State education data systems often undercount non-binary students, constraining schools’ ability to support them. This study examines the scope and implications of non-binary erasure in school data collection. Drawing on survey responses from nearly 13,000 students across seven Massachusetts districts, we find that current practices substantially undercount non-binary students, who also report less positive experiences of school culture, including student–teacher relationships, belonging, and emotional safety. Although inclusive data could guide efforts to create more supportive environments, districts face growing political resistance from parent organizations aligned with the White Christian Nationalist movement. These groups frame inclusivity as a threat to parental rights. We argue that state-level policies mandating inclusive gender data practices are needed to affirm the presence of non-binary students, protect districts from politicized backlash, and enable leaders to prioritize equity in school improvement.

This article explores contemporary empirical evidence of the extent of the uptake of misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 with regards to religion in the New South Wales population in Australia. The data were collected through an online survey conducted in 2022 (N=5,276). Religious respondents tend to follow conspiracy theories, distrusting the recommendations of scientists and for some, resourcing information from religious leaders. While religion is associated with beliefs in conspiracy theories, this article discovers that it is not an independent factor, but is part of a complex relation with other variables. Comparisons with similar research in the US uncovers a potential equivalent of US Christian Nationalism but in the Australian context.

Abstract Although the rise of religious nationalism problematizes interreligious dialogue and collaboration, progress may occur by emphasizing biblical precedents for engagement, correcting misconceptions about Christianity, and addressing common societal challenges. In the United States, Christian nationalism has been on the rise for decades, and it endangers biblical Christianity as well as interreligious dialogue. Christian nationalism accommodates the gospel of Jesus Christ to socio‐political influences that want to have dominion over all of society, emphasizing a kind of prosperity gospel by means of authoritarian governance. Christians need to confront Christian nationalism, for example, as articulated in the National Council of Churches’ policy statement entitled “The Dangers of Christian Nationalism in the US.” By re‐emphasizing biblical precedents for engaging in interreligious dialogue and by correcting misconceptions about Christianity caused by religious nationalism, progress may occur in addressing common societal challenges for the sake of mutual understanding and cooperation among the followers of different religions.

ABSTRACT In recent years, the US has witnessed an explosion of populist Christian nationalism fueling the rise of the Trump presidencies, relying heavily on the mass dissemination of charismatic forms of religious experience. Until very recently, scarcely a mention of these independent charismatic evangelical networks, such as the New Apostolic Reformation, had surfaced in religious studies scholarship. What factors within our disciplinary framework might have contributed to this remarkable neglect? This article suggests that scholarship has failed to observe substantial shifts in global religiosity in large part because the mainstream of religious studies has consciously excised phenomenological approaches from our disciplinary toolbox. I make the case for resituating the term phenomenology within the twenty-first century trajectory of our discipline by outlining the contours of what we might call a critical phenomenology of religion, which aims to treat experiential phenomena as agentively shaping the external world in their concrete sociopolitical contexts.

This concluding paper addresses some important themes in Joan Lockwood O’Donovan's English Public Theology , not considered in other papers in this special issue, but which take us to the heart of her contribution to public theology. The focus is upon how an evangelical community may be emancipated, especially in its desires and affections, from what O’Donovan sees as the distorting, even enslaving effects of liberalism's preoccupation with juridical subjective rights. It proceeds by taking up O’Donovan's challenge that theologians should be more alert to the meaning of what is ‘public’. In this regard, it considers a striking feature of her account of evangelical public authority, which is her use of the term ‘command’, when applied to the beliefs, affections, understanding and behaviour of those commanded. The connection between the church's commands and those made by a wide variety of social institutions and influences is considered. The significance of the distinction between jurisdictional and evangelical commanding is also examined in order to develop an account of evangelical affective culture and its practical consequences. In particular, this practical focus includes consideration of Eric Gregory's invitation to remark on what difference O’Donovan's approach makes with respect to the discussion of Christian nationalism.

