Christian Nationalism at the Nexus of Latinos’ Shifting Religious and Political Preferences

A new study by the Public Faith Analysis Institute reveals that whereas help for Christian nationalism in the USA remained comparatively regular between 2022 and 2024, Hispanic Protestants had been the one group with a dramatic enhance in help. Christian nationalism on this examine was outlined by help for a lot of statements, akin to “The U.S. authorities ought to declare America a Christian nation.” Hispanic Protestants, by and huge, are a part of Evangelical and Pentecostal actions in the USA, and now a majority (55%) of Hispanic Protestants help Christian nationalism, up 12% since 2022. This displays each worldwide spiritual developments and distinctive nationwide developments in the USA.

If there may be an overarching story about Latino/as’ politics in 2025, it’s that they’re a quickly altering and conflicted voters. Spiritual affiliation and nation of origin are strongly correlated with Latinos’ political preferences throughout a various political spectrum. As an illustration, solely 25% of Hispanic Catholics help Christian nationalist views. And it has lengthy been recognized that Latinos of Cuban origin prefer Republicans more strongly than most different Latinos.

To seek out out extra about how rising help for Christian nationalism amongst Hispanic Protestants illustrates key developments in Latino politics and faith, I spoke with Erica Ramirez and Eli Valentin, members of the Vote is Sacred Fellowship with Interfaith America, which brings collectively leaders from numerous spiritual and ideological backgrounds to advertise peaceable democratic engagement. Dr. Valentin comes from a Puerto Rican group in New York Metropolis, and specializes within the historical past of Latino politics in New York because the director of Latino Research at Virginia Union College. Dr. Ramirez is a fifth-generation Mexican American from Texas, a sociologist of faith who research international Pentecostalisms, and Senior Director of Analysis at Louisville Institute.

Ramirez factors out that American Latino Evangelicals and Protestants attend church buildings that maintain nationalist beliefs, however are rather more ethnically numerous than different Christian church buildings. Their church buildings usually explicitly prioritize and platform racial variety, which strongly differentiates them from the white Christian nationalists that get disproportionate protection within the US media. Ramirez factors to wider international developments of Christian nationalism, together with evangelical teams in Latin American nations with non secular agendas for his or her respective nations. She gives the instance of Christian nationalism in Brazil, the place many Evangelicals and Pentecostals who imagine that Brazil is a sinful nation in want of redemption participated in the 2023 insurrection. Brazilian Christian nationalists contend (by way of prayer and politics) for a Christian non secular agenda for Brazil. They imagine that God divinely ordained the US for international management, however see themselves as a part of a geopolitical schema that revolves before everything round Israel, not White Christian America. Thus, Ramirez factors out that within the US, attitudes towards Israel may sharply divide Hispanic Christian nationalists from white nationalists. Perception in a divine plan for Israel ultimately occasions is broadly shared by many Christian nationalists throughout nations, and Hispanic Protestant Christian nationalists could be extra prone to help navy intervention within the Center East, whereas white nationalists would favor isolationism.

But since Latino Evangelicals’ church experiences and expressions in the USA are closely formed by white Evangelical tradition, their expertise of Christian nationalism can also be influenced by the white nationalist sentiments that overlap with Christian nationalism within the US. Eli Valentin factors out that Latino Evangelicals and Pentecostals have moved to homogenize their church buildings and worship kinds with mainstream white Evangelical tradition in the previous few a long time. Distinctly indigenous and Latino/a worship kinds, like corito hymns, have largely fallen by the wayside in favor of extra mainstream worship kinds. So, growing help for Christian nationalist sentiments is probably going pushed partially by wider developments of adopting beliefs and practices from white Evangelical Christianity extra broadly. For comparability, white Evangelical Protestants are the one different spiritual group surveyed by PRRI wherein a majority (66%) maintain Christian nationalist beliefs. As a theologian, Valentin requires Latino/as to “retrieve their prophetic legacy,” champion liberation, and take a distinctive stand towards Christian nationalism of any selection. Civic participation is extra than simply voting, and Valentin notes that many Latino communities have deep traditions of group organizing. The recent protests in Los Angeles towards Trump’s government orders on immigration relied closely on the mobilization of Latino organizers and marchers. Internet hosting a protest large enough to shut down highways requires networks and management that Latino communities have lengthy cultivated. Valentin sees Latino communities as uniquely positioned to supply nationwide management for protests and social actions over the subsequent few a long time in American life.

Ramirez and Valentin are enthusiastic about constructing respect for Latinos’ spiritual and political engagement within the US. They need folks to higher perceive how Latinos’ civic identification is formed by spiritual affiliation, political social gathering affiliation, and nation of origin. Ramírez highlights the disproportionate quantity of electoral energy that spiritual Latino voters now wield in electorally wealthy states like Texas and Florida. The 12% progress of Hispanic Christian Nationalists overlaps with the political reddening of South Texas, where several very predominantly Hispanic counties turned out in document numbers for Trump in 2024. Evangelical Protestants, as a resilient base for Trump, haven’t solely delivered his first and second marketing campaign victories: they’ve bequeathed Trump a multiracial coalition and led a racial realignment inside our two-party system.

Leslie Virnelson is a Democracy Fellow with Interfaith America.

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