Christian Americans are on track to become a minority of the U.S. population by mid-century. Research on racial demographic shifts shows majority-group members experience status threat when reminded of similar demographic changes. Public debate about religious freedom and the role of Christianity in America suggest that fast-changing religious demographics similarly elicit threat, and trigger defensive political stances, among Christian Americans. In two preregistered experiments (total N = 766 Christian Americans), reminders of religious demographic shifts evoked perceived threat to religious rights and freedoms, which in turn accounted for increases in Christian nationalism, conservative political ideology, and support for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Results illustrate how America's fast-changing religious landscape can evoke threat for Christians and how this threat may influence political reasoning.

到本世纪中叶，基督徒美国人有望成为美国人口的少数。对种族人口变化的研究表明，当提醒类似的人口变化时，多数群体成员会经历地位威胁。关于宗教自由和基督教在美国的作用的公开辩论表明，快速变化的宗教人口结构同样在美国基督徒中引发威胁，并引发防御性政治立场。在两个预先注册的实验中（总共N = 766 名基督徒美国人），宗教人口变化的提醒引起了对宗教权利和自由的感知威胁，这反过来解释了基督教民族主义、保守政治意识形态以及在 2020 年总统大选中对唐纳德特朗普的支持的增加。结果说明了美国快速变化的宗教格局如何对基督徒构成威胁，以及这种威胁如何影响政治推理。