Bluestem's been covering Christian Nationalist candidates running for office in Minnesota, like Patriot Academy state leader (Constitutional Coach Steve Boyd, who's challenging incumbent Republican Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach. Readers may remember MN07 Republican challenger Steve Boyd doesn't think of himself as extreme. Why would anyone? and Odd choice given Fischbach's January 6 choices: MN07 primary challenger Steve Boyd hosting Epoch Times "real" January 6 film and town hall.
A new study suggests Boyd is not alone in the North Star State.
From the Minnesota Reformer:
More than half of Minnesota Republicans support Christian nationalism, study finds
By Christopher IngrahamNearly three in ten Minnesotans — including a majority of Republicans — hold Christian nationalist views, according to a new survey of all 50 states conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute.
Christian nationalists support an aggressive fusion of church and state, and believe in a “Christian primacy in politics and law,” in the words of conservative commentator David French.
For the purposes of the PRRI survey, respondents were asked how much they agreed with the following five statements:
- The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.
- U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.
- If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
- Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
- God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.
The survey group categorized Americans based on their levels of agreement with those propositions. Those who agreed with all five were classified as Christian nationalist adherents, while those supporting most of them were categorized as sympathizers of the cause.
People disagreeing with most of the five items were labeled as skeptics, while those rejecting all five completely were dubbed rejectors.
Of the 450 Minnesotans surveyed, 8% were adherents and an additional 20% were sympathizers, while 39% were skeptical and 29% rejected all five notions completely.
Those breakdowns were virtually identical among all Americans as a whole.
In Minnesota 53% of Republicans are adherents or sympathizers, while half of independents are skeptics and a solid majority of Democrats reject Christian nationalism.
The margin of error for the Minnesota sample was +/- 5.8 percentage points, while for the national sample it was +/- 0.8 percentage points.
Relative to other Americans, Christian nationalists are less likely to have a four year degree, more likely to be over age 50, more likely to be Republican and more likely to identify as a born-again or evangelical Christian.
Support for Christian nationalism is especially high in conservative rural states. In neighboring North Dakota, for instance, fully half the adult population espouses Christian nationalist views. Support is also high in Republican strongholds along the Gulf Coast as well as parts of Appalachia.
Christian nationalists “see political struggles through the apocalyptic lens of revolution and violence,” according to the PRRI report. Roughly half of adherents and sympathizers believe “there is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders,” compared to 22% of skeptics and just 7% of rejectors.
Additionally, more than one third of Christian nationalists agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.” Just 17% of skeptics and 7% of rejectors say the same.
This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Screenshot: Boyd is Constitutional Coach for the Patriot Academy "Biblical Citizenship" training. His Facebook page: Blessings of Liberty. Here's one from 1/2022 "Great weekend of learning Biblical Citizenship capped off with a great discussion panel! Thank you to Rep. Eric Lucero, Rep. Mary Franson, Sen. Torrey Westrom, Maureen Eigen and Pastor Mike Bartolomeo for participating. . . ." This isn't the image the Minnesota Reformer used in its post.
Related posts
- Odd choice given Fischbach's January 6 choices: MN07 primary challenger Steve Boyd hosting Epoch Times "real" January 6 film and town hall
- MN07 Republican challenger Steve Boyd doesn't think of himself as extreme. Why would anyone?
- News brief: Franson is Minnesota State Chair for National Association of Christian Lawmakers
- Nostalgia; or, New Republic article about a right-wing Christian sect takes us to our back pages
- Are ties of new MN Senate majority leader with New Apostolic Reformation recipe for gridlock?
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