Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
The Alt-Right and Christianity596 views
Author
Cooksey, Mariel, Religious Studies - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia0000-0003-1346-4093
Advisors
Ochs, Peter, AS-Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Abstract
This capstone explores the rise and fall of the “alt-right” movement, an anti-Semitic, predominantly atheist collective of far-right political groups united by an erudite, transnational approach to white nationalism. The movement had a complicated relationship with Christianity, seeing Christianity as a damaging, pathologically altruistic phenomenon that threatened white racial kinship due to its Jewish roots. Rejecting mainstream conservatism and attributing the decline of Western civilization to liberal progressivism and Judaism, the alt-right isolated itself from religious far-rightists who might otherwise have been attracted to the movement’s politics. The alt-right's inability to appeal to an increasingly jingoistic, religious and anti-intellectual wing of the GOP led to the movement's inevitable decline, and it has since been superseded by younger, American-centric, zealously Christian far-right groups whose political and religious views are far more in line with a post-Trump Republican party.
Degree
MA (Master of Arts)
Keywords
Alt-Right; White Nationalism; Groypers; Christianity; Anti-Semitism; America First ; Christian Nationalism; White Supremacy; Unite the Right; Neo-Nazism; American Identity Movement ; Richard Spencer; Tradcath; Identitarian; Far-Right Populism
Cooksey, Mariel. The Alt-Right and Christianity. University of Virginia, Religious Studies - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, MA (Master of Arts), 2020-12-10, https://doi.org/10.18130/v3-00nm-d042.