Who is a Christian nationalist? And should some people be proud to be called such a name?
I, like a majority of BNG readers, am convinced Christian nationalists are a threat to democracy. I have been listening to them make the case for a religious reading of America’s history, a religious authority for America’s present and an apocalyptic demise in our future. The more they attempt to wiggle out of the charge of Christian nationalism, the more indictments pile up at their door.
Now, some politicians and pastors are proudly claiming the label, while others want to redefine the term to their benefit. Here are some examples of people from both categories:
‘Yes, by God, we are Christian nationalists’
Some conservatives insist on using the usual rhetorical strategy of co-opting the term and using it in a positive way. I suppose bragging that you are out to destroy democracy with an idolatrous ideology is one way to go. This strategy has worked for conservatives with “wokeness,” Critical Race Theory and “deplorables.”
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert
“I want to let y’all know, right now is the time for the church to influence the nation,” the Colorado congresswoman said, sparking applause. “This is the vision that our Founding Fathers had from the beginning.” Boebert has publicly expressed her disdain for the separation of church and state, saying: “I’m sick of this separation of church and state.”
North Dakota state Rep. Brandon Prichard
North Dakota state Representative Brandon Prichard, a Republican who co-sponsored legislation that was passed into law that bans all gender confirming surgeries and medication for transgender minors in his state, went on an anti-LGBTQ Christian nationalist tirade including a call for state ordinances to declare “Jesus Christ is King.”
“Every conservative state should put into code that Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their state to Him.”
“Every conservative state should put into code that Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their state to Him. Force RINOs to say no to Jesus and then brutalize them in elections. We need a government of Christians, not fakers,” Pritchard wrote. He also said, “Here is a simple test to determine if you are conservative: Should the church of Satan or satanic temple be allowed the freedom to worship in the same way as Christians? If you answer yes, you need to rethink your claimed political identity because you are not conservative.”
William Wolfe
Evangelical firebrand William Wolfe, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, previously embraced the term “Christian nationalist” as a term to say American society should be restructured in a hierarchy where Christians — predominantly white and male Christians — are at the top and believers in other faith traditions are forced to conform to Christian standards and beliefs. Typical Christian nationalist policies are bans on abortion without exception, making gay marriage illegal again, and state-sanctioned persecution of the LGBTQ community.
He explained: “Our call as Christian nationalists is twofold: Yes, we want more unapologetic Christians leading in the public square as Christians, but we’re calling on all leaders who exercise authority — whether they’re Christian or not — to recognize that they will answer to the one supreme authority and they need to learn how to exercise that authority rightly according to his good commands and precepts today.”
“It … calls on Americans to love, with a greater love, their fellow American citizens, and to prioritize the well-being of America over the general world order and even the international global population.”
Wolfe tweeted his working definition of “positive” Christian nationalism, saying, “CN is a biblically informed political ideology with three main features: (1) it honors Christ as the one true King and commanded preeminent love of all Christians (Deut. 6:5, Matt 22:37-38).” (2) It accepts the given reality of sovereign nation states and calls on Americans to love, with a greater love, their fellow American citizens, and to prioritize the well-being of America over the general world order and even the international global population (Matt 22:39). And (3) it establishes, promotes, and/or preserves a Christian morality and ethical framework as the preferred core content of our nation’s culture, values, traditions, civic life and legal structures without idolizing the state or requiring that all inhabitants be Christians.”
His quotation of Deuteronomy 6:5, for example, has nothing to do with limiting God’s love to Christians. The verse reads, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Fortunately, Jesus interpreted Deuteronomy 6:5 for us in Matthew 22: “This is the greatest and first commandment.” As Anglican theologian Sam Well reminds us, “God’s inexhaustible creation, limitless grace, relentless mercy, enduring purpose, fathomless love,” often is “too much to contemplate, assimilate and understand.”
Wolfe’s insistence that the Bible accepts the given reality of sovereign nation states is not a biblical statement. God never wanted Israel to be a nation with a king, but a covenant people sharing God’s love with the world.
Ronald S. Beiner has countered in Debating Democracy’s Discontent: “The modern nation-state, in whatever guise, is a dangerous and unmanageable institution, presenting itself on the one hand as a bureaucratic supplier of goods and services, which is always about to, but never actually does, give its clients value for money, and on the other as a repository of sacred values, which from time to time invites one to lay down one’s life on its behalf. As I have remarked elsewhere, it is like being asked to die for the telephone company.”
Wolfe’s third precept offers the definition of Christian nationalism as an ideology that imposes Christian values on the nation, including those who are not Christian. Of course, these are the Christians who want prayers to Jesus and Bible study led by evangelical preachers in public schools.
‘Yes, we are Christian nationalists but we define the term’
More thoughtful and theologically erudite conservatives have attempted to refute the charge of being Christian nationalists. At times the attempted rebuttal sounds more like an endorsement of Christian nationalism, though.
Andrew J. Walker
Andrew J. Walker, ethics and public theology professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, attacks the media and something he labels “modern progressivism” in a tweet: “If Speaker Johnson represents Christian nationalism (which our media class most assuredly will label him as), then let me remind you of what I’ve been saying already: You, conservative Christian, are a Christian nationalist by the ever-evolving standards of modern progressivism. It is yet just another epithet in a long list of slurs meant to delegitimize biblical Christianity. Recognize their play, ignore it and carry on with the truth.”
Walker also tweeted: “‘Christian nationalism’ is meant to be derisive, and there are undoubtedly very concerning elements. But if you’re a Christian and believe our nation should have the aftershocks of the resurrected Christ reflected in its customs, you, too, are a kind of Christian nationalist.”
Al Mohler
Southern Seminary President Al Mohler says, “Nationalism has been given a bad name. Even conservatives who once would identify themselves clearly as nationalist, they’re now running scared from the term, and (the left is) routinely speaking of me and others as Christian nationalists, as if we’re supposed to be running from that. And I’m not about to run from that. I’m not about to join their one world order.”
“I’m not about to run from that. I’m not about to join their one world order.”
Mohler added, “And if they think Christian nationalism is un-American and harmful, we should openly embrace the identity.”
Robert Jeffress
Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, argues: “Listen carefully. They say they are opposed to people who say America was founded as a Christian nation, Americans who believe not only in the spiritual heritage of our nation but believe that we ought to use elections to help return our country to its Christian foundation. If that’s Christian nationalism, count me in.”
The reality: Christian nationalism threatens democracy
The shorthand label “Christian nationalist” is not a slur; it is an identifying tag. It is not an epithet against conservative Christians; it is a description of the views they have of America as a Christian nation and their desire to impose their values on the entire nation.
That conservatives can’t decide if they should dance to the tune of Christian nationalism or not is a strong reason for doubting its value for America.
Christian nationalists have deliberately pitted themselves against the better angels of the democratic spirit. They are determined to uproot values of toleration, personal autonomy, individual rights, majority rule, pluralism, diversity, distributive justice, empathy for the poor and religious neutrality.
Christian nationalists offer us a false past, celebrate a melancholic present and an apocalyptic future.
There’s only one appropriate response to this evangelical brouhaha. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Abraham Lincoln, here we resolve “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer in New York state. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.