Are You a White Christian Nationalist?

This may strike you as an impertinent question. It may make you feel uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable to see the impact that White Christian Nationalist perspectives are having on my religion and my country.

One of the greatest gifts the American experiment has given human history is religious freedom. White Christian Nationalism tramples on that gift by privileging one narrow understanding of Christianity over all other religious perspectives. In doing so, it distorts the teachings of Jesus and undermines our democracy.

For those who seek to practice the teachings of Jesus, it may also feel uncomfortable to talk with others who use Christian language and imagery to promote ideas of power and distort the influence of religion on our political practices. For a long time, and seemingly quite prevalent now, people abuse power, enslave people, and justify horrific acts all in the name of God.

Back to the question posed by this letter – “Are you a White Christian nationalist?” Only you can answer this on a personal level, but a few survey questions may help you consider how strongly you hold Christian nationalist views.

During a workshop I conducted at the annual meeting of the United Church of Christ, I shared the questions and findings of a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey consisted of five statements and respondents were asked for a level of agreement to these the statements:

• The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.
• U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.
• If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
• Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
• God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

The study characterized respondents who either agreed or completely agreed with all five statements as adherents to Christian nationalism. Respondents who agreed with some of the statements but were less likely than adherents to completely agree with them were characterized as Christian nationalist sympathizers.  Those who completely disagreed with all five statements were labeled as rejectors of Christian nationalism. Those who disagreed with most statements but were less likely than rejectors to completely disagree with all the statements were deemed to be Christian nationalist skeptics.

According to this survey, 3 out of 10 Americans hold Christian nationalist views. That may seem like a small number until you realize that 7 out of 10 Americans did not completely disagree with all five statements. In Vermont, 28% of respondents fell into the adherent/sympathizer grouping. That means nearly 3 out 10 of our neighbors hold Christian nationalist views. For this reason, it is important for us know something about Christian nationalism and how to talk about it in a neighborly way.

A couple of years ago, I preached a sermon the Sunday after the 4th of July in which I said, “Christian Nationalism seeks to impose a particular understanding of Christianity and a particular version of American history on the policies, laws and practices of our nation so that the two are wedded together in way that gives privilege to the right sort of Americans while harming those not considered American enough or Christian enough. . .” Today, I am still comfortable with that definition. What has become even clearer since then is how little Christian nationalism has to do with religious practice or cultural traditions. Christian nationalism is about power, gaining it and holding it at the expense of authentic Christian faith and practice, and without regard for the damage being done to our democratic process.

We are fortunate to be living in a time when some brilliant folks from a variety of disciplines are writing in ways that help us better understand the antecedents of our current expressions of Christian nationalism and reminding us of the ways that nationalism, religious or otherwise, has wreaked havoc on humanity in earlier generations.

I am finding that what I read does not have to have Christian Nationalism in the title to inform and speak to my understanding of the topic. It is all around us, and has been for a long, long time.

These writings will form the basis of upcoming book discussions:

• This summer, we will read The Gospel According to James Baldwin by Greg Garrett. He teaches English at Baylor University.
• In the fall, we will read Andrew Whitehead’s American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church. Whitehead is a professor of Sociology and Indiana University.

In the meantime, to learn more about the most extreme example of Christian nationalism in recent memory in our country read the Report on Christian nationalism and the January 6 insurrection published by BJCOnline (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty).