The Cross and the Crown
How the Transnational Network of Christian Nationalists Threatens the Global Order
Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, an assistant professor of religion and anthropology at Northeastern University, has led a team of researchers to understand American evangelical support for Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin.
Their conclusion? The higher American Christians scored on a “Christian Nationalist” scale, the higher their support and admiration for Putin, even in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Even if the actions of the state are somehow violent and perpetrating violence towards another country, the man himself seems to exemplify what Christian nationalists desire, which is arguably a white ethno-state,” Riccardi-Swartz says.
Riccardi-Swartz says Putin’s attempt to brand himself as a protector of “traditional values” and Russian Christians, resulting in the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church, has also helped remake Russia into a symbol for Christian nationalists.
My column today will explore the commonalities between Trump’s version of Christian Nationalism and Putin’s version of Christian Nationalism and the various links and networks between the two countries. They are only different in terms of local names and institutional identities. Their methods and goals are the same, and they pose a threat to global progress.
The transnational networks of Christian Nationalists, linking actors in the U.S., Russia, and elsewhere, represent one of the most significant ideological currents reshaping global politics in the 21st century. These alliances are not just symbolic or spiritual; they have real consequences for democracy, human rights, international law, and the global culture war.
But first, let’s explore the history of Christian Nationalism…what Putin and Trump are doing is nothing new. The fusion between the crown and the cross has never produced good results. This is not a story of faith, but of power masquerading as faith.
I. Historical Roots of Christian Nationalism
From Constantine to Trump and Putin, rulers across centuries have used Christianity less as a matter of personal faith but more as a strategic instrument of governance, war, and social control. The fusion of the cross and the crown has built empires, justified conquests and colonization, crushed dissent, and sacralized authoritarian rule.
Constantine and the Birth of Christian Imperialism
When the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity through the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, he was not acting solely out of religious conviction. He saw the faith’s unifying potential in a fracturing Roman Empire. In 312, before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine claimed to have seen a vision: a cross in the sky with the words in hoc signo vinces—“in this sign, you will conquer.” He adopted the Christian God as a war banner, and victory followed.
This divine narrative established a precedent: that military success and political legitimacy could be achieved through religious symbolism. Constantine went further, convening the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) to resolve doctrinal disputes, inserting the emperor directly into theological debates. From that point on, Christianity and empire were inseparable in Europe.
Medieval Monarchs and the Divine Right of Kings
In the medieval era, rulers claimed to govern by divine will, a concept formalized as the divine right of kings. The prime example is Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800 CE, who positioned himself as both protector and enforcer of Christendom. His reign merged military conquest with forced Christianization, the most brutal example being his campaigns against the pagan Saxons.
It was evangelism by the sword.
Centuries later, Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella used Catholicism to create a religiously uniform empire. They launched the Inquisition to purge heresy and expelled Jews and Muslims in the name of Christian purity. At the same time, they funded Columbus's voyages, combining religious zeal with imperial ambition.
The Doctrine of Discovery, noncoincidentally, was formally established through the papal bull Inter caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493. It was the year Columbus arrived back in Spain after his so-called “discovery.” The Doctrine of Discovery opened a new chapter of religiously inspired violence, genocide, and destruction as Christian European explorers plundered North and South America over the ensuing centuries.
Orthodoxy and Empire in Russia
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Empire, Russia positioned itself as the rightful heir to the Christian empire, the Third Rome. Tsars like Ivan the Terrible were crowned with religious rituals that echoed Byzantium. The Orthodox Church blessed the autocracy and justified territorial expansion as a holy mission.
This Russian Christian Nationalism continued for centuries, with Russian Orthodoxy becoming deeply entwined with state identity. The tsars used Christianity to suppress rebellion, enforce serfdom, and sanctify their empire. Even under Soviet repressions in the 20th century, the religious memory of holy Russia endured, later revived by Vladimir Putin in the 21st century.
The Twentieth Century: Fascism and the Christian State
In the 20th century, dictators again co-opted the Church. Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty (1929) with the Vatican, making Catholicism the state religion of Italy and gaining papal endorsement for his regime. Similarly, Francisco Franco in Spain framed his civil war as a crusade against atheistic communism, heavily backed by the Catholic Church.
In Germany, Hitler’s relationship to the church was opportunistic. Germany was overwhelmingly Christian (mostly Protestant, with a large Catholic minority), so Hitler understood the political necessity of appearing aligned with Christian values.
He often referred to “Providence” or “the Almighty” in speeches, suggesting divine blessing on his leadership. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote:
“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.”
