Why I'm Not a Christian Nationalist

Surprise! It's because of Jesus!

The most important reason you need to know why I’m not a Christian Nationalist is that I see no evidence, Biblical, historical, or other reason Jesus Christ Himself would embrace it.  I see a lot of reasons in Jesus' teachings to come to the opposite conclusion. 

Definitions

Is resisting the state the default position of a Christian? Not exactly. A Christian can be both a follower of Christ and be patriotic by living up to the ideals of faith and the nation we ascribe to become. Working in government is still called public service, and what’s more Christ-like than serving others? 

When soldiers and tax collectors for the government came to John the Baptist, he told them to do their jobs without corruption and care for the needy. He never said they couldn’t be part of the Kingdom of God.

Before I go any further, I must define two important terms, “Christian” and “Nationalist.” 

The term Christian means one who follows the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. To get more specific, check out the Nicene Creed. 

So what's nationalism? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “identification with one's nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.” Put Christianity before it, and nationalism means using the state's power to further the Church's “goals/traditions/culture.”

Kirchenkmapf

This tragic debate about Christian nationalism isn’t a new one. It happened during the reign of Constantine, several popes and kings, and modern democracies.

The Germans‌ have a word for the struggle between church/state power dynamics like this: kirchenkampf. In the 1930s, the Christian church was embracing or resisting the rise of Nazism.

One of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote a rather systematic approach to resisting the Nazis. One key line said, “The church has an unconditional obligation toward the victims of any societal order, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.”

To be a Christian Nationalist, you must ignore a lot of history. For example, Jefferson wrote that Pagans, Muslims, and Jews shouldn’t be excluded from civil rights when the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was written.

Do Unto Others

The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” acting as a protection for religion and against one religion controlling the government. Many of the earliest settlers fled religious persecution, so it makes sense they didn’t want history to repeat here. While the Bible inspires parts of our founding, we weren’t founded as a “Christian nation.” Jews, Muslims, Protestants, and Catholics fought in the revolutionary war. We have always been a pluralistic society. 

If CNs had their way, that right to religious freedom would go away for other religions and, I assume, any Christian who doesn’t follow their view of Christianity. We would go from “America First” to “Christians First” to finally, “Just These Christians, everyone else is wrong.” In Matthew 19, Jesus says, "Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Why would we want to put ourselves first like that? It’s no coincidence this is the same chapter where the rich young ruler walks away from Jesus. 

CN could also bring back that classic form of capital punishment called Stoning. Why post nudes of your ex online when you could throw rocks at her with your buddies instead?

Power in a republic is often on a pendulum. The further it goes one way, the harder it moves to the other later. So let’s say America becomes a Christian Nation. Would we be ok with someone else treating us the way Christian Nationalists propose? If we aren’t comfortable with Islamic or Jewish Nationalism running the country, why would we put them in that situation?

The Subversion of Power Dynamics

Before Pontious Pilate, Jesus was asked, “Are you a king?” His response was not “Yes,” but that His kingdom was “now, not of this world” and that if it were, His followers would’ve fought to save Him from arrest. 

Jesus put His Kingdom in a separate category from worldly governments when He said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

The very idea of a nation set apart by God for Christians in the face of the Great Commission and the life of Christ. Jesus' subverted everything we know about power: He was a poor, minority refugee living in the Roman Empire. He refused to bring His kingdom through violence. He blessed the merciful, peacemakers, the meek, and more in Matthew 5:2-12. 

Creating a “nation for Christians” makes following Christ a performance more than a path. We already struggle with showing off how we’re more spiritual and right than other groups. Christ warned against this. CN seeks comfort instead of the cross.

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

-C.S Lewis

It’s Not About Theology

Christian Nationalism has numerous contradictions with Jesus' teachings. I suppose it should come as no surprise that sociologists like Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry have tracked Christian Nationalism for years and have found that it’s more about obtaining/keeping power and less about heterodoxy.  

In their book “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States,” their data shows “we find Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are more likely to report a strong sense of moral traditionalism based on creating and sustaining social hierarchies; a comfort with authoritarian social control; a desire for strict boundaries around national identity, civic participation, and social belonging that fall along ethno-racial lines.”

Christian Nationalism, at its core, is about keeping white, cultural “traditional values” in power, even to the detriment of our electoral process. It uses xenophobia, homophobia, and fear of others to justify inviting hateful rhetoric and violence into our political processes. 

Footage of insurrectionists praying in the Senate chamber after just being in a violent riot on January 6 exemplifies how the movement is about performance and power. I know irony is dead, but come on! Did they ask God to bless them after beating cops and chanting about hanging a vice president?

I think you can have a love of God and country simultaneously. So long as God is first. Also, I don’t think those loves are compatible with harming minority groups in words or political action. As Paul once said, Love is NOT self-seeking. It is patient, it is kind. It always protects, always trusts, and always perseveres. And our country can persevere if we treat others how we want to be treated.