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President Donald Trump and members of his administration have long used allegations of as for supporters, arguing that policies and laws on issues like and to express their beliefs.

Weeks into his second term, Trump took action, signing an executive order on "." The order vowed to "protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government" by identifying anti-Christian conduct and recommending policy changes. In mid-April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed employees in the State Department of such bias that occurred during the Biden administration.

in U.S. society, given that Christians are the country's largest faith group and benefit from associated privileges. Consider how Christmas is recognized as a federal holiday, whereas other faiths' major holidays are not.

As , who claims of anti-Christian bias appeal to, and .

, , suggests that people's are tied with their attitudes about race. These studies suggest that when politicians talk about anti-Christian bias, it does more than signal a concern and commitment to Christians—it can also serve as a signal of white solidarity.

A changing America

Even though they remain the largest religious and racial groups, white Americans and Christian Americans have both declined as a proportion of the U.S. population. Over the past two decades, the percentage of , and the percentage of white Americans has . White Christians now account for .

Many scholars have argued that, at the root, some white and Christian Americans by these demographic shifts. Increasing secularization and have added to some white Christians' sense that their identity is under attack. According to , however, only 3% of hate crimes over the past five years targeted Christians. In comparison, 14% targeted Jews, Muslims or Sikhs—groups that make up .

The found that 55% of white Americans believe discrimination against white people is as much of a problem as discrimination against minority groups. Meanwhile, 60% of say that Christians in the U.S. face discrimination.

In his , Trump echoes these perceptions of threat, painting a picture of embattlement for Christians.

The executive order provides examples of and alleges that Democrats failed to respond to . The executive order criticizes the Biden administration for policies that it says "force Christians to affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith," including for .

Testing views

Historically, were often treated as the quintessential Americans—meaning race and religion are tightly connected in U.S. culture.

Sixty-two percent of white American adults , and 61% of .

In our four experiments, published in in March 2024, we tested these connections between views of race and religion, focusing on claims about anti-Christian bias.

First, in two online experiments of about 3,000 participants, we randomly assigned white and Black Christians to one of four groups. One group did not read anything, while the other three were each given a brief blurb about discrimination. Each blurb summarized a different group's fears that bias against them was increasing: white Americans, Black Americans and Christian Americans.

Afterward, we asked all the participants to assess how much bias they think those groups actually face. Compared to white Christians who did not read anything, white Christians who read the blurb about anti-Christian bias perceived greater anti-white bias. Black Christians who read the blurb about anti-Christian bias, however, did not perceive greater anti-white bias than Black Christians who did not read anything.

Thus, it appears that the white Christians mentally linked anti-Christian and anti-white bias.

In our other two experiments, we randomly assigned about 1,000 white and Black Christians to read an interview excerpt from a fictional local politician who was asked about the most pressing issue in their community. The politician either voiced concern about anti-Christian bias, anti-white bias, religious freedom or the economy.

Afterward, we asked participants several questions about the politician, including whether they thought this figure was liberal or conservative, and whether they thought this figure would be "concerned about bias against white people." Black and white Christian respondents believed the politician who voiced concern about anti-Christian bias was also more likely to fight for the rights of white people, relative to the politician who discussed the economy.

We also asked participants whether they found the politician's interview offensive. Both Black and white Christians viewed the message about anti-Christian bias as less offensive than the message about anti-white bias.

Importantly, these effects held regardless of whether participants believed the politician was conservative or liberal.

Taken together, these findings suggest that expressing concern for anti-Christian bias can be interpreted as signaling allegiance to white people—without the social cost of being accused of racism. Instead, allegations of anti-Christian bias can be ," a core American value.

Whether intentionally or not, it seems that rallying around anti-Christian bias can serve as " signaling support for people concerned about changes in America's racial makeup, as well.

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