(RNS) — In a famous 1790 letter, President George Washington assured the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island, that in the United States, religious minorities would not merely be tolerated, but recognized as full and equal members of the political community.

“All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship,” he wrote. “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.”

But today, the growing influence of Christian nationalism is jeopardizing the pluralistic democracy Washington envisioned and shaping public policy in ways that could determine who is able to participate fully in that democracy.

Christian nationalism is a political ideology that seeks to preserve the supposed Anglo-Protestant heritage of our country and embed a particular form of conservative Christianity in American government.…