Local professors: Mastriano's campaign appealing to Christian nationalism

Nov. 4—Pennsylvanians will cast their votes for the midterm elections on Nov. 8, choosing which candidates to elect during a highly polarized political time.

Bucknell University Professor of Religious Studies Brantley Gasaway has researched the connection between religion and politics and its effects upon citizens' views of America's identity.

Gasaway recently offered some thoughts on Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, and the ways in which Christian nationalism has defined his campaign.

Mastriano, Gasaway said, "pulls support from conservative Christians and and those who view America as a Christian nation and express fears about their freedoms.

"Christian Republicans overwhelmingly believe that conservative political and economic policies properly limit governmental interference with citizens' God-given individual rights," Gasaway said. "They also believe traditional Christianity, in order to preserve America's identity, should be privileged and protected by the government."

Gasaway said he thinks that Mastriano's campaign is the most expressively Christian in any political race he's seen.

"At least on a state level," Gasaway said. "He has really made his own Christian identity and religious language central to his appeal to voters, and that has brought him a great deal of support, and even criticism, sometimes from other Christians."

At the center of Mastriano's campaign, Gasaway explained on Thursday, "is his promise to restore citizens' 'God-given freedoms,' and he denounces governmental restrictions designed to curb the COVID pandemic as 'tyranny.'"

In addition, Gasaway said, "Mastriano portrays his campaign as a spiritual battle against evil and claims that his election will 'bring the state back to righteousness.'"

While political critics denounce Mastriano for promoting Christian nationalism and political extremism, it is clear that religion will play a significant role in the outcome of Tuesday's midterms.

Politics and religionsConservative Christian ideology and politics has converged for many years in this country, noted Robert Speel, associate professor of political science, Penn State University, the Behrend College.

Conservative Christians have mostly been supporters of the Republican Party for over forty years, Speel explained. "Some reasons for that include reactions to the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion, reactions to the civil rights movement among white Southerners, and intentional efforts among leaders in the televangelist industry to organize followers as Republican voters," he said.

Organizers of the movement have used different labels over the decades, Speel points out — The Moral Majority, Christian Coalition, and Christian nationalism. But the voter base and the general political and social attitudes have remained similar," he said. "Not all fundamentalist and evangelical Christians identify with this political movement, but a majority have been voting Republican for several decades.

In 2004, George W. Bush's political strategist Karl Rove publicized efforts to get proposed bans on same-sex marriage placed as state ballot measures in order to boost turnout for Bush in that presidential election, a strategy that seemed to succeed. It has been the only presidential election since 1988 in which the Republican candidate won the majority of the nationwide popular vote.

"In Pennsylvania, conservative Christians outside of urban areas remain a large segment of voters, and Doug Mastriano's message will appeal to many of them, while others will vote for him just because he is the Republican on the ballot," Speel noted.

But a majority of Pennsylvanians do not hold the same ideology, especially in urban and suburban areas, and Mastriano has not made much public effort to win over such voters, Speel said. "If he were to win the governor's election this month, it would likely be because most state voters are voting for Republicans in general."

However, his support may be greater than polls have been measuring, because some Republicans may be reluctant to tell how they plan to vote to pollsters and others who say they are undecided usually vote Republican anyhow.

If Mastriano were to defeat Shapiro, that may also cause concerns among Democrats and news articles in the media about the extent of anti-Semitism in Pennsylvania, Speel said. He also said if Mastriano were able to enact some of his proposed policies and ideas, it would likely affect Pennsylvania's reputation among people in other states.