Where Do We Go From Here? Confronting White Christian Nationalism to Reclaim Faith and Democracy

On January 6, 2021, Americans watched a distressing mix of symbols displayed by those who descended on the Capitol building. Many of these symbols were Christian nationalist in nature.

What is white Christian nationalism, and how do we address it in our work fostering a multifaith America? How can progressive Christians reclaim their faith from those who distort it?

Join Tri-Faith for this urgent conversation with Robert P. Jones and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons as we examine the relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy, and remember the long yet forgotten history of progressive Christianity in the United States.

Robert P. Jones
Robert P. Jones is the CEO and Founder of PRRI and a leading scholar and commentator on religion, culture, and politics. He is the author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” and “The End of White Christian America,” which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for The Atlantic online, NBC Think, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. Jones serves on the national program committee for the American Academy of Religion and is a past member of the editorial boards for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Politics and Religion, a journal of the American Political Science Association.

He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University, an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in computing science and mathematics from Mississippi College. Jones was selected by Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2013, and by Mississippi College’s Mathematics Department as Alumnus of the Year in 2016.

Before founding PRRI, Jones worked as a consultant and senior research fellow at several think tanks in Washington, D.C., and was an assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is a fellow with the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at Center for American Progress. His work focuses on a wide range of issues related to the role of religion in American public life, including promoting a progressive vision of religious liberty that champions LGBTQ rights and amplifying how faith communities empower social and economic justice.

Prior to joining American Progress, Graves-Fitzsimmons worked with national faith leaders on two high-profile issue advocacy campaigns: opposing the Muslim ban and passing comprehensive immigration reform. He served as the associate director of the Rights and Inclusion Collaborative at ReThink Media, where he worked to promote Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian rights. He was previously the faith coordinator at the National Immigration Forum, where he helped start the Evangelical Immigration Table.

He is the author of the book Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity. His writing on religion and politics regularly appears in national media outlets, including CNN and The Washington Post. He’s also the founder of The Resistance Prays, a daily devotional aimed at spiritually and politically defeating Trumpism.

Graves-Fitzsimmons received his undergraduate degree from American University and his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, where he was the William Sloane Coffin Scholar. He and his husband, both native Texans, now live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Tri-Faith Initiative events are recorded and archived on our YouTube Channel.