MANAGER, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

Dr. R.G. Cravens (he/him) is a Manager, Research and Analysis at the Southern Poverty Law Center. His research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and in popular media. He is a previous recipient of the Bailey and Cynthia Weber Awards from the American Political Science Association and has held fellowships with the Social Science Research Council and Public Religion Research Institute. His first monograph, Yes Gawd! How Faith Shapes LGBT Identity and Politics in the United States, was published in 2024 by Temple University Press and his co-edited volume Teaching LGBTQ Politics was published in 2025 by the State University of New York Press.

PRESENTER

CALL IT OUT! CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM IN ALL THE EXPECTED (AND UNEXPECTED) PLACES

In this presentation, attendees will learn the white supremacist underpinnings of “religious freedom” rhetoric using examples from data collected by SPLC’s Intelligence Project. Among the political hard-right, the concept of “religious freedom” is synonymous with conservative Christian oppression. It is a rhetorical device to advance a sectarian political agenda, and it is propped up by an inflated victim narrative constructed by co-opting attacks on Black and Brown, LGBTQ+, and non-Christian faith communities.