educational characteristics of the rise in Christian nationalism.
It will cover the UK and up to seven other countries and involve polling, interviews, and an evaluation of media, social media, campaigns, rallies and manifestos.
The project is being led by Theos’ Senior Fellow Nick Spencer. He told Premier that Christian nationalism is difficult to define:
“It is a complex range of things and more than the sum of its parts.
“It's not simply being a Christian and believing in your nation. It's somehow believing that to belong to your nation, you've got to be a Christian. It's a kind of a fusing of religious identity with national identity.”
“One of the reasons we talk about Christian nationalism is because the US is so predominant. More and more people seem to be drawing on Christian images, texts, symbols, to make political points, and sometimes to make exclusivist political points. That seems to it point towards it growing here.”
“Our country, our culture, is massively hinged on the Christian gospel. But it's no substitute to say, ‘I want my Christian country to reflect that commitment, without the people in it reflecting that commitment.
“So yes, you might want to preserve the nation's Christian cultural heritage, but that’s no substitute for it actually being Christian in the sense of people consciously and willingly following Jesus Christ.”