Amanda Tyler, talks about white supremacy and Christian Nationalism on POINT BLACK Radio Show with Co-hosts Adolphus Pruitt and Rev. Darryl Gray in February 2023.
ABOUT AMANDA TYLER Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government.
ABOUT POINT BLACK Adolphus Pruitt, St. Louis NAACP chief, and the Rev. Darryl Gray, a civil-rights activist, co-host POINT BLACK Radio Show on KATZ Hallelujah (1600 AM) on Thursdays from 9-10 a.m.
Q. Rev. Darryl Gray: What is White Christian Nationalism?
A. Amanda Tyler: White Christian Nationalism is the single biggest threat today to American democracy, to religious freedom for all, and to a faithful Christian witness in this country.
Q. Adolphus Pruitt: Define White Christian Nationalism?
A. Amanda Tyler: It is a political ideology and a cultural framework that tries to merge our identities as Americans and Christians. Christian Nationalism says to be a “real American,” one must be Christian, and really, truth be told, one must be White Christian holding certain political views. Now what is White Christian Nationalism? We say that Christian Nationalism often overlaps with and perhaps provides cover for White Supremacy.
Q. Rev. Gray: What is the reality of White Christian Nationalism?
A. Amanda Tyler: I really think Christian Nationalism is the single biggest threat today to American democracy to religious freedom for all and to a faithful Christian witness in this country.
Q. Adolphus Pruitt: Define again for the audience White Christian Nationalism?
A. Amanda Tyler: It’s a political ideology and a cultural framework that tries to merge our identities as Americans and Christians. Christian Nationalism says to be a “real American,” one must be a Christian, and really, truth be told, one must be a white Christian holding certain political views. Christian Nationalism often overlap with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation.
Christian Nationalism is really more about an ethno-national identity than it is about religion. It is more socially acceptable to use Christian language and Christian symbols as a cover for what is more explicitly racist language and ideology.
My friend and co-conspirator, Dr Jamal Tisby, has called Christian nationalism the permission structure for white supremacy. That it provides understanding of what it really means to be an American that allows these white supremacist racist views to go unquestioned and therefore becomes more difficult to expose them and to dismantle them.
HISTORY AMANDA TYLER
BJC, or the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, is a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that advocates for religious freedom for all people. Amanda Tyler has indeed been the executive director of BJC since January 2017. In this role, she leads the organization in its mission to protect and defend religious liberty for all people, including those of different faiths or no faith.
Prior to joining BJC, Tyler served as the director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has also worked as a law clerk for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. She holds a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a bachelor’s degree in religion from Carleton College.
