| Date | July 1, 2025 |
| Time | 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm) |
| Location | Zionsville Christian Church Sanctuary |
| Cost | Free |
In this talk, Dr. Whitehead draws on more than a decade of research to clearly define what Christian nationalism is, the threats it poses to democracy and civil society in the United States, how it contradicts the Christian call to love one’s neighbors, and what concerned citizens can do in the present moment. Whether or not you are a person of faith, this conversation will provide you with the knowledge you need to understand what is at stake and how to respond.
Andrew Whitehead is Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com) at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis. He is also an inaugural research fellow with the George F. Kettering Foundation.
Whitehead is one of the foremost scholars of Christian nationalism in the United States. He is the author of American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church, which was awarded the 2024 Gold Medal Book Award for Religion from Foreword Reviews and won the 2024 Midwest Book Award for Religion and Philosophy.
He is also the lead author – along with Samuel Perry – of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, which won the 2021 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. In 2019, his coauthored article “Make America Christian Again: Christian Nationalism and Voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election” (Sociology of Religion, 2018) won the Distinguished Article Award for both the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Whitehead’s research on Christian nationalism has been featured across several national outlets, including the New York Times, National Public Radio, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, CNN Today, the Economist, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian. He has been interviewed on NBC News, National Public Radio, and the BBC, among others, and is routinely contacted for perspective on religion and politics from national and international news media. He has also written for the Washington Post, Time, NBC News, and the Religion News Service, among other outlets.
The ZCC Speaker Series features inspiring speakers who foster thought and action on equity, diversity, human rights, access to essential resources and opportunities, participation in decision-making processes that impact communities, and environmental issues.