Abstract Christian Nationalism has been an increasing focus of scholars as it has seemingly come to dominate much of the Republican Party and its voters. Existing research, however, has focused almost exclusively on individual attitudes. In this article, I examine a key piece of the Christian Nationalist agenda, policy change at the state level, seeking to change individuals’ perception of the religious foundations of the United States through symbolic legislation. I focus on Project Blitz, an organization that creates model bills for state legislators to introduce all over the country. Project Blitz is an explicitly Christian Nationalist effort, and its origins and supporters help demonstrate a key missing piece of the scholarly and popular conversation about Christian Nationalism: the current power and influence of Christian Nationalist attitudes and activities is based on the historical influence of the Christian Right social movement.

ABSTRACT Scholars have found that Americans subscribing to Christian nationalist beliefs are more likely to endorse political violence. In this study I examine the role that apocalypticism – the belief that the United States is doomed to imminent collapse due to political, economic, socio-cultural, demographic, environmental, or religious causes – plays in explaining the link between Christian nationalism and support for political violence. Specifically, I theorize that Christian nationalists are more likely to hold apocalyptic outlooks and that these, in turn, produce feelings of threat that reinforce negative attitudes toward social outgroups. Hatred of outgroups prompts Christian nationalists to normalize political violence. I employ a serial mediation analysis on an original survey of 1300 white American subjects and find that close to 70% of the effects of Christian nationalist beliefs on support for political violence are mediated through apocalypticism and its effects on attitudes toward outgroups.

ABSTRACT The inclusion of content on religion in Australian curricula has always been a highly contentious issue. Education plays a central role in nation building, and tensions over curriculum content on religion reflect a greater battle waged over the myth of a white, Christian nation, versus Australia’s diverse worldview reality. This article presents an analysis and evaluation of content on worldview diversity – spiritual, religious and secular – in the Humanities and Social Science (HASS) Learning Area of the two latest Australian Curricula (AC), versions 8 and 9. This study reveals that the current HASS content does not adequately reflect either the historical facts or the contemporary demographics of the worldview diversity of this continent, and particularly that of young Australians. Moreover, Australian and international research has demonstrated that worldview education can play a critical and positive role in advancing intercultural understanding and social inclusion. However, the AC still lags behind other nations in this capacity, beholden instead to the interests of post-truth Christian lobbyists’ narrow nationalism. This article concludes, by contrast, with a call to rectify the AC’s privileging of Christianity through a truer account, which foregrounds First Nations knowledges and better reflects the worldview diversity and complexity of Australia.

ABSTRACT This article examines how the discourse of Italy’s right-wing populist government affects the integration of Muslim immigrants. Right-wing populist politics portray Muslim immigrants as a threat to social cohesion, using securitization discourse rooted in Christian nationalism. However, this study shows that the impact of right-wing populist discourse varies among Muslim immigrants and does not necessarily hinder integration. Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 50 Muslim immigrants living in northern Italy in 2024, the study analyzes the religious, social, bureaucratic, and economic obstacles Muslim immigrants face during the integration process. The results show that integration issues arise not only from religious identity but also from language barriers, bureaucratic hurdles, and discrimination in the labour market. In summary, while right-wing populist policies make integration more difficult, individuals develop resistance mechanisms against these discourses. However, this does not mean that Muslim immigrants in Italy have become agents of change in discourse or structure.

ABSTRACT Christian nationalism and Christofascism theorists have surrendered the discursive floor to their empiricist critics. A flurry of recent research has asserted that critical paradigms within the sociology of religion are ideologically committed and empirically invalid. In this reply to Jesse Smith's “Old Wine in New Wineskins” (2024), I contend several things: (1) Christian nationalism and Christofascism research is based in empirical validity, (2) claims of “conceptual slippage” are irrelevant given the sociopolitical context, (3) rejection of the critical perspective reifies the unjust power structure through a normative appeal to rational‐legal scientific authority, and (4) critical epistemology in the sociology of religion remains a crucial tool in combating authoritarian slippage. It is my hope that this reply sparks further reflection and debate on the role of sociology and the nature of sociological praxis.

ABSTRACT This study examines how Christian nationalism—an ideology advocating for a specific form of conservative Christianity to be privileged in American civic life—mediates the relationship between religio-political conservatism and opposition to legal abortion across social-sphere circumstances (financial reasons, marital status, family size) and physical-sphere circumstances (rape, health risks, fetal defects) in the United States. Using structural equation modeling with 2021 General Social Survey data—the last wave collected while Roe v. Wade held precedent—we analyze how traditional measures of religious and political conservatism associate with abortion attitudes through Christian nationalism. We address “abortion exceptionalism,” a norm whereby the moralization of abortion provides public legitimation for relatively stringent state regulations, investigating whether Christian nationalism mediates religio-political conservatism such that adherents reject exceptionalist regulatory regimes in favor of totally opposing legal abortion across circumstances. Our findings reveal that Christian nationalism significantly mediates the effects of conservative Protestant affiliation, religious service attendance, Republican identification, and conservative ideology on opposition to social-sphere abortion circumstances; mediation of religio-political conservatism under physical-sphere circumstances is somewhat weaker. We discuss implications of these results, which illuminate how the convergence of religious and political conservatism through Christian nationalism shapes abortion attitudes and abortion exceptionalism among the American public.

ABSTRACT In his reply to “Old Wine in New Wineskins,” Foertsch argues that positivist critiques of the “Christian nationalism” literature are deficient and advocates for continued application of critical epistemology in this area of research. In response, I argue, first, that the focus on positivism mischaracterizes the interpretivist critique in “Old Wine in New Wineskins” while unintentionally implicating most of the evidentiary basis for claims about “Christian nationalism.” Second, critical epistemology relies on a set of first principles that are, at minimum, non‐obvious and controversial, but necessary for his counter‐critique to be effective. I reject critical epistemology for its circularity and offer an alternative and more minimal set of first principles from which to conduct sociological inquiry. I nonetheless affirm Foertsch's explicit recognition of the critical epistemological commitments underlying the “Christian nationalism” research agenda as well as his call for deeper philosophical reflection in this area of scholarship.

American Christian nationalism is frequently treated as a domestic U.S. culture-war pathology or a merely theological deviation within conservative Christianity. This article argues instead that it functions as an exportable political technology whose discursive templates, funding pathways, media ecosystems, and legal-activist infrastructures travel transnationally, reshaping church identity and public witness far beyond the United States, including in Australia. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in sociology of religion, political theology, and transnational activism, the analysis traces (i) how Christian nationalist imaginaries re-code discipleship into a national moral project within U.S. congregational life, (ii) how these frames are received and normalized in allied democracies through religious-freedom discourse and digitally mediated culture-war formation, and (iii) how such dynamics can serve transnational power formations by intensifying polarization, redirecting ecclesial energy toward governance-by-grievance, and weakening the church’s capacity to offer principled resistance to technocratic consolidation. While the article does not posit a monolithic covert cabal, it offers a convergence-based account of elite networking in which corporate, political, and religious actors repeatedly find Christian nationalist mobilization instrumentally useful. A biblical evaluation then demonstrates that core tenets of Christian nationalism conflict with New Testament ecclesiology and the kingdom ethic of Christ, particularly where national identity displaces the church’s pilgrim identity, coercive power eclipses cruciform witness, and market ideology is sacralized. The article concludes by proposing a pastoral-theological strategy of intentional counter-formation, including transnational ecclesial solidarity, media discipleship, and renewed economic moral witness, aimed at restoring gospel fidelity amid globalizing political religion.

This article examines Filipino youth’s perspectives on faith and religion in relation to their readiness to undertake an “evangelizing mission” in both strict and broad senses. The study is contextualized within the quincentennial commemoration of Christianity in the Philippines and the country’s identity as the oldest Christian nation in the Asia-Pacific region - a status described by successive Popes as one of “evangelizing responsibility.” Survey findings indicate that Filipino youth are generally theistic, prayer-oriented, and, among Christian respondents, engaged or at least open to Scripture. Catholic participants demonstrate sacramental awareness. Nevertheless, the data reveal limitations in doctrinal formation and catechetical depth, suggesting that their potential as agents of evangelization requires further development in theological literacy and faith coherence on key issues addressed in the study.

