Training Up Children

The link between Christian nationalism and authoritarian parenting

New research shows a link between Christian nationalism and authoritarian parenting.

In a newly released study, sociologist Sam Perry concludes:

“Christian nationalism is a strong predictor that Americans prioritize obedience in children over children thinking for themselves, and endorse ‘hard spanking’ to discipline children.”

“This association,” he finds, “is consistent across survey waves spanning 25 years and with two different measures of Christian nationalism.”

Think about what this means.

When connected with data that two-thirds of white evangelicals are Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers, it suggests to me that lots of evangelical children miss out on developing intellectual autonomy – i.e., on learning to think for themselves.

I think this helps with understanding why evangelicals can so readily support and champion authoritarian means of social control, such as Trumpism. It’s because 1) authoritarianism has long been normalized in their churches and families, and 2) they may have an underdeveloped ability to engage independent moral reasoning since their upbringing prioritized obedience.

Not only are evangelicals raised in ways that condition them to cede moral authority to an “anointed” one, but from toddlerhood on, they’re raised with a priority on obedience over intellectual autonomy.

So, in large numbers, they grow up to become adults who are accommodated to accepting authoritarian control. It is so normalized – and so ingrained – that they don’t even recognize it.

The stench of authoritarian control has been with evangelicals for so long that they don’t smell it.

When I posted on X about Sam Perry’s newly released research, a prominent Southern Baptist named William Wolfe made this response:

“The anti-CN cottage industry is some of the dumbest pseudo-scholarship in existence. Sam Perry is a complete fraud: He claims to be a ‘sociologist,’ but he’s just a Vox-tier progressive activist with a worthless PhD who uses his ‘credentials’ as a mask to persecute Christians.”

So, Wolfe basically called the research “dumb,” cried “Christian persecution,” and made a personal attack on Perry.

Ironic, eh? It’s as though Wolfe is providing an example of what underdeveloped thinking looks like.

And Wolfe isn’t just some random guy on X. He’s a former Trump administration staffer and former intern to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler. Within white evangelicalism, he’s what many might characterize as an intellectual.

Yet, look how reflexive, immature, and nonsubstantive his response was.

(And it’s not as if Wolfe’s immature response is something unusual in evangelicalism. E.g., Another person labeled me as “a whiny leftist” just for posting about Perry’s published research.)

I have no clue what Wolfe’s upbringing was like. He presents himself as an evangelical now, but I don’t know whether he was raised as one. Nevertheless, with such an unserious response – one that essentially says “that’s dumb” – Wolfe appears to illustrate the kind of underdeveloped reasoning that derives from having grown up with too much emphasis on obedience and not enough on independent thinking.

Samuel Perry

Finally, although it scarcely needs saying, contrary to Wolfe’s knee-jerk, name-calling response, Perry is a widely recognized and respected scholar. His PhD is from the University of Chicago, and in 2023, Perry was named as the top sociologist in the world. His work is specifically focused on religion and contemporary political divisions.

Perry’s research speaks for itself, and there are plenty of additional reasons to think Perry knows of what he speaks. Not so much for Wolfe.

For more on the ruses & maneuvers of the Southern Baptist Convention, check out my book, Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation.