Are Christian nationalists antisemitic and why?

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundRecent work has demonstrated from a variety of angles that Christian nationalists have negative feelings toward racial minorities and negative attitudes toward policies that would extend equal rights and undermine their privileged position.ObjectivesThere has been limited research to demonstrate what seems an easy extension – do Christian nationalists have negative feelings toward religious minorities? We focus on views toward Jews, in part because conservative Christians have such positive views toward Israel.MethodsWe draw on survey data of 1,700 American adults from just before the 2020 election with observational measures as well as an experimental measure of antisemitism to assess a link to Christian nationalism and the likely mechanisms underpinning that relationship.ResultsChristian nationalists tend to believe in more antisemitic tropes, primarily because of their investment in the social dominance of Christians. However, their antisemitism is part of a broader set of negative views toward all minorities, which we find with experimental evidence. We also find a link between Christian nationalism and antisemitism that boosts belief in QAnon.ConclusionEven if Israel has come to play an important role in the apocalyptic thinking of conservative Christians, in the end Jews are not Christians and pose a threat to Christian supremacy just as any other outgroup would.