As the intertwining of religion and politics becomes more widespread, this study investigates the complex relationship between politics and evangelicalism, particularly in the context of the 2024 US presidential elections. Employing Andre Brock's critical technocultural discourse analysis method, the research examines the YouTube discourse of two evangelical pastor-politicians - Jackson Lahmeyer and Sean Feucht - in relation to the 2024 United States presidential election. The analysis uncovers strategies utilized by both religious leaders to merge religious fervor with political ambition aligned with Trumpism. Additionally, their adept utilization of YouTube's features and visual rhetoric amplifies the reach and emotional impact of messages advocating for a blend of Christian nationalism and dominion theology intertwined with support for Trump's 2024 re-election bid. Crucially, their influence extends beyond digital platforms, attracting attention from mainstream media and potentially shaping narratives that sway voter decisions.

The recent edition of God in the Netherlands presents an intriguing image of contemporary Dutch Catholics. Church membership, practice and salience are in decline, while the appreciation for the cultural role of religion and national pride are on the rise. In particular for Catholics and unaffiliated believers, Christianity tends to function as a civil religion. This aligns with a global trend, such as the rise of white Christian nationalism in the United States. Generation Z, with slightly higher church membership rates than Generation Y, takes part in the rising positive appreciation of the social and political role of religion. Catholics are underrepresented in Dutch Generation Z but in countries such as France, the popularity of Catholicism among this generation is growing. There is anecdotal evidence for an increase of baptisms in the Netherlands as well, next to a growing popularity of Catholicism in online culture. This calls for further research.

This article critically reviews the concept of religion underlying the research God in the Netherlands. This research is conducted every ten years in the Netherlands. The research was first conducted in 1966, when the Netherlands were still predominantly Christian. Since then, the Netherlands became more secular: (Christian) religious beliefs and institutions declined. The question that is central in the 2024 edition is: what holds Dutch society together, given the decline of Christian religiosity? It argues that civil religion connects Dutch people today. Indeed, Christianity, more precisely, Protestantism, functioned as a public religion already in the Dutch Republic. However, I argue that we need to understand civil religion in connection with white Christian nationalism.

Abstract In October 1920, American Unitarians celebrated the tercentenary anniversary of Plymouth Colony’s founding—but in no ordinary way. Avoiding a narrow Christian nationalist reading of the Pilgrim history, they stressed the “liberal” Pilgrims whose legacies like free inquiry, progress, and tolerance were inherited by all modern religious progressives across nations and traditions. What resulted was a uniquely international, inter-religious celebration of Plymouth history, where even a Japanese Buddhist and an Indian Hindu were invited.

Abstract This article explores John Calvin’s interpretation of “dominion over the earth” in Gen. 1:28 and related scriptures. Calvin’s Christocentric doctrine is set over against Stephen Wolfe’s Case for Christian Nationalism , which urges American evangelicals to seize “dominion” over the political sphere while claiming a Reformed or Calvinist lineage.

ABSTRACT This article examines the intersections of white power ideologies, Confederate feminism, and the contemporary Tradwife movement to understand how gender roles and racial supremacy are co-constituted within far right performances of nostalgia. By analyzing Confederate feminist discourse alongside Tradwife influencers’ digital content, this research reveals how women within White Christian nationalist spaces performatively reinforce white supremacist ideals through domesticity, motherhood, and traditional gender roles. Employing Diana Taylor’s framework of embodied performance and ritual reenactment, this article argues that Confederate feminism and Tradwife communities both leverage gendered nostalgia as a strategic mechanism to perpetuate racial hierarchies, stabilize white patriarchal authority, and shape collective memory. Central to this performance is the figure of the white woman as both protector of cultural purity and transmitter of white supremacist heritage through everyday acts. The analysis further explores how these movements co-opt feminist rhetoric to legitimate exclusionary visions of white femininity, enabling white power brokers to portray racial dominance as morally righteous and historically necessary. Ultimately, the article uncovers how Confederate feminism, Tradwives, and far-right figures like Laura Loomer function as crucial, yet often overlooked, agents in maintaining contemporary white power structures through embodied performances that blend tradition, nostalgia, and racialized gender ideals.