American Unexceptionalism: Global Lessons on Fighting Religious Nationalism

Our trip around the world begins in Brazil. The parallels between what’s happening in the US and what’s happening in Brazil are striking. In both places, you have powerful Christian movements that have become politically active over the last decade, aligning themselves with certain right-wing populist political figures and policy priorities that have challenged democracy. In both places, you had attempted insurrections staged at the legislature at which these movements – and their Christian symbols and narratives – were highly visible. In both places, a former president supported by these movements has faced prosecution. These parallels are not coincidental. Political and religious leaders in both countries have visited one another, advocated for each other, strategized together. But here’s where things diverge. In Brazil, former president Bolsonaro has not been able to reclaim power. In the US, of course, President Trump has. Has Brazil succeeded where the US hasn’t in containing an authoritarian president and the Christian nationalist movement that supports him? If so, how was this achieved? To help Matt and Susie answer those questions, they are joined by two Brazilian scholars of religion based in the U.S.: Raimundo Barreto and Joao Chaves. Additional ResourcesBarreto, Raimundo, and João B. Chaves. “Christian Nationalism Is Thriving in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.” The Christian Century, 1 Dec. 2021, www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/christian-nationalism-thriving-bolsonaro-s-brazil.Barreto, Raimundo, and João B. Chaves. “The Shared Religious Roots of Twin Insurrections in the U.S. and Brazil.” The Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/01/18/brazil-insurrection-evangelical-christianity/.Costa, Petra, director. Apocalypse in the Tropics. 2024, Netflix, 14 July 2025. https://www.netflix.com/title/81989009Chaves, João B. The Global Mission of the Jim Crow South: Southern Baptist Missionaries and the Shaping of Latin American Evangelicalism. Mercer University Press, 2022.www.axismundi.usExecutive Producer: Dr. Bradley OnishiProducer: Andrew GillOriginal Music and Mixing: Scott OkamotoProduction Assistance: Kari OnishiFunded through generous contributions from ICJS, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the ICRD.

Religious Nationalism is Global - So is the Resistance In this first episode, Dr. Matthew D. Taylor and the Rev. Susan Hayward make the case that we in America need to listen to and learn from those who’ve been resisting religious nationalist movements in other contexts. By showing humility, and leaving American exceptionalism behind, we will better understand what’s happening here at home and how to respond. American Christian nationalism is not a singular phenomenon. It's part of a family of religious nationalisms that mutually reinforce each other. That means there is a global network of resistors with strategies, skills, and lessons to teach Americans in our own fight. This episode introduces the framework, key terms, and overarching questions that will guide the series. We are introduced to our hosts Dr. Matthew Taylor and Rev. Susie Hayward, their backgrounds and experiences/expertise, and why they wanted to examine the phenomenon of US Christian Nationalism through this global approach. Matt and Susie offer an overview of the rise of exclusionary forms of religious nationalisms worldwide associated with democratic backsliding – setting that alongside the rising influence of anti-democratic Christian Nationalism in the US. They point to ways in which these global movements are related to one another, including their common drivers, narratives, and tactics, and to some of their trans-national connections. Additional Resources: Charismatic Revival Fury: The New Apostolic Reformation (2023) Written and narrated by Matthew D. Taylor. Produced by Brad Onishi. Engineered by Scott Okamoto.The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy. Matthew D. Taylor. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2024.Scripture People: Salafi Muslims in Evangelical Christians’ America. Matthew D. Taylor. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023.Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists. Matthew D. Taylor. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, forthcoming in October 2026.Women, Religion, and Peace – Illuminating the Invisible. Susan Hayward and Katherine Marshall, eds. Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, September 2015. “Religions, Peace, and Conflict.” Susan Hayward and Erin Wilson. In The State of the Evidence in Religions and Development, edited by Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI). Washington, DC: JLI, 2022, 55-60.Hayward, Susan. “Religion and Peacebuilding: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Prospects.” Special Report 313. Washington, DC: USIP Press, August 2012.   

What can we Americans learn from others around the world about how to protect democracy when the stakes are high? Can we as Americans learn about how to challenge forms of religious nationalism and religious supremacy? What can we learn from Buddhists in Sri Lanka or Muslims in Turkey, or Christians in South Korea who have faced similar kinds of forms of religious nationalism in in their own context and sought to deflate their power?That’s the purpose for this series. Across 10 episodes, we travel around the world to places where there are similar battles afoot, where exclusionary movements of religious nationalism are driving democratic backslid. We’ll be speaking with people of faith from a variety of faiths and traditions. We’ll be speaking with scholars and activists to understand what is happening in these contexts, how it’s similar to or different from what’s happening in the USA, and we’re gonna try to mine some practical lessons from those we speak to about what’s worked and what hasn’t in these efforts to protect democracy.