This gave his rise to power an almost messianic framing—God had chosen him to restore Germany. He was the only one who could make Germany great again.
These regimes co-opted Christianity to suppress the left, demonize liberalism, and rally the population around a mythic past of order, tradition, and divine hierarchy. The result was violent repression under a sacred banner. It is a formula being repeated today in both Russia and the United States.
Russia and the New Theocracy of Putin
Christian nationalism in Russia is a complex phenomenon where religious and national identities intertwine, with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) playing a prominent role. It is characterized by the belief that Russia's national identity is inherently Christian and that the state should actively promote and protect Orthodox Christian values. This ideology is often linked to a sense of Russian exceptionalism and a perceived historical and spiritual mission to counter Western secularism and moral decline.
In modern Russia, Vladimir Putin has resurrected the old tsarist alliance with the Orthodox Church in the 2010s. Patriarch Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow, has declared Putin’s rule “a miracle of God,” and church-state unity is seen as essential to national identity. LGBTQ+ rights are portrayed as a Western perversion, and the war in Ukraine has been described as a spiritual battle to defend Orthodox civilization.
Religious icons are paraded with military banners; priests bless nuclear weapons. The Church’s stamp of approval gives Putin moral cover for imperial ambitions and repression, casting his enemies as not just traitors but heretics.
If this sounds all too familiar, it is because it mirrors the Christian Nationalism brand in the United States. Putin’s brand of Christian Nationalism has found agency and alignment with religious conservatives in the United States.
Christian Nationalism in the United States
Despite the Constitutional prohibitions on the establishment of religion in the United States, there has always been a cultural and, at times, political identification of the country with the Christian faith. Mostly Protestant.
The foundations of today’s white Christian Nationalist movement can be found in the 19th-century “Second Awakening,” which was the origin of modern evangelicalism in the US. Christian nationalism has grown as a cultural and political movement ever since, particularly on the right. It claims America was founded as a Christian nation and should return to “biblical values” through law and policy.
Donald Trump has given American Christian Nationalism his particular stamp. While not personally devout, Trump embraced this movement, offering judicial appointments, religious exemptions, and culture war rhetoric.
In return, evangelical leaders portrayed him as a new Cyrus—a flawed but divinely appointed ruler. At the January 6 Capitol riot, Christian symbols were mixed with nationalist banners. The movement has become less about faith and more about identity: being Christian, white, and American are increasingly fused in political terms. Trump knows how to play on that identity.
My column, along with many other writers and journalists, (see Timothy Tucker’s substack for a detailed account of U.S. Christian Nationalism) has identified the key players and leaders of the 21st-century version of Christian Nationalism. There is no need to replicate that information here. What will be important and perhaps new is to identify the transnational contacts and relationships of these leaders with leaders in Russia.
II. Transnational Connections Between Christian Nationalists in Russia and the US
In 1995, Allan Carlson spoke at Moscow State University and concluded, with agreement with a representative from the Russian Orthodox Church, that “they needed … to bring together scholars and leaders from ‘newly free Europe and Russia’ to meet with leaders from the West.”
Since then, contacts between conservative Christian Nationalists in the United States and oligarchs and religious figures in Russia have grown. They especially became close partners during the Obama presidency when conservatives in the US recoiled from not only having a Black man as president, but the victory of same sex marriage rights at the Supreme Court level. White Christian Nationalists felt they were “losing their country.” Looking to a strongman leader, such as Putin, was a natural consequence.
World Congress of Families (WCF) and a U.S.–Russia Alliance
Founded in 1997 by American Allan Carlson and a few Russian academics, the WCF quickly became a transnational vehicle for social conservative causes focused on anti-LGBTQ, anti-transgender, and traditional marriage.
In July 2011, WCF held a major Moscow Demographic Summit, co-sponsored by Kremlin-connected oligarchs Konstantin Malofeev and Vladimir Yakunin. American leaders Larry Jacobs and Allan Carlson helped outline Russia’s anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion laws, later adopted into policy.
A 2014 summit, though stripped of WCF branding due to Crimea sanctions, went forward in Moscow with Malofeev and Yakunin representing Kremlin interests and featured American social conservative speakers. The US-Russian Christian Nationalist axis was on.
The 2014 conference, as scholar Christopher Stroop noted, was the moment in which “Russia [took] on the mantle of leadership of global social conservatism… [It] gave Russia the chance to say, ‘We’re the leaders here.’”
WCF’s Larry Jacobs was even more succinct: “The Russians might be the Christian saviors of the world.” Or as he later added, “I think Russia is the hope for the world right now.”
After the 2015 WCF conference in Salt Lake City with Russian representatives in attendance, the organization changed its name to the International Organization for the Family (IOF). During the 2015 Conference, Russian representative Komov proclaimed that “Eastern Europe can help our brothers in the West” to resist the “new totalitarianism” of “political correctness.”
Religious nationalists in both countries had a common ideology and a common enemy to fight against, and the cooperation and networking continued. In 2023, Russia channeled $300,000 to support an anti-LGBTQ conference in Uganda, involving American Christian nationalist group Family Watch International and bolstered by ties to World Congress of Families (WCF), the powerhouse of U.S. and Russian conservative players.
The IOF is now run by Brian Brown, the co-founder and president of the vehemently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage and a man who has his own history of visiting Russia to lobby for anti-LGBT legislation. Komov was among the anti-LGBT activists from around the world who joined Brown in South Africa for the IOF’s launch of the group’s anti-LGBT manifesto, which they called The Cape Town Declaration.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) or IOF is one of the key driving forces behind the U.S. Religious Right’s global export of homophobia and sexism, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Franklin Graham & Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev
In 2015, Franklin Graham visited Moscow to meet with Patriarch Kirill and praised Putin’s “protection” of Christianity, contrasting it with America’s secularism. The fact that Obama was still in office made this connection even more public.
In March 2017, Metropolitan Hilarion, a Putin loyalist, attended the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians in Washington, where he met Graham and Vice President Pence, presenting Russia as a bastion of faith.
Graham has continued close contact with Russian political and religious figures. In 2015, he famously shook hands with Vladimir Putin at a forty-five-minute meeting between the two. Graham has taken multiple trips to Moscow (2015, 2019), meeting with Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Hilarion, and State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin each time.
These interactions were positioned as part of a mission to strengthen ties between U.S. evangelicals and Russian religious/political leaders. With Graham’s endorsement, evangelicals followed his lead and became pro-Putin evangelicals.
III. The Threat of Global Christian Nationalism
There are multiple reasons why global Christian Nationalism is a threat.
U.S. and Russian Christian nationalists often envision a world governed by “biblical” or “traditional” morality, where patriarchal family structures, national sovereignty, and religious identity trump pluralism or liberal democracy. This vision undermines secular governance, promotes authoritarian leadership as divinely sanctioned, and casts dissent as sin or treason.
“The new world order is a clash not of civilizations, but of values—traditionalism versus liberalism.” Russian Orthodox official, 2023
Mutual admiration between U.S. evangelicals and Vladimir Putin has allowed religious nationalists to paint autocracy as moral strength. By echoing each other's rhetoric, they normalize repression and centralize power, presenting it as a divine mandate rather than a political choice. Democracy is jettisoned in favor of autocracy.
Welcome to a return to the world of “divine right of kings,” only this time it is the “divine right of dictators.”
These networks challenge liberal democratic principles such as gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and religious pluralism on a global scale. They work to rewrite international law, inserting “family rights” or “religious freedom” exemptions into UN resolutions and national constitutions to carve out space for discrimination. It is the same legislative agenda that many states in the US have already adopted.
LGBTQ+ people, Muslims, Jews, atheists, feminists, and progressive Christians are targeted as enemies of the faith. Laws criminalizing “homosexual propaganda,” gender education, or abortion are increasingly modeled across borders using the same language and legal blueprints.
What began as domestic moral panics over same-sex marriage, drag shows, and abortion has become a global culture war, coordinated through conferences, social media, and legislation. Religious conservatives from multiple nations now share legal strategies, media networks, and funding pipelines.
This movement is not merely religious—it is a transnational political ideology that seeks to reorder global society around patriarchal, nationalist, and theocratic principles. While cloaked in the language of morality, tradition, and faith, it is deeply political and increasingly powerful.
Finally, as this international network embraces the theology of the “Seven Mountain Mandate” along with the New Testament “Great Commission,” the vision expands to a goal of worldwide dominion of the seven key institutions of society. As democracy declines in influence and frequency around the world, we can look to the ascendancy of global Christian Nationalism as a new manifestation of the Medieval concept of Christendom.
Just as it was in the Middle Ages, this will not end well.
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This is absolutely fascinating. I've always wondered why, if the Right says our country was founded on "Christian principles," that a cross wasnt part of our original flag.
Also, how many gospels/written records were rejected at Nicea because they didnt align with politics at the time? Even though they may have been divinely inspired and come closer to Christian truth than some writings that became the Bible?
Thank you. I learned a lot!
Thanks for these insights. They explain a lot of what we’re experiencing.