|
I believe Christian Nationalism is a serious threat to both American Democracy and the witness of the Church. Last week I shared thoughts on the Founders of our nation, the wisdom of the separation of church and state, and the necessary distinction between being a nation where the majority of residents identify as Christian and America being a “Christian nation.” This week in Part 2, I will shift to a more full explanation on the roots and rise of Christian Nationalism and why it is antithetical to the ways of Jesus and idolatrous in its pursuit of power.
The Doctrine of Discovery
In Part 1, I began with the founding of the United States, but the seeds of Christian Nationalism were planted long before the founding of this nation. I encourage you to learn more about the Doctrine of Discovery which included a series of papal bulls issued by various popes that established a religious, political, and legal justification for the colonization of lands not inhabited by Christians. This doctrine was cruelly used to promote Christian domination through land seizure, violence, enslavement, and forced assimilation of indigenous populations, and was applied throughout the world in Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas.
White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism
Similarly, Christian Nationalist ideology in America has always walked hand-in-hand with white supremacist ideology which works to establish domination systems to divide people (even those whose real interests align) by setting up a false hierarchy that otherizes anyone who is not “white” (always), heterosexual (always), and male (almost always). This often results in the demonization and violent oppression of all who do not meet this arbitrary criteria.
This othering is antithetical to the unity of God’s creation of all things, and to the unquestionable love ethic which is at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Kaitlyn Schiess writes in Liturgy of Politics, “...the gospel comes with an ethical imperative to love our neighbor, and Scripture is clear that loving neighbor means opposing social and political barriers to their flourishing.” (Schiess, 71)
Bishop William Barber III, reminds us of the history of past Christian Nationalist movements, “Of all symbols they could have chosen, the Ku Klux Klan chose the cross of Christianity, but they perverted it and used that cross as a symbol of terror. For them, to be Christian is to believe society is for the white man. Other people are supposed to be subordinate, not just as a matter of politics, but as a matter of religion. And that’s where Christian nationalism goes off the rail. Because what it tends to suggest most often is that God ordains injustice.”
It is good to be remember that in Jesus’ first public sermon on the Sabbath, he rises in the synagogue and reads the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) Christians are those who worship and follow the God of love and justice, which stands in stark contrast to the false gods of power and control at the center of Christian Nationalism.
Roe v. Wade & the Racist Roots of the Modern Christian Nationalist Movement
The “God and Country” documentary reminds us that, “In 1973, when Roe v. Wade was established as the law of the land, white evangelicals had a mixed reaction to it… It was not until 1978 that televangelist Jerry Falwell preached his first sermon opposing abortion…Roe became the convenient, chosen wedge issue, but really, modern Christian nationalism was born out of the fight to desegregate schools (Brown v. Board, 1954)…Many “Christian” schools thought they could avoid the desegregation order until Bob Jones University (which was a segregated school) was challenged in court. Courts found multiple times in the early 1970’s (1970-1974) that schools that chose not to integrate would lose their tax exempt status.”
Dr. Jemar Tisbey, author of The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance, notes: “It was this combination of race and money that got so many church leaders into politics.” And Dr. Andrew Whitehead observes in “God and Country”: “This is what pulled the religious right together. It was essentially saying, ‘If the federal government is going to tell us how to run our private, essentially segregation academies, we need to be afraid that they can come after us in any other sphere of life.”
A God of Love and Justice, Not a god of Power and Control
Today we are all witnesses to how some of our political and religious leaders gin up false claims to create fear and division between people to develop both adherents to, and sympathizers of, a Christian Nationalist ideology. They use an unholy cocktail of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and transphobia to both fuel the outrage necessary to sustain this movement and to distract people from its true purpose. But, if you merely scratch the surface of Christian Nationalism, at its core, is the worship of power in the name of Jesus Christ.
Christian Nationalism is idolatrous because it seeks security not in God, but through the self-interested use of power, fear, and violence against anyone who does not believe like they do. Its desire for domination through coercive power is also antithetical to the ways of Christ (love, compassion, mercy, justice, inclusion, kindness, & peace), and undermines the witness and work of the Church in the world.
