[I, as a Silverback residing in The Jungle, do not write about controversial subjects like politics and religion. And skin color is of no relevance to gorillas. We’re all hairy, even the Silverbelles. I’m not, however, above listening to other Silverbacks on the subjects. This is from SB Bill’s (Hinesburg SBs) Substack. The photos are not part of his published piece, but were selected by me from the family gallery that appears on his website https://schubart.com/family-photo-gallery/ They are included to give other SBs a sense of who SB Bill is and where he is coming from. SB SM]
“White Christian Nationalism,” a resurgent religion or racism?
| Bill Schubart Oct 17, 2025 |
The concept of “Christian Nationalism,” or worse, “White Christian Nationalism,” flies in the face of most of the world’s major religions which all share the spiritual tenet… “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or, put directly, … “treat others as you want them to treat you.” What nativists call “White Christian Nationalism” is quite simply antithetical to the very essence of Christianity. It pits one race against the others and makes enemies of the other faiths that are part of the political fabric of this country. White Christian Nationalism is a political movement not founded in faith.
In a recent interview on Fox News, J.D. Vance explained his comfort with Christian nationalists by using a 4th Century Augustinian tenet of Catholicism, to which he has converted, ordo amoris. Vice President Vance interprets this as a justification for the Trump administration’s hostile policy to immigrants and foreigners. “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can . . . prioritize the rest of the world.” In a related vein, Vance has criticized Germany for trying to suppress the views of the AfD group, which has trivialized the Holocaust, revived Nazi slogans, and railed against immigrants.
I was raised a Catholic in a conservative time and community. Though the Morrisville of my childhood was a diverse community of Quebecois, Irish, and Italian immigrants, the majority were of English descent. Though there was little overt racism in my childhood, in the 1930s when the film Birth of a Nation, which gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan, played at the Bijou Theater on Main Street, a few in town were inspired to wrap themselves in sheets and ride around town on horseback.
Nationally, the KKK was organized to protect and ensure the dominance of a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant America. The Vermont Klan movement was small, but for several years in the mid-1920s it had a significant presence. National Klan officials claimed some 10,000 members in Vermont which then had a population of about 350,000. Historian Kenneth Jackson, however, believes a more reasonable estimate of the total number of Vermonters formally initiated in the Klan between 1915-1944 was around 2,000. (Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City). The growth of its membership was primarily fueled by prejudice against the Roman Catholic Church. But in Morrisville in the ‘50s, there was nobody to harass except one another’s customers and drinking pals. The movement died out quickly. And as my French-Canadian grandmere, Elise Couture, observed… “those men looked so silly riding around town in their bed sheets…”
We have not yet seen a significant presence of white nationalists in Vermont and we have, for the most part, welcomed — and benefited — from the diversity of immigrants to our state. And, as with much of the country, our agriculture and hospitality industries would be at a loss without these workers.
Although Vermont has the highest percentage of church “unaffiliated” in the country, this doesn’t mean that Vermonters have no spiritual connection or belief systems. Many community religious groups offer support services to refugees and asylum seekers. As we read in James 2:14-26, we will be judged not by our religious affiliation but by our works and deeds — our kindness and fairness to others – and not just other Christians but all others.
But we Vermonters are not without blemish. Politico recently reported that Vermont legislator Samuel Douglass was quoted on a private Vermont Young Republicans (VTYR) Telegraph chat mentioning a friend who had dated an “obese Indian woman.” A colleague, Giunta, replied that the woman was not Indian, to which Douglass responded: “She just didn’t bathe often.” After Douglass said that a Jewish colleague had potentially made a procedural error, his wife, Brianna Douglass, also VTYR member, answered, “you’re giving nationals to (sic) much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest.” Governor Phil Scott and many legislative colleagues have called for Senator Douglass to step down.
As Robert Jones notes in his books, “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future” and “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” the ethno-religious term has taken on new life in Trump’s MAGA movement and has become intrinsic to the beliefs of the new Republican Party, 65% of whom identify as white and Christian.
The 2022 slaughter in Buffalo of ten people by Payton S. Gendron of mostly Blacks was a direct outgrowth of the insidious “great replacement theory,” Brenton Tarrant’s 180-page racist screed preceding his own 2019 slaughter of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, N.Z.. He in turn took inspiration from Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed just under 100 people on Utoya Island in 2011. His manifesto decried multiculturalism and the destruction of “European Christendom.” He ended his manifesto proclaiming, “Onward Christian soldiers! Celebrate us, the martyrs of the conservative revolution, for we will soon dine in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Trump’s “Make American Great Again” (MAGA) call feeds growing anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-Black undercurrents and courts Christian right nativists, recalling a time in America after World War II when white Christians dominated the U.S. population… a period when we added “under God” to the pledge of allegiance and “In God We Trust” to our currency.
Trump, Vance and Stephen Miller’s “White Christian nationalism” is a serious threat to the fabric of our democracy and, increasingly, a threat to public safety, especially for anyone deemed “other” by this group. Vance’s remark about liberal opponents hating America echoes the administration’s critique of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and other programs that point to America’s history of racial discrimination, as if acknowledging historical injustices is incompatible with affirming democratic principles.
As recently reported in the New York Times (NYT), Barbara L. Strack, a former chief of the refugee affairs division at Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, made clear “It reflects a preexisting notion among some in the Trump administration as to who are the true Americans, and they think it’s white people and they think it’s Christians.”
My grandmere Elise’s dismissive remembrance of the KKK in the town I grew up begs a new question. Is the current administration urging a new “Birth of a Nation” in which a hooded Stephen Miller posse rides through the countryside vilifying people of color or foreign birth or non-Christian religions? Miller is credited with shaping the racist and draconian immigration policies of President Trump, which include the zero-tolerance policy — also known as family separation — and the Muslim ban, and with ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and, most evident, deporting 1 million immigrants. Trump’s new budget delivered Miller roughly $170 billion for his immigration restriction program … including $45 billion for new detention centers and $30 billion to hire 10,000 new ICE officers.
We must ask ourselves: “Will history repeat itself as it so often does? Have we learned nothing from it?”
Courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society
I’m disappointed with today’s article. I agree that there is a white Christian nationalist movement but the article insinuates that if you are a Christian and you are white then you are part of the movement. I am a Christian and I know many Christians that oppose current policies. The article supports the stereotype of Christians being the uneducated, puritanical, fear controlled fool. I know we (Christians) are our own worst enemy but at the same time we do a lot of good work. Look at the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, World Vision and so many more organizations local, state and global that care and love people of all cultures, races and religion. As part of the 65%, I’m offended.
The lesson for me is that I should follow my own policy and stay away from politics and religion.
And thank you for sharing your thoughts, SB Ron.