Abstract or Keywords
“White Christian nationalism” (WCN) is, perhaps among other things, a term that circulates in liberal and centrist media, bolstered by sociological scholarship. As such, it has an awkward relationship to the field of religious studies, for theoretical and material reasons. In a time when many scholars are incentivized to produce “public scholarship,” it can be tempting to contribute to these discourses, particularly when publics show keen interest and political stakes are high. However, one of the most useful moves that all scholars know how to make—indeed, maybe the only one we all share—is to critique and historicize the category “religion,” analyzing its uses. The question then arises: Should religious studies scholars propagate discourses about WCN, or should we study them? Can we do both?