Adherents to Christian Nationalism are trying to control what we read, who we love and can marry, when and if we have children, what we do with our own bodies, and who receives the biggest share of the fruits of our collective labor. But do not be fooled by their false piety because God is surely not fooled. No matter how hard people try to shape God into their own image, God is indeed a God of love and justice, and not just in biblical times, or in the by and by somewhere in the future, but also right here and right now.
The Privatization of Salvation
The privatization of salvation has also significantly contributed to the rise of Christian Nationalism in this nation. Jesus’ instruction to “Love God and your neighbor as yourself” has been replaced by “Love yourself and your neighbor as long as they look, act, and believe just like you do. Otherwise, make them conform by violent force if necessary.” But salvation is not simply an individual matter, or is it violent, coercive, or reserved just for a narrowly defined group of people. Rather, it is grounded in the wellbeing of the community as a whole, modeled in Jesus Christ through whom God chose to graciously widen the circle not just to include our friends, but strangers, and even our enemies.
Instead of embracing the abundant outpouring of God’s love and grace, Christian Nationalism attempts to constrict God’s activity in the world, and claims that believing in very particular theological claims (routinely contorted far beyond the point of Scriptural or theological integrity) and forcing them upon others is all that is required for salvation. This disconnect leads to the compartmentalization of love and justice, making them only available to those who think and believe just like they do.
Bishop William Barber III, however, reminds us where Jesus stands: “There is no way you can look at Jesus in the Gospel and put him on the side of greed, on the side of injustice, on the side of wrong. And oftentimes what you end up with is people who are so loud about what God says so little about, and so quiet about what God says so much about. So they’re so loud against gay people. They’re so loud against a woman’s right to have an abortion. They’re so loud in cutting the taxes for the wealthy. They’re so loud when it comes to guns. They’re so loud on those things, but so quiet on ‘How do we end poverty?’ ‘How do we care for the least of these?’ You are in essence being loud about what God says so little and you’re being far too quiet about what God says so much about.”
Standing Up and Speaking Out
Andrew Whitehead writes in his book, American Idolatry, “Once we see the good news for the present, good news for the marginalized, good news for the prisoner, good news for the poor, good news for the blind, good news for the oppressed, we can begin to take the evidence that social science hands us about Christian nationalism and recognize this ideology as limiting – and in many cases opposing – the work Jesus claimed he came to do and commanded us to do also.” Christians, we must not get it twisted to think that the ends justify the means.
Christian Nationalism is not Christian and it is also not patriotic. In fact, it is anti-Christian and anti-democracy – an affront to both Jesus and the Founders. Christian Nationalism ideology clearly does not center Christ-like love, or prioritize justice, and therefore must be flatly rejected. Dr. Jemar Tisby, and Robert P. Jones talk about the problematic term “polarization,” which implies a “both-sidesism” that distorts the moral nature of the choices we are facing in our contemporary politics. As Tisby often notes, “Justice takes sides.”
Christianity is rooted in the values of inclusion, working toward justice on behalf of the poor and marginalized, creating a place of belonging for the immigrant and the stranger, honoring the gifts of all persons, and living with gentleness and peace with both our neighbors and the land. As followers of Jesus we must stand up and speak out as a disruptive force against those structures that are crushing our neighbors, while simultaneously maintaining a humble and self-reflective posture so that we too can identify when we are beginning to idolize power, fear, and violence, and move instead toward a more Christ-like response both individually and collectively as a community.
Robert P. Jones in a recent lecture at the Chautauqua Institution challenged the audience with this observation: “We are endlessly innovative in dispensing, defending, and profiting from injustice, and we are hopelessly unimaginative in seeking justice.” I pray that we may boldly turn away from the false hope of Christian Nationalism, and shift our creative energy from the selfish pursuit of power to the ways that make for peace, and become like Jesus embodying compassionate love and justice for the good of us all.
Love Ridiculously, Pastor Aaron
| 
