They are also often heavy consumers of Christian radio and publishing — which have become more political. When the same trusted sources that provide the Christian music they love and the Bible studies they read also tell evangelical women their families and their faith are under attack, they will take action, said Du Mez.
Du Mez also said being in a wealthy, insulated community filled with like-minded neighbors means these Christian women are less likely to run into people who challenge those messages. Instead, their circles include those who share their fears and reinforce them.
“This is not primarily economic anxiety,” she said. “This is status anxiety.”
Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI, said concern about cultural issues has driven support for MAGA-style politicians, rather than economic concerns.
She pointed to data from PRRI’s latest Americans Values Survey, which found that white evangelicals (59%), white mainline Protestants (53%) and white Catholics (53%) — as well as Black Protestants (52%) — all preferred a presidential candidate who could “protect and preserve American culture and the American way of life” over one who could manage the economy. Republicans (58%) also preferred a president who could preserve American culture.
“The economy truly takes a back seat for MAGA Republicans in most cases because they believe the threats they perceive in the country — growing secularization, changing demographics, more identification as LGBTQ among younger Americans — are far more disturbing to their worldview and to their own base of power,” said Deckman.
Kevin Riggs, a Freewill Baptist pastor and longtime community activist in Franklin, said he began speaking out about Christian nationalism around the time Trump announced his run for the White House because Riggs worried some of his fellow pastors had embraced the idea that America belongs only to Christians.
That’s a claim, he said, that is dangerous for the nation and for the church. Riggs, who said he holds evangelical theology and more progressive social views, said criticizing Christian nationalism cost him a lot of friends.
“And things have only gotten worse since then,” he said.
Despite Hanson’s loss, Riggs worried her run for mayor — and her term as an alderman — could provide a road map for Christian nationalists in other parts of the country. And he worries the beliefs that fueled her run for mayor will spread as well.
“We as a county are the unofficial headquarters of Christian nationalism in the United States,” he said. “Mainly because of the power and money and the influence that comes out of here. Everything in the evangelical Christian world at some point comes through Williamson County.”
This article originally appeared here.
