New research reveals that people who identify with Christian nationalism often have lower cognitive abilities. This finding comes from a study led by University of Oklahoma professor of sociology Samuel Perry. The study analyzed data spanning from 1989 to 2024, focusing on how cognitive factors relate to political ideologies, particularly within the context of Christian nationalism.
Christian nationalism is characterized by a belief in strict social order, the merging of religion with civic identity, and the promotion of European-style Christianity. Perry’s research used data from the General Social Survey, a widely used and long-running dataset for American social research. By comparing participants’ cognitive vocabulary scores with their views on the significance of Christianity in defining what it means to be “truly American,” a clear pattern emerged.
The results showed a negative correlation: the higher the cognitive vocabulary score, the lower the likelihood that a given individual would rate Christianity as an important character trait for Americans. Additionally, greater cognitive ability corresponded with a higher likelihood that a person supported a Supreme Court ban on school prayer. This suggests that Christian nationalism appeals to Americans with lower verbal intelligence, indicating an underlying role of differential cognitive resources not reducible to educational disparities.
In an interview with <em>PsyPost</em>, Perry argued that Christian nationalism “is not the result of more sophisticated and complex ruminations on politics, religious ethics, and pluralism” and instead “appeals to more basic impulses for control and binary distinctions.” This perspective challenges the idea that adherence to such beliefs is based on careful and critical consideration of societal issues.
