Wuhan Journal of Cultic Studies
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Volume 1, Issue 1: 2021
ARTICLE 2
Proud Boys, Nationalism, and Religion Margo Kitts Hawai'i Pacific University Abstract: The Proud Boys are an opportunistic hate group whose message of white male chauvinism is infused with religious and nationalist symbols. They fit into the global trend of religious nationalism in that they are driven by a reaction to religious pluralism, entertain atavistic yearnings, and celebrate a founding hero, Donald Trump. Enthralled with fist fighting, in both their initiatory rituals and their engagements with antifa groups, they delight in offending the genteel sensibilities they associate with the "white liberal elite." They are proudly anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and anti-feminist, but their list of enemies appears to be ever shifting, suggesting a toxic virility run amuck. While they are but one expression of an enduring European-American chauvinism, their celebration of masculinity resembles the masculinism and misogyny that arose in response to the Victorian era in the US. Keywords: Proud Boys, hate group, religious pluralism, white nationalism, religious nationalism, misogyny |