The Achilles’ Heel of Christian Nationalism: Fear and Anxiety

KNOW YOUR ENEMY’S WEAKNESSES
Christian nationalists’ existential fears revolve around the perceived threats to their privileged status and influence as white, conservative Christians in America. Their core fears include:

      1. Demographic changes and loss of white majority status, which they view as undermining America’s “Christian nation” identity.
      2. They fear being displaced and marginalized by growing racial/ethnic minority populations.
      3. Erosion of traditional gender roles and heteronormativity, fueled by greater LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance. challenges their belief in patriarchal family structures as the bedrock of society.
      4. Declining religiosity and secularization of American culture, which diminishes the dominance of their conservative Christian worldview. They fear their values being sidelined as the nation becomes more pluralistic.
      5. Perceived persecution and discrimination against their ability to impose Christian beliefs on others through law and policy. Resistance to their political agenda is characterized as an attack on their religious freedom.
      6. Loss of political power and influence.. Their goal is to maintain their privileged position through authoritarian control.

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In summary, Christian Nationalists’ fears stem from the fear that their traditional racial, religious and cultural supremacy will be upended in an increasingly diverse, secular, democratic society. This perceived loss of dominance and inability to force their beliefs on others is viewed as an existential crisis that must be managed in all possible ways — including lies, deceptions, voter manipulation, politics, abandonment of the rule of law and violence.

Dealing with existential threats is difficult for liberals who understand that religion is a major element of Christian Nationalism’s political strategy. They might like to make this brand of ultra-conservative religion a political issue during elections, but the “live and let live” attitude about religion inhibits them from doing so.  This attitude handicaps liberals from exposing The Seven Mountain Prophecy, Dominionism Doctrines and Philosophy and Their Religious Beliefs in campaign ads and speeches. Similarly, the “live and let live” attitude prevents anyone who is not a Christian Nationalist from attacking Christian Nationalist’s most vulnerable weakness: Fear.

For the most part American religions and politicians have respectfully avoided public criticism of other religions. Notable exceptions to this pattern include politely phrased differences between Protestant Catholics, universal distrust of Jews, fear of Muslims, and occasional interdenominational bickering. Even stories of sexual abuse reported in a variety of denominations carefully avoid discussion of religious beliefs that enable abuse and cover it up when it is exposed. Despite deep divisions in doctrine and religious practice, Christians do not generally speak ill about other religions — even though they believe in their hearts that the beliefs and practices of other religions are wrong.

Because Americans have historically adopted the “live and let live” approach to getting along with other religions, liberals of all religious stripes, and even non-religious politicians, discreetly avoid challenging their opponents on religious issues. Thus, for most people, it is unseemly to publicly criticize other religions — even if they think they are wrong.

Even though showing respect for other religions is generally considered to be a virtue in America, Christian Nationalists have no fear or shame when it comes to challenging the beliefs and practices of other religions. They boldly claim that their religion is the one that God approves and will soon place in authority over the seven mountains of American culture — including religion.

Christian Nationalists have effectively exchanged the “live and let live” strategy in favor of an aggressive, in-your-face strategy championed by authoritarian leaders who are willing to say and do whatever is necessary to gain an advantage and put their opponents on the run. In other words, their strategy is to use words (i.e. rhetoric) that cause fear and intimidation as offensive weapons like lions and dogs show their teeth and growl.  Here are some examples of their strategies:

        • Arrogant bullying designed to make leaders appear strong while diminishing opponents and marginalizing groups they fear.
        • Incessant lying.
        • Name-calling.
        • Unfounded conspiracy theories that distract attention from truth.
        • Public disrespect for anyone who is not a Christian Nationalist.
        • Employ dirty tricks to win elections.
        • Cry foul when their candidates don’t win.
        • Represent outsiders (e.g. Democrats, liberals, progressives, gender diverse people, intellectuals, socialists, communists, immigrants, people of color, etc.) as threats to personal freedom, religious freedom, social stability, economic stability, and white privilege.
        • Impose oppressive, punitive, laws on people who are not white Christian Nationalists.
        • Disregard the moral, civil and legal failings of Christian Nationalists while readily pointing out the failings and shortcomings of people who are not Christian Nationalists.
        • Practice intransigent, no-compromise, partisan politics.
        • Load courts with judges who agree with Christian Nationalist ideologies.
        • Other sordid, heavy-handed, behaviors that do not fit with civil, partisan politics, healthy intra-religious relationships and Constitutional Rule of Law.

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All of these behaviors are contrary to God’s Commands About Doing Justice for Others and God’s Commands About How to Relate to Him and to One Another.

To accomplish these goals, Christian Nationalists have adopted the authoritarian leadership style which has the following negative characteristics as reported in verywellmind:

        • Allows little or no input from group members.
        • Requires leaders to make almost all of the decisions.
        • Provides leaders with the ability to dictate work methods and processes.
        • Leaves the group feeling like they aren’t trusted with decisions or important tasks.
        • Tends to create highly structured and very rigid environments.
        • Discourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
        • Establishes rules and tends to be clearly outlined and communicated.

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Sadly, gullible followers of authoritarian leaders do not have the foresight to see where their leaders will take them. Only after it is too late to rein strong-man leaders in do their followers realize the social/political/economic catastrophe they have created for themselves and others. Christian Nationalists in America do not see this coming reality yet, but they will soon enough because these movements will eventually self-implode.

In the meantime, the world watches in unbelief the behaviors that authoritarian leaders shamelessly display this self-righteous attitude:

God says our religion is right and that all other religions are wrong. Therefore, we will take dominion over all religions and convert them to our religion. And after we do that, Jesus will return and bless America because it is a Christian nation.”

The fact that Christian Nationalists aggressively militate against people whom they fear shows that they have never experienced Godly love. Their “Christian” label does not insulate the from fear. Fear, therefore, is their Achilles Heal. Another way to say this is that lack of Godly love is their weakness — and they know unconsciously know that to be true. However, they will never admit that to others and barely admit it to themselves. Fear and uncertainty hang over them constantly like a dark cloud that could burst forth in a storm at any moment. Rather than discover the cause of the fear, they adapt to it with attitudes and behaviors that (in their minds) cover up their weaknesses. Instead of presenting weakness, fear and insecurity, to others they work hard at present an image of confidence, security and strength.

As their fears and insecurities grow, they amp up their public image to convince themselves and others that they are strong and unafraid, but this is all an act. Like all weak, insecure, unloved people, Christian Nationalists compensate for their fears (i.e. lack of love, insecurity) through aggressive, bullying behaviors which they direct at people who lack resources to fight back. The other thing they do to offset their fears is surround themselves with other weak, insecure, fearful people believing that there is power in many people with loud voices saying the same thing. There can be power in numbers but the power they exhibit is meant to benefit only Christian Nationalists — not all people. They are a mob of weak, insecure and fearful people hiding behind verbal bluster and rhetoric.

FEAR AFFECTS THE ABILITY TO THINK CLEARLY
Perhaps the worst conscience of fear is that it has a long-term affect on the ability to think straight and make good decisions. Sustained fear can have significant consequences on an individual’s ability to make good decisions. Here are some key points:

    1. Fear can impair cognitive processes involved in decision-making, such as risk assessment and judgment.
    2.  When fear is unconscious or unacknowledged, it can distort reality and lead to an exaggeration of perceived threats, clouding rational decision-making.
    3. Physiologically, fear increases the secretion of cortisol, a stress hormone that can impact cognitive functioning and decision-making abilities.
    4. The relationship between fear and decision-making is complex and can be influenced by factors like the nature of the fear experience (e.g., clinical anxiety vs. induced fear), the decision-making context.
    5. Fear can impair cognitive processes involved in decision-making, and its effects may be moderated by gender, physiological factors, and contextual variables

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See How Does Fear Influence Risk Assessment and Decision-Making? in in Psychology Today for insights about fear and decision-making that help explain why Christian Nationalists do some of the unpredictable, illogical things they do and why they believe in conspiracy theories. Here is how perplexity ai reports the relationship of fear and anxiety to belief in conspiracy theories:

Fear and anxiety increase motivations to make sense of threatening situations, making them more likely to attribute events to the actions of hostile conspiracies. Negative emotions like anxiety, uncertainty, and lack of control are psychological origins of conspiracy beliefs. Correlational and experimental studies extensively support the emotional nature of conspiracy beliefs:

        • Conspiracy beliefs are correlated with trait anxiety
        • Inducing lack of control increases belief in conspiracy theories
        • Experiencing subjective uncertainty predicts increased conspiracy beliefs.

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 Negative emotions like fear and anxiety activate cognitive processes like pattern perception and agency detection, both of which increase the likelihood of conspiracy thinking. Cold, non-emotional thinking associated with analytical thinking decreases as belief in conspiracy theories grows.

Recent theoretical models view conspiracy beliefs as an individual reaction to real or imagined threatening experiences. Empirical studies find links between conspiracy beliefs and feelings of anxiety and distress. Individuals who endorse conspiracy theories tend to be more anxious and less tolerant of ambiguity compared to those who don’t. believe in conspiracy theories.

In summary, multiple studies demonstrate that fear, anxiety, lack of control, and other aversive emotional experiences predispose people to believe in conspiracy theories by activating sense-making motivations and intuitive cognitive processes like pattern perception. The evidence suggests conspiracy beliefs are grounded in emotions rather than analytic thinking.

We learn from all this that the effects of the pervasive fear that motivates most Christian Nationalists are very real, powerful, and destructive. When we consider this reality alongside the fact that Godly love is the only power that conquers fear and gives us a sound mind, we must conclude that Godly love for neighbors is the only antidote for the fear that motivates Christian Nationalists. Obviously, political activism, religion and spiritual warfare do not have that power.

See articles below for more about the ways fear and anxiety affect people:

Inevitably, The Politics Of Terror: Fear Has Become Part Of Washington’s Power Struggle