Comps Insider: Theo Borowski ’25 measures threat of Christian nationalism to democracy

Any senior at Carleton can attest to the difficulty of completing their comps project, the College’s senior capstone experience. However, Theo Borowski ’25 took the challenge a step further; by double majoring in political science and international relations as well as religion, Borowski was tasked with the creation of not one, but two comps.

Borowski came to Carleton expecting to be a biology major, but after taking his first international relations course, he discovered an interest in the political science and international relations department. It was in his sophomore year, though, that Borowski truly “fell in love with the department” while taking a class with Jon Olson, Sit Investment Chair in Asian Policy and Political Science, and soon after, he declared his major in political science and international relations.

Since his major declaration, Borowski has found himself taking classes with all kinds of different political science professors, each of whom have a “willingness to share their knowledge in engaging and creative ways.” All that was left for Borowski to do this year was to focus on “bridging the gap between [his] two majors.” 

This bridge materialized is his political science and international relations comps project, “A lack of pluralism: How Christian nationalism imminently threatens democracy.” Originally written for a course assignment, Borowski decided to expand on the original paper with support from Ryan Dawkins, assistant professor of political science. Borowski attests to Dawkins’ support, explaining that they met weekly and stayed on top of their agreed timeline for the project every step of the way. 

Borowski used the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey to approach his chosen comps topic of Christian nationalism. The survey consists of a “Christian nationalism battery” made up of six questions, with the intention of  “[measuring] the threat Christian nationalism poses to democracy by measuring pluralism.” 

The six questions are: 

• The federal government should declare the United States as a Christian nation.
• The federal government should advocate Christian values.
• The federal government should enforce strict separation of church and state.
• The federal government should allow the display of religious symbols in public spaces.
• The success of the United States is part of God’s plan.
• The federal government should allow prayer in public schools.

The responses Borowski analyzed from the survey revealed clear “in group” and “out group” dynamics apparent in American society, fueling his interest in how the societal norm of a “true American” being Christian impacts groups that may be seen as “other.” 

Alongside this survey, Borowski also gathered a variety of other sources, spanning from academic journals found on the academic database JSTOR to current event news sources. The introduction of his comps even hooks the reader with descriptions of the January 6 riots of 2021. Overall, the information helped Borowski draw parallels between Christian nationalism and pluralism, with the overarching goal of understanding the contemporary world.

“I wanted to try and first understand why people were embracing Christian nationalism as an ideology… and why they were embracing something that seemed so hateful to me,” Borowski said. “I got to understand that a lot of that is fear-based.”

Borowski’s original essay, before he turned it into his comps project, was actually sparked by his observations of these fear-centered mentalities in individuals, groups, and the world around him. Accordingly, a segment of Borowski’s ultimate project addresses his own identity as an influential factor — and possible bias — in his decision to focus on the matter of fear-based attitudes governing religion. 

“I grew up in a Christian background where Christianity has been used to support certain ideologies that I can’t agree with, based on my own moral convictions and my own identities,” he said. 

When asked if there were any significant difficulties involved in the project, Borowski explained that his challenges were actually mostly technical. 

“Working with R script, which is a coding database, was really difficult for me,” he said. “As a humanities major who loves the written word and expressing and exploring topics through vivid imagery, I enjoy the puzzle of putting words together, not putting code together, so that took a lot of biting the bullet, and Ryan was really supportive.”

The challenges were worth it, though, as Borowski believes that his comps is genuinely valuable to himself and others.

“Respecting [Christian nationalism] as a threat is important,” he said. “I’m trying to come at it from a point of understanding, because if we keep writing it off as something too abhorrent to try and understand, then we can never solve or address it… Providing [evidence] that it is a real threat to democracy will hopefully motivate people to face it.”

After graduation, Borowski is planning to stay at Carleton in a new 5th year position with the Office of the Chaplain, which will allow him to continue much of his student work within Carleton’s Division of Inclusion, Equity, and Community.