Writing "Baptizing America"

Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism reveals how the Christian faith that dominated the second half of the 20th Century set the stage for the rise of a movement that now poses a serious threat to civil liberties and democracy itself. Authors Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood share the story of how Baptizing America was born.

Do you have a moment when you realized “this needs to be a book?”
As we researched and reported on Christian Nationalism in recent years, we started realizing that much of the “evidence” those espousing Christian Nationalism point to as they argue the U.S. is supposed to be a “Christian nation” was stuff implemented by mainline Protestants. But the scholarly and journalistic considerations of Christian Nationalism remained focused on evangelicals. 


So we wrote an essay for Religion & Politics that was published in January 2023. We wondered if scholarly experts and mainline leaders would quickly tell us if we were off-base or on target with the argument. However, the feedback we received was very affirming, that this was a missing piece of the debate that needed to be unpacked. 


That led to conversations with Chalice Press, some furious research and writing, and now an exciting book that’s been released into the wild. We hope it helps people understand what Christian Nationalism is (and isn’t), how mainline Protestants have contributed to the problem, and what can practically be done to address it. 


What was the biggest challenge of writing your book?
This book is intended to be a resource for mainline pastors and churches. We wanted it to be a gentle entry point into the Christian Nationalism conversation and a valuable tool in shaping responses to this dangerous ideology. We worked a lot on the tone of the book in the hopes it would convey a) our appreciation of the mainline church, b) our alarm about the problem we face, c) candor about mainline complicity in perpetuating that problem, and d) our belief that each of us can do more about it than we realize. Making sure all of those goals were accomplished involved walking a bit of a tightrope. Our readers will ultimately be the judge of how successful we were (or weren’t). 


What was your biggest surprise writing your book?

This sounds obvious in retrospect, but the biggest surprise was how much material was out there and how little of it was known by many within the mainline tradition. We knew there was enough to justify the book when we started, but we found so much more than we expected. There was so much more that could have been included in terms of mainliners advancing the cause of Christian Nationalism, but we had to stop somewhere. 


What is the most inspiring feedback you've received from a reader?
We’ve had a noted mainline historian tell us this story was long overdue to be told. We’ve had a prominent sociologist who studies Christian Nationalism push it out far and wide. There’s a theologian telling mainline pastors they need to read this book if they’re going to understand the challenges of congregational ministry today. Pastors are picking up the book and then writing about it on Facebook. It’s been wonderful and humbling to see the enthusiasm that has greeted the book thus far. 


What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

Christian Nationalism has become a buzzword being applied to a lot of controversies in our public life. We need to understand what it is and what it isn’t. This book helps the reader do that.


American evangelicals are getting most of the public blame for Christian Nationalism today, but there’s a much broader story to be told about who cultivated the fertile soil in which these contemporary expressions have grown. This book provides those details.


There’s a sense that this problem is too big for any one person, congregation, or denomination to effectively address. This book makes it quite clear that there’s a lot more you can do than you think—and you should be doing those things instead of ranting about it on social media, which doesn’t help much at all.