Belonging In A Christian Nation Analysis

In the article, Belonging in a “Christian Nation”: The Explicit and Implicit Associations between Religion and National Group Membership by Carly M. Jacobs, she emphasizes the fact that there are many stereotypes to what the “typical” American is. Jacobs points out that Americans (when it comes to race) is associated with being white and the religion that the “typical” American is represented is Christian. The United states is labeled as a “Christian nation” because presidents swear on a Bible and “In God We Trust” is placed on their currency. Jacob declares that in her investigation, Christianity is included in the collection of traits that help to define who counts as full members of the American national group. Non-Christians have to in a way, prove themselves in order to be considered fully American. They may exhibit pro national group attitudes and behaviors by expressing patriotism but they distance themselves from others. Non-Christians want to be viewed as prototypical but because of self-categorization, they are placed within a particular group. Once they are categorized for their race, there is a long list of stereotypes that they have to deal with, and it is difficult to alter those …show more content…
The first major source was a data from the Perceptions of the American People survey. In this survey, 48 contiguous states were chosen using random-digit dialing. The average length of the interviews were 31 minutes long. Throughout the experiment, there were a number of trials performed that consisted of a image on a computer screen with an American flag in the middle. On the right upper hand corner it says “American or Christian” and on the opposite corner it says “Foreign or Non-Christian,” and the participants